Harry sat opposite me in the common room the following day. Both of us tried to act naturally but kept sneaking glances at each other. Every time his eyes would catch mine I'd feel the fire in my face ignite and I'd tear my gaze away as quickly as I could. Even when I was trying to listen in on the conversation around me I was aware of him, I could sense him, I could feel him watching me.
Despite the somewhat dreadful hour of sitting in each other's company, I couldn't pluck up the courage to speak to him. I so desperately wanted to know whether it had been him in the ER that night but I couldn't bring myself to say even a single word to him for some reason. We weren't even on bad terms now, but I just felt embarrassed. We weren't that comfortable around each other currently.
The way he'd sit there just openly staring at me, almost like he was worried and looking out for me, made my stomach flutter. He knew that every time my eyes happened to cast in his direction I was actually looking at him, but he seemed to welcome it. His face was giving nothing away, a blank expression with a hard edge to it only told me that he was probably thinking hard about something.
That evening I packed a bag and walked to Mckenzie's house. The array of pinks and purples that coloured the sky reminded me all too much of Harry - every sunset did. I still hadn't seen Niall, not properly at least, which was the reason I was taking it upon myself to go by foot to my friend's house. I'd caught sight of him briefly in the corridors at school the past two days, but he never came home. I hadn't even bothered to ask my mum if he'd told her anything, I just didn't possess the effort anymore.
Unlike me, Mckenzie had gotten changed having come home from school. I didn't bother, it's not like we had a uniform so I was in my own clothes anyway. She answered the door wearing an inviting smile, probably assuming I was still feeling slightly negatively towards her, but I wasn't. I'd decided to let everything go and just move on, dwelling on bad memories never seemed to do me any good.
We plonked ourselves down on the sofa in front of the TV with snacks and homemade cocktails, just chatting and chilling out. She would constantly be typing away on her phone, but I ignored it, being used to the fact she was glued to her screen twenty-four seven by now.
"So, have you spoken to Louis?" I brought up, hoping it wasn't too sore of a subject that'd kill this happy vibe we had going on. I eyed her, testing for a reaction.
"Not since I told him - well, all of you - that I was done the other night," she said casually, sipping on her glass of the fruity concoction we'd mixed together with her line of vision directed at the television.
"Are you planning on doing so?"
She shrugged her shoulders without a care, clearly not entirely bothered about fixing things with him. "What about you and Harry?"
"We're... I don't know. He's being so considerate and bashful ever since what happened and I guess I don't know how to handle it. I'm completely lost with what to do anymore," I sighed. "Has finding out that the two of them have a bad past changed anything for you?"
"It's kind of made me think differently about them, like I'm a bit more wary, but overall... not really. I was mad that I didn't know about it, but... everyone's done things they're not proud of, I think it's now that really matters."
She always comes out with this really deep stuff and I don't know if she's aware she does it. Some of the best advice I've ever received would probably be from Mckenzie, despite the fact she comes off as this really carefree and reckless person. I suppose she just has a lot of opinions that she keeps bottled up.
Her phone pinged for the hundredth time this evening and she looked intently at the screen before lifting her head to look at me. "My friend Callum is having a little get together tonight and wanted to know if we fancied going. What do you think?"
"Define 'get together', and define 'we'," I gave her a knowing look. What she really meant was 'I've been invited to a party and I'll bring you even though you haven't actually been invited'. I didn't particularly want to go off to some party when we were supposed to be having a girly night, but if she wanted to go that badly then I didn't exactly have a huge problem with it.
"No, seriously! He's only got a few mates round. He asked who I was with and I said you, and he said do we both want to go."
"How would we get there?"
"One of them hasn't started drinking yet, he said he'd pick us up on the way back from town. Do you want to go?" The way her eyes glistened told me she really wanted to go, and it was all up to me.
"I'm not really dressed for the occasion..."
"It doesn't matter, you look fine!"
