Triple Dog Dare *A Zayn Malik Love Story*

Chapter 16

The song for the chapter is Love On Top by Beyonce(:

*Niall's POV*

"Liam! How long until they get here?" I yelled over the music coming from the iPod dock in the kitchen.

He looked at the clock on his left. "I don't know. I told them to be here by 5:30, so I guess in an hour or so. We better keep working, though, because you never know when they'll show up."

I nodded and turned to pour pretzels into the bowl on the countertop to my left. We were all working at top speed to make sure everything was ready for Zayn and Camille's party that was supposedly starting in an hour. Harry still wasn't back with their cake and I was starting to get anxious. Liam was being productive by busying himself with the music for the party and Louis was working on pushing furniture out of the middle of the floor and against the walls to make for more space.

I called Zayn today to tell him there was an unexpected but very important group meeting today taking place at Liam's house. He was a pretty pissed because him and Camille were planning to hang out for their birthdays today, so I assured him it wouldn't be a problem if she came along since she was already with them. However, Camille was ready filled in on the plan for the party for him. All she had to do was play into it so he didn't catch on. What she didn't know, though was that the party was for her too. And that was the fun in it.

There was a knock that sounded at the front door and we all ceased our work to look. The door was opened and we all gasped in panic. I ran over and almost ran straight into Rita. We all let out a relieved sigh to see it wasn't Zayn or Camille and then went straight back to work. I ran back to the kitchen and started putting more food together.

"Hi, Rita," I called over my shoulder.

She hurried to the kitchen and placed a plastic bag on the counter behind me. "Oh my, God, Niall, I'm so sorry I'm late. I ran to the store really quick and got some stuff and then got stuck in a bit of traffic." She stopped completely and looked at me. "Did you know that there's traffic at this hour? Because I didn't! Never would have guessed!" She threw her arms up dramatically.

I stirred the dip vigorously and turned to face her. "It's fine, really." I gestured to the bag with my elbow. "What'd you get anyway?"

She reached inside and pulled out a package of balloons. "I'll start blowing these babies up right now."

She went to open them but I stopped her. "Wait. What else did you buy?" I gestured to the other thing in the bag that caught my attention. She gave me an evil smile and pulled out a bottle of Tequila.

"For later." She wiggled her eyebrows at me and walked it over to the fridge. I couldn't help but laugh but I returned to my task of pouring things into bowls, mixing things, and setting things out to eat. When I finished my job, I walked into the living room and took in the sight before me.

Rita was busy blowing up balloons in an assortment of colors, Louis was setting up a table for food and drinks, and Liam was working on cleaning and straightening things up. We were making pretty good progress... at least for us we were. Leave it to a bunch of boys to throw a party and you'll get exactly what you would expect; a party that was put together in less than an hour.

The front door opened and, once again, all eyes went up to see who it was, inhaling at our own expense. Harry came striding in, skillfully holding a rectangular box to his chest with one hand and using his other hand to close the door. "Hey, I'm sorry. It was kind of a mess down there."

I rushed over to him and grabbed the cake to put in the freezer. "What happened?" I asked from the kitchen.

He lied down on the misplaced couch, resting the crook of his arm across his forehead and closing his eyes in distress. "I walked in with my hood up and my sunglasses on so I could maybe go unnoticed but apparently that can't happen, so I had to wait until some workers came to help me and... ugh. It was just a mess." He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and looked around. "Is there alcohol for tonight because I think I'm going to need it."