Then There Were Four

Chapter 8

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

The incessant buzzing of the intercom gets me out of the bathroom where I am brushing my teeth. I look out the window on the way to the intercom and I can't believe how quickly the weather changed. It was beautifully sunny yesterday with Zayn and now, as per usual, it's pouring buckets.

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

"Hullo?" I answer with my toothbrush still in my mouth.

"Hi, is this Kelly Smit?" The signal isn't clear so it makes it difficult to recognise the male voice.

"Uhh... yeah. Who is this?" I slowly take the toothbrush out of my mouth.

"It's her, lads!" he says and I hear some cheering in the background. "This is Zayn. I need to ask you for a huge favour." He sounds desperate.

"Hurry! They're coming!" a muffled voice says in the background.

"What is it?" I ask sceptically.

"Can you let us up, please?" Zayn requests.

My heart pounds in my chest. Us? "Umm... sure."

I hear the sound of screaming girls from outside the open window. And then I faintly hear it coming from the intercom.

"Zayn..." another voice says frantically in the background.

"Hurry. Please," Zayn begs.

I press the button to let them in and I hear a beep.

I look around the flat. It's not an absolute mess, but it's not clean either. I reckon I have as little as sixty seconds to get everything into shape. I sprint to the bathroom, picking things up as I go and I dump my toothbrush in its cup and splash water onto my face. I'm still in my pyjamas even though it's after ten o'clock because I don't work on Mondays. I dash into my room and hurriedly put on a bra, spray almost an entire bottle of perfume onto myself and grab my nightgown. I then go around the house cleaning up as much as I can in the short time I have.

I hear two loud bangs on the door and a third which is abruptly cut off – as if someone grabbed the knocker's hand before it could thump again.

I stand by the door and look around the room. It looks okay. I think it's ready. I can't say the same for myself.

There's another lighter rapping on the door.

"Coming!" I reply to the knocks.

I look in the mirror we have by the door and try to quickly fix my hair to no avail, as usual. I give up and reach for the door handle.

I open the door. In front of me is all five fifths of One Direction. They all wear dark hoodies or coats and some of them are wearing sunglasses. They are drenched from the rain. Their breathing is heavy, as if they've just been running. My initial reaction is to squeeze the door handle tighter, ready to bang the door shut if my mind is playing tricks on me or if they're actually here to murder me because, like, Stranger Danger. Then my brain catches up with my body and I relax my grip on the door and open it slightly wider –although this probably should not be my reaction because Stranger Danger still exists. But luckily, before I have more time to process what is happening (and inevitably do something embarrassing and/or creepy stalker-ish), Zayn takes a step forward.

"Hi, Kell-Kelly," Zayn says.

I hesitate before I speak, trying to collect myself. "Hi, Zayn Malik."

"Hi, Kell-Kelly. Do you mind if we come in?" Louis asks, taking a few steps forward, already halfway into the room.

"Uhh... sure." I stutter and Zayn chuckles. I remain confused for a moment, until I remember one of the first things I said to him yesterday. "I mean, no, I don't mind," I say, furrowing my eyebrows and feeling my face heat up.