"Done unpacking the last one," Gemma said as she fell on her sofa, tired, "seriously Harry, thanks for the help."

"No need to thank me. My sister's finally moved to LA! What kind of a brother doesn't help his sister?!" Harry said as he sat down next to her.

"So, what's up?" she asked.

"No-thing," he answered.

"Really? Anyways, how's Rose? Haven't met her in so long."

"She's great. I'm just glad we haven't mentioned the word 'break-up' in a year, so everything's fine," he said with a smile.

"That's great. I'm just glad that she finally agreed to move in with you."

"Yeah. Anyways, I gotta go sis. See ya later."

"Bye Harry."

Gemma had settled down at her place. She slightly removed the curtain and looked outside. She has always loved new places, people and adventures. She took a deep breath and was ready to embark upon the journey ahead of her.

"Harry, you knew were supposed to have lunch together today. Why are you so late?" Niall asked as he Harry sat next to him.

"I knew but I got caught up with some work," Harry answered.

"Thank God you aren't too late because I made tacos for you. By the way, where were you?" Liam asked.

"I..umm.." Harry glanced over at Louis for a second and sighed, "I was helping Gemma unpack. She's moved in her new apartment."

"Hey that's great. Won't she invite us sometime?" Niall asked, trying to stealthily take a bite but failing.

"Yeah. She was talking about calling you all for a house-warming something. She ain't got friends here."

"Cool," Niall said as Liam hit him in the hand again for trying to steal a bite.

Harry went over to sit next to Louis. "Hey Lou," he said. "Yes Harry," Louis looked at him.

"Listen, Gemma wants to invite you all tomorrow for a house-warming dinner and she actually wants all of you guys. So, I was wondering if that was okay with you, you know, with all that history. I don't want to force you or make to awkward," Harry said and Louis smiled at him.

"Harry, we're past that, really. She was comfortable with inviting me so I guess I should be okay with going there. And we're cool. It's been three years and three years ago it was fucked up but now it's fine," Louis said.

"Dude, you guys didn't end well and you never talk about."

"Harry, three years ago I was in love and she wasn't. But now I've moved on and honestly, she had nothing to move on from. Relationships and break-ups keep happening," Louis said and smiled at him.

"Fine, then I'll tell her that you guys are gonna be there tomorrow."

Gemma had kinda hoped that Louis would refuse to come because it was all still a little awkward but she decided to be normal, as much as possible. The rest of the boys and Rose were already there so she thought that Louis backed out in the end. She didn't know if she was relieved or offended. But then her doorbell rang. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Louis stood there, smile on his face and a bunch of purple hydrangeas in his hands.

"Hey Gemma," he greeted her, still smiling, trying to be normal.

"Louis, hi, come in," she welcomed him and closed the door behind him.

"Oh, these are for you, welcome to LA," he said and handed her the flowers.

"Thanks. Purple hydrangeas, my favourite," she smiled at him. "I know," he whispered and went to sit next to Zayn.

That wasn't awkward at all. Gemma thought to herself. She went to the kitchen to serve dinner. She made steak. "My steaks are really good," she praised herself. "You know who loves steaks," Harry said from behind and Gemma turned around, caught in surprise.

"God Harry! You scared me!" she exclaimed. "Sorry. But steak, interesting. With vegetables on the side, even more interesting," Harry said, slightly smirking.

"They go perfectly and so make delicious steaks so stop smirking!" Gemma defended herself.

"Gemma, are you lying to me or to yourself?"

"Harry, I... I'm past all that, okay? Don't push it," Gemma answered, looking down.

"If you were then you would've looked me in the eye when you said that," saying that Harry left the kitchen and Gemma stood there, motionless for a few seconds before she went on to serving dinner.

"God Gemma, you are an amazing chef!" Niall exclaimed.

"Thanks for saying that repeatedly Niall," she let out a small laugh.

"No really, it's amazing!" Liam added to the compliments.

"I could eat this everyday!" said Zayn.

"Guys, thanks so much," Gemma answered and looked expectantly at Louis for a compliment for a few seconds. Harry and Rose noticed that and rolled their eyes.

After dinner, Gemma served them the wine Liam had brought as a a present. They sat in her living room.

"So Gemma, how does it feel here?" Liam asked.

"Well, I just moved but I'm sure it's gonna be great," she answered.

"Trust me you're gonna love it," said Niall.

"You guys tell me. What's up with you? I'm tired of listening to Harry's version of everything," Gemma asked.

"Great. This is the best time of the year, honestly," Zayn said.

"Yeah, the least amount of rush, no promotions, not many recordings and no shoots," Niall added.

"That sounds good," said Gemma.

"I'm thinking to go somewhere this weekend," Harry informed.

"Really where?" Louis asked.

