Dress Me ||z.m.

The Birthday Present

"Who is it?" Harry's voice carried through the door. I knew that he knew full well who it was, but I decided to humor him.

"It's Liam." I placed my hands on my hips, though I smiled. People down the hall probably thought I was a creepy fan just trying to get into Harry's room, which had only happened once. He had opened his door and took a picture with her, but he politely turned her away after.

"Liam, your voice sounds a bit different." He joked, finally opening the door to reveal his grinning face. I giggled and softly pushed at his chest, walking past him.

We had a game night planned for next week, ever since we went into a walmart and stumbled into the toy aisle a couple of days ago. But we figured since my birthday was in a couple days, what's a better way to spend it than sitting in a hotel room with your best friend and playing games made for kids? After the interview last week, he was acting a little standoffish, not directly towards me, just in general, but he was back to normal after a day or two.

He probably just needed alone time to think after the Zayn fiasco, which is the opposite of what I needed. We didn't talk about what happened earlier that day. Neither of us tried to bring it up, so it never arose as a topic, thankfully. I was sure I wouldn't be able to talk about it without tearing up, which wasn't what people did when they're over things, which I tried to convince myself I was.

I almost forgot I was gonna turn twenty what with all this mess happening, but once things calmed down and Louis made it his business to barge into my room and remind me at an ungodly hour of the day, every other day leading up to it, I had no other choice but to remember.

They'd already taken me to play a few rounds of paintball, with the exception of Zayn, after the four of them practically tackled me onto my bed when I got up to answer the door. I welcomed the assault with smiles and laughs, loving the feeling of being engulfed in their warmth. Since in a few hours it would be my first birthday I would spend thousands of miles away from my family, I was beyond glad I had them.

"Ready for game night?" I asked him, stepping out of the sandals I put my feet in just to walk to his door.

"Usually people ask how someone's doing first--" I cut him off by pressing a pillow to his face, aiming for his mouth, but missing and ending up pushing it against his cheek. He chuckled, blindly grabbing for my wrists. "But, yeah, I am ready." He got out through his laughs.

I tittered, dropping my makeshift weapon and pulling my arms from his grip. He was still grinning as he stepped to his nightstand and opened the bottom drawer, pulling out two boxes.

"Where did all of this sass come from, hm?" I teased, sitting further up on the bed and crossing my legs.

"Been around Louis too long, I s'pose." He stood up straight, taking one long step to plop down next to me. I chuckled, grabbing the smaller box from his palm and turning it over.

"So, you want to get beat at," I paused to glance at the other, bigger box and read the large font on the front. "Twister and Uno?" He laughed, tipping his head back just enough for his curls to fall over each other behind his ears. I grinned, tapping the bottom of the box on the heel of my hand.

"I couldn't decide which game to get so I got both." He snatched the deck from my hands, pulling the flap out of the pack and exposing the whites of the cards. "Hey, do you think we should ring a couple of the boys, so it can be more interesting?" He shuffled the cards, straightening them so that they lined up with his fingers, looking at me for an answer.

"Yeah, call 'em." I did want them there as well, though we had this night planned exclusively for best friends. A part of me wished Zayn would at least try to come and be with us, but the majority remembers that him not trying is precisely why I shouldn't want him around. Along with the fact that he hasn't apologized for any of the things he's done.