"I can't believe he called you at four am!" Elenore squealed as she shovelled a spoonful of crunchy nut cornflakes into her mouth. "That is so cute."

I frowned at her across the table as I tried to get Nola to take the spoon from her bowl of weetabix and banana. "If you say so."

"You should have woken me up," she continued. "I bet Niall was nearby. Did you mention me?"

I pursed my lips before responding. "No, there wasn't really an opening for that topic of conversation."

Elenore rolled her eyes before lifting her bowl to her lips and tipping it back to drink the milk. Nola watched in fascination before doing the same, emptying a whole weetabix on her face in the process.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I groaned, swiping the bowl from her grasp and removing the soggy rectangle that had stuck to her cheek. "Some role model you are, Ele!"

"Don't you just lurve Sundays when I don't have to work?" She smirked. I couldn't help but wonder if this was revenge for having not mentioned her during my phone call with Harry. I narrowed my eyes at her and took a deep breath.

"Harry is going to be here tomorrow," I confessed. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell into a small 'o'. "I promise to name drop then." What she didn't know was that Harry was already well aware of Elenore and her intentions when it came to his band mate.

"I FREAKIN' LOVE YOU!" She cried, throwing her arms in the air before dancing into the kitchen with her now empty bowl. 

"Sure." I sighed and brought my coffee to my lips.

The morning dragged on but there was no confirmation from Harry. I wondered if I should send him a message, but I didn't want to seem too eager or interrupt him if he was busy doing One Direction 'stuff'. Besides, every time I found my hand drifting towards my phone Elenore kept me preoccupied with her unrealistic babble.

"Imagine if you got married, you'd be Marnie Styles," she announced proudly, but her face scrunched up suddenly. "Hmm, that doesn't actually sound that great, Marn. No offense of course."

"None taken." I rolled my eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

"What about Elenore Horan? I think that has a ring to it, if you'll pardon the pun." She produced an emery board from down the side of the armchair and began filing her nails, her face full of thought. I often wondered what it looked like inside her mind or what she dreamt about at night. She'd always been a character, even when we were little.

"I don't think either of us is going to be marrying any of One Direction, Ele." I said sternly. "I'm not even going out with Harry, let alone engaged to him. In fact, he hasn't even met our daughter yet. Or confirmed his visit for that matter." My eyes flickered towards my frustratingly silent mobile phone.

"It is kind of strange that he rang at four am to talk to you but is seemingly absent during the day. Perhaps he's a vampire." She shrugged as if it was actually possible.  

"Vampire?" Nola stopped playing with her toys and turned to look at Ele, her face full of confusion.

"A vampire is scary person who has fangs and can turn into a bat!" Ele jumped up and opened her arms wide, swooping down and scooping Nola up into the air. Nola shrieked with delight as I shook my head and laughed. "I can't wait until she's old enough to go trick or treating. She's definitely going as a vampire."

"The Little Vampire." I smiled, remembering an old film I used to love.

"It would be so cute if you and Harry could take her together. You'd be like a proper little family, Marn." Elenore cooed, returning Nola to her spot on the floor.

"Let's just get past Harry meeting our child first. I thought I was the one who was constantly jumping the gun?" I raised an eyebrow. 

"You can't blame me for getting excited! Since little miss vampire here came up positive on that pregnancy test you haven't exactly had it easy. It's about time you had something good going for you."

"Gee, thanks, you really make my life sound wonderful." I snorted, draining my third mug of coffee and tapping my fingernails lightly on my phone screen. 

"Just bloody ring him," Elenore sighed. "Or text him. Whichever. But please do it soon because you're driving me insane."

"No!" I said quickly. "It's not up to me! The ball is in his court. He just needs to shoot the hoop."

"That was terribly American and cheesey, Marnie." Elenore stared at me in disbelief. "I'm not even 100% sure it made sense." 

"I'm not either." I sighed. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to contact him. He's probably just busy." 

"Well stop checking your phone every five seconds then!" Ele exclaimed. "It's like you've developed a twitch." 

Our bickering continued for the rest of the day, and when combined with Harry's lack of communication I found myself in bitter and miserable mood. Nola took the brunt of it - going with ice cream for pudding and then being forced to have a bath before bed without her rubber dolphin. I couldn't be bothered to retrieve it from her toy box knowing that my phone was in the same room.

Elenore went to bed early claiming that she couldn't bear to spend another minute with me and my 'twitch'. I scowled all the way through Nola's bed time ritual and snapped at her to go to sleep when she reached up for me. I was a terrible mother. 

When it was eventually my turn to sleep I wished there were more hours in the day for Harry to redeem himself by sending me a message. I didn't want to be angry at him, but doubting my decision to involve him in Nola's life was already too easy. I didn't need more reasons to continue that way. 

It was only when I leant across to switch off my lamp that my phone buzzed. 

"So sorry! Was in talks with management all day and then rehearsals this afternoon. Be with you at 10:30 tomorrow. Text me your address. Can't wait. H .x"

"Argh - men!" I grumbled, before quicky tapping in my address to Harry.

I switched off the lamp and rolled over, trying desperately to ignore the smile that tugged at my corners of my mouth. 

a/n: has anyone else ever seen The Little Vampire????? I used to love this film