The Best Thing

After I finish unpacking my things, I decide to head downstairs to see what they were all doing. I still couldn’t get Zayn off my mind and that sad look in his eyes. What’s his deal and why was Liam being so…secretive about it when I asked him? It was just a simple question I had asked. I shake the thought from my mind as I continue on down the stairs.

“What is she doing here?” I heard Zayn ask to no one in particular, slight bitterness in his voice. As he spoke, he had a sad tone to his voice. I couldn’t see them, and they couldn’t see me hopefully. I rest my back against the wall quietly so I could continue to listen.

“Well, Zayn, she just wanted a new start and is staying here until she finds a place of her own, I am her cousin, after all. Why you asking anyway, mate?” I hear Liam speak in reply to his friend.

“Don’t know, Liam, gonna go out for a smoke, need some fresh air…be back later,” he says in a sharp tone, a bit of an edge to his voice. That is when I decide to slowly descend down the stairs and make my way quietly in the room without interrupting anyone, hopefully.

As I walk in the living room, Zayn rushes past me toward the back door that led out to the patio in the backyard. He didn’t even excuse himself let alone a ‘sorry’ when he ran into me. I let out a small breath and continue into the room where my cousin sat on the couch along with Sophia and the other lads.

“What um…what was that about? I didn’t…hear anything,” I say and look at Liam, a small hint of a smile on my lips. He gave me a sad smile in return.

“He…uh, he was asking why you were here, that’s all he was asking, really,” Liam replies and looks away from my eyes. I nod my head slowly. “I basically told him why you’re here, and I think you um, saw how he stormed outta here when you walked in,” he tells me and takes Sophia’s hand in his.

“Oh,” I reply.

“He just has a lot going on right now, I think, but we’re not really sure, he’s been acting strange,” Louis says as he looks over at me. For the next few minutes, I sit here and chat with the lads who ask me any and everything that comes to mind. I answer some of them. It soon turns into a round of ‘two truths and a lie’. Playing games like this to get to know people was fun. It was really an entertaining yet fun way of get to know new people.

“Later, we should all go out for a drink or two. Monroe, you’re welcome to come with us if you’d like to, love,” Niall tells us with a smile, interrupting the game. We all laugh at his comment before going back to our game of ‘two truths and a lie’.

“I’d uh…I’d love to go, it would be fun,” I reply with a smile.

“Great!”

We are all soon back in the swing of things with our game. The next fifteen minutes seem to fly by and I learn some pretty interesting truths about a couple of the lads, my cousin’s band mates, and Sophia as well. It was pretty fun and in return, they even learned a few little fun facts about yours truly, thanks to Liam who brought up that time at the zoo again. Somewhere in the midst of our game, we are interrupted by someone. Zayn stood there in front of us all, a strange look on his face, the glow of a lit cigarette in between his fingers.

“Sorry for um, interrupting whatever you lot were doing, forgot my phone,” he says and looks at each of us before walking over and grabbing the device from the coffee table. As he begins to walk out the room, Liam opens his mouth and calls out Zayn’s name.

“Yeah?” he questions and turns to face us, a confused look on his face.

“Niall thought it would be fun for all of us to go out for a few drinks later, what do ya say mate?” Liam looks over at the boy who stood there with unkempt dark hair and stubble framing his face. He stares at us with a bit of a confused look before he opens his mouth to say something.

“Sure, I’ll go, could use a drink or two,” he says and shrugs his shoulders a bit and looks at Liam. He scratches the scruff on his chin as I feel him staring at me for a minute or two before shifting his gaze to the floor away from my eyes.

“When we headin’ out?”

“Sometime later, mate, in a few hours, ‘bout nine maybe?” Liam questions looking over at the rest of us before redirecting his gaze to Zayn who stood there, tattooed arms crossed over his clothed chest, a Rolling Stone shirt covering his chest and jeans.

“Whenever it gets dark, you shoulda said instead, Li,” I tell him with a slight laugh.

