"Stuck In The Friend-Zone Again and Again"

"Like An Island"

About an hour and a half later (and 2 chapters later), Michael woke up demanding breakfast.
This woke up Calum and Ashton, so I had to figure out what to do for breakfast.

The boys and I headed into the house, able to be as loud as we pleased as both my parents were at work.
"Pancakes?" I asked once we were in the kitchen.
"PANCAKES!" Calum cheered.
I laughed and pulled out the pan and some non stick spray, along with pancake mix, milk, eggs, and chocolate chips.
I mixed everything up, and poured some batter into the pan to make two separate pancakes.

Before long, I had 10 perfect pancakes on a plate.
The boys all grabbed plates excitedly, and I pulled the syrup out of the cupboard.
"Is this real?" Calum asked, looking at the bottle in awe.
"Yeah," I laughed. "My neighbours make it. Perks of being a Canadian."

We all sat down, picking out our pancakes and slathering on syrup.
When we cut into the pancakes, and the boys had their first taste of real homemade Canadian maple syrup.
Michael's eyes rolled back in his head in ecstasy. "Mwith ith so gooth!" Michael declared through a mouthful of syrup soaked pancake.
I laughed. "So my pancakes aren't awful?"
"Definitely not, they're great," Luke praised.
I beamed. "Thanks."

We ate in comfortable silence for a bit, then I spoke again. "I thought maybe we could go swimming in the pool today?"
They all nodded, making sounds of agreement.
"You guys bring bathing suits?" I asked.
They nodded again.
"Perfect," I smiled.

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After breakfast, we all got ready to go out to the pool.

I put on a bit of sunscreen, not much, and the boys put on varying degrees of sunscreen.
Calum hardly any, what with being so naturally tan.
Luke a regular amount.
Ashton a bit, same as me.
Michael might've used a whole bottle.

The boys went back to the tour bus to change, and I ran upstairs and pulled on my aqua and black-and-white striped bathing suit (on my Character Inspiration board on Pinterest).
I grabbed my white sunnies from my nightstand and threw them on the top of my head after pulling my hair into a bun on the top of my head.

I ran back down the two sets of stairs, and grabbed towels from the second floor bathroom on the way.
Once I was back in the kitchen, I found the boys waiting for me.
Calum, Michael, and Ashton wolf-whistled, and Luke smirked.
"Damn, Paris," Michael said.
I rolled my eyes. "Let's go, you pervs," I laughed, throwing their towels at them and leading them out the back door to the patio/pool deck.

