Carrots With Ketchup

Part 4

The game continued mostly innocent after that, asking each other about our lives, daring each other to do gross things like eat chocolate covered tuna. It went on for about an hour and a half. After that, we just sat around and talked casually.

            At around midnight, Melissa fell asleep on Niall’s shoulder. I smiled at that, especially since Niall didn’t seem to mind at all. Harry was showing me his tattoos and the meanings of them. Some of them made me laugh; some of them were really sweet. The variety was really interesting too. Liam and Nadia were off on one of the beds sleeping. Louis was playing with my hair. Zayn was snoozing on the other bed. After a few minutes, Niall scooped the sound-asleep Melissa up into his arms.

            “Off to bed, lads,” he said, “See you in the morning.”

            Then he carried Melissa into the adjoining room, closing the door behind him with his foot.

            I smiled and turned to Harry as Louis stopped playing with my hair. “Hey guys,” I said, “I’m really sorry. I really didn’t intend for us to stay overnight but since Mel is already out, do you mind?”

            “No, no,” Harry and Louis chorused, almost simultaneously. I smiled again, led shy this time.

            “Thanks guys. I’ll crash on the couch if you want.”

            “No, no,” they repeated.

            “One of us can sleep on the couch,” Harry said.

            “Or,” Louis said pointedly, “We could move Niall and she could share with Melissa.”

            “Or,” Harry said, “She could sleep with one of us. Non-sexually of course.”

            I nodded. “Whatever takes the least effort to accomplish. I don’t want to trouble you.”

            “No trouble at all, love,” Louis said, smiling and putting his arm around my shoulders.

            “You know,” I said, taking Harry’s hand, “We’ve only just met really, but I feel like we’ve been best friends forever.”

            They both smiled. “I think we know what you mean,” Harry said with that cheeky grin.

            “And I think we feel the same way,” Louis continued Harry’s thought.

            We exchanged numbers after that, just a normal thing best friends do. Louis went back to playing with my hair after that and I leaned on him while Harry pulled my feet into his lap and proceeded to pull out his phone and follow my Twitter and friend me on Facebook. I wasn’t conscious long enough to pull out my phone and accept his request.

            I woke up next to Harry on the other bed in the adjoining room, on the bed across from Melissa and Niall, who had managed to fall asleep in each other’s arms and remained that way all through the night. I laughed when I saw Harry was naked, wearing a small bit of the sheet around his waist. I remembered all the jokes about Harry loving being naked, realizing I should have expected this.

            As carefully as possible, I got up out of the bed. I quietly slipped into the adjoining room and was surprised to see Louis sitting on the couch, reading. He looked up when I came in.

            “Hey, love,” he said, “You’re up early.”

            I smiled. “Technically, I guess. It’s noon in London though.”