surprise!
Liam Payne
I'm usually the first one awake every morning. Naturally, I've been an early riser since birth. No matter how trashed I got the night before, I'll always be up before nine. It's a curse, really. All of my roommates sleep pretty late. The good thing about fugitive life is you get a lot of quiet living inside a basement apartment. I like the quiet. So, being an early riser is a benefit I have over the rest. I get a good few hours of space. I have my beer, play with my gadgets, and make some toast.
I never thought I would wake up to someone else clattering in the kitchen.
Rising from my bed in the pitch-black room, I turn to the red clock showing me the time.
8:37 AM
"What the hell is that?" I hear Niall groan from Louis' bed on the other side of the room.
"Who's up right now?" I rub my eyes and look at the crack of light under the bedroom door.
"I smell bacon."
I slowly get up from the bed, hearing Niall do the same.
"I smell it, too."
I open up the door to the brightly lit common area, both of us squinting our eyes. The smell amplifies with the sound of sizzling. The kitchen directly across from us is being used to its full potential. Three pans on the burners, fans whirling, oven slightly smoking. And within all this is Harry with this back to us, only knowing it's him from the height. He moves quickly back and forth from the elements, bopping his head a bit.
"What is going on?" Niall says next to me, rubbing his eyes.
"Is he cooking...breakfast?"
"It looks like it..."
"Styles?" I speak.
He doesn't turn back.
"Styles!" Niall says louder.
He still doesn't turn back.
"That's him, right?" I clarify.
We walk across the living room, reaching the small kitchen where he turns to the fridge. Once turned, we see it's him, but he has headphones in his ears beneath the hood of his sweater. He catches us standing there, smiling and grabbing the margarine from the fridge.
"Morning!" He shouts over the music in his ears.
"What are you doing?" I ask, looking around.
"What!" He shouts while turning to the stove.
"What are you doing?" I repeat.
"It's 8:30!"
"No—" I get frustrated. "What are you doing!"
"Can't hear you!" He points at his headphones. "Music!"
"For god's sake!" I rip out the left earbud; it dangles. "What are you doing!"
"Take a wild guess." He gestures to all the sizzling food. "It's breakfast."
"I see that it's breakfast. But why?"
"Because we've never had breakfast together since living here," he shrugs and turns back to the bacon. There's so much here: bacon, eggs, pancakes, toast, fruit. We did not have these ingredients yesterday.
"Where did you get all this?"
"The store?"
"With what money?"
"I stole it, obviously."
"Right. And why are you making everyone breakfast again?"
"I already told you. Grab a plate, it's almost ready. You too, Niall." He peeks over at Niall still half asleep.
I turn back and meet eyes with Niall looking at me in confusion, backward red hat suddenly on his head.
"Is he broken?"
"I'm not broken." Harry laughs. "I just couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd do something nice."
"But you're not nice..." Niall inputs.
"I think he did something bad..." I speculate.
"Fuck off." He laughs again, putting all the bacon on a plate.
"Woah...Woah.." Niall catches something and walks up to Harry, grabbing his hood and pulling it off his head. Once it's down, my eyes dart to the mayhem of his neck and throat.
Initially, I thought he was strangled. But it all clicked very fast.
"Holy shit." My hand slaps my mouth unironically.
Niall starts laughing his ass off.
"Okay, I may have done something a little bad," Harry rolls his eyes and pushes past us with the plates in his hands, bringing them to the table.
"I knew I heard someone come home around 5 AM!" Niall points.
"What happened!" I was still in shock.
"He had sex; that's what happened," Niall says in confidence.
"I didn't say that..." Harry is quick to decline.
"Please, she just sucked the life out of your neck for a few hours?"
"Aven did that?"
"Shh!" Harry cuts me off, pointing to Louis and Nova's room.
"Who else would it be? Catch up, Li." Niall scolds.
Harry stays quiet, returning to the kitchen to plate up the rest of the food.
