invasato [h.s]

31

Elaina's mouth forms an 'o' shape and she nods. "Okay." her voice dials down to a whisper. "Sorry...about the shoulder thing."

Harry shakes his head. He doesn't want to acknowledge it, it'll just make things awkward. "I barely even noticed." he murmurs.

Elaina takes a subtle deep breath to try and keep herself composed. She feels like she could collapse face first into the pool in front of her but even her drunkest self recognizes how fucking embarrassing that would be.

"I'm gonna try to stand up now." She speaks out loud, making Harry look at her as she plants her palms on the concrete to try and push her body weight upward.

"Where are you going?" he asks, still sitting.

She pouts her lip with a shrug. "Don't know." she answers. "Maybe I'll get another drink."

Right as she says this, she trips over her own feet and almost falls in to the pool.

What saved her from hitting the water, was Harry's sober reflexes that would still be quick and cat like even if he was drunk.

He catches her in two places, one hand on her exposed stomach and one on her arm. He then stands up with her.

She's laughing, too far gone.

"You're fucked." Harry says, a chuckle under his breath at the suddenness of it all.

Elaina tosses her head back with a giggle, and for Harry, it was like slow motion.

He knew Elaina was hot—anyone with eyes would see it. But this short moment was different. He didn't know what it was, but her laugh sounded so infectious and her hair fell along her shoulders with the toss of her head. Those locks of dark orange curls suited her blue eyes. And she had a perfect set of teeth that illuminated with the LED lights in the pool. She also has a subtle dimple on the left side of her mouth that Harry had never noticed before, maybe because he's never seen her smile this way before.

Harry felt conflicted, it was almost like he was fighting some type of urge off.

"Zayn's gonna kill me for getting so drunk." she cackles.

She knows deep down that she should really be worried about the consequences—physically and mentally—of her drinking, but of course, when you're drunk you don't think. You just do what your heart tells you in that very moment and you don't take the time to decipher if it's bad or not.

Harry slides his hands off of her body, hovering them over the spots they were in just in case she tumbled again. He didn't know why he was out here helping her like this.

But he just couldn't let her fall, no matter what he told himself.

"I'm taking you inside before you kill yourself out here." Harry tells her.

Elaina groans. "I don't want the night to be over yet." she whines.

"Picasso, you can barely walk." Harry grumbles. "Just come inside."

Harry could not believe that he had suddenly become Elaina's babysitter in the span of a few minutes. He thought that he should maybe go find Angela and tell her to take care of her friend, but then again Angela is probably drunk off her ass too. This was up to Harry. Who would be right there if something happened to her while she was under the influence? He was the only one.

"God, why are you always so grumpy." she scrunches her nose as her drunk voice takes over.

"I'm not." he murmurs in return.

"Hmm, but you are." she raises her brow.

He lets a sigh leave his lips as he shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. She's not making this easy for him...of course she's not. She makes nothing easy for him.