The Best Thing

I slowly open my eyes to find it was morning, the sun shining brightly through the window. A groan slips from my lips as I turn over and bury my face back into the pillow, wanting to fall back asleep. What time is it? I think to myself as I continue to lie there for the next few minutes. I finally decide to get up after a few minutes because I couldn’t fall back asleep. I grab my cardigan and pull it on because I was cold. That’s when I realize what time it was, thanks to the digital clock on the table beside the bed; it was 9:30 am.

From the looks of it, it still seemed pretty early and I just wanted to fall back asleep but I couldn’t. I walk over to the dresser and grab some jeans along with a clean shirt and undergarments before I change into them. I apply some deodorant as well as run a comb through my hair and brush my teeth. I wasn’t quite thrilled to be going around in just my pajamas around five teenage boys, even if one of them is my cousin, so I decided to change. After I change into my outfit, I decide to go downstairs and fix myself a nice hot cuppa tea to wake myself up.

As I make my way down the stairs, I hear a few of the guys yelling some nonsense in the living room. What the hell is going on? It was still too early for me, even at 9:30 in the morning. I roll my eyes and continue on down the stairs. I make my way across the hard wood floor toward the kitchen, the bottoms of my feet cold to the touch but it felt good.

I laugh softly to myself as I walk toward the kitchen, my arms crossed over my chest because I was still cold even in my cardigan I wore. I hear a few familiar voices talking when I enter the room. As I look up, a smile overtakes my face when I see my Aunt Karen standing there with Sophia and Ruth, one of Liam’s sisters, one of my other cousins whom I haven’t seen in a few years.

“Monroe!! Come here, love! It’s been years, oh how I’ve missed you!” Ruth exclaims with a smile and comes forward, and pulls me into a hug. I can’t help but smile as I come forward and embrace her in a hug.

“Missed you too, Ruthie. How’ve you been, love?” I ask as we part from the hug.

“Been pretty good, how about you, Roe?” she asks with a smile as I walk over to the stove where I saw a kettle atop on the burner that looked like it was hardly touched.

“Pretty good,” I reply with a small smile as I turn to my aunt Karen to ask if I could have a mug to pour myself some tea.

She gives me a smile and tells me where they are, in the cabinet next to the sink. I go over and pull the cabinet open and grab a mug from the shelf, before setting it down on the counter. After a few minutes, I fix myself the tea I wanted, I make my way back over to the table where Aunt Karen sat alongside Ruth and Sophia talking about something.

“Monroe, do you have any plans for today?” Sophia asks as she takes a sip of her tea in a mug that was similar to mine. I look up at her and shake my head in response as I take a small sip of the hot tea.

“Haven’t really thought about it, why?” I ask as I look back at her and shrug my shoulder.

“Before you came downstairs, Ruth and I were talking about going to the mall and having a girl’s day. Liam and the guys have to do some press stuff for their new album and the upcoming tour or whatever, so they’ll be busy all day, so I thought, why not we, plus Ruth, do a little shopping? What d’you say, love?” Sophia asks and looks at me, a small smile on her face, and then over at Ruth.

I nod my head and smile a bit, “Sounds grand to me, what time are we leaving?” I ask as I take another small sip of my tea.

“Looks like we got a girl’s day ahead of us! Does eleven sound alright, when we head out?” she asks and stands up from her seat, mug in hand. I sit there and talk with Ruth for a few minutes when I notice Sophia wasn’t in the room. Bet she went to go find Liam.

I smile at the thought of her with my cousin, they were lovely together. A small smile was visible on my face as I think back to last night, when I sat with Zayn at the bar. Yeah, we talked a bit, but there are still some things that are pretty questionable and mysterious about him. I was determined to find out what it was, whatever it could be, why he was quiet with some things. I’ll find it all out in due time, I guess.

There was a crash that came from the other room, where the guys were, I presume. Pretty soon, the boys are laughing and yelling some nonsense, which catches each one of us off guard. The living room wasn’t far from the kitchen, a wall separating the two. Ruth, Aunt Karen and I look at each other before laughing a bit and rolling our eyes.

I stand up from my spot and set my cuppa down on the counter and kindly excuse myself so I could go see what was going on in there. She just laughs and tells me to go on. My eyebrows crease together as I walk into the living room.

