It was Monday, meaning it was the first day of classes. I had statistics and biology today. Zayn had given me a ride to school but left campus way earlier than I did. I said I would be able to find a way home but he told me he had already asked Harry to give me a ride on Monday's. Apparently we had a similar schedule and the band wanted to meet up in the afternoon at the apartment anyway. Harry and I have not exchanged any words since he last texted me that he had gotten home safely and sent me the pictures he had taken of me at Times Square without my knowledge. I felt so much relief that he had texted me that night, but as it's almost the second day of us not talking, I'm getting extremely nervous to see him. He probably wouldn't have texted me on normal terms either, however I'm still embarrassed that I asked him to stay the night. I wish I was drunk enough to forget, or blame everything on the liquor. But in reality, I was just tipsy and spoke my mind more openly. I remember everything, and meant every action and word I said. Needless to say, I'm dreading seeing Harry today.
I still had a couple of hours to prepare until I see the guy who rejected me after I misread his behavior. I had already attended biology but had a bit of a break before my statistics class. Jazzy, Naty, Hales, and I decided we wanted to meet up for lunch, so that's how I decided to kill time between my classes. As I was walking into the food court, I spot the heads of the three girls who I predict I will be seeing a lot of during my time in New York. I head towards them and the closer I get, the more I can get a glimpse into their conversation.
"... and at first I was really nervous cause I'd never done anything like that, but oh my fucking God, that man can do literally anything to me and I think I'd come," I hear the tail end of Hailey's sentence but it's enough to make me stop in my tracks.
With my mind preoccupied with Harry, I had completely forgotten the reason we ended up in our situation. Zayn went home with Hailey.
"I was also super in my head cause I know I'm a bigger girl and that can be a turn off for some dick heads but he fucking worshiped me! I think I might be in love," Hailey dramatically swoons, with an uncontrollable laugh at the end.
I clear my throat and everyone's head whips towards me, "I really hate to kill the mood but for the love of all things holy, can we please change the conversation?"
Hailey turns beat red, "Oh my God Reyna! I'm so sorry, I- uh, I didn't know you would hear that."
"Trust me, I wasn't expecting to hear that too," I say with a dry chuckle, "but it's fine. Just refrain from the talk of my brother while I'm here, yeah?"
"Yes," she nods vigorously, "yeah, yeah, of course."
I raise my brows and give her an awkward close lipped smile, "Thanks."
"Well we know how Hales night ended," Naty says and I roll my eyes, "but how about you? Harry took you home right?"
"Yeah he did," I say, taking my food out of my bag.
"How long did it take to drag him away from that girl he was talking to?," Jazzy laughs.
I look up at her and shrug, "He came out basically right away, I didn't even ask."
"Really?," Jasmine asks with wide eyes.
"Yeah, why?," I muffle with a mouthful of my salad.
"To put it lightly, I swear that man is sex addicted," Jazzy says, I stop my chewing and just stare at her, waiting for her to continue, "Personally, I've never been able to drag him away from a person if he has his sight set on them."
I don't know if to feel satisfied that he chose to hang out with me over something that he is apparently "addicted" to, or offended that he turned me down later.
"Anything happen between the two of you?," Hailey asks.
"We saw a bit of Times Square but that was it."
"He clearly likes your company over mine," Jazzy huffs with a cross of her arms.
"That or he's scared to piss Zayn off," I chuckle.
"Hmm," Jazzy hums around her food, "That is also a possibility cause your brother can be very intimidating sometimes."
Over the course of the next hour, we talk about classes and future endeavors. I try to read the energy between Jazzy and Naty but I don't think anything went on between them. However, I do notice little cues that tell me they both like each other. For example, when Naty had something in her hair, Jazz had taken it out and pushed her hair back behind her ear. Naty turned very red while Jazz had smiled with a blush to her cheeks at Natalia's reaction. I wonder how long it would take for something to go on with those two.
After lunch, I go to my statistics class and spend that hour and fifteen minutes reviewing the syllabus and doing a review chapter for basic material that we should already know for going into the course. I have always been a pretty smart student, but I won't lie, taking a year off from school was really freaking me out. The material that should have been a breeze, I was finding to be a bit difficult, I can't imagine what learning the brand new material would be like. Towards the end of class, Harry dropped a pin of his location but still did not say a word to me. As I walk towards where he should be, I feel my hands getting sweaty from nerves.
