My Little Bird

Asher finally woke up at half past eleven and she trudged to the bathroom to take a hot shower. Once she had pulled on some leggings and an old tank top, she made her way down the stairs to the living room, finding her cousin watching television. Eleanor quickly changed the channel when she heard Asher coming and gave her a smile when she rounded the corner. "You do realize it's noon, right?"

Asher rolled her eyes with a grin as she collapsed onto the sofa next to her cousin. "So what are we watching?"

The older girl casually slid the remote control to her other side, away from Asher's reach. "Does it matter? You've hardly watched television in this century anyway."

"That's true," she laughed.

"Where did you get those leggings by the way? They're awesome!"

"Um...Goodwill?"

"Seriously?"

"All my clothes come from thrift stores. Mom and Dad hate that I go shopping there, but I usually find some pretty cool stuff."

"I may have to steal them from you sometime."

"Be my guest," Asher chuckled. "They cost me ninety-nine cents."

The next hour passed by quickly as they watched some trashy English soap opera and painted each other's nails while they updated each other on their families. Eleanor's phone buzzed almost continuously with texts from her boyfriend the entire time their nails were drying, but when it started shrilly ringing, she got up from her spot on the sofa and went into the kitchen to answer it.

Asher picked up her own phone from the sofa cushion next to her thigh and she scrolled through her old text messages while she waited. It was only a few minutes before Eleanor rejoined her in the living room, a guilty look on her face as she sat down on the arm of the chair. "So......"

Asher glanced up from her phone questioningly. "So?"

"Well, Louis still has two friends that you haven't met yet."

"And?"

"Well, they've all sort of invited themselves over." Eleanor gave her an apologetic look. "I know we were just going to have a relaxing girls' day. I'm really really sorry!"

Asher chuckled as she leaned up to set her phone on the coffee table in front of her. "El, it's fine really. We can do that anytime. I'd like to meet them."

"I promise I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow, it'll just be us all day, with no boys at all! Not even a phone call."

"Sure you can go that long without Lou?" she joked.

A loud knock resounded through the living room and both girls looked toward the door as it swung open and five bodies poured inside, immediately shedding their coats and making themselves comfortable in the seats surrounding Asher.

"That was fast," she commented as Niall flopped down onto the sofa right next to her.

"We were just across the street at the record store," Zayn replied, taking the empty spot on her other side.

"Well then it's lucky we didn't just pretend we weren't here."

Niall threw his arm over the back of the sofa behind her head and grinned. "Ah, come on, you know you wanted t' see us again!"

"Ash, this is Harry, and that's Liam," Eleanor said, patting the shoulder of the curly haired boy sitting in the chair next to where she was standing, then pointing to the other boy sitting next to Louis on the loveseat. "Lads, this is my cousin, Asher." Liam gave her a warm smile as he greeted her but Harry only glanced up from his phone to give her a quick nod of acknowledgment.

"So, ladies, what are we doing today?"

"Well, it was a girls' day before you came along. So basically gossip and manicures and shit tv I've never heard of," Asher answered, gesturing to the television set, which was turned onto a quite popular tv program.

"You've never heard of this?" Niall asked surprised.

Eleanor laughed to herself while Asher simply shrugged her shoulders. "I just don't watch tv."

"Wait, you don't watch tv? Like at all?"

"I don't think I have since about 2004."

"Go ahead and ask her what's the last film she watched," Eleanor added with a grin.

All five boys turned their attention to her curiously and she chuckled to herself as she ruffled her still damp hair. "Um....the first Harry Potter."

"What?!" they all asked simultaneously, shocked looks on their faces.

"That was over ten years ago!" Niall exclaimed.

"Alright, I guess we know what we're doing today," Louis decided. "We've got to catch you up on the best films of the past decade!"

"That's going to take longer than a day," she replied, obviously finding their reactions amusing. Liam, Niall, and Louis all got up from their spots to pick from Eleanor's movie collection on the bookshelf. Once each of them had decided on a few, Niall returned to his seat by Asher and Liam lay down in the floor to let Eleanor have his spot. Asher pulled her hair up into a messy knot on top of her head and curled her legs up under her body as Louis put the movie into the dvd player and turned off the lights. With the curtains also closed, the room became completely dark.

About halfway through the second movie, she started to get antsy. She wasn't very good at sitting still for so long, which was partly the reason why she hadn't seen a movie in years. She slouched down in her spot, propping her crossed ankles up on the coffee table in front of her and folding her arms in her lap. Her fingers mindlessly tapped out a rhythm against her thighs.

