Up All Night

The coffee shop was less crowded this time, and the boys walked in to find Isobel and Marlene already seated, Marlene’s eyes trained on the computer screen in front of her.

Isobel looked furious, and she stirred her decaf coffee violently. Harry rose his eyebrows as he sat down across from his cousin, along with Louis, Zayn and Liam. That left Niall, who squashed himself in next to Marlene, a self-satisfied grin on his face. Louis rolled his eyes, surprised when he realised his hands had balled themselves into fists.

What the hell is wrong with me? he wondered.

Harry’s little sister sighed heavily, and drained her cup in one go. “Marlene is trying to decide what classes to take next year. She refuses to listen to me when I tell her to defer a year. She says her mum’ll be pissed.”

Marlene looked up briefly from her searching, bags under her eyes. “I gotta decide before the month is out, or Mum’ll be furious and I’ll never hear the end of it.” She rubbed her eyes before adding another teaspoon of sugar into her coffee. “I’ve been up all night – after arguing with Mum for four hours – and I still have no fucking clue what I’m going to do with my life.”

Zayn murmured his order to the waitress who had appeared at his shoulder, and turned his gaze to Marlene. “Well, what do you want to do?”

Marlene sighed heavily, asking the waitress for another triple-shot latte before replying. “I don’t have a clue. Truth be told, Zayn, I don’t want to do anything. If I could just marry someone rich and famous, and live my life in luxury, giving to charities, I would. Unfortunately I can’t.” She turned her gaze to the rest of the boys. “Unless you, Louis and Niall were serious with those proposals.”

For the first time all day, her eyes had a mischievous sparkle to them.

All three boys laughed, but Louis’ was forced, and he couldn’t ignore the complex aerobatics his stomach was currently doing.

“Aye, I said I’d marry you, Marlene, and I stand by it,” Niall laughed, casually draping his arm across the girl’s shoulders. “That way, you don’t have to worry about next year – you’ll be on tour with us and married to me!”

The redhead laughed, but Louis stayed uncharacteristically silent. If looks could kill…

Marlene smiled fondly at Niall. “Thanks. That made me feel a bit better.”

Once again, she turned to face the computer, and her phone buzzed loudly just as the waitress returned with everyone’s orders. Louis recognised her as the same one from last week. She winked at him as she placed his order in front of him.

Louis smiled thinly, trying to be polite but feeling it slipping. “Well, if you had to choose, what would you want to do?” he asked Marlene, who had just answered the phone

She looked up at him, her finger to her lips, and his heart beat faster as her hazel eyes met his. He fell silent, trying to calm his erratic heartbeat, and trying to convince himself that what he felt wasn’t real.

“Yes, I’m trying to decide now, Mum,” Marlene said, her ear glued to the phone. “I’m in a coffee shop with ‘Bels, Harry and his bandmates – they’re trying to help me. No, Mum, I’m not doing bloody aromatherapy. I don’t care if you think it would be great for your business! Hired someone who’s experienced, don’t bloody well force me into it!”

Marlene’s voice has taken on a gruff quality, and Harry reached across the table, grabbing his cousin’s hand and trying to calm her. Her eyes flashed angrily. “Maybe I’ll be a teacher. Y’know, do something meaningfulwith my life?” She spat, before hanging up the phone and throwing it into her bag. “I can’t believe her! She wants me to go to uni, because it’s so goddamn important, but at the end of the day, she just wants me to work in her damn beauty shop.” Marlene looked as though she was on the verge of tears. Her eyes were sparkling, and it seemed to Louis that she was looking at him to console her. “Nothing’s my choice – it’s all what she wants.”

She took a large draught of her drink, her facial features screwed up in anger. Louis felt an almost-overwhelming urge to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

As it happened, everyone stayed silent, with no idea what to say or do. Marlene was clutching Harry’s hand as though it were a life-saver, and he did his best to hide the grimace from the pain she was causing him.

It was Niall who broke the silence. “Can I look at your phone, Mars? It’s just that me mam wants a new one, and I’m looking at all the different models before I buy her one.”

Marlene looked at him, sniffling. “What? Oh, um, yeah. Sure.” She fished her phone out from her bag and passed it to him, wiping her eyes and smiling ashamedly at the boys sitting across from her. “Sorry,” she murmured. “That was rude of me. I shouldn’t have argued with her in front of you.”

“S’alright,” Zayn replied. “She riled you up. Not your fault.”

Marlene smiled wryly, finishing her almost-cold drink. “Thanks, Zayn.”

Louis watched as Niall fiddled around with Marlene’s phone, seemingly checking out the model and what it came with. Louis knew Niall better than that, however, and it made his blood boil.

Isobel finished her drink, and looked at her cousin. “We should probably be going,” she said quietly. “I know you’ve only been here about ten minutes, but I honestly think Marlene needs to go home and sleep – she only got about an hour of sleep last night.”

“Oh, I was just starting to have fun,” Liam chipped in woefully. “But fair enough. We’ll meet up sooner, yeah? Not in a week?”

He looked hopeful, and Marlene almost felt bad for him. She’d hate being cooped up in a house like that, even if it was the X Factor house and it was live finals.

She retrieved her phone from Niall, gave Louis a small smile, and hugged Harry before Isobel and her left, leaving the boys alone in the shop.

The waitress from earlier appeared again, like a specter, her eyes glinting. “Hey, you’re that band? From X Factor, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Louis watched Marlene’s retreating form disappear around the corner. “Yeah, that’s us. What can I do for you?”

The waitress bit her lip. “You’re well fit, aint ya? Can I get your autograph?”

Louis resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the girl’s candor, and noticed the other boys doing the same.

“Sure. Who do I make it out to?”

As he signed his name, he glanced over at Niall, heat rushing to his cheeks. The Irish boy had no right to flirt with Marlene.

Louis had know her first!

… Even if she didn’t remember.