Facade [h.s]

two*

I narrowed my eyes in the second the words left his mouth, feeling the sudden need to slap him. "Who are you?" I asked again, slower, trying to get the answers I was looking for.

He chuckled and gave me a little shrug, taking a long sip of whatever was in his plastic cup, his eyes not leaving me as he did so. "I bet you'd like to know," he murmured, sarcasm and fake sweetness dripping from his words like sour honey.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" I questioned, my annoyance becoming more prominent at his evident arrogance.

He tutted, tapping his fingers against the side of his cup to the rhythm of the music. "No, I don't think so," he replied an instant later, a little ironic smile curving his lips.

I stood in front of him, glaring at him, wondering if I should've ignored his presence or let Joel know he was there. After all, I knew everyone there, but I definitely didn't know him. More than that, I was certain I'd never seen him before. A face like that surely couldn't be easily forgotten.

"Oh, Raine! I see you've met Harry," a voice suddenly said behind me and I turned around quickly, discovering that Joel had reached us at some point while I was glaring at the dark-haired boy in front of me.

I glanced back at the mysterious young man, noting the name in my mind.

Harry.

It didn't ring any bell. Should I have known who he was, considering Joel clearly did? I'd never seen him before, though. Why did Joel know who he was, and I didn't? Was he from our university at all?

"Harry," I repeated it, giving him a winning smile, to which he responded with a little glare. "I've never seen you around before."

He shrugged again, taking the last sip out of the plastic cup he was holding. "Neither have I, but I'm not surprised. I don't hang out with children, usually."

"Excuse me?" I replied quickly, glaring at him. There was nothing I hated more than self-assurance and being disrespected.

Joel let out a laugh from where he was standing next to me. "Harry's in his third year," he explained, failing to ease my by then overpowering irritation. "Anyway, I really need to talk to you, Harry."

Harry put the cup down on the table next to him, that was pushed against the wall in the corner of the room. "Now? I was just starting to have fun," he commented, raising an eyebrow and sending me a quick glance, to which I replied with a scowl.

"It's important," Joel insisted, urgency evident in his voice, speaking louder so that he could hear him over the music. "Really urgent." He leant in closer and whispered something in his ear, too quickly and too quietly for me to understand it.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sure Joel, I will let you suck my dick in the hallway," he said sarcastically, earning a shocked glance from Joel and me. "I was joking," he specified through his teeth when he took in the surprise etched on our faces.

"Just come with me," Joel sighed, grabbing him by his forearm and dragging him away with him before I could even comment on it.

I glanced at them as they went away, confusion evident in my eyes, wondering how it was even possible for them to be friends, when I hadn't even known he existed. Something like that had never happened before, and it made me way more uneasy than I would've liked to admit.

"Looking at someone?" Someone asked next to me, and I would've jumped if I hadn't recognised Indigo's voice.

I glanced at her, she'd reached me while I was distracted and was giving me a puzzled look, a forgotten beer bottle in her hand. "Kind of," I replied, turning around just to discover that the two boys had disappeared. I looked around frantically, finally finding them standing in the corner of the room, busy in a heated conversation.