"There's no way. After what she did to Nova and you—"
"I know, I know, I know." He raises his hands in surrender before throwing a shit ton of toast on a plate. "That's why this is a little bad."
"Louis is gonna kill you."
"I really don't care what Louis thinks about my complicated relationship with my wife." He clarifies. "But because I'm empathetic to what has happened with Nova, I'll be honest about it."
"What are you even going to say? I'm sorry, I know she deeply traumatized your girlfriend, but I just had to have sex with her? "
"Aven is literally my lifeline. Did everyone think I would give up on her that easy?" He lays out plates all along the table.
"No, but it's all a little fresh." I sit down in one of the chairs. "He still hasn't spoken to you since you snuck her in here the other day."
"Personally, I wouldn't tell anyone I'm hooking up with her, just to spare the drama." Niall sits down across the table, grabbing a fork. "But you've got that whole teenage disaster thing going on with your neck so that options out."
"Yeah, what is the matter with you two?" I take another glance at the purpling bruises all across his neck and throat. "Does she know how not to leave marks?"
"I asked her to do it," Harry says under his breath, sitting beside Niall.
"Then I don't feel bad for you. You're just an idiot." Niall shrugs.
"I'm not asking for pity. And it was a spur-of-the-moment thing; you would've done the same if you were in my position."
The three of us silently start putting the food on our plates. I have to admit, he knows how to cook. The eggs are fried just the way I like, and the pancakes are soft like pillows. We silently start eating, my eyes trying not to stare at his neck. It's fucked up, he looks ridiculous. A part of me can't wait to see the drama that unfolds from this.
"So?" Niall breaks the silence.
"So, what?" Harry turns his head to him.
"How was it?"
"I'm not going there." He shakes his head and takes a bite of his food.
"Oh, come on! You're going to showcase hickeys like that and not elaborate?"
"It's private, Niall."
"Yeah, looks real private..." I mumble with sarcasm.
"You basically lost your virginity all over again, and you won't tell your best friends?"
"Mhmm..." He chews.
"At least tell us how long you lasted?" Niall says it like it's obvious. "Li and I had a bet going..."
"Fuck off." He laughs slightly.
"Would you say less than seven minutes?"
"Oh, absolutely." He nods with wide eyes.
"Ha!" Niall bangs on the table. "You owe me a five!"
"What the hell, Styles!" I say. "Less than seven minutes!"
He shrugs, cutting food up on his plate.
"I'm glad she found the stick in your ass." Niall chuckles. "You're already more fun."
"Fuck you!"
"Oh, you know it's true." Niall grabs the back of Harry's neck with a shake.
My eyes catch something in the corner of the room.
"What's that?" I point with my fork.
Niall looks over his shoulder as Harry doesn't bother, given he's the one that probably put in there. He sips his orange juice.
"I found it on the road." He clears his throat.
"A keyboard?" Niall looks at it.
"I just have to make space for it in my room."
"You play piano?"
He looks up at me like he's hesitantly about to answer until there is a noise from the other end of the room.
A door opens wide, Niall and Harry both looking past me. I turn back, seeing Louis emerging, half awake. His eyes squint from the light of the common area, seeing the table full of food.
"I made breakfast," Harry spits out immediately.
Louis looks at the table some more, walking forward a few steps with suspicion.
"Why?"
"Cause Aven fucked him so good he became a housewife." Niall laughs, chewing.
Harry clenches his jaw and turns to Niall.
"Oh c'mon, do I have to remind you about your neck?" Niall defends before Harry gets a word out. "He's gonna find out...."
Louis shakes his head and walks past to the bathroom.
"Louis, come on, you can't be mad. It's Aven."
"Aven wouldn't have attempted to kill my girlfriend." He stops and turns back. "Mariana did. And you don't seem to care to even fix that."
"She's not Mariana, and it's not that simple."
