Don’t Talk to Strangers
Chapter 1
I cruised down the long and deserted highway. We were driving back from a weekend at my friend Stephanie’s house. We left for the 3 hour drive around 4pm because she had a volleyball game at 6 so couldn’t hang out any longer. Plus we had school in the morning.
My best friend PJ was sitting shotgun. He was dozing and his blond curls fell over his eyes. Jake, Steph’s boyfriend was also asleep in the backseat. She lived far away, but he tried to visit as much as he could- A very dedicated dude. Us four all went to summer camp when we were 10 and had know each other for almost 8 years, it was crazy to think about. Steph and Jake had been dating for almost two years. Their relationship was probably one of the cutest I had ever seen.
It was a warm September evening. I was softly singing to myself when I spotted a big bus, like the fancy kind used for tourists or sports teams or something. It was parked on the side of the road. Naturally I slowed down. When I saw and exasperated driver trying to pop the hood, I immediately drove over to the side and parked the car.
As I got out PJ stirred, his grey eyes blinked in confusion.
“Where are you going bear?” he whispered.
“A bus broke down, the highway is deserted. There isn’t a gas station for miles. I have to help.”
“Bear to the rescue.” he murmured.
I rolled my eyes. PJ was the only boy in the world who called me bear. It was stupid. He justified it by saying that I reminded him of a bear when I played soccer. Everyone else called me Lucy. I guess a silly nickname is one of the pleasures of being neighbors with someone since you were born.
I approached the bus driver. He was cursing to himself about being late, and was getting really annoyed when I tapped him on the shoulder.
“What?” he said in a snarky tone. He turned around and his eyes drew together ing confusion.
“Hi, I’m a mechanic. And you look like you could use some help.”
He appraised my 5’7 figure skeptically. “You’re a mechanic?”
I sighed.
“Yes. My dad owns a car repair shop. I’ve been working with cars since I was 8. Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”
He grunted and nodded his approval.
I pulled my strawberry blonde curls into a messy bun.
I got something to stand on and popped the hood. I spotted the problem and had it fixed in under 10 minutes. I got down from the crate I had been standing on and wiped my sweaty forehead, which was a bad idea, I realized, when I looked at all the grease on my hands.
I almost fell over in shock when I heard the clapping and cheering. I looked up to where 5 boys where standing. They were gorgeous, so naturally I looked like utter shit and was blushing like a fool.
“Thank you!” one shouted at me.
“It’s no problem.” I replied with a slight smiled.
“We had been stuck here for an hour! You saved us!”
“Anytime. It’s nice to help out some foreigners. Show some good hospitality. I didn’t know British male models traveled in groups.” I blurted out. Then internally rolled my eyes at my stupidity.
They just chuckled.
That is when PJ decided to yell
“BEAR WE GOTTA GO.” out the window of the car at the top of his lungs.
Jake popped his head out too.
“Yeah Luce, I have hockey at 9 tonight. We gotta get going!”
“Okay I’ll be there in a minute. Calm your shit.” I turned to the 5 boys, “Well it was lovely meeting you all! I must get going.”
I turned to the bus driver who was a little ways away, smoking, I dug my little wallet out from my pocket and pulled out my dad’s business card. I handed it to him.
“I noticed that your oil needs changing and the bus could use a few other repairs. If you’re in the area you should come by and get it looked at.
“Thanks” he grunted.
I waved to the 5 boys and turned and walked back to the car. I sat down and buckled in.
“Okay boys. Let’s go.”
We got back in time for Jake’s practice and I drove home. PJ walked out and walked over to his porch.
“Night Bear!” he called before walking inside.
“Night!” I yelled back.
My Dad was on the couch watching baseball when I got in.
“Hey Luce, How was your weekend?” He asked.
“Great Daddy!”
“Good to hear. Your mother left some dinner for you- should be in the fridge. Her and Kitty have gone shopping, but they should be back soon.”
While I had always been a bit of a tomboy, my younger sister Kitty was much more of a girlie girl. We were polar opposites, but still pretty much best friends.
