“I can’t believe we’ve finally found you guys!” Marcy shouts.

“Yeah, we’ve been going door-to-door for days now!” another girl shouts.

Zayn and Harry begin scratching their heads.                           

“We ran into a few of your guards along the way, but we got by them and got into these disguises!” Marcy says.

“Yeah, that’s just the power of Directioners!” the last girl says.

“Oh…no…” Niall says.

“I’m Marcy,” she says quickly, hoping to Louis’s side.

Louis takes a small step back.

The other two girls were freaking out too much to say their names.  In one terrifying moment, Marcy’s eyes meet yours.  Her face fades.

“(Your Name)?  What are you doing here?” Marcy asks angrily.

You are completely out of words.

“You know these girls?” Harry asks.

The girls begin screaming at the sound of Harry’s voice.

“Yes…” you sigh, “they’re my friends…they’re pretty big fans of you guys.”

“We can tell…” Zayn says as he watches one of the girls get closer and closer to him.

“You found them before us?!” Marcy shrieks.  “And you didn’t even tell us?!”

“Marcy, calm down…” you tell her.

“You’re a rotten friend, you know that?!” she shouts.  “How long have you been here?”

You opened your mouth in order to say “not long,” but Harry spoke up first.

“The whole summer,” he says.

You face palm.

“The whole summer?!” Marcy screams.  “How could this have happened?  You’re not even a fan!”

“Yes, you’re right.  I’m not a fan. It’s much more than that,” you answer.

Marcy’s face turns bright red.

The boys are sure to stand back, not knowing exactly what will go down, especially since they don’t know the whole situation.

“Does that mean you’re dating one of them?!” Marcy yells.

“No, no!  Of course not!” you suddenly say, becoming the secretive liar you realize you’ve been all summer.

“Oh…okay…” Marcy slowly begins to calm down.

“I have an idea…” Liam says, eyeing each one of the boys.  “Why don’t you girls stay for a little while?”

“What?” Harry groans.

Louis sees Liam’s glare and sighs.

“Yeah, it would be a lot of fun!” he says.

 “Yeah, I guess so…” Zayn says.

The girls’ faces light up even more then the already have, if that’s even possible.  All they can do is nod frantically.

“Great!” Liam says.  “Sit down on the couches, girls.  I’ll go make some popcorn.”

The girls walk in disbelief to the couches and sit down.  One of them sits next to Harry, who is half-lying on the couch with his foot propped up.

“Ohh…what happened to your foot, Harry?” she asks.

“Nothing…” Harry says.

“Oh, it looks like something happened!  Here, let me help!” she says, placing both hands on his cast.

“No!” Harry yells in pain.  “It’s messed up!  Stop touching it!”

The pillow that his foot was resting on falls to the floor.  You rush to get it, gently lifts his ankle, and places the pillow under it again.  Marcy eyes you.  You give her a “what?” look.

The other girl sits comfortably next to Zayn.

“Wow, Zayn…you’re so…strong…” she says, feeling his muscles.

“Umm…thanks,” he says, discreetly scooting a bit away from her.

“Do you work out?” she asks.

“Sometimes…not really,” Zayn answers.

Marcy squeezes between Niall and Louis on the couch.

“Hey boys,” she says.  “Thanks for letting us stay.”

Harry snorts.  Both you and him know that they would have stayed no matter what.

“No problem,” Niall says.

All of the girls giggle at his accent.

A minute later, when Liam came out with a big bowl of popcorn, all of the boys jump to their feet and rush to him as an excuse to get away from the girls.  The boys quickly get their popcorn as the girls follow.  As the girls get theirs, the boys are sure to sit close together so the girls won’t be able to squeeze between them.  You decide to help them out by sitting on one end of them so at least one would have to sit on the other side of you.  When Marcy comes back to the couch, she notices you sitting next to Louis and glares at you.

“Umm…could I sit there?” Marcy asks, trying to sound polite.

“Say please…” Liam teases.

“Could I please sit there?” Marcy asks.

“No,” Harry says, grinning.

When Marcy looks at him in surprise, Harry bursts out laughing.

“She was there first…” Niall explains, holding in a fit of laughter.

“Yeah, go sit on the other couch.  There’s room…” Zayn says, chuckling a bit.

“What’s so funny?” one of the girls ask.

“Nothing,” Liam says, eyeing each one of the boys again.

Marcy makes do by sitting next to Niall on the other couch.  One girl sits next to Zayn on the other end of the couch and the other sits on a couch with Harry, Niall, and Marcy.  Liam sits next to you as he begins eating his popcorn with the rest of the boys.  You begin eating as well.  You notice the girls are too shocked by the presence of their idols to eat at all.  Liam sits next to you as he begins eating his popcorn with the rest of the boys.  You begin eating as well.  You notice the girls are too shocked by the presence of their idols to eat at all.  You laugh softly to yourself as you stuff your face with popcorn.

The rest of the afternoon seems to go by as slow as afternoons can go.  Marcy and the other girls have been simply red in the face and squealing the whole time, shouting out how such big fans they are, a few questions about why the boys decided to take a break, when their next tour would start, etc.  The boys hardly got one word in before the girls began freaking out again and continue to blurt out random things.  Liam tries to keep a smile on his face and glares at the boys whenever he sees them rolling their eyes, groaning, or yawning.  Niall just stares at him with an expressionless face and his mouth open.

“So!” Louis suddenly says, startling the girls.  “How do all of your girls know (Your Name)?”

“Oh, we’ve been friends with her for years!” one shouts.

“Yeah, we know her SO well!” the other shouts.

Come to think of it, you don’t know those two girls very well at all.  It’s only Marcy you really know.

“Yeah, we’re all best friends,” Marcy adds.

