“How was school today?” my mother asked as she scooped some rice out of a ceramic bowl and plopped it onto her plate.


“Oh yeah,” my brother dragged the words in an ecstatic manor. “You started school this week. What’s it like being a senior?”

My brother, Blake, decided to pay us a surprise visit with his girlfriend Lily and join us for dinner tonight. This is a rare occasion since he and my parents all have jobs, and it almost feels like we can never have a family dinner anymore. As sad as it is, it’s been three years since he’s moved out, so I’m kind of used to hardly seeing him at the house now.

I shrugged, “Good, I guess. We didn’t really do anything today.”

“The first week is always boring,” Lily nodded.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” my dad said as if we were being dramatic.

I’m stating the truth here, Father. Today was boring as shit. We reviewed signs I already know in ASL, I learned more about stock exchanges in Economy, and I sat alone in Study Skills. I think the most fun I had all day was listening to Hayden speak about a girl who picked her nose and ate the shit she got out of there. We’re adults now, or at least soon-to-be adults. We should not pick our noses anymore.

“I’m sure Devon’s already got a crush,” my mother wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I stopped cutting up my grilled chicken and rolled my eyes at the woman. “No,” I dragged the word out. “You just want me to get a boyfriend.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind if you had one.”

That’s when my father butted in and said, “I would.”

“Well, I certainly would mind, as well,” I mocked my mother’s statement, making everyone but my mother laugh.

My mom faked shock and lightly slapped my dad’s shoulder. “Don’t encourage her behavior,” she shook her head with a grin. My father just shot me a knowing look, and we both lightly giggled. We’re basically five-year-olds.

Blake wiped his hands clean on a napkin before turning his attention towards me. “Are you sure there’s no boys I need to beat up for you?” he smirked.

I groaned, “Yes, I’m sure. I made guy friends, but that’s it.”

I regretted even mentioning that since my mom became even more invested in the conversation. “Guy friends, huh?” she asked smugly. “What are their names?”

“Nobody and Nothing. I’m sure they’d love to meet you,” I said sarcastically and watched as my father held back a snicker.

“You really are your father’s daughter,” she shook her head.

I settled for responding with, “Nothing wrong with that,” even though the first thing that really came to mind was, “I sure hope so.”

“Seriously. When am I going to meet them?”

“Geez, Mom,” I huffed. “I only met them three days ago.”

“Okay, okay,” she threw her hands up in surrender. “I’ll stop asking about them.”

“Thank you.”

“So, Lily,” Dad smiled at the beautiful lady. “How’s hockey going?”

She swallowed her food and smiled at him, “It’s good. The season only just begun, so the most we’ve done is have one practice.”

“Same,” I stated.

“Well, you didn’t actually have a practice,” Mom reminded me with a smirk on her face.

I jokingly dropped my fork, with a clink, onto my plate in annoyance. “I know. Lesson learned. Read the text message,” I let out a lengthy sigh, causing laughter to fill the dining room.

“It’s happened to me before too,” Lily threw words of comfort in my direction, and I shot her a thankful smile.

“You’ll have to let us know when your games start so we can attend one,” my dad said to Lily. “That is as long as Devon’s game isn’t interfering with it.”

“That’d be great, Mr. Tingley,” she beamed.

He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, “How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Carlos?”

“That isn’t even your name,” I giggled. He pulled his hand away from her and just shrugged at me, making me laugh a little harder and Blake and Lily joined in on it.

“Don’t encourage him either,” my mother teased us.

---

I was laying on my bed, reading through my ASL book and practicing the signs, when I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I said, not bothering to see who it was.

“So what are their names?” I looked up to find my brother leaning against my doorway with his arms crossed.

I closed my ASL book and sat up on my butt before patting the space next to me for him to join me on the bed. He immediately closed my bedroom door and strolled across the room to plop right next to me. “Which boys are you asking about? The friends or the crushes?” I smirked.

I’m more than willing to speak to my brother about this rather than my mother. I’ve always been able to trust him to not hold it over my head or bring it up to my parents.

The reason I don’t want to talk to my mother about the boys is because she gets all stalker-ish, or as she calls “protective,” and creeps on their Facebook pages. Then she'll tell me who they've been speaking to on their profiles and other creepy shit like that.
And my father? He'll want to meet any guy I like before I find out whether or not they have the same feelings for me. I find that to be a little too much.

Blake, he’ll just talk to me about it, and maybe crack a few jokes here and there, but he’ll leave the protecting to my parents because he knows I need a balance somewhere since he's dealt with the same thing. This is why we’re so close: we stand up for each other, we look out for one another, and we want to see the other happy.

