CHAPTER 4

Julia pats Nikki's back, who's staring at the ground, her cheeks bright. "Hey, it's fine. I mean, if they want to- Everyone make sure te aren't calling them." Everyone holds up their phones to mostra there isn't a call in progress. "Good. If they want to data us, they need to know how big of fan we are, right?" she asks softly.

Nikki shrugs. "Yeah, but don't te think it's weird? Like imagine being them. te meet someone decent, have them butt dial you, and hear that they want to marry you? No offence, Anya," she adds, since she was the one who brought it up.

Anya waddles over on her knees and pushes Nikki's hair behind her ear. "It's alright. I mean, if Harry wants to think of me like that, then I'm fine with that. All te have to worry about is what Zayn thinks of you. We're fine with it, right girls? It's te who's getting hit the hardest."

Gina sits successivo to them. "Yup. And besides, if he doesn't want someone as awesome as you, we'll say no to the rest of the guys, if they decide on us."

As much as the others wanted to deny her statement, they know friendship is worth much più than some celebrity. Anna finally joins them on the floor and around Nikki. "Right. Even if they're the hottest guys in the world, te mean so much più to us then they do. Dating them wouldn't be the same if te weren't there."

Nikki finally smiles and looks up. "You guys would seriously turn down One Direction for me?" she asks quietly.

"Well..." Gina starts off. Nikki's gaze snaps to her, shocked, and Gina starts laughing. "I'm only kidding, Dimples. It would be hard, but we'd all definitely do it for you. We've known te forever. te guys are like my sisters. I mean... Sisters don't do that to each other," she declares, crossing her legs to sit Indian-style.

"Awwe come here te guys," Nikki says and opens her arms for a hug. All the girls go in for a hug, except Anya. Nikki gives her best cucciolo dog face, and Anya rolls her eyes but wraps her arms around the group of girls. She pushes them down onto the floor and all the girls laugh as they tumble down.

Julia giggles. "Well, I'm surprised. te actually got Nugget to hug. Bravo," she congratulates Nikki. "But let's fix this sad night. Makeovers? I mean... It's only 1 in the morning, but it's never too late, right?" she asks hopefully.

The girls groan, but agree. Julia eagerly grabs her makeup and hair products. She lines them up and starts on Gina. Anna gets up and grabs her stash of magazines. She gets a bunch in the mail each mese for occassions like this, when they had nothing else to do.

They flip through the pages, laughing at things and talking, like normal girls do. Nothing special, like them meeting One Direction o anything. Julia works hard at Gina's hair, trying to give it that teen-star wave. Gina doesn't seem to care that she's getting frustrated. She doesn't even talk. She just keeps her fingers to her lips, as if she's thinking, and reads what's on the paper.

Anya glances at her concentrated friend. "Dottie?" Gina looks up, hand still at her mouth. "What's that face for? You've been staring at the same page for like a minute."

Gina simply shrugs. "I'm Leggere it. And this is just my face. So sorry if te don't like it," she says flatly before tracing her lips with her finger.

Now Anna notices it. "Yeah, sure.That's not your Leggere face. That's your thinking face. What's on your mind?" she asks, putting down her magazine.

Gina shrugs again, wanting to stay quiet. "Nothing really. Just thinking about everything that happened today. That's it," she says, barley making eye contact with anyone as a curl falls down onto her face.

Nikki looks up, finally paying attention. "Let's see. Zoning out, playing with your mouth, lying to your friends... You're thinking of the baciare with Liam," Nikki says with a proud smile.

Gina shrinks back a little, still avoiding eye contact. "Maybe... But it wasn't what te think. It wasn't like a baciare kiss. It was... Just a kiss. Nothing special. But I'm just wondering if it was SUPPOSED to be special. Like since I didn't feel anything, is it like a sign?" she asks nervously.

Julia shakes her head with a yawn. "Not the first kiss. It's rare to have a spark the first time. Give it a few più goes, and boom. Literally."

Nikki laughs. "And te know this how?"

Julia grins at her. "Oh I've had my fair share. But you're recitazione like te haven't had too many kisses in your lifetime. The only one that hasn't..." She drifts off, not wanting to make Anya feel awkward.

The shy girl just shrugs. "Hey it's not shameful. I haven't had my first baciare yet. So what? Go ahead, it won't bother me," she says as honestly as possible.

"Are te sure? te get kinda touchy with these subjects," Anna reminds her. "Remember when-"

"Never say remember when. The past is a dark, cold, scary place that should stay like that. The past. As in never coming back," Anya says firmly. She never really liked her childhood, but this wasn't why. She always hated when people brought up sad memories of someone else's. It was always so depressing.

Gina laughs a little. "The past can have good memories too, te know. I hope te realize te were born in the past," she points out.

Anya tosses più popcorn at her, getting Julia angry. Some landed in Gina's hair. "You know what I mean, Dottie. The bad things. I already know Anna was going to say something bad, and I, for one, don't like bad things. If te do, that's your problem."

Nikki rolls her eyes. "You're boring. It's so surprising we still hang out with you." She's hit with a giant cucciolo dog face, to the point where Anya looks like she's about to cry. "Hey I'm joking! I didn't mean it!"

Her face transforms into a grin. "I know. I just felt like messing around with you," Anya says before eating some popcorn. "And I know I'm boring and nerdy and blaah. So yeah, it's a wonder te guys hang out with me."

"Because you're funny. And smart. And pretty. And reliable," Julia says without thinking. It was common for one girl to suddenly get insecure and domanda why her Friends hung out with her. They'd just lista all the amazing things about her.

Gina nods in agreement. "Not to mention, if we drop you, you'll kill us."

The girls laugh at her joke. None of the girls would hurt one another, even if they completely betrayed them. "So anyway, let's divi up the posters we want," Anna suggests, starting to rip out the posters in the magazines.

The rest follow suit and soon are making piles of posters each girl wants. They completely forget all they did today and go back to fangirlling over the guys, as if they'd never met.

~~~~

When the girls wake up the successivo morning, they're sprawled out on the floor. Posters, popcorn, cosmetics, all thrown around the room. They all seem to wake up within the same minute. They chuckle to themselves at how messy they get around each other.

Anna looks around and laughs. "My parents are going to kill me when they see this..." she mutters to herself with a smile. "You guys are soo helping me clean this up."

The girls laugh. "Obviously. ciao have te guys seen my phone?" Julia asks, rubbing her head. She looks around the mess, but no phones can be found. Everyone starts looking for theirs. "Where are they?" she asks anxiously.

Blankets and pillows start getting thrown around. "Maybe Anna's little brother took them. Wasn't he here last night?" Gina suggests, still looking.

Nikki shakes her head. "Yeah, doubt it. He's only three and was asleep way earlier than we were. But we need to find them! That's like our lifelines!"

"Girls, let's go back to the bowling alley. I have an idea," Anya says with a grin. She winks at the girls, and they instantly know it involves the boys.
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