JESS
I wake up to see the sky already dark outside his window. He's snoring softly above me and I turn in his arms to look up at him. The usual crease between his eyebrows is nowhere to be seen and the constant smirk that adorns his lips has been replaced with a parted pout. He stirs in his sleep as my phone buzzes on the nightstand and I curse under my breath as I untangle myself from him and turn it on silent.
Despite my efforts to keep him asleep, he rolls over into my lap and peels his eyes open with a groan. I mindlessly run my fingers through his bedhead as I scroll through countless posts I'm tagged in from the party last night. Most of them are just drunken sing-alongs and the beer pong game but a significant few are pictures of me and Harry kissing.
"What are you looking at?" He asks quizzically, straining to look at my phone while leaning on my shoulder.
"It's nothing." I sigh, turning my phone off and setting it back on the side table.
"It's not," He says, looking up to meet my eyes, "What's wrong? You went from being fine to being pissed in like two seconds."
"It's just," I huff, wondering why I'm even mad about this, "There's so many people posting about us kissing last night and rumors are everywhere about me dating two guys."
"So what? Who cares?" He laughs, standing from the bed and walking over to the mirror above his dresser.
"I do, Harry," I sigh, following him to the other side of the room, "I don't want to be known as some school slut."
He turns around suddenly, grabbing me by the shoulders, "Hey, you aren't, it's just a bunch of people with nothing better to do than talk shit."
I sigh, letting my eyes drift from his to the floor but he's not having that. He grabs my chin in his hand and tilts my face up to meet his again.
"If it's bothering you than let's do something about it." He assures me.
"What are we going to do? Never speak to each other again?" I huff.
"No, obviously not, who the hell would I play beer pong with?" He laughs, "No, we're gonna go somewhere."
"How is that going to help?" I groan, watching as he paces over to his closet, deep in thought.
"I've got it, The Stroke." He says simply.
"The what?"
"The Stroke, it's a bar on the rougher side of things but-"
"Wait, a bar? That's how we're going to fix this?" I huff, folding my arms across my chest.
"Listen dollface, think about it, I'm intoxicated in a room full of easy women, it won't take long for the student body to find another rumor to spread." He winks smugly, a smirk spreading on his face.
I roll my eyes, shoving him out of my way to get to the bathroom but of course he follows me all the way there defending his idea.
"My god Harry, you're so-"
"Charming? Charismatic?" He suggests, leaning against the closed door of the bathroom, "Oh wait I've got it, ruggedly handsome?"
"How about not nearly as badass as you think you are." I smirk, opening the door and shoving him back through it.
I close it again and hear him protesting on the other side, his fist banging against the wood.
"Jess! Oh come on, I'm joking you-"
I open the door abruptly to see him with his arm still raised in the air, the end of his sentence dangling on the end of his tongue.
"What was that you were going to say? You...fantastic person who is also my best friend in the whole world?" I grin and the worried look in his eye vanishes as he throws his arm around my shoulders and walks me back to his bedroom.
"Yes, exactly what I was going to say." He laughs, shoving me into his room and shutting the door behind us.
We agree to meet Sam and Louis at the bar in an hour. Sam is overly excited considering I never want to go out anywhere and both of them are overly in love from staying with each other for a solid week alone. As soon as we get inside they're sitting on barstools and grabbing all over each other, their lips super glued together.
I turn away from the burlesque next to me to see Harry snapping at the bartender to get his attention. He comes over with a pad of paper, a pen, and a name tag that reads Kevin.
"I'll have a Jager bomb and she'll have a vodka and sprite." He says nonchalantly, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it between his lips.
I roll my eyes knowing that he is fully aware that I'm not a fan of vodka. He turns to me with a smirk and blows a cloud of smoke the other way.
"Can I get some I.D.?" Kevin asks, interrupting our staring.
Harry turns to him with his eyes narrowed, removing the cigarette from his lips. While Kevin looks unbothered I know that Harry's about to chew him up and spit him out.
