hey all (:

chapter three is here, and it's definitely an important one!

hope you guys enjoy, and rate and review, actually means the world!

x

normality.

-x-

I'd been in London for a week now, and I'd done little else but sit on my couch, play my guitar, and spend most afternoons perched on a stool in Zayn's kitchen.

"I need a job so badly," I sighed, as Zayn and Harry lay on the couch playing on the PS3.

"Hmmph," Harry groaned, and threw his leg over onto Zayn's lap.

"How do all you boys do it?" I asked, placing my empty mug in the sink. "You just go to these "meetings" every morning and then come home and play video games for the rest of the day. This is hardly fair."

Zayn shrugged. "Those meetings are very important."

I still wasn't allowed to know what actually happened at these meetings, and it was even worse if I brought them up around Liam. I'd quickly learned all the boys' roles in their group, and it was painfully clear Liam was Mr Serious. Every morning he would knock on my door and ask how I was, and I half suspected he was waiting for something to change in the way I answered. I'd grown so accustomed to his visits, as soon as I heard the knock at ten o'clock on the dot, I'd simply unlock the door and go back to whatever it was I had been doing and wait for him to barge in like he always did.

"Aye Zo, can you pass me my glass, please?" Zayn asked, reaching out his arm and opening and closing his hand a few times, like a baby wanting to be picked up. I walked up behind the couch and placed the glass in his open hand.

"Cheers," he said, still not taking his eyes off the game. "Right, Harry, on your right!"

They were playing Call of Duty by the looks of things, and I rolled my eyes before messing up Harry's hair, just to annoy him. It made me think of back home with my brothers, how at one stage they had all been obsessed with the game. That was a few years ago now though, as Christian, Lucas and Daniel were all over 20, despite hardly acting like it. Harry's hair reminded me so much of Dan's, and over the past week, he'd become used to me walking over and playing with it every now and again. "I'm going to straighten this one of these days," I announced.

Zayn let out a laugh, but Harry looked up at me absolutely horrified. "You do and you die." He said in his pompous Cheshire accent. I'd finally remembered where all the boys were from in England, which was way they all sounded so different. Liam was from Wolverhampton, meaning him and Harry had the most posh accents out of all the boys. Louis' was different, and less articulate because he was from Doncaster, and Zayn's was sort of similar although he was from Bradford, meaning every sentence he said had to contain either "aye" or "ya know". And little Niall, of course, was the leprechaun of the group, all the way from Ireland. I still didn't fully understand how that worked; the same way I didn't fully understand what they did every day to support themselves.

"I'm failing miserably at trying to maintain a lifestyle I really can't afford," I grumbled to no one in particular. "How do you find a job in this city?"

"We're hardly the people to ask," Harry said, nodding his head towards the TV.

"Right, that's it," I said with new found determination, "I'm going to find a job, right now."

Zayn and Harry looked amused. "I mean it!" I said forcefully. "Don't wait up!" I swung the door open to find Liam standing there, his hand outstretched to the space the handle once occupied.

"Oh, hi Zo," Liam seemed surprised. "Where are you going?"

"To make money!" I called over my shoulder to him as I sauntered down the corridor.

"Honestly Harry, she spends a few hours with you and she's already off to join a brothel?" I heard Liam say as he walked into the apartment.

I ignored him.

-x-

"I am amazing. I even surprise myself sometimes." I announced loudly as I walked into Zayn's apartment.

"Well this I have to hear," Louis said, jumping up from the couch and straight on top of Harry, his chin balancing on his palms.

"Louis!" Harry complained, "My balls!" Harry's face twisted in pain and Niall laughed.

"It's the most action you've gotten in a while, you shouldn't be having a whinge."

I cringed at that little gem of information. "Ew, but moving on. I am now employed!"

"Already?" Liam asked, "You've only been gone a couple of hours!"

"It actually only took fifteen minutes to find the job; the rest of the time I was walking around the city. This place is bloody huge." I quickly covered my mouth with my hand. "I can't believe I'm already sounding like you."

"Oh bullocks!" Harry yelled, apparently recovered from his ball issue.

"Where are you working?" Zayn asked, sitting at the kitchen bench and leaning forward. I sat down opposite him and set my bag down. "This little café not too far from here. I used to be a waitress back home anyway, so I know what I'm doing. The owners seemed nice and agreed pretty much straight away."

"Hear that, Liam? A CAFÉ." Harry articulated the word extra clearly.

"Thank you mate, I do have ears."

Harry stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "See? A CAFÉ."

Louis grabbed a pillow and attempted to suffocate Harry with it.

I turned to Liam and smiled sarcastically. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not becoming a lady of the night anytime soon." Liam flushed bright red and stumbled over words that sounded like an apology.

I rolled my eyes and slid off the stool. Niall stepped into the room then, buttoning up his jeans. Without looking up, he said "Don't go in the bathroom for a while there lads, it won't end well." All the boys groaned, but didn't seem too surprised. I was the one left staring with my mouth open.

"Oh, sorry Missy," Niall said, pulling his polo shirt down. Ever since our first meeting, when I had gotten angry with him for calling me Missy, he would refer to me constantly as just that. It was past the hurtful stage now, and I'd grown to accept it. I simply shook my head and plonked myself down on the couch next to Louis and Harry. Louis was still looking quite comfortable on top of Harry, and had an arm slung casually around Harry's shoulders. The first thing I had noticed about the two of them was how close they were. I'd even asked Zayn whether they were gay.

Louis' phone rang and the boys sighed. "This is call number five now lads!" Harry yelled just as Louis answered.

