All's Fair in Love and One Direction

23: All's Fair in Cold Water & Christmas Morning

Chapter 23

I wake up to the scents of cinnamon and maple syrup and everything Christmas-y.

The first person I see is Niall, stuffing his face with some pastry and failing to keep his mouth shut as he chews. Silly Niall.

"Merry Christmas." he says through his full mouth.

I smile. "Merry Christmas."

Liam is focused on his phone. And if I know Liam at all, he's reading through fan tweets and trying to wish as many people as possible a merry Christmas. He looks up to tell me "Merry Christmas" and give me a hug. A few seconds of awkward silence ensue as I futilely attempt to read his thoughts on what happened last night.

As far as I can tell, we're both confused.

I see Louis. "MY CHRISTMASTIME DONKEY!"

"Andrea Marie!" Louis shouts and pulls me into a hug.

I ignore him. "Do you feel a year older yet?"

He rolls his eyes. I secretly think he just doesn't want to accept that he's not Peter Pan, and that he will eventually grow up.

I step back from Louis. "So where are Zayn and Harry?"

"Still in bed with their lazy bum-selves. " Louis laughs. "We should wake them."

The evil wheels begin turning in my head. Louis appears to be following my train of thought.

"Water?" We whisper simultaneously.

I smirk. "Cup? Bucket? What do you have to carry it in?"

Liam walks over with a mischievous grin on his face. "Did I overhear an evil plan being formulated over here?"

"Indeed." Louis' eyes light up.

Liam looks amused. "I'll be right back." He spins and walks out of the room.

I begin to raid the kitchen for an appropriately-sized container. I discover two large plastic bowls in a cabinet, but they aren't quite large enough to carry the amount of water that I want them to, for both boys.

Liam runs back into the kitchen with a small plastic trashcan from a bathroom.

Perfect. All three containers combined should suffice.

Louis turns the sink on.

"Make it cold." Liam whispers.

"Very cold." I add.

Liam and I look at each other and burst out laughing. We sound so evil.

Once the two bowls and small trashcan are filled with particularly cold water, Niall joins us as we quietly walk across the flat.

Louis stops and points down the hallway. "Liam and Niall - take the bin to Zayn's bedroom. The sign will be three knocks."

After Niall hands me the large - and ridiculously heavy - bowl of water, Louis and I split ways with Niall and Liam and begin to move toward Harry's room.

"What an interesting start to Christmas." I remark under my breath.

"Agreed." Louis pushes open the door with his foot. "Go on the other side of his bed."

I tiptoe to the opposite side of the bed from Louis. I soon find that I've drawn the short stick, because Harry is sleeping on his side, facing me.

But I'm amused by Harry's light snore and tangled hair all over his face, so it isn't all bad.

He stirs for a second, and I momentarily believe we've been caught. His body inches toward the side of the bed, until he's only about a foot away from falling off.

The bowl feels even heavier in my hands. I look up at Louis. He gets the message.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

I lean forward and lift the bowl up.

Right as I'm about to dump all the water on Harry's sleeping body, something pulls on my shirt and I collapse onto the bed - into Harry - spilling water all over both of us. As if that wasn't enough, another waterfall, which I imagine is from Louis' bowl, drenches us.

I'm extremely startled when I discover that the pressure around me is nothing other than Harry's arms, holding me onto the bed.

I squirm and try to stop myself from laughing hysterically. "HARRY! LET ME GO!"

"I'm sorry, love. I didn't know it was you." But he doesn't let go. If anything, he pulls me further into his chest.

"HARRY EDWARD STYLES! LET ME GO!"

Louis jumps on top of Harry. "SEXUAL INTERCOURSE! QUIT IT WITH THE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE!"

This stuns Harry enough so that I can get away.

But ... Really, Louis? Really?

I run into the hallway. Zayn bounds out of a bedroom, soaking from head to toe. "I HATE YOU!" He screams back at Liam and Niall.

This is already a perfect Christmas morning.

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

"And this one is for you..." I give Zayn the last package in my hands, which he accepts quickly. "Threeeeeeee.... Twooooooooooooo.... Wait for ittttttt.... Waaaaait for it..... ONE! - OPEN YOUR PRESENTS!"

"How did you know?" (Niall and Zayn)

"I WAS NEEDING SOME NEW MITTENS!" (Harry)

"You're too funny. AND I DO ENJOY MY ONE DIRECTION MERCHANDISE." (Liam)

"You're brilliant!" (Louis)

Then "CHOCOLATE!!!" (Niall again).

I laugh as Zayn examines his Christmas-themed sunglasses, Liam struggles to put on his I❤1D necklace (it was supposed to be a joke...), Harry dons his beanie, Louis carries out a conversation with 'Ulga, the Multi-Talented Carrot', and Niall eats his chocolate. I believe I have, in Liam's words, smashed it.

**********

By the time we finish unwrapping presents, I am completely astonished by the ones I have received. Among them are a stunning charm bracelet from Harry and Louis, my very own Celtics Snapback from (who other than?) Niall, and a gorgeous pair of sunglasses from Zayn. (We decide to make it a Christmas tradition to buy each other sunglasses from now on, since we had blindly bought sunglasses for each other this time.) My personal favorite gift is from Liam: a beautifully framed photo of the boys and I from the very first night we met.

I've never felt more at home in my life.

(A/N: I'll admit it ... I live vicariously through Andie.

I mean ...

I would give anything to have Christmas with the boys.

ANYWAY. We got a couple of comments. Yay! We love comments! I was flipping out! I love you guys.

I was going through old pictures yesterday and I found a screenshot of a conversation between Maria and I when we had 72 reads. And we were spazzing out about 72 reads. Now, we have 3.4k. Wow. Just wow.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, and all that good stuff. Much love and happy New Year!

- Katie)