Surprise! I updated. I know so many of you have been begging me to update and I just felt so bad that I hadn't updated in like two years....so here you go. I can't promise Chapter 44 will come any sooner, but for now here is chapter 43. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 43: Merci
Malia's POV
The week had finished out and it was August 25, 2014. We were leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow. Shawn had left about a week ago on August 18 because his tour started on the 19th. I was sad to see him go but I knew we would see him soon.
The past weeks were pretty fun. While Matt and I went on our date everyone else went and spent the day with Aiden. From what I was told, they had a lot fun hanging out with him and getting to know his dad.
Matt and I had gone out to lunch and then I showed him all of my favorite places to go when I was really young. You could say that last Thursday was a lot of fun. I got to spend it with my best friend. Matt.
I know Lily is my best friend, but Matt is my best friend in a relationship type of way if you understand what I mean.
The rest of the time we all spent here was just a bunch of YouTube videos filmed, Vines made, we went swimming a lot, Lily and I did a bit more shopping, and we just lived normal lives. We may seem famous but we're not really famous. When we go to events like Digi Fest and Magcon, yeah we are famous because you guys are all there but if we walk outside of our houses we are not bombarded with paparazzi cameras. Most people don't recognize us on the street so it's nice to have a little bit of normal time.
I was currently packing for Pittsburgh. I didn't have to bring much because we would only be spending a day there, not even a day. I was only bringing a carry-on. I had packed a pair of pajamas, undergarments, and a few outfits. I wasn't bringing my Louis Vuitton carry-on, it was more of like a small suitcase. However it was considered a carry-on. I put in a few pairs of shoes and then I zipped up the suitcase. I grabbed a decent sized purse and threw my headphones and other stuff in there. I left my phone and its charger out for overnight.
Lily was packing with me as well. She hadn't brought any other bags so she was using mine.
"I'm gonna go start making dinner," I say to her as I stand up from my suitcase. It was pretty close to dinner and I hadn't cooked a single meal since I had been home and I felt awful. But I had made a CD full of a bunch of instrumentals. I didn't need it yet but it was one thing that is now done and out of the way with.
I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was empty. Everyone was packing for tomorrow. I stood in the kitchen debating in my head what to make for the guys. Then it hit me. Spaghetti. It was a classic and I was kind of in the mood for spaghetti. I had vegetarian meatballs. I must say that the vegetarian meatballs taste amazing.
I pulled the meatballs out of the freezer to thaw a bit. I went to the cupboard and got out spaghetti noodles and then I grabbed some of Prego spaghetti sauce. I boiled some water before I stuck the noodles into the pot.
While the noodles were cooking I poured a bunch of the spaghetti sauce into a container along with the vegetarian meatballs. I warmed them up in the microwave, stirring the noodles every once in a while. When the microwave beeped I took out the spaghetti sauce with the meatballs and set them on the counter. It only took a little longer for the noodles to finish. Once they were done I put them in a strainer so all the hot water was out. I let them cool while I started to make some green beans. Green beans were my favorite vegetable and then maybe asparagus. I let the water boil before I poured a bag of frozen green beans into the pot.
"Maybe I should make bread sticks too," I thought to myself. I could go full on Italian. I pulled out the loaves of bread and started cutting them up. I occasionally stirred the green beans. Once I had cut all of the bread up I buttered it a little and added some small seasoning (garlic) to it. I turned on the oven and I stuck the bread in.
I had forgotten to preheat the oven so it would take a little bit longer but it wasn't a major setback.
*15 minutes later*
The oven beeped and I took out the bread sticks. The green beans had finished a little bit ago so I had put them into a dish with a top to keep them warm. The noodles were in a large bowl, covered as well. I took the bread out and set it on the stove to cool.
I heard someone walk into the kitchen and I turned around to see Taylor. He was smelling the air. I smiled at the sight.
"Hey," I say to him.
