Bird Shit

4th of July - 19:25 PM

'First of all, I would have never said yes to my boyfriend,' Poppie explains and Harry drops his first pancake on the ground which is a travesty.

Something tells her they all didn't see that one coming.

'You're engaged?' Harry's eyes almost pop out when he asks her.

'I am,' she admits, her own eyes locked on the pancake on the ground. It looked perfect and now she's afraid they won't make her another one. 'I'm supposed to get married tomorrow.'

They all fall still after she drops the bombshell that is her life.

'And I don't even want to, you know. He's nice and all, and filthy rich, but that's the only reason. You see, me and my sisters have always been competitive, or more like, they just always won and now I finally had a chance to beat them at something I know they find very important, which is the reason I said yes.'

Poppie realizes she's rambling to these four strangers what she has kept inside for months now. Everything really moved too fast after Henry proposed to her in February. So fast that silly Poppie never thought about the consequences of winning.

'So, you said yes to win not because you want to spend the rest of your life with this guy?'

'I guess,' Poppie shrugs her shoulders not sure what to think of herself either as everyone expect for Harry stays still. 'I know it's awful. I am awful. Silly Poppie strikes again!'

'Don't call yourself silly,' Louis butts in.

'YOU just called me silly!'

Things are getting out of control as Poppie stands up almost slipping over the pancake. 'I think it's better if I leave. You guys must think I am disgusting. I am so, so disgusting, I can't even look at myself.'

'If I were you, I would look at myself all day,' Niall blurts out and then covers his mouth. 'I mean, hypothetically.'

'We all would Niall,' Liam says to reassure him but it isn't helping Poppie. She's just making circles in the already too small kitchen feeling all of their eyes burn holes in to her black soul. If she thought her family was awful and disgusting then what does that make of her?

'Then why don't you changed it? You're not married yet.'

'But how? I can't cancel it, you don't want to know how much money both our parents put in to the party and the dress!'

'So?' Harry challenges her with raised eyebrows. 'Who cares?'

'I do!' She yells. They really don't understand the pressure she's under. 'My mother will never look at me again.'

'In all honestly Poppie, she didn't even look at you when you jumped under the table and she defiantly saw you,' Liam tells her the harsh truth and judging by the looks on their faces, what he's saying is true.

'Maybe it was my mother-in-law?' Poppie asks with some hope in her voice. Because that would make sense to her.

'No, she was the spitting imagine of you, but then blonde.' Harry places his hand on the back of her neck just like he did before and she leans back slightly, letting this four strangers comfort her and most importantly, Harry's fingers.

'Unfortunately we look alike,' I tell them. 'Except for my hair and eyebrows, we're twins.'

Thanks to the Botox of course.

'Not from the inside, I can tell that much,' Louis says, 'I mean you're a little stuck up, but nothing we can't fix, right guys?'

'It's not up to you to fix me,' Poppie mumbles.

She rather feels like jumping off a building now that she's faced with the facts that is her life. A mother who walks away from her daughter in need. A sister who won't even text her back. Another sister who she hates so much she is willing to marry a man she barely loves. It's all quiet pathetic.

'Who would you want to be?' Harry asks her, his thumb still drawing circles on the exposed skin in her neck. 'It's not like your mother likes who you are now...'

They all stay silent after that, letting the truth work in on Poppie. At firsts she feels like crying again but she realizes she has sobbed too much already. IF she gets married tomorrow she doesn't want to look like a sad puppy.

Second, she kind of feels offended that these boys figured out her bad relationship with her mother just by seeing her walk down the street without her. Offended by her mother, that is.

Thirdly she realizes that feeling offended isn't getting her anywhere and she wishes she was a bit like them.

Carefree, drinking beers, not caring if they spill, Naked Time.

Naked Singing Time.

'I would like to be like you guys,' she finally says and they all clap except for Harry. He, luckily for Poppie, keeps comforting her with his free hand. 'I want to be someone who wouldn't want to change a thing.'