But when we finally are in each others view, he gives me a sweet smile, "Hey Rey."
Rey. That's the second time he's called me that. The second time anyone has referred to me as such. The first time he said it felt like a kick in the stomach because of the rejection. But it also caused a weird fluttering in my stomach from the new nickname. And as I hear it from him again, I feel that weird fluttering again.
"Hey Harry. I'm sorry for Zayn dragging you into driving me home every Monday. If you don't want to, I can find another way home, it's really not a big deal."
He throws me the helmet, "I promise I don't mind. I only finish class fifteen minutes earlier than you and I would be going to your place anyways for band practice so it makes a lot of sense that we'd go together."
"Are you sure?," I fidget with the helmet, awaiting his approval.
"Positive. Now put on your helmet and hop on," he gestures with his head to the bike, starting to put his helmet on.
I walk around the back of the bike while putting on my helmet then climb on behind Harry and wrap my arms around him. This would be the fourth time that I've ridden on the bike with him, and it feels more and more natural the more I do it. The first time I got on his bike I was terrified, but now I find myself excitedly anticipating the adrenaline rush.
"Ready?," Harry asks.
"Yup."
And he takes off in the direction of my apartment. Once we pull in, I get deja vu from the other night when Harry had dropped me off home. And I guess Harry does too because as we are putting the helmets in the lock box, he turns to me.
"Random question," he says, pushing back his messy locks, "but how much do you remember from Saturday night?"
I stare at him and try to think of a response. I remember everything and don't like lying to people, but I really don't want to tell him that I remember inviting him to sleep with me and his rejection afterwards.
"I guess I drank more than I thought," I say, "The last thing I remember was watching some performers in Times Square. Why? What happened?," I ask, seeing if he truly wanted to talk about it or just curious to see if I remembered.
He looks to the ground and fluffs his nose, "It was nothing, you just weren't acting like yourself is all," he lies.
"Oh," I say, "I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be," he looks towards the elevators, "You wanna go up now?,"
"Uh, yeah," we go into the elevator and ride in silence.
We reach it to my floor and when I open the door for Harry and I, I can already hear the chatter from the three other boys.
"I'm gonna go to my room and start on some work," I tell Harry, "can you just let Zayn know?"
"Yeah, for sure," he says, "I'll see you later."
"Mhmm," I hum.
When I get inside my room, I start to buy my online textbooks and assignment programs. It's ridiculous that on top of paying for my class, I have to pay for the material, and pay for doing my homework. College is a scam.
After working on some basic syllabus quizzes, I decide to head to Platinum's make shift studio so I can properly hear the faint music that has been muffled by the wall.
The minute I open the door, I hear my brother say, "Nope, nope. You need to leave Reyna."
"What?," I throw up my arms, "I just got here! Why do I need to leave?"
"Cause I don't want you hearing the song," Zayn says, the rest of the boys look in between us, Niall and Louis not even greeting me even though I have not seen them today.
"Why? Is it some sort of surprise for me or something?," I question.
Zayn cringes, "Absolutely not."
I start to whine, "Then why can't I-."
"It's a song about sex and he just wrote it," Louis blurts out.
Everyone in the room turns to him with wide eyes.
Niall slaps the back of his head, "I don't think Zayn wanted his little sister knowing about that."
"Oi no need to hit me mate," Louis soothes the back of his head.
I turn back to Zayn, "Is it about Hailey?"
"How did you-."
"Firstly," I cut him off, "I'm not stupid. You guys were hanging out all night and then you gave her a ride and didn't come home. Secondly, I may or may not have heard Hailey talking about it."
Zayn sits up straighter, "Wait she was talking about it? What did she say?"
"Yeah there's no way im telling you. That has to break some sort of friend code."
"How about the sibling code?"
"Hmmm. Haven't heard of that one."
"What do you mean? I'm your brother you need to-."
"Okay whatever? I don't wanna talk about it. Let me hear the song."
"Reyna," Zayn throws his head back, "I already told you I don't wanna show you."
"I'm gonna hear it eventually at a gig."
"Then we just won't play it when you're there."
"Zayn," I scold.
He throws up his hands, "Why can't you just respect that I don't want you listening to a song about my sex life?"
