The Project

Chapter 15

We step inside the restaurant and catch the other boys standing in the waiting line. "Hey guys" I say, standing in between Louis and Liam. "Hey Marley" Louis says, looking at me. I rest both of my arms on their shoulders and use them as arm rests. "How long have you guys been in line for?" I ask. "About a little over ten minutes" Liam says, smiling at me. "Nice, nice" I nod, still leaning on them.

"Are you quite finished yet?" Louis asks in a sassy tone. "Are you?" I ask, causing him to give me a confused expression. "What?" he asks. "Exactly" I say, paying attention to Niall behind me. He, Liam and Zayn were all trying to hold back their laughter at Louis chocking on a response to mine.

"Louis mate! You have some competition!" Niall says through laughs. Louis eyes me suspiciously and I flash him a cheeky smile. He shakes his head and chuckles to himself. The waiter comes back and leads us to our table, seating us toward the back to not draw attention to us. I take a seat next to Niall and Louis, Liam Harry and Zayn sit across from us with the body guards at a separate table nearby.

"So Marley, when is your birthday" Harry asks. "My birthday? Do you want month and day or month, day and year?" I ask, smirking at my smartassiness. "Oohh she just sassed you Harry!" Louis says, pointing at him. "Month and day" he smirks back at me. "June 27th" I answer. "The fun part is, try and guess how old I am" I smirk at him.

"Harry she's-" Niall begins to whisper to him but I cut him off. "Niall don't this is Harry and I's game" I say, not breaking eye contact. I think we were in between a staring contest and a guessing game, but it was kind of fun too. Harry squints his eyes at me and leans forward a little. "You're 19 years old" he says. "Mmmm nope" I say. "18 years old?" He asks, starting to sound unsure. "You're just going backwards" I reply, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Give me a hint" he says. "You were closer when you said 19" I answer. "20?" he says. "One more" I smile. "You're 21?" He asks. "Just turned 21" I smile, leaning back in my seat. "Man you're oldddddd" Louis says, dragging the ending of 'old'. "Yeah you're older than Louis! And he's the oldest in the band!" Liam says. "So besides the body guards, I'm the oldest one at the table?" I ask, looking at all of them.

They all nod and I look at the ceiling. "Wow. Maybe I am old" I say, staring off into the distance. "But Louis' 21" I add, looking at him. "Month-wise you're older than me" he explains. "At least Louis and I can drink here legally" I smirk at them. "You had to bring that one up" Zayn groans. Louis and I high five each other and the boys groan.

"Oh hush your time will come" I say to them. The waiter comes back and takes our orders, taking our menus as well when we decided what we wanted to eat.

"Okay let's arm wrestle while the bill is being payed off" Niall offers. I give him a look and he wiggles his eyebrows at me. "Oh hell no" I say, getting the message. "Battle!" he says, fisting the air. I facepalm and can't help but laugh at his weirdness. "Who goes first?" Zayn asks, helping with clearing the plates and everything out of the way. "There's six of us so let's have three groups, two against two. And whoever wins that goes to the next team. You get what I'm saying?" Niall explains.

"So basically whoever wins out of the two moves on to go against the winner of the next two people" I say. "And the last two standing have to go against each other" Niall adds. "And whoever wins the entire thing gets what?" Harry asks. "Hmmm, the winner gets to.... kiss Marley!" Niall says. I feel my eyes widen and look at Niall. "I'm not a bargaining item Niall!" I say. "Oh just a peck! Or a 5 second long kiss. Plus if I win it would really catch attention" he says, whispering the last part. "It's too soon for that though!" I whisper back.

"How about this, whoever wins gets to kiss Marley, but it will depend on who wins. And Marley gets to decide how to kiss" Liam says. "There I like that. Let's go" I say, taking a seat. Niall sits across from me, Harry and Liam sit next to me, then Zayn and Louis.