"Need a break already?" Zayn asked her, noticing her fidgeting.

"Just not used to sitting still for this long."

Eleanor got up to pause the movie and she turned back to her guests. "Anybody thirsty?"

"I'm starving," Asher groaned dramatically, letting her head fall against the back of the sofa. "Please tell me we can get some food soon." The boys all heartily expressed their agreement and she looked to her cousin, obviously pleased with their reaction.

"There's a great chinese place just a block down the street," Eleanor suggested. "We could get some delivered?"

"Actually, I'd like to get out for a few minutes. I can go pick it up."

"Are you sure? That's going to be a lot to remember. Here, I'll write it down for you," Eleanor offered, grabbing Asher's notebook and a pen from the coffee table. She took down all of the boys' orders before adding her own at the bottom. She collected everyone's money before handing it all to Asher, with the list.

Asher picked up her bag from the floor by the sofa and stuffed the money inside it before running upstairs to pull on some boots and grab one of her most comfortable oversize sweaters. She pulled her sweater on, not bothering to button it as she slung her bag across her body. She dug her sunglasses out of her bag and slid them onto her face before heading for the door.

"Hey, wait up. I'll come with you."

She turned on her heel to look back at the group just as Harry rose from his seat and grabbed his jacket, pulling it on. She was absolutely clueless as to why he wanted to tag along with her when he hadn't spoken a word since they'd arrived, instead keeping his eyes glued to the screen of his phone for most of the time.

"You sure that's a good idea, Haz?" Louis mumbled to his friend, so quietly that Asher didn't hear him. Harry only shrugged as he crossed the living room and met her at the door, following her outside the flat.

They walked down the street side by side, completely silent. Harry had pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his coat pocket and slid them quickly onto his face, not so much because it was that sunny outside, but more so because the possibility of being recognized was slightly less likely.

The restaurant wasn't very busy, but that could have been because it was only ten minutes past four- not exactly prime dinner time. But they hadn't eaten a thing all day and the boys wouldn't have lasted much longer without food, especially Niall.

Harry took the list from Asher's hand and simply handed it to the man behind the counter, who nodded and disappeared to the kitchen with it. "We always order a ton when we come here. They're used to it by now," he explained simply and he took a seat in one of the red leather chairs lined up by the takeout counter.

Asher let out a heavy sigh as she sat down in the seat next to him, crossing one leg over the other as she pulled her phone from her bag. She frowned at the screen which told her that there were still no missed calls or texts, and he immediately noticed. "Something wrong?"

She glanced at him then back at her phone as she shoved it back into her bag quickly. "No, nothing. Just....a little surprised I guess." He raised his eyebrows in question, beckoning her to continue. "I've been gone for a week now, and I haven't heard from my family at all."

"Maybe they're just tryin' to give you some space?" he offered.

Asher shook her head and smiled sadly. "They're probably just glad I'm out of their hair honestly."

Harry didn't have any reply for that. He began to chew on his bottom lip while she became absorbed in her own thoughts and they settled back into silence for the next few minutes until the man returned to the counter with their food. Asher quickly dug the money out of her bag and handed it to the man while Harry picked up both of the bags. He held the door open as she walked outside first, immediately sliding her sunglasses back over her eyes.

"Want me to carry one of those?" she asked, holding out a hand as they set off back to Eleanor's flat.

"It's alright, I got it."

Asher glanced over at him but he just seemed preoccupied with getting back to the flat as soon as possible. A flash went off from somewhere on her left side and she immediately turned her head to see where it had come from, but Harry just pretended that he hadn't seen anything. "Did you see that?" she asked, quickening her pace to keep up with him.

"See what?" he replied, brushing it off. Of course the others had informed him that Asher had no clue who they were and he wasn't about to spoil that by explaining that it was probably paparazzi who had just snapped a photo of the two as they walked down the street.

"Never mind," she mumbled, convincing herself that it must have been all in her head.

They made it back to Eleanor's flat quickly and Eleanor helped Asher pass out everyone's food while Harry sat down next to Louis with a heavy sigh. "How'd it go?" Louis asked him quietly.

"Only saw one, but he didn't make it too obvious. Took some pictures though. She'll be all over the tabloids tomorrow." He bit down on his bottom lip as he looked over at her, where she was sitting in between Niall and Zayn, laughing at something one of them had said.

He couldn't help but feel sorry about all the terrible things that would be said about her once that photo was published and he was thankful that at least she was completely oblivious to every last bit of it.