Learn to Spell, God!

Layla’s POV.

I can’t believe its Christmas! And that I slept in ‘til ten this morning. Normally I’m up at some unholy hour, like four. I had expected to be up at six this year. I wasn’t the only one up; I could hear people on the lower level of the bus shaking presents and chatting excitedly.

I peeled Zack’s arm from my waist, and snuck down the stairs in my pyjamas. Jenn, Jimmy, Johnny and Danni were all on their hands and knees crawling around the mound of presents we had in the lounge, picking up random ones and shaking them. They occasionally announced their verdict on what the present was, but mostly I’m guessing they didn’t have a clue. I cleared my throat, standing with my hands on my hips.

“Oopsies!” Danni giggled. She carefully replaced the very large box she had just got her hands on and moved backwards to Johnny’s lap.

“You guys are such amateurs.” I sighed, turning round the largest present to see if it was one for me. “Oh my God! Brian is really going all out to get Sophie’s attention. He has got her the biggest present here.” I huffed at the fact the largest present wasn’t mine. I was being immature, but I didn’t care.

“What time is it?” A tired Pippa appeared at the bottom of the stairs, her cherry red hair sticking up in all directions. She brushed a few of the stray hairs from her eyes, yawning and joining us in the lounge.

“About . . . ten thirty.”

Sophie and Matt followed shortly after, and from the sounds of it they were having a very hushed argument. I caught the very end of it until they realised everyone was listening:

“No, Matt! He needs to seriously earn my respect, even if it is Christmas.” Sophie smiled at us all, heading straight for the kitchen. “Anyone want coffee?” She called. This was followed by a yes from everyone in the lounge.

“So when can we open presents?!” Asked Sophie, trying hard not to bounce around the room in excitement. Everyone but Brian was gathered in the lounge, with a mug of coffee – or hot chocolate in Sophie’s case – gripped in their hands.

“As soon as Brian decides to get his ass downstairs.” I yelled the last part, hoping he had heard and would take the hint.

“He better hurry up! We have lunch reservations.” Zack grumbled next to me.

“It’s ok! I’m here now.” As if by magic, Brian appeared in the lounge and sat himself down next to a slightly perturbed Sophie.

Immediately we all dived into the impressively sized pile of presents and began tearing the beautifully coloured wrapping to pieces. It was pure carnage, and I haven’t had so much fun in ages! There was lots of giggling and throwing of wrapping paper balls. It hadn’t snowed so the flurry or scraps floating around the lounge definitely made up for it.

I laughed so hard at the presents Danni had given them all. She’s put so many ideas in Zack’s head with that pop-up Kama sutra book! Johnny and Jimmy are leaving their presents for a while, so they don’t use them all up too quickly. But Matt won’t stop pressing his bullshit button and Sophie is now teaching Brian how to juggle his boobs. They all laughed at me when I said she needed to teach him. Sophie seems to have forgiven Brian now. I’m pretty sure the oversized teddy bear she got won her heart back. It did have a rather beautiful and very expensive looking necklace around too. We couldn’t stay in and enjoy our gifts sadly, because the guys had organised a trip out to some restaurant so we could have a proper Christmas lunch. Yum!

*

We all had to dress up. Not our forte, but we managed it, just for them. The restaurant where we were having our Christmas lunch was incredibly smart but, knowing us, we would be able to alienate it within two hours. What a reputation to uphold, huh? Even better, we had to walk ten minutes in the freezing cold to get to the mysterious, posh restaurant.

I didn’t do my self any favours by wearing heels. Everyone else, excluding the guys of course, made the same mistake as me because we had to be dressed so formally.

It was nice being able to spend time out side of the bus and away from fans and all the music, just with the guys. Even though they were now referring to each of us as girlfriend, none of our couples had been on a proper date – which in my book isn’t right, but I decided to let it slip seeing as we’re on the road all the time. Being best friends, we had decided to honour the fact that this was our first real outing with the guys, so we all wore the corsets we had worn for the first performance. Our matching wardrobe ideas promptly ended at our waists with each of us sporting either a pair of tight trousers, black shorts, a skirt or – in Danni’s case – what could only be described as a belt, because it barely covered her ass and therefore wasn’t made of enough material to be classified as a skirt.

I felt a little under dressed when we arrived at the restaurant. We hadn’t even stepped inside and I knew we were going to look like rabble; it was the name of the place that made me paranoid. It was so French and . . . posh. I didn’t even know what it meant! I smoothed down my trousers, Jenn mimicking me with her shorts and we walked inside. The heating was a warm welcome - Pardon the pun. And we were seated immediately. There was a low hum of whispers as we passed tables. I couldn’t tell if it was because we were ‘riff-raff’ or because these upper class snoots recognised the guys. I highly doubted the latter, unless they all had teenagers that were a disappointment to their family and listened to Avenged Sevenfold and had an unhealthy taste for piercings.

I know I was unsure about the fancy restaurant at first, but as soon as our food arrived – and at impressive speed I may add – I couldn’t have cared less. It didn’t help that my stomach was growling because I forgot about breakfast, and it was being squeezed to oblivion by my corset. I wasn’t the only one ready to dig in. Pippa was scarping down her food pretty quickly.

“What?” She said through a mouthful of roast potatoes, “Aint y’all never seen a girl eat before?”

“Of course we have. Exhibit A . . .” He pointed towards Sophie who already had a blob of gravy smeared across her cheek. “Just never seen you so, so . . . ravenous!”

“You make her sound like she eats really erotically!” Danni laughed. Matt wiggled his eyebrows at Pippa and returned to his own food.

When I checked my watch, it was 4.30. I was surprised we hadn’t been kicked out yet ready for them to set up for dinner. There were a few of the society types dotted around the place, so I presumed it was ok for us to still be sat here. Zack, however, decided to act the gentle man and ushered us all out before we could dispute about paying the very large bill we’d managed to stack up.

“They’re cheeky bastards!” Sophie frowned, giving up on opening the double doors that Brian was now stood behind, grinning at us.

“They are! Look at them! All giggling at us ‘cus we’re too girly to break down the door and storm in and pay our cut of the bill.”

“Ahhhh. I don’t care, just means I’m not paying for that second helping I had.” Danni shrugged.

“Hotel piss-up time!” Jimmy announce, bounding out of the doors and picking Jenn up in a hug.

“Hotel?!” Pippa asked excitedly.

“Finally, a comfy bed that wont be moving whilst I sleep!” A smile spread across all of Sophie’s face. We were all so glad of a proper, double bed. Rather than two people squashing in a single bunk.