Dimples

Four

True to Ana's plan, three long islands and several rounds of 'get to know us' later I was getting a bit tipsy. I stared into my fourth glass of the drink, seriously questioning my alcohol tolerance. It had been weeks since the last time I'd had more than one, though.

"Alright, next up is..." Louis was saying. His words weren't even the least bit slurred, despite downing a couple shots of tequila and whatever the blue drink was he had ordered. "Harry! Who's got Harry for this round?"

I raised my hand, and Louis threw an arm around my shoulder, leaning into me slightly. The girls across from us giggled, and Sam had her hand over her mouth to hide her smile. Ana had her arms wrapped tightly around the blonde.

"Alright, alright!" Louis shouted.

"What's the question?" Ana asked, wriggling her eyebrows. Heat easily rose to my cheeks from all the attention, along with how the nature of the game had been so far, and I flipped my card over. I prayed for a decent card.

"Do you have any siblings?" I said, reading the words off the card slowly so I wouldn't mess them up. I looked up at Harry after.

"I do," Harry said seriously. His forehead was creased with lines, and the sight of this expression caused a giggle to bubble up from my stomach. He dropped the expression and went back to grinning. "What?"

"You don't look right, being all serious," I said. I took a sip from my glass. "Your face isn't meant for frowns." Ana swatted at me from across the table.

"Don't do that writer thing here!" she hissed at me. "You promised! We're here to have fun. Not work."

I felt more heat come to my face and neck as I realized. And then I burst into laughter, bringing my hands up to cover my mouth.

"Oh, shit! I was doing that, wasn't I?" I said. The rest of the table had eyebrows raised. Ana seemed confused for a moment too, wondering why they all looked lost.

"Oh, she's a writer," she spouted, waving her hand.

"We're getting off topic!" Louis lilted. "Back to the game."

"It coincides with the game though, doesn't it?" Harry asked. He had his eyebrows raised. Then he turned to me and smiled. "That's an interesting fact to know."

There was a vibration across the table that made everyone jump then. Ami grabbed at her phone, fumbling a bit as she unlocked it and read whatever was displayed across the screen. She took Beth's hand in hers and started pushing the girls out of the booth.

"We got to go, we got to go," she chirped. "My boyfriend's here to give Beth and I a lift home. Thank you, Louis, for the drinks!"

They kissed each other's cheeks before she and Beth started to leave.

"Aw, but Liam and I haven't sung our duet yet," he said, pouting.

Sam and Ana slid back into the booth, and Liam moved to their side so that everyone had more space to sit. Ami gave Louis an apologetic pout.

"Sorry, babes," she said. "Truly. Maybe next time?" And then she and Beth were off.

Louis turned back to me then, ramping up the puppy dog look. If he had a bottle of artificial tears on his person, I imagined he'd have used them to take the look even further.

"You're not going to skip out on our performance, are you?" he said. I laughed and patted his shoulder.

"I don't think I have much of a choice in the matter," I said, shooting Ana a look. She stuck her tongue out at me briefly. I took her hand from across the table. "This one here is determined to keep me out until late."

Louis and Liam looked from our linked hands, then back up to our faces, then back to our hands and continued this loop a while. Harry and Sam made small talk about a project at work. Louis pointed at our hands, and then to us.

"Are- are you two a thing?" he asked. Ana turned pink, and we broke apart, both laughing.

"No- we've been best friends for years. Sort of grew up like sister," I said through a fit of laughter.

"Ah, okay." Louis and Liam nodded.

"I mean," I said, clearing my throat. I took Ana's hand in both of mine again. "Darling and I here were thinking of a winter wedding. Don't you think the snow in the background would be so romantic?"

Ana turned pinker, and laughed harder, snatching her hand from mine so she could hold her stomach. Sam laughed with her, and rubbed her back. Harry grinned, but Louis and Liam suddenly seemed unsure.

"You sure you're not a thing?" Liam asked.

We waved our hands and shook our heads. But I tucked her blush away to the back of my mind; whether it was due to embarrassment or the alcohol I could determine later. Suddenly "Larry Stylinson" was called out to the crowd, requesting the pair come up to sing before their turn was passed to someone else. Liam snapped to Louis immediately.

"What? I thought it was supposed to be us singing?" Liam said. He looked like a kicked puppy. "Were you drunk when you signed us up?"

"I was sure I put us down. Sorry, man," Louis shrugged, though he looked equally as baffled. Harry was staring with eyebrows raised so high it looked like his forehead had disappeared.

"Larry Stylinson? Really?" Harry asked.