Yours Truly

Three weeks later I was out of my walking boot, and finally returning home from my first day back at work. The kids, as expected, were still in a ‘summer vacation’ mindset, and were crazier than normal. My body was still in vacation mode as well, and by the time I walked into the flat, I nearly collapsed onto the couch from exhaustion. Unfortunately, I was supposed to be meeting my friend, Cristabel, for drinks soon. I trudged into the bedroom, knowing I needed to change into something nicer for the night, and jumped out of my skin when I bumped into Zayn’s bare chest. He laughed, swooping down for a quick peck, and waltzed into the walk-in closet, wearing nothing but his towel. I watched him, realizing how low the towel was sitting, and finally found my footing to follow him so I could change. He was already in a white shirt and jeans, and button up draped over his arm to put on before he went wherever he was going.

“Someone looks dapper, what’re your plans for tonight?” I asked, stripping off my clothes and tossing them into the hamper.

“Same as yours, meeting the guys and Bettie for drinks,” he said, drying his hair lightly with his towel.

“Uh, I’m meeting Cristabel,” I said, shimmying into my favorite jeggings, “We’ve had these plans for a while haven’t we?”

“More or less,” he said, laughing at my forgetfulness, “Why don’t you just have her meet us at the pub we were planning on going to? You’ve always said you wanted to try and set her up with Niall anyways.”

“I like the way you think!” I said excitedly, “We’re going to MacLarens, right?”

He nodded, heading out to style his hair, and I quickly texted Cristabel, telling her our change in plans. I pulled on a dark purple tunic, picking out a pair of flat canvas boots, and smiled when she told me she didn’t mind our change in plans. I bounced into the bathroom, telling Zayn that she would be meeting us all there, and touched up makeup quickly. I finished before Zayn, laughing at his serious face, and took the opportunity to snap a picture of his reflection in the mirror, finally snapping his gaze away. He pretended to look angry, and advanced on me, tossing me over his shoulder in one motion. I screamed, playfully hitting his back, and couldn’t help but to laugh as he threw me onto the bed and fell on top of me. He leaned in to kiss me, and when he was millimeters from my lips, he let his fingers attack my side in a rush of tickles.

“Uncle!” I half yelled, half laughed hoping he would stop, “I’m going to piss myself if you don’t stop soon!”

“Tell me I’m the sexiest and best boyfriend alive,” he said, fighting back his own laugh as the words left his lips.

“You’re the sexiest and best boyfriend alive!” I shouted, trying to catch my breath when he finally stopped tickling me, “Now, since I said that, I think I at least deserve the kiss you so nicely teased me with a minute ago.”

He leaned down, softly brushing his lips against mine, and pulled me off of the bed, telling me we would be late if we waited any longer. I whined, suddenly feeling another wave of tiredness, and happily jumped onto Zayn’s back when he offered to give me a piggy back ride. I stayed on his back until we made it to the lobby, laughing at the whipping noise Bettie made when she saw us. She stood next to Liam, there arms casually draped around each other, and looked stunning as ever. She had put on what could be some of the tightest black jeans available, her short legs looking longer with the added help of cream colored pumps, and topped it all off with a shiny, brown zebra print tank.

“You look fabulous girl,” I said pulling her into a hug, “And now you’re nearly as tall as me! My midget is growing up.”

“Oh hush you,” she said, fake socking my arm, “Now let’s get this show on the road! I’m in need of some whisky shots with my best friend.”

We all walked out of the lobby, piling into the van we had ordered for the night, and settled in for the short ride to the pub we had been accustomed to visiting when they were all home. It was a hole in the wall, owned by an old Irish couple who could care less about the boys fame, and didn’t allow anything but cellphone pictures to be taken inside. We pulled into the alley behind the pub, piling out, and waited patiently as Niall pushed the bell in the ‘code’ we had settled on after our first few visits. Mr. Maclarren opened the door, grinning widely at all of us, and waved us all in, promising a round of beers to be out at our normal booth as soon as he could get them poured.

We all filed into the red leather booth, while I made sure that Niall was the only one with an open spot next to him, and grabbed a beer from the trays set in the middle of our table. We all broke off into our own conversations, mine being with Niall, and I kept letting my eyes flicker to the door in hopes of spotting Cristabel. When she finally walked in, looking slightly nervous as she glanced around the small building, I threw my arm up in a wave while calling out her name. She whipped her heads towards me, her reddish brown curls bouncing lightly, and scuttled over to us eagerly. Niall let me out, allowing me to pull her into a swift hug, but didn’t let his eyes ever fall from her face. I grinned, knowing my plan was already set into motion, and pulled her into the booth with me, letting Niall take over her open side.