“Crushes?” he emphasized the plural part of the word. “Well who cares about the friends at this point? I just want to know how many guys you are swooning over.”

I laughed, “It’s only two guys, really. I mean, I sort of like them, I guess. I’m more attracted to them than anything because I don’t really know them.”

“Names?” he poked me.

“Tate and Harry.”

“Those are some interesting names. Do they live up to them?”

I felt my face scrunch up in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“If this Harry guy isn’t the hairiest guy ever and this Tate guy isn’t a tater tot, then I’ll be strongly disappointed,” he stated sternly, but it was obvious that he was joking.

“You’re such a dork,” I chuckled and picked up the pillow on my bed to hit him with, making him laugh as well. I then placed the pillow onto my crisscrossed legs and rested my elbows onto it, “Well, Harry has a huge head of hair.”

“See? I like this guy already,” Blake smirked. “If you need any advice, don't hesitate to call me since I know a thing or two about guys."

“Gee, I wouldn't have guessed," I said sarcastically, making him snicker. “But yes. I will, for sure, call you when I need help.”

He nodded, “And Lily is quite the expert as well since she won me over so…”

“Cocky Bastard,” I mumbled as he continued to speak.

“…you could always ask her for advice as well.”

I smiled widely, “I think I will. Speaking of Lily, did you leave her all by herself with our crazy parents?”

“Oh shoot,” he jumped off of my bed. “We should probably head out. Talk to you later, Dev? I expect a call from you very soon.”

“You’re expecting me to need help so fast?” I raised my brows at him questioningly.

He shook his head and let out a light laugh, “I meant I better hear from you, whether it’s about boys or not.”

“Oh. Well, I will try to squeeze a call with you into my schedule,” I joked.

“Can I get a hug?”

“Of course,” I replied as I stood up from my bed and wrapped my arms around his torso. “I miss having you here.”

He held my tighter to his chest, “Well in about a year, you’ll be the age I was when I moved out. Maybe you’ll be out of the house too.”

“You also had a job and money,” I reminded him.

“Well get a job, you lazy sack of potatoes.”

---

“Favorite position?” Eleanor asked as we stood in a line with the rest of the team in leftfield, waiting for our turn to catch a fly ball the coach will hit for us.

“Um, probably leftfield,” I shrugged as I wiped away a bead of sweat from my forehead. Lucky freaking Eleanor doesn’t have man sweat glands like I do, and is only glistening rather than dripping with sweat like I am. This is why I hate the heat: I sweat like a pig and get embarrassed about it. “I don’t like infield so much because there’s an increased chance of getting hit in the face.”

She laughed, “Really? I love infield. I like playing third base.”

“Well, if I have to pitch at all, we’re gonna have some fun getting those third base runners out,” I smirked at the thought of it. “You any good at catching low throws?”

“Better than I am at catching high throws. We’ll have to give it a shot.” I nodded before stepping forward in the line. “Go away!” I heard Eleanor shout. When I turned around to ask her what she meant, I noticed that she wasn’t speaking to me.

It took me a minute to figure out that she was looking towards Louis, who was standing by the field’s dugout making kissy faces at Eleanor while holding his skateboard behind his back.

She laughed, “Stop it, you wanker!”

“That’s not very lady like to say!” he shouted back, earning an eye roll from her. “Hi Leader!” he waved towards me.

“Leader?” Eleanor questioned as I quietly waved back towards her boyfriend.

“Apparently. He and I have Graphics Designs together. Which reminds me…” I paused and turned towards her. “Do you go to our school?”

She sighed and shook her head, “Sadly, no.”

“How’d you two meet then?”

She smiled towards Louis who was now sitting on his board in the grass while yanking some out of the ground. “I met one of his friends through my family, and he introduced the two of us. We’ve been dating for a little over two years now.”

“Well, that’s cute. You sure picked an interesting one,” I teased, smiling at her as I wiped more sweat off of my face. I'm only freaking standing here, and I'm still sweating like crazy.

“You have no idea,” she rolled her eyes. “I wonder where the other lads are,” she mumbled, most likely speaking to herself.

“Other lads?”

Before she could answer me, it was my turn to take a pop fly. I stepped up to the correct position in the grass and bent my knees to get myself ready for the ball. I observed closely as Coach Adam tossed a softball in the air and then quickly swung his bat at it. My eyes followed the neon colored ball as it flew in the air, and soon my feet followed it as well, running forwards until I was underneath it. Finally, I came to a halt and shouted, “Got it,” as we’re always instructed to do so, and held my glove high up in the air to catch the ball.

