The Little Shop

The Pretty Girl From Sheffield

The Pretty Girl From Sheffield, in which AJ brings over her friends.

IRISH

After dinner, we all moved onto the balcony for tea and dessert. Emma and Liam were absolutely glued to each other.  Liam was even more agreeable and needy than normal, nodding at everything Emma said, as if she were reading him the laws of the universe and he was just excepting it without question. AJ and I both devoured our cookies in no time flat, but that left us dissatisfied, so I bugged Harry until he gave up his, and Emma oh-so-willingly, handed hers over to her "favourite little princess."

In addition to the strangeness of slightly older, way-more-mature Emma being around, there was the weirdness of Emma calling AJ... Adrienna. It was like me suddenly calling Louis... Leonardo or something. Not that he'd mind or anything. In fact, AJ stuck her chin up in the air everytime Adrienna rolled so smoothly off Emma's tongue, and by the end of the night, insisted that AJ was a silly nickname for little girls, and that she preferred Adrienna. 

This made Louis sad. It also made me sad, but not nearly as much. I preferred Adrienna too. It suited her.

"I can still call you AJ though, right?" Louis asked. AJ looked at him funny. I think she picked up on his sadness, because she smiled softly.

"Of course you can, if you really want to," she said. 

"Well, Adrienna, I believe it's time for you to head to bed," Shannon said. 

"I don't believe that," AJ said. She grinned sweetly, and made a little halo with her hands over her head. It earned her a few laughs, but Shannon took her by the hand and led her inside anyway. "Goodnight!" AJ called over her shoulder.

"Goodnight!" we all chorused right back. 

"I'm sorry, Lou," Emma said kindly. "I didn't realise how much her nickname meant to you."

"It's alright," Louis said, forcing a smile. "Adrienna suits her more."

"AJ was left over from her 'tomboy' phase," Sienna agreed. "She was very into trucks and mud and all the toys in the shop that had boys playing with them on the box. Things have changed since then."

"Adrienna is a very pretty name," Harry said. He yawned through his words.

"Feeling a bit sleepy there, Haz?" Zayn asked, reaching over to rub his back.

"I'm sure AJ wouldn't mind if you joined her for a bedtime story," Sienna offered. 

Without another word, Harry slid out of his chair, waved dissmissively at us over his shoulder, and stumbled off the balcony, eyes half closed. I chuckled and put my feet up on his now-empty chair. 

"Anyone want some wine?" Sienna wondered. She too got to her feet and looked around at all of us. I raised my hand, which prompted everyone else to as well, so Louis stood and followed Sienna off the balcony to help her. Zayn and I glanced awkwardly at each other, because we'd been left alone with the lovebirds.

"So, Zayn... I need to, uh, show you something across the garden," I said awkwardly. I know that Liam and Emma have been dying for some alone time ever since they saw each other earlier in the airport. They only had a few minutes then, and they may only have a few minutes now, but I know I'd appreciate whatever I could get.

Within moments of Zayn and I moving to the far end of the balcony with our backs to the lovely couple, I could hear the sound of lips moving and smacking, perhaps against each other. Zayn snorted. "I guess it's been a while, huh?" 

"Yeah," I agreed. For some reason, I felt really grown up. Maybe it was the grown up activites and serious relationships and parenting that's been going on all around me lately, but I don't feel all that teenagerish these days. Maybe I'm starting to age more rapidly. "It's also been a while since we did anything... fun. You know, besides gigs."