"I.D.? Really kid?" He asks, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt to display his forearms completely covered in tattoos, "How's this? I didn't get these yesterday mate."
Kevin rolls his eyes, "Listen, it's procedure."
Harry huffs, his cigarette bobbing between his lips as he takes out his wallet and produces his I.D., sliding it across the bar counter and I do the same. Kevin takes a look at both of them and nods, handing them back to us but Harry grabs mine before I have a chance to.
"Harry, give it back, it's horrible." I groan, reaching around him to grab my I.D. from his hand.
"Wow, Jessica Rose, huh?" He laughs, handing it back to me.
Before he has a chance to put his away I snatch it from his hand hoping to see his middle name too. I'm surprised by his picture to see his hair cropped short and his arms free of tattoos. He looks like any regular guy without any metal in his face and his hair above his shoulders.
"Oh my god." I gasp, holding it out of his grasp as he wraps his arms around me to get it back.
I scan the rest of it, Harry Edward Styles. Birthday is February first, he's twenty-five.
"Hold on, wait," I think aloud, turning to see his face over my shoulder, "You're twenty-five?"
"Yeah, why?" He shrugs.
"Because we're both seniors and you're another three years older than me. You started college at twenty? I thought schools in the UK graduated from high school sooner than us, not later."
"They do, I just didn't go to college right away." He says carefully, taking the card from my hand and putting it away.
"What did you do out of high school then?" I ask curiously, the image of him tattooless still in the back of my mind.
He opens his mouth to speak but Kevin cuts in, placing our drinks in front of us as well as taking orders from Sam and Louis who have pulled away from each other long enough to get two beers. I desperately want him to finish explaining but we're once again interrupted as a blonde girl in a pink dress approaches him with a wicked smile on her lips.
"Harry! I had no idea you'd be here tonight." She smirks, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, Lynnette, what's up." He grins, turning on the charm as he turns to talk to her.
Suddenly I'm between two parties of flirting, third wheeling on all sides and wishing I could just go home. I take a sip of my vodka soda and gag, putting it back down quickly and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. Lynnette grabs Harry's hand and starts to drag him towards the dance floor before he's barely taken a sip of his drink. I know he needs at least two beers worth of alcohol in his system to be up for dancing, but he lets her drag him to the middle of the crowd.
She grabs onto him, running her hands down his chest and moving her hips in ways that I could never. His hair is sticking to his forehead in minutes and his hands are roughly grabbing her waist and moving her against him. She presses her lips to his and I turn around, sighing as I come face to face with the bartender.
"You've got some shitty friends." Kevin remarks with a smile as he leans on the bar top across from me.
"They're just having a good time, this isn't my scene anyways." I shrug, mistakenly taking another sip of the vodka soda in front of me.
He laughs when I nearly choke on it, putting it back down and pushing it away from myself so I don't accidentally drink it again.
"Want a real drink?" He asks, taking the glass away from me.
"Please." I laugh.
He grabs a shaker and multiple bottles of schnapps and syrups. He measures them all expertly before pouring the mixture into a cocktail glass and garnishing it with maraschino cherries. He slides it to me and I bring it to my lips, taking a small sip of the sweet pink drink.
"I call it the love potion." He grins, expectantly.
"It tastes amazing, almost too good, I could probably drink five of these and not feel it until I stand up." I laugh, taking another sip.
"I'll make four more if you let me drive you home after." He smirks, finally working his play into the conversation.
I open my mouth to answer but I'm cut off by his voice behind me and his hand on my shoulder. I look up to see his face reddened and I can't tell if it's out of anger or being flustered on the dance floor.
"Don't you have some glasses to clean up?" He huffs, glaring at Kevin.
"No?" Kevin says innocently.
Harry grabs the cocktail glass and shoves it off the bar top, letting it hit the ground and shatter into a million pieces.
"Now you do." He smirks, grabbing my hand and dragging me away.
