“I’m cold.”
I looked over at Niall, who was soaking wet and shivering. “See? I told you not to go in the water.”
“Lou pushed me! And then I tripped.”
I pulled a towel out of my beach bag and tossed it at Niall, who grabbed it gratefully.
“Louis, don’t push your friends around.” I paused and laughed. “Oh god, listen to me, I sound like your mom.”
“MILF,” Harry muttered with a slight grin, from where he was laying in the sand.
“Yeah, Harry usually loves his friends’ mums.”
“Fuck off, Lou.”
I laughed as Louis and Harry got into yet another one of their chokehold tussles.
After lunch, we’d made our way down to the beach to lie around for a bit before shopping. Niall had brought a soccer ball, so we’d kicked it around for a bit (then I got kicked around for calling it ‘soccer’ instead of ‘football’). Then we’d just lain around, enjoying the sun on our backs and the waves crashing on the shore less than a hundred feet away.
It wasn’t long before I started to notice that there were a few people taking photos of us from afar. When I realized that their cameras were unusually bulky and fancy for regular beachgoers’, I brought it up to Zayn.
“Yeah, those are probably paparazzi,” he agreed, looking over at them. “But they usually don’t get too close.”
“Do you think I should call Paul and the rest of your security?”
“Nah, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
After a while (it was difficult to discern how long it was), Louis asked if we could go shopping. Harry made a snorting noise that indicated he wanted to do the exact opposite. In the end, I ended up taking Louis, Niall, and Zayn with me back up the pier to the shopping promenade while Liam and Harry stayed on the beach.
“Are you sure they’re going to be okay?” I asked, shooting Liam and Harry a nervous backwards glance as we left. “The paparazzi won’t, like, descend on them like vultures, right?”
“They’ll be fine,” Louis replied. “What’s the worst that could happen – they run a story about how Liam and Harry fell asleep on the beach? Real gripping journalism.”
Niall snickered.
“Good point,” I conceded.
---
The shopping part of the day went as enjoyably as it could with three rowdy boys. Luckily, Louis and Zayn were little femme boys enough to shop at the same stores I liked shopping at (Zara, H&M, Banana), and Niall didn’t mind either way. The only downside was watching them buy whatever they wanted without a second thought.
Man, millionaires, I thought jealously as I watched Louis fork over his credit card for a triple digit gift purchase for Eleanor. I took a last longing look at the Kitson sweater I was admiring ($92! For a sweater!) and set it down.
“Ooh, that’s a wicked jumper,” Niall commented as the three boys returned from the cashier with their carrier bags in hand. “Are you getting it?”
Hah, yeah, let me just pull the Benjamin out of my ass. “Nah,” I replied instead, smiling wistfully. “It’s way too much.”
“Geez, stingy girl. What are we paying you for anyway?” Louis joked, elbowing me in the arm. “Apple store next? I have to get Harry his charger.”
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Hard to Handle (A 1D Story)
FanfictionThrough luck and connections, jobless Jennifer is hired as the temp handler for One Direction while they're in LA. But living with and playing assistant 24/7 for five guys her age isn't as easy as she expected. Through hangouts, hookups, and handlin...