I thought about it for a moment, before drawing out a defeated, "Fine." Mckenzie burst out in a grin which subsequently made me fight to hide a smile from her as well.
We touched up our makeup and got ready to go, picking up the vodka we'd been using to make the cocktails before making our way outside when we heard a car horn beep. We trotted through the darkness towards the headlights and booming music to hop in the car.
"Hi," Mckenzie said sweetly as she opened the door.
"Hey, good to see you," a guy who looked to be slightly older than us replied from the driver's seat. He had a wiry brown beard and a beanie on his head, looking surprisingly cute for one of the people Mckenzie hangs around with.
"You too," she replied, shifting the seat forward to allow me into the back. "This is Jess. Jess, this is Charles."
"Hi," I smiled, a little bit nervous but managing to cover it up. We made eye contact and he said hi as I climbed into the backseat.
The drive to 'Callum's' house was just as terrifying as Louis' driving is when he's in that cocky, boy-racer mood where he just wants to show off. The windows were of course wide open, letting the wind whip me around and freeze me to death in the back. Charles was sensible in that he made Mckenzie turn the stereo down when we flew around the back roads of the town as not to cause trouble to residents.
He pulled up outside a little semi-detached house after a short drive and we got out, heading up the path and following Charles into the house with his bags filled with cans of beer in tow. There was ten or so people in the dining area, sitting around a table with music on in the background. Mckenzie knew every one of them, saying her greetings and introducing me to each person in turn. There were two other girls at the table who seemed to be quite posh, but they seemed nice enough, the rest were boys.
We perched on an armchair that'd been dragged over to the table, fussing the huge German shepherd that was lying in the corner behind our chair. Mckenzie told me that she had this kind of low-key rivalry with the girl called Katie because she's totally stuck up and dating the guy Mckenzie used to have a major crush on, but they pretend to act like the best of friends whenever they're together and it's almost over exaggerated but no one mentions it.
"Do we have a lift back later?" I brought up with concern, noting that although we'd managed to get here we had no means of getting home.
"Not yet, I'm trying to get this boy in the year above to get us. Sweet talk is my go to method at the moment."
The host of the 'gathering' suggested we play my least favourite game (after last time) - ring of fire. I pushed my thoughts of dread aside and just got on with it, actually socialising with everyone a bit and getting involved. The game went on for over an hour, with Mckenzie drinking a lot of almost straight vodka and me just sipping a weak cocktail mix we'd made at home. Luckily I didn't have to drink the mixture of everyone's drinks at the end, so all in all it was a good game.
I was the perfect amount of tipsy. I was more confident to join in conversation and not feel self conscious, but I was nowhere near drunk so I knew what I was doing. My friend on the other hand, had tipped past that stage and was now into the obnoxiously loud and annoying stage that I didn't like all that much.
She disappeared off somewhere with a few of the boys, and the girl that was apparently a complete bitch kindly invited me over to join them. We chatted for a while about various things, just getting to know each other and sticking together as the only girls.
"So have you got a boyfriend?" Katie asked me, leaning on her elbow comfortably.
"I urm... It's complicated," I attempted to explain with an uneasy expression. Both of the girls nodded with understanding smiles.
"Isn't it always," the other girl - I think her name was Alicia - scoffed playfully, rolling her eyes.
"Tell me about it," I said confidently, pretending maybe it was just that my so-called 'boyfriend' was a bit of an idiot, not a narcissistic criminal nearly three years older than me that'd broken my trust and my heart in one.
"Boys are confusing, we're better off with alcohol," Katie grinned, causing us all to laugh loudly.
"Jess!" I heard Mckenzie call my name. Her voice was chirpy yet slurred, indicating she was really quite drunk. I tossed my head towards the door just as she came bouncing in and grabbed my arm. "Come dance in the living room!"
I was dragged away into another room, giggling and waving to the other girls as I went. As we entered the lounge the music volume increased dramatically and it was very dark with this one light flashing different colours. A few of the other boys were in the centre of the sofas dancing as Charles performed a DJ mix on his mac laptop.
