I spent the afternoon eating my sandwich and watching TV, that was until there was a knock on the door and before I even had a chance to blink Mckenzie was sauntering into my house like she lived here. She kicked off her shoes by the door and fell onto the sofa beside me.
"I could've been naked in here. Or worse - Niall could've been naked in here."
"Meh, nothing I haven't seen before," she shrugged coolly and we both giggled.
"So, Louis invited me to a party tomorrow night and said to ask if you wanted to come."
"He wants me to come?" I asked, amazed that for once I'd actually gotten an invite and not been dragged along by Mckenzie without her even checking it was okay.
"Yeah. See, you're making friends already this year. Progress!"
"I think you'll find I was friends with Louis before you came along and sucked him off the other week."
Mckenzie rolled her eyes at me and helped herself to a crisp from the bag in my lap. "So are you coming or not?"
"I don't know..."
"For God's sake, Jess!"
"You'll only go off with him and leave me like last time!" I defended myself in a high pitched, accusing voice.
"I didn't leave you last time, you left us and disappeared with Harry," a metaphorical lightbulb seemed to appear above her head at this point, "Is that why you don't wanna come, because he'll be there?"
"No, no. We talked and according to him we're fine," I told her.
"You talked to him? When?"
"Today," I said casually, biting into my sandwich and paying more attention to the TV.
"What exactly did you talk about?" she pressed.
"It doesn't matter!"
"Okay... well, what's the problem then? Just come!"
"You know these parties aren't exactly my thing. I'll just end up sitting by myself again!"
"You won't, I promise! I'll make sure of it," she was practically begging now, her eyelashes fluttering elegantly as she gave me her best puppy-dog eyes. "Pleeeaaaassssseeeee!"
"Ugh, fine! I don't know why you're so desperate for me to come, but fine," I gave in. I was a sucker for puppy-dog eyes, I suppose. And I guess I should make the most of the invite since it's something that happens rarely, and my mum always told me the more you turn down an invite the less likely you are to be invited again.
"Yes!" she squealed. "Do you want to go shopping? We need to get you a hot outfit!"
"Right now? It's like-" I checked the clock hanging on the wall, "-two PM."
"Yes right now. Come on, lazy, let's go! The shops are open 'til late on Fridays."
I wasn't sure that was strictly true and I grunted and groaned as usual, finally letting her force me up off the sofa and into town. We made it there in twenty minutes and Mckenzie was dragging me around from shop to shop, making me try on what felt like one hundred different outfits. I felt like a doll being made to play dress up, and Mckenzie was the excited little girl tugging at my limbs and admiring me with a sparkle in her eye.
Eventually, after an hour of shopping, she insisted I buy what I was sure was the very first outfit I tried on; which was a pair of black, high waisted skinny jeans and a cream, spaghetti strap crop top with a halter neck. She insisted that this party wasn't going to be anything fancy or dressy and that everyone was going with casual, comfy outfits so this look was perfect. However, we did stop and get some chunky high-heeled boots to spruce it up a bit.
We decided to stop off at a little cafe in town to get a snack/rather unhealthy dinner, before collecting Mckenzie's stuff on the way and heading back to my house for the night... again. (I tell you - she may as well live with me she's here that often.)
We stuck to our usual routine of both of us being on our social media all night, just in the same room and occasionally showing the other one something funny we found. We watched a movie at 1am and fell asleep before it had even ended.
The next morning - or rather, afternoon - we woke up at the rather shameful time of noon. We both had a breakfast of toast and cereal, hopped in the shower in turn and began getting ready late afternoon since we had nothing better to do.
Mckenzie wore a tight, black midi pencil skirt and a grey, long sleeved crop top that had a high neckline, obviously accompanied by a pair of killer heels. I was always jealous of her body and her confidence to show it off carelessly; she really didn't care what anyone thought of her as long as she liked what she looked like - not that she needed to worry though, because everyone only sung her praises since she always looked good. I had always been a lot more shy and concerned about other people's opinions, I thought that my body wasn't the right shape or size to wear the type of cute outfits that everyone else wore and I didn't have flawless tanned skin or expensive makeup like my friends. However recently Mckenzie was helping me feel better about myself whether she knew it or not, and I had made a pact to try my hardest to be positive about myself.
