Not how it was planned - Sequel

14. As we're all gathered

When we finally found the restaurant I sat down and didn’t say one word. I sat beside Liam and begged for Anna to sit beside me, but of course she didn’t so I ended up between Louis and Liam. Not that Louis was the worst I could’ve sat beside.

“Where were you?” Liam asked as everyone had settled down. I kept my head down and pretended to study the table. I was not answering that question. My goal for the evening was to just sit there and shut up. Of course Louis decided to explain this one.

“The four of them just thought a romantic double date in the dark would be better than eating with the rest of us,” he said before laughing.

“The dark wasn’t an option,” Harry quietly said. That was when I first noticed that he sat straight ahead of me. When I looked up I saw straight into his eyes without any warning. I quickly stared down at the table again.

“It was lovely,” Anna said and exchanged looks with Niall. Those two were going to make me puke one beautiful day. It wasn’t because I didn’t want Anna to be happy; it was just that love kind of made me sick these days. There are other things in life than love, other more reliable things.

“Why aren’t you commenting the story?” Louis asked while putting an arm on my shoulder. So much for trying to stay out of it.

“No comment,” I said while trying to remain serious. They all laughed before Louis took the word again.

“A real diva here! Was it that horrific?” he asked. I simply nodded before I burst out in laugh with the others.

“Let’s order, I’m hungry!” Niall said.

“Big surprise,” Zayn said before laughing again. For the first in a long time I really understood how much I’d missed hanging out with the guys. For the first time I felt a little bit better than just okay.

After quite some time we all started finishing up our meals, not surprisingly was Niall the only one with anything left on his plate. I found it quite fascinating looking at him while he ate. Every piece of food that went to his mouth sent a spark through his eyes. I could see him study the last french fries on his plate before looking at Anna.

“You want the last one?” He asked while offering it to Anna. Everyone immediately stopped talking and stared at Niall. Did Niall just offer Anna his food?

“Sure,” Anna said with a huge grin and took it. The rest of us were frozen out of shock. After Anna had swallowed it we bit by bit came to life. Liam was the one breaking the silence.

“I want us to take a moment to enjoy where we are, so let’s have a toast,” Liam said and smiled while raising his glass.

“A toast to what?” Danielle asked and smiled at him. Their eyes met and they exchanged a smile.

“To love,” Liam said and looked at Harry before meeting my eyes. Anna and Niall was one of the first to join in on the toast, not long after they all joined. It took some strength in me to raise my glass with the others, but I managed forcing a smile on my face.

“To love!” Louis said. When we put the glasses down again all of the couples except Anna and Niall kissed. Anna and Niall just stared deeply into each others eyes. So in exactly two seconds everyone was caught up in another person than me and Harry. I surprised myself when I didn’t stare down at my plate for those two seconds but instead looked at Harry.

As soon the couples snapped out of their love-trance everything returned to normal.

“I don’t know about you guys but I need a drink,” Niall said with his wonderful accent. The others quickly agreed so we went to a bar nearby.

On our way I promised my self I wouldn’t drink more than two drinks, no matter how the night turned out. If I just hung out with Liam it wouldn’t be as difficult, but I could easily think of quite a few things that could make me want to take a couple of more drinks.

When we got there Niall and Anna was pretty fast out on the dancefloor. Louis and Eleanor were already lost in the crowd, and I wasn’t even sure if Zayn and Perrie were here. I quietly joined Danielle and Liam at a table. I felt kind of bad ruining their private time, but it was either them or sitting alone.

“What’s up?” I asked as I sat down with my drink. They both smiled warmly at me.

“Just enjoying the sober view of this bar,” Danielle said and laughed. I looked guilty at my drink. Not that I was drinking much, but a drink is a drink.

“I’m trying not to drink too much tonight as well, I kind of like remembering what I did the night before,” I said and thought of the last night we were at the bar. Liam looked surprised at me.

“Don’t you remember anything?” he asked with his cute brown eyes looking at me. I shook my head. What have I done?

“You seriously don’t remember me dragging you out, refusing to give you anymore drinks?” he asked. I frowned at him. I certainly did not remember that.

“You said that I was going to kidnap me and ran straight into Harry’s arms. God knows what you said to him on your way home,” he said and laughed. I had this very strange feeling like I’d been there, but at same time that I hadn’t. It actually made it kind of hard to concentrate.

“Well, to my defense you’re known to kidnap people,” I said and laughed. A very loud song started and Danielle looked at Liam.

“I’m going to dance with the other girls, just stay,” she said and winked at me before she ran to Eleanor who suddenly was in the middle of the crowd dancing.