Mckenzie and I danced, she with much more energy and confidence than me. We joined in with the others for a while and had a good laugh, being silly to the heavy and loud music filling the room. I continued to badger her about the lift home every now and then, but she merely said she was working on it.
Once totally out of breath, Mckenzie told me to stay put and disappeared again. I went over and sat down on the sofa, people-watching for a bit, and somehow finding myself talking to a boy named Ben who was interested in hearing about my life as well.
I'd checked my phone and seen that it was nearing midnight five minutes prior to a boy I didn't know coming over and asking to speak to me outside.
"You're Jess, aren't you? Mckenzie's friend?" he asked, with a distressed look on his face.
"Yeah... why?" My voice matched his - uncomfortable and unsure.
"She's gone, like... totally passed out. We've managed to get her into one of the spare rooms but she's in a right state."
"Oh no..." I said unenthusiastically as he took to the stairs to led me to her.
He was right when he said she was in a state. We walked into the little bedroom to find her lying crumpled up on the mattress with her hair all over her face. Ironically, the girl she hated was the one trying to look after her.
"Come on, let's get your hair out of your face. You've got lovely long hair, but it's not so good at times like this, is it?" she said in a slightly baby-like voice, her words a bit garbled since she'd been drinking too.
"Her friend's here," the boy who'd summoned me announced, and the two girls looked up with a sense of relief. There was now seven of us packed into this small room, and I squeezed my way through to the bed to get to her.
"Mckenzie? Are you alright?" I asked, adapting the voice Katie had used that sounded like I was speaking to a child.
She only groaned and mumbled something back. Katie was still attempting to tie her hair up but failing as her whole body was limp and essentially dead weight.
"How are you getting home? I think you should call it a night," Alicia proposed sensibly.
"She was supposed to be sorting it," I fretted, picking Mckenzie's phone up from the bed to have a look to see if she'd made any arrangements.
There was messages in the notification centre but she had the setting on that didn't allow you a preview, so I was none the wiser of our plans. Obviously the device was locked, and upon realising that I started to panic.
"It's locked," I grumbled to whoever was listening. "Mckenzie, what's your password?"
"T-two... one, fi-ive... nine," she muttered only just audibly, managing to get the words past her closed lips as she lay there with her eyes shut and limbs dangling off the bed.
I tried the code she'd told me in a hurry, but it was incorrect. I tried it two more times to check I hadn't made a mistake but came to no avail.
"That's not right, Mckenzie. What is your phone pass code?" I repeated, but she only groaned again. I looked helplessly at the rest of the people in the room and they just stared back at me cluelessly.
I cleared my mind and thought for a second, and that's when the most ingenious thought popped into my head. I grabbed her heavy arm and took her fingers in-between mine, singling out one and placing it on the home button of her phone, an actual cheer of victory departing from me when the phone successfully unlocked.
Back to business. I scoured her messages, finding that her attempts to flirt with some boy on Facebook messenger had not bagged us a lift home. At this point, Mckenzie started gagging and heaving and everyone started manically trying to lift her up, calm her down and find her a bucket. One eventually was shoved underneath her head, but despite all the dramatic noises she never was sick.
"Why don't you go downstairs and call someone? Try and find someone to come and get you both? We'll sort her, promise," the boy said. He was clearly the most level-headed of the group.
I nodded, obliging by scuttling off down the stairs and out the front door. A huge breath of cold air was drawn into my lungs as I tried to think. Who would bother coming out at this time to pick me and a paralytic Mckenzie up from a house in the middle of nowhere?
Niall? Definitely not, he hated me. Liam? That would've been cruel and incredibly awkward. Zayn? I'd already caused him enough trouble recently. Louis? That was our best shot. He and Mckenzie weren't on good terms but I was friends with him, and he was always there for me.
I found his contact in her phone and hastily pressed call. When he answered his voice sounded irritated.
