My Little Bird

"Asher, darling, it's time to get up!"

Asher mumbled a protest and rolled onto her back, her eyes slowly opening to meet the harsh brightness of the day. Eleanor stood at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips. She looked between the alarm clock on the nightstand and her cousin. "El, are you out of your mind? It's 7am!"

"Come on, Ash! It's your first full day here! There's so much to show you!"

"But I'm so tiiiired," she whined, pulling her pillow over her head.

Eleanor crossed her arms over her chest. "Zayn's downstairs with Louis and I could always have him come up to try to convince you."

Asher uncovered her head and glared at her cousin. "Fine. I'm up."

"Good! See you downstairs in thirty minutes?"

"Yeah, sure," she grumbled, dragging herself out of bed.

"Oh, and I just checked the weather. It's supposed to be warm today."

Asher mumbled to herself something like "warm, my ass" as she shuffled into the bathroom to take a shower. Once she had showered and dressed for the day, she made her way downstairs where there was no one but Eleanor. "That was mean."

"Well, how was I supposed to get you out of bed otherwise?"

Asher frowned as she quickly put her hair into a messy side braid. "Okay, what the hell are we doing today that I had to get up so early?"

"Well, first we're going to have breakfast with the boys and then we're going to show you around!"

"Boys?"

"Yes. Louis has another friend who's dying to meet you. Apparently Zayn was very chatty when he got back from dinner last night."

Asher crossed her arms over her chest, an amused smile playing on her lips. "Really?" It pleased her that someone like Zayn was apparently so excited about spending time with her that he went back to his friends and talked about her to the point that the friend wanted to spend time with her too. She wasn't used to it.

"Yes, really. Now come on or we'll be late. I told them to meet us at 8 o'clock."

As the two girls strolled down the sidewalk to the cafe where they were meeting the boys, Asher took in her cousin's outfit of the day. The older girl wore a dark green dress with nude-colored flats and matching cardigan. Her hair was perfectly curled and her makeup looked almost professional. She caught Asher staring and she furrowed her eyebrow. "What?"

"How the hell do you look so put together?"

"Simple. I got up three hours ago to get ready."

"And here I am with no makeup on, too lazy to actually do something pretty with my hair, and wearing the most comfortable dress I own with five dollar flip flops I bought at Logan's Beach Shack."

Eleanor laughed, throwing her arms around her cousin's shoulders. "I've missed you so much, Ash."

"Careful. You don't want to be associated with this in public," she joked.

Eleanor shook her head with a grin and stopped walking, pulling on Asher's arm. "Oh, this is it! Come on."

The two girls walked inside the small cafe and Asher was thankful that it wasn't some fancy place where she'd stick out like a sore thumb in her comfortable clothes. She followed Eleanor over to a circular table in the corner where the boys were already waiting. They both stood when the girls reached the table and they waited for them to sit down first.

The new boy was smiling brightly, with messy light blonde hair and shining blue eyes that watched every small movement she made. As she sat down, he turned to Louis and in a failed whisper exclaimed, "Zayn was right; she is fit!"

Asher looked to her cousin, who was trying to hold back a laugh. She could already tell that she was going to get on well with this boy.

"Ash, this is Niall. He's friends with Louis."

"Pleasure to meet ya," he grinned, thrusting his hand forward over the table.

She returned his smile as she shook his hand. "That an Irish accent I hear?"

"Sure is! And you're American! Zayn told me all about you. He didn't shut up for two hours!"

The blush on her cheeks was unmistakable and Niall laughed at her embarrassment. The waiter approached their table to take their order and Asher was astounded at the amount of food Niall ordered for himself. Their food arrived a very short time later, carried not by their original waiter, but a very young waitress with a bright smile and curious eyes. She almost dropped Niall's plate in his lap and then she turned right around and knocked over Asher's glass of water. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled as she cleaned it up, her cheeks blazing bright pink.

"Quite alright, love," Niall assured her with a smile. "No harm done."

She giggled flirtatiously as she grabbed the now empty glass and turned to Asher. "I'll bring you another one."

As soon as she'd disappeared into the kitchen, Asher looked around confused. There was something off about the whole exchange that had just happened but she couldn't put her finger on it. The girl was practically falling all over herself to be in Louis and Niall's presence. Maybe she just thought one of them was cute or something.

The young girl returned less than a minute later with a fresh glass of water and she set it down carefully in front of Asher.

"Thank you," Asher said politely, but the waitress wasn't even paying attention to her. She was staring somewhat awestruck at the two boys on the other side of the table. Eleanor cleared her throat and Louis looked up at her first and then at the waitress. He smiled politely at her. "Thanks, love."

She finally took the hint and left the four alone to have their breakfast. Asher was still confused at the actions of the waitress but she said nothing, instead turning her attention to the delicious french toast on the plate in front of her.