Midnight Memories (1D)

Chapter 5

I can't believe it. Joe is here- in Ireland!

I run into his arms, and he picks me up and spins me around.

"I've missed you so much!" I whisper into his ear.

"I've missed you to!" He whispers back, setting me on the ground.

Ryan and the guys make their way over to where we were, and Ry steps up and hugs Joe.

"It's been a while." She says "How are you?"

"I'm good, you?" Joe asks

"I'm great. But, uh, what are you doing here?" She asks, looking a little concerned, "I don't mean to be rude or anything, I just wasn't expecting you to come this soon- I figured you'd come in like August or September."

"Well, I wanted to make sure Bri was all settled in here, and I wanted to be here for her birthday." Joe puts his arm around my shoulders and smiles down at me, and I look up and smile back at him.

"Her birthday's next month." Ryan informs him.

"Well, I also had to see if she was actually living with One Direction."

"Ah, there it is!" Ry says, finally happy to get the true reason Joe was here. "And for the record she doesn't live with One Direction. Just me. And sometimes Niall."

"Ry." I give my best friend a look, hopefully meaning, 'not the time.'

"No, no it's fine," Liam says stepping foward, shaking Joe's hand. "Liam Payne, nice to meet you."

"Joe Bailey." Joe says.

"Harry." Harry says, staring at Joe, and not taking off his sunglasses- or moving for that matter. He just stands in his spot making not movement towards Joe.

"Niall Horan," Niall says, stepping foward, and shaking Joe's hand.

"Hey, how are ya," Joe responds.

"Louis," Louis waves to Joe, but doesn't move towards him either. "Zayn's in the car."

Huh. I didn't realize Zayn had left. Gosh, I feel kind of bad about that.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all." Joe says.

"We were just going to head back to the house, but-" I start

"He can come." Liam suggests. "There's still one seat left you can try to squeeze into if you'd like."

"Yeah, okay sure." Joe agrees, and we all turn to head back to the car.

I pick up the bags I dropped on the ground, and lean on Joe as we continue walking. We get back to the car, and I carefully place the bags on top of the other bags already in the trunk. I close the trunk, and then get in the car. Joe has taken my seat, so I squeeze into the seat between him and Zayn.

"Than-" I start to thank Ryan.

"No- if you say thank you one more time, I'm taking all you're new shoes."

"Geez, okay." I laugh at Ry. But in her defense I have been saying 'thank you' a lot today. "Hey, are you okay?" I lean over and whisper to Zayn. He hadn't said a word since we got back.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He whispers back, "Just a headache."

"Okay. Feel better." I tell him. He smiles at me, and we lock eyes again, but then he turns away, realizing that Joe was in the car.

"Hey, I'm Zayn." He reaches across me shaking hands with Joe.

"Hey, how are ya, I'm Joe."

"So, uh, how long have you guys known each other?" Liam asks. I guess he's the polite one of the group. I don't know what's up with Harry and the other guys.

"Uh, well we've known each other for a while, but we didn't actually talk until Ryan came to the school. The three of us were in a group for a science project." Joe explains. "And then we started dated about a year-and-a-half ago."

"I still don't know why but-" I start but Joe cuts me off.

"I told you why." Joe reminds me.

"I know but when you are the star of the football team who every girl in that school wants to literally marry, and I am the weirdo who gets shoved into the walls, and things thrown at her, and picked on just for existing, I should be allowed to question whether you're serious or not." I say, wincing when I realize I just told the boys what life is like for me.

"Why did kids do that?" Louis asks, quietly.

"Because I was the odd one out. I was from a totally different cou-um place then them, my parents died, I was in the foster system, which in and of itself is terrible, and I was just different. I had no friends. It didn't help that I was the only theatre kid in the county." I explained to him.

"But theatre's cool-" Niall says.

"Yeah, try explaining that to them." I cut him off. "They honestly would agree with you if you said it was cool. Cause they look up to you. They probably don't evem mind theatre that much, they just needed another reason to hate me."

"I'm sorry." Zayn says quietly.

"Thanks." I smile at him sadly.

"Well- we'll be your friends. Call us day or night we'll be there for you." Harry chimes in. The rest of the guys agree.

"Thanks guys." I say, and tears start forming in my eyes again. Joe and Zayn start a really awkward group hug, what with the seats and everything. But everyone somehow joins in- except Liam since he was driving.

We pull in the driveway about 7 minutes later, and this time we do a real group hug.

"Thanks guys, that really means a lot." I tell them, wiping the tears off my face. We all just stand there for a minute, not sure what to do. But Ryan breaks the silence. She always seems to know what to do and when to do it.

"LAST ONE TO BRI ROOM HAS TO MAKE DINNER!"