Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Fangirling Or How I Received The Best Birthday Present Ever

Hi everyone, I have successfully done nothing but eat and drink and write all day, but this is the perfect way to spend my second day of my Christmas break, so I don't really mind. I hope you enjoy the chapter, the third part is already partly written and will most likely be up later tonight. :) All the love, Summer xxx

The lunch with my mum had been wonderful. I had had the chance to have an incredible conversation with her and she again tried to assure that it wasn't all my fault that Louis and I hadn't worked out. It was something I was still feeling guilty about, but she told me very sternly that I couldn't force myself to feel something and then quickly moved onto a lighter topic. Now it was nearly nine o'clock and I was dressed in a black, sparkly shift dress which ended just above my knee and covered me up very well, while at the same time enhancing my curves. Lily had helped me do my hair and make up and therefore created something which looked a thousand times better than anything I could have ever achieved.

The door bell rung and I nearly sprinted to the door as fast as my heels were carrying me. I opened the door and a widely grinning Niall was standing in front of me with a smirking Louis behind him. "Hi guys, come on in, come on in!" I greeted them cheerfully and ushered them into the flat. "Happy birthday, Claire!" Niall said with a wide grin and pulled me into a tight hug, lightly swaying me from one side to another until I stumbled and we both pulled away laughing. He handed me a neatly wrapped box and added with a wink. "Just in case you're wondering, I didn't wrap it myself. I can assure you that it wouldn't look so pretty if I did." I chuckled and thanked him, before I turned around to face Louis. 

He pulled me into a tight hug and I felt him press a light kiss to my hair. "Happy birthday, love." he said quietly into my ear and when we pulled away he, too, handed me a small box which looked like he had wrapped it himself. "I wrapped it myself." he said loud enough for Niall to hear him who was kissing Lily a few metres down the hallway. Niall responded by flipping him off, his lips not leaving Lily's in the process, making Louis laugh. "Ew, get a room." I commented dryly and Louis laughed and followed me into the kitchen where he helped himself to a drink. I picked up my cup fron the table and took a long sip from my own, feeling the familiar burning of the alcohol running down my throat.

The door bell rang again and with an apologetic look in Louis' direction, I downed the rest of my drink and walked back to the front door. My two friends from uni had arrived, El and Milena. "Happy birthday!" El squealed and pulled me into a tight hug, before handing me over to Milena who hugged me just as tightly, as well. "Thanks guys, come on in!" They both stepped into the flat and curiously looked around, obviously trying to figure out who had arrived already and who hadn't. "You can leave your shoes here." I pointed to the growing pile of shoes underneath the coats. "Alright, Louis and Niall are already here, and Lily, obviously but you know her. Just remember: they are also just human beings and try to act natural, okay?" I encouraged them with a grin and they exchanged an excited look, before following me into the kitchen. 

Niall was sitting on one of the kitchen tables, already munching on one of the cupcakes Lily had made earlier, while Louis was leaning against the counter with a beer bottle in his hand. Behind me, I could hear Milena taking in a sharp breath when she spotted the two boys. "Guys, these are Elouise, also known as El, and Milena, girls, well you know who they are." I introduced them with a smirk and Louis put down his beer bottle and smiled at them. "Hi, nice to meet you." he greeted them and ignored Milena's hand, instead pulling her into a hug. He then hugged El as well and Niall stopped eating for a minute to also give both of them a hug. I grinned and gave Louis a grateful smile which he returned. 

"Are you both studying politics, as well?" Louis asked, taking a long sip from his bottle, his posture relaxed and attentive. El and Milena seemed to relax a little bit and helped themselves to a drink, as well, before they replied. "Um, actually El is studying English literature and I am studying history." Milena explained and couldn't hide a blush when Louis kept looking at her. "You don't sound English, where are you from?" Niall asked curiously from the table and Lily and El both plopped down onto the two free chairs opposite him and Lily. "Well, I am originally from Germany, but I have spent some time in Canada and now I am studying here." Milena explained with a grin and took a long sip from her bottle. "Oh that sounds cool. Where in Canada have you lived? I love playing there, people are so friendly." Niall asked curiously and Milena then tried to explain to him where she had lived, before giving up and just showing it to him on his phone. I picked up Lily's gaze and we shared a smile, both remembering exactly how we had felt when we first had encountered the boys.

