Time of Our Lives

*Kariann’s POV*

“Kariann! Be sure to put the dishes away!” My mother yelled from her bedroom.

“Yes, mother!” I sighed, getting up from the couch and beginning to do my morning chores.

I’ve been up since about seven o’clock this morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep since. I heard it then, the stumbles of Dakota walking out of my room and walking into the kitchen. She was in her sweats and tank top, her usual night attire. She leaned against the island counter, watching me put away dishes.

It was nine o’clock now. That girl really knew how to sleep… she even went to bed before I did. “Your bedhead is rocking this morning.” I commented, checking out her crazy wavy hair, which was sticking up everywhere.

We heard a car door slam, followed by loud laughter. “Must be the neighbors.” I said.

Yeah, we lived in a small town. Nothing too special about it really. Dakota let out a huge yawn, but it was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Would you get that?” I asked her.

She waved her hand, making a show of dragging her feet toward the door and opening it. From there, I heard a loud chorus of voices, “SURPRISE!”

You couldn’t miss the British accents. I looked around the corner and saw Niall picking Dakota up from her feet, spinning her around in the living room. He set her down and she took a step back, eyes squinting at the five boys that were standing in the living room. She looked over, staring at me.

“Don’t give me that look.” I said, “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

“Wait, so I’m not dreaming?” She asked, looking back.

Nope. She wasn’t. Niall reached up, grabbing her head and shaking her, “What is this? Do you not recognize your best friend?”

Dakota squinted her eyes, staring at Niall. “Niall? Is this the legitimate pop star sensation, Niall Horan. A blond Irish boy who hasn’t bothered to contact me in two weeks!?”

She smacked Niall’s arm, who just whined in return and pouted at her. “Sorry, we’ve been so busy with the tour though.”

That I didn’t care about, there was something else on my mind. I walked into the living room, “Well, I’d like to know how the hell you found my house!”

I heard my father then, walking down the hallway from his bedroom. “Kariann Taylor, what is going on here? Who are these boys?”

All five boys turned, looking at my father. “Sir! You must be Kariann’s grandfather! We are a part of a band that these two girls are fans of.”

Dakota cleared her throat, she was first to catch onto the mistake. “Um, Louis, that’s not her grandfather.”

Louis was shocked. Oh, and I just noticed then that he was off his crutches and was walking around just fine. The guys looked at each other, not sure of what to say. Zayn spoke up, “Great-grandfather?”

I couldn’t help it, I started laughing. Dakota slapped her forehead. “That’s her dad, dimwits!”

“Wait! Are you saying that the other guy isn’t both your fathers?” Niall exclaimed in shock.

“That was her dad.” I said, shaking her head, pointing at Dakota.

“So you’re not sisters?” Liam asked, confused.

“No!” We both shouted.

Somehow this conversation was bringing enjoyment to my father. He was laughing. “Well, shit, Kariann, why haven’t you introduced us yet?”

I shook my head, “Jeez. Anyways, this is Niall, Zayn, Liam, Louis, and…”

My eyes caught Harry’s. I swallowed, the last memory I had with him happened two weeks ago popped into my mind. “That’s Harry.” Dakota finished for me, seeming how I lost my voice.

“We hope you don’t mind, but is it okay if we stay and talk to the girls for a bit?” Liam asked, taking control for his group.

“Don’t keep me from stopping you.” Da said, but waved them out of his way, “Let me out though. I need a smoke.”

The boys scrambled out of his way and Da went outside onto the porch. Now we just stood there, the seven of us staring at each other. It dawned on me still, “Still, you guys never answered how you found my house.”

“Hey, it’s not that hard to track your phone-“ Louis started, but quickly got sidetracked, “Oh! Is that a cat!?”

He jumped around the guys and past Dakota to the cat that was laying on her condo, staring at the five strangers in the room. Louis squatted down, staring at the cat. She got up, sticking her nose to his, sniffing. Louis reached up, stroking her head. “What’s her name?”

“Spice.” I answered.

Zayn and Niall were next to go look at the cat. “She’s so pretty!” Niall said, picking Spice up and smothering her, along with the other two.

I couldn’t help but smile, “What’s the matter, baby? Is Uncle Niall smothering you?”

“I’m an Uncle?” Niall asked.

“Hey! What about me?” Louis pouted, taking the cat out of Niall’s arms and running away into the kitchen with her.

Dakota and I laughed. Louis was definitely feeling better since his ankle healed. Niall ran after him. “No! Off my Kitteh!” Louis yelled, running around the counter in the kitchen and back into the living room to hide behind Harry. “Harrehhh! Stop that madman!”

For a brief while, I’ve forgotten all about Harry and our little spat. It was good to see the guys again. We sat around the living room. Harry took the recliner, Liam and Zayn took over the love seat, Niall and I took the couch, and Louis and Dakota was on the floor, playing with the cat. “So what gave you guy’s the motive to come see us again?” Dakota asked, looking up at the others.

