The Assistant || H.S. [COMPLETE]

T W E N T Y - T W O

Two days passed since Nora's morning with melancholy Harry, since his conundrum of confusing words that same day. She was still entirely on the fence about him. He wasn't going out of his was to be a dick, which was nice. But still, he had mood swings worse than any girl she ever met.

Nora figured two could play that game. She would just give him a taste of his own medicine. But he wasn't buying what she was putting down. She'd ignore him and he'd just ignore her even more. They even stayed away from each other when they were around the whole group because of their silent war. Louis kept telling everyone they had a fight. But what Louis didn't know was they always fought. They never didn't fight. It was what they did. It was just life with Harry. Because he was a confusing, egocentric, stubborn bastard.

Nora was stuck in a room with Harry as he laughed and had a good time with his mates, while her head was spinning with anger and regret. She was angry because he was such a complete douche bag to her and turned her into an absolute mess because of it. And the regret was such an obvious feeling to feel after everything they'd been through. She really was having a hard time coping with the slippery slope her life was sliding down. But of course, Harry was at the top, throwing grease down it to make sure she just kept sliding, sliding, sliding.

When Harry let out a loud, belly-laugh, Nora grit her teeth together. Oh, god. She couldn't stand to be in the same room as him anymore and quickly stalked out, finding her way outside the venue.

"Hello, love," she heard Louis and quickly looked up to find him and Zayn smoking with each other.

"Oh, Jesus! Hi," she said, startled by them.

"Are you okay?" Zayn asked immediately, registering the anguish on her face.

"Uh... I'm fine," she stammered, not really wanting to get into it.

"I can tell you're not," Zayn pointed out and she sent him a dead stare.

"Because of Harry, innit?" Louis asked and Nora let out a scoff.

"Bingo," Zayn chimed in.

"Why is he such an... ugh!?" Nora grumbled, unable to come up with a good word to describe him. Both boys let out a laugh.

"I'm sorry," Nora said immediately. They were two of Harry's best mates after all.

"No need to apologize, Nora," Louis said, letting out an amused chuckle.

"Wanna get high?" Zayn offered, holding out the joint he had between his fingers. It startled Nora because she didn't even realize they were smoking that. She just assumed they were just on another cigarette break.

"Uh..." Nora stammered, looking behind her at the propped open door to the venue.

"It'll be fine, Nora. I can't even count how many times Paul and Preston got high with us," Louis told her.

"What? Are you serious?" Nora asked, her mouth dropping open.

"You wouldn't believe it," Zayn added.

"Wow. I would have never thought..." Nora said, looking over at Zayn with her mouth hung open.

"It's true," Louis snickered as Zayn thrust out the joint for her again.

"I can't even remember the last time I got high..." Nora told them as she pinched the end of the spliff between her fingers and pulled it up to her lips, taking a quick hit, letting it linger in her lungs before she exhaled.

"Look at you. Professional," Louis laughed as she handed the joint off to him.

"Not really," she said, looking away from them timidly.