Chapter 11: Welcome to London

"Alright, I don't care if you're tired; it's time to get up! Jetlag or no jetlag, you've been asleep for hours and I'm bored. Up, up! Up you get! C'mon!" a voice shouted while tugging at my blanket, I held on tight though.

"No, Mum! Just a few more minutes." I complained, gripping onto the blanket tighter and pulling it back on top of myself.

"Mum! Look Eva, I'm sure your Mum's lovely but I'm not her. Now up!" the voice argued again, laughing this time.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up in the bed. I found myself looking straight at Liam, a big smile on his face, still pulling at the blanket.

"Oh, Liam, I'm sorry, I-"I began to explain

"No problem Eva, but seriously get up. You sleep more than Zayn! And trust me; it's not an easy task to sleep more than he does." Liam laughed, finally letting go of the blanket.

I smiled, I wasn't tired anymore. I was embarrassed more than anything else, I wonder how long I'd been asleep, they must've thought I was in a coma! I started blushing, climbing out of the bed. I looked back and saw that it was a king sized bed, with a black doona lying in a mess on top and matching black pillows. Observing my surroundings I also saw that the room was massive, with a wardrobe in the corner opposite to what appeared to be a bathroom.

"This is Louis' room. In case you were wondering." Liam explained, noticing my eyes scan the place.

"Nice place." Was all I managed to say, it really was a nice room. It was quite large for just Louis, the walls were empty though, simply painted white.

"Come on, let's go. The boys are in Niall's place playing wii." Liam added extending his arm.

My hand in his I followed him as he lead me to the others.

"Still sleepy?" Liam asked

"I'm sorry I woke you; don't tell the boys, especially Louis, he'll kill me. He was very firm that we should let you sleep so you could rest, he noticed how tired you were before." He added, smiling at me. Unlike Harry, Liam was closer to my height so I didn't have to look up to him.

"No, I promise I'm fine. All rested up." I assured him as we reached a beige door.

I watched as Liam placed his hand on the handle, pushing it open. In front of us was a long hall with sunlight shining through a window at the end.

"Welcome to Niall's" he chuckled, placing his arm around my neck.

"Boys, look who's awake!" Liam shouted down the hall. I heard loud footsteps and a few mumbled voices before all the boys appeared at the end of the hall, now covering the window. Harry and Zayn were holding remote controls, Niall a bag of chips and Louis was just standing there smiling, looking as perfect as I remembered.

"Eva!" Niall called down the long corridor, running up to me and giving me a hug. He was such a sweetie; his hair was wet and smelt fruity.

"Sorry, I had a shower just before I started kicking Harry's ass at wii." He laughed, looking over his shoulder back at the boys.

"You were so not kicking my ass Niall! I was about to win that game, if bloody Liam hadn't interrupted and distracted me!" Harry yelled playfully, all the boys got along so well, I wonder how long they'd all known each other…

"Hey! But look who I brought! Aren't you glad I interrupted!" Liam teased, pulling me in closer to him.

"Boys! Now!" Zayn cried loudly, suddenly excited. I looked to my right at Liam, a questioning look on my face. But he didn't explain, instead he lowered his hand from my neck to grab onto my hand, and began walking down the hallway to join the others.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly, but no-one answered, they all just smiled slyly at me and turned to face their left. You couldn't see it from the door, but at the end of the hall on the side there was a room that lead to the rest of the house. They all walked in, then jumped up and down screaming "Welcome to London!"

To say I was shocked would've been an understatement- It looked like we were in the living room. There was a massive plasma TV, -paused on a game of FIFA- a coffee table with song writing equipment lying on top, a long sofa up against the wall opposite the TV and a massive "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner hanging from one end of the room to the other.

"It's surprisingly harder than you'd think to find a 'Welcome to London' banner. This was all we could find, but it was Harry's idea to get it anyway. So just pretend it says 'Welcome to London!'" Liam laughed next to me, pulling my hand closer, embracing me in a hug.

I let out a loud laugh and hugged him back, squeezing him tightly. It was so sweet! I looked up at the 'HAPPY BRITHDAY' banner written in rainbow, bubble font on a shiny, silver background. The boys all approached me and screamed "Group hug!" before suffocating me in what felt like a football huddle.

"Boys thank you all so much! This is amazing, I love it!" I gushed, still smiling. I tried to stop but I really couldn't, as silly as I was I really did love it! The fact they even bothered to make the effort put the biggest grin on my face. I pulled away from the group hug to individually thank each of them.

"Niall, you are wonderful! Thank you for everything." I stated, wrapping my arms around him.

"Aw, Eva. It's nothing really, you're a sweet girl. I'm very glad to have met you." He smiled bashfully. I looked him in the eyes and nodded,

"Likewise Niall."

"Zayn, what to say, you're a very intelligent boy, I've very much so enjoyed your company." I giggled, thinking of all the conversations we'd had already.

"You too Eva, like Niall said, I'm very glad to have met you. I can never have serious conversations with the boys, they just tune out and make fun of me." He exaggerated, causing the boys to protest and argue.

"Mr. Payne! You-"I started,

"I know, I'm amazing, I'm the reason you smile, you love me to bits." He teased, finishing off my sentence. When we met I honestly thought Liam was quite shy and at some points more serious than the other boys. But I knew now that he was just as silly as the rest.

"Well, not the exact words I was going to say but sure, let's go with that." I teased back, giving him a hug as well.

Unlike Niall and Zayn though, Liam wrapped his arms tightly around me and held on. Even when he felt me moving away, he just clung on tighter and I started to laugh. He was like an older brother, I felt him smile when I told him that, then felt his head nod in agreement.

"Then my little sister Eva you are." He declared loudly, finally letting me go.

"Now now now, Louis Tomlinson. Thank you for helping me into the apartment before." I giggled, feeling myself start to blush.

"Well you weren't exactly in the state to walk were you?" he reminded me light-heartedly.

"Still, thank you. And for letting me use your bed, that was very sweet of you." I added cheerfully, looking into his eyes meaningfully, I desperately wanted to show my sincere appreciation to all the boys. They really had been the sweetest, kindest, friendliest people.

"Any day my darling Eva." He responded, his lips tweaking into a small smile.

"Lastly Harry. I think I've run out of words, but I'll do my best anyways-" I began with a sigh. I really was running out of words. To be honest there weren't any words that did the boys justice to how amazing I thought they were.

"No need for words then Eva, I already know. And I hope you know I feel exactly the same." Harry interrupted, looking me dead set in the eyes. I felt like he wanted to say something, something more, but couldn't. Instead he just looked at me, his eyes more handsome then I remembered on the plane.

"Well, wasn't that just lovely?" Liam interjected, looking around at everyone sweetly.

"Who's up for some Nandos?" Niall quickly exclaimed.

"It is already 2:00PM. You slept for most of the day Eva." Zayn laughed politely, pointing towards the watch on his left wrist.

"What do you say Eva? Ready to start living on London time?" Harry questioned, one eyebrow raised, his voice full of excitement.

I didn't know what to say, I opened my mouth, hoping something would come out, but it didn't. I just stood silent, my eyes darting back and forth between each of the boys. I swear this was a dream, it felt like such a dream! I opened my mouth again, still struggling for what to say.

"Yeah boys, I'd say she's ready." Louis answered on my behalf, taking my hand and walking back to the front door.