“Well,” Liam said, “Our manager’s wife suddenly became ill, so we’re taking a small break for today. We decided to stop by here. Oh, and to answer your question from earlier, it’s not hard to track you guys using your phones.”

“The manager’s wife?” I asked, “That’s unfortunate.”

“What sucks is that he won’t be able to come back to work until a couple of weeks.” Zayn said, “He’s the only one who keeps up with our schedules so we’re pretty much screwed now.”

“Which is why we came today.” Louis said, bopping my cat on her nose. She jerked back, giving him a small glare.

“Yeah, so how about it?” Niall asked, jumping the gun.

“Whoa, whoa, Niall, back up some. What are you trying to say?” I asked. I turned to Liam, who I knew would explain it better than the other guys.

“Since our manager won’t be back for a couple of weeks, we wanted to hire you girls as our… I don’t know, nannies? Our manager will keep you updated with our day-by-day scheduling and it would be your job to make sure we’re up and ready for the day.”

“So…” Dakota started, “You come find us two weeks after we meet with no lick of contact or something as small as a text, but with a job offer you come running to us? Where the hell have you boys been? Ah!” She jumped as Louis poked her on the side. He gave her a cheesy grin.

Niall crawled onto the floor, climbing on top of Dakota and pinning her, “Tickle fight!”

Louis jumped on her then, starting to tickle her. I couldn’t help it, it was so funny I was laughing. “Stop!” Dakota begged, laughing hard. I saw it then, Liam nudging Zayn and they both crept up toward me.

“No-“ I screeched.

They tackled me on the couch, tickling me to death. “Hold her down! Hold her down!” Zayn said, causing Liam to grab me by the arms and pin me to the couch.

I broke free, jumping up from the couch and facing the boys with my arms up, ready to defend myself. The grin was apparent on my face, but their faces lit up also. Somehow, they had something else in mind. I was grabbed from behind and I fell onto the floor on top of someone. Harry to be exact. Liam and Zayn started making these weird noises as they pounced on top of me, tickling me yet again. It got to the point where we were all laughing and crowding around on the floor together. How the seven of us fitted in this small space, I had no clue. But I didn’t care. But still, it may look weird to someone if they were to walk in on us.

Da walked in on all of us right then, which made everything awkward. We looked up, seeing him give us a shake of his head as he walked right out of the living room and into his bedroom. We were laughing by then. Strange enough, I was right in the middle of the crowded seven of us. Niall and Louis had Dakota pinned still on my right, lying right on top of her. To my left, Liam was sitting up, laughing while holding Spice and Zayn petting her, Harry was sitting right between him and me, something I failed to notice before. I didn’t mind though, I felt myself beginning to forget what happened before. I’d let it go.

He seemed to be doing the same thing because we were looking at one another and smiling.

“Damn it, you two!” Dakota yelled, still pinned. She wrapped her legs around Louis’s waist, “You’re killing me!”

Those boys were torture, but it didn’t stop Dakota from breaking free from Niall and rolling over to where she was sitting on top of Louis. She took a deep breath, letting it out fast, “Now that I can breath… what’s this about us being nannies?”

“Why bother on the details?” Louis whined, “It’s a free ride across America and you get to hang out with us… not only that, but you actually get paid! Just take the offer!”

Dakota slapped her hands on both of his cheeks, making him pout out at her and shutting him up. “Well,” I started, leaning back to rest on my hands, “I don’t mind, but hope you have fun convincing our parents in letting us go.”

The guys looked at each other. I didn’t know how they were going to do it, but somehow they seemed to have planned ahead. “Don’t worry,” Harry said, speaking up for the first time since he’s got here, “We’ll take care of everything.”

…A Few Hours Later…

“Okay, how in the hell did they convince them?” Dakota half-whispered to me as we neared the tour bus that was parked by the highway not a hundred feet from my house.

The boys were ahead of us, jumping onto the bus, carrying some, well all, of our luggage. We were last to climb on after them. Only Dakota was in front of me and she stopped me from climbing the last step as she stared at the scene before her. “Holy freaking Moley.”

I pushed her forward, “Let me see!”

Okay, my thoughts ran into something along the lines of what she said, only with more profanity. There were two couches one either end, covered in soft-looking cushion and a carpet floor that seemed just as soft. A small wall separated the couches toward the ‘kitchen’ which held a cushioned booths that eloped the wall, the opposite end holding a small stove and sink, along with a fridge. A small hallway broke in between, showing a door toward the side and steps that lead to the upper level, their bedrooms.

Dakota didn’t waste a second on jumping onto one of the couches. She chucked a pillow at me and I gaped at her, “What the hell?!”

“Quit gaping like a lost idiot and come sit on this magnificent cushion from the gods.”

I rolled my eyes, flopping onto the seat and my head rested near Dakota, who was leaning up on her arm. We smiled at each other, genuinely happy. She looked toward the stairway to see if they were still above. “You know,” She whispered, “I still can’t get over the fact that it’s us that’s able to hang out with them…”

“I know, right?” I said, closing my eyes with a huge smile apparent on my face, “I don’t think any of our fan-fictions will top what is happening right here, right now…”

That caused me to make up an idea. I got out my phone, opening a notepad. “What are you doing?” She asked, curious.

