Bird Shit

4th of July - 19:45 PM

'Maybe we should cut her hair even shorter like mine?' Niall suggest touching his own hair.

'No, no, no... her hair is perfect as it is,' Harry answers for her and she smiles to him.

They have moved from the kitchen to their living room where she settled down on the ground eating one of Harry's phenomenal pancakes. 'What she needs is a direction.'

'True that,' Liam agrees studying Poppie's face. 'What's your passion in life?'

'What?!' Poppie stares out in front of her to the four boys.

For some reason she hadn't expect them to have any direction in their life. She thought they were four loners taking on the world together with probably easy going jobs. Not combined by passion.

'Don't you have anything in life you that you really, really want?'

'She wants to win,' Louis brings in, but Niall slaps his thigh.

'That's in the past now. She needs a new passion.'

'Do you guys have passion's then?' Poppie wonders staring back to them as their mouths fall open.

She's has touched a subject they're clearly happy to talk about.

'Oh yeah,' Harry says standing up to grab a guitar. 'Mine's singing.'

'I like to mix Harry's voice,' Liam adds. 'DJ Payno.'

'And me and Niall are working on a super special app. He actually makes them – the little nerd he is – and I have the best idea's.'

'Okay,' Poppie says not sure where she all fits in to this. 'I don't have a passion except for finding rich men to marry.'

Louis laughs at that but Harry slaps him on the back of his head making him shut up once again. 'There must be something else. What do you do?'

'I don't do much... I used to sing, then I started a fashion blog, even started to write a book. Went to university to study English literature but dropped out after three months. Tried acting, but clearly sucked. That's about it.'

'So you don't work?' Harry asks again, frowning.

'Not at the moment no, I have been busy planning my wedding and after that the plan is to just breed a team of football players,' Poppie explains her future and it makes her shiver once again. 'I hate it.'

'Well we're trying to help you here dear,' Liam tells her and for a moment they just return to smiling. 'You said you wanted to be like us but maybe we shouldn't start with our passions when it comes to the future. Maybe we should start with what we like to do in our free time.'

'And that is?'

'Bowling,' Harry says, placing his guitar back to clap his hands.

'Karaoke,' Louis announces.

'Drinking,' Nialls adds.

'Tattoos,' Liam ends.

'We'll give you the best bachelorette so that you don't even want to get married anymore.' Louis finally sees the moment to slap Poppie on her bum and she squeals and jumps forward.

'Can we go bowling?' Harry begs his friends but they all don't reply too quickly. 'Come on guys, I promise I won't try to take home the shoes this time and... I will roll the ball in the right direction of the lane,' he says like a child in defeat.

'What a lovely prospect,' Liam says with a sarcastic layer in his voice. 'I bet you he can't hold up to that promise. Ten bugs?' Liam whispers in Poppie's ear and she frowns. She can miss ten bugs and she can't see why anyone in the whole entire world would want bowling shoes.

'Okay, deal.'

Liam grins widely and then goes on to agree to Harry's plan. 'Sure Haz, we'll go bowling.'

It seems as if Liam is sort of the boss of the four since no one protest loudly, only Niall groans a bit.

'What Nialler, don't think you can keep up with me?' Harry challenges him while air throwing an imaginary ball and suddenly Poppie is afraid of her life again. If that's how he throws, she better find an Iron Man suit quick.

'Maybe karaoke is a better idea?' Poppie suggests. It is her stag do after all.

'Nope, bowling it is.' Liam looks smug, but at least they are giving her some direction in life. Although she doubts she will find her answers in a game of bowling.

Poppie finishes the pancake whishing there was another one left but Niall took them all. With pleading eyes she looks to Harry who seems to understand what she's asking for without any words.

'Come,' he almost whispers and he gets up from his seat on the floor, walking backwards to the kitchen.

Poppie follows his sparkling green eyes and they widen when she sees there's just a bit left of the batter. 'Could you please make me one more?'

'For the bride to be, of course.' He bows to her after making her mood drop ten degrees.

'Oh yeah,' she answers as if she just remembers that she still is a bride to be.

'In all honesty... do you love him?' Harry asks as he pours the batter in a pan that looks as if it hasn't been washed since they bought it. Ten years ago.

Maybe she should feel uncomfortable discussing something so private with someone she just met, but Poppie learns Naked Time tends to open you up a lot quicker. Or maybe it are just his curious green eyes.

'I don't hate him.'

'Which is basically the foundation of every working marriage in history,' he says in return and she grunts.

He's right and Poppie hates it. She doesn't want to admit to her once again failing decision making process. Of failing at life.

'I'd like to think it is,' she admits to him. 'At least it is something.'

'So you're really doing this?'

Harry turns around fully now, ignoring the pancake which breaks Poppie heart a tiny bit. His face is set serious and he looks at her with hooded eyes and furrowed eyebrows. Poppie squirms in her seat at the intensity of his stare. As if he can see right through her.

'Yes,' she answers him. 'I do.'

'Good choice of words,' he speaks and she notices his voice turned a bit deeper. 'So, this is just an escape for the night?'

He crotches down in front of her and grabs her thigh with one hand to steady himself. 'Yes,' she breathes, barely keeping herself together.

'And then tomorrow you will just show up at your wedding as if you didn't get shit on by a bird?'

'Yes,' she repeats but this time her voice is hardly there. The only thing she can focus on his Harry's burning touch, the burning smell of her pancake and his burning green eyes.