"Hey," He says back as he comes over to the stove. He reaches out to touch the bread but I smack his hand away.
"No! It's hot! Also you have to wait," I tell him. He chuckles but pulls his hand back.
"You made all of this for us?" He asked as he looked around. I rolled my eyes playfully.
"No I made it all just for me. Of course I made it for you guys. I kept telling myself that I would make you guys' dinner but I just never got around to it," I explain to him. Taylor had a smile on his face and then he made his chicken face and started making chicken noises, while spazzing. I laughed and rolled my eyes. He did this a lot. He was weird like that but I love Taylor just the same. He wouldn't be Taylor without it.
"You can call the other guys down here and Lily," I tell him as I turn around to get out the place setting.
"About Lily," Taylor says. I turn around.
"What about Lily?" I ask him with furrowed eyebrows as I continue to set out the plates.
"Um, well... I kind of like her," He says quietly. My heart jolted at that. Taylor had a crush? This was just fantastical. "Are you going to continue looking like a pedophile with that smile on your face or are you going to say something?" Taylor asks rhetorically.
"I don't look like a pedophile!" I retort with a grin that I just couldn't get rid of. He gives me this 'yeah you do' look which causes me to glare at him.
"Whatever, what's your advice? Does she like me?" He asks. This was so cute. I can so hold this over him in the future.
"Actually I don't know. She's never mentioned anyone. But my advice is to continue what you're doing. I have noticed you getting closer to her," I say slyly. I could swear I saw a tint of pink rise on his neck but it was quickly gone.
Taylor Caniff blushed.
Moment to be recorded in the history textbooks.
"Alright, it would just be better to have a definitive answer though," He whines.
"Yeah I know it would be but 1) I don't know and 2) even if I did know, I probably wouldn't tell you because she's my best friend and you just can't do that to a best friend," I tell him. His mouth was ajar as if taken aback by what I had just said.
"So how do I know you're not lying now," He says coyly.
"You don't," I say simply as I make my way around the kitchen in an attempt to clean up a bit. "You just have to trust me when I say that I don't know. And I mean that I don't know," I tell him. I actually didn't know so he could try all he wanted to get something out of me but I couldn't give him a definitive answer.
"Whatever," Taylor huffs out as he slumps down in one of the chairs at the curved bar. I snicker to myself.
"Hey, can you go get everyone else and tell them dinner is ready?" I ask him again, we had gotten a bit distracted with Lily. I will have to ask Lily about this. Now that I think about it Taylor and Lily would be really cute together. I smiled as I thought about it to myself.
I had transferred all of the food into containers and they were resting on hot plates that were on the dining room table. The plates were set up nicely in the dining room along with the silverware. I wanted it to be as formal as possible.
As I heard the sound of feet hitting the stairs as everyone came down I looked down at my attire. I was in a light pinkish colored flowy tank top and grey sweatpants with grey Huf socks. I wasn't really in the mood to change because I was comfortable in my clothes so I just took my hair down from my messy bun and let it fall down my back. I ran my hand through it a couple of times just as some of the guys came in. I looked up and smiled at them while they sniffed the air.
"You made us food?" Nash asked with a huge smile on his face. I chuckled and nodded. "YES!" He shouts and then runs up and picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder. I was not expecting that so I let out a small scream which earned some laughs from a few of the guys.
"You know something Nash?" I said in an overly calm voice.
"What?"
"I would really like to be put back on the ground, you see the potential energy is really high right now because I am farther away from the ground and so I would like to lessen that energy. Because my greatest desire, due to gravitational pull, right now is to be as close to the ground as possible so if you could put me down that would be fantabulous," I ramble on to him.
"I didn't catch a word you said but I don't want to hear anymore, so here you go," He says as he puts me back on the ground.
"Thank you," I say as I let the blood run back to my head. Once I was able to function like a relatively normal human being again I clapped my hands once. "Okay, so I made spaghetti with meatballs and yes they are vegetarian meatballs Nash. So we are all going to sit around the dining room table and eat like civilized people before we go to Pittsburgh," I announce to everyone. They all chuckle but comply with my requests anyways as everyone takes a seat at the table.
