Marvels Of Fate

This Is Gonna Be A Long Dinner

A/N: This chapter is in honor of Liam's baby boy n Harry's album 🍻
"Mus." Kate calls. I exit my bathroom, wiping my face with a towel.
"Yeah?" I reply, chucking the towel onto a chair and taking a seat beside Kate on my bed.
"In all this chaos, it completely slipped my mind that tonight is One Direction family dinner night." Kate grimaces. "And we all have to go."
"One Direction family dinner night?" I say, confused. "What the hell is that?"
"It's a night where all of our families - like all the boys - and their girlfriends, or friends have dinner together." Kate explains. "Harry's gonna be there." Ah, so this was why she looked so glum.
"Kate, I'm not included in the One Direction family, so I don't have to go." I shrug my shoulders to show how unaffected I am by this matter. It won't make much of a difference to me whether I go or not.
"Mus, you have to come." Kate insists, grabbing hold of my arm. "You're part of the 1D family." I shake my head.
"No, Kate, I'm not and I'll never be." I say firmly. "Please don't force me to do this. Not this time. Please."
"Mus, if you don't come, Kate's mind will be here throughout the dinner and she won't enjoy her time with our families." Liam says, leaning against the door frame of my door. "Please come." He stares at me pleadingly, turning my heart into mush.
"You guys are such bitches!" I say, throwing my hands in the air.
"Yes!" Kate and Liam exclaim at the same time. My best friend squeezes my arm reassuringly and Liam gives me a contented smile.
"Thank you," he says. "It means a lot to us that you're gonna join us for dinner." I roll my eyes, already regretting the fact that I gave in.
********
"Table for twenty-five, under the name of Payne." Liam tells the waiter, as we arrive at the restaurant.
"Twenty-five?" My eyes widen at the number. Kate turns around and gives me a knowing smile.
"We're a huge fam, Mus." She says, chuckling to herself. "About to get even larger." She places her hand on her over sized belly and smiles to herself.
"Right this way, ladies." Liam says, letting Kate and I lead. He entwines his fingers with Kate's and gives her a peck on the cheek. The waiter shows us our table and we all sit down in a row. The three of us order a couple of appetizers while we wait for the rest of our party to arrive. Kate and Liam begin discussing the items they'll need for the delivery time and what else they should get for the babies in advance. Since this is not my forte, I drift off into la la land. Random story plots, and scheduled items pop into my head, as I stare at my neatly folded napkin. This is how I usually piece together a novel. Ideas randomly pop into my head at the most bizarre of moments and I just grab onto them for later use.
"Punctual as always." Niall says, as he approaches our table with his mum and dad.
"Where's Gregg?" Liam asks, getting up to greet Niall's parents.
"He's coming. Apparently, getting two kids in a car with a wife, ain't easy." Niall rolls his eyes. "His words, not mine." Liam and Kate give each other a knowing look, and I laugh. They're in for a hell of a ride when those two terrors come out.
"So how's the pregnancy coming along, Kate?" Niall's mum asks, taking a seat right opposite her. Suddenly, her eyes flit over to me and she squints. "I just had to forget my glasses. Dear, I don't think we've met." She stretches out her hand for me to shake. I take it and as I do, I realize her hand is trembling.
"I'm Mus, nice to meet you." I say, as she releases my hand. "Heard a lot about you."
"Well then, you already know who I am." She smiles pleasantly at me. "You a friend of Liam's?"
"No, she's my sister-to-be." Liam intervenes, grinning at us both.
"Well Kate, you have a lovely looking friend." Niall's mum compliments me.
"Thank you," I say earnestly. Maura opens her mouth to say something else, but right at that moment, Liam's family walks in.
"Mum! Dad! Over here," Liam calls out, standing up. Niall seats himself beside me. I lean into him.
"Niall, your mum's hand was shaking when she shook mine." I whisper into his ear. He grimaces and briefly glances at his mum.
"Yeah, she's getting old, Mus." Niall says, pursing his lips. "She isn't a young bird anymore." His tone has a certain amount of pain in it and I know he isn't telling me the whole story. Liam's parents come over and greet Kate by kissing her and giving her brief hugs. Wow, this is quite the family reunion! I've met his parents before so they know who I am and greet me warmly as well. I feel bad for Liam, he's so nice that he gets up to greet everyone as they come in. While the rest of us lazy asses, just sit there and greet people. Finally, almost everyone is here, except Harry and his family. Which is good cause I'm completely enjoying myself with all these family members and the boys. Louis cracks dirty jokes almost every five minutes, making the mothers and fathers at the table grimace.
"Hello my peeps!" Gemma yells, marching towards our table. She stops mid-stride when her eyes land on me. Gemma's eyes widen and she runs toward me.
"Mus!" She exclaims, bending forwards and enveloping me in a tight bear hug. I hug her back, a weird kind of happiness spreading through me at the sight of my friend. "It's been so long." She whispers in my ear. Then she releases me and steps back. "You're such a successful author now and I haven't even received one dedication." Gemma pouts, making me laugh.
"I'm sorry," I say. "Next book, you're getting one." She grins and winks at me. Then, Gemma moves onto greet everyone at the table. I've never written a dedication in my book because I have no one to dedicate it to. I asked my brothers if they wanted one. However, Rayan said no because he doesn't want his name in some cheesy romance novel and Amaan said yes, but that's for when I release a fantasy novel. So, I have had no one to dedicate my books to. Until now. I smile at the thought of writing Gemma's name inside my book and thanking her for being such a high spirited person in my life.
"Mus!" Anne exclaims, as she approaches our table. Behind her is Harry. However, there is no sign of Rain. Funny.
"Anne!" I say, getting up and rushing towards her. I try to ignore Harry, as I greet his mum. However, his highly annoying sighs and huffs are getting on my nerves. After Anne and I are done with our reunion, I turn around to find my place taken by Gemma. She smiles sweetly at me, but there's mischief in her eyes.
"Mus, can you please sit there?" She asks, pointing to the only two vacant chairs at the table. They're placed together and are surprisingly quite close to each other. I look at her pleadingly, but she just smiles back at me like an innocent angel. Not! Anne takes her place between the two mums. Hesitantly, I shuffle towards the empty chairs and take a seat. Harry stands for a minute or two, before realizing that he has no other choice, but to sit beside me. Oh God, this is gonna be a long dinner.