The Cover Girls (A One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter 16 - Animal House

A/N: Sorry it’s late, but AT LEAST IT’S FULL OF LAPRIL CUTENESS :D

~Grace xx

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                                                             ~April~

Just as Louis and I were about to push open the door to the Toy Store, he paused.

“Is this a good idea?” He asked me, “It’s a kid’s store and I’m in a boyband.”

I thought for a moment before I replied, “Well it’s Monday so they’re all in school... but I guess we’ll just have to hope no one else is in there and be ready to hide if there is.”

With that, we both moved forward, hearing a bell ring above the door.

A girl who looked to be in college was leaned against the glass display case that doubled as a counter only looked up from her magazine for a second before looking back down, bored by our presence. For a moment I thought we were caught considering she was a girl and maybe in her teenage years, but I guessed she was just a bit too old.

Although, let’s face it, who’s too old for One Direction? Even my mom was a fan.

“Where to first?” I asked dreamily, gazing out at the colorful room filled with every kind of toy imaginable.

“Nerf guns.”

Immediately we were both rushing off to some shelves closer to the back of the store, grabbing the sample nerf guns, and running to find hiding places.

I hid with my back against a little children’s play kitchen. Peeking around the corner, I saw Louis watching me from behind a large display of lollipops. I shot one of the foam bullets, but when I check to see if I’d gotten him, the orange foam missile was lodged on a huge piece of candy, and Louis was nowhere to be found.

Quietly, I sneaked along the row of toys, listening carefully for any warning Louis was close. When I reached the end of the aisle, I quickly zoomed across a small open play area with some trains and colorful carpets. I heard the shooting of a nerf gun, and I snapped my gaze to my right, still running swiftly.

Louis had taken shelter behind a tub of colorful footballs. I barely made it behind a table with train tracks built on it to play with, but I hadn’t gotten hit.

I paused for a moment, crouched behind it, before leaning over and letting out a few shots, Louis’ gun doing the same, but I pulled back just as a bullet was about to hit my arm.

Silence filled the store for a moment. I heard a sudden rustle from Louis’ direction, and took the chance, standing up and aiming my gun straight for the brown haired boy who was frantically dashing for safety behind a huge stuffed tiger.

I got a few good shots and as soon as I put down the now empty gun I saw two bullets stuck to the back of his shirt near his neck.

“I GOT YOU! I SO GOT YOU!” I cheered. “YOU’RE DEAD!”

“Ugh, you’re so much better at this than the lads!” Louis sagged his shoulders, trying to get the foam pieces off of him. “They never beat me!”

My victory was interrupted by the once bored out of her mind girl, who walked up to me with a huge smile and heavy duty camera.

“Okay, I’m sorry to bother you two,” She looked back and forth between Louis and I, as he walked towards us with a grin, “but we need some new pictures for our advertisements, and I was wondering if I could maybe take some pictures of you guys having a nerf gun fight? I’ll give you the guns for free if you help me out with this.”

“Sure!” I agreed, glancing at Louis to see if he was on board, which he was.

“Great! Thank you so much!” The girl replied happily. “Just continue on, and I’ll follow you around with the camera.”

“Okay!” I said, then looked at Louis. “Count to 30, then we start.”

The both of us shot off in different directions, him towards the hand puppets, while I made my way sneakily to the stuffed animal section, crouching behind a display of oceanic mammals.

“My name’s Kendra, by the way!” The girl called after us, and I smiled at her, not wanting to talk and give away my location.

I put my gun in between a bunch of otters to hide it, and looked over it like there was an invisible scope. Kendra was in front of me with her back against a group of baby toys to hide from Louis, taking a bunch of pictures of me in my spot. For most of them, I made it look like I was completely concentrated but for one I turned my head and pulled a ridiculous face, crossing my eyes and sticking my tongue out.

Kendra held a hand to her mouth, trying to hold back her laughter as not to give away my position.

Suddenly, a few neon colored foam bullets whisked past me, landing on the butt of a stuffed dalmation. I ducked down onto a lower shelf of dolphins.

Kenda zoomed away, weaving in and out of aises until she was out of site. Going to take pictures of Louis, probably.

Soon, after a few more shifts of hiding spots and grabbing an extra clip of bullets from the aisle I’d gotten the gun, Louis lost again with a hit to his chest. He put on a dramatic dying scene, and I ended up placing my foot lightly on his chest after grabbing a gold crown to put on my head, like I’d concurred my enemy. Kendra was laughing so hard she could barely take pictures of us by the time we were done.

“Thank you so much guys.” She said to us as we were about to leave, the guns and some more bullets in our arms. “You helped a lot.”

“Anytime!” I responded, happy to have helped out. “Well, we’re gonna get going. It was nice meeting you, Kendra.”

“Just a second, I’ll be right back.” Louis spoke up, running to the far corner of the store, then returning with something in his hand.

I tried to see what he had with him, but he wouldn’t let me see. He whispered to Kendra, but she waved it off, saying, “Take it, it’s yours. Don’t bother paying, you’ve helped me tons.”

We all said goodbye, and when we stepped out of the store into the cool air, I stopped Louis.

“What did you get?”

“This.” Louis brought a little stuffed whale up from behind his back. “It’s for you.”

A smile exploded across my face as I picked up the adorable creature, saying, “Aw, thank you Louis! I love whales!”

“I know.” Louis said, and I could hear the smile in his voice as I wrapped him in a quick but tight hug. “Kris told me that you’re three favorite animals were Hedgehogs, whales, and llamas, but they didn’t have a hedgehog or a llama.”

“I love it.” I replied, petting its soft fabric. “I’ll name is Jason.”

“Why Jason?” Louis laughed as we stepped on the cement wet from the occasionally lightly misting rain.

“Because it looks like a Jason.” I responded, bumping his shoulder playfully.