Stephanie raises her hands and shakes them as she speaks.
"Emily, so what do you already know about them?"
"Well Niall is my boss at my new job." I respond.
"You work at Smith Medicine?!" She yells causing a few heads to turn in our direction.
"Yeah, why?"
"That's amazing! You are so young! I heard that Niall became the new VP of Marketing there, but everyone is saying it's because of his parents but I don't know."
"Parents?" I say with a confused look on my face.
"Oh yeah, back to their backstory." she says as her previously overly joyous face morphs into a serious look.
"Okay. So there are five of them." she begins.
"What do you mean five of them?"
"They are all brothers. Niall, Harry, Zayn, Liam, and Louis. They are all also unbelievably gorgeous, the reason they don't look anything alike is because they were all adopted at a young age by two absurdly wealthy entrepeneurs that lived here in Chicago. Some say they were multi-billionaires and that they were the first couple in history to both be on the Forbes 400 Richest People in America list, but I'm not sure if it's true or not."
"Oh my god." I say with a mouth wide open.
"Harry, Louis, Liam, and Zayn were all adopted from England with Niall being the exception being adopted from Ireland. Since they were adopted so young and are all within two years apart in age, they were very close as children and were the poster childs of America of what perfect children should be like. Their family was always in the media for many various accomplishments. They also got anything they wanted because their parents had so much money. For Louis' 16th birthday, his parents bought him a solid gold lambroghini."
My eyes grow wide.
"Louis is the oldest, followed by Zayn, then Liam, then Niall, and Harry is the baby of the bunch. The family lived happy lives for many years until the unspeakable happened. On Christmas Eve three years ago, on Louis' birthday, Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker died horribly in a car accident on their way home from last minute Christmas shopping."
Tears begin creep their way into my eyes.
"That night, police came to their house and knocked on their door. Niall answered the door and saw the police standing there with sad eyes looking as if he was bearing bad news. Niall ran back inside the house and gathered his brothers and brought them to the door. 'What's wrong officer?' Louis said oblivious to the bad news that awaited him. 'Boys,' the officer looked down as he began, 'your parents were just in a car accident.' From what I heard, Niall then ran back into the house as him and his brother's began to cry. 'So where are they now?' Liam said with tears flowing down his cheeks. 'Sorry kid, but they didn't make it.' The officer said as he turned away from the door."
"Oh...my...god..." I say as I bury my face in my hands.
"I know, it's horrible isn't it." Stephanie says as she wipes tears from her eyes.
"Even the people you think are the happiest in life, can also be the ones to face the worst demons." Stephanie says and it makes me cry even more.
I feel so bad beacause I treated Niall like shit. I wish I would have known everything that he's been through and maybe I wouldn't have been so harsh on him.
"So what happened next? I say as I slowly raise my face from my hands.
"At the time, Harry was only seventeen, Liam, Zayn, and Niall eighteen, and Louis nineteen, all seniors in high school due to their parents starting them at school in the same grade despite their difference in ages. Then, from what I heard, they all flipped out. Rumor has it that they all turned against Liam because he was the one who said at the last minute he wanted the limited edition Jordan's causing his parents to go out and buy them. Soon after, they were separated and moved into the different home's of their parents friends that were willing to take in an angry teenager into their families. What surprised me, is that each of them changed their last names to be the same as their "new parents" to cut themselves off from their past lives resulting in their names being Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, and Niall Horan."
"Wow." I say with a surprised look on my face.
"At the funeral for their parents, chaos erupted due to arguments on whether to bury or cremate their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker left in their will for them to be cremated and to have their ashes spread in the lake behind their Chicago mansion, but Niall and Harry disagreed with that. Niall and Harry felt as though their parent's bodies should be kept wholesome forever and not to be destroyed, but Liam, Louis, and Zayn believed that they should follow what their parents left for them to do. The funeral home decided that following the will was most appropriate which caused even more hatred between the boys after the funeral. Supposedly, Niall and Harry continued to contact each other even though they ceased to live with each other anymore, but contact with Louis, Liam, and Zayn was nonexistant. Allegedly, Harry and Niall are still close but animosity is still burning with the other boys."