The door bell rang again, and I excused myself and left the kitchen again, leaving the others to chat among themselves. When I opened the door, it looked like everyone who hadn't arrived at this point had arrived together. Liam and Sophia, Zayn and Gigi, Ed and Leslie were all standing in front of my door, laughing when they saw my surprised face to suddenly have all of them standing in front of me. "Wow, I didn't expect all of you to arrive at the same time." I laughed and opened the door a bit wider. "Our hallway is very small, so I'm sorry if it gets a bit cramped." I warned them and stepped back so that everyone could squeeze into our flat. One by one they all hugged me and Zayn introduced me to Gigi, who was prettier than anyone I had ever seen. 

"Holy shit, you are even prettier in person." I accidentally said out loud and everyone around me started to laugh, which caught the attention from the others in the kitchen as well. Milena's eyes widened when she saw that the others had all arrived and El let out a quiet squeak. Louis, however, smirked at me and then enquired what had been so funny. "Claire expressed her admiration for Gigi." Ed snickered behind me and I shot him a stern look, before Louis burst out laughing, as well. "Very funny guys, why don't you help yourselves to a drink and some food if you like and then we'll all try to squeeze into our living room?" I suggested and everyone agreed and shuffled into the kitchen or into the living room. 

In the living room, everyone spread out across the two arm chairs, the sofa and my bean bag which I had squeezed in between one arm chair and the window. The rest of us, including me, simply sat on the carpet in front of the TV. "You need to open your presents!" Ed suggested and gave me a wide smile from the top of the bean bag, which made me question his good intentions. Everyone agreed and handed me their presents, while I quickly got the ones from Lily, Niall and Louis from the kitchen, before I sat back down between Zayn and Milena. "You need to open mine first!" Lily said with a mysterious smile and exchanged a look with Ed who nodded. Cautiously, I unwrapped the gift and saw that it was small jewelry box. 

I slowly opened it and a charm bracelet with one charm fell out together with a small note. It was a tiny silver house and when I opened the note it said "A house so that you always have a little bit of 'Home' with you. Lily x" I immediately understood the song reference and the double meaning and blinked some tears away, before I got up and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." I whispered into her ear and pecked her cheek, before I plopped back down between Zayn and Milena, careful not too show off too much in my dress. The next present was from Louis and I caught his eyes, before I carefully unwrapped the small present which turned out to be a small jewelry box, as well. 

I opened it and inside was a small smiley which had two x instead of eyes, making it look just like his tattoo. "It had it made just for you." Louis explained as I jumped up again to give him a tight hug. When he pulled away, he grinned up at me and exchanged a satisfied look with Lily. It turned out that everyone at the party had contributed to the charm bracelet and I received a little charm from every single guest. Ed had given me a tiny guitar, El and Milena had added a little book for our time at uni, Leslie had given me a little star to remind me to never stop shining, Zayn and Gigi had given me a charm with the Celtic symbol for breathe on it to remind me to keep breathing during panic attacks and Liam and Sophia had a little rainbow to remind me of the good things in life, when I was going through a difficult time. 

I did an amazing job at blinking the tears away, much to everyone else's amusement, but when Ed threw another box at me it suddenly became very difficult not to ruin my makeup. "Whose present is that?" I asked him confused and a wide grin appeared on his face, before he replied. "Harry's." I felt my stomach flip and my hands shook a little bit as I unwrapped the small box. Inside was a little heart with a small handwritten note from Harry. "To remind you that you're never alone." When I looked up, the others were all grinning down at me. "Thank you guys for this beautiful present. I can't thank you enough for this." I thanked everyone and shot all of them a thankful look, before I tried to close the bracelet around my wrist, but failed miserably. 

On the bean bag Ed coughed and I shot him a glare and then continued to struggle with the lock, until Zayn reached over and gently pulled my wrist towards him. "Here, let me help." I thanked him quietly, while the others got up to refill their cups and get some more food. Liam and Louis were fiddling with our stereo and a couple of seconds later,  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' Can't Hold Usstarted to blare through the speakers. "Let's dance!" Niall cheered and downed the rest of his drink, before pulling Lily onto the dance floor.