I found the leftover lasagna and microwaved it. Then I settled onto the couch for a bit of relaxation after a long day.
Chapter 2
The next day it was school. I had an easy semester so I was actually enjoying going to school. Plus PJ, James, Jonothan and Jake were each in one of my classes to keep me entertained at all times throughout the day.
After school I rushed to the garage, it was two blocks from school, which is 4 blocks closer than my house. I kept all my soccer stuff there so I could grab it and get back faster. I could just leave it all in my locker, but it would take up to much room, plus I always enjoyed popping in for a brief visit after school.
I walked in and Linda, the receptionist had my stuff all ready for me, she handed it over.
“He’s in the back sweetie.” she smiled at me.
“Thank you!” I hugged her and jogged to the back.
The big bus from yesterday was parked and being worked on. I was happy they had took my advice and brought it in.
“Hey sweetheart!”
“Hey Dad!” I kissed him on the cheek.
“What’s up?”
“Got a game in half an hour, I should actually get going…”
“Okay, I have to stay here. This big boy is a mess! I don’t even know how it kept running! So I have to deal with some stuff, but I’ll try to make it.”
“Okay daddy! See ya later!” I walked back up to the reception area.
The 5 boys from yesterday were all crowded around the reception desk and flirting with Linda. It was funny because she was around 3 times their age.
“Bye Lin!” I called as I walked by.
She peered over one of the boys shoulders and studied me through her thick round glasses, as if she was trying to figure out who I was.
“Oh! Bye Lu, good luck! I hope you win! Tell Peanut to score for me!”
Linda was PJ’s great aunt, but they were super close, she was like a grandma to him. And she called him peanut, so I never let him live it down.
“Thanks! Will do!”
I pushed the door open and had literally gone 2 ft outside when I heard a voice call:
“It’s you!”
I turned around, and all 5 boys were standing in the doorway. I smiled awkwardly at them and the turned around and kept walking awkwardly in the other direction. They kept following me and one threw his arm around my shoulder, I went completely rigid, but he didn’t seem to care.
“So savior, where are you going?”
“Um, soccer game.” I muttered somewhat awkwardly.
The all exchanged glances.
“Can we come watch?” one finally asked.
“Sure…if you want?”
“Yes! We have absolutely nothing to do for the next 2 hours!”
“Okay…but I haven’t really got a proper introduction yet…”
“Oh! You didn’t recog-” the one blonde boy was interrupted by another guy who put his arm over the blonde’s mouth.
“I’m Louis!” said the boy with his arms around my shoulder.
“Liam,” said the boy covering blondie’s mouth.
“Niall,” said blonde boy.
“Harry,” said the guy trying to look cool with sunglasses.
“Zayn,” said the last guy who was wearing a varsity jacket…maybe he played too?
“Hi, I’m Lucy!” I replied as we reached the field, “so those are the bleachers, feel free to sit. I gotta go change!”
“Woohoo! A bunch of girls playing football, should be good!” said Harry, while all the others laughed.
Awkward. Maybe he didn’t understand.
I went to the empty girls locker room and got changed as quickly as I could. I laced up my cleats and jogged onto the field where the rest of my team was warming up.
I don’t think he understood that I played on an elite all-boys team. There were no girls teams around here due to lack of interest, so with my passion for soccer I had tried out for the boys team. I made it, cause I’m pretty kick ass (not to toot my own horn or anything) and after some initial teasing people started respecting me. This year I was even voted captain.
“Hey boys!”
“Hey bear!” yelled PJ.
“Luce” Jake nodded in acknowledgement.
“Lucy…” James leant towards me like he was going to tell me a secret, then he licked my cheek.
“Ew. James. Seriously that is disgusting.”
He just laughed like an obnoxious moron.
“Hey Luce.” Smiled Jonothan. I rolled my eyes.
“J, your jersey is inside out.”
He looked down.
“So it is!”