“It will be dark then, Roe,” he says and pushes me a bit. I push him back.

“See you lot in a bit, goin’ to uh, call my mum,” he says and begins to make his way back toward the back door that led outside to the porch. The back door slams shut and we are met with silence. After a few minutes of silence, Niall speaks up.

“How ‘bout we finish up this game that Malik interrupted?” Niall finished a bit loudly looking at each of us. We all nod in agreement with the Irish boy with the dyed blonde hair and proceed with our game.

By the time we finish up with two more rounds of the game of ‘two truths and a lie’, I look over at the clock on the mantle to check the time. It was barely a few minutes after five, but felt much later. I still had to get used to the time difference again after not being here for so long. Plus, I was tired and this jet lag was starting to kick in. I was also hungry, that was confirmed as my stomach growls a bit loudly. Those brownies Aunt Karen made were amazing but I needed something else.

“I’m hungry,” I mutter with a chuckle and stand up from my spot on the couch, patting my stomach once. Niall’s face perked up when I said that; a wide smile was visible on his face.

“Go get something, love,” Louis says and motions for me to go. I nod and begin to make my way toward the kitchen, where I’m sure my Aunt Karen was.

“Bring me something back!” Niall yells as I turn to walk toward the kitchen. I stop in my tracks and look back at him, a slight smile on my face.

“You’re legs aren’t broken, are they?” I joke with him as I face the remaining guys plus Sophia, who sat on the couch. Sophia and Liam were talking with each other about something, smiles plastered on each of their faces. He laughs a bit at my remark and shakes his head.

It made me smile, happy that my cousin found someone he looked smitten with. I mean, yeah, he was with Danielle for quite some time but it didn’t last between them, sadly. I was glad he was happy but at the same time I was a bit jealous, he has someone to confide in. I mean, yeah, I’ve been in relationships but they weren’t really too serious. I’ve always wanted a relationship like that.

“I don’t feel like getting up, in too comfortable of a spot,” he says and crosses his arms over his chest.

“I’ll buy you a drink when we go out later if you get me some food,” he tells me with a smile. I ignore his request and continue on in to the kitchen, laughing a bit to myself and shaking my head. I walk into the kitchen to see my Aunt Karen and Uncle Geoff standing there talking, a bottle of beer in his hand.

“Monroe! Nice to see you, love, it’s been a while,” he comes forward with a smile and pulls me into a side hug. I smile and hug him back.

“Missed you too Uncle Geoff, it has been,” I tell him with a smile as we part from the hug. I mention that I came in here to find something to eat. He just laughs slightly and walks toward the doorway of the room and turns to where I stood beside Aunt Karen.

“Glad you’re here, Monroe,” he says with a smile and nod before he makes his way out of the room.

I nod my head and turn to talk to my Aunt Karen for a few minutes. After a few minutes, I ask her if they had anything to eat since I was starving. She tells me they have some things in the cabinet. I find a granola bar and decide to eat that because it sounded good to me.

I grab the granola bar and make my way back to the living room where they all were. They were all chatting about something, probably about something about going out later. I also noticed Zayn was here as well, beside Louis. It was going to be fun. I take my spot beside Liam and Harry. I tear open the granola bar and take a bite as I look over at Liam.

“What did I miss?” I ask with a small smile.

“Nothing really, just chatting about tonight is all,” Liam replies.

“Monroe, you’re free to wear something of mine tonight if you want, when we go out,” Sophia tells me with a smile as she looks over at me. I nod my head and give her a kind smile.

“Thanks,” I tell her with a smile, “After I finish this, you could show me what you got,” I finish and motion to the granola bar in my hand.

“Sounds good,” she replies with a smile.

For the next few minutes, I sit and chat with Liam and the other three boys along with Sophia, and finish my snack. After I finish my snack, Sophia and I head up to get ready for tonight. She leads me into the room she was staying in, with Liam, which was messy with clothes and such scattered over the floor. Oh typical Liam, when we were younger, his room was always a mess and I helped him clean it up most of the times whenever I was here.