I rip his hand away from mine and shove him away, "What the hell are you doing?"
"You didn't drink any of that did you?" He asks, cutting me off.
"Yeah, I did, I was having a great time until you just had to-"
"Jess shut up, how much did you drink? Did you see him make it?" He asks worriedly, grabbing my shoulders worriedly.
I shrug him off, finished with his over protectiveness, "Harry this isn't some college party, he didn't lace my fucking drink!"
He grabs my hand midair and tugs me to him, keeping his voice low, "Jess, this place is famous for drugging girls up, they have a track record."
I roll my eyes, trying to decide whether or not to believe him. He's always like this, trying to scare me into letting him control me. My mind goes back to Kevin's suggestion of letting him drive me home. No, he's wrong, he's just trying to make me nervous like he always does. I was barely talking to a guy and he just has to ruin it. Meanwhile he's eating Lynnette's face on the dance floor and I do nothing. Not today, not tonight. If he's going to ruin my night, then I'll ruin his.
"You're right, I'm sorry." I say as confidently as I can.
He eyes me warily, he knows this is out of character. I've never apologized, perhaps that was too far. I grab his hand and drag him back to the bar where Lynette is sitting with two beers for the two of them. My blood boils when I look next to her and my eyes land on none other than Ashlyn, waving Harry over to them excitedly. I grab Harry's hand and wrap it around my waist instead. I can read his eyes as we approach the only two seats left at the bar, I can nearly hear his voice in my mind, "What game are you playing, Lawson?"
He takes a seat on the barstool and Lynette offers me the only one left right next to him.
"No thanks, I've already got a seat." I grin, taking a seat on his lap and nearly making him spill his drink.
I reach for his denim jacket, hung on the back of his chair. I slide it over my shoulders and grab his beer from his hand, bringing it to my lips and taking a sip. Lynette and Ashlyn are looking at me with daggers for eyes and Harry is trying to suppress his surprise.
"Oh, it's you, what's your name again?" Ashlyn asks carefully through gritted teeth.
"Jess, you're Ashlyn, right?" I ask.
"Yup, that's me," She smiles, "so I didn't know you and Harry knew each other."
"We sure do, we hang out all the time, not sure it's in the same light that you two, hang out, however." I smirk, raising my eyebrows.
Her jaw nearly hits the ground and suddenly Harry is choking on his beer, spitting his sip back into his cup accidentally. I lean back into him, grabbing his arm and wrapping it around my shoulders. I smirk at Lynette, a confident grin to let her know to walk away. I know I've had the intended effect when they both stomp away from us and over to Sam and Louis sat at the other end of the bar.
Harry picks me up and sets me back on the ground, getting off the barstool and following them. I grab his hand and tug him back to me and he eyes me angrily, glancing between me and the other girls a few seats over.
"What the hell are you doing?" He huffs.
I wrap my arms around his waist loosely, catching a glimpse of Ashlyn's angry stare from the corner of my eye. I can't help but grin as I look up at him, his own face pulled taut and glaring.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I smirk, releasing his waist and taking his hand instead.
"Jess, I thought-"
"Call me dollface, you know I like it better." I tease obnoxiously as I lead us past them making it loud enough for Ashlyn to hear clearly.
He looks at me like I'm insane, he knows how much I hate the nickname. I decide we're both going to need another drink if I'm going to make this work. Just glancing at Ashlyn makes me livid and reminds me of the time I walked in on her and Harry in her dorm. It makes me sick just thinking about it.
"Fine, dollface, I thought we were here because we didn't want people to-"
"Let's dance, come on, Louis and Sam are already out there." I say quickly, cutting him off.
I feel Lynette and Ashlyn's eyes on me as I drag him towards the dance floor. I shove him in Sam and Louis's direction and go back to the bar to order two double whiskey cokes. I bring the glass back to him and clink them together, both of us knocking our heads back and chugging them down. He's eyeing me warily; does he know what I'm up to or have I fully confused him?