I sat next to Matt and Cam. Everyone was seated and I didn't have to tell them to start eating, they just went for it. I waited for everyone to get their food before I got mine. Once everyone had food Matt was nice enough to offer to get my food.
"Thanks," I said as he handed me back my plate.
"No problem babe," He said as he began to eat. I said a silent prayer to myself before I began to eat.
The dinner was full of casual conversation and talk of what we would do once we arrived to Pittsburgh. We weren't planning to stay long and we were going to support Shawn. We wouldn't be able to go up on stage because he was only opening. This was really Austin's concert so we couldn't take it from him.
After dinner was over Cameron helped me clear the table and Matt stayed in the kitchen to help me wash the dishes.
"Thanks again," I said as I started to wash the dishes.
"You don't have to thank me you know," He says.
"Why not?" I ask him.
"Because I want to do this with you," He says. I could tell he was smiling and I froze with my hands in the sink. I smiled to myself and turned to meet his eyes. His stare was so intense I could have fallen over. We just stared at each other for what felt like forever.
"I love you," I said quietly and then I gave him a huge hug. I wanted to be able to wrap my arms around him so tightly because I loved him so much and I didn't know how to express it. I felt his arms wrap around me as well.
"I love you too," He says with a small chuckle. I didn't want to let go so we just rocked back and forth in each other's arms. Eventually we had to get back to washing the dishes so we pulled a part. I immediately felt the cold air come replace what was Matt's body merely seconds ago.
"Do you want to wash or put the dishes in the dishwasher?" I ask him although I already knew the answer.
"Put in the dishwasher," He said with a small smirk.
"Yeah thought so," I said with a smile. Who actually wants to wash? There is a huge possibility that you could touch some food and that is just NASHTY. I got to work on washing the dishes, carefully picking them up and letting the water rinsing them. I handed them to Matt when I was finished with one dish.
At some point through our chain of washing dishes I just gave up on avoiding the food and just tried so hard not to think about it. Matt was currently making fun of my face because I was utterly repulsed at the feel of wet food.
"Hahahaha," Matt kept laughing at me.
"Stop laughing, it's not funny it's actually extremely disgusting!" I shout at him which only makes him laugh harder. "Fine do you want to wash the dishes?" I ask him. He stops laughing and his eyes bugged out of his head. "I didn't think so, so appreciate what I do," I said in a chastising tone.
"Yes mom," He says sarcastically. I couldn't be mad at Matt for that and I laughed, relieving a bit of the food stress.
We finally finished the dishes and started the dishwasher. What should have taken at most 15 minutes took about 45 minutes. I checked the time and it was 8:27 pm. Our flight was pretty early because we wanted to spend as much time as we could with Shawn before the actual performance, even if it was just around the stage.
"You want to make a YouNow with me?" Matt asks. Oh that sounds like fun, I don't have a YouNow account; I have been meaning to get one, but I never found the time, or I just forgot about it.
"Sure, sounds like fun," I say and we walk up the stairs to his room. When we came in Carter was lying on his bed, on his phone. It looked like he was texting someone; it was probably Maggie. Maggie was a cool girl, I had met her before and I got along well with her. I'm not exactly sure how they know each other or how they met, but it doesn't really matter. Carter keeps insisting that they are just friends but I know that he likes her. They would make a really cute couple.
"Hey Carter," I say when we walk in.
"Hey Mals," He replies but he doesn't tear his eyes away from his phone. I smiled, they were too cute. "Are you talking to Maggie?" I ask with a smirk on my face.
"How'd you know?" He asks with a shocked face. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Like it's hard to tell. Whenever you either talk to her or about her you start to smile, I know say you're just friends but everyone else knows that it is going to happen," I say with a smirk on my face. He doesn't say anything in response and goes back to texting on his phone. I walked over to where Matt had situated himself on his bed with his laptop.