"You're right, it's not. Not only have I had to tell Nova everything, but I've had to console her over the fact her best friend she's been missing and worried sick about suddenly came back into her life to only use her as a hostage. And then you have the audacity to sneak her around the apartment like everything is normal? Nova is traumatized by this."
"What do you want me to do?" Harry shakes his head.
Louis chuckles, turning back around.
"You've made it clear you're going to do whatever you want, Harry." He disappears into the bathroom, shutting the door and is obviously still pissed.
Harry turns to us in frustration.
"Fucking hell. Does he not get it?"
"She needs to apologize to Nova." I defend.
"I can't ask her to do that. We're not there yet."
"Then you're gonna have to deal with him being like that." Niall chews, shrugging.
"I haven't even slept yet." Harry rubs his eyes, overwhelmed.
Aven Brooks
I haven't slept.
The sounds of his breathing won't leave my head. His stammering words, his pleading mercy. I can still see the look on his face as he let everything go; I could carve it in stone. His sharp jaw, his swollen lips, the beam of sweat down his temple. Everything about him last night is knitted into my brain. I try to push it all away, but I can still hear him when I least expect it.
"I need you, sucker."
"I've been so good."
"Please let me touch you."
Every time I hear him and his desperation, I feel a shudder in my stomach. It brings me right back to those moments, and I can feel him beneath me.
"Mariana?"
I blink, not realizing I was staring off into space until I'm back to reality in my seat. I turn to the left of the grand table, seeing my mother smiling at me.
"Your father was speaking to you." She says as a waiter refills her mamosa.
Shit.
I turn to the other end of the white linen table, seeing my father smiling at me.
"Are you tired, princess?" He keeps the same smile.
"No, father. Sorry." I straighten my posture, looking at the elegant breakfast spread that none of us will finish. "You were saying?"
"Well, we've invited someone to your mother's event tonight. Someone who's been dying to meet you." He delicately grabs his coffee, taking a small sip with bright eyes.
"Really?" I push around one of the strawberries on my plate.
"He's a gentleman, Mariana," My mother adds.
"Who is he?"
"Ambrose, the son of a dear friend."
"A dear friend?" I clarify.
My father doesn't have dear friends. He has business acquaintances, partners, and rivals. Everything is calculated; every person is calculated. His game of matchmaker is never fuelled by love, it's all business. And this Ambrose, is nothing but a deal.
"Yes, a dear friend." He reassures. "Tonight, you will be presentable and on your best behaviour. I've come to understand the selection of bachelors we've set you up with in the past haven't met your expectations."
"I don't want to seem ungrateful."
"You're not ungrateful, you just know what you want. Like your mother." He gleams at her from the opposite side.
She smiles into her cup, pretending the three of us don't know the real backstory of their love.
"Well, I look forward to meeting him." I flatten the cloth on my lap and pick up my silver fork.
"I'm glad you say that." He nods. "Because he has extended to me the desire to marry you."
I drop the fork, my head snapping at him.
His eyes go down to the silver.
"He wants to marry me? Just like that?"
He laughs, sipping his coffee.
"Why wouldn't he? You're young, beautiful, and come from a very reputable family. Luckily, he doesn't mind your lack of innocence."
"Surely, he may change his mind after we meet." I clear my throat, looking down at my plate and grabbing my fork again.
"He's very charming, Mariana." My mother adds. "You will adore him."
"I worship you."
"And what if...I don't want to marry him?" My voice becomes timid, but I try to stay articulate.
I dare to peek over at my father, who sits composed like always. Both fists resting on the table, he chews his food and nods to me.
"Well," He clears his throat. "I know what's best for you and this family. You have nothing to worry about, Ambrose is a perfect match."
This family, he's a perfect match for this family.
I feel my throat go thick, a shudder of ice tumbling down my spine. Eyes on my father's, I nod and smile. I blink back down to my plate, pushing around breakfast.
"Like I said, I look forward to meeting him," I conclude.
//