I grab his hands in mine and tug him to me, turning around in his arms and placing his hands on my waist. I move my hips to the pulsating beat coming through the speakers around us and bump into countless sweaty bodies around me. He's rigid at first, continuing to spew questions of what I'm doing and why I think this is a good idea, but I don't care, I only pay attention to the awestruck faces of the two bimbos sat at the bar.
I can feel the whiskey hitting him as his movements get sloppy. Surely enough his hands are moving all over me and my vision is doubling. The world around me is moving like it's under a strobe light. I can hear my heavy breathing echoing in my ears and the bass from the speakers is thumping in my chest. His hands are like fire on my skin, holding me against him and occasionally reaching to rub the sweat off his forehead.
Suddenly his lips are pressed to the back of my neck and I'm gasping as every inch of my skin is covered in goosebumps. He blows cool air against the veil of sweat on my skin and causes a shiver to run down my spine before his lips continue moving down my neck and to my collar bone. I'm nearly shaking in his arms as the fiery feeling of his lips on my skin lingers. Suddenly Sam is standing in front of me and grabbing my hand to tug me towards the pool table. I'm ripped away from him and as soon as I'm no longer intoxicated by his touch I can think clearly. What the hell was I thinking? What just happened?
"Come on, there's a pool tournament, Louis and Harry should play." She slurs, tripping over her own feet as she drags me along with her.
Louis and Ashlyn are already leaning against the table with beers in one hand and pool sticks in the other. I look around for Harry and my eyes meet his across the room. He's chugging a glass of water, blinking his eyes rapidly and swallowing hard. I walk myself over to him and convince myself not to grab his face and kiss his swollen lips.
"I thought we were, I thought we weren't doing this." He says exasperatedly.
"Doing what? Surely I have no idea what you mean." I smirk, my words slurring as they pour from my mouth.
His eyes follow me, and I can sense the anger in his glare but the way he's eyeing me with his lip ring pulled between his teeth tells a different story.
"You make absolutely no sense, dollface." He groans.
"I know, now come on," I grin, grabbing his hand and tugging him, "You said you were going to teach me billiards and I'm holding you to it."
He reluctantly allows me to lead him to the now crowded pool table. He picks up the remaining pool sticks from the corner and passes one to me as Louis and Ashlyn walk around the table, blindly shooting at the billiard balls on the table.
"Have you ever played pool?" He asks, leaning on the table and lining up a shot into the right corner pocket.
"Maybe once or twice." I say but it comes out sounding more like a question.
He brings his arm back and shoots the pool stick forward quickly, causing the sharp snapping sound of pool balls hitting each other before he sinks two of them in the right corner pocket. I don't expect him to be as good when he's drunk but he stands up proudly, his usual smirk adorning his stupid face as he tosses his pool stick back to Louis.
"Alright, Lawson, bend over." He smirks, obviously buying into my challenge.
"Cute." I muse, rolling my eyes as I meet his glossy, drunken ones and he moves behind me with that slumped grin on his face.
He guides me to lean over the table just like he was and wraps his arms around me, holding my arms in the right position. He pulls my right arm backwards and prompts me to shoot it forward just like he did. Despite being worried that I'll somehow injure him with my elbow, I do as he says and hit the striped ball straight into the left middle pocket. I look over my shoulder to see him already staring, a huge grin covering his face.
I hear Ashlyn's huff of exasperation from across the room and my eyes just barely flicker to see her walking back towards the exit into the full bar. Just seeing her sauntering across the room makes my blood boil and my eyes instantly move back to Harry to make sure he's not watching her little show. When his eyes drift to her, I'm livid. I hate that he's staring at her the same way that he was staring at me only a few minutes ago.
I position myself against him, leaning even further down against the table and I feel his arms tense around me as he helps me line up for my next shot. He sucks in a breath, his body going rigid against me.
"Fuck, baby, what are you doing?" He grunts mindlessly.
