Crooked

"Cass," whined Harry from inside the tour bus, where he and Niall were currently playing Call of Duty. They were sitting in front of the TV, their eyes glued to the screen as if their lives depended on it.

I sighed. "Yeah?"

"Get me a bottle of water, will you?" I raised my eyebrows at him, not liking the tone he was using with me. Zayn, who was boredly watching the game, leaned over to slap the back of Harry's head.

"Please," he added quickly, his soulful brown eyes momentarily locking with mine before glancing down at the game again.

I smiled and headed for the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and also a Coke Zero for Niall. We had only been on the bus for forty-five minutes, but already I had been accustomed for Niall's hearty appetite. A Coke Zero was bound to make him less hyper -- or rather, less hyper than usual. Plus I knew that as soon as Niall would see Harry's bottle, he would suddenly claim that he needed something to eat. Typical Niall.

"We should be at Angie's in fifteen minutes," Liam announced, pulling out the map he had printed out on the computer at Simon's office. After Simon had announced that I was to be the boys' new assistant, I had piped up and asked whether I could bring Angie along, or at least, meet up with her and tell her I was in her motherland. I wasn't sure whether Angie would want to come with, for she was keen on studying and following her dreams. On the other hand, it wasn't every day one got the opportunity to tour with a famous band. Yes, I may not have known them much previously, but after knowing of their one hit song it was safe to say that I had become a fan. I wasn't going to be telling them that any time soon.

I sighed again, contently this time. I had missed Angie too much for words, and I couldn't wait until I'd get to see her awesome self again.

"Thank God," I confided in Liam. "The levels of testosterone were too high for me to handle in such a long period of time."

"It's only been an hour or so," Liam replied, confused.

I winked at him. "Exactly."

---

"Is Angie single?" Harry asked bluntly as the tour bus came slowly to a stop.

"Yeah," I replied, smiling, "but don't bother."

"Is she a challenge?" Zayn questioned, rubbing his hands together. "I like a good challenge."

"Please." I sniffed. "Angie is way too good for the both of you."

"Damn it!" Harry protested, throwing his hands up in the air angrily. "Why is everyone too good for me?"

“Aww,” I couldn’t help but smile as I ran my fingers through Harry’s curly locks. “Don’t take it personally. Angie is one hell of a girl and I just wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Me get hurt?” He replied incredulously. Zayn shot him a warning look, but Harry continued on. “If anything, she’d be the one getting hurt, not me-”

“Another reason why’d you be all wrong for her,” Louis said, smiling. “If Cassie’s a hard ass, what makes you think her friend’s going to be like that too?”

I smiled proudly. I may be a hard ass when it came to guys but fortunately for me, Angie was one of those types as well. It was one of the reasons why we were such close friends; I didn’t let boys distract me – or tried not to, while Angie was too focused on her career to date. She was currently focusing her time to help others, through the British branches of PETA, an organisation that attempted to stop the cruelty of animals in science and other fields. She had originally wanted to be a vet, but after watching those videos online of stupid owners treating their dogs like shit, she felt the need to make a change. I understood how she felt, but in all honesty I was way too lazy to commit to something, much less do something about anything.

Hence the reason why I deferred for a year, can you spell lazy?

“We’re here!” Liam announced loudly, distracting everyone from their thoughts. The tour bus pulled to a stop, where it stood in front of a gorgeous red-brick apartment complex. Angie had told me she lived off campus with a few friends she met from college. Excitedly, I flung open the door and entered through the large doors of the complex, seeing my best friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Angie!” I squealed, practically jumping into her arms for a long awaited hug. She looked a little different from the last time I had seen her. Her old hairstyle of a clean cut bob had now extended to curly locks that just passed her shoulders. She had also lost some weight, with her cheekbones becoming more prominent than usual. Angie was never fat, but she did have curves that I was envious of. I was stuck with an athletic body, while hers was more full and curvaceous. Boys loved curves. Athletic bodies, not so much.

“Wow.” She pulled away from me to get a good look. “You look amazing. Have you been working out?” I raised an eyebrow at her questioningly until we both burst out into fits of laughter. Angie knew I didn’t work out. Well, sometimes I went on runs, but that was only because I liked to stalk celebrities and in order to meet them, I’d drag Angie along to go to strange places that required us to move around frequently. She suddenly stopped laughing, and my eyebrows drew together in concern.

“Something wrong?”

Her mouth flew open as I turned around. The boys stood there guiltily, I had told them twice for them to stay in the tour bus until I decided they could come in. I couldn’t help but notice the bright rays of sunshine that hit Niall’s face, causing his beautiful blue eyes to sparkle in the daylight.

Wait. What was I thinking? Niall’s eyes weren’t beautiful. Snap out of this, woman!

“Angie.” I turned back to my best friend, who quickly closed her mouth but stared at me wonderingly. “This is One Direction. They’re a band, did you know that?”

“I was the one who gave you your ringtone,” Angie whispered, and I had to lean forward to hear her voice. “These guys are huge here. Actually, one of my roommates got me into them..”

Well, that cleared up why Angie was acting weird. She was a fan, and judging by her expression, a big one at that. I face the guys again.

“Boys, meet Angie, my best friend. Just because she is a fan, doesn’t give you a right to use your charm which Harry-” I sent him a warning look, “-I know you’ll try and do.”

“But-”

“Don’t mess with her, Harry.” Angie spoke up, a smile on her face. “She’ll kick your ass from here to China if you even tried.”

The rest of us laughed and I fist bumped Angie in response. She may have been a fan, but she wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stand in her way.

“So what are you up to?” Angie asked suspiciously. “Why, out of all people are you with One Direction?”

After explaining to Angie what had happened to this point, she immediately jumped onto the idea of joining me on the boys’ tour, providing that she could do correspondence with her classes at Oxford. It shouldn’t be a problem, but a part of me was worried that I wouldn’t be able to see her as much as I’d liked to and that the school would not allow it. I always thought of English people as people who had sticks constantly up their asses, and if the people there wouldn’t let her go, they’d just be proving my point of how stupid some people can be.

When she asked me about where I was going to stay during this tour, it gave the boys the opportunity to show her their grand ole` tour bus, which they had designed themselves. Currently, Zayn and Harry were giving her the ‘exclusive tour’. What this consisted of I had no idea of, but Liam assured me he’d go along with so they wouldn’t be trying anything funny.

This left Louis, Niall and I on Niall’s bunk bed, where we were sitting and reading Cosmo magazine. Or rather, I was reading the magazine and Louis and Niall were sitting on both sides of me, trying to read over my shoulder.

“Girls fake their orgasms?” Louis sighed theatrically as he stretched one arm in the air. “I bet they don’t do that when they’re with me.”

“Gross,” Niall and I spoke at the same time. Grinning, I turned towards him as we both yelled, “Jinx! You owe me a Coke!” The fact that we both spoke simultaneously made me laugh, and we were soon giggling away at our immaturity. It was weird how calm I was being about this -- sitting next to Niall, I mean. The presence of Angie was making me happier than usual, and due to this, I didn’t care about anything else. Not even the fact that I was currently annoyed at Louis for reasons I couldn’t remember and he was sitting next to me with his hand reaching for my shoulder, or Niall’s sneaky arm that was wrapped around my waist.

I hated to admit this, but I kind of liked having Niall’s arm there. His presence calmed me down, as well as the fact that his fingers were doing this thing where he rubbed his thumbs into circles, making me feel things I hadn’t felt in the longest time.

I was beginning to feel something towards Niall, and though I knew in my heart I’d try to fight whatever this feeling was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to. Oh Jesus.