He took off his shirt and we were all graced with the sight of big J’s abs. That was an upside to hanging with soccer boys. They were all very in shape. I would never consider dating any of them though, they were my team, not my boyfriends. I couldn’t deny they were all good looking boys though. Speaking of good looking boys…I turned to the 5 boys sitting on the bleacher looking confused.
“Hey, go warm up I’ll be out in like 5 seconds.”
Our little circle broke up and I jogged over to the stands, more confident with talking to them now that I was in my element.
“Not what you were expecting?” I asked them.
“So you play with guys?” asked Zayn bluntly.
“Yep, sorry to disappoint.”
“Are you guys actually any good?” Niall asked hesitantly.
I scoffed.
“What do you think? I’m the captain, of course we’re good!”
They all looked even more shocked.
“Don’t look so surprised.”
“But…you’re a girl.” Said Harry.
I gasped in mock surprise.
“What really?” I looked down at my boobs, “Well, what do you know! I’m a girl!”
“Okay okay, I get it, no need to mock me.” Said Harry.
“Did you know there’s this cool new thing called feminism…and it’s like where women are equal to men…and like some women even play… sports.” I whispered.
“Yeah yeah yeah! Let’s just see if you’re any good!” Harry said, his cheeks tinged pink.
I put my hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow.
“Just watch me.”
Chapter 3
My face was drenched in sweat and my cleats were caked with mud. I dribbled up field and blasted the ball, it flew up and just made it in the net.
“WOO!” I yelled as the boys all jumped up around me. This goal made it 4-3 for us.
The game ended shortly after. We all lined up and shook hands, a couple guys made nasty remarks under their breath at me but I couldn’t give a fuck. Some people couldn’t deal with losing. I didn’t enjoy losing either, but I didn’t call guys on the other team skanks. Whatever, I was pretty used to the name calling at this point.
I went to the showers, cleaned up and changed into jeans and a form fitting t-shirt. Because we had won, everyone would be heading down to Bobby’s Shack for wings. I, of course, would be asked to compete to hold my title as the wing master. I held the record for most wings ate in one sitting: 34 wings. The closest anyone had ever come was 28. I prided myself on a large appetite and a love for wings, so going to Bobby’s was always the best.
I left the locker room and collided with someone. Who the hell would be just standing outside the girl’s locker room?
Right. The five random British and Irish guys would be.
“Hello boys.” I sighed.
“HI!” Screamed Louis.
“You were so good!” said Liam.
“What are we doing now?” asked Niall.
“Thank you! And now I am going to go celebrate and eat.”
“Food?” asked Harry.
“No, here we eat small children for fun.” I said sarcastically, “yes food!”
“Oh, can we come?” said Niall, looking at me with pleading eyes.
“Ug fine!”
I dragged them over to Bobby’s. When I walked in a cheer went up.
“BEAR BEAR BEAR!! WOOO BEAR!” I rolled my eyes at PJ and James.
I walked to the bar.
“Hey Bobby, the usual please. I’ll be over there with those losers.” I said to the gruff, bearded bartender.
“You got it Lucy.” He smiled.
“Follow me boys.” I lead them over to our table.
“Ooohhh Lucy’s got some new boy toys!” said James.
“They are not my boy toys, now shut up or else I’ll put you on defense.” I said firmly.
He went pale.
“SO this is Louis, Niall, Liam, Harry and Zayn.” I said pointing to each individual guy. “they are these weird guys who like to follow me and they will be joining us.”
Everyone sat around the table and started chatting. Soon Kitty joined our big crew as well. She hated soccer but loved the celebrations afterwards. She sat down in between Harry and Jonothan, and commenced to lay on her Kitty charm which was pretty much irresistible. I was trying not to gag watching her and Harry. Soon our food and beer was set down.
“Now before we start eating, are there any challengers for the wing master tonight?” said PJ.
“Who?” asked Liam.
“Lucy. She is the champion of all that is wings. She currently holds the record for most chicken wings ate in one sitting.”
The five boys looked at me like I was crazy. I just shrugged. I rubbed my hands together.
“I’m feeling it boys, tonight I’m gonna hit the three dozen mark.”