Once we had our outfits on, hair done and makeup applied it was almost 6pm so we had a few hours to just chill in my room. Mckenzie rather mischievously pulled out a bottle of raspberry sourz from her bag that I had no idea was in there, and announced we were going to have 'pre-drinks' so that I was 'in high spirits for when we got there'. I refused at first, but by the time we heard a loud beep of a car horn outside my house we'd drunk almost the whole bottle.
We tripped down the stairs and out of the door with our bags and the almost empty bottle of alcohol in hand and made our way towards Louis' car which was an old and dented dark blue VW Golf. Zayn was sitting in the front alongside Louis, so we both went to climb into the back. When we opened the door the two boys had music blaring so loudly I'm surprised Louis could even think let alone drive.
"Alright you two!" He had to pretty much shout so that we could hear him and we both smiled and said hi in between giggles and hiccups. "You're not pissed already, are ya?" he laughed.
"Definitely not!" Mckenzie shouted back and we both looked at each other and giggled as Louis grinned and shook his head, Zayn still not saying a word but smiling to himself.
Louis slid the car into gear and roared off up my road dangerously fast. He was an even cockier driver than Harry was, and my neighbours probably thought I'd made friends with a gang of boy racers since Harry, Niall and now Louis had been up and down my road revving their engines and speeding around recently. They had their windows wound all the way down so that the two of them could smoke and the cold air whipped in and around the car so the back was practically just a mess of our hair that was flying around everywhere. The loud music and the vibration of the bass, the cold wind, the smell of smoke and the sound of the engine growling as Louis drove recklessly through the back roads in our small town almost had me gripping at my seat like I was in Fast and Furious, but I'm guessing Mckenzie was used to getting lifts from people who don't take driving quite so seriously because she didn't look the slightest bit concerned.
With Louis driving like a maniac, we arrived at whoever's house this party was at in only ten minutes. He pulled into the driveway and the all the commotion came to a halt as he switched the engine off, we all got out and Louis locked his car as we were on our way into the house. I think the music in the car had been louder than the music inside the house but the party seemed to be in full flow. Mckenzie and I were arm in arm to stop ourselves from face planting and we followed closely behind Louis and Zayn who led the way in.
Once we'd all stepped in through the door Louis held a six pack of beer (that I hadn't noticed he was even carrying, until now) in the air above his head and shouted rather exuberantly, and instantly everyone else inside turned to him and cheered back, raising their drinks to him like he was some kind of king. Zayn turned to us with a huge grin on his face and the three off us laughed in astonishment at the warm welcome Louis had received, however Zayn had a more 'Did you see that! Every time!' look on his face that made me laugh even harder.
We followed the life of the party, AKA Louis, into the house and he wandered to the kitchen and was greeted by a tall guy with olive skin and matching jet black hair, his face covered in dark stubble. He turned and introduced us, "This handsome chap here is Luke! He's the host so you better make a good impression," he winked, "Luke, this is Mckenzie and this is Jessica."
Luke reached down for a hug and we both happily hugged him one after the other. He smiled down at us and then turned his attention to Zayn who was hovering behind us.
"Where's Haz?" Louis inquired shortly after.
"Is he coming? He's not here yet," Luke replied, looking almost puzzled like he didn't expect Harry to show up. I don't know why my stomach dropped, but it did... a considerable amount. It's like I didn't want to see him but I was disappointed he wasn't here and kind of hoped he would arrive later on. I knew he'd be blunt and probably not want to talk to me but it's like I just wanted to have him in the same room as me.
"He said he was. Probably just fashionably late, couldn't decide which ugly shirt to wear," Louis teased and earned laughter from everyone present. "Anyway, let's get some drinks on the go, shall we?"
