A Hit In The Making | H.S | 1D |

Chapter 8

Rachel's POV:

I tipped my head back and laughed as Liam swung me around the room while Niall played his guitar. It feels so good to laugh like this after that heavy conversation about Derek. Ugh, Derek. His name alone sends shivers down my spine. But I push the thoughts of him aside when I notice Zayn practically doubled over, he was laughing so hard. What's so funny? Liam spins me around once more and Louis takes a few photos of us on his disposable camera. And then I spot Harry who evidently has just tripped, fallen flat on his butt, his pants barely resting on his thighs and is laughing hysterically. Louis immediately snapped a photo of Harry before turning to Zayn. When they make eye contact, their erupting laughter eventually starts a chain reaction and before I know it all six of us are on the ground with tears in our eyes, barely able to catch our breath. Harry stands to chase after Louis and retrieve the camera, but after taking the first step, his pants were at his knees and he fell forward onto the sofa. Another bout of laughter fills the room while Harry struggles to get his pants back up. This is too good. I LITERALLY can't.

Liam turns his hat backwards and brings the TV remote to his face like a microphone. Oh lord. Out of nowhere the guy just starts rapping and oh my god, I may just pee myself.

"Pants on da ground,
pants on da ground,
lookin like a fool with ya pants on da ground.
Thinkin like a duck,
talkin like a duck,
walking like a duck with ya pants on the ground-"

All of us look around the room and quickly burst out laughing once more, Niall's laugh easily the loudest and most contagious of them all. It took a full two minutes for things to die down. Once I remembered these knuckleheads are still hungry, I dart into the kitchen to check our pizza. Still fresh. "Come and get it!!" I shout as the boys quickly file in and grab a paper plate. To nobody's surprise, Niall was first in line. Of course. I chuckle to myself and hand each of the boys two or three slices each before grabbing a slice for myself.

"Oh, lava cakes are in the refrigerator and cookies are on the counter over there" Liam announces, resulting in a race between Niall and Louis towards the fridge. Harry takes the distraction as an opportunity to grab the box of cookies for himself, but not before Zayn sprints towards the counter. Liam and I just watch in disbelief and amusement as both pairs begin fighting playfully over their deserts. "Hey hey, knock it off! That's enough-" Liam steps away from his place at the stove and walks towards Louis and Niall. When his attempt to intervene fails, I decide I may as well put a stop to this before something - or somebody - gets broken.

I place my fingers to my lips to create a very loud, high pitched whistle that immediately gets everyone's attention. "Like he said, that's enough. If y'all are gonna act like children then I'll sit you in my five-year-old nephews' timeout chairs. Is that what you want?" I say half sternly, half jokingly, unable to contain my smile. They all groan and set the treats down before muttering a playful "sorry mom" almost in unison causing me to laugh out loud. I understand why everybody loves this bunch so much. Their presence alone gives me life.

Ten minutes later just about everyone has finished their first round of pizza and desert. I grab another slice, surprised at how hungry I actually am. Niall grabs another two slices for himself as Liam does the same. These boys sure do eat a lot. But what did I expect when I invited a bunch of teenage - college aged guys to my house for dinner? Of course they're gonna eat a lot. I smile to myself and shake my head while returning to the living room. I spot Louis sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor shuffling a deck of cards which immediately peaks my interest. I approach him curiously while taking another bite of my pizza and take a seat across from him.

"Ah, Steep! Just the girl I wanted to see. D'you know any good card games? Payno and I had been playing a bit of poker before we came here, but I'm afraid that would take forever with six people..." his question trails off and he effortlessly preforms one of those cool shuffling tricks. Impressive. "Well there's this one game that I play with my cousins sometimes. It's called KEMPS. Ever heard of it?" "No I do't believe so. What's the just of it?" he looks up and stretches his legs out in front of him. "Well basically, players break up into teams of two. You can have up to four teams per game. Each team creates a secret signal and the members sit across from each other. Each player is dealt four cards and has to decide which card they want to 'go for'. In order to win the game you must have a full set - or four - of the same card. The first team to have a full set and calls 'KEMPS' wins the game.  But say if you have a full set for yourself, you have to give the 'signal' and our teammate must call 'KEMPS'. If somebody else finds out your signal, they can call 'CUTS' which can result in one of two outcomes; the first being that you do have a full set and you leave the game. The second outcome is if you don't have a full set and the other person is wrong, they have to leave the game instead. I'm not sure if that explanation made any sense, but it's pretty fun once you get the hang of it"