“I’ll do it.” Said Niall suddenly.
I cocked one eyebrow at the Blonde Irish.
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, Kitty you tally for Bear and Liam can tally for blondie over here.” Said PJ nodding in Niall’s direction.
“We should also mention before we start that Lucy has never been beat. Not even I could.” Said Jake.
“You’ve obviously never met Niall.” Said Zayn.
“And if you puke you’re disqualified.” Mentioned Jonothan.
“Okay let’s go I’m starving!” and we started.
Chattter started up again, I participated half heartedly but I had to keep focused. Niall started gobbling straight away. There was no way he would win, I had a strategy that never failed. Slow and steady always wins this race. Taking it slow gave time to digest, making more room in my stomach. It wasn’t scientifically proven, but it made sense in my head.
Everyone was casually drinking and having a good time, when Zayn leant over to me.
“Why aren’t you drinking Lucy?”
“I’m 17, technically I’m not allowed.”
He looked shocked. And his glance slowly fell to my chest.
“I thought you we’re like 20 easily.”
I looked away blushing. This always happened. I was blessed with big boobs, but random college guys always thought that meant I was around their age, and a slut that’s totally fine with being groped.
“But Lucy still goes hard at parties.” Butted in PJ
“Yeah?” said Zayn
“She’s a wild woman at parties, get’s a bit crazy, let’s down her ponytail.” teased PJ.
I shot a look at him. “You are not telling them the story.”
“What story?” asked Louis.
“Nothing.” I replied firmly, going back to my wing eating.
“Speaking of parties, ben is hosting one on Friday.” Said James
“Sweet.” Said Jonothan. “I’m so down.”
“Same.” Said Jake.
Everyone looked at me. I rolled my eyes.
“I’m in.”
“What about the newbies.”
“Oh-I don’t actually know how long they’re in town for.” I turned to Liam.
“We have to leave tonight, but we have the weekend free.”
“Oh, well if you’re not doing anything-”
“We’ll be there.” Said Harry .
“Okay cool.” I smiled.
After another hour everyone was ready to go home.
First everyone looked to Liam for Niall’s tally.
“35.” He responded.
Everyone looked at me with wide eyes. Nobody had ever gotten close to my record, let alone beat it.
“37.” Said Kitty with a smile.
Suddenly the bar erupted in cheers and the boys picked me up and put me on their shoulders as we headed out. I snorted at their crazy behavior.
I was happy, and my tittle was safe… for now
Chapter 4
“Oh honey, we’re going to miss you! You’re going so far away!” sniffed my mom.
“This is my dream though, and I ‘ll be back before you know it!”
“I know, I know…it’s just UCLA…. so far away.” She sighed wistfully
“Our baby, gonna be playing soccer with the big girls.” My dad teased.
“Okay, thanks for that daddy, I should be going now!”
There were tears all around.
I had said my goodbye to kitty earlier in the morning, but she had to go to an important dance rehearsal.
So it was just I and my mom and dad, standing on our front porch. I tried to block out the fact that I wouldn’t see them for at least 6 months as blew some kisses and walked away.
Next came saying my final goodbye to all my boys. And although PJ was going to be closest to me at Berkeley, saying goodbye to him was the hardest.
“We’ll see each other lots!” He reassured me while I stood in his embrace.
Finally we had to separate cause I had to catch a train to get to the airport. Unlike PJ I was leaving for LA at the beginning of the summer, so I could have time to settle in
“Love you guys.” I said before
“Love you too Luce!”
“Miss you already Bear!” PJ shouted.
~~~
Now on the train I had a lot ofntime to think, and that’s when I found myself drifting all the way back to September and the 5 boys. They never showed up to that party, actually I never heard from them again. It was only months later in January that I found out who they were, not a troop of male models, but actually a boy band. A famous boyband were the ones that had stalked me for a day, I had fixed a boybands bus.
It was a strange world.
After a short train ride, and an incredibly long plane ride I had finally reach my destination. After collecting my luggage I stepped out into the warm, smoggy LA air. It was warm and the sun was high in the sky. Due to severe jetlag I had no clue what time it was. But I was there.
