You Had Me At Hello || z.m.

Best Lads In The World

"I guess...I've been better." I sniffle and smile at Harry.

He comes closer to me and brushes his hand against mine, glancing at me sweetly with those big emerald eyes of his.

I turn around and sit down at the table. Everybody is quite, nobody really knows what to say. Harry sits next to me, silently, with a serious look.

I can feel five pairs of eyes burning on me, as if everybody is waiting for me to say something.

"Guys...It's all right. This is not a funeral." I tell them crossing my arms on the table. "I'm a big girl. And I don't wanna ruin your night!".

Inside, I'm hurting like hell, I'm empty and lifeless. But I strive to look normal in front of Louis, Niall and Harry, 'cause I'm quite reserved and there are few people who I'm able to really open up to, like Liam and Alice.

Despite my efforts, the boys keep awkwardly silent. Just a few seconds, and the "sassy queen" of the group breaks the silence.

"Nobody likes Perrie, anyway" Louis sentences rapidly, rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders, before taking a big sip of his beer.

I burst out in such a loud laugh that almost everyone in the pub turns to look at our table. Niall and Liam laugh too, while Harry claps his hands complimenting Louis and Alice jokingly hits his boyfriend on the shoulder.

"It's actually true!" Liam raises his hands as to surrender.

"Yeah, definitely true..." Niall laughs shyly.

I can't believe what's going on (everybody must have drunk a lot by now I guess) and I turn to face Harry's amused face. He glimpse at me and shrugs his shoulders, as to say "What can we do? This is the truth".

"But...Zayn is your friend. It's not cool that you dislike his girlfriend without telling him!" Alice remarks.

Hearing his name...Zayn. It used to be the name of the boy I liked, it became the name of the boy I was falling for and (what hurts the most) the name of the boy who I spent some of the best hours in my life with. And now...now it just makes me wanna cry.

"I told him, at the beginning." Louis explains. "I told him I didn't like her, but Zayn didn't listened to me!"

"Anyway...maybe" Harry interrupts them, pointing at me with his head "we should stop talking about Zayn and Perrie, don't you think guys?".

I look at him expressing my thanks through a sweet smile, getting a cute giggle as an answer.

"We could talk about..." by the expression on Louis's face, you can tell he's going to say something bad. "Niall and Kristin!".

Everybody around the table starts howling and whistling, opening their eyes wide and glancing quizzically at the Irish boy, who is blushing like never before.

"Who's Kristin?!" Liam shouts.

"She's...she's..." Niall sighs as his friends' laughs don't allow him to go on. "She's a friend of mine!" he finally screams.

"Yeah yeah, Nialler, a friend of yours who happens to be really cute and whose facebook pictures you happen to appreciate a lot, huh?" Louis won't give up easily.

"I might like her a little, stop mocking me!" Niall can't help laughing like a big kid been tickled.

The boys go on teasing Niall and giggling, drinking, distracting me from my sadness. I feel really lucky to have this bunch of idiots around me.

"Guys, I gotta say something!" I interrupt their discussions raising my mug (it's definitely not the first one I'm having tonight). The boys' eyes lock on me, confused and amused by the fact that I'm visibly tipsy.

"I LOVE YOU GUUUUUUYS!" I shout at the top of my lungs, and this time, everybody in the pub turns to look at us with worried, annoyed, amused looks on their faces. Louis, Niall and Alice laugh like idiots, Liam comes closer to me and wraps me with his arms, as to prevent more scenes and screams while Harry gently puts his hand on my mouth and giggles. I free myself from my friends' grab and go on "I love you all so much, you make me laugh and make me feel better even if that bastard just broke my heart, ok?" I mumble loudly, alcohol not letting me speak properly. "You're the five best friends in the world!".

I calm down and lay back on my chair, glimpsing at Louis and Niall laughing, Alice smiling and shaking her head in amusement, Liam with a huge smile across his face and Harry staring at me giggling. Without these five lads I don't know what I'd do.