At about 8:00, Evelyn had gotten directions to Harry’s house and I was driving us there. Instead of throwing my normal every day wear of jeans and a loose tee shirt with my hair carelessly thrown back, I actually put on something cute that I found in Ev’s closet: a pair of denim shorts and a tank top that we had cut the sides out of and put lace in (because originally it was too tight) about a month ago.
“I’m about to meet One Direction. I can’t believe this. I’m so scared” I really was. What if they didn’t like me? Ev said they’re all chill and laid back, but people act different sometimes.
“They’re all just ordinary people. No reason to be scared. You’re my best friend, so they’ll probably treat you like they’ve known you for years.” I sure did hope so.
She was guiding me along some streets I’d been down plenty of times before, until we pulled up in front of a house I knew all too well: Jess’s.
I had known that someone had bought it, I was just really surprised that it was Harry! I made a mental note to tell her in my next letter to her.
We headed on inside, and were greeted by the sight of Zayn, Liam, and Louis sitting on a couch, Harry in a chair, and Niall on the floor. There was also a bunch of pizza sitting on a coffee table in the middle of all of them.
“It’s movie night!” Louis screamed. “Hi Ev! And … helloooooo Ev’s friend!”
“Hell yeah, the chicks are here! Now I don’t have to look at men all night,” Liam said.
“You sure do look at me a lot when we’re in bed together,” Zayn piped up. Liam hit him on the arm and the rest of us laughed.
“Guys, this Brooklyn. Brooklyn, you’ve met Harry, and this is Niall, Zayn, Liam, and Louis.”
“Hello!” they all said in unison. I didn’t think I could say anything, so I just gave a small smile and waved at them.
Harry stood up out of his chair and looked at us. “One of you can sit here.”
Ev nodded towards me, “Go ahead, I’ll sit on the floor.”
I made my way over to the chair and sat down. I stayed quiet because I didn’t really know what to say. I guess there’s always a first time for everything!
“Evelyn, you can have my spot,” Zayn said, turning to Ev. Had he been looking at me?
“No, it’s okay, she can have mine,” Liam piped up.
“She can sit here, I’ll sit on the floor,” Louis added.
“Guys, guys, it’s okay. I’ll just sit here,” she said, sprawling herself over the guys on the couch. They all started laughing.
“Hell yeah, I get the ass,” Zayn joked.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Niall chimed in with a smile on his face. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been staring at this pizza or too long. It’s finally time to get it on.”
I’d read interviews about how much Niall loved food, but I didn’t think he was actually that crazy about it. Man, was I wrong. That boy ate an entire pizza all by himself. I had no idea where he hid it!
After we all had grabbed pizza, we got settled in. Apparently, it was a movie marathon of the Paranormal Activity series. I had only seen the first one, so I was excited to catch up. Niall and Louis were sprawled out on the floor, Ev and Liam were on either side of the couch with Harry between them, and Zayn was perched rather tediously on the arm of my chair. I tried to offer it to him, and I told him I could sit on the floor, but he refused.
Louis reached for the DVD player and turned it on while Liam got the lights. As the movie went on, Zayn kept squirming closer and closer before finally leaning in and whispering in my ear, “Brooke, would you like to join me in the kitchen? I’ve seen this about 200 times, and would rather not watch it again.”
I smiled, stood up, and grabbed motioned for him to follow me towards the back door, rather than the kitchen. “I know somewhere better,” I whispered. He nodded and let me take the lead. Nobody even noticed that we had gotten up, and we walked outside unnoticed. When we got to the back porch, I turned towards him. “My friend Jess used to live here, and there’s an old tree house right inside the woods,” I said, pointing.
“This is awesome!” Zayn said as we climbed in. It was only about five feet off the ground, but that’s because it was huge, spanning over three trees and also supported by some logs. Jess used to keep a bed out here, but it seems like Harry didn’t know it existed, seeing as it was gross and had a bunch of dirt and bugs in it.
“I know, right? I never wanted to leave the first time I came over.” I sat down and leaned against one of the trees that went through the middle, pulled my legs up to my chest, and wrapped my arms around them. I leaned my head back and rested it on the trunk and closed my eyes. I could feel the floor shift as he walked over to where I was sitting. When I opened my eyes, he was next to me and just looking at me. “Let’s play a game,” He said, with a smile tugging at his lips.
“What kind of game?” I replied.
He made this face like he was deeply considering something, while he scratched his chin. “Hmmm…. How about 20 questions? Except we each only ask 10 questions, and we both have to answer them!”