I had a whole summer in LA ahead of me, and then soccer and UCLA in the fall. It seemed surreal.
But lonely too, I realized when I stepped into my small apartment about 10 minutes from campus.
That night was hard. I was in a foreign room, in a foreign place with nobody. All I wanted to do was call my mom. But I knew I couldn’t. Instead I got out of bed and dug through my still unpacked suitcase. At the very bottom I found what I was looking for. My teddy bear.
In the morning I got up around noon. I put on sweats and got to work. By 5 pm I felt considerably more at home. I was unpacked, and settled. I had all my pictures hung so I didn’t feel so lonely.
I went out for dinner alone that night, which was a new experience, because at home I always travelled in a pack of people. So eating alone was a rare opportunity. And odd, cause when I ordered giants amount of food with the boys on the soccer team nobody gave me a second glance, but when I placed my order with the waitress she gave me a look like I was crazy.
The next day I decided it was time to do a job search. Something that would keep me entertained for the summer and make me a bit of money. I picked up a newspaper and headed over to a Starbucks, a pen in hand.
Nail technician.
Um nope.
Backup Singer
No way
Exotic dancer
Ha no.
Personal Trainer
Hmm
I had worked at an old folks home trying to get them into shape. I took a course for being a personal trainer. And I was captain of a soccer team, so I did know a lot of good exercise drills. Maybe I could do this.
The gym was a couple blocks from my apartment. Which was great. I walked up to the pretty receptionist, who couldn’t be over the age of 20.
“Hi, I was wondering about applying for a job here.”
“Okay, um we’re actually doing interviews right now. So fill out this application form.”
I sat in the lobby and filled out the form. There were at least a dozen other girls around my age there. Looked like there wasn’t much hope for me.
Also I kept hearing shrieking from girls in the room and I was slightly terrified.
“Lucy Breanan.” A deep voice called my name.
I walked into the room, where two guys were standing. A very tanned muscled guy, and a slim boy with brown spikey hair.
“Hi Lucy.”
“Hello!” I smiled.
We just stood there in awkward silence for at least five minutes, after three minutes of standing he took my application and read it.
“You’re hired!” he declared, once finished.
“Excuse me?” I said shocked.
“Congratulations! You can start today!”
“But…there’s still 4 other girls. And I didn’t even show you anything.”
“But you did…you stood with a celebrity for 5 minutes, and showed no sign of even knowing him.”
“You’re a celebrity?” I asked the guy.
“And a good friend of Jacks.” He smiled.
“Oh…um sorry for not knowing you. I come from a small town.”
He just laughed.
“But why does it matter?” I asked the muscled guy, whose name was jack.
“Cause darling, this is a gym for celebrities.”
Chapter 5
“Laura, you gotta do 10 more squats”
“Lucy girl, you are such a hard ass.” She complained.
“I’m a hard ass that’s keeping you in shape”
She rolled her eyes.
“Ugh fine, but I’m not gonna like it.”
“But think of how toned your ass will look!” I encouraged.
“I can’t say no to a firm bum can I?”
Laura was the daughter of a very rich man who owned many hotels in the L.A region. She was also my first client and first friend in L.A. The biggest bonus was she too would be attending UCLA. So I would know at least one person.
“I need a break.”
“But we need to do a few laps in the pool to cool down first.”
“No. I draw the line here.”
“Fine! It’s your body.”
I slumped down, to sit next to her against the wall.
“So how’s the love life?” she inquired.
“Like non-existent! I’ve only been here a few weeks, what do you expect?”
“Well sorry…I was just trying to be polite.”
“Cut the bullshit. You were going to propose to set me up with another rich snotty guy .”
“He’s British though!” she insisted.
“No.”
“Fine, you’re missing out though, he’s a hottie.”
“I am perfectly capable of finding myself a man.”
“Ha yeah sure.”
“Thanks for believing in me.” I sighed.
She looked pensive.
“You could always talk to Jack about getting some male clients…”
“I have male clients!”
