Infatuation // Harry Styles

Chapter 19

♡ chapter 19 ♡

❀ GRACE WALKER ❀

        I gaped at the house we parked in front of, the height of it baffling me. I knew Mike's parents had money, but the house was no doubt at least three-stories. People were already piled outside his house - I couldn't imagine how filled the inside was.

        "And you're sure you want to be here?" Harry asked me for the third time, giving me an odd look. Ivette and Jacob had rode with Estella and Brady directly after the game.

        Masking the paranoia on my face, I nodded. "Yeah, what's high school if you don't go to at least one, right?"

        "Grace..."

        I opened the passenger door. "I'm good. You coming or not?"

      He sighed, heaving a hand through his freshly washed hair before stepping out the driver's side. He walked beside me up the driveway, a few girls wearing hardly any clothing winking at him, trying to gain his attention. I almost thought I heard him snort, but I wasn't sure.

      Opening the front door, my lips parted at the blaring music that was audible from outside. Plastic cups were everywhere, either raised in someone's hand or crushed on the floor. The party had hardly started and the house was full of insolent teenagers. I sucked in a sharp breath - I can't back out now. Too many people have noticed me and God knows I don't need that harassment. 

       Harry placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me through the crowd and towards what I assumed was the kitchen. I tried to focus on the heat of his palm racing through me rather than the dancing bodies colliding with mine.

        "Whoa, is that Grace Walker?" a kid laughed out from somewhere beside me. 

        "Finally coming out of that shell, I guess," a girl replied, wearing high-waisted shorts and a shirt that had no point - if it hardly covered anything, why wear one?

        "Just ignore them," Harry told me over the music, but I already knew what to do. People picking on me for my lack of social skills wasn't anything new.

        It baffled me how, with such little notice, this many people still managed to show up. They were told practically five minutes in advance, and yet they all look as if they knew a party would be thrown already. Maybe it's a Friday thing for normal high school kids. 

        "Hey, look who it is!" Brady greeted as we walked into the kitchen, Ivette, Estella, Jacob, Mike, Kim, and some other people seated wherever they could.

        "I'm proud," Jacob said. "My little girl is growing up."

        I elbowed him in the side. "You two ditched me on movie night. I felt like I had no choice."

        Ivette chuckled, shaking her head. "Maybe Saturday can be our new movie night."

       "We were just setting up a game of 'Never Have I Ever'," Brady said, wiggling his eyebrows. "You too wanna join?"

        Although I was a little unfamiliar with it, I shrugged anyways. I mean, it sounds pretty harmless. Brady ended up gathering Mike, me, Ivette, Estella, Jacob, Chase, Jeremy, and this kid named Bryce to play. I was a little uncomfortable considering Chase was at the table, but tried to not let it effect me. Harry also avoided eye contact.

        "Everyone know how to play?" Brady asked, glancing to me in particular. The whole table did.

        I gawked at them. "What? Why is everyone staring at me?"