Winter Air (Sequel to Night Air)

Chapter 12

*Alyssa's POV*

The next two weeks went by like a blur. A slow blur. I felt like I was just going through the motions most of the time. After that party, nothing more was really going on in my life, and as I got ready for another Friday night party, this time hosted by Harry, I sighed. I wanted to go, but I also wanted something else interesting to go on in my life. Maybe I felt like I was missing something- and maybe that's because I was. My life for the two weeks after Zayn's party started to feel pointless and empty.
I did the same things everyday after that. I got up, jogged to the gym, worked out for a couple hours, jogged home, showered, went to work, listened to all the bitches I was forced to work with tell me I didn't belong because I wasn't a good enough model, and then come home and try to sleep. If it was a Friday, it was the exact same thing, only I came home and then got ready for another party full of alcohol and dancing.
It started to become that Friday nights were my resurrection from the week that wore me out and ran me dead, and then on Saturdays, I would actually feel like I was alive and doing something with my life- until Monday came around and it became a big cycle. Maybe that's how the week goes for most people, but it was just starting to feel like too much for me. Especially since I couldn't shake the emptiness I felt or the gnawing inside of my stomach every time I saw a couple walking down the street together.

"You guys are going down," Harry laughed as he and I walked around to one side of the tennis table full of cups of alcohol. I smiled at Harry's words and looked at our competition.
"You wish, Styles," Liam laughed while Zayn joined him. Louis sat on the couch a few feet away holding a red solo cup in one hand and El's waist in the other. She situated herself on his lap and then leaned against his chest. I smiled at the couple and then looked away. I could feel my smile slowly drift off my face as Harry playfully made banter with Zayn and Liam.

"Alright! Ready to take these two wankers down, Alyssa?" Harry asked me, his cheeky and dimpled grin etched across his face.

Startled by hearing my own name, I looked up at Harry and smiled. "Of course!" I picked up the ball and tossed it to Harry. "You can start."

"Gladly." Smiling, Harry grabbed it and tossed it into the other side. I cringed when it hit the edge of a cup and then bounced onto the floor. "Damn it," Harry groaned. He then turned to me. "You shoulda taken the first go."
I laughed and shook my head. "Not my fault you suck."

Before I even noticed that they picked the ball up from on the floor, it sailed right back over onto our side and plopped itself into the cup in front of me. "Fuck yeah!" Zayn yelled, jumping up and down.

I sighed and picked the cup up before setting the ball on the table. "Here," Harry offered while grabbing the cup, "I'll take it."

I started to loosen my grip on it to let Harry take it right as my eyes wandered back over to El and Louis. My heart melted and my stomach spun when I watched Louis whisper something in El's ear that made her giggle. Without even telling my body to do so, I snatched the cup back right when Harry took it from me.

"No, it's okay," I told Harry with a smile. "Besides, it landed on my side anyways." Without any hesitation whatsoever, I brought the cup up to my lips and downed it all in a matter of five seconds. When I pulled it away from my lips, I happily placed the empty cup on a nearby table and then met Harry's wide eyes. "What?" I asked while wiping the smile off of my face.

"Are you okay?" He raised one eyebrow at me and took a few steps in my direction.

"What? Yeah, why?" I couldn't understand why Harry was looking at me with such concern. It was nothing for me to drink a cup of alcohol that fast.