“Ok! You go first.” I laughed and set my chin on my knees.
“Hm…. Spaghetti-O’s: With or without meatballs?” He chuckled at his own question.
“Oh, definitely with! Or the ones with franks in them, those are awesome. What about you?”
“I’d have to say without.” I stared at him, as if I was saying ‘Really?!’ “What? Don’t look at me like that! The meatballs are too like, chewy! They’re gross! And they don’t even taste like real meat! Now ask your question.”
“Whatever, plain Spaghetti-O’s are disgusting. Here’s another Spaghetti-O’s question, though: Can you eat them cold, straight out of the can? I love them cold, and prefer them that way!”
Now was his turn to look at me like I had four heads. “That’s even disgustinger than the meatballs!”
I couldn’t help but reply, “That’s not even a real word!” We both ended up rolling around laughing at that. It was a joke from an animated YouTube video of them.
Once we regained out composure, I reminded him that it was his turn to ask a question. “Oh, right… Hmmm… When you look for shoes, do you prefer hi or lo tops?”
“Oh, hi-tops, 100%!” As soon as I said hi, he high fived me. “I’m guessing the same for you?” He nodded. “Finally! Something we agree on! Okay… My turn… Oh, I know! If you could be named anything, what would it be?”
“JOEY!” He screamed. “Don’t ask why. Just Joey. I wouldn’t even want a last name. If I could be known as Joey, that’d be awesome. The next Beyonce!”
“I should make everyone just call you Joey! Except I won’t, I doubt it’d ever stick! I would be named Masyn, spelled M-A-S-Y-N. I love the name Mason, but it’s almost always considered a boy’s name. I figured spelling it fun would make it more feminine!” It was true; When I was younger, I tried to have my parents cal me that, but they flat-out refused.
“Don’t lie, you just want to spell it with a Y to be like me!” He threw a piece of bark he found on the ground at me.
“Psh, your name isn’t even legally spelled with a Y!” I threw a bigger piece back at him.
“Fine, you win! What were you named for?”
“Loosely translated, Zain Javadd Malik means ‘Beautifully generous king’ in Arabic. My parents wanted to name me for something that I would live up to, or at least with my first and middle names. We can’t really change my last name! I sure hope I’ve lived up to it. What about you?”
I thought that was awesome, and a name he has definitely stayed true to from what I knew. “My parents are super religious, and while Brooklyn isn’t a biblical name, there are a lot of references to brooks in the Old Testament, and that’s where that comes from. My middle name, Nichole, is my grandmother’s name, which was derived from Nicholas, another biblical baby name. Like you said, you can’t change your last name, so I’m stuck with Joseph!” I scooted away from the tree trunk and lay down on the dirty floor, resting my chin on my crossed arms.”Okay, next question. Shoot!”
“What brought you to London?” He asked, still sitting in his original place. I told him the story of me leaving my parents, how I ended up driving past The Coffee Shop, and told him about Jess and how her friendship is one of the main reasons I stayed here. He seemed really interested in my story. Few people had ever asked, let alone listened.
Since I knew already why he was in London, I asked him about his family. He told me all about his mom and dad, his older sister who he looked up to, and his little sister who adored him and the band. He told me about how close he was with his grandfather, who passed away while he was still on the X Factor. The love he felt from and for his family was so obvious, and I was jealous.
He moved from where he was sitting and took the place I had been occupying not too long ago. He sat quiet for a moment before asking me the one question I had hoped he wouldn’t. “Do you ever miss them?”
I knew he was asking about my parents. That took me awhile. I figured I should word this carefully, but I also felt like I could really talk to him. “It’s really complicated. I love them, they are my parents and helped shape me to be the person I am today. They taught me to think for myself and how to make good choices, but they also tried to shove their craziness down my throat. Yes, I believed in the bible, but I wasn’t going to torment anybody who didn’t the way they did, and I wouldn’t try and force it more on someone who already did believe, like they did to me. I believed for me and didn’t really feel the need to boast about it, you know?” He had stayed silent, listening intently on what I had to say. He nodded and just looked at me.
We sat there for a little while, just looking at each other. It had to have been at least five minutes before he said something. “Honestly, if I had been in your same situation, I would have done the same thing.” That made me feel better. As I was about to ask him his question, his phone beeped with a text message. He slipped it out of his pocket, and after reading it he looked up at me and said, “It’s Liam. The first movie is over, he has to leave and take care of some stuff at home, and wants to say bye to us.” I nodded to him, stood up, and helped him up.