“Everyone, this is my good friend, Cristabel,” I said, grabbing their attention, “Crista, this is Louis, Harry, Liam, Bettie, Niall, and you know Zayn.”

They all exchanged the normal ‘hello, how are you?’ greeting, before returning to their previous conversations. I noticed Crista trying to get my attention, but I quickly snapped my head towards Zayn, and pretended to be engrossed in the conversation he was having with Louis. I couldn’t help but to laugh, knowing Louis always told the best account of any story, and soon realized that my beer was gone, as well as Bettie’s. I pushed Zayn out of the other open side of the booth, and grabbed Bettie’s wrist, dragging her towards the mahogany bar. We had barely made it up to the surface, when the bartender on duty had six shots of whisky poured, and chasers set out for us. We thanked him, knowing we wouldn’t pay until we closed our tab, and threw back the shots quickly.

“First best friend shots of the night, done,” I exclaimed, sliding onto one of the leather stools, “Do you think we should convince the others to do some tequila shots with us?”

“Five minutes, and we’ll force them to,” she said grinning, “So, Cristabel is the girl you always say is for Niall, right?”

“Yep,” I said, popping the last letter, “She’s practically the girl version of him, minus his horrendous bodily functions, and could help him close down Nandos in one sitting. And by the looks of things, they seem to be hitting it off rather well.”

Bettie followed my gaze, and saw that the two of them were still sitting awfully close, even with the vacant seat next to them. Both of their faces held smiles, Cristabel’s accented by a slight blush, while Niall’s neck sported the same shade of red, and were talking animatedly about something we couldn’t hear. What we could hear, however, was their laughter breaking over most of the sound in the pub every now and then, before dying off as they fell back into comfortable conversation. Bettie and I shared a knowing look, knowing tequila shots were now in order, and ordered them swiftly, knowing not to get Liam or Zayn one. I let Bettie grab the tray with the drinks, knowing I would manage to drop them if I were to carry them, and I followed her with the bowl of limes and salt shakers. Louis noticed us first, piping up excitedly as we distributed the shots, and downed them without a second thought.

Those shots started off a night full of drinks, pints for the boys and hard liquor for us girls, and it didn’t take long for us to all start feeling the effects. Zayn and Liam managed to stay mainly sober, the two of them only having two pints each, and were the ones to finally tell us we were all cut off around midnight. I protested, trying to sneak with Louis to the bar for more shots, but was guided out by my wrist by Liam. I ended up in the first row of seats with Bettie and Harry, the two of them nearly as toasted as I was, and demanded our driver to put on the top 40 station as soon as he started driving. He did, and soon the three of us were singing, off key for the most part, to every single song that came on, including WMYB, surely annoying the driver.

“STOP THE CAR!” Niall shouted, somehow being louder than us three, “I want some MacDonalds!”

“ME TOO!” Crista shouted from her spot next to him.

The drivers shoulders moved in a sigh, obviously not in the mood to be dealing with drunks at the moment, and pulled into the drive-through lane. Since I was the one closest to the door, I took the liberty of getting everyone’s orders, barely remembering when it was our turn to order. Since we were in a van, I had to slide the door open, and had to hold onto the frame as I basically shouted the order into the metal box. I closed the door, allowing our driver to pull up to the window, and reopened it, gladly accepting Harry’s outstretched credit card.

“I feel like I’m in a high chase movie scene!” I said excitedly as I hung out the side of the van, “Miss, when you get the food to me, can you toss it?! I’m in an action movie!”

The middle aged woman laughed, telling me she would comply, and I eagerly awaited her to return to the window with our food. When she did, I watched her tightly roll down the tops of the bags, before opening the window, and lightly tossing the first one at me. I caught it easily, tossing it behind me and letting it hit Bettie with a thud, and proceeded to do the same with the final three bags.

“NOW DRIVE AWAY, RANJIT!” I shouted, still half hanging out of the van.

“Miss, I cannot drive away until the door is closed, it’s protocol,” he said, trying to stay calm.

“Well that’s not fun,” I huffed, pulling myself in and sliding the door closed, “Now where is my Big Mac?”

The rest of the ride was silent, sans the chewing of food, and in no time we were back in front of our building and stumbling from the van. Zayn paid the man, apologizing for our intoxicated states, and wrapped his arm around my swaying frame, leading me into the main lobby. The doorman buzzed us all in, giving us nods of hello when we entered, and turned back to the book he had been reading beforehand. The eight of us all made our way to the lifts, most of us leaning on someone for support, and bid each other goodnight as we went into our respective cubicles.