Strings and Schemes

Chapter 2

"You're Louis' best friend who he never brings around, yeah?" Zayn continues, Eying me as if to say, I can see why.

"What do you mean Louis has other friends?" I taunt.

Louis jokingly punches my shoulder, "Raina, that's not nice. You just never come to poker night and Zayn is hard to nail down for a night out. I'm shocked he kept to his word and decided to come out tonight."

I look at Louis, giving him my best, "you didn't tell me anyone else was invited tonight" look. Louis sheepishly smiles at me, ignoring my inquisitive look and instead claps Zayn on the back, who still was holding onto my hand, and says "alright mates, let's get down to business."

"Business?" Eyes Harry nervously

"Yeah, what's up next on the rotation of taps!" Louis says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Whatever Raina gave me was awful, and boring, it tasted like water."

Harry laughs, and I erupt. "It was water, mixed with some apple juice and lime so you'd think she handed you a stale ass pint." He explains.

Louis feigns shock. though, I think he genuinely was shocked; and asserts himself behind the bar to grab four pints of whatever the next victim on the rotation is. Louis chooses one, and sloshes over four pints - to varying degrees of consume-ability.

Zayn slides me over the best looking one, with me on my barstool, and his hand somehow on my lower back - how has he managed to keep his hands on me this whole time without me noticing?

"Cheers!" Louis says loudly, while changing the song on my playlist and moving us to the corner of the pub near a fireplace that has seen better days.

"Alright, catch me up Zayn, what's going on?" Louis says, sat next to me. While harry sits across from Louis, and Zayn directly across from me. If I didn't know any better, Louis is trying to set somebody up. Or invite someone back into something they may have no interest in being involved in. Leave it to Louis to leave people out of his scheming.

"There's not much to say," he says. Louis and harry roll their eyes in unison. "Alright, alright - just been a busy week. Trying to get ready for touring again, trying to keep it low-key, and trying to be as non committal to everyone and everything as possible" he says, they other boys seem satisfied with his answer.

"Non committal with whom exactly?" Harry asks, as if the man who just said he wants to commit to nothing or no one also wants to commit to telling us who he's not committing to.

I take a small sip of my cider, a thought flickering: Maybe I've had enough to drink. But then again, I'm not exactly thinking clearly at this point.

Zayn laughs, shaking his head. "Nobody. That's it." He's too sharp to fall for their ploy—or maybe just too sober.

I watch Zayn from the corner of my eye, biting my lip. No way does this guy have a "nobody"—he's too out of reach, too magnetic for that. He probably has a list of "nobodies" in his phone, each one desperately waiting to become somebody in his world.

Louis nudges me ever so slightly under the table as if to say, stop whatever it is you're thinking about as I'm already cooking something up. I eye him hard.

"So, tell me," Zayn says, changing the topic, "how did Louis manage to share you for an evening, Raina?"

God, even the way he says my name sounds better than anything I've ever heard before. Holy shit, this is horrifying. Why am I like putty over who was a mystery man ten minutes prior? He's smooth, or I'm desperate.

"I think he mostly managed it because he left me entirely out of his scheming," I say, giving Louis a look.

Louis doesn't offer up any further information, but instead waltzes over to where harry is cleaning the bar and leans over the counter, grabbing a bottle of whatever cheap ass vodka he can find and bringing it over to the table with four short glasses and some ice.