"Can I get the chicken parmesan?" I hand my menu to the blonde waitress named Allison.

She writes down my order. "It will be a little bit." Allison walks away.

We all decided to come out to eat in celebration. It's me, Cher, Niall, Louis, and the three other guys who made it. Niall suggested going out to eat and then I thought of inviting everyone. That way they could all get to know each other better.

"Let's get to know each other." I suggest. "My name is Carter Shay. I'm sixteen and my best friend is Louis." I start off. "My other best friend is back at home in London, though."

"I thought we were best friends?" Cher puts a hand over her heart, acting offended.

"You're my best girl friend." I correct her, taking a sip of my Dr. Pepper.

"Yes!" Louis high fives me. "My name is Louis Tomlinson. I'm eighteen. I'm a very shy and quiet person." He says with a serious face.

I burst out laughing. Shy and quiet? Louis just told them that he is shy and quiet. What a lie that is! He is the exact opposite.

"Are you done?" Louis raises an eyebrow.

"Sorry." I cover my mouth, still giggling quietly. "Continue."

"And my best friend is.." Louis looks over at me. "Niall!"

Niall grins at Louis.

"Oh. I see how it is." I playfully glare at Louis. "Harry, guess what. You're my new best friend since I got replaced." I wink at him.

"What? You can't replace me with Harry. He's a flirt." Louis pouts.

I grab a piece of bread from the center of the round table. "You shouldn't have replaced me." I shrug. "Besides, I said he was my best friend. I didn't say I was dating him."

"We could change that." Harry winks at me.

"I'll have to pass." I take a bite of my bread. "I'm not into younger men."

"I'm only fifteen." Harry sticks out his bottom lip.

"Sorry, Harry. Carter only likes older guys." Cher chuckles.

"If you change your mind you know where I'll be." Harry grins at me.

I laugh. "Zayn, tell us about yourself." I point at the quiet boy.

"Um. My name is Zayn Malik." He shifts in his seat. "I'm sixteen. I-"

I snap my fingers at him. "I remember you! You were that guy that Simon had to go get when the boys were dancing." I remember.

Zayn blushes and looks down. "I'm not a very good dancer."

"That was rude." Louis comments.

"Shut up, Lou." I grin at him. "I wasn't being mean. If it makes you feel any better, Nicole had to help me get on the stage for our individual singing."

"You two are perfect for each other." Cher mumbles under her breath.

The table turns to an awkward silence. Cher looks up and notices everyone is staring at her. I can't believe she just said that out loud. My cheeks heat up and I look down at my hands. Well, this is awkward.

"So, my name is Liam Payne." Liam saves me. "I'm sixteen. I tried out for the X Factor when I was fourteen, but Simon told me to come back in two years."

"You've been on the show before?" I ask him, avoiding Louis's gaze.

"Yeah." Liam nods. "Simon didn't think I was completely ready. I made it all the way to the judge's house."

"Speaking of the judge's houses," Cher speaks up. "When do we go there?"

"I think we have a few days at home." Niall shoves bread in his mouth. "Then we go to their houses."

"Think you can survive a week without me?" Louis nudges me in the side.

"What?" I stare at him confused. "I thought we all go to the same house?"

"No. That's after the judge's houses." Harry informs me. "Each judge has a different group. The guys go to Simon's house."

"The girls go to Cheryl's house." Cher adds.

I have to be away from Louis for a week. What if I don't make it all the way through? I won't get to say goodbye. That's not fair. I hate saying goodbyes. That would mean I would have to say goodbye tomorrow.

I turn to Louis who is sitting next to me. I'm not ready to say goodbye to him. I just found out that he is staying on the show. I can't imagine saying goodbye to my best friend. It will be terrible. I thought today was bad. Tomorrow will be even worse.

"Stop thinking about tomorrow." Louis leans over in his chair.

How did he know I was thinking about that? Was I being that obvious?

"Sorry." I apologize. "I just don't want to say goodbye."

Louis grabs my hand. "We'll deal with that tomorrow. Tonight lets just have fun."

I ignore the tingles running up my arm. Louis's hand is much larger than mine. It practically swallows mine whole. I glance down at our hands. It feels so right to hold his hand. I love the feel of it.

I look up to see Cher smirking at me. She's going to be talking about this tonight back in our room.

"Here we go." Allison appears with our food.

"Niall close your mouth." I say to the blonde haired boy. "Flies are going to fly in there." I tease.

"Ravioli?" Allison asks with the white plate in her hand. Harry raises his hand. She sets in down in front of him. Allison hands out everyone's food.

"This is amazing!" Niall shovels food in his mouth.

Dang. He eats fast.

Louis's fork makes its way over to my plate. He scoops up some spaghetti and chicken. He drops it on his plate. I pick up my fork and steal some of his alfredo. Mm. Pretty good. Next thing I know, Niall is stealing some of my food. Why are they stealing off my plate?

"Stop stealing from my plate." I complain as Louis takes more.

"Your food tastes really good." Louis grins, taking a bite.

"So order your own." I slap his hand away.

"Nah. It's too much fun stealing from you." Louis says.

"If you take anymore food I'm going to bite you." I threaten. Louis grins and snatches a piece of chicken. "Louis!"

"You didn't bite me." Louis laughs.

"I'll do it when you least expect it." I smirk.

"Kinky." Harry comments.

"How old are you again?" Cher asks him.

"Fifteen."

"You're too young to be a pervert." She shakes her head at him.

"Age is just a number." Harry shrugs his shoulders.

I agree with him on that, but there is an age limit on some things. For instance, cougars should not exist. If a lady is fifty years old she should not be dating a twenty five year old. That is just gross. She could be his mom. I have a five year age limit for me. Nothing older.

"What's the oldest you would date?" I ask him, leaning forward on the table.

Harry smirks. "Are you interested?"

Louis throws a piece of bread at Harry's head. "She's mine, lads."

I look over at Cher with wide eyes. Please tell me she heard that. Cher nods ever so slightly. What does Louis mean by that? Is there a chance he likes me?

I really need to talk to Cher when we get back to the room.

••••

Author's Note:

This chapter is a bit short. It's better than nothing, though. It's also just a filler. Louis and Carter flirted quite a bit.

I know the X Factor doesn't go as fast as mine. They probably have more time in between parts. I'm only going to give them two to three days at home until they go to the judge's house.

Tell me what you think so far!