Ever Enough

Sophie Tate

"No, no, no!" Sophie cried from her spot just in front of the cash register before shoving her confirmation over the counter to the middle-aged woman. "I ordered two dozen Boo fairy cakes, one dozen coffee cupcakes, a dozen Bailey's cupcakes, a half dozen gluten free raspberry cupcakes and a loaf of white chocolate sponge! I have the confirmation right here!"

Sophie was stood in the middle of what had been called one of the best bakeries in London -Bake-a-boo- she was seriously overdressed for the after noon bakery crowd in her red romper and her peep-toe Louboutins as she pleaded with the older woman.

"I understand I'm late!"

The woman was clearly unimpressed with her pleas.

Sophie was on the verge of tears- nothing had gone right since the moment she had arrived at JFK. Her flight from New York had been delayed- two passengers had gotten into a spat before they had even had the chance to take off over someone reclining their seat too far. Once she finally did arrive in London, her driver had left for the night (understandably so- she was almost seven hours late), she had to hail a cab and find a hotel that would even rent a room past 11:00 in the evening. She walked the city for over two hours before finally finding a motel in Hackney -a Borough of London she would later find out (the hard way)- wasn't exactly the best area of town. After her adventure through London and it's less than suitable Boroughs, she finally settled into the shady motel room, where she would spend hours tossing and turning, fearing she would be late for the "bash" Simon, Lauren and one of their artists were throwing.

It was when she finally woke the next morning at half-noon, that she screamed her way out of bed, readying herself in record time for a party that started promptly in thirty-minutes.

Any hopes of making it to the party in time were shattered by the reality that Bake-a-boo had given away her order.

"There isn't anything I can do." the woman finally huffed. "You had to be here by 10:30 to guarantee we had your order available."

As the tears began to well in Sophie's tired eyes, she was suddenly thankful she had put on waterproof mascara.

"You don't understand-" she finally sobbed, hitting her proverbial "wall" she couldn't take anymore, not on four hours of sleep anyways. "my plane was late and my driver was gone and I had to stay in Hackney! I slept on a chair because I swear I saw bugs in the bed! And I was afraid I'd over sleep and I did and I've been on Simon Cowell's payroll less than a week and he's probably already going to fire me and I only came here because his girlfriend likes your raspberry gluten free and- and," she let out another sob as she wiped at her nose.

The woman looked mortified for Sophie as every other patron in the shop watched on in a horrified amusement.

"Okay! Okay!" she fended, holding up both hands. "I'll see what I can do, just calm down."

Sophie nodded as she swallowed hard in an attempt to calm her sobs.

The icing on her breakdown cake was the bottle of Dom Perignon Rose clutched tight in her left hand.

No matter how embarrassing her bakery sob fest had been, it had managed to accomplish something. Because after about ten minutes the woman reappeared with a stack of three black boxes in hand, each tied with a little pink bow.

"This is the best I can do-" the woman quipped in a less than enthusiastic tone. "four gluten free raspberry, five coffee cupcakes, three Bailey's, and sixteen Boo Fairy cupcakes."

Sophie breathed a sigh of relief before thanking the woman profusely.

Hailing a cab with a stack of cupcake boxes proved to be another feat all in itself. She weighed he options before she decided setting the cupcakes on the ground (much to he horror) was her only option.

The eleventh cab to come her way finally stopped as her arms flailed helplessly. The driver helped Sophie into the back of the tiny black cab, placing her cupcakes in the backseat next to her.

She handed the address to the man before earning a raised eyebrow.

Sophie rolled her eyes before mumbling a 'make it snappy'.

As the man merged into traffic Sophie found Simon's number, placing the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she pulled a compact from her purse, checking over her make-up.

Simon picked up on the first ring- "Sophie, oh thank God! Your driver told me you never showed last night! I've been worried sick, are you okay-"

"I'm fine Simon. Thing's were a little rough last night. but I'm on my way."

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Perrie and Zayn had agreed to host the party at their new home at the request of Simon.

"Oi!" Perrie groaned. She couldn't believe the crowd staring back at her. "What're you buggers doing here?"

Originally, it was supposed to be Simon, Lauren, Perrie, Zayn, Jesy, Leigh, and Zayn. But much to her surprise, she had Simon, Lauren, Perrie, Zayn, Jesy, Leigh, Zayn, Niall, Liam, Harry, Louis, Eleanor, and Sophia all seated throughout the living room.

"It gets better-" Zayn quipped before glaring at Niall, who (naturally) offered a cheeky smile

"What do you mean it gets blood better?" she hissed.

"Dimwit over here invited Ashton, Michael, Calum and Luke."

"What?" Niall gaped, "The lads are some of our best friends! We couldn't not invite them! That would 'ave been rude!"

Perrie fumed as the realization set in- "Oi! I can't order pizza for this many people!"

Simon raised an eyebrow before he began rubbing at his temples.

"You were going to order a bloody pizza?"

Simon had been taking a risk letting one of the girls host the party in the first place- but Perrie was the risk to end all. The poor girl had managed to burn a pot of water. He should have known, really...he should have. But he had been so busy with the press and all the drama that he just hadn't really had the time.

"Okay-" Simon exhaled deeply, holding out both hands. "is everyone listening carefully?" he waited until the room looked like a crowd of bobble heads on a dashboard before he continued. "Here is what were going to do, we have approximately twenty minutes before Alexandra shows, and just over an hour before Sophie shows." they all leaned in, listening intently. "Perrie, you and the girls stay here and get the kitchen set, silverware, cups, napkins, plates, everything we'll need."

Perrie nodded, the girls all following behind her like a row of ducklings.

