Karma ||H.S||

Chapter 7

Song - Shawn Mendes - A Little Too Much

The pub had closed and while the streets are packed with students walking back to their dorms, I walk alongside Nova and Niall who are trying to keep each other walking in a straight line and failing miserably, laughing as they slur every word coming out of their mouths and singing at the top of their lungs, while Harry and Astrid cling onto either side of me, giggling at Harry's attempt to sound American.

When we arrive at the front doors of Astrid's building, she puts her arms around me in a tight squeeze. "You, my friend Paisley!--I love you!" She had more to drink than I thought she would, leaving me to be the only sober one for the night. "I'm so sooo so happy you're my friend! My best friend, that's what you are!"

"Hey now, what about me?" Harry asks, pouting his lip out and I can't help but smile at how cute he looks, looking over at us like a child who got left out.

"Youuuu Mr. Harry," Astrid lets me go and stumbles over to him. "You--I'm so happy we're all friends! We're like the three amigos--until slutface Ruby shows up and ruins everything!"

I laugh at how drinking makes people say what they really feel. They have no filter and the truth easily falls from their lips. She has a point though. Ruby is capable of ruining everything. She never showed her face again tonight, which surprised me, but I know on Monday, we'll be seeing her again.

"The three amigos!" Harry yells, throwing his hands drunkenly into the air. "I think this calls for a picture! Because what's life without pictures!?" He giggles.

After taking a few selfies together, we bid Astrid goodnight and continue walking with Nova and Niall to our building next door.

"Do you think Harry could sleep in our room tonight?" Nova turns to me with hopeful eyes. "Ya know, so Niall and I can have their room to ourselves? I need to give my sexy boyfriend a good night of birthday sex!"

My whole body tenses at the thought of sharing a room with Harry for the night, which I'm sure would be noticeable to anyone. But the three of them standing before me are drunk, and probably can't sense it, or at least I hope they can't. "I,- um, I,-" I stutter. "Yeah. I guess."

Niall in turn picks Nova up off the ground, spinning her in circles as she leans down to kiss him, apparently thankful for my answer, despite how hard it was to get out of me. I wanted more than anything to say no. No, it's not fine that I have to share a room with someone of the opposite sex. No, it's simply not okay. But I know that if I answer the way I want to, too many questions will arise and I don't want any attention drawn towards the way I feel.

As Harry and I watch them go into the building together, my nerves pick up again and my heart beat begins another race. "I promise I wont bite Paisley!" Harry jokes as he walks closer to me. The dimpled smile changes to a frown when he gets closer to me. "You don't need to look like that!"

"Look like what?"

"Like you think I'm going to hurt you." He puts his hand on my shoulder and my body flinches away at his touch. I internally scold myself for showing him I'm scared, especially after the progress I thought I had made with him over this past week of knowing him. There had been plenty of times our bodies had come in contact, more so than ever tonight at the pub. I don't understand why I feel so afraid. Maybe because it's the middle of the night and we're alone and he's drunk and he's going to be sharing a room with me. All of the above has never been a nice thing in the past and for some reason, even though I know I'm looking at Harry and not someone who used to continually hurt me, I can't shake the terrified feeling in my gut.

Even in his drunken state, he notices my change in stance and looks at me carefully, studying my face. His eyes flick back and fourth between mine like he's trying to figure out what went wrong. "You don't think I'm going to hurt you, do you?" He asks, after a long silence.