All's Fair in Love and One Direction

22: All's Fair in Sugar Cookies & Witching Hours

Chapter 22

We end up heading to Liam's flat, as it's the closest, and the holiday traffic is ridiculous. When we arrive, Harry, Louis, and Niall are sprawled on the couch with hot chocolate (probably made by Harry) watching It's A Wonderful Life. I unload my boxes beneath the Christmas tree and flop on the couch between Louis and Harry.

"Good time shopping, love?" Louis asks me.

"Mm-hmm. Do you want to make me some hot chocolate?"

"Get up and make it yourself, lazy bum!" Louis teases me.

I pout. "But, Louis, this is my absolute favorite part!!" I point at the screen, where the man is sitting and talking to his boss about something.

He rolls his eyes. "Harry, you like to cook. Get the lass a hot chocolate."

"Pouring chocolate is not cooking," Harry tells him. "Besides, I'm comfortable. Liam, you're already up. Get Andie some hot chocolate?"

Liam quickly sits down on the floor in front of the TV. "No I'm not. Zayn, get Andie some chocolate."

"No." He glares at me, but I can see him smile. "Niall ..."

"Oh, good grief!" I yell, getting up. "I will get myself the hot chocolate!"

Louis gives me a cheeky smile. I resolve to fill his underwear drawer with gingerbread crumbs sometime in the very near future.

**************

I have to admit it - I cry during movies. So the end of It's A Wonderful Life finds me sniffling on Louis' shoulder. I think Zayn, Liam, and Niall have all been dispatched at some point to get me tissues. Harry steals my tissues when he thinks I can't see him - I've caught him wiping his eyes several times through the movie, especially at the end. I find it cute, but he's clearly embarrassed, so I decide to keep quiet about it - or at least save it for the next time he needs a bit of teasing.

The credits scroll through and then it cuts to an intro of Miracle on 34th Street. Harry looks at me and Louis inquiringly. I shrug. Louis yawns.

We settle back onto the cushions and watch the screen pan over the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Niall gets up and digs through the pantry. He comes back with a bag of flour and gives Harry puppy-dog eyes.

Harry just looks at him.

Niall holds the flour out to Harry. Harry's eyes widen in mock irritation. Then he sighs, takes the flour, and stands up. He looks around at us while Kris Kringle reprimands a shopkeeper on-screen. I get up. Liam, Louis and Zayn stay seated. I know Louis is at least somewhat awake; I wonder if Zayn and Liam are.

The only light comes from the flickering TV and the softly twinkling lights on the Christmas tree. It seems as wrong to break the darkness as it does to break the silence. Harry gets out measuring cups, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. I sit on the counter and let my legs swing as he mixes the ingredients by hand and greases the cookie sheets. Watching him cook is like watching an artist paint or a ballerina dance. It just seems natural.

Okay, so I'm waxing poetic about sugar cookies. Can you blame me? It's 2am.

Niall's just as intent as I am - but on the cookies, not the baker. He's leaning on the counter opposite me when Harry motions us over. We spoon globs of cookie dough onto the cookie sheets, and Harry slides them into the oven and sets the timer for 25 minutes.

When we return to the main room, Niall takes the spot next to Louis on the couch, so I settle on the floor a little ways over from Liam instead. I don't watch the movie so much as the colored light that flickers across the room. I don't know exactly when it happens, but I'm sure I fall asleep.

I wake with a jolt. I can hear the heavy breathing of Harry and Louis, signaling that they, at least, are asleep, but other than that nothing has changed. The light from the TV is still flickering across the room. The timer on the oven shows 2:05. I haven't been asleep for long at all, and maybe that's the reason, but something in me feels like this is a sort of witching hour, disconnected from the rest of the night.

I hear a murmur beside me and Liam shifts positions. I twist to see him better and whisper, "Are you awake?"

"Mmm," he whispers. Sometime during the fifteen minutes I was asleep, I've managed to end up beside him. He smells like pine and musk, and I want to curl up into him. He turns towards me and his eyes flutter open.

"Andie," he whispers to me. I turn to face him. We're maybe inches apart, and it takes me a moment to realize what he's about to do.

Suddenly the timer rings out from the oven, jolting us apart. Harry sits up and mumbles, "Whaa -" and Niall bounds from the sofa, crying, "My cookies!" I scramble away from Liam and the spell is shattered. But even later, when I'm finally settled into Louis' bed while Louis shares with Harry, I lie awake wondering what had happened. Had he been about to kiss me?

More importantly, had I been about to let him?