Luke nodded eagerly and turned to the kitchen counter where a considerable amount of bottles and cans lay waiting. "What will it be, ladies?"
"Nothing too strong for these two; already wankered, they are!" Mckenzie and I both gasped and giggled in mock offence but it was obvious he was absolutely right.
"Alright," Luke chuckled, "Vodka and coke? Weak," he emphasised the 'weak' with raised eyebrows and we agreed. He poured out the drinks and carefully handed them to us before sorting out everyone else's.
Once we were all sorted we began relocating to the living room, but as we were making our way through the hallway we stopped at the sight of the front door opening.
"Eeeey here 'e is!" Louis hollered, rushing over to greet Harry with a manly hug. Harry almost cracked a smile as he accepted the hug and pushed the door closed behind him as he wiped his shoes on the matt politely, stuffing his keys into the pocket of his tight jeans. My heart lurched in my chest at the fact he was here and I didn't know why, hopefully it was the alcohol.
We continued on into the lounge with Louis and Harry close behind, the six of us finding the sofas and piling in. There was only enough room for four on the cushions at a push, so Harry perched on the arm next to me and Louis fell onto Luke's lap and almost spilt his beer everywhere. Just the mere presence of Harry so close to me was making me nervous, even though he was paying more attention to the bottle of Corona he'd somehow acquired on the way in than he was to me, understandably.
We all chatted as a group for a while and the atmosphere was nice; I was having more fun this time than I did last time and everyone was cheery. Mckenzie was paying more attention to giggling with me than she was to Louis, which was good for me, but not so much for Louis who was intent on trying to get her attention.
"Let's play a game!"
"We're not thirteen, Louis," Harry said seriously. I reckon he had a tiny grin on his face but I didn't want to look up at him because we were so close that it would've been more than obvious.
"Oh I'm sorry, Harold! I didn't know there was an age restriction on having fun!" Louis spat jokingly, sprawled out across Luke with his legs on Zayn and his head almost hanging over the opposite arm of the sofa.
"Yeah, come on! It might be a bit childish but I'm up for playing a game!" Mckenzie added and Louis made a sarcastic 'thank you' face at Harry.
"What about ring of fire?" Zayn suggests, "That isn't your typical kiddie game."
Everyone agrees, including Harry, so we all make our way to the dining table. I don't even know the rules or how to play but I know it's the game where each card means you have to do something, or something like that.
Louis shouts to everyone else that we're playing and a couple of girls join in as we all take our seats, Luke bringing in a large jug and a pack of cards. The jug is placed in the middle of the table and the cards scattered face down around it.
"I'll go," Louis says, picking up the first card which is a 6. "Six... guys drink!"
Next Luke picks up a card. "Nine. Let's do this!" he turns to Louis, "Dog."
"Frog."
"Log."
"I can't think of one!" the girl with red hair that I didn't recognise shrieked with a giggle to her friend, and everyone around the table yelled at her to drink so she took a gulp.
"Mckenzie, you're up," Louis chirped.
"King," she revealed, and everyone reached over to the middle and poured some of their drink into the jug, the concoction already looking revolting. "Jess."
I leaned forward and picked a card and peeked at it. "Three?"
"That means you have to drink," Mckenzie laughed. I sighed with a smile and downed a large gulp.
"Two," Harry said, flipping the card for everyone to see between his fingers. "I choose Jess to drink."
-----------
This chapter is kind of chopped in half because it was getting super long. What do you think will happen? ;) Remember to help me out by leaving a vote or comment if you're reading :)
Side note: if you've ever been driven anywhere by a teenage boy you'll know I'm 100% not making any of that description of Louis' driving up.
I'm done with exams, yay! Did any of you guys have exams recently? How did they go? My 1D date is also 4 days away which is super exciting and surreal, June is a busy month for me! What have you all got lined up for this month?
Love,
E x