“What’s goin’ on in here?” I ask, a confused look still etched on my face as I look over at Liam and Sophia, who was trying to hide her embarrassment.

The guys couldn’t stop laughing; only getting louder as I look at each of them. I soon get an answer to confirm my question when I look over at my cousin to see him trying not to crack a small smile. My eyes go wide once they land on what they were all laughing at and I try to hold back my laughter by moving a hand up to my mouth. Right in plain sight, someone, I’m presuming Sophia, spilled her tea on Liam’s lap, which was soaked from tea.

“Shut up, will you?” Liam calls trying to hide his smile as he leans over to Sophia, who was looking at the floor, cheeks a light pink color. He whispers something to her and she smiles a bit and nods her head. Liam presses a kiss to her cheek and stands up.

“Sophia came in here and Niall was trying to grab her cuppa tea from her and then it fell on me since she was beside me, with Niall on the other side o’ her,” Liam replies as he hurries toward the stairs so he could change, covering the noticeable spot on his pants.

“Why’d you do that, blondie?” I joke as I come over and take the spot where Liam sat previously.

“I wanted more tea and didn’t feel like getting up to get it so I thought I’d ask Sophia if I could have hers instead,” he says with a smile and a chuckle.

“Hey! You’re a blonde, too!” Niall calls back, crossing his arms over his chest. I laugh a bit and shrug my shoulders.

“Mornin’ love,” Louis says with a smile. The other guys mumble a ‘hello, love’ or a ‘morning’, Zayn included before turning back to whatever game they were playing. Every so often, I could see him looking at me from the corner of his eye before going back to his game, a slight hint of a smile.

“Morning,” I reply with a smile and turn to Sophia and smile. She sent me a small smile in return and we begin to talk for a few minutes. After a few minutes, I feel hands resting on my shoulders, which make me jump in place. Ever since I can remember I‘ve always been jumpy when I’m caught off guard and not expecting something. I turn to find Liam standing there, a laugh vibrating through his chest.

“You’re an idiot, Li,” I tell him with a smile.

“Always know how to scare ya, babe,” he says and puts one of his arms to rest on my shoulder and rests his other arm on Sophia’s along with his head, which I thought was cute. They were too adorable. He presses a kiss to her cheek.

I sit there and chat with the guys and Sophia for the next few minutes and discuss our plans for the day. The guys had some stuff to do with the band and I was going to spend the day with Sophia and Ruth. A few more minutes go by and I decide to head up to finish getting ready since we were going out. It was already a little after ten fifteen and we were heading out around eleven.

As I head for the stairs and begin to climb them, I hear footsteps trailing close behind me. I soon make it to the top of the stairs and turn to see Sophia standing there, a smile on her face.

“What?” I question softly with a small smile.

“What’s with you and Zayn? I saw how he kept looking at you every so often,” she asks her voice quiet, the smile never leaving her face as she pulls me away from the stairs where they couldn’t hear us. I shrug my shoulders and feel a small smile make its way to my face as she grabs my wrist and pulls me toward her room she shared with Liam. After slamming the door shut, she looks at me, a wide smile on her face.

“Tell me, you’re smiling, love,” she exclaims and takes a seat on the edge of the bed. I shake my head as I look at her. Nothing really happened…we just talked, that’s all. I hear the voice in my mind speak but I can’t bring myself to let the words spill out of my mouth.

“Tell you when we head out,” I mumble before heading to the door and reaching for the handle.

“Fine, I’m anxious now,” she exclaims with a smile.

I just smile a bit and roll my eyes as I exit the room and shut the door so she could get ready. I head toward the room I was staying in so I could grab some of my things to fix myself up before we leave. That’s when I realize I left it in the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to lug it in there each time. It takes me a good five minutes or so but I brush my teeth to get the smell of tea off my breath and reapply my deodorant.

By the time I finish getting myself ready, I grab my purse and pull on a floral jumper over the shirt I wore. Along with my denim jeans, I wore my Toms on my feet. With my over the shoulder purse in resting on one of my shoulders, I make my way downstairs so we could get going. Sophia gives Liam a quick kiss before the three of us, Ruth included, head out and are on our way.