I received a few hollers and cheers of praise from my teammates as I threw the ball back to Coach and made my way back to the end of the line. I turned around just in time to see Eleanor catch the ball during her turn and throw it beautifully back to Coach Adam.

“I don’t know why you don’t think you’re that good at softball,” I shook my head in disbelief as Eleanor joined me back in line. “You’ve caught everything that was hit to you, and you have the perfect throws.”

“Stop,” she breathed through her smile. “You’re just saying that.”

I laughed, “No, I’m not. I know this is only the first practice, but I can already tell you’re one of the top players on the team.”

“Well,” she leaned closer to me and snickered, “that’s not saying a lot.”

She’s right. At this point, I can safely say we have one of the worst teams I’ve ever been on. Eleanor and I are the only ones who have even caught a ball. It is only the first practice, but we’ve been out here for an hour, and usually, by now, the girls would've warmed up and been able to at least catch a few balls. Then again, maybe it’s this one hundred degree weather that’s holding them back. I hope that’s all it is.

“True,” I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Hey, are you doing anything after practice?” the brunette grinned over at her boyfriend and then back at me.

I joked, “You mean besides showering?” which made her giggle and nod. “Nope.”

“You should come eat lunch with us,” she suggested. “There’s a place with the best wings, and it’s only a few blocks from here.”

Wings? I can’t eat wings because they have gluten in them (well, in the sauce). It’d be nice to go out and make more friends though. Maybe there’s something else on the menu that I can eat.

I nodded at her, “Sure. That’d be cool.”

---

“Where are you going?” Eleanor asked as I walked towards my car with my softball bag hanging from my shoulder.

I furrowed my brows, “Well, I’m meeting you there, aren’t I?”

“Why waste gas?” she shrugged. “Just put your bag in your car, and I’ll drive all of us there. I’ll bring you back here when we’re done.”

“Alright,” I obliged and continued heading towards my car.

Once I tossed my bag into the trunk, I pulled my wallet and lanyard of keys out of the bag before swapping out my cleats for a pair of sneakers. After locking my car, I walked down the parking lot until I found Eleanor standing by her car.

“You can sit in the front since Lou is taking too long to get the others,” Eleanor grinned as she hopped into the driver’s seat, soon followed by me plopping into the passenger’s seat.

“Others?” I asked her for the second time in a half an hour.

She nodded, “Oh yeah. Lou brought his friends with him. Whenever I play, they like to come along so they can skate in the skate park, and then we usually go out to eat afterwards.”

“Ah, I see.” I may have seemed calm on the outside, but I was actually really nervous. As always, meeting new people was nerve-wrecking for me. Will they like me? Will they find me annoying? Am I too weird to hang out with? Maybe going with them isn’t such a good idea anymore.

Suddenly my door opened, and Louis stood there with a fake annoyed expression. “Stealing my seat, I see?”

“Sorry,” I chuckled.

He shrugged, “It’s all good. El, could you pop the trunk so we can put our boards back there?”

“Sure,” she answered as she reached down to pull the lever that opened the trunk.

“Thanks, Baby,” Louis said just before shutting my door.

“Hey El,” one of the back doors opened, and a blonde guy slipped into a seat. I could tell he’s not a natural blonde due to his brown roots that were clearly showing, but it looks really good on him. I felt like I knew him from somewhere though. “The name’s Niall,” the blonde held his hand out to me after moments of me practically staring at him.

“Devon,” I gave him a light nod as I shook his hand.

His thick accent spoke out, “Lovely name.” I’m pretty sure he’s Irish. What’s with me meeting all of these foreigners lately?

“Sup Smelly?” a raspy voice spoke to Eleanor, I’m assuming, and I watched a figure climb into the car from the corner of my eyes which were now widening in realization. I know where I know Niall from now. “Hey Tingley,” Harry smiled, clearly not fazed by me being in his friend’s car. Harry. I remember seeing Niall walking with Harry at school.

I shot him a small smile and faced forward in my seat, suddenly feeling even more subconscious about myself. I’m still excessively sweaty, I’m sure my hair is frizzy and coming out of its ponytail, I wouldn’t be surprised if my face was red, and I probably smell really bad. This is exactly how I’d want my crush to see me, sarcasm intended.

“Does everyone in this car already know you?” Eleanor looked over at me and laughed.

“Not me,” Niall answered for me.

“Why do I have to sit in the middle?” I heard Harry whine. “I’m too tall for this shit.” I turned my head to find that Harry’s head is touching the roof of the car, and a pout is sitting on his face.

“Well, you could’ve waited for me to get in first, but it’s too late now,” Louis said.

“It’s not too late. The car isn’t even on, Lou.”

