The Deal (English)

Chapter Eighteen

“Do I know her?” she asked me.

I shook my head, smiling at the memory. “Nah,” I said. “She used to live next to my house, and we got to know each other one summer. We were together for a short while, a really short while, but we were crazy about each other. She left town a month after that, and we never stayed in touch.”

“If you liked her so much—”

“I know.” I said. “But somehow, after she left, I didn’t feel like calling her up or emailing her anymore. But while she was here….I think she’s the only girl I’ve ever really been serious about.”

“How was it?” Olivia asked me. “Your first time?”

“Awkward,” I remembered, laughing. “We didn’t know what to do, and it hurt for her but still, it was the most amazing feeling of my life.”

“Is it something worth remembering for the rest of your life?” she asked.

I nodded. “Oh, yeah.” I told her. “I’ll always remember it. I have no feelings for her, no residual ones either, but when I think back on it, I don’t regret it.”

She let out a hum as a response, but was otherwise quiet. I looked at her and realized she was deep in thought. Her eyebrows formed the slightest frown of concentration and her bottom lip was caught between her teeth.

“What if she showed up?” Olivia asked. “Today? What if you went home and there she was, sitting on your couch, waiting for you. What would you do?”

I thought about it. But even as I did so, my mind kept wandering back to Lexi’s words, and my only thought was if the deal I had with Olivia would have to stop or not.

“I don’t know,” I said finally.

“Do you think we’d still be friends?” she asked me. “If you got with her and called the deal off, do you think we’d still remain friends?”

Funny she asked me that, because that’s just what I’d been thinking. I turned on my side, and sat up slightly, resting my head on my palm and looking at her. “Of course,” I said without hesitation. “You and I will always be friends, Harper.”

“Good,” she said, but smiled brightly at me. “Because I need someone to piss off, and Niall isn’t fun enough.”

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*Olivia Harper*

I slid my arms up his chest and proceeded to wrap them around his neck, as our bodies slid and moved together, to the beat of the music. His hands moved ever so slowly to cup my bum and push my hips into his, and I sighed, reaching up to plant a kiss on his neck. We were in the middle of the dance floor, with a number of people around us, but neither of us seemed to care.

I ran my hand through his dirty blonde hair, and his bright, blue eyes narrowed at me as a slightly smirk played on his face. The only similarity his face bore to Harry’s was the indent on either cheek when he smiled. Even then, his dimples weren’t as prominent as Harry’s were.

Somewhere along the number of drinks I’d consumed, the laughing and giggling with the boys and the dancing, I’d lost Harry somewhere in the club. The other boys were busy getting sloshed and chatting girls up, while this boy—Chase, I think he’d called himself—had decided to walk up to me and try to buy me a drink. I was too drunk to laugh at his cliché advances and had just given in, and now we were in the middle of the dance floor, hot, sweaty bodies grinding as we danced.

He leaned down, his hot breath washing over my ear. “Wanna get out of here, beautiful?” he asked me, his lips brushing my ear. “My house is about ten minutes from here.”