"Zayn, she's an adult. She can listen to a song about sex," Harry speaks up, "Besides she already heard Hales talk about it. I'm sure hearing it in song won't be as bad."
Zayn glares at me, "You make unnecessary comments and you're out."
I give him a small salute, "Understood."
He rolls his eyes with a sigh but Harry starts the song off with the keyboard and a small synthesizer attached to it that gives the song that iconic R&B sound that I know Zayn loves so much. He starts to sing soon after the beat starts and Niall and Louis play their guitars at the same time.
I can taste it on your mouth,
And I can't leave it.
You're a freak like me,
Can't you see?
We can work this something out.
And I'm believing,
You get off on me,
It's like cheating.
I, I, I
Zayn starts a simple beat on the drums that still allows him to sing easily. The rest of the boys also add in soft harmonies.
I just want to watch you when you take it off.
Take off all your makeup, baby, take it off.
I just want to watch you when you take it off.
Take off all your clothes and watch you take it off.
Take it off, take it off, baby just take it off.
Take it off, take it off, baby just take it off.
Zayn starts singing by himself again.
Push me up against the wall.
Don't take it easy.
You like it hard like me,
It's what you need.
Let's get naked and explore,
Our inner secrets.
For what it is,
It's what it is.
The band starts to play the chorus again and then go into the bridge.
I just can't wait,
To see it all.
I'm so turned on
And it's all mine.
I just can't wait,
To see it all.
I'm so turned on
Zayn extends the last note so long that Harry needs to start singing the chorus again for him. Zayn does some runs with the note too and an impressed laugh leaves me. The song soon finishes and I find myself clapping for them.
"I don't want to think too hard about the song but it's really good," I say, "Just one question?"
"Oh God, please no," Zayn complains.
"I promise it's not what you may be thinking," I reassure him, "I'm just wondering why you're the only one singing lead."
"We decided that whoever writes the song will sing it unless they had a different plan for the vocals," Niall stated, "It cut down our arguments and planning by a lot."
I nod and then a random thought from earlier pops in my head "Oh Niall before I forget, it's literally only been one day but I can tell I'm gonna need some help with bio and stats, do you think we can meet up and you can help me study? I guess taking a year break wasn't the best idea."
Niall let's out his usual big laugh, "I can help you with biology but I kind of suck at math, you're best bet is probably Harry."
I furrow my eyebrows and look at Harry who looks back at me with raised brows, "Are you good at maths?"
Harry shrugs, "I don't know why, but it comes pretty naturally to me. I helped the rest of the boys out."
"I feel like that's quite concerning since they're in the medical and engineering fields while you're in music."
"Hey! Stats is very important in the business aspect of music! Plus it was a pre-rec," Harry responds, slight offense in his voice.
I roll my eyes, "You know what I meant."
Louis speaks up, "I mean we're good at maths, but if we didn't understand something, Harry was the one to go to."
I look back to Harry, "Would that be okay? Helping me study for stats?"
"Yeah, I don't mind."
"I feel like I've been asking you for a lot of favors," I say, guiltily.
"I'm your friend Rey, I don't mind," Harry says softly.
I nod with a fake smile, "I'll let you guys know when the first exam is coming up, or maybe before that if I think I need extra help," I say, walking backwards towards the door.
"Wait Reyna!," Zayn calls, and I stop in the doorframe, "We have a gig in like two weeks, can you let Hales know about it, and the other girls too?"
I narrow my eyes and give him a knowing smirk, "Will you play Hailey's song for her?"
The rest of the boys chuckle but Zayn narrows his eyes right back at me, "Yeah, I think I will."
An amused smile plays at my lips, "Yeah, I'll let them know. Bye guys!," I say, turning around to exit the room and head to my own.
//
Song: TiO by Zayn
Ok wow, lots to say...
I just hit over 1,000 reads which is so crazy cause when the last chapter was released, I had maybe 30. Thank you to everyone who has picked up my story, I really appreciate it and can't wait to share the rest of it with you. I know that many people are probably here from Tik Tok but if you aren't, you can find me @lhh_slutrry, and I made a Twitter as well with the same username. I will post updates on there but also just other random things lol. Again thank you guys for reading my story, it means the world to me. Love you guys<3
Me after I saw my silly little fan fic actually getting views: