eighteen ∣ one direction

chapter fifteen

Once the food arrived, Ophelia and the boys migrated to the kitchen table, pausing the movie playing on the TV. They had decided to order a bunch of different kinds of sushi as well as dumplings, as it was the easiest to order to fit everyone's personal diets they had to adhere to.

Ophelia, though hungry, was way more tired, both from the day with her soulmates and not sleeping the previous night. Therefore, she was essentially half asleep, with only a sweater-pawed hand keeping her head upright.

"Ophelia? You wanted to talk?" Harry said, shocking her awake and drawing the attention towards her. She yawned into her sweater paw before starting.

"Um... I just wanted to talk about... this... relationship? Whatever this is at this point. I just want to make sure we are all on the same page," she rambled, not wanting to be presumptuous about whatever she and the boys had.

"Well I know I want to pursue a romantic relationship with you. I'm pretty sure everyone else agrees." Zayn supplied, glancing at the other boys as they agreed whole-heartedly.

"Good! That's... good." Ophelia blushed, pleased. She didn't know why, but she thought at least one of them would want to bail. They all had their own amazing lives that didn't need to be complicated by a young soulmate. She shook that off, and continued, "I don't really know how to go about this. This is all new to me. So... How is it going to work?"

"Well, I was thinking we could each take you on a date. That way we could each have some one-on-one time with you. Get to know you a bit more personally, and you can get to know us." Liam suggested after he swallowed a sushi roll.

"Cool! Yeah, that works. I'll be in LA for about a month I think. And other than streams and meeting up with other YouTubers that live here I'll be free. Unless Clay, Nick, and George decide to speed things up..."

"Clay? Nick?" Niall questioned, wondering who she was talking about.

"Clay is Dream's real name and Nick is Sapnap's"

"You'll have to give us a crash course in your friend groups or something," Louis joked. 

"Sure! There are a lot of us and not many go by their real names, so it can be a bit confusing."

Niall paused eating to add, "Also we didn't ask you this yesterday... Chris Evans? And Timothée and Tom?"

"Yeah, my family is kind of crazy. I love them though! That night I told my family, it was Chris and Diana that initially reacted negatively. It's mostly because they basically raised Cass and me after my mom died so they, especially Chris, are extremely overprotective of me."

"Yeah, he told us at the café. Threatened us and everything."

Ophelia just chuckled at Harry's admission. "I'm not surprised. Though, you should be prepared for more of that. My friends are practically chomping at the bit to make sure you 'have good intentions'."

"Like who?"

"Well the only people I've really told are Dream, Sapnap, George, and Ranboo. I think Karl and Quackity know I've found - and met - my soulmates. They have no idea who though. So them, Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur eventually," At the pale look on their faces, Ophelia added fondly, "Other than Dream and Sapnap - maybe Quackity - they'll probably just joke about it, not actually confront you guys."

Ophelia paused to eat a bit more, then decided to just ask the question that had been worrying her for a while. "I know this may be an uncomfortable question... but none of you mentioned it in the dreams... You're all single? Right? I'm not - not making you cheat?"

"I'm not."

"Shut up, Harry. She already knows you're not, you git," Louis exclaimed, throwing a dumpling at his soulmate. This caused some laughs at the table.

"Yeah. I'm single. Have been for a while before the dream," Niall stated. Ophelia nodded before turning to Zayn.

"Yeah. Gigi-" Zayn paused, realizing that it might be awkward to mention Gigi in front of his soulmate. Looking at Ophelia, though, and her expectant eyes and soft smile, he realized that she didn't mind. "Gigi was very understanding."

"Yeah, I'm single too..." Liam said, not really looking her in the eyes. She furrowed her brows, a bit suspicious, before moving on. She would ask about it later in private.

"And who's taking me on my first date?"

"Your first... you've never been on a date before?" Zayn asked, shocked.

"Yes, I have. I have an ex, he was an asshole. I'm not counting those," Ophelia joked. 

Niall nodded at the explanation before saying, "I don't really know what order. How should we decide?"

"Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Harry offered.

"Right, okay."

In the end, Zayn won. Then Louis, Harry, Niall, and finally Liam. Ophelia was glad they did not make her choose.

"Is tomorrow okay, sweetheart?" Zayn asked, already planning the date out in his head.

"Yeah, that should be good."

Eventually, Ophelia and her boys finished eating and headed back to the couch, deciding to watch a few more movies before dropping Ophelia back off at home. They all went back to their previous spots.

About 20 minutes into the new movie, Ophelia was passed out on Harry's chest.

"Lou, look." He whispered, bringing the older's attention to the sleeping girl.

"She's adorable."

In the end, the boys decided to let her sleep. Liam was aware that she hadn't slept well the night previous and wanted her to be healthy. While Harry stayed on the couch with Ophelia, the others were shown to a few guest rooms by Louis. He came back into the living room after a while to check up on his soulmates. 

"She still asleep?" Louis asked, sounding endeared.

"Yeah... she looked exhausted," Harry whispered, stroking Ophelia's hair gently.

"We all were today."

"Yeah." Harry could agree with that. They all needed some sleep. He paused a bit, then wondered out loud, "Louis, what are we going to do?"

"We'll go with the flow, H. There's not a contract holding us down anymore. We can do whatever we want."

"I know. But we can only do that once she is introduced to the public... and I don't think she's ready."

"She will be. I have a feeling that she's a lot smarter about press and fans than we initially gave her credit. I mean, look at her success! And even if she isn't ready now, we'll be fine. We have been for this long."

Harry hummed thoughtfully, before responding, "I love you, Lou." He kissed Louis chastely, careful not to jostle Ophelia too much.

Louis hummed into the kiss before pulling away and responding, "I love you too, Hazza."

With that, Louis carefully slid into the spot on the couch next to Harry's stretched-out body. Now in between his two soulmates and the back of the couch, Louis closed his eyes and rested.

~~~~~

Zayn's date is next! It's gonna be great!

Update once a day from now on for Zayn, Louis, and Harry's dates. After that we are officially all caught up!

I am about halfway done with Niall's chapter! I don't know how much longer, but it will hopefully be out soon after that!

Thoughts?
Suggestions?
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Love you guys! xx