“It’s this one right here,” Des says as she leads her friends to Louis’s apartment. She knocks on the door, and the owner opens the door. “Soul besty!”
“Soul besty, come in!”
Des enters with her friends right behind her. Once they are in, Louis closes the door. He goes over to the short brunette and gives her a big hug. She chuckles and hugs him back unaware that a certain blond is watching them. She doesn’t realize that he’s there until after she pulls away and notices him. He quickly gives her a smile, so she doesn’t see the face that he was making before. The hazel-eyed girl runs over to him and gives him a hug as well. Of course, he hugs back. Why wouldn’t he?
“Wow,” Des says when they pull apart. “You give really good hugs. I don't’ know how, but that was the best hug that I’ve ever had.”
“Hey,” Louis frowns, “what about my hugs? I am your soul besty.”
“Sorry Lou, but Horan Hugs beat your hugs any day.” She claps her hands together. “Now we should probably introduce everyone. Introduction time! Meow!”
“Wait. Did you just meow like a cat?” Liam questions.
“Yeah, I did. I’m a fucking cat. Meow.”
Louis smirks. “Harry likes cats.”
Harry frowns. “Are you guys ever going to get over that?”
“Nope.”
“Oh!” Des exclaims. “I want to hear the story!”
“Well, we can tell you it if you tell us a funny story or entertain us in some way.”
“Hmmmm. A funny story, huh?”
“Why don’t you just sing?” Niall suggests. “Des is an amazing singer.”
“Well, I’m not that good, but I can sing. Introductions first though. After that, I’ll sing a song or two. I’ll start this off. I’m Des.”
“Carrie.”
“I’m Victoria.”
“My name’s Diana.”
“Stella, and that’s Cassandra. She doesn’t talk that much.”
“Well, it’s nice meeting you girls. I’m Louis.”
“My name’s Liam as you all know.”
“Niall. You guys already know me too.”
“Of course you all remember me. I’m Harry.”
“Zayn.”
Des nods her head in understanding. Zayn was the only one that she hadn’t met yet. His skin is darker than the rest of the group, his hair is very dark, and his eyes are brown. His attire consists of a black leather jacket, black skinny jeans, a T-shirt with a comic book design on it, and converse. The brunette approves of his outfit. She thinks that he has good taste. Although the way he said his name without looking at everyone, she concludes that he isn’t a talker like Cassandra. Of course, she could be wrong. Carrie is the one that is always right.
“Are you going to sing now?” Louis asks as he sits down onto the couch.
“I don’t know,” Des says as sits down on the floor in front of him and then crossing her arms. “I think that you should tell the funny story before I start singing.”
“Fine.”
“Oh God,” Harry mumbles.
“This happened years ago. We were in school. I was a couple of grades above him, but our school put on a spelling bee for his grade, the one below his, and the one above his. They thought that it would be a great way to raise money. In fact, they even had it on TV. The whole school got stuck watching it. Harry didn’t win, but he was standing next to the guy that did win. He whispered in his ear while the cameras were rolling, “Just think of all the pussy you’re going to get.” You couldn’t hear him, but it was so obvious that he said that.”
Harry groans. “I told you guys that we were just talking about presents for our mums before it started. He was going to get her cats.”
“Right... Harry got grounded for a week.”
“That was great,” Des laughs. “Well, I guess that it’s time for me to do my end of the bargain. I was thinking that because this is our first hangout, I should sing something about the fact that our world is gone. It’s going to be sad, so I might just sing another song afterward. This song is called ‘Everything’s an Illusion’, and it’s by Mayday Parade.
I try to sleep but my eyes are open
I can't think cause my heart is broken
And there's a bottle right next to me
I'll down a few drinks just to take the pain away
I wanna say all the things I need to say
I won't lie, I'll just tell them honestly
If God can take a friend away from me
Then I can say all I want and he won't do anything
My tongue is weak and every time I try to speak I can't say nothing at all