He shrugged and said, “I’m lazy,” making me giggle.

“Don’t laugh,” Harry jokingly scolded me. “You should be sitting here. You’re petite.”

“You’re petite too,” I fought back but then added a smug, “Well, petite-ish.”

He gasped, “Are you calling me fat?” A dimpled grin played on his lips, making my nerves calm down a bit as a wave of butterflies washed through my tummy.

“I can see it,” Niall teased the curly haired boy as he pinched the skin on Harry’s arm between his fingers.

“Bloody Arse,” Harry mumbled while swatting Niall’s hand away.

“Don’t get mad at him for speaking the truth. I see it too,” Louis poked at Harry’s stomach.

“Look what you started, Tingley,” Harry glared at me, biting the inside of his cheek to hide his smile, but I couldn’t miss the dimple that was engraved in his cheek.

---

Chicken strips, hot wings, and breadsticks are the only thing on the menu besides hot sauce, all of which have gluten in it and I can’t eat. I would tell the group that I’m not hungry, but if I do that, my growling stomach will help them catch me in my lie. If I tell them about my gluten problems, they’ll all interrogate me about what happens when I eat gluten, and that’s an awkward topic I'd rather avoid. What other choice is there?

“I’ll get the wings with mild sauce please,” I told the cashier, even though I knew I’d regret that decision later. I really should just get them plain, but everyone else is getting some sort of sauce on theirs, and I really don’t feel like getting picked on for being such a Plain Jane. I chose mild sauce because it’s their least spicy sauce, and I don’t like spicy food, so I’m hoping my taste buds will be able to handle it. I’m too embarrassed to admitthat, as well. What a fool, I am.

“You two looked like pros out there,” Louis complimented Eleanor and I as we all sat down in a booth.

Eleanor shrugged and said, “Maybe just Devon was,” making me roll my eyes.

“She’s too modest,” I said as I waved dismissively at her.

“That’s a first,” Harry scoffed, earning a slap on the shoulder from Eleanor. He began laughing at her reaction, “I’m sorry for speaking the truth.”

“This is the famous douchebag who introduced me to Lou,” Eleanor informed me with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

I raised my brows, “Really? Wow. Small world.”

“Yup. He was friends with my cousins, and I had never met him until I moved here.”

“I was her only friend at school,” Harry teased.

“No you weren’t,” her voice squealed. Harry took that as an opportunity to make a weird screechy noise in order to mock her. “Stop being a prick,” she slapped his arm with every word she spoke out.

“Okay, okay,” he laughed.

Niall leaned closer to me and said, “They’re always like this. It can be very entertaining.”

“I can only imagine,” I grinned.

“She just misses seeing me around the school, you know, since I was her only friend there,” Harry smirked at Eleanor.

She groaned, “I don’t even have the patience to argue with you. If anything, I was your only friend.”

“Nope. I hung out with Ed, John, Zayn, Liam, Taylor, Ashton, Michael, Luke, Calcum…” he continued to name out people, but I tuned him out once a lady began setting our food onto the table.

I must’ve stared at my food for minutes trying to think of ways to avoid eating it. The wings came with a breadstick and a few celery and carrot sticks, but the only thing that’s safe for me to eat is the vegetables.

When I first found out I was gluten intolerant, I had to ease my way out of eating foods containing gluten, but I’d still steal a few bites here and there, and it wouldn’t affect me. Now, I can’t say the same will happen since I haven’t eaten gluten in a year. In fact, this is probably the stupidest thing I’ll ever do.

I listened to Eleanor point out that Harry was now only saying random names while I cut a bite sized piece of my chicken wing and stabbed it with my fork. I slowly brought the poison up to my mouth while trying to convince myself that one bite couldn’t possibly do too much damage to my body.
Once the chicken was in my mouth, the heat of the sauce had immediately overridden all of my senses, and out of reflex, my mouth fell open. I quickly held my hand under my chin in case the chicken would fall from my mouth, but it never did because I snapped my jaw shut.

Why is mild sauce so damn hot? Is it even supposed to be this hot? Am I being pranked or am I just being dramatic? I hate spicy things so much, and it’s so hard for me to even chew and swallow one damn bite of chicken.

I grabbed my soda from the table and began chugging it through the straw in attempt to calm down the burning sensation in my mouth. I felt humiliated when Niall started chuckling next to me because it hadn’t even occurred to me that the others had seen that.

“When I’m done with my wings, I’ll eat yours for you,” Niall whispered to me with a sympathetic grin plastered to his face.

“You can have the breadstick too,” I said without thinking, and he furrowed his brows.

