Direction Dreamer

Chapter Seven

I woke up groggily the next morning, faintly recalling where I was. I was in a huge exquisite parlor, and I was laying on the couch. “Morning! Thought you’d never wake up, it’s nearly noon. All of the other guys are sleeping too. El woke me up early to let me know where she’d be going today, did I wake you?” Louis asked. “No… not at all. Where am I?” I asked. “Home, you fell asleep last night in the car on Niall. Never even ate your food, but no worries, he did.” Louis laughed. Hearing laughing when I first awoke was a first for me. It sounded like family. I loved it. “Simon’s really angry with you Lou!” Zayn barged into the room, rather awake. “Why?” Lou asked, as Niall, Liam and Harry piled in. “THIS!” Zayn said, handing my brother a magazine. The headlines read “Teen heartthrob Niall Horan of One Direction taken by a mystery woman? Photo shown below tells us yes! Who is she and how long has this been going on? We hope to catch them together again really soon!” “What’s this Mik, Niall?” Louis asked sternly. “It’s a misunderstanding Lou, she was having issues getting out of Nando’s yesterday so I was helping her out!” Niall defended himself. “Mikaela, is this why you sat on his lap in the car yesterday? You two have something going on already? Niall, she’s my sister!” Louis began arguing with Niall, and I was sitting there, the cause of it. Harry looked at me as though he’d just gotten punched in the gut and walked out of the room. Meanwhile, Zayn and Liam tried to break up the argument. “I don’t like Niall like that! STOP!” I screamed, storming up to my room, It was bigger than I remembered, and beautiful. I could stay in here forever. Guys were too much drama. How could Louis ever think that I like Niall? He’s adorable and all, but my heart is with Harry.

“Listen Mikaela, I’m sorry…” Louis said, knocking on my bedroom door as he had been repeating the same thing now for the twentieth time in the past fifteen minutes. I finally concluded that I had to respond or he’d never go away. “You got angry for nothing, Niall was being honest. He was helping me, I don’t even like him!” I roared. “I know, I’m sorry! May I enter?” he asked. “I suppose!” I said in response. “Listen Mik,.. I’m your brother now, I just want to make sure you’re okay. Don’t date any of the guys… okay? You don’t need to date a famous person.” he said. I told him I wouldn’t and threw out the plan of telling him who I really had feelings for. “Okay… I think all of the guys hate me. I imagine Simon does now too. What are we supposed to do regarding the magazine? I’m not with Niall…” I said. “We’ll tell them it was all a misconception, and that Niall was just trying to get my sister out of there!” Lou said, “Sounds good to me!” I said, just as my brother was about to embrace me. “I’ll talk to you later, okay? Eleanor wants me to go by and visit her.” he said, walking out. Maybe things weren’t a total disaster after all.

A few moments after Louis left, an iPod slipped under my door. It was open to a song, one of the boys’ songs. “More Than This” who left that open for me? Had to be Niall or Harry. What? Why? I was beyond puzzled. I walked out of my room and poked my head out, no sign of life anywhere, nobody was around. I ran down the stairs, nobody still. More stairs, gone. One more, the parlor. Niall was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, on the phone with what seemed to be Simon. “This is bad for your image Niall, get it fixed!” the voice on the other end roared. “Of course Uncle Simon…” Niall said sadly. I walked over and sat beside him, flashing him a half smile. He hung up the phone and scooted himself away a bit. “Don’t want Louie getting the wrong idea…” he said. “He and I talked, everything is fine. I’m so sorry about all of this Niall.” I said, giving him a tiny hug. “It’s not your fault, I grabbed your hand!” he said. “It’s fine. Are you hungry? Let me make you something?” I asked. “That shouldn’t even be a question!” he smiled, perking up, and returning the hug. “Direct me to the kitchen?” I asked, and he did. A the top of the flat, or the “Dome” as the boys’ called it, a 360° kitchen resided. “Holy crap!” I muttered, walking into the enormous but gorgeous culinary area of my new home. “Nice, eh?” Niall said, opening up the huge refrigerator. “Can I seriously cook in here?” I asked. “Make me food!” Niall chuckled, and I did. I rummaged through the cabinets in search of pasta sauce, pasta and bread crumbs which I found with ease. I then raided the fridge, finding eggs, boneless, skinless chicken and fresh sliced mozzarella and got to work. I was making chicken parmesan, my favorite from back home. I loved it. It took a half hour to make, and once I was done I drained the pasta using a colander, and poured it onto a fine china plate. I then ladled pasta sauce on top of it as well as the chicken shrouded in melted mozzarella. “This looks delicious Kaela, I didn’t know you could cook!’ he said, his mouth nearly watering. “I picked up a few things during foster care. A lot of the times I had to cook for my foster brothers and sisters. This was their favorite, always. My aunty taught me how to cook it right before she fell ill and passed away.” I said. I winked at him, setting down a steaming hot plate of the delicacy under his nose, and another on a place at the table for myself. I poured myself some apple juice, and a glass of coca cola for Niall. “So where is everybody anyways? I asked. “Lou is with El I’m assuming, Zayn is on a date with Perrie, Liam’s with Danielle for the evening and I haven’t seen Harry. Must be out chasing girls or something.” Niall laughed, mid-bite in. That last one made my heart sink. “I don’t like you, you know.” I said in a serious tone. “What’d I do wrong?” he asked, looking rather offended and sad. “No! I meant I don’t have romantic feelings toward you. You’re great and all, sweet and handsome, but my heart is with somebody else…” I told him. “I know that, it’s obvious and I wouldn’t do that to one of my mates, take his girl from him. I think he’d be absolutely crazy if he isn’t falling for you!” Niall said, pushing his plate away. I’d hardly touched my food, but that was fine. “You’re turning red, secret’s safe with me!” he added. We spent another half hour talking before Simon called him on important business, and I decided that I was overdue for some exploration in this mansion.