I watched Matt closely as he pulled up YouNow. The task he was performing wasn't even something worth observing but just the small little details about Matt intrigued me and just made me happy like how he was completely focused on just pulling up a web page, how his fingers moved effortlessly across the keyboard, how his hands rested on the keyboard when he wasn't typing. These things weren't even important things but I just loved watching Matt, not in a stalker way. Just observing how he did things, I guess that's what happens when you love someone; everything they do affects you no matter what it is.
"Alright, Malia I'm about to go live, are you ready?" Matt asks me with his hand resting on the mouse pad, ready to press the 'Go Live' button. I rubbed my hands across my face and took a deep breath in and nodded. Matt clicked the button and instantly people were watching us. "Hey guys, I know I haven't been doing a bunch of YouNows lately, but I want to do them more," Matt greets his Nafians. I just sat there as he continued talking, reading all the comments. They moved extremely fast and it was hard to read them, I really wished that Matt and I were able to respond to everything they commented but there were just so many Nafians.
I grabbed my phone to tweet out for everyone to watch Matt and me on YouNow. "Hey, did you tweet it?" I ask Matt as I open my phone.
"I'm about to," He responds. I opened twitter.
@MaliaIDallas: All my CLEMENTINES come and watch Matt and me on YouNow!
"I should refer to you guys as clementines from now on haha," I say as I look at the webcam.
"What? Why?" Matt asks with a confused yet amused face.
"Well you know how we sometimes say 'hi cuties'?" I say and he nods. "Well there is a brand that makes clementines and they're called cuties," I explain to him.
"OH MY GOD THAT IS SO CLEVER!" He exclaims and I laugh.
"Carter come say hi to the clementines," I say with a big smile. Carter looks up at me and then gets off his bed and walks towards the laptop. He pops his head in and smiles.
"Hey guys," He says with a wave but then he quickly disappears back to his bed.
"He's texting Maggie," I whisper to the Nafians with a giggle.
"Shut up!" Carter shouts from his bed. I only laugh more but don't aggravate him anymore.
"Alright guys, so we're not going to be on here super long because we have a flight to catch tomorrow, because we are going to see SHAWN in Pittsburgh!" Matt shouts happily.
"So any Nafians living in Pittsburgh, please come and see Shawn open for Austin Mahone and Fifth Harmony will be there too. But it would mean the world to us and to Shawn if y'all came out to support him! Also I mean he is freaking awesome and so are Austin and Fifth Harmony," I say. My eyes flicker to the comments and I see a lot of questions of whether or not we will be part of the show. "If I am being honest I will probably faint in the presence of Camilla, I love all the members but she and I just have so much and common but she is so much better at what she does than I am," I say with a big smile on my face. It still hadn't fully registered to me that I was going to be meeting Fifth Harmony.
"I see a lot of questions asking whether or not we will be part of the show and to my knowledge we aren't going on stage, because this isn't a meet and greet. This is a concert, more importantly this is Shawn's moment to shine, not ours, and we couldn't be more proud of him. Shawn if you're watching this we all love you and are really proud of you," Matt says with a smile. I lean my head on Matt's shoulder as I scroll down my timeline, searching for questions from Nafians.
"Hey, you guys can tweet us questions and ask us some here on the YouNow thingy comment box, because we are going to try and answer as many as possible," I inform them.
"The YouNow thingy comment box, really?" Matt says to me with an amused smirk on his face.
"You knew what I meant," I said playfully hitting his shoulder. "Here's the plan, you look on twitter and I will read some of the questions on here," I tell him as I set my phone on the bed.
"Here's a question," Matt says and I turn to look at him. "Will you two do the boyfriend/girlfriend tag?" He reads from his phone. I raise my eyebrows to him and he gives me the same look.
"At some point, yeah. I don't know when, but maybe sometime after we get back from Pittsburgh," I say to the camera.