Sleep well, my friend
There will be another moment we'll meet again
Just let it go
Sleep well, goodnight
You're something to remember
I wish that you were here by my side

I spend hours tryna make it through the day
I don't know if I'll ever be the same
It's hard enough when you're all alone
In the city that you love, now Atlanta's just a burial ground
My tongue is weak and every time I try to speak I can't say nothing,
Nothing at all
It's hard to think when losing someone only make you wanna scream
And now that you're gone

Sleep well, my friend
There will be another moment we'll meet again
Just let it go
Sleep well, goodnight
You're something to remember
I wish that you were here by my side

Rest in pieces, I can't believe this
A mother shouldn't witness her son die at twenty-four
I will hold my tongue for the rest of my life
I can't keep this up anymore

Sleep well, my friend
There will be another moment we'll meet again
Just let it go
Sleep well, goodnight
You're something to remember
I wish that you were here by my side

By my side
By my side
By my side

Sleep well, goodnight
You're something I'll remember
I wish that you were here by my side”

Tears make their way down Diana’s face, and some of the others have watery eyes. Stella wraps her arms around Diana, so she doesn’t freak out like she did when they first got there. Although that song made them all sad. They are grateful for Des singing it. It’s lifting their old lives off of them. They can feel it helping them. This whole time, they have been ignoring it, but now they are forced to think about it. They are forced to remember the ones that were lost and say goodbye to them. Although they were forced, it is easier on them. They might not have done it at all if it wasn’t for Des.
Of course Des feels bad for making everyone upset. “I’m sorry about that. I just thought that I should sing that. Um, I’ll sing another one if you want.”
“That might be-” Liam says before he’s interrupted by a knocking on the door. “Oh, the pizza must be here.”
“Pizza!” Niall exclaims as he rushes over to the door with Louis right behind him. He quickly opens the door and grabs the five pizza boxes from the man before running over to the kitchen area to grab his slices. Louis gives the man his money.
“That boy sure loves his pizza, doesn’t he?” Stella questions the rest of the guys.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Harry tells her. “It’s one of his favorite foods. Of course, he loves food in general. Just a word of advice, never take his food. Just don’t.”
Niall walks away from the boxes with a plate that has five pieces on it. He goes over to the loveseat and sits down. Everyone goes over to the boxes and starts grabbing theirs as well. The short brunette grabs hers before sitting down next to the cute blond, who is eating very quickly. He stops as soon as he sees her. He can’t let her see him pig out like that. What if she doesn’t like that? What if she thinks that that is gross?
“Damn. You love pizza,” she smiles. He nods his head. “Well, I think pizza is pretty badass. Although, I like pie a lot. That’s my favorite trademark. Cherry is my favorite.”
He swallows before answering her. “Pie is pretty good too.”
“Well, you would know because you’re eating a pizza pie.” She winks. Silence. “Yeah, my jokes aren’t that funny...”
“It’s fine. I’m sure that you have some funny jokes. Besides, your jokes can’t be as bad as Harry’s.”
“Yeah, I don’t think mine are as bad as his. I didn’t hear that much from the other day, but I heard enough.”
“Yeah.”
Des starts to eat, and Niall can’t believe what he is seeing. She doesn’t really have any manners. In fact, she looks kind of like he does when he’s eating pizza. She notices his blue eyes are watching her, and she stops eating. She swallows and looks at him for a second.
“Sorry about that. I don’t really have the best manners. I like food, so...”
“I was just surprised. I didn’t take you for that kind of girl.”
“I can see that. I don’t think anyone in my school saw me as this girl that loves to swear and tell dirty jokes all the time. I use to be this shy girl, and the image kind of stuck.”
“I can see that. Everyone always tells me that I look like the innocent one, but I swear a lot too.”
“Hey, Des,” Louis says as he comes over to them. “Are you going to sing that other song now?”
