Around the World [A Liam Payne Romance]

Chapter Five

                “Do you want to come in? I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind.” I said, stopping at the elevator and looking at Drew.

                We had just gone out to get some lunch and Drew had even given me a personal tour of good hanging out spots in California. We’d been gone for two or three hours, so I was sure the guys were back from the store. I felt kind of guilty that I hadn’t left a note or anything saying where I was going, but I doubted that they cared much.       

                He looked at the elevator, and then at me with his perfect smile. “Sure, sounds cool.”

                I nodded, and we got in the elevator and pressed the button to the top floor. All day, I found that it was actually pretty easy to talk and hang out with Drew – he was a good guy, as far as I could tell. When we got into the penthouse, the guys were mostly sprawled in the family room couches and on the floor, so they glanced up to see us.

                In sync, Harry and Zayn smirked at us as Harry hopped up and bound over to us. “Well hello boy that Mikayla has brought home, I’m Harry.”

                Drew shook his hand, then said as an afterthought, “Hey, aren’t you…”

                “Harry Styles of One Direction, yes sir.” Harry said, and then grinned at me. “You two are just in time. We were about to play a game.”

                I raised my brow, saying, “What game?”

                “Beer pong.”

                “And here we go with the alcohol again,” I muttered.

                Harry heard me and grinned brighter, and then spun around to gather the guys. They all nodded at Drew as a form of hello, and a few of them winked at me like I had a secret. Liam reminded silent, though, on the couch with his hand gripping the remote a little tighter than usual. I shook it off, though, and turned to Drew.

                “Do you want to play?” I asked. “Because if not, we can just hang out in my room, it’s no big deal.”

                He glanced at the guys as they set up a beer pong table and said, “It’s cool, I’ll play.”

                I nodded. Liam was obviously sitting out seeing as he couldn’t drink, and the other guys had finally set up the red solo cups and were now pouring tall beer cans into the cups. Together, Drew and I walked over as they started tossing the empty cans in a trash bag.

                “Teams?” Louis said, glancing at us all.

                Sandy said, “Harry and I.”

                Josh and Niall nodded at each other, as did Jon and Zayn. I took a step closer to Drew, and then it looked as if Louis was alone.

                He glanced to Liam and said, “Come be my partner, lad. I’ll drink it.”

                Liam agreed, “Sounds good.”

                “We’re up first,” Niall declared, “Against Drew and Mikayla.”

                I looked at the blonde Irishman with raised brows, saying through a smirk, “You’re so on, blondie. We’ll beat you.”

                And then we took our spots. Drew and me across the table from Niall and Josh, who had the first chance to get the ping pong balls in the cups. Josh shot and landed it right in the top cup, and then Niall shot and got in the left corner. They smirked at us as I sighed, taking the top cup and downing the beer that was inside, flinching slightly from the coldness.