"Mckenz-"
"It's Jess," I cut him off.
"Oh, hi Jess?"
"Hi. Listen, can you come and get us?"
"I would but I'm a bit busy at the minute, darlin'..."
"Mckenzie's like... dead, and we have no way of getting home. Please, Louis."
"Hold on a minute," he mumbled, as if he didn't want someone else to hear. I heard shuffling like he was walking to another room before a door shut. "Jess, I can't come and pick you up because I'm at Zayn's and we've been smoking, but... I could ask Harry," he was very hesitant, knowing I would object.
"No. No, I don't want him here. I-"
"He's your only hope, Jess. I'm stoned. He's here but he hasn't smoked anything, you don't have to ask him - I'll do it and say it's for Mckenzie."
I was about to speak when the front door swung open and Mckenzie herself wobbled out. She stormed across the grass with tears streaming down her face, crying loudly and shouting whenever one of the people chasing after her tried to assist her in walking or calm her down.
"What's that?" I heard Louis' voice come through the speaker but I was barely paying attention to it, all my focus on my best friend seemingly having some kind of breakdown.
"What's wrong?" I shouted over to my trusty assistant - the boy that I'd relied on to sort her out.
"He's such a díck!" Mckenzie screamed, and no one answered me. "All he wants from me is someone to shag!"
"Jess?" Louis called through the phone, trying to get my attention again.
"Hold on," I said in a rather rude tone, not thinking as I rushed over to the scene playing out.
"All he does is use me! What is wrong with boys?" Her voice was overly loud, making me cringe at the thought of the neighbours listening.
At least five other people were following her, trying to get her to go inside or do something other than cause a commotion. She was slapping at their helping hands and still crying hard, her voice was stammering and slurring and she was sobbing uncontrollably - it was obvious she was much more awake than she was five minutes ago, but now she was being aggressive and loud. I watched as her foot got caught up on the stone lining the path and she tumbled onto the dewey grass.
"Mckenzie, what's wrong?" I tried to get through to her, towering over her body on the ground.
"I don't want to be just some trashy girl! You know? I've told him I want to be more than that and he just doesn't want to hear it!"
"Are you talking about Louis?" I concluded, and she shrieked at the mention of his name. Her makeup was all over her face, knotty hair slightly damp in places and now mud covered her clothes. She really was a wreck.
"I feel like some słag!" she bellowed, and I told her to keep her voice down. "He doesn't want me for anything else!"
"I'm sure he does, you know what they're like."
"What the fuçk is going on, are you alright?" I realised I still had the phone pressed to my ear when the man himself's voice finally made it through to me. He was practically shouting now, since I'd obviously been ignoring him and he could hear what was going on.
"Louis please, I need someone to come and get us," I said desperately without even thinking about it.
"What's going on? Is she okay?"
"She's lying on the garden out the front of the house screaming, crying and ranting about you," I informed him.
"Fuçking hell!" He spat, sounding exasperated just from the snippets of the conversation he'd heard. "Right, okay. Text me the address. We're coming."
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This chapter is based entirely on a true story. Like... all this stuff actually happened. Everything from the girly night, to the huge dog, to the using of the finger to unlock the phone (which by the way I'm still really proud of). I was Jess in the scenario, and there was a big group of us that went to this kid's house and I didn't know anyone, half of them left early and then my friend was like on her deathbed and I was left to sort it all out. Ellie to the rescue. What's to come is the really outrageous part, I'm excited for the next chapter ;)
What do you think might happen next?
I said there would be a delay in the uploading of this chapter but I'm super awesome and found the time to finish it so it's actually up earlier than most of my chapters have been recently. LESS THAN THREE WEEKS TIL FRONT ROW 1D HELP US THINK OF A FUNNY SIGN!!!!
Highlight with a question! (Don't be shy, I love questions)
My question for you: If you are of appropriate age, what is your most outrageous story of this nature? ;) Mine is 100% this one, seriously, when you hear what happened next... Jesus.