Author's note: Heyyy again! Third update! You can thank @HotChelleRaeFan for making me post this! After this, I have to work on seven other books apparently.. sooo.. yeah. Anyways..
SONG OF THE DAY: The Nando's Song (1D version of 'Payphone.' I figured since this chapter includes Nando's, I should probably use that. It's on the side for when you're done reading if you want to listen to it.)
Ok, well.. ON WITH THE STORY! (:
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Niall
Everytime I walk into Nando's it just feels like home. It's amazing to be in your favorite place or at least on of your favorite places in the world, you know? Anyways, as pretty much everybody knows, I love this place. It just feeled so good to smell the food they were cooking. And, the best part was, I was here with my bandmates and a fan. They are the best people that could possibly be here with me right now. So, I'm happy about that.
"How many?" The hostess asked, taking out a few menus. Her eyes widened when she noticed us, but she seemed to talk normal.
"Uh, six," Harry looked up at the girl, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Mady stood at his side while they followed the hostess to our table.
When we sat down at a simple booth in the back, I was in between Zayn and Liam. I looked across from me to the opposite side, only to see Mady was in the middle of Harry and Louis. My eyes dropped focus to the menu that sat in front of me. I sighed, almost feeling bad that Mady was stuck between Harry and Lou. They were just insane together.
I leaned across the table, lightly tapping on Mady's hand. When she noticed me, her eyes locked gazes with mine for a moment. I could tell she was sort of confused.
"Are you comfortable sitting in between them?" I whispered softly across to her. She looked to her left and to her right, then back at me. She shook her head slowly, a smile on her face.
"I'm fine with Harry, and I'm fine with Lou, just not.. together," she finally mumbled back. I laughed to myself, and she did the same.
"Well, um, do you want to come.. sit by me?" I offered, watching as she fiddled with her fingers. That's when I realized my hand was still overtop of her's. I awkwardly pulled my hand away, and it almost felt empty as I did so. Mady only shrugged, not noticing.
"Do you.. want me to sit with you," she paused, looking beside me, "would about Liam or Zayn?" I checked beside me.
"Zayn can move," I tapped on his shoulder, motioning him to the opposite side of the booth. "Right?" I narrowed my eyes at him, and the Bradford boy only shrugged.
"What? Why?" He demanded to know, crossing his arms over his chest. I looked up at him, praying he wouldn't think he was moving for the wrong reason.
"Um, Mady's a little weirded out by Lou and Haz," I answered, biting my lower lip. "Could you maybe.. swap places with her?"
Zayn rolled his eyes and sighed, making his way around to the opposite side. "The things I do for you, Nialler," he said back to me, as Mady made her way beside me. I looked from Mady to Zayn.
"Thank you," I nodded toward Zayn, and I could feel Mady's eyes on me. I looked back over at her, trying to find out how to strike up a conversation. For some reason, it almost seemed impossible to talk to her.
"Better?" I asked her, smiling as a took a drink of soda. She smiled at me, readjusting her sitting position.
"Much better," she answered me, her lips curving to a smile. I winked at her, later turning away to take another sip of my drink.
It wasn't long until the waitress showed up with a pen and clipboard settled in her hands, a huge smile on her face. She slid a loose strand of hair that had escaped from the grip of her ponytail behind her ear, switching glances from Lou, to Harry, Liam, me, Mady, and Zayn.
"Hello, my name's Shelly," the waitress looked down at her clip board. "I'll be your waitress for the evening. May I take your order?"
Mady
I nodded. "Yeh. Um, can I have a chicken sandwich?" Niall peered up from his menu, and when he saw the waitress scribble in her notepad, he turned his attention to me. I practically froze and I was sure my heart stopped when Nialler's ocean blue eyes locked on me.
"What about you, Mady?" He layed a hand on my arm, only adding more tension. "What would you like? You can get anything you want."
"Thanks," I bit my lip, looking back up at the Irish boy.
"What's wrong?" He mouthed to me so the boys and the waitress wouldn't appear suspicious. I shrugged.
"I don't know," I answered, evading his eyes. "It's just.. I've never been here before.. and I'm kind of nervous for some reason. I'm never nervous to order.. I just.."
"Do you want me to order for you?" Niall began, forcing me to look at him. "Just.. tell me what you'd like."
I couldn't help but let a smile creep onto my lips as he taled. He was so cute, and it was so sweet of him to do that such of thing for me.
I just told Niall to get me the same thing as him, only to make it less complicated. Plus, I thought it would be cool to be eating the same thing as my favorite celebrity boy in the world.
