"Helloooooo!" A deep voice trilled from the front hall. I sent James a panicked look, and he returned it with a serene smile.
"You can do this, okay? I may have only met you three hours ago, but... Okay, nevermind. You're a cool girl, just be as open with them as you are with me and everything will be okay. I know they'll love you." James reassured me, resting his hand on my thigh. I nodded, praying that this confidence and outgoing personality I'd managed to rouse up with James would last me the rest of the night.
"Woah, am I interrupting anything?" A boy with curly hair appeared in the doorway, closely followed by a short blonde boy and a tall blonde boy. I gave him a puzzled look before realising James' hand was on my thigh and he was whispering in my ear. Not exactly a good first impression you're making, Elizabeth.
James and I lurched apart, both red in the face. "Oh, no. He was just reassuring me that I'm not going to mess anything up." I said quickly, then slapped a hand over my mouth.
"Mess anything up with what?" Curly asked curiously. I bit my lip and smiled awkwardly at him.
"Uh, you know, not make a bad impression and humiliate myself in front of you guys. Guess I didn't start off too swell, did I?" I winced. The boy laughed, shrugging.
"I don't know, as far as I'm concerned you're just the pretty girl in our kitchen." He said, grinning cheekily.
"The off-limits pretty girl in our kitchen." James said with a bit of an edge to his voice. "This is Elizabeth, we go to the gym together. I always go over to her place to hang out and I thought maybe it was time I brought her over here to meet you guys." James said, going smoothly along with the back story we'd created.
"That's me!" I said awkwardly, holding up a hand. I got off the stool and stuck my hand out to curly.
"I'm Bradley Simpson." He introduced, shaking my hand. I smiled brightly and moved on to tall, blonde, and angular.
"Tristan." He offered, grinning and shaking my hand. I returned the grin, giving him my best toothy grin. James let out a stifled 'aww' from next to me and I looked over at him.
"What did I do?" I asked, frowning at him. James laughed and shook his head.
"You're just adorable." He confessed, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and giving me a friendly hug, then quickly stuffing his hands in his pockets again. Even though he was just saying it to play a part, I still burned a bright red.
"I'm Connor." The third boy introduced himself, shaking my hand. I smiled at him, observing that I was at least an inch taller than both Bradley and Connor.
"It's lovely to meet you all." I said, letting the words hang in the air as the boys returned the compliments, James casually standing behind me and giving me a back rub. He must have magic hands or something, because while Brad was telling us about his fan encounter, I rolled my head back and let my eyes close, letting Bradley's words blur and just letting myself relax.
"And that's the story of how I died." Bradley finished, Tristan and Connor bursting out laughing.
"What?" I snapped my head forward, wrinkling my eyebrows at him. "The story of how you died?" I repeated, completely lost.
"Yeah, she didn't hear a word I said. Oi, James! Stop touching her, she's losing focus." Brad teased, swatting James' hands. James laughed and stopped rubbing my back, instead wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind and pulling me to his chest.
"Hows about I call up for some Chinese food and you four pick out a movie or two?" James offered.
"I'll get us all drinks." Brad offered. He left for the garage while James took his phone to the hall, and I tentatively followed Tristan and Connor through the French doors off the kitchen and into the sitting room. As soon as I was through the door, Tristan turned around and closed them, pulling the shades down so no one in the kitchen could see us.
