The Girl Next Door

Deceiving

“You cheated!” I screamed.

Harry looked surprised, “How can you say that? I would never, ever do that!”

“Well, you did. I can’t believe you!” We were faced nose-to-nose, my fists clenched, ready for a fight.

“You have no faith in me. You jus-“

“Guys,” Liam interrupted.

“WHAT?!” we said together, turning towards him.

“-it’s just Monopoly.” On the couch with Liam and Louis, Lux looked even more confused.

“I don’t care if it’s just Monopoly. I had four hotels. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, I ‘magically-’“ I made the quotation marks with my fingers- “had three and he was past them.” They looked at me in disbelief. “Zayn,” he lifted his head from his phone, “tell them!”

“Yeah, Harry cheated, good for him,” he went straight back to playing ‘Temple Run’.

“I agree to disagree,” Louis said. I was ready to jump on him.

“God,” I muttered, Harry sticking his tongue at me.

“Hally cheated!” Lux crossed her arms on her chest.

“I agree, right Lux?” Liam smiled at her, but she was still busy frowning at Harry to notice.

I smiled, “That’s my girl!”

“Oh, come on,” Harry butted in, “Lux, I’ve been changing your diaper since the day you were born. I bought you that ‘Hello Kitty’ kitchen set, remember? And then Carter shows up and-“

“That’s because she likes me better, right Lux?” she nodded. “Ya’ see?” I gave him a winning smile.

This was just one of those ‘mandatory date nights’ we had to do three times in every two weeks. Last week we went out for Nando’s. On Sunday we’re having a Horror movie marathon. Today we’re just chillin’. It’s really boring, but here and there Lou slips us Lux, so that pretty much becomes the highlight of the day. She makes babysitting fun- Harry being the baby Lux and I are ‘sitting’ on.

Harry wide opened his mouth to give another comment, but then Niall walked through the door with his hands full of food.

“What’s the craic, lads?- Oh, and Carter.”

“She’s one of the boys,” Harry said.

“Unlike you,” Louis muttered, but everyone heard him.

“Agreed,” Zayn and I added together. Niall sat on the couch behind me, ready to dig in in his Nando’s.

“Niall, sweetie,” I crawled next to him, looking at him in my best puppy-dog face. “Can I have some? Harry’s been starving me.”

“You should learn a thing or two from Loki and Hatchi. Your puppy-dog face is terrible,” Harry appeared next to me.

“Well, when you do it,” I continued, “it looks like a cow having a seizure.” Niall put a warm tin foil wrap in my hand.

“I love you Horan!” I sent him an air kiss and sat next to him.

“Your girlfriend. Loves your bandmate, and not you. Wonder how will it look in the press,” Louis scratched his chin.

“You better wonder how will you and El look in the press. You haven’t seen each other in like two weeks-“

Liam cut Zayn off, “That’s a lot in ‘Elounor’ time.” They all nodded except for Louis.

“She isn’t still mad at you for not telling her about us, right?” Harry asked.

“I hope not, but… I think she’s mad at Management.-“

“Aren’t we all,” I said to my chin, 5/5 of One Direction and a toddler looking my way, “What?”

Niall continued, “It’s not like you had a choice. Harry trusted you with a secret.-“

“I don’t think she’s mad because of that. I think it’s because of the ‘Larry’ thing.” All of their looks went straight to Harry.

“Sorry, ‘Larry’?” I asked with my mouth full of spicy rice.

Harry sighed, “Back on ‘The X Factor’ Bootcamp, where we all met, Lou and I clicked. We became like best friends immediately after they put us together, but Lou and I- he was like my big brother. We were such good friends people thought that we’re… together.-“

“Like dating?”

“Yup,” Louis said sadly.

“Anyway, our Management did everything they could to stop the rumours, and when Lou and El started dating, they just kept pushing on the ‘Elounor’ thing. It makes her kind of mad though, that people think their relationship is fake… And I think we had it hard,” Harry nudged me with his elbow.

“We do. I have you to deal with,” I rolled my eyes.

Louis smiled, “She’s a keeper.”

“Yeah, to be kept in a cage.”

“And you, Harry, belong with her,” Zayn added.

“Rawr,” Harry and I said in unison.

“You’re even finishing each other’s sentences,” Niall gently shook his head.

“Shut up, Horan, before you become Nando’s.”