BLACKHOUSE [H.S.]

Eleven

"How long do you think it'll be before this stuff, you know, kicks in?" Katie whispers, eyes shifting between the two of us.

"I don't know. We don't know what it is," Niall admits.

"Probably like, ten minutes," I shrug, playing with the rings on my fingers.

I did what I needed to do, I got that pervert out of the bar, now I just want to go back to the girl I was dancing with.

"Ten?" Her jaw drops. "I live like twenty minutes away!"

"Then we need to get you out of here now," Niall nods. "Harry, have you been drinking?"

My head snaps up to make eye contact with him. I know what he's about to suggest and I don't like it. "No, but-"

"Great, you can take her then," he orders, grabbing her hand and helping her up. "Come on."

I stand there speechless and confused about what just happened as he leads her out of the bar. There's no way in hell I'm driving her home, especially after she just accused me of lying.

I turn my head to look for blue-hair, groaning when I don't see her anywhere, and jog outside to catch up with them.

"Why can't we see if someone else can take her?" I plead as they reach my car.

"Because she needs to get home as soon as possible," he argues. Katie looks like she's about to throw up. "We don't have time to find anyone else right now. Just take her to her flat and wait with her until Cass, and I get there."

I stop for a second, debating internally and finally giving in. "Fuck," I say lowly through gritted teeth, unlocking the car for them. "Fine, just hurry up."

Niall opens the passenger door for her and she gets in, her whole body quivering. "Thanks mate," he says to me once he closes the door.

I ignore him, getting in on the driver's side. I pull out my phone and open it up, going to Maps and handing it to Katie.

"Put in your address before you go all loopy," I instruct in a monotone voice while backing out of the parking spot.

She turns her head to face me, glaring. "Really?" She shoots back angrily.

"Yeah, really," I maintain, glancing at her with wide eyes to get her to hurry up.

"You're unbelievable," she fumes, typing in her address and handing the phone back to me.

I don't say anything as I take it from her, going to Spotify to put on some music and placing it in the holder on the dashboard. The song plays softly through the speakers as I hum along.

"Who're we listening to?" She asks.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her tapping her fingers on her legs to match the slow piano.

"Circa Survive," I mumble.

"I like it," she admits. "What's the song called?"

"Curitiba."

"Is the rest of their stuff pretty good?" She wonders, pulling out her phone, most likely to look them up.

I roll my eyes in annoyance. I won't be able to handle being stuck in a car with her if she's going to keep bugging me.

"My god, can you just pass out so you'll stop asking so many questions?"

"I'm just trying to make conversation," she defends quietly.

"Well stop," I bark, shooting a glare in her direction.

"Okay, okay. Jeez." She rests her head on the window and takes a deep breath. It's quiet for a moment until she speaks up again, "Why did you help me?"