A Beautiful Mess

"Howdy partners!"

Kale and Finn both gave me confused looks.

"Um, howdy?"

My purse was tossed on the bar as I slid onto a stool. They both had white towels and were cleaning all the glasses. Their eyes went straight to my shirt and sighs emitted from their mouths.

"Toy Story, Spence? Seriously?"

"Oi, that's a damn good movie!" I exclaimed. "It's a classic!"

They rolled their eyes at me to which I flipped them the bird. Kale flipped me off while Finn snorted. "I can do sign language too," he said, flipping me off.

"Oh," I dragged out. "He's got jokes!"

He flipped me off again before going back to cleaning the glasses. Kale popped the cap off of a Root Beer and slid it across the counter. I thanked him with a grin and took a swig. Root Beer was my weakness. No one around here had it in the glass bottles like I liked, so Blake, the owner of the club, ordered a few cases just for me and had them shipped over from the US. I wasn't a favorite or anything.

"So how'd the visit to Germany go?"

And my good mood was gone.

"It blowed," I stated simply. "But I'm talking to my Dad and Pops again. And they met Niall. They think I need to date him."

That made them both laugh. My Dad and Pops were like your stereotypical dad's. They were overprotective. At times. They didn't normally like a boy enough to say that I needed to date him. So for them to say that I needed to date Niall was a shock to me and everyone who heard it. They loved Kale and Finn but never once did they say I should date them. It was quite awkward for them to say it in front of Niall though. My face, neck, and ears turned red, as did his. We were right embarrassed.

Finn let out a little whine along with a pout. "Why don't they want me and you to date?"

I almost choked on my Root Beer. "Uh, because they want to date you."

His face went from sad to repulsed to cocky. He smirked at me and then smirked over his shoulder at Kale. "Her dad's want to date me, dude."

Kale's eyes moved over to me and we both busted out laughing. Only Finn would be excited about gay guys wanting to date him. Jesus Christ. He was literally one of a kind.

"What?" He whined. "Why—don't laugh at me!"

"I'm—" Laughs. "Sorry!"


Yeah so far, it's alright, alright.

Yeah it's the way we are
We were smoking by 11 and knocking round town
Beat em' ups on my arm
We were never good at selling
Couldn't cut down

And I stay with my father, while his friends die of heart attacks
He's got a heart made of stone but he never gets cold because the sun's always on his back

I used to think you're cool and I believed you had a wonderful vision,
But I soon found out you're a terrible friend and your mother's on the television
Gives a go on your bike, how you getting along with your life
It's alright, yeah it's alright

Yeah so far, it's alright, alright, baby
Yeah so far, it's alright, alright, baby
Yeah so far, it's alright, alright, baby
Yeah so far, it's alright, alright, baby—

"You're phones going off, Spence!" Kale and his impeccable timing. He had a knack for ruining my jam sessions. The 1975 jam session was now ruined. Thanks a lot, you ass hat. "Well answer it, yeah!" I hollered back.

"Spencer is not available at the moment, so if you'd like to leave your name and number, she'll get back to you later," he spoke into my phone. "If this is that guy who sells that stuff and needs a payment for those things, call back and I'll pick up on the third ring."

I tossed a pen at him. He dodged it, leaving my phone held up to his ear. It never failed. He always had stupid stuff to say when he answered my phone. "Drugs are bad, sir."

"Kale!" I shouted. "Quit telling random people that I do drugs!" Finn snuck up behind him and snatched my phone from him, tossing it across my living room to me. That started a hitting war. They were worse then children, I tell you. With a shake of my head, I held the phone up to my ear. "'Ello?"

"Was that the lads you work with? If you're at work I can call you back later."

I chuckled. "Nah, I'm not at work. What'd you call for Mr. Horan?"

"Just to see if you wanted to hang out. Me and the lads were going to stay at mine and watch the footie match and order take-away," he spoke.

Aw. He was inviting me over to his place. How cute. And he sounded all nervous. I didn't really want to turn him down, but I had mixes to make and tweak. But maybe they could come over to my flat and hang. I had my big tv and Kale and Finn could keep them company for a while.

