My Little Bird

Harry just stared at the photo on his laptop screen.

Ever since the paparazzi had taken to photographing Asher every time she stepped outside, he had found himself checking every day for new articles. He knew that it wasn't helping anyone to read what people were saying about her, but he couldn't help himself. He always ended up angry with what he read, but he still checked every morning.

Today there weren't any articles about her, but there were plenty of photos of her with Liam after they'd left Harry's flat the day before. It seemed that the cameras had followed them everywhere they went. There were pictures of them walking arm-in-arm down the street, having lunch at a little deli, and later hanging out in the park with Zayn and his girlfriend.

Harry wasn't sure why he felt a twinge of jealousy in his chest at the sight of his mate's arm draped loosely over Asher's shoulders as they sat on a blanket in the empty park. Of course he liked Asher as a friend; she was a genuinely nice girl and she was fun to spend time with and she was very pretty. But she was Eleanor's cousin and she was only visiting for the summer and she was off limits.

"Babe?" Harry's head turned at the sleepy voice coming from the hallway. Abigail leaned against the wall, her body barely covered by his tee shirt and a smirk on her face. "Come back to bed. I'm not nearly done with you."

He quickly closed the tab and shut off the computer before getting up from the sofa and following Abby back down the hall to his bedroom, all thoughts of Asher momentarily forgotten.

---

As soon as Asher rolled out of bed, she stretched her limbs and pulled a pair of shorts on under her sweater then slid into some slippers to protect her feet from the cold hardwood floors as she went downstairs. Niall was sitting on the sofa across from Louis and Eleanor, who were sharing the loveseat, and Harry was sitting in the chair across from him. Niall looked up when she entered and grinned as she shouted a greeting at her.

"Ash, it's almost 2pm," Eleanor chided gently.

"I was out late with Perrie and Zayn," she shrugged in reply. Liam had gone home around eleven the night before because he had to be up early for a radio interview so she spent the rest of her time with Zayn and his girlfriend, whom she had immediately hit it off with.

"They didn't let ya get too pissed, did they?"

Asher laughed at Louis's question and shook her head. "They were great. I really like Perrie. We're having lunch tomorrow." She pulled her feet up into the seat with her, crossing her ankles and bringing her knees to her chest. "I am a little hungover though."

She could feel Harry staring at her and she felt awkward, remembering the way things had happened the day before. She hadn't meant to make Abigail angry and she really hoped that she hadn't gotten Harry into much trouble with his girlfriend. But then, Asher looked around the room and noticed that he had come alone. She wanted to ask where Abby was but she refrained out of sheer awkwardness.

The others had already asked him when he arrived at Eleanor's flat and he informed them that she had a business meeting with her agent, but that she would be joining them for dinner. The truth was all four of the other boys, plus the others' girlfriends, plus Harry's own family absolutely hated the girl. She was arrogant, rude, and pretentious. When Liam had informed them that Abby was back from New Zealand, he was met with a collective groan from his mates. But of course Asher didn't know that. She was only worried that Abby didn't like her.

Eleanor put on the television to some horribly made drama series which at least took care of the weird silence in the room and pretty soon, Niall went back to jabbering on like he had been before Asher had joined them. She stretched out her legs and slouched down in her seat, folding her hands over her ribs; she was so lost in thought that she didn't know that Niall was speaking to her until she felt his fingers brush over her thigh.

"Huh?"

"I said what the fuck are these dots on your leg?"

Her eyes flashed down to her right thigh where Niall's hand rested, pointing to a cluster of the tiny stars inked into her skin there. "Oh," she smiled. "They're stars. They form the Cygnus constellation."

"A constellation," he repeated unsurely.

"My favorite constellation," she clarified. Her eyes drifted toward the boy in the chair across from her and she found his bright green ones staring right back at her. She gave him a small smile and shook her head while Niall chuckled at the fact that she even had a favorite constellation. She'd had that reaction before.

Eleanor's account of Asher's parents' reactions to the tattoo prompted an entire conversation on her family and her life at home, which turned into her spending over two hours answering their questions and telling stories. Louis pointed out her athletic shorts that bore her university's name up the sides, which then caused them to ask even more questions. She could feel Harry's eyes on her the entire time she spoke and it set her on edge. It wasn't like he was just looking like the rest of them were; she could feel his eyes and when they slid from her face downwards, she felt her skin heating up.

Niall suddenly abandoned all previous conversation, looking pointedly at his two mates. "What's for dinner? 'M starvin'," he said, rubbing his hand over his stomach for added emphasis.

Louis shrugged his shoulders, glancing over to his girlfriend. "We could all go out?"

Eleanor's eyes flickered to her cousin unsurely before she slowly nodded her head. "That could be fun. We can go to the Italian place if that's okay with everyone?" Niall and Asher both heartily agreed to the idea of lots of pasta, but Harry said nothing. Eleanor looked over at him, her eyebrows raised in question. "Harry? Will Italian be okay with Abby?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine with her."

"Ash, you do realize that going to dinner will require you to actually take a shower and get dressed in something besides sleepwear."

Asher gave her a cousin her best surprised face followed by a laugh. "Shit, I don't know if I want to go now. I'm just so comfy and warm. Maybe I'll stay home and order in."

"Asher Caroline Maxwell, are you telling me that you are so lazy you aren't even willing to put on decent clothes to go out and have a meal with your friends?"

"Sorry, El," she shrugged, a grin slowly appearing on her face. "I actually am that lazy. Plus I think I'm still a little hungover. I just want to lie here and eat and do nothing else."

"Actually, that doesn't sound half bad," Niall decided, looking at his friends.

Asher's head turned to the side to face him. "Are you going to stay here and be lazy with me?"

"I might," he replied, giving her a grin to match her own.

Eleanor rolled her eyes as she rose to her feet, smoothing out her blouse. "You are certainly two of a kind. Are you absolutely certain you would rather stay here than go out with us?" Asher looked over at Niall, who nodded enthusiastically, before giving her cousin a shrug. Eleanor shook her head at the two as she went into the kitchen to grab her purse. "Impossible, both of you," she muttered as she passed by them on her way to the door.

"Looks like I got myself a date with an Irishman!" Asher exclaimed, elbowing Niall in the side with a wink.

He threw his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a tight side hug. "Never had a date with an American bird before! This oughtta be a laugh!"

Louis shook his head, obviously amused by the two, as he followed his girlfriend to the door and Harry got up from his seat last, taking one more look back at the two on the sofa who were laughing at something, not even noticing that he had left the room.