"Someone asked how long we have been together," Matt says. "Actually, just two days ago was our one month anniversary," Matt says proudly. I smiled at how happy he was to answer that question. "I took her out to dinner," He whispered as he leaned towards the camera. I just sat there with a huge smile on my face as I remembered that night, shaking my head as I silently laughed.
"Who is better at twerking?" I shout and Matt and Carter look at me. "It was one of the questions," I say in defense.
"Obviously me guys," Matt says with sarcasm.
"What do you guys think?" I ask them as Matt comes back and sits next to me. I watch as the comments flash by and even though they were going fast I saw several that read, 'TWERK!' I know Matt saw them too. We both looked at each other, I really wasn't that into twerking because I didn't understand how one twerked. I could roll my hips but what is twerking?
Matt stood up and moved the laptop. "Since you guys want us to twerk so bad, we will," He states as he sets the laptop farther away. Matt then comes back over to where I am sitting and I stand up.
"Matt probably is better," I said truthfully. Matt then started to twerk and I just joined in, completely confused at what I was supposed to do. However Matt and I just laughed the entire thing off. "Okay, we're done!" I shout with a laugh. "You guys can comment who you think is better," I say.
"Alright we are only going to answer a few more questions because we need to get some rest," Matt says as he moves the laptop back to his bed. I sit down and Matt sets the laptop a little bit in front of me. Then Matt decides to sit on me. He wasn't even sitting on me; he was lying across me.
"Just go ahead and lay on top of me," I say sarcastically.
"Don't mind if I do," He says with a smirk as he scrolls through his phone. I go back to scrolling on my timeline to find questions. "They want you to talk about meeting Ariana," Matt says. I lean and look at his timeline and see a bunch of tweets asking me to talk about it.
"Well, this is a good way to end the YouNow. So if you didn't know, on our flight back from Chicago a few weeks ago, I sat next to Ariana Grande, and if you guys know me, you know that I love her. Anyways it was actually really funny how everything worked out," I start. I leaned over Matt to better explain to them. "So because we missed our original booked flight because of Taylor's prank the flight we came back on had limited seats so we couldn't sit next to each other. When I reached my seat Ariana was in the middle seat but I couldn't see her face clearly so I didn't know it was her; she was also sleeping. I had the window seat but I didn't want to wake her, because I understood how rest is necessary so I sat in the aisle seat for the time being. I also couldn't see her face because she was covering it up with her hoodie so I didn't know it was her. Then Isaac, her friend and choreographer, came over and it turned out I was sitting in his seat. But anyways so he woke up Ariana and I sat in my seat. For like the first half of the flight she like didn't talk and I was primarily asleep. Then when I woke up she finally spoke and I recognized her voice immediately and pieced everything together. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to blow her cover. It wasn't until I started editing my video that we started talking and she took off her hood and yeah. But we talked the rest of the flight and we got along really well. Then I introduced the guys to her and they talked with her while I talked with Isaac. Just saying, Isaac is cool. But, oh get this. So the guys told her about my music and she wanted to listen to it and I mean of course I was nervous because it is Ariana Grande, she makes a living off of singing, so I was intimidated. She listened to one of my songs and the entire time I was so nervous, haha. But she told me that she liked it and I mean I was pretty much dead by then. But it was such a surreal experience. Ariana if you're watching this, I hope I don't sound psycho, but it was a pleasure meeting you," I practically recite and blow a kiss at the end.
"Yeah I knew that would take a while," Matt says with a chuckle as he sits up. "Alright guys, so we are going to try and get some rest for tomorrow. We love you guys so much and our simplication for you can never be put into words, but for the sake of it. Thank you."
And we were out.
Hope you guys like it so far. Merci means thank you in French if you didn't know. I know it has been forever since I updated. I only recently got back into writing this because I have just been so slammed with work. JUNIOR YEAR SUCKS!
xoxo
-micaela