His words make me shiver and instantly I want to do anything that will make him say it again. Suddenly Ashlyn and Lynette are nowhere in my mind, only images of his swollen pink lips and dangerously green eyes. I turn around in his arms and he shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry, that just came out-"
I cut him off, grabbing a hold of his shirt and tugging him down to me, connecting our lips. Our lips meet with a smack and several gasps can be heard around the room. He's surprised at first, his lips like statues as he tries to take a step away from me, obviously I caught him off guard.
"Jess, what are you doing?" He mumbles against my mouth.
"Shut up and kiss me." I huff, wrapping my arms around his neck and threading my fingers through his hair.
He smiles against my lips, that devious smirk of his, I can taste the liquor on his breath. His hands reach around my waist and pull me flush against him, causing my breath to nearly catch in my throat. He presses his mouth to mine, much more elegantly than I did. His hands reach down and grip my ass, pulling me upwards to straddle his waist before he sets me on the edge of the pool table and positions himself between my shaking legs.
Every nerve in my body is exploding with fireworks as his lips move against mine and Howlin' For You plays through the speakers above us. I can feel Ashlyn's eyes on us along with everyone else's, the surprise in the air is tangible. He pulls away from me and rips his denim jacket from my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor, his burning eyes never leaving mine. The curve to his lips and the severity of his gaze sends a chill through me and I'm shaking as he leans back into me and tugs my lip between his teeth, making me shudder.
Suddenly he pulls away from me all together, grabbing his jacket from the ground and shrugging it back up on his shoulders. He takes out a cigarette and lights it between his lips, running a hand through his now messy hair, while I'm sat on the edge of the pool table, frozen. Why did he stop?
"Why did you-" I mutter, my voice barely audible.
"Show's over, right?" He quips, cutting me off, "They all left." He smirks, gesturing to the empty space around us.
"What?" I huff for the second time tonight, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I just didn't think you were the type." He shrugs thoughtfully, leaning against the wall and twirling one of the pool sticks in his hand while he takes a drag of his cigarette from the other.
"What type?"
"The jealous type." He laughs.
"I am not jealous." I argue, "I have nothing to be jealous of."
"Oh, whatever. Look me in the eye and tell me that kiss wasn't just a stunt because you want to prove something to Ashlyn." He says maliciously, stepping closer to me and leaving the pool stick leaning against the wall.
"I have nothing to prove to Ashlyn! Who cares what some whore thinks of me!"
"Exactly." He smirks, "So why does she get to you?"
It takes every fiber of my being not to scream in his face that it's the way he wraps his arm around her waist that makes my blood boil. That thinking of the day when I walked in on her in his room makes my skin crawl. Any thought of her is enough to bring on a rage I haven't felt in a long time and all I want to do is shock her to the point that her perfectly puckered lips hit the floor along with her gaping jaw. If he would have just left me alone with Kevin none of this would have happened, he could have gone home with Ashlyn and I wouldn't have batted an eye. I wouldn't have wanted to ruin his night just like he ruined mine. This is his fault.
"I can't believe you think I'm stupid enough to get caught up in this jealously bullshit." I sigh, turning away from him.
He reaches for me as I'm walking away and calls my name behind me, but I just keep going. I'm not jealous, there's no way I'm jealous. What do I have to be jealous of? Sure, Ashlyn has him along with every other slut on campus, what do I care? But why would he kiss me back like that if he thought it was all a show? Why did he play along?
My head hurts as I approach the crosswalk and try to decide where to go. If I could go back to hugging Miles in the drive way I would, I never would have walked into that bar. I made a mistake, that's all, it was nothing. The tingles from my fingertips to my toes, the exquisite feeling of his smirking mouth pressed to mine, it was nothing. It keeps replaying in my mind over and over and suddenly I realize it was something, it was everything, because now I'm sat at a cross walk at midnight, miles from anywhere with my trembling fingers pressed to my electric lips hoping that the feeling of him pressed against me never fades.