“A couple old men in their late 60s do not count, you are not that desperate yet.”
“I’m fine Laura. Now I’m going to go swim some laps, play a bit of soccer and then eat some ice cream and watch the notebook, and maybe if I’m feeling wild I’ll also watch sixteen candles.”
“I’m in.” she sighed in defeat. “But we are going out Friday night.”
Dealing with rich snobby celebrities was easier than I originally thought. To be quite honest they we’re all more down to earth, and if you treated them like normal people, they would act like normal people.
I stood in front of the full length mirror in my room.
“Laura, I look like a whore.”
“You don’t!” she called from the bathroom.
“My boobs are pretty much spilling out of it!”
It was a clingy black dress that was short but had long sleeves. I felt naked not wearing my usual jeans or sweatpants and feeling odd without the weight of a baggy sweater.
“That’s what people do when they go out, you don’t understand cause you’re a hick. And- OW!” She shrieked.
“Are you ok?” I called, still inspecting myself.
“Yeah just nearly killed myself with a curling iron, no biggie.”
“Ok.”
Once we were ready we walked downstairs, me nearly tripping in my heels. These fancy shoes would take a while to get used to. It was a nice warm la night, and people were out and about, walking dogs and eating ice cream.
“So where are we going?” I asked
“Some big new club opened, and I’ve brought you so you can schmooze with me.”
“Sounds like something I will be terrible at.”
“Well you’re teaching me how to exercise, and I’m teaching you how to socialise.”
I wish I could say that when we got there I was overwhelmed and star struck, but to be honest I couldn’t name the majority of the people there, I really was out of touch. Laura would attempt to introduce me to someone, but the majority of the time I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to bore anyone about sports, but that was really all I knew how to talk about. So we sat down at the bar to take a break.
“Lucy, you have to loosen up! Here look who’s coming, these guys are my friends. One of them is the guy I tried to set you up with.” whispered Laura.
I peered around her shoulder and my jaw dropped.
“See I knew you would at least recognize the One Direction boys.”
“I don’t know what you mean but-”
“Hey!” Harry exclaimed. “It’s you!”
He pointed at me.
“It’s you!”
I pointed back at him.
“You two know each other?” asked Laura.
“He once stalked me for a day.” I said.
“She saved our asses.” said Harry at the same time. “Speaking of which, Zayn get over here!” he yelled.
Zayn’s head whipped around. When his eyes met mine they lit up in recognition. Him and Harry both sat down in the seats next to us.
“It’s you! Um… Lucy!”
“Yeah.” I laughed.
“The other boys are going to be sad they missed out. What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I got into UCLA for soccer and I’m working as a personal trainer. That’s how I know Laura.”
I turned to Laura suddenly; I had almost forgotten she was there. She seemed confused to what was happening.
“Oh, wow that’s so crazy!” said Harry.
“What are you doing in L.A?”
“We’re recording the album…”
My eyebrows shot up.
“I didn’t know you guys were musicians?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot we never told you! That was such a strange encounter in September. Normal people would have freaked out, but you didn’t.” stated Harry.
“So we just never told you.” added Zayn.
“And then you guys just left, without saying goodbye.” I accused.
“Sorry…” said Harry sheepishly. “We were on tour and never had time to get back.”
“Yeah, that was such an odd situation. You were memorable, I’ll give you that!” said Zayn.
“How about I get your number so it doesn’t happen again?” said Harry with a wink.
“Sure!” I said, and boldly grabbed his phone, and punched in my number.
“Well we better get going.” said Laura from beside me, who had been awfully silent the whole time.
“Yeah bye guys!” I said, and we got up and walked away.
Chapter 6
“Well you seemed awfully comfortable around them.” Laura huffed.
“yeah they’re nice guys.” I responded.
“Hmm…yep. “
“What?”
“Nothing…nothing.”
“Laura tell me.”
“Nothing they just seemed sort of interested in you.”
“No no they’re just friends.”
“Wait how are they your friends again?”