"What do you guys want to do while we wait for our food to come?" Harry randomly asked from across the table. I didn't even know he ordered.
"What do you guys usually do when you come here?" I could feel Niall or Liam's eyes on me as I spoke.
"I don't know, talk?" Zayn answered, looking over at Haz. "I mean, what else is there to do?"
I looked over Zayn's shoulder, only to watch as Louis shrugged. He slid his arm around Harry's shoulders, looking across at me. From watching all their video diaries, it was amazing that I got to witness a real life Larry Stylinson moment. It was just incredible.
"Mady do you have any questions or anything," Liam chipped in, talking to me for the first time since we've been at Nando's. He licked his lips. "I mean, what do you want to know?"
"Oh, I know a lot already," I blurted without thinking as I laughed. I probably seemed like a total stalker. "But, at the same time I have so many questions. Like, before you were famous, how were you in highschool? Like, were you popular?"
Niall laughed. "No. Heck no. In fact, I think I would've been bullied really bad, but people said I was too friendly."
"At least they said you were nice," I threw in, and Niall nodded. I turned to Harry. "Would about you, Curly?"
He smiled. "Um, I was always known as the kid who didn't care. I was late all the time and didn't really do much, but I don't know. I wasn't popular, I wasn't unpopular. You know.. your average kid, but at the same time I was a weirdo." He shrugged, raising his cups to his lips as I chuckled.
"Okay then, nice story," I teased, turning my attention from the curly haired boy to Liam. "Would abouut you?"
"Do I have to talk about it," Liam sighed, and Niall wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. I almost wished I hadn't asked.
"I was... bullied really badly," Liam choked over his words, only causing Niall to pull him closer and me to feel worse about asking. With a sigh and sad eyes, Daddy Direction continued. "In fact, it was so terrible I used to skip school. People were such jerks, it's just terrible."
Niall looked at him sadly, and I looked over at both boys. "Liam.. I'm sorry. I didn't know." Liam evaded my eyes, nodding. Niall looked at me with an apologetic look, and I mouthed the same seven letters to him.
"It's okay, Mady," he started, finally looking up at me. "You didn't know."
I couldn't help but feel terrible. If only I wouldn't have asked that stupid question, neither Liam nor I would feel horrible. Why did I have to blurt that? Why?
Another question was, should I ask Louis and Zayn the same question, risking the same answer as Liam, or should I just forget it and move on? I mean, there are plenty other questions I could ask, I said I had many. But my mind had just seemed to draw a blank at the worst moment possible. I bit my lip, shaking my head.
"Alright, I have everything," the waitress approached us, her hands full of trays and plates.
She handed different ones to each boy, finally getting to me. I watched Niall take a bite of his sandwich, as I stood up to excuse myself to the bathroom, even though I didn't have to go.
Harry must've noticed something suspicious, because a few moments later I heard him excuse himself for the same reason, and I could tell he was lying as well. I was on my way to push through the door when I felt someone grab hold of my arm, their hand slowly slipping into my own. I blushed at the awkwardness when I saw it was indeed Hazza.
"Hey are you okay?" He started, inches away from my face. "I.. was worried about you." He words made me smile.
"I'm fine, I just..." I paused, turning away from him. Harry turned me backwards, right back in the position we were in before.
"Just.. what? You can tell me." Harry began, his green eyes full of concern for me. I sighed, giving into me.
"I know I can," I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling my own sympathy. "I'm worried I may have made Liam feel bad. I.. shouldn't have brought it up. I'm stupid to not remember that. Some fan I am." I let my head drop into my hands, and I felt Harry pull them away.
"You're not stupid," Harry laughed, "the only stupid thing about that was you thinking you were stupid. Look, don't feel bad. Liam will get over himself; he always does. I've known those boys for a little over two years.. I think I've slipped up before. Trust me, it's going to be okay."
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I hugged him back. My head rested in the crook of his neck, and we later pulled away.
"Thanks. I hope you're right," I smiled up at him. Harry stood up, about to walk away, but before he did, he said one last thing.
"I am right. Don't worry," he added, "please."
"I won't," I said, only for him to wink at me. "Now, we should probably head back before the boys get suspicious."
"Good idea," Harry winked, reaching his hand out to me. "Shall we?" I nodded, as Haz and I linked arms, slowly walking back to the table so the others wouldn't wonder what's keeping us.
I knew Harry was right, but I couldn't seem to fight off that guilty feeling that was built up inside me. Was that normal?