“I’m going to keep a phone journal… remind me later to go buy one so I can keep a log of what’s going on during our stay.”

“You really are-“

“Okay!” Zayn excitedly said, peeking his head down the staircase, “Are we ready?”

I raised one hand, giving a thumbs up as I continued to type with the other hand. Dakota gave her signal and Zayn jumped down, running past us to stick his head out the door of the bus. “We’re ready, Roberto!”

Dakota and I waved at the driver as Zayn clapped a hand on his shoulder, starting a conversation. It didn’t take long for rest of the guys to come down and join us on lounging. “Well,” Niall said, taking a seat on the floor, “Never thought the day would come where two girls would be joining us on tour.”

“How old are you anyways?” Liam asked, “Eighteen?”

“Keep guessing.” I said, followed by a laugh by Dakota since she took note of my tone.

“Um… nineteen?” Louis asked, doubting his guess.

“Nope.” Dakota said, popping the ‘p’.

I looked over, seeing the boys looking at each other, not quite sure what to guess. “We’re both seventeen.” I answered, rolling my eyes. “Well, I’ll be eighteen next month.”

“March, here.” Dakota said, then looked down, “Oh, shoot, speaking of August, we start school here in three weeks, don’t we?”

“August second…” I noted the date.

“Wait, you two are still in school?” Zayn spoke up, poking his head back into the lounging area, taking a seat between Harry and Liam on the other couch.

“Yeah…” Dakota said, “Oh, when do you think we’ll be back home?”

“I’ll make sure to talk to management to make sure you two are home before the end of this month.” Liam said, texting through his phone.

I shook my head, continuing on my phone. Daddy Direction was surely always keeping tabs on everything. I guess it was good there was at least one responsible boy in this bus. We were on the road for only thirty minutes before I felt my phone vibrate. I already knew who it was, so I simply pressed the ignore button. Dakota, who catches onto everything I do, commented. “Still ignoring him, huh?”

I nodded, not really caring anymore. The other guys were stuck in their own conversation, so they paid no mind to mine and Dakota’s whispered conversation. “I still find it sad he still hasn’t caught on, especially after a two weeks.”

I shrugged. “Oh well, it’s not my fault he’s too fucking stupid to even realize it.”

I felt the couch buzz as Dakota’s phone went off. “My love!” She exclaimed, excited to be called by one of her best friends, jumping up and running up the stairs to the bedroom.

The boys looked at me, confused. I gave them a blank stare, “What?”

“Was that…?” Niall started.

“Her boyfriend?” Harry finished, questioning.

I shook my head, “Oh, no. That was Bonnie.”

“Bonnie?” Liam asked.

“Her ‘lover.’” I quoted with my fingers.

“Huh?” Louis asked.

I sighed, sitting up, ready to explain, “Her relationship with Bonnie is like… Louis’s relationship with Harry. Yeah, that pretty much explains it.”

“So, Bonnie is Dakota’s Boobear?” Harry asked, cocking his head as he grinned at his ‘boobear’.

I raised an eye as I nodded, “Pretty much.”

“Oh, my God…” Zayn started.

“That’s kind of hot.” Niall said, nodding.

I gave him a ‘WTF’ look upon smacking him in the back of the head. “Ow… I meant nothing personal by that.” Niall whined, pouting at me.

“He’s trying to say that he thinks you’re hot too.” Louis laughed, tackling Niall on the floor, wrestling him.

“Did not-“ Niall start, but was shut up by Louis’s hand over his mouth.

I rolled my eyes, “By God I swear…”

“Kariann Taylor Young!” Dakota shouted, peaking her head from the staircase, just as Zayn did earlier before, “Get your ass over here!”

“What if I don’t wanna!?” I yelled back, planting my ass onto the couch, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Bonnie and I have something to tell you!”

“Put her on speaker then.” I said.

Dakota scrunched up her face as she did just that. “Okay, Bonnie? You ready?”

Bonnie’s voice rang through the phone with an okay. “Okay… 3… 2… 1…”

“HOT POCKETS!” Both of their voices screamed, following by uncontrollable laughter as she disappeared upstairs again.

“She’s as bad as Louis and his potatoes…” Zayn said, making an iffy face and gave Louis a cheesy smile.

“What!?” Louis screeched, screaming like a banshee, “You dare mock my love for potatoes?”

It was Niall’s turn to shut his mouth, but he couldn’t stop laughing. Louis continued to glare at Zayn before Dakota skipped her way down the stairs and flopped onto the couch next to me. “Did I miss something?” She asked, noticing Louis and Niall wrestling on the ground.

“With them, it’s hard to tell.” I said, still typing into my phone journal.

It didn’t take long before I was done, and as I proofread my contents, I couldn’t help but be happy about today’s series of events.