A/N: Okay so sorry it took so long to post :/ my computer is being stupid, and I have to do this on my phone -.- ugh.
But on the bright side, the winner of this chapter's dedication is AbFabXx!!!! :D
~Grace xx
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~April~
"What flavor Soda Pop do you want, mate?" Harry called to Louis. Well, I guess that answers that.
"Grape!" Harold picked up a purple can from the large box of assorted drinks that was in the corner of the kitchen.
The girls and I were grabbing random snacks from the cabinets, whatever looked good. When we had finished raiding the kitchen, the ten of us ran downstairs to rip through the junk food.
"You know," Erin said, her voice muffled by her mouthful of popcorn, "You boys are actually a lot like I imagined you would be."
"Really?" Zayn inquired.
"Yeah," I agreed, "Fun, hilarious, silly, weird, idiots..."
They chuckled, eating their food. Honestly, I thought I'd be less relaxed hanging out with One Direction... But, hey, I guess that's because in my mind they've never really been famous people. More like old friends who happen to constantly give me heart attacks, and are not aware of my existence.
"What time is it?" Rikki asked whoever was listening.
"About 11 o'clock," Kris replied after checking her white iPhone.
"What kind of night is it gonna be, ladies?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked before the girls could answer me.
"Well," I explained, "We have nights where we stay up till 3 AM, and we have nights where we go to sleep early, and wake up early, to spend more time together in the daylight."
"Let's stay up," Kris answered me, "The boys should see how funny we are in the middle of the night."
And thus, it was agreed that we would stay up for awhile.
I wanna stay up all night, and jump around until we see the sun...
:~:~:
After we had decided on sleeping arrangements (Zayn, Niall, and Liam on the couch, Erin and Heather on the ottomon with pillows, and Rikki, Kris, Louis, Harry and I on the floor) and set up our makeshift beds, we laid down.
"I thought we were staying up," Niall commented.
"Oh, we are," I said, "We're going to lay here and talk until we get loopy and start making jokes about stupid things."
It didn't take long for the weirdness to creep up on us.
"H-hey guys," I said, already giggling at my joke.
"Yeah?" They all asked, starting to act oddly as well.
"How d-do you m-m-make a p-plumber sad?" It was hard to speak in a way they would understand, because I was laughing at the mere thought of my idiotic joke.
"How?" Liam asked, chuckling.
"Kill his family."
The room went silent, before everyone broke into spontaneous laughter.
"Th-that is so stupid!" Louis laughed. I was in the middle of him and Kris.
"Hey guys, wanna hear another joke?" Harry asked. Oh dear. I've heard his 'jokes' before.
"So, the Titanic, ya know, that big boat that sunk and killed a bunch of people-"
"Yes, we've heard of the Titanic!" Kris giggled, cutting his loopy voice off.
"Anyway," He continued, "So the Titanic goes to the mall, and is trying on clothes, when it look in the mirror, and asks 'Do my lifeboats make me look fat?'"
He started laughing uncontrollably, apparently thinking it was hilarious.
"Was that the whole joke?" Zayn called over.
"Y-yeah!"
Everyone started laughing at Harry's stupidity, before I spoke up with another joke.
"Okay, what kind of... elf wears, um... purple?" I said, making it up as I went.
"Uh, I don't know?" Liam responded.
"An elf on crack!"
I could barely hear Rikki over my own laughter, "Why?!?"
"B-because elves don't wear purple!" I giggled, "So the only reason an elf would be wearing purple is if he was on drugs!"
"Oh Lord," Erin responded.
That was the last thing I heard, before drifting into darkness, with only one question on my mind:
I wonder whose hand is touching my foot...
~Louis~
I looked over at April, who was still asleep, even though the rest of us had woken up about half an hour ago.
"Why isn't she awake yet?" I asked Kris. I'm pretty sure that they were the closest friends of of the group. Sort of like Harry and I...
"April does not enjoy waking up," She replied, "April enjoys sleeping."
"Ew, light," I heard April moan from beside me, making everyone's head turn towards her.
"Oh, yeah, she's also a vampire," Kris commented.
"Make the light go away!" April whined, pulling her blanket up over her head.
