Two Way Street

I woke up in the morning to a loud series of knocks. Pulling my head off the couch, I ran a hand through my hair and blinked a couple of times.

“LIAM JAMES PAYNE,” a loud voice blared from the other side of the door. “OPEN THIS DOOR.”

I groaned and got to my feet, shuffling slowly to the door. Once there, I opened the barrier, revealing the rest of the boys in the band, bearing doughnuts.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Louis greeted mockingly, smiling and pushing by me. The rest of the boys followed, each of them slamming into my shoulder.

“What…what time is it?” I asked as I rubbed my eye and settled down on my kitchen table, where the giant box had been rested.

“Nearly eleven,” Harry answered, settling down in the seat next to me. “Mara left around, like, nine thirty or something.”

“And then we got doughnuts!” Niall exclaimed excitedly. He leaned over me and grabbed a honey dipped doughnut out of the box, grinning like a maniac.

I took a chocolate frosted one for myself and leaned back in the chair. “And then you decided to wake me up and invade my flat?”

“Of course,” Zayn chuckled. “And can I just point out that I was the first one up today? So will you guys stop calling me the lazy one in interviews?”

“Nope,” Louis replied. “Because you can still fall asleep anywhere in the entire world. And you’ll never be able to live it down.”

Zayn sighed without saying anything else, taking another one of the seats.

Louis, the last one standing, looked around a while before shrugging and climbing onto the top of the table, sitting Indian-style.

“Really?” I whined at him. “Now I’ve got to wash the table because it’s all filled with Louis-bubble-butt germs.”

“Ouch,” Zayn muttered as my backup, while Niall burst out in his full-blown laugh.

“Liam,” Louis started as he turned to look at me, “that statement hurt me deep down inside.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure,” I responded sarcastically.

“Can I just point out that you said a bitingly sarcastic and borderline rude thing to Louis just there?” Harry pointed out with a snarky tone. “Which is exactly what Mara was doing all last night, and you ended up throwing a hissy fit and leaving.”

I glared at my curly-haired friend. “Shut up, Hazza. I wasn’t being mean about it. I was kidding.”

“So was she,” Niall piped up. When I turned to look at him, he stuffed more of his doughnut in his mouth, hoping that it would make him look innocent.

“What’s with that, mate?” Zayn questioned, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “You’ve always been pretty open to new people.”

I shrugged and swallowed the clump of doughnut that was partially caught in my throat. “It’s just…I dunno. Her humor seems really cutting to me. Are you saying that none of you were insulted?”

“Personally, I was turned on,” Harry spoke up.

Louis leaned over at hit the other boy off the top of the head, giving him a dangerous glare. “Didn’t I say that you were not allowed to flirt with her?”

“I seem to recall you saying that, yeah.”

“And I meant it.”

Niall rolled his eyes and turned back to me. “Really, though, you can’t take what she says so seriously. She’s just trying to fool around.”

“Word choice, Niall,” Zayn snickered.

Niall groaned. “Kid around?”

“Better,” Zayn nodded.

“Okay, good. She’s just trying to kid around with us. You know, like friends are supposed to do?”

“That’s all well and good,” I responded, my voice taking on a slightly offended tone, “but I still feel like she’s attacking me. I mean, Wet Mop? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Well,” Harry spoke up, “I think she’s referring to the fact that, around her, you have the personality of a wet mop.”

I groaned and smacked my forehead against the table. “Am I still not supposed to be offended?”

“It’s alright, mate,” Louis encouraged me, patting my shoulder. I sat back in my chair and looked up at him. “I talked to her. She’s going to try toning it down a little bit. She really didn’t mean to insult you. And she seemed kind of upset that you were hurt by it.”

“What?” My eyebrows shot to my hairline in shock.

“Yeah. She just wants all of you like her, and she’s afraid that you hate her.”

“I don’t hate her,” I mumbled, sighing. “I don’t know her well enough to hate her. And if I stuck around, I was afraid I was going to get to that place.”

“She’s really a nice bird,” Niall stuck up for Mara. “After Lou talked to her last night, she was loads of fun.”

“And she smells nice,” Harry encountered. “Her hair smells like lavenders.”

The boys all snorted with laughter, while I sighed. “Okay, okay. Fine. I’ll try giving her another chance. But I swear, if she makes one more sarcastic remark at me that wounds me on a personal level…I’m not going to give her any more opportunities.”

“I knew you’d come around,” Louis grinned.

Slowly, something dawned on me. “Wait…did you bring over doughnuts to try to win me over?!”

Harry snickered and ruffled my already screwed-up hair. “And they call me the slow one.”