“Ah…I see…” Louis says.  “So how do you know all of those girls?” he asks, turning to you.

Your eyes widen.

“Oh, um…Marcy is my best friend, and…I know the other two from school,” you answer, keeping your eyes on Marcy’s glare.

“I see…” Louis says again.  “So…these were the girls on the phone with you that one time?”

“Yeah…” you say.

“Anything else?  They wouldn’t have to do anything with…meeting us, would they?” Louis asks intently.  

You think back to the time they ditched you and when you were forced to attempt to walk home all by yourself.  That’s when their tour bus almost hit you in the middle of the night and when they took you in.

“Yeah…” you say.

Marcy’s eyes grow wide.

“They thought you guys were in town, so they had me drive them there.  They thought they spotted you and um…stole my car keys,” you explain.

“Yes!  Go on, love,” Louis says.

Marcy’s face suddenly looks angrier when she hears Louis call you “love.”

“Then I…began to walk home be myself,” you continue.  “Then you guys almost hit me with your tour bus, and then you brought me in there to rest for a while.”

“Yes!” Louis shouts.

Now you realize that’s what he wanted you to say.  Not to inform him, but to inform the girls.

“That’s it, love!  I remember now!  So you are the girls you left her all alone to walk home…all by herself, wasn’t it?  Oh, thank you girls so much for helping me find my love,” Louis says.

The girls’ faces suddenly become so outraged and jealous-looking; Harry almost bursts out laughing if it isn’t for Liam’s glare.

“You’re…dating her?!” Marcy asks Louis.

“Ohh…course not.  We’re really good friends, that’s all!” Louis says.

“Louis calls all the girls ‘love,’” Liam explains.

“Ooh, Louis!  Call me love, would you?” Marcy asks.

“Uh…sure!  That shirt looks pretty damn bad on you, love,” Louis says.

Niall and Harry burst out chuckling.  Marcy’s face turns bright red.  You can’t help but smile.

“Louis!” Liam scolds.  “He’s joking, girls.  You know Louis…always a prankster.  Right, Lou?”

“Right, right!” Louis says, chuckling a bit.

Marcy manages to giggle.  Zayn snorts when he hears it.

“So you boys never answered us,” Marcy says.

“Hmm?” Niall asks.

“When are you releasing your next album?” one of the girls asks.

“Can’t tell you that,” Louis says.

“Yup, it’s a secret,” Harry says.

“How many songs are on it?” the other girl asks.

“Oh, about thirty-five,” Louis answers.

“Really?!” the girls shout at once.

“Nope!” Harry yells.

All of the boys begin laughing hysterically.

“That’s enough, boys!” Liam says.  “How do you girls like our house?”

All of the girls begin shouting compliments about the house.  Liam smiles and Louis tries to look cheerful, but Zayn looks angry, Niall’s face is expressionless, and Harry isn’t even paying attention.  You’re just sort of sitting there awkwardly, thinking you should do or say something since they’re your friends.

A half an hour wearily passes.  You’re surprised to see Liam’s face still smiling.  Niall suddenly yawns, and he expects an angry glare from Liam.  Instead, Liam uses this as an excuse for once.

“Well, it looks like Niall’s getting tired.  Perhaps you girls should go so we could all get some rest?” Liam asks politely.

“Oh, we’ll be quiet!” Marcy shouts.

“Ah, but you girls have to be getting tired as well, hmm?” Louis asks.

“No, we’re not tired at all!” one girl shouts.

“I know!” Zayn suddenly yells.  “Why don’t you girls go enjoy California while we take a nap?  Then in a couple of hours, you can come back.”

You can tell this is an absolute lie when Zayn glances at each one of the boys.

“That’s a great idea, Zayn,” Niall says.

Liam knows what they’re doing is wrong, but he can hardly help it.

“I like that idea, too,” Liam says.

“Well thanks for stopping by, lovelies!” Louis says, getting up.

The girls stand up reluctantly in response.  Louis leads them hastily to the door.  Louis pushes the girls outside and Liam stands in the doorway so they won’t be tempted to come back in.  Marcy is too strong so she stays inside.

“So…Louis…” Marcy begins, “I was thinking maybe you and I could go out sometime?”

You gasp quietly, not knowing Louis’s answer.

“No,” he simply says.  “I’m sorry, but…nobody can take (Your Name)’s place.”

“But…I thought you said you weren’t dating,” Marcy says.

“We aren’t, exactly,” Louis says.

“She’s irreplaceable,” Harry suddenly says.

“So you’re dating Harry?” Marcy asks you.

“No,” Niall says.  “And she’s too valuable to let go of.”

“She’s…kind of our everything…” Zayn chimes in.

Then Liam spoke: “We would never…” 

“Ever…” Niall continues.

“Let her go…” Louis finishes.

 “We could never date another girl,” Zayn simply says.

All of the boys shake their heads.  Marcy looks around at all of the boys in utter surprise.  You are taken aback greatly. 

“Wow, I…I cannot believe she means so much to you…I don’t understand…” Marcy says, beginning to tense up.  “She doesn’t know your guys’ story, she doesn’t know your music…she’s never been to a concert…she’s not a FAN!  She’s a freaking Directionater!”

The boys glance at each other and at you briefly.

“It doesn’t matter at all,” Louis says.

“We love her,” Harry says.

“And that’s all that matters…” Liam says.

“No girl could ever replace her,” Zayn repeats.

Marcy screams.  She storms from the house, grabs her friends by their arms, and drags them to the car.  You and the boys peer out as Marcy stuffs the girls into the car.  She gets into the driver’s seat, starts the car, and drives quickly away, breaking the speed limit within seconds.

“Well, that’s that!” Louis says, happily slamming the door shut.