Tomlinson was the best thing to happen to me (Watty's '13)

Say Hello

"Ah, there they are."

"You see them?"

"Not many people in the world who look like your parents."

"You don't think it'll look like…?"

"No way. That's an entirely different feel to it. At least some form of body contact."

"Yeah, but we all know how the paps love to twist stories around. Even I know about it."

"Chill. I've told my parents I'm coming home with a friend. And just a friend. Just to make sure my dad understands."

"He likes to make inferences?"

"And very major assumptions, too. But at the end of the day, he's my dad and he's pretty cool about everything. He'll pretty much let me date anyone. As in white kids as well."

"He'd have to, he'd just have to. My parents, on the other hand-"

"Not that they're very good parents-"

"But that doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure my dad would throw a fit if I said my boyfriend's a white kid."

"Well in this case, you don't need to tell them at all."

"Well I figured that much out already!"

"Hello! You must be Annabelle? I'm Tricia. Zayn's mum."

"Annabelle? You say you are?"

"Yes. How old are you? 8?"

"Yeah," she nodded vigorously. "This is my sister Waliyha," she introduced.

"Hey. Nice to meet you."

"I think she's already treating you like one of us," she chuckled.

"Well that's great, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Kids their age do that."

"I'm fine with it, as long as I don't get hurt, I'm fine. Love kids."

"Why don't we get going now? We have time for introductions later."

"So this is Bradford. Well then."

"You like it?"

"Just like home."

"Why can't you go home?"

"It's a long story, Safaa," Zayn interjects.

"You know that magician?"

"Dynamo? Yeah, I know he lives here."

"He's awesome he's awesome he's awesome!"

"Safaa!" Zayn complained. "You've said that so many times already! Stop pestering Annie."

"Zayn, it's fine. I'm used to the twins and they're even more of a handful. This one here, she's fine." Safaa promptly stuck her tongue out at her older brother.

"Now that's not very nice, is it, Safaa?"

"But he keeps saying that I'm annoying!"

"Everyone says that about younger siblings. It's normal."

"So you're… Louis' friend? Because I think he's the other Yorkshire guy?"

"Yeah. Doncaster Rovers! Oh fudgecakes, I'm outnumbered here."

"Watch your language, missy, there are young kids in the car. Lots of them."

"Come on, I'm sure they've heard worse from Niall."

"Niall is Niall. He's a separate case, alright?"

"And this is West Lane Baildon."

"Nearly there, Annabelle. Zayn, my boy, talk to her for goodness sake."

"I'm talking, dad!"

"He's been talking alright, sir. He's been talking."

"You look after my boy for me while he's away, alright? He's forgotten his passport altogether before."

"Oh dear."

"Dad…" I had a feeling this was going to lead up to some embarrassing stories.

"Nice house, Zayn."

"It's not flashy, but it's home," he shrugged.

"That's what I like about it."

"Come play with me," Safaa tugged on my shirt.

"Alright."

"Oh, and by the way, Annabelle," Yaser, as I found out his name was, called.

"Yes uncle?"

"Don't make Safaa go crazy, please. Otherwise she can't sleep."

"I'll do what I can, uncle."

"And we're going to set up a bed on the floor in Safaa's room, probably, seeing how much she likes you. Shouldn't be too bad."

"Auntie, I've got a roof over my head, I'm not camping out in Wales or Scotland, I'm very contented, even if it's on the floor. If anything, I like the floor because I get to sleep faster."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Well, run along, you've got Safaa to play with."

"Thanks for taking me in, by the way."

"Any time."

"What's it like back home for you?"

"Back home?"

"Yeah, back home."

"I don't like my parents. Well, they chose to not like me first."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Safaa, that I've got two younger brothers and my parents give them advantages over me."

"That's not very nice."

"No, it isn't. But otherwise, I just miss the food a bit."

"You really like food, don’t you?"

"Yes. I love food. Without it we would die."

"Duh," she giggled. "We all saw how much you ate at dinner."

"I think you and your sisters were the most surprised."

"Well we’ve never met you before."

"Neither have your parents."

"Oh yeah, that's right. But they were the ones making the food! Zayn would have told them. Good night Annabelle."

"Good night Safaa."

 I woke up to warm fingers poking my nose. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Until you started poking my nose. It's flat enough, I don't need you to make it any flatter." Thankfully, she understood it was a joke.

"You know, I could be poking your eye instead." That's outright dangerous.

"And that would not be very smart of you."

"Yeah, that's why I didn't do it. So," she began thoughtfully. "If you're friends with Louis… have you done any pranks before?"

"I haven't done much of that, but Louis has plenty up his sleeve."

"Like?"

"The only one I can remember right now is probably too rude to tell you about. Well, there are two, but they're both very rude." 1. incident in France. 2. Mooning at the musical.