My thoughts revert back to Niall laughing with his brother Harry.
"Wait. How do you know about all of this?" I interject.
"Stuff gets around fast I guess. Also, I heard that they each recieved over a billion dollars each in inheritance to use however they want."
"Oh my god." I say again with wide eyes.
"After they graduated high school, they all decided to attend the University of Chicago. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not but they were all definetly surprised when they saw each other on the first day of school. Haha." Stephanie smiles again and starts laughing.
I'm not sure if I should laugh or not, so I just remain quiet.
"What's good is that they used their money wisely." Stephanie begins, "Harry opened a fancy restaurant with rooftop dining that apparently has the best view in all of Chicago but there is no way I can afford to eat there."
My thoughts go back to that amazing date with Niall at Harry's restaurant.
"What are you thinking about?" Stephanie says as she looks at me with squinting eyes.
I close my eyes and shake my head to erase the thoughts of the date from my mind.
"Nothing. Please continue."
Stephanie grows a suspicious look on her face.
"Okay, well Harry has his restuarant, and Zayn opened up an art studio downtown for aspiring artists to display their art to the town, except that it's very expensive to get in and there is a very long waiting list."
"I think I may of heard of an art studio downtown that is nearly impossible to get into." I respond.
"Yeah, that's him. Liam used his money to create a local record label to create music which he displays at concerts he holds in the ampitheatre downtown. He also calls himself Big Payno." Stephanie starts to laugh and I join in on her laughter.
"And Louis Tomlinson bought the Chicago Fire soccer team located here in town and coordinates almost everything dealing with the soccer club."
"Wow, that's a huge responsibility." I respond.
"Yeah, but he's a responsible person." She says and looks up at the ceiling, bites her lips, and her eyes seem to light up.
I tilt my head to the side and squint my eyes as I look at her with a confused but suspcious look.
"Do you," I begin, "have a cru-"
"And you know Niall works now at Smith Medicine." she interrupts. "He actually used to give guitar lessons downtown, but the business was unsuccessful due to his lack of patience. Haha." She starts laughing again.
Stephanie saying that Niall doesn't have any patience reminds me of how much he wanted to do with me on the first day that he met me.
"OH and I forgot to tell you, they had a band!" She yells as she slams her palms on the table.
"Really?" I say with surprise.
"Yeah, they were in a band all throughout high school that was actually very popular. Their band was called 'Crazy Mofos' and they played at the ampitheatre every Friday night. They were so popular that they even had merchandise."
My mind flashes back to Niall holding his coffee cup that read 'Crazy Mofos' on it. Why would he still have that cup if he hated his brothers?
"The entire town knew them," Stephanie interrupts my thoughts, "their family was known all over Chicago. Actually, all over the world! They were even more famous after the parent's death because it brought heaps of media attention."
"Oh my god." I say again for what seems to be the tenth time.
"Well it's time to get back to class." she says as she pulls out her phone to look at the time. "There really is a lot more to say but we are out of time. What's your next class?"
"Uh...Chemistry. It's on the west side of the campus."
"Oh." Stephanie says as she frowns. "My next class is on the east side of campus, but I'll give you my number so we can keep in touch. I really enjoyed talking to you and I want to talk to you more. Is that okay?"
She actually wants to talk to me more? I didn't weird her out and drive her away? I'm genuinly surprised that she-
"Emily?"
"Oh yeah sorry. Here's my phone."
I pull out my iPhone and go to "Add New Contact" which I haven't been to in a long time then hand her the phone.
She types her information into my phone and hands it back to me.
"See you around Emily!" She says as she picks up her bag and walks out of the door.
"Okay Bye!" I say as I wave her out of the door and look down at my phone.
I unlock my phone and click the icon that reads "Contacts."
I gasp loudly and grab my face as my phone drops out of my hand and generates a loud, piercing sound as it hits the table causing people all over the Starbucks including the barista to look in my direction.
I pick up the phone again to see if what I just saw was a hallucination.
I look at the phone for the second time as my hands tremble and my mouth grows wide.
I stare at the contact name for at least two minutes not believing what I am seeing.
It reads:
"Stephanie Horan"