"Wake up sweetie," Kris comforted her, crawling over to pat the lump April had formed herself into on the floor.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't wanna."
April is... well, she's April. I love that about her. Her ability to be purely April.
We all sat around for awhile, April once again becoming silent, probably falling asleep. Erin had went upstairs to make some food, and soon called out, "Breakfast is ready!"
April was up, and standing like a shot. Or at least, at a sort of fast pace, which seemed to be like lightening for sleepy April.
"The one way to get April up," Rikki said, "Food."
Everyone got up, and walked upstairs like zombies. I wonder if zombies eat breakfast... scrambled brains, maybe?
We walked into the kitchen, greeted by a feast of square waffles, orange juice, toast, and sausage links.
"Dig in," Erin invited, and we took our previous seats. Someone had found two extra chairs, so we all had a place to sit.
No one spoke much, as we were all stuffing our faces with food. Even though I had only gotten about 6 hours of sleep, I still felt quite well rested.
April ate a lot, almost as much as Niall. When she had finished her third serving, her eyes still droopy with sleep, she laid her head against my shoulder, as we were sitting next to each other.
I glanced down at her with a small smile, grinning at her peaceful face, eyes closed, features relaxed.
I looked back up, to see the girls staring at me, their faces distorted in way that resembles a person who has just seen a kitten hugging a puppy.
Soon, though, she lifted her head, got up, and walked to the bathroom, calling over her shoulder, "I'm brushing my teeth, I'll be right back."
Immediately after the bathroom door in the hallway had shut, the girls began whispering amongst each other.
"What are you talking about?" I asked after a minute of the muffled voices.
"Nothing!" Kris answered too quickly, but I brushed it off.
When April returned, Rikki suggested, "Let's get dressed." So, the boys and I grabbed our clothes from Heather's room at the end of the hallway, where we had placed them the day before, and went downstairs to change as the girls took Heather's room.
"Bro, you totally like Kris," I teased Harry while he pulled his shirt over his large head of curls.
"...Maybe..." He confessed, blushing.
"I knew it!" Niall cheered.
"You knew what?" We all whipped around to see Rikki, Kris, Heather, and Erin standing at the door, dressed.
"Nothing," Liam covered for him.
"Where's April?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows at her absence.
"Upstairs," Kris replied, with a smirk, "You should go get her."
"Okay," I said with a grin, walking through the girls and up the stairs.
When I had reached Heather's room, I could see April through the open door.
She sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over with her hair falling into brown curtains around her face. I watched silently, leaning against the doorframe, as she tapped the heel of her blue shoes with white stitching against the floor to make sure they were fully on, before tying them. She pulled the laces, that were white on her left and light blue on the right, very tightly. Once she had finished making bows on the top of each foot, she straightened up to a sitting position, reaching to brush her hair behind her ears.
"Oh, hey Louis." April said to me, her smile bright.
"Hey April."
For a moment, we stared at each other. Her brown eyes had a certain glimmer to them. Like the iris' were laced with a glow of happiness and radiance.
"We should go downstairs," She said, standing up and walking over to me. "They're probably waiting for us.
"Yeah," I replied distantly, caught in a content trance.
As April and I walked down the steps next to each other, I glanced over at her outfit. Red leggings under frayed jean shorts and a navy blue t shirt with a faded superman symbol.
"Nice shirt," I commented, earning a shy smile from a girl who I could never have imagined would ever be even slightly shy.
"Thanks," April said in return, gaining her usual outgoing tone, "I'm pretty sure that my t shirt collection is the largest and most amazing in the Midwest."
I chuckled at her, as we walked into the game room, "Wouldn't surprise me."
"Hey, April?" Kris called her over immediately after we walked in.
"Yeah, Kris?"
"Slimmer just called on your phone," She explained, "He said that the boys' car is ready to go."
"Oh." Was all she said, before a moment of silence enveloped the room.
"I guess we should probably bring you boys to your car," Rikki said somberly, "April has a car; She can drive."
And so, we piled into April's blue Ford Explorer, heavy jackets to protect against the winter wind, no one speaking. We all knew what this meant; Saying goodbye.