"Hi Mum," Louis said, covering Harry's mouth with his spare hand. I laughed; this was another thing I'd grown accustom too. Louis was always on the phone to his Mum. It was quite possibly the cutest thing about him. From what I had picked up by listening to the other boys, Louis' parents divorced a couple of years ago, leaving his Mum with his four younger sisters back at home in Doncaster. I'd seen him write a letter and stuff it in an envelope of money addressed to Doncaster the other day, and I knew it must have been for his Mum.

"Oh, you got it? That's good. Did Lottie have fun on the school trip?"

Harry pulled faces at Louis, trying to make him laugh. He even yelled out "Louis, put your pants back on!"

Louis whacked him in the face before continuing to talk on the phone. After a few minutes of Harry continuously poking him in the ribs, Louis said his goodbyes and hung up.

Louis looked to Harry expectantly, and after a few seconds of an intense stare-off, Harry flipped Louis off his lap and he landed with a hard thud on the ground.

Louis cried out in pain. "That actually really hurt!"

Harry leaned off the couch so that his face was only millimetres from Louis' and made baby sounds at him. I looked around the room and saw Niall and Liam arm wrestling, and Zayn almost falling asleep on the kitchen bench watching them. Louis and Harry were currently wrestling on the floor, and I couldn't believe this is what we were doing on a Saturday night.

"Guys!" I yelled above the noise. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at me; Liam had just pinned Niall's arm down for the tenth time and Harry was straddling Louis, while Zayn had just hit his head on the counter after passing out for a second.

"Is this seriously what we're going to do on a Saturday night?" The boys looked around at each other before nodding simultaneously. "Guys!" I complained. "Let's go out! Let's just do something, for God's sake!" I stood up and crossed my arms. I even surprised myself by stomping my foot. Liam raised his eyebrows, whilst Louis stood up next to me and mimicked my expression. Within seconds, Harry was up on my other side doing the same thing. I looked at him incredulously. "Harry, you can't go out yet."

"Shhhh," he said, raising a finger to his lips.

"Zoe, I don't think that's such a good idea." Liam said, shaking his head. What a surprise, he was saying no.

"Niall, Zayn," I pleaded, "Come on, let's do something, anything!" They both looked to Liam and shook their heads as well.

"Not tonight, Zo." Zayn said, going back to sleeping on the kitchen bench.

"You're five teenage boys!" I cried, then quickly looked over to Louis, "No offense Lou, but you are." Despite having recently turned twenty, Louis was going to forever be a teenager.

"None taken," Louis replied, "And yeah!"

"We're not going out." Liam said definitely.

"No, you're not going out. I am." I hissed, walking out of the apartment and slamming the door behind me.

I was always storming out their doors.

-x-

I had the hugest headache when I woke up the next morning at the wrong end of my bed. I was still fully dressed from last night, and I shifted uncomfortably. I heard my phone buzzing on the bedside table, and I groaned as I went to reach it. The screen of my phone was completely covered with at least ten messages from Liam, Zayn and Louis. Each of them were asking how I was feeling and whether they could come over. How did they know what had happened last night? Not even I did! I groggily replied to a text from Zayn, saying I was awake and feeling alright, and that I just had a sore head. Don't come over, I typed, I'll come to you once I'm showered and dressed.

I sent it and then scrolled through previous messages from the night before. As I did, my mouth dropped open. There were messages to and from Liam throughout the early hours of this morning. And I, in my obvious drunken state, had asked Liam why he hated me so much. I noticed there was no reply, and I went into panic mode. I quickly scrolled through my recent calls list, and discovered that after I had sent that message, Liam had called me within the same minute. The call had lasted 20 minutes. My body felt numb at the fact I couldn't remember any of the conversation we'd had. All I did remember was going out to club called Fabric, and the rest of the night was a bit of a blur.

I rubbed my eyes and noticed mascara residue come off onto the back of my hands and I groaned. It's going to be such a long day, I thought to myself as I got up and walked to the bathroom.

I spent half an hour in the shower, and after getting out, another 5 minutes just brushing my teeth, before taking half an hour again to dry my hair. I felt immediately better afterwards, and walked out to the kitchen to make myself feel even better with a cup of coffee.

I started up the coffee machine, and despite it being 1 in the afternoon, I decided to begin my morning ritual of watching the music channel while sitting on the couch with my coffee. As I made my way to the sofa with my steaming mug, the presenter said "And here's a favourite now for you all, One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful!" I quickly turned the volume up and eagerly sat down. Finally, I was going to actually witness what had my cousin obsessed. As the video started, I cocked my head, noticing something oddly familiar about the backs of the five boys throwing rocks off a cliff and walking along the beach, and I leaned forward. After a few seconds, a close up of Liam's face appeared on the screen and I screamed, spilling coffee everywhere. He had longer hair there, but it was unmistakeably him. I crawled onto the ground and sat only centimetres away from the television as a close up of Harry appeared. I screamed again. And then as the chorus hit, despite me already suspecting to see the other boys, when I did I screamed yet again. I watched the remainder of the video whilst grinding my teeth, and as soon as it was over, I was running out the door and found myself outside of Liam's, knocking furiously.

He answered within seconds. "Zo! Thank God you're here, I was about to get Steve to break your door down!"

I let out a growl and pushed against his chest, driving him back into the apartment.

By the look on his face, he had no idea what had hit him.

-x-

bit of a cliff-hanger, but next chapter is definitely a turning point for everyone ;)

see you next week!