In 2020

02: the boys have arrived

I must have fallen asleep. I awoke with cardboard strips everywhere, 2015 Niall's head stuck to my forehead, and the scissors laying dangerously close to my face on the pillow.

A knock was heard on the front door of my house, immediately alerting my dogs to start barking like crazy.

As I approached the door, I could hear multiple voices talking outside.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Why am I here with you?"

"Harry, I swear if you get one speck of flour on me-"

"Guys, shut up. Where even are we?"

"This house has a really nice aura, wow."

My face scrunched up in confusion as I twisted the lock to open the door. I definitely wasn't expecting to see who was here.

The door opening reveals the five guys that were once five peas in a pod. I screamed upon seeing them, slamming the door shut to take a deep breath and process what just happened.

"Okay, Nina, what you saw was probably just an illusion," I spoke to myself before counting to three and opening the door again.

All five guys still stood there, looking at me. Of course this isn't an illusion. One Direction literally said 'oh baby this is not an illusion' in one of their songs.

I was in shock. I mean, can you blame me? No one had seen them in such a long time, not counting Harry and Louis on the news earlier.

They all looked so different.

Harry stood all the way to the left. Adorned in cheap WalMart clothes, a messy apron on with a mixing bowl full of some mixture in his hand. His hair was long and stringy, as if he hasn't washed or cut it in months, and his patchy facial hair was much more noticeable in person. Flour covered most of him, head to toe.

Niall stood next to him. He had a clean shaven face and his hair was bleached blonde, but a cheap box version blonde. The kind that's more copper than actual blonde. His attire resembled how he used to dress in the early days of One Direction, and he had put on some weight. He was pretty much the picture of a dad bod.

Then there was Zayn. He honestly looked no different than he used to. His hair was clean and styled in a nice little quiff along with some nicely shaven facial hair. He still dressed nice, but you could tell his clothes weren't the designer brands he used to wear. I recognized his clothes to be from Forever 21.

Next to Zayn was Louis. He looked really no different than that blurry picture from the news. Still wearing that same Adidas tracksuit that was faded and full of holes. His face look even more drained and tired in person.

Lastly was Liam, if you could even call him that. He looked the most dramatically different. His hair was long, longer than Harry's with a random braid on the side. It looked grimy, and you could practically see the sand and salt water throughout it. He had a very full beard that went down to about the top of his chest. He was barefoot, wearing beige loose clothes. Something similar to what you would see people wear in the desert. A coconut was held in his left hand.

I rack my brain for reasons as to why they would all be standing at my house, especially all together. And that's when it clicked.

My wish.

I wished to help them rekindle their friendship and help turn their lives back around. This was my opportunity.

~

I invited them all in and lead them over to my dining table. I figured there'd be the most room for everyone to sit there.

After each of them argued about what seat they would eat sit in for about twenty minutes, they all huffed in annoyance and sat in a chair.

First things first, I had to find the root of their issues. I had to find out what caused their mutual hatred towards each other.

To make this more professional, I even put on a pair of glasses and got out a notepad as I sat at the table with them.

"So does anyone of you want to tell me exactly when this feud between you guys began?"

"Well-"

"It happened-"

Niall and Zayn spoke at the same time before glaring at each other.

"Shut up, Horan. I was talking first," Zayn spat.

"Is someone talking? I don't hear anything," Niall responded causing Zayn to growl.

"That's it, Horan," Zayn said getting up.

"Woah, woah guys. You're like filling this room with negative energy right now. Just chillax," Liam interjected banging on his coconut as if it was a bongo drum, causing Zayn to stop, glare at him and sit back down.

"Okay, I'll make this easier. Harry, you tell me what happened.

Harry was in the middle of scooping some of his batter onto his finger and halfway up to his mouth when he heard me speak to him. He scraped the gooey mixture back in the bowl before replying.

"Well, it all started when we were at a party, and Oprah was there..."