"Zayn, Liam and Louis- you three head to Tesco. I want you to pick up vegetable and fruit trays. You have precisely 17 minutes to be back here. Do you understand?"

The boys didn't even bother to answer as they ran for the door.

"Niall-" Simon finished, his tone so deep and serious it almost scared him. "you have your Nando's black card with you?"

"Always!" Niall chimed, fishing his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans before proudly displaying the coveted black card.

"I'll need you to contact Nando's. I don't care if you have to pull the celebrity card, the threatening card- do whatever you have to. I need a complete Nando's feast catered and here in an hour. We're gonna need the full spread, you hear? Wraps, chicken breasts, burgers, flame grilled corn on the cob, rice, red skinned mashed potatoes, coleslaw, butternut squash- the whole nine."

Niall pulled his phone from his pocket, disappearing into the next room.

"Aye!" Harry grouched, "What about me?"

Simon let out a deep breath.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this-" Simon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "but I need you, ready and waiting for the girls to arrive, ready to entertain in the event that this hasn't all come together by the time they arrive, understood?"

Harry's dimpled cheeks pulled into a wide grin. "You're telling me to flirt with two beautiful girls?"

Simon just nodded.

"Like you're bloody life depends on it."

But before he could answer, the door flung open revealing the our rowdy Australians.

"Did someone say party?" Calum howled with excitement.

"No- someone said well behaved gathering!"

And just like that, Simon had managed to crush their mood.

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£87.62


When the driver uttered the number to Sophie, she had thought she was going to have a heart attack.

"Pardon?"

She had been making a note of the exchange rate- trying her best to figure things out as she went, and it took a little figuring (£1 is equal to $1.62) "$142.24?" the driver just furrowed his brows at her. She fumed, digging until she found her credit card, handing it over the seat to him.

But before the man could even hand her card back, the door to the taxi flung open, revealing a panic stricken Simon. "Sophie! Thank God!"

"Oh, Simon! I'm so sorry I'm late! I didn't realize how far Hackney was and just-"

"Sophie- darling, calm down we're all just so glad you're okay. We were so worried!" Sophie stumbled out of the cab, pulling at the boxes as she stuffed the bottle of Dom Perignon into her already stuffed to-the-brim purse.

"What in the world-" Simon gathered as he took the boxes from her.

"Cupcakes!" Simon furrowed his brows, "My mom always taught me to never show up empty handed- she's from the South, so she's all about hospitality!" Simon cracked a smile as he listened to her ramble, "besides, I heard Lauren loved their raspberry cupcakes!"

Simon lead Sophie to the kitchen, "Lauren is going to love these- she's been craving them for weeks."

"I can't wait to meet her..."

Lauren hadn't been with Simon during his trip to Vegas, and she had yet to meet the woman.

Simon just nodded, "Everyone's out back- we were waiting on you. They can't hardly contain themselves."

She followed him through the house- it was immaculate, clean, and elegantly decorated. "This house is beautiful!" Sophie thought out loud, making Simon chuckle.

"You'll have to let Perrie and Zayn know. Alexandra is especially excited to meet you!"

Sophie didn't know much about Alexandra- just what she was able to find on the internet. She worked for a local studio- it seemed like she took a lot of pride teaching underprivileged kids to dance. She was just about a year younger than Sophie at 21. She was very pretty- a blonde with a dancers body.

Usually, Sophie wasn't the nervous type. But she knew Alexandra would be her partner- they would be spending an enormous amount of time together. The fear that the girl wouldn't like her had weighed heavy on her mind for days.

"I'm super excited to meet her too!"

But Simon came to a halt- a crowd of people waited anxiously in the kitchen.

Sophie would have been lying had she not said she knew who every single one of them was. She was a One Direction fan, she was a Little Mix fan, but most of all, she was a 5 Second of Summer fan and she couldn't fight the smile as she caught a glimpse of them standing around the granite island, munching at the vegetable tray.

"Well, everyone-" dropping the cupcakes onto the granite counter-top, Simon wrapped an arm around Sophie. "she's finally made it-"

"Hi!" a squeak was all she could manage.

"Sophie-" he went around the room, introducing everyone, "and finally- Perrie, Jade, Jesy, and Leigh-Anne." the girls all waved before pulling her into a smothering group-hug. "And finally,"he extended an arm to the blonde. "Alex."

Sophie went to smile, but the girl very quickly pulled her into a hug. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"

Sophie let out a sigh of relief before hugging her back, "Same!"

"She's here- she's perfectly lovely!" Niall gleamed at her before groaning, " Now can we eat!? I'm bloody starvin'!"

Simon glared at the Irishman, "Oh off with yourself! I saw you sneak an entire peri-peri wrap! Unhinged your jaw like a bloody snake! Demolished it in three bites!"

Niall's face went crimson as he offered a cheeky smile. Simon grabbed two of the white plates, handing one to Sophie and Alex. "Ladies first-"

As Sophie approached the buffet, she could feel it -the stares- but when she finally caught the culprits- the last thing she expected, was Michael Clifford and Ashton Irwin.

Her eyes fell to the counter in an attempt to hide her blush.

She hadn't been here two minutes, but she already knew they were trouble.
♠ ♠ ♠
So sorry for the wait- college football kicked off and I had the annual "end of Summer" family vacation. Things are finally calming down.

Originally- I had this 'everything went perfect' meeting mentality, then I realized I don't think I've ever had a "normal" flight (seriously, who has?) so this seemed more fun. This was very "introduction to the situation", so you'll see more of the boys next chapter. I promise.

In the meantime, we would love to know what you think- theories and such are always fun! Thank you so much for the great feedback! It really does mean the world.

-Xox Becca

P.S. - here's the Polyvore if you're interested.