The Crazy Game of Love

Chapter Two

Lia's P.O.V

The boys began to order. The blond one said, "Do you have anything from Nando's here?"

I stared at him like he was joking (which, maybe, he was.) "Um, why would we have that? If you want Nando's, go to Nando's."

He pouted. "I wanted to, but our manager said we need practise for the dinner party we're having soon..."

I laughed. "Well, okay, I'll see what I can do."

Liam's P.O.V

She disappeared, holding her notebook and pen. Harry waited until she was out of earshot, and then said with a sly smile, "I'd like to get into bed with her."

"She is really pretty," admitted Niall.

"Pretty? She's hot!" Harry grinned. "Bet you I can wrap her around my little finger in a few minutes."

"Bet you can't," I retorted. "It's pretty obvious Lia isn't like other girls."

"How'd you know her name?" Zayn said.

"Nametag," I said. "Don't you four read?"

The others boys shuffled their feet awkwardly. Louis suddenly grinned evilly and said, "I have the perfect idea for a bit of fun."

Harry brightened. "Fun? What kind of fun?"

"A game," Louis said. "If you think you're so great at attracting girls, we'll see if you really are the best."

"I'm listening," Harry said.

"I've worked out a point system. Every time you do something to please Lia and it works, like making her smile, laugh, or something like that, you get one point. When you get to five points, you can ask her to dinner. Ten, ask her out. Fifteen, take her on a proper date. Twenty, you're allowed to kiss her, if she's willing. Rules – you can't kiss her, she has to kiss you. If she tries to kiss you before you're on twenty points, you say no. Whoever gets Lia to kiss them first, wins." Louis sat back in his chair, looking pleased.

Zayn gave a low whistle. "I don't know..."

"Sounds like a lot of work," Niall said. "Points and all that."

I rolled my eyes at Niall. "You know, I actually think it would be a fun game for a change."

The others stared at me. "Daddy Directioner is submitting to a game like this?" said Zayn incredulously. "About time!" Louis said contemptuously. "Now, as soon as Lia returns, the game starts. Got it?"

"Got it," the others answered.

Just then, Lia walked in, and turned to Niall. "Sorry, we've got no Nando's." She tapped her pen on her notebook. "But we do have some chicken...?"

"I'll take it," said Niall soberly. "And a big bottle of something that will cheer me up even though I didn't get to go to Nando's."

Lia looked a little puzzled. Zayn said hastily, "Don't expect Niall to be sensible. He's the king of silly and has the maturity of about a six-year-old."

While Niall looked offended, Lia laughed. Point to Zayn. "I have a six year old borther who I'm pretty sure is more mature than... Niall, was it?"

"Yep," Niall said, shooting daggers at Zayn.

"I'm Liam," I suddenly said. "I'll take this entree here, but could I have a fork instead of a spoon, please?"

Lia just blinked. "Okay..."

"I don't like spoons," I said. "But I would like to meet up with you some day again!"

Lia looked startled. "I'm sorry, Liam, but we've just met, and I think I'm not ready for... you know..."

"I'll take a plate of fresh carrots," Louis piped up, while Lia searched for the right word. "I like carrots... do you like carrots?"

Lia giggled. Point to Louis. "I'm sorry, Monsieur Rabbit, we don't have plates of carrots! You guys are a strange lot, aren't you?"

She turned to Harry. "You seem a bit quiet," she said. "Is something to you dissatisfaction, Mr..."

He looked up, his green eyes huge and sad. "Harry. Harry Styles. Yeah, I need girl advice, but there's no one I can talk to."

Lia looked down at him sympathetically and sat down on the empty chair beside him. "Well, maybe I can help. Last time I checked, I'm a girl, so... shoot."

"I want to get into bed with a girl," Harry said, "but I don't know how to ask her."

Lia leapt up onto her feet, looking disgusted. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm the one to ask," she said hastily. "Maybe... someone else can answer that question?"

She backed out of the room in a hurry. I snorted at Harry. "You were going okay until you mentioned getting into bed with this girl."

"Nice going, big boy," Louis grinned.

Harry glared at us. "Just you wait. I'm a chick magnet, and you know that. I'll get Lia first, you'll see."

"Then get some points!" Niall said. "Only Zayn and Louis have points right now."

"I'll get some points," Harry said, gritting his teeth. "I swear, I will!"

Zayn's P.O.V

By the time we had finished and the restaurant was about to close, Louis and I had four points, Niall and Liam had three points and, to everyone's amazement, Harry had zero. Lia had avoided him all night, which made it difficult for him to make a move. We had endlessly teased him about "Mr Chick Magnet having zero points". Harry just answered "whatever" to our teasing.

We headed back to White Rose Cuisine the next morning and found Lia helping around the restaurant. Naturally, Niall offered to help, and we all agreed. Lia was really greatfuly and Louis got another point, which meant he was allowed to ask her to dinner – and he did just that.

"Hey Lia," he said casually, while doing a terrible job of wiping down tables, "would you mind terribly if I took you out to dinner tomorrow night?"

Lia laughed. "That's a funny way to ask someone out for dinner. Okay, I will – now stop wiping that table, you're only making it dirtier!"

Lia shooed us out of the restaurant. Louis went 'yessss' over and over again and kept yelling, "I'm going to win this!" In the end we got really sick of it and pulled his beanie over his face. But we were all kind of looking forward to his dinner with Lia – we were curious to see how it would turn out. But for now, all we could do was wait.