"You know what? Let's all of us go somewhere this weekend, like tomorrow!" Harry suggested.

"I don't know if I'm free," Zayn said.

"Really Zayn?" Liam raised an eyebrow.

"Okay yeah, I'm free. Where'd you wanna go?" Zayn replied.

"I was planning to go to Vegas with Rose," Harry informed.

"You had it planned already right?" Louis asked.

"Kind of," Harry said, shyly.

"Then we don't wanna ruin your getaway," said Liam.

"No, actually Rose suggested if you'll could come, it'll be fun," Harry said in enthusiasm.

"Okay then, I'm in," Niall announced.

"Zayn, why don't you bring Gigi too?" Harry suggested.

"Oh no, she's busy with Bella this weekend," Zayn said, "but I'll come."

"Great! Then you'll in?" Harry.

"Yeah," Liam and Louis said in unison.

"I don't know if I can," Gemma said, giving Louis a two second glance.

"Gemma, don't be spoilsport, please!" Harry said, stubbornly.

"Okay fine, I join work from Tuesday anyways," Gemma answered.

"Okay so, we'll go tomorrow after lunch and return on Sunday night?" Harry said and asked.

"Let's go on Sunday morning and return on Monday if it's okay?" Liam asked.

"Umm, okay," Harry said, "the rest of you, is it okay?" he asked and everybody nodded.

"Great then book your tickets!" Harry said in excitement.

They reached Vegas on Sunday at 12 p.m. and rested a while before fetching lunch. The hotel they stayed was enough to make their weekend interesting. It had a huge casino on the first floor, a great rooftop pool, a large flower garden on the outside and a gaming zone.

After lunch, Niall was walking in the flower garden when he saw a girl sitting on a bench clicking pictures of the flowers. She had curled blonde hair and shining green eyes. Niall went and stood next to the bench.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked.

"Nope," she replied without even looking at him. He shook his head and sat next to her, not quite sure how to get her attention. She took a picture but deleted it instantly, shaking her head in disapproval.

"It wasn't that bad," Niall said.

"Looking at someone else's phone is not the most polite thing to do," she said and looked at him angrily.

"I'm sorry," Niall said and her expression changed. "I think I know you," she said, in confusion.

Here we go. Niall thought to himself.

"Wait...you're... Holy fuck! You're Niall Horan!" she exclaimed and almost dropped her phone.

"Well..."

"I can't believe I just told Niall Horan how to be polite!" she said, nervously.

"It's okay..."

"I'm being weird now right! God! I've never met a celebrity before! Can I get a picture or an autograph?!"

"Umm...yeah," Niall said.

She hastily took out a notepad from her bag and kept looking for a pen.

"I've got a pen, it's okay," Niall said and took out a pen, "your name?"

"Carissa, Carissa Brown."

"Carissa...nice name," he smiled at her.

"Can I get a picture now?"

"Yeah sure."

She somehow held her phone up and opened her camera. She clicked a couple of pictures and her smile wasn't fading away at all.

"I'm sorry for fangirling like this but this is the first time I've seen a celebrity up close. I've never even been to a concert even!" she said.

"It's okay, really. It's always great to meet fans, specially such beautiful ones."

"Wow. Niall Horan just called me beautiful," she whispered.

"Well, I could just call you normally," he said with a smile.

"Ehh, what?" she asked.

"The concept of calling someone when you want to contact them, you know," he said.

"Oh. That... that... that'd be wonderful!" she said, surprised, "you can call me."

"For that I kinda need your number."

"Right," she said and scribbled her number on a paper and handed it to him.

"I'm gonna be here till tomorrow before I go back," he said.

"Me too. But I guess we're kinda going back to the same destination."

"Huh?" he asked.

"I'm a chef from LA," she told him.

"Wow! That's cool," he said.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied.

"Umm so I'll call you," he said that and got up.

"I'd love that," she said. He smiled at her and walked away.

It was evening, Zayn and Louis were having a few drinks at the bar.

"So Louis, how are you handling the whole Gemma situation?" Zayn asked.

"There's no Gemma situation," said Louis.

"Dude, you were in love with her. That was some serious depression you'd gone through. I just don't want to see you like that again," Zayn said, firmly.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I guess that was just a phase. I'm way over it and now that I look back, I've learned to see just the good parts."

"Those were a fun couple of days, really," Zayn said as he took another drink.

"Yeah, it's funny how we wanted everyone to be out of it but all of you got involved somehow," Louis let out a small laugh.

"Yeah. And the first people to know were my sisters, like, what the hell," Zayn also laughed a little.

"Oh yeah. By the way, how are Waliyha and Safaa? Haven't heard about them in a long time."

"Oh they're great. They've grown up so much in three years, it's unbelievable," Zayn said.