“But those are the best. Are you sure you don’t want it?”

“I-I,” I struggled to find the words. I looked over at Louis, Harry, and Eleanor to see they’re too wrapped up in their argument, with Louis being their referee, to notice what Niall and I are discussing. I finally whispered, “I can’t eat it,” and stuck my straw back into my mouth.

Like a light bulb went off in his head, Niall nodded in realization. “Ah, I see. My brother’s the same way.”

“Same way?”

He chuckled, “Gluten?” I shyly smiled and nodded. “Your secret is safe with me, but just so you know, we won’t judge you for it.”

“Okay,” I grinned thankfully. “Can I have your veggies?”

“Of course,” he scooped them off of his plate and added them to the pile I already had on my plate.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“Tingley is gonna give me an A on Tuesday,” I heard Harry tell Louis.

I turned towards him and shook my head, “Yeah, if you have all of your work which, for some reason, I highly doubt you do.”

He clutched his heart, “Ouch. You don’t have faith in me?”

“Should I?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged and chuckled, “Probably not.”

“It’s not that hard.”

“Says the TA who doesn’t have to do the work,” he playfully rolled his eyes and straightened up in his seat.

“Do you have to argue with everyone?” Eleanor asked the curly haired boy. “Is it your goal in life to drive everyone mad?”

“Nah, I just like bugging you.”

“You two fight like siblings,” Niall spoke between bites of his bread.

“Ick.”

Eleanor, seemingly offended, asked Harry, “What do you mean ‘Ick?’”

“I just imagined you as my sister,” his face scrunched up in disgust.

Out of nowhere, Louis loudly slapped his hands together and shouted, “I figured it out!” The whole table turned their attention to Louis, waiting for him to explain himself, but he just stared up at the ceiling with a proud smile on his face.

“Lou?” Niall questioned, and Louis looked at Niall expectantly with his smile still brightly shining. “What did you figure out?”

Louis slyly eyed me, not long enough for anyone else to see, but I caught it, and then he waved his hands dismissively and said, “Pft. Don’t worry about it.” Hm, I wonder what that was about.

Harry leaned forward and squinted his eyes at Louis, “Just spit it out, Mate.”

“Well, I just remembered…that Devon…went to our middle school,” Louis spoke slowly and waved his hand in a circular motion.

He went to our middle school? Is that why in Graphics Design he swore he knew me? It would make sense, but I’m still confused as to how he would know me from middle school when I don’t remember seeing him on campus at all.

“Oh. Yup, she did,” was all Harry said before he went back to eating his food and quite silently, I may add.

“Does talking to you like you're stupid always make you this quiet?” Eleanor laughed at Harry’s reaction. “I should try that on you sometime.”

He just shrugged at her and swallowed his food. “Tingley,” he said, gaining my full attention. “If you could be an insect, what kind of insect would you be?” Way to change the subject, Harry.

“He does this all the time,” Louis chuckled and wrapped his arm around Eleanor’s shoulders. “He asks the most random questions.”

“You don’t have to answer him,” Eleanor rolled her eyes.

Little do they know, I am the same way. I love to talk about the most random stuff (which is most likely due to the type of family I grew up in), and people never really take that side of me seriously. I’ll ask Hayden a “Would You Rather” question, and she’d answer with something like, “Why would I do either of those?” So Harry asking me something so random actually kind of excites me.

I looked at Harry to see him patiently awaiting an answer with a grin on his face. “Is there a bug that eats itself?” I finally asked.

His smile grew, and for a second, he pondered my question. “I don’t think so,” he responded.

“Well, I’d rather eat myself than be a bug,” I giggled shyly. “But if I had to be a bug, I think I’d be a butterfly because they’re beautiful, or a bee so I can sting a bitch.”

“Perfect,” Harry said so lowly that I don’t think it was meant to be heard. “See guys?” he shook his head at everyone else. “She gets it.”

“Whatever you say, Harold,” Eleanor rolled her eyes. “Is everyone done eating?” Everybody nodded. “Alright then, let’s go. We’ve got to give Devon a ride back to her car.”

As we walked out of the restaurant, Harry stayed close by me and said, “You should come to lunch with us every week.” And for the second time today, he’s given me butterflies.

“I’ll consider it,” I teased him. Meanwhile, on the inside, I was trying to contain the mixture of nerves and excitement he had given me.

“Also,” he hunched over a little so his face was by mine, “you’re sitting in the middle this time.”

Notes

I finally have my laptop back! Yay!

So I'm on vacation right now, but it's a road trip, so I've been writing during the car rides. So you should expect the next few chapters to come out faster. Whoop whoop! Haha.