“Um, sure.” She gets up off of the couch and stands up. Everyone watch her as she prepares to sing another song. “Um, I guess that I’ll sing ‘Stella’ by All Time Low. Oh, and no, it’s not about my friend, Stella. Stella, I love you though.”
“I love you too, Des.”
“Um, here it goes.”
Des sings the song. It doesn’t take her long to get into it. That’s one of her favorite songs on that album. Although, the guys wouldn’t know that. They do find the performance to be very good though. It’s fun, but it still is kind of sad like most songs. When Des finishes, she takes a bow.
“Meow. Bananas. Whatever,” she says.
“You are really good,” Louis tells her.
“Why, thank you.”
“Maybe you should do this every time we hang out. In fact, why don’t we hang out like this every week too.”
“That sounds like a great idea. Hopefully, I won’t run out of songs.”
Niall watches as she goes over and starts to mingle with Louis. He mentally frowns. Why does she like that brunet more than she likes him? Why does all girls prefer his friends over him? Is there something wrong with him? Is he really only friend material?
“Hey, Niall,” Stella says when she comes over to him.
He glances at her. “Oh, hi Stella.”
“What’s up with you?”
“Nothing is up.”
“Well, I’m pretty good at reading men, and I don’t think that ‘nothing is up’.”
“Well, there is something if you must know.”
“Damn. I wish I was this good with the females.”
Niall chuckles. “Well, it’s just that there is this girl that I like.”
“You mean Des.”
“How did you... Oh, never mind. Yeah, it’s Des. It’s just that she likes Louis.”
“Des doesn’t like Louis.”
“Well, then why are they talking so much, and why did she make him her ‘soul besty’ right away.”
Stella giggles. “She made him her soul besty? Wow. She hasn’t done that in awhile. Niall, Des doesn’t like Louis. She never will. She made him her soul besty. That means that they are best friends, and they will stay best friends. He’s friend zoned. Besides, she likes someone else anyway.” With that, she leaves.
Des likes someone else? Who could she like though? Niall thinks about it for a bit. Wait. It must be that ginger. What’s his name again? Brandon? Yeah, she must like him. That’s why she couldn’t say no to him when he interfered with their plans. Great. Now the guy that’s in the way is someone that she already knows. He’s already think that they were dating if it wasn’t for the fact that she told him while she was working that she was single. Well, she won’t be single forever.
Victoria grabs Des and pulls her away from Louis. “Hey, he’s really cute,” the blonde whispers to her.”
“He’s OK. Wait. You think he’s cute?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to ask him out?”
“No, you know that I can be shy at times like you. Of course, I’m not nearly as bad as you. You’re like from some cheesy fan fiction that a lonely teenage girl is writing.”
“Thanks. Well, hopefully if a teenage girl is writing this ‘story’, she’ll pair us up with the guys that we like. I would hope that mine comes out really romantic.”
“More like cheesy.”
“Well, I like cheesy.”
“We all know.”
Harry notices Cassandra just standing there. He looks around at everyone for a second before going over to try to talk to her. She doesn’t really seem to notice him as he makes his way over to her. He stands next to her and doesn’t speak for a minute. The curly-haired boy is trying to think of what to say. Finally, he does speak.
“You’re not talking to anyone.” She shakes her head. “Why not?” She shrugs. “Do you want to talk to me?” She shakes her head again. “Well, I’ll be over on the couch if you want to.”
Cassandra watches him go back to where he was. He seems rather nice. She wishes that she could open up to him, but she can’t. She can’t open up to anyone. That’s who she is. Although, she does think that this hangout is turning out to be nice for the others. Yes, it doesn’t help her any, but she is happy that it is making her friends happy. Yes, this hangout turned out alright.

Notes

Everything's an Illusion Cover
Stella Cover
Sorry this is so late. I took a week off and some extra time off as well. Of course, then my docs wasn't working to update my other stories, and now I'm going to be a bit busy from school. Of course it has to be right when I need to update my stories from my time off.
Anyway, enough of that. I hope that you liked the chapter. I make this one longer than the others. Plus, I did two covers for it. I hope that that makes up for it a bit.
The links are above.