I slid my sunnies onto my nose, and picked a pool chair in the middle of the deck.
Luke and Calum picked the two on each side of me, and Michael sat beside Luke and Ashton beside Calum.
I stretched out, soaking up the sun's rays.
"I need a tan," I said, to no one in particular.
"You need a tan?" Michael laughed. "I'm a fucking vampire."
"Hey don't swear!" Ashton joked, bringing back old times.
"Yeah!" I added with a giggle.
"What, fucking? Fucking, fucking, fucking-" Michael said in a sing-song voice.
"Michael Gordon Clifford!" I warned with a grin.
"Middle name dude, shit just got real," Calum chuckled.
"Calum Thomas Hood are you mocking my fangirl ways?" I asked, eyebrow cocked.
Ashton giggled. "She knows your middle name too."
"Ashton Fletcher Irwin did you hear what I said to Calum?" I said, eyebrows flying higher.
"Do you know my middle name?" Luke asked adorably.
"Lucas Robert Hemmings, of course I do," I said fondly.
"His name's not Lucas!" Michael laughed.
I said "I know" the same time Luke said "she knows".
I turned to Luke with a grin, and he winked.
I fell back in my chair.
"Okay I have a boyfriend and everything but I am still a fangirl you can't just do shit like that," I half panted. "You're already shirtless for God's sake, are you trying to melt me?"
Everyone laughed while I recovered from my mini fangirl attack.
"Rude," I huffed.
"You're just such a fangirl and so obsessed, it's endearing," Luke smiled cheekily.
"I prefer dedicated, but sure, obsessed works too," I replied casually.
"I think you need THE ULTIMATE 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER FAN TEST!" Michael declared.
"Such a thing exists?" I asked.
"Now it does. We need to know you're not a fake fan!" Michael told me.
I smirked. "Bring it on."
"Our birthdays?" Michael challenged.
"Child's play," I scoffed. "Ashton: July 7th, 1994. Michael: November 20th, 1995. Calum: January 25th, 1996. Luke: July 16th 1996."
"What school did we go to?" Ashton asked.
"Well you went to Richmond High School, and the others went to Northwest Christian College," I replied.
"What is Ashton's favourite type of candle?" Luke asked.
"Vanilla, duh. I got him some, remember?" I said, like it was obvious.
"Do I like pancakes or waffles better?" Calum asked, getting desperate.
"Pancakes," I answered without hesitation. "I think it would be easier if I just named facts on you guys. We'll start with Calum," I said.
"Calum had his first kiss at the age of 13, his favourite colour is blue, he loves The Lego Movie and Monster's Inc., he dropped out of high school, loves tea and dogs, his favourite band is All Time Low, and gave up soccer for the band."
"Ashton next! Ashton loves spaghetti, hates ducks, plays Dragon Ball Z, his lucky number is 18, and his favourite album is Bullet In A Bible."
"Luke. Luke always carries a hairbrush, loves penguins, his ultimate hero is his dad, steals your, as is the rest of the band's underwear, is a hurricane in the shower, loves Jennifer Lawrence, his favourite Australian is Hugh Jackman, he basically started the band, in his old videos he used to have a pink speaker in the back, his favourite movie is Mean Girls, he uses the most hair product, and he can click his fingers all at once."
Their eyes were wide.
"Official Luke Girl, remember?"
"Now, Michael. Okay, so Michael double knots his shoelaces, his favourite food is papadums, came up with the band name in a maths class, he's addicted to video games, he's clingy, and he fanboys over Ariana Grande."
I surveyed their shocked faces and grinned. "Fan enough for you?"
"Okay so not a fake fan," Michael laughed, the rest of us joining in.

After my show of some of my fan knowledge, we all got in the pool and started fooling around.
We played chicken, Michael being the judge.
I got on Luke's shoulders ("oh my god there's less oxygen up here I swear!") and Calum got on Ashton, and needless to say, with our combined height and strength, Luke and I beat the crap out of Calum and Ashton.
I didn't even fall in.
But Luke threw me.
I came up sputtering.
"Luke! You could have warned me!" I complained, wiping my eyes. "I got water up my nose!"
"Sorry," Luke apologized, sounding more amused than sorry.
Suddenly, I heard a small sloshing of the water behind me, and I whirled around to see Micahel trying to sneak up behind me and dunk me in.
Of course, he didn't get that far, because I shoved him over and dunked his head under.
He came up coughing.
"Okay I guess I deserved that," he admitted, wiping the wet hair our of his eyes.
I splashed him. "And that."
"Oh it's on," he said, splashing me.

Soon we had a five way splash war going on, which lasted for about 10 minutes.

After it had calmed down, Luke and I decided to get out and relax, since we were up the earliest.
We lied on our chairs chatting while the other boys swam, occasionally just making weird faces at each other.

Finally, when it was time for lunch I just ordered pizza, which was eaten faster than it took to get from the pizza place to my house.

We all relaxed on our chairs after lunch ("Michael Gordon Clifford you cannot go in the water yet you just ate 3 slices of pizza!").
"This is almost the same as being at home in Australia with the pool and stuff," Ashton commented.
"Except there's no beautiful beach with a gorgeous coral reef to go to or famous opera house with a sail boat roof," I laughed.
"Close enough," Ashton chuckled, shrugging.