"I have mixes to make," I spoke. He didn't have to make a sound for me to know he was upset. "But you lot could come to my place? Kale and Finn are here."

"Are you sure? I don't want to bother you while you're working on mixes."

"It's fine, Ni. Keeps my mind off of things." I told him my address and the code to the parking garage, before bidding him goodbye and hanging up. "Finn, order five large pizzas from that place down the road. Niall and his mates are coming over."

Finn smirked. "Inviting the boyfriend over, yeah?"

Kale let out a chuckle. "Didn't you sleep with one of his band mates?"

A blush appeared on my cheeks. That made them both start teasing me and laughing. "Oh my god, you did! Which one was it?" Finn questioned.

"Was it that one bloke who had a thing with that lady who's old enough to be his Mum? And didn't he have a thing with that one lass who sings country but it's not really country? What's her name?"

"Taylor Swift."

"Ahh! It is! You totally shagged him!" Kale exclaimed. "Bloody hell, Spence! You move from one to the other. At least they're good looking and not total mangled face blokes."

Oh my god. Oh my god.


My parents had taken it above and beyond when I moved out on my own. They had the whole flat rewired so when someone rang the buzzer that the lights flickered on and off. There was this thing that when I set the alarm system before I went to bed, the lights would flicker brighter. It was a sight to see at night from outside the building. It looked like I was having a rave inside. I got quite the laugh out of it.

So when Kale and Finn had left me alone to go get the pizza and the lights started flickering, I knew it had to be Niall and all them. So I paused my mixing, slipped off my headphones and hurried to the door. I pulled it open and came face to face with Niall and the others.

"Hey!" I greeted. "Come on in."

Niall greeted me with a hug, as did the others. Even Harry. His hands however got a little too close to my bum. I almost wanted to smack him. His hug was cut short.

"I ordered pizza, hope that's okay," I spoke.

"Please tell me you got supreme pizza?" Louis asked. I grinned. "Not only that, but I also got a pudgy pie."

They all sent me looks of confusion. "Pudgy pie?"

I almost moaned just thinking about it. "It's this self rising flakey pizza crust with an apple streusel kind of topping, with cream cheese frosting melted and drizzled on top. It's heaven in your mouth."

With nods, they all scattered around the living room. I handed Liam the remote and told him he could change it to whatever he wanted. I then went into the fridge and looked over my shoulder. "I have water." I signed water. "Beer." I signed beer. "Pop." I signed pop. "And apple juice." I signed apple juice.

They all chimed in on what they wanted. I got them all beers and skillfully carried them in the living room. I got a thanks from each of them, but when I got to Niall he signed thank you. It made my heart speed up to be honest. He learned sign language for me. It may have only been thank you, but he still took the time to learn it. Nobody had ever done that before. Sure Ronnie had, but with her it was different. She was my best friend and with Niall, he was... I don't know what he was, but it was different.

"Nice place," Zayn commented. I grinned. "Thanks. It's nothing special, but it's mine."

He shook his head. "Nah, really, it's pretty nice. I almost bought a flat in this same building a few years back."

Zayn Malik living in my building. Holy cow. Talk about inner fangirl coming out. Joking. But for real. We could've had parties. And drank and smoked the days away. "I'm quite sad you didn't go through with it," I chimed. "We could've had some wicked parties, man."

He chuckled. "We can still have wicked parties. Just tell me the time and day and it'll happen, yeah."

I nodded. "For sure. My parents will have a conniption when they hear that Zayn Malik wants to party with me."

"Your Mum and Dad like me, yeah?"

Niall cracked up, as did I. I figured he would have told them by now that my parents weren't like your normal parents. I had two dads instead of a mum and dad. My family wasn't like you're normal family by any means. But that's what I liked about it. We weren't anything like Niall's family or Zayn's family or Harry's or Louis's or Liam's. We were the Faust-slash-Fossil family.

"My dads like you, yeah," I answered. His face went blank. "Dads? As in plural? Meaning..." He trailed off. Niall and I nodded.

"Woah! Boy band alert!" Kale shouted. Him and Finn burst in the front door with pizza boxes in hand. "Mass Erection in the hiz-ouse!" Finn shouted, throwing up the West Side symbol with his free hand.

"Oh my god."