"Three years is a long time. In the next three, you'll see how much more they've grown up. Seriously, growing up changes everything," Louis said and had a drink.

"Umm...yeah... they are," Zayn said rather sadly.

"Zayn, you okay?" Louis asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be in my room," saying that Zayn got up and went to his room.

"What's wrong with him?" Louis said to himself.

Louis sat at the bar for a little longer before he realised that he should go and check on Zayn. He went and knocked on Zayn's door, "Zayn, it's me Louis."

He waited till Zayn opened the door. "Hi Louis! My best mate ever!" Zayn exclaimed and Louis knew he was drunk. He let Louis in and closed the door.

"Zayn, are you okay?" Louis asked concerned.

"No I'm not fine!! I'm sad!! Louis I'm sad!! Help me Loueh!!!!" Zayn shouted in Louis' ears.

"How many drinks down are you?"

"I haven't drank! I'm normal!" Zayn tried to defend himself and stumbled on the sofa and fell to the ground.

"Oh my God! Zayn!" Louis tried to pick him up.

"Wow! I fell down! Why does everything go down!! Why, Lou, why!?!" he said to Louis' face.

"Oh God, you're breath smells," Louis pushed him back to the bed. Zayn fell on the bed and started crying hysterically.

"My life is ruined louis!!"

"Bro, what's wrong?"

"You were right. My sisters have grown up so much. So fucking much!!!" he continued crying.

"That's a law of nature," Louis said.

"You don't get it! They're settled now! They have their own life and so do I!! I miss being a child Louis!!!!" he cried and pulled Louis who stumbled and fell next to him.

"You're not acting like a real grown up now!" Louis complained.

"What if they forget me as they grow older?!"

"They can't mate."

"How can you be so sure?" Zayn asked.

"Because you are their fucking brother!"

"Right! You're right! I love you Louis!!!" he screamed.

"I love you too bro," Louis said, confused.

"I'll never find love!"

"Umm, I thought you're in love with your girlfriend..."

"I am! But what if she leaves me? Again?!"

"Zayn, I don't think she will," Louis reassured Zayn.

"What if she does? We have a history of breaking up!"

"Zayn, you were younger than but now you guys are more mature. It'll not happen again. Calm down!"

"You helped me a lot Boo Bear!"

"Never EVER call me that again!" Louis protested and Zayn laughed hysterically. He laughed for a while till he drifted off to sleep on Louis' lap.

"Okay, this is weird," Louis said to himself. He pulled Zayn's head up and moved him to the other side. Louis got up and left the room.

He walked towards the pool area and decided to leave immediately after he saw Gemma there. Unfortunately for him, she saw him and awkwardly waved at him. He walked up to her, equally awkward.

"You're up here alone? Where are the others?" Gemma asked.

"Well, Liam is god knows where, Niall is in the casino and so are Harry and Rose. Zayn, is a different story."

"What did he do?" she asked as they walked along the pool.

"He got pissed drunk and cried then laughed till he fell asleep."

"Sounds rough."

"Very. Really scary and weird for me," Louis said and laughed a little.

"So, what've you been upto?"

"Work, work and work."

"Is it as bad as it sounds?" she asked.

"Not really. And you?"

"Same. But I enjoy it," she said, "this area is really beautiful."

Not more than you. Louis thought to himself. The fuck?! What am I even thinking?!

"Yeah. Yeah. The pool area. Really love it," he said, nervously before he realised what he said. They had memories from pools. Good ones and really bad ones.

"Louis, I need to..." she started.

"Don't. Just don't say anything."

"Please let me speak," she said, stopping and looking at him.

"Gemma, you don't have to say anything okay? It's not always been nice for me."

"Do you hate me for what... what had happened?" she asked.

"I don't hate you Gemma. I can't."

"Then why are you behaving like this?"

"Flashback check- you weren't the one who was dumped! I was!" Louis said, looking sharply into her eyes.

"Louis, I had made it pretty clear why!"

"But you ran away as soon as I told you I loved you!"

"And you didn't even bother to come after me!"

"Because you had broken my heart!" he accused her and she took a step back.

"Gemma, I really loved you but it didn't even matter to you but after all these years, you brought this up! Why? You dumped me!" Louis retaliated.

"I dumped you because I didn't want to hurt you anymore not because I didn't love you!" Gemma shouted on his face and was shocked to hear her own words.

Louis couldn't believe his ears. He didn't know how to react. He took a few steps back. "No. Gemma, no! You can't come to me after three years and tell me that whatever I thought was a lie!" he said and ran away.

Gemma stood there, motionless. She couldn't believe what had happened. This was exactly what she was afraid of. But it seemed different to her, to be on the other end, to see someone run away.

End of first chapter. Wait for the drama to increase. There's a lot more to this story. Wait and watch (read)! XoXo.