Heart | N.H.

five - broken glass

I was spending my Friday night the way any cool high schooler did: with two of my best friends, an enormous box of Krispy Kremes, and Just Dance. And loving every second of it.

So when the doorbell rang, I was confused. We hadn't ordered anything else. 

We certainly hadn't ordered four incredibly loud guys, which is what I opened the door to. I recognized Zayn and Harry, but the brunette who greeted me was a complete stranger. "Miracle Watts!" he said, holding his arms wide to hail me. Then he nudged Harry. "This is Miracle, right? Or is it that one?" He pointed to Annika, who had popped up on my left, and then to Callie, who stood on my right.

"Watts, since when do hot guys come to your house?" Callie asked, prodding me in the shoulder.

"We're hot? I like her," another of the boys, who I also did not recognize, said immediately.

"Liam, we're not here to hit on people. Don't be rude."

"I wasn't being rude, Louis, you numbskull. In what world is telling someone you like them being rude?"

"Also, you're not even hot."

"See, now that is rude," the boy called Liam pouted--which he could do very impressively, with his puffy pink lips. 

"All of you shut up. They don't know any of us. Do you realize how creepy this is for them?" Zayn asked.

Harry puffed out his chest. "She knows me. We're really close." He flashed me a glimpse of his dimples as he explained, "Me and the lads thought we would pay you a visit."

"The lads..." I repeated slowly, not able to process what was going on. 

"Yeah. I'm Louis," said the one who had greeted me first. "Liam, Zayn, Harry-"

"I told you, she knows me already. We're practically family."

"-and we're all Niall's best friends. We hear he's one of your friends, too, so we thought we'd arrange sort of a welcoming committee. To welcome you. Into our committee. Wait that came out wrong. I fucked that up, didn't I, guys?"

"No, you're doing great, Lou. Keep it up. Another few minutes and we'll all be arrested," Zayn grumbled.

Louis tapped me on the shoulder politely. "Would you like to invite us in?"

I almost blurted, Excuse me? but at the last moment decided against it. "Sure," I said, just to humor the strangeness of the situation. "Come on in."

All of us crammed into the foyer of my house, three girls sweaty from an incredibly intensive round of Just Dance and four boys red-cheeked from the October night. Louis helped himself to a donut. Liam sprawled across one of the couches, leaving me and my friends to take the other one; the rest of the guys assumed positions on the carpet.

King, my ever valiant guard dog, performed his perfunctory duties: he sniffed Harry's cheek, licked Liam's hand, and then attempted to steal Annika's donut. Having performed these C.I.A. certified security measures, which would surely save me if a murderer or something ever did get into this house, my Doberman curled up on his rug and fell asleep.

Why did we have him, again?

"So, what kinda party is this?"

"This isn't a party," I said immediately. At the same time, Annika said, "Dance party."

"Sweet. I've got killer moves," Harry said, grinning. All three of his friends groaned simultaneously, betraying the sad truth about Harry's arsenal of moves.

"Not that I have anything against random groups of boys showing up at my doorstep, because that would just be ridiculous and rude of me, but why exactly are you guys here?" I asked.