Project (1D) Family

Chapter 4 - First Night

Photo to the side is Liam, external link is pajamas!

4. Chapter Four – the first night

Half an hour after my discussion with Louis, everyone was sitting at the table. Grace had on a rather cute onesie and Zayn just had a T-shirt with some sweatpants.

“Thanks, Lilli,” Harry said. He hugged me as he sat at the table. Choruses of “Thanks Mum!” were heard from the hungry kids as they sat down. They were the same size as me; all younger by a year or two (I got held down in kindergarten – sharing issues) but I already thought of them as the kids. Harry smiled at me; I knew he was thinking the same thing.

“STOP IT!” Louis yelled. He definitely seemed to be the loudest. I had classed some of them already: Louis was the loud one, Niall was the hungry one, Liam seemed fairly sensible. I didn’t know about the others though. I knew that people often acted differently to the way that they actually were – it was just a matter of telling who was and wasn’t pretending. I knew I would learn soon – living with someone can really educate you on them.

“Lilli… Lilli – EARTH TO LILLIAN,” Harry was saying. I blinked.

“Huh?” I noticed Louis, Darcy, Grace and Niall looking at me expectantly. “What’s up, guys?” They immediately started babbling at once. I caught a few snippets, “She was kicking… threw spaghetti… was not!... liar,” etc.

“QUIET! One at a time,” I said. “Um, Grace, you go first.”

“Well Darcy was kicking me and Niall kicked Louis.”

“Niall?”

“We were not,” he protested.

“You were too,” Louis whined.

“Were not,” Darcy yelled.

Before I knew it they were in a “Were too/Were not” argument.

“Stop! One more word out of anybody and they don’t get dessert,” I finally threatened. Harry and I hadn’t set up a punishment system yet so I was unsure of what to do.

“Liam, Zayn, can you please swap with Niall and Grace?” One victim and one offender; sorted. Harry grinned at me and I smiled back.

The next argument came at bed time.

“I am sixteen, I don’t have a bloody bedtime,” Darcy protested.

“During this assignment you are eight and you do,” I snapped. She had kicked up about having a shower; now she was dressed in Minnie Mouse PJs and refusing to lie down.

I heard Harry call me and we met in the hall.

“Liam won’t brush his teeth.”

“Darcy won’t go to bed.”

“Louis keeps annoying Zayn.”

“Grace won’t give up her phone.”

We agreed to switch; I would deal with the boys and Harry would talk to the girls. We parted ways.

“Liam honey, you have to clean your teeth,” I said, going into his and Niall’s room. Niall was in his bed, which was the top bunk, reading a book; Liam was sitting at his computer.

“No.” He didn’t even look up.

“Liam, it is nearly ten thirty. You are supposed to be thirteen,” I said gently. He still wouldn’t look at me, so I walked over to him, picked up the PC and shut it.

“Liam James, go and brush your teeth. I am going to count; every number I count is a day without your computer. One.”

He stared at me.

“Two.”

He seemed to think that it was a battle of wills, but I wasn’t giving up.

“Three.”

He noticed that.

“Four.”

“Okay, I’m going,” he yelled as he walked away; I followed him to make sure he brushed and then put the laptop in my room, locking it into a padlocked cupboard. I had a key and Harry had one.

“I’ll be back in half an hour, when you have to turn the lights out,” I told them, leaving.

Louis was jumping on the bed.

“Get down, Louis,” I said tiredly. When he refused, I grabbed his arm and pulled, which forced him to jump onto the floor. I heard a shriek from the girls’ room, but ignored it; Harry could deal with them. I was pleased to see Zayn trying to sleep. As soon as I released Lou’s arm, he raced over to Zayn.

“Zaynie, play with me,” he demanded.

“Louis William, get into bed right now.” I decided to employ the same trick I had used with Liam. “I am going to count. Every number I count is one day without any dessert. One.”

He stared at me horrified.

“Two.”

That was all it took; he was sprinting across the room and dived into his bed before I could even take another breath. The only thing was, he was upside down because he had dived headfirst, from the pillow end.

“Lou, put your head on the pillow,” I laughed. He quickly did this and I hugged him.

“Two days with no dessert; if I hear a peep from you tonight it will be three,” I warned. I hugged Zayn too.

“Goodnight, boys,” I whispered as I slipped out of the room, turning the light off.

You would think that things would be peaceful, right? WRONG.

“Mum!” Louis called immediately. I flicked the light on, angry.

“LOUIS WILLIAM ONE-DIRECTION, GO TO SLEEP!”

“But-”

“No!”

“Please-”

“Sleep!”

He started crying.

“What?” I snapped.

“I – I’m scared of the dark,” he sobbed. I instantly felt bad.

“Oh buddy, I’m sorry,” I said. I crossed the room and sat on his bed, rubbing his shaking back. Soon he stopped crying and I stood up.

“I’ll get you a nightlight tomorrow,” I promised. I left a light on in the hall and left his door slightly ajar, and then went back to Liam and Niall, who were both asleep. I flipped off the light and left, checking the sleeping girls and finally going to my room where Harry was sitting on his bed.

“Hey,” I greeted him. He looked up from his book.

“Hi. So how did it go?”

“By ‘it’ I assume you mean getting the boys to bed? Okay, I guess. I basically threatened them: Liam doesn’t get his laptop for four days and Louis doesn’t get dessert for two,” I admitted.

“I basically did the same to Grace; two weeks because I eventually snatched the bloody thing,” he laughed.

“Oh, I heard a scream – what was that about?”

“I picked Darcy up and carried her into bed, which she didn’t appreciate. I told her that if she got out at any point during the night then she had to do the dishes for a week.”

“Oh.”

“Well, this afternoon was interesting to say the least,” he said tiredly. “I’m exhausted.”

“So am I – goodnight, fake husband.”

“Goodnight, fake wife,” he replied, kissing me on the cheek. I hugged him and collapsed onto my bed. I was glad that I had showered immediately after dinner because I had no energy now. I fell asleep.