We headed back towards Harry’s house, but before we opened the back door I stopped him and said, “Thank you for listening. It really means a lot to me.”
He stepped closer to me and pulled me into a hug. “Thank you for opening up to me.” I smiled at him as we released and opened the door, walking back into Harry’s home.
Louis and Niall were messing with the movies, trying to figure out which DVD was the second movie, since apparently they didn’t have official copies but rather copies that had been downloaded and then burned to discs. Harry wasn’t in sight, Ev was in her own little world, and Liam was standing up, waiting for us. It was obvious he had already said bye to everyone else. He hugged Zayn and told him that they’d see each other tomorrow. Before I knew what was happening, he picked me up in a big bear hug and he said, “I’m glad I finally got to meet you! We’ll have to hang out again, and soon!”
“Deal!” I said as he put me down.
“Bye Liam!” “See ya, buddy!” “You suck!” “Be careful!” The boys all yelled their goodbyes as he walked out the front door. Zayn went and sat back in the chair while I perched myself on the arm, Louis and Niall finally figured out which movie was which and put it in the DVD player as harry came back with blankets. The boys on the floor constructed a pallet that should have only fit one person, but Niall was sitting up and Louis was using him as a pillow.
There is a scene in the movie where one of the women get trapped in the basement and the door slams really loud, and since I wasn’t expecting it, I jumped and fell into Zayn’s lap. When I tried to get back up, he pulled me back down and said it was fine. It was awkward at first, but eventually I figured it’s be better to be there than to be on the arm of the chair and fall off onto the floor.
When the second movie ended, Niall grabbed another piece of pizza while Louis changed the movie. The rest of us just stayed put. About halfway through the movie, I noticed Niall and Louis had fallen asleep. Evelyn suddenly stood up, which woke Niall up. “Ev… Where are you going?” He muttered, still extremely tired.
“I need some fresh air. I feel awful.” She replied, before slamming the door and heading out.
The boys all looked at me and seemed really confused. I figured she would be fine, she had just been through a lot the past couple days.
“Louis. Move.” Niall tried to shake Louis off, with no succeeding. “LOUIS. WAKE UP.” Still nothing.
“LOUIS. KEVIN NEEDS YOU.” Zayn shouted from behind me.
“KEVIN!?! KEVIN!” Louis shot up faster than I would have thought was humanly possible. We all laughed at him, since he was freaking out about a plastic pigeon. When he realized what was going on, he laughed too before getting up and going to the bathroom.
Harry was being oddly silent. I hoped nothing had happened with him and Evelyn. I got up and stretched while telling the boys I was going to check on her.
I headed outside, and she wasn’t in sight. I went and checked my car, and then walked the perimeter of the house before realizing she had left.
I pushed the front door open and said, “Guys, I don’t know where she went. She’s not outside. I looked all around and I couldn’t find her.” That got all of their attention. Harry stood up, looking alarmed and disappointed at the same time, while the other three looked really worried.
“What do you want us to do?” Niall asked to nobody in particular.
“We’ll have to split up and look for her,” Louis said as he grabbed his keys. “Niall, you can ride with me, Zayn can drive, and Harry, stay here in case she comes back.”
“I doubt she will,” Harry said, sitting back down on the couch. I wonder what his deal was.
I pulled out my cell phone and handed it to Niall. “Here, put your number in and then call it, so we have each other’s number. Will you all do the same? This way we can call when we find her.”
A collective ‘yeah’ was said by all four boys. I helped fold the blankets while my phone was being passed around. I stood there for a second thinking how weird it was that I was just casually hanging out with the most famous boy band in the world, and was currently getting their phone numbers. Stranger things have definitely not happened.
When we were fully done, we all said our good-byes and headed out. I went in the direction of Ev’s flat, Louis and Niall went left out of the driveway, and Zayn followed me for a little bit and then turned off. As I was driving, my mind wandered back to the tree house with him. It was still really weird to me that I spent such a long time talking to him. I was snapped to reality when I saw a figure with long blond hair walking in front of me.
I slowed down my car and rolled down my passenger window and yelled to her, “What are you doing?” She didn’t even stop walking.
This was gonna be a good one.

Notes

Hey y'all, thanks for reading!
I'm sorry it took so long to finally REALLY put the boys in, but I felt like some back story was important!
I'm on Spring Break, and I'm sick so that means I can probably update a lot more this week!
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