It's truly amazing how close you can grow to a person in such a short space of time. I felt like these girls were my best friends after less than 24 hours. I'd miss their exuberant laughs, their stupid jokes, their ability to make anyone smile within a matter of seconds.
But most of all, I would miss April. We had barely even spoken, yet I could just tell... I could tell that she was special.
Honestly, I was confused by the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as we drove down the snowy, deserted road, in April's car, no one speaking. The silence I heard then was louder than any yelling I'd ever experienced.
We didn't have many memories together, although we did have a couple great ones. We weren't old friends reunited. So why did it hurt? I'd been meeting and leaving thousands of people since One Direction started, most of the girls just like April, Kris, Rikki, Heather, and Erin; Fans. But maybe it wasn't the act of leaving that hurt so much. Maybe it was who I was leaving.
I'd met many, many girls. But never any quite like these five. I'd met fangirls, I'd met funny girls, and I'd met beautiful girls, but I'd never met these girls.
I wanted to know more about them. I wanted to be their best friend. I wanted to be like their brother.
This had never happened before, which was surprising. You'd think with as many people I'd come into contact with, I would end up latching onto a bunch, but it wasn't like that. These were the only girls I'd ever left, who made me feel like breaking.
I looked around at the faces of my old friends and new friends. April was driving, with Kris riding shotgun next to her. Erin was sitting on Heather's lap in the middle, with Rikki and Zayn smushed together next to them. I sat in the back row with Liam, Niall, and Harry.
Everyone's expressions mirrored sadness.
The boys were all looking down at their laps, twiddling their fingers, faces twisted as if they were trying to turn back time, but weren't successful. The girls were doing the same, except Erin had her face buried in Heather's neck, like she was being comforted by her blonde friend.
However, April's was especially different.
I had a clear view of her entire face from the rear view mirror. She was biting down hard on the side of her lip, and I was surprised it wasn't bleeding. Her expression was one that I could tell was her trying to be strong for us. To be strong for her friends, as it was obviously just as bad for them as it was for us.
It broke my heart as I noticed her eyes. The glimmer was gone, nowhere to be found. Light red rings encircled them, and I could tell that she was trying not to cry.
I realized that she wasn't just leaving five random boys who had shown up at her house late at night. She was driving her five idols, the five people she looked up to, literally away from her.
It was also then that I understood much better how it must feel to be a fan of, not just us, but anyone. You get this mental image of them that practically makes them your best friend. And now, for April, to have to completely abandon us, and to be strong for her friends... I don't know how she did it.
"We're here."
The words were spoken by April, with no life left in her voice.
Everyone silently got out of the car, and I noticed the Rover a few metres ahead on the icy road.
"Well," Kris said after a moment. We were all in a circle in the middle of the road. "I guess this is goodbye."
We didn't say a word. No one even made a noise.
Suddenly, I felt arms being thrown around me. I stumbled back a bit, but looked down to see April latched around my torso, her face cuddled into my chest.
"I'll miss you," She mumbled as I wrapped my arms around her just as tight. Each of the girls was hugging a guy, and there we stood in couples, just hugging. Erin and Liam, Kris and Harry, Heather and Niall, Rikki and Zayn.
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I buried my face into her silky hair, taking in her sweet scent that was a mix of blueberries and pomegranate; I'd seen a bottle of the perfume sitting on the counter of Heather's bathroom. Must've been April's.
Soon, though, we reluctantly pulled away. The lads and girls were already piling into their separate cars; We were the only ones left.
"Goodbye April," I whispered, softly kissing her cold forehead.
"Bye Louis,"
I huddled into the passenger seat of the car, Harry next to me. As we all drove past the girls' car, I could see into the front seat, where April sat with Kris' arms wrapped around her, a single tear running down her pale face.
Once they were out of sight, I tried to relax back into my chair, but it was nearly impossible. I felt like I had just been crushed by a giant.
"Why so glum?" Harry piped, sounding oddly chuffed.
"Haz," I said, looking at him incredulously, "We just left possibly the most amazing and wonderful and hilarious group of girls we've ever met. Of course I'm glum!"
Then, Zayn spoke up from behind me, and I noticed all of the boys were smiling, "What do you mean, 'left'?"
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A/N: DON'T WORRY, IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO OVER YET ;D