It was after 1 a.m. by the time Niall, Cat, and myself were stumbling back into my apartment. I'm surprised none of me neighbors had complained about us yet. We were all thoroughly buzzed and content with how the night turned out. Cat and Niall continued to pick on me but it was all in good fun. I let it slide and allowed myself to take more shots than necessary of whatever was put into my hands. We danced like lunatics while other people watched. I'm sure most were trying to snap photos of Niall. He was quite the busy and successful bee since the boys disbanded. Granted, all of them were doing successful things but he seemed the most active out of him and Louis, the only two I kept up with.
"Please tell me you've got food in here somewhere." Niall said as he opened my fridge. He began rummaging around. I wasn't exactly sure if he would find anything he liked. I had started eating more healthy lately and I tried really hard to cut out unhealthy snacks. Though, right now I wanted a nice greasy burger from McDonalds.
"Honestly, I'm not quite sure what I've got in there." I said as I squinted my eyes and hoisted myself onto the counter. I quite literally almost fell off in the process. Drunk Delani did not know good balance.
"She's trying to turn into some health nut. I told her she's gone mad." Cat said pointing to her head and making a circular motion with her index finger. She took a seat at the bar across from where I sat while she smiled innocently at me to take away from the fact she just called me insane. I rolled my eyes and watched as Niall brought out multiple condiments from my fridge coupled with different lunch meats.
"Well, at least this shit is edible. You ought to see Ha- uh, my friends fridge. A sight." Niall said shaking his head as he avoided eye contact. I felt my heart rate speed up a bit. I glanced over to see Cat scowling at Niall. I threw a dishcloth at her and smiled. I was perfectly fine. Eleven years and they were still trying not to bring up his name, thinking I would feel too uncomfortable. Truth is, I would always be a little uneasy at the mention of him. I hadn't seen him in eleven years or heard from him in about as long. So, there really wasn't a logical reason as to why they couldn't bring him up. I would get over the anxious feeling that settles in my stomach when his name was mentioned sooner or later.
"What'd'ya look at me like that for? I was tryin to be nice!" Niall said with a shrug at Cat. She rolled her eyes and gave him the finger while I laughed.
As I laughed and Niall complained about having to make us all sandwiches I heard a loud knock on my apartment door. It was almost two a.m. I had no clue who would be paying a visit this time of night. Cat raised her eyebrows questioningly as I walked by her on my way to the door.
"Visitors this late? Is there something we don't know about?" she called out. I ignored her comment and proceeded to the door. Believe me, I was just as surprised as her by a knock on my door at two in the morning. That is, until I opened the door and saw who it was.
I squealed like a little girl and tackled him with a hug. He was so caught off guard we both nearly toppled over onto the floor.
"Whoa there! You're gonna kill us both, love." Louis said as he wrapped one arm around my waist and held the other against the wall to steady us. I planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek, leaving behind a red lipstick smear. We lived in the same city and I still hardly ever got to see him. Well, he was a little more busy than I was with his tv shows, music producing, and child.
"Look who it is!!" I announced loudly as I pulled Louis into the kitchen behind me. Cat immediately jumped up and gave Louis a suffocating hug followed by Niall doing the same. They did a weird bro handshake and tried to be cool but I know they missed each other almost as much as they missed Cat.
"Mate, what are you doing? Are you gonna eat all three of those?" Louis asked as he eyed Niall skeptically. I laughed out loud followed by Cat. Niall grinned broadly as he snatched up one sandwich and took a big bite.
"These two arse's made me make them sandwiches. They're both quite lazy. Drank up half the bar and made me pay for it too. Terrible group of friends I've got going." Niall said cheerily. Cat glowered at him as she reached over the bar and grabbed her sandwich off the counter.
"I think all your popularity is finally gotten to that large head of yours. Don't float away you conceited little bloke." Cat spoke with a completely straight face and I don't know how she did it. I was laughing halfway through her insult and so was Louis.
"Oh, how I've forgotten how wonderful Cat is." Louis said with a big smile as he clutched his stomach from laughing so hard. Niall was even trying not to crack a grin while staring down Cat. She smiled sweetly and sauntered into the living room to turn on the television.
I grabbed my sandwich, brushing past Louis. That's when I noticed the large bottle in his hand.
"What in the world is that?" I asked as he held the glass bottle up to eye level.
"Gin. I couldn't make it out to the pub so I thought I would bring the party over. Unless you're too scared to have some more to drink." Louis said wiggling his eyebrows in challenge. He always was the one who could push my buttons.
"SHOTS" Niall yelled loudly from the living room. I saw Louis' smile transform into a little smirk before I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Whatever. You guys just better be glad tomorrow is Saturday and I'm off work." I grabbed four shot glasses from my freezer and circled around the bar to line them up.
"Come on Cat! Niall! We're taking shots!" Louis yelled.
That is how we ended the night. We sat in my living room eating lunch meat sandwiches and taking shots or drinking out of the Gin bottle. The gin was actually pretty disgusting but at that point my taste buds didn't really register much. I had already had more than enough to drink to numb the taste. Niall and Cat fell asleep bunched up on the loveseat while Louis and I feel asleep half on top of one another on the couch. I think we all nodded off around the time the sun started to come up. It was one of the best nights I had, had with all of them in months. Moments like these are why I am more than happy that I decided to stay in London.