I rolled my eyes and told her the whole story. But even after that she would not stop bugging me about how she was sure Harry was into me or how Zayn was staring at my ass or whatever. The problem was she didn’t understand the concept of being just friends with boys. She kept blabbering on about it. And when it wasn’t that it was about how talented they were or how perfect their noses were. It was giving me a headache. I mean Laura was great and all but enough.
In order to drown her out I may have drank a little.
And by a little I mean a lot.
Thankfully I looked at least 21 in the dress I was wearing. I didn’t even need to pull out the fake I.D.
Sometime around 2 in the morning I stumbled home and parted ways with Laura. I rode the elevator to my floor and crashed as soon as I hit the matress.
The next morning I woke up with a headache the size of Texas. I stumbled out of bed and stepped in the shower blindly. It was 8:45. I had to be at work in 20 minutes and factoring in the 5 minute walk their I had 10 minutes to get ready. I stepped out of the shower, threw my hair in a bun, put on my sweats and grabbed a granola bar. I found a pair of sunglasses to cover the bags under my eyes, grabbed my gym bag and left.
It took all my strength not to vomit in one of the potted plants in my lobby. Instead I vomited next to the dumpster in a sketchy alley right next to my building. Thankfully I had gum in my gym bag. I got to work with one minute to spare. Success.
As I trudged my way through the lobby and walked passed the front desk I completely missed the five boys sitting in the lounge area.
“Morning Karen.” I said smiling at the receptionist.
She cleared her throat.
“Umm Lucy?”
I turned around to see four groggy looking boys and one cheerful Harry Styles.
“What in the name of-“
“Hi! We’re your newest clients!” chirped Harry.
“HA. No.”
“But-” Liam interjected.
“Not gonna happen,” I turned to the front desk, “ Karen is there anyone else who can take them off my hands? I can’t deal with-”
“Sorry love, you’re stuck with us. We put in a special request.” Harry winked at me.
“You can not be serious.”
“What’s wrong with us?”
“Nothing other than the fact that I know you well enough by now to know you’ll listen to nothing I say, goof off and not get any physical activity. Plus I’m slightly…” I hushed my voice, “hungover. And I can not deal with you noisy boys.”
“WAIT WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAID YOU WERE??? I COULDN’T HEAR!” screamed Louis.
I winced.
“See my point exactly.”
“Don’t worry Luce we’ll be on our best behavior.” Said Niall, giving me a smile that could end a war.
I sighed. There would be no winning.
“FINE.” I huffed.
They gave a cheer. I winced.
“Let’s play the quiet game. First one to talk has to do an extra set of sit-ups.” I instructed as I lead them down the hall.
“Wow, first minute of being our instructor and she already threatens us. She’s hardcore.”
“And you will be the one doing sit-up Louis.”
He groaned.
I smiled for the first time all morning.
The boys were all panting and groaning on the ground.
“Nothing like an early morning workout eh? It’s the true cure to any hangover.”
I smiled, hands on my hips looking down at them.
“And now I have to go teach water aerobics. See you boys later.”
When I left none of them had moved from their positions.
Success.
Kids, don’t mess with fire unless you’re willing to get burned.
“Also avoid crazy people who talk to themselves.” A male voice teased.
Oops. I said it out loud.
“Yeah you did.”
Shit. Did it again.
I peeked around to see who it was.
“OH MY GOD! PJ!”
I threw my arms around him.
“Hey bear.” He said with a grin. “Longtime no see.”
“How did you even find me?”
“It’s a longgg story that involves-”
“You called my mom?”
“Yep pretty much.”
“Of course. Well shit I actually have to go teach now. But maybe you can-”
He held up a speedo and a pink, frilly bathing cap.
“I came for the water aerobics. Duh. Why else would I be here?”
I snorted.
“Oh, I don’t know to visit your best friend in the whole world?”
He scoffed.
“Wow, a little self centered are we now Bear? I can see LA has changed already.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Shut up doofus. Now let’s go, I can hardly contain my excitement, I wanna see you in that pink swim cap so bad.”
