(Concert play by play in the authors note at the end! Also edit in the sidebar!)
“Ready?” I nodded. We hadn’t ever had “the talk” but I’d made my decision. I didn’t have to hear anything else, my mind was made up and nothing would change that. His lips latched back onto mine and I knew that it was his last desperate attempt to distract me.
Before he could make another move though, a loud banging rang throughout the flat. I broke away, mortification sending my racing heart to a dramatic stop. I sighed, my disappointment audible.
“No,” he ordered, pulling me back by my chin, “Gwen.” A wild grin broke across my face. Of course. Gwen was here. Gwen could answer the door. Gwen wasn’t about to take the biggest leap forward in her relationship history ever. Once again his lips crashed down on mine and I found myself getting lost in the ferocity of it.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Harry,” I whimpered, pushing him away slightly, “we can’t.” Before I even had the chance to let myself get sucked back in, I stepped out of the tub. I was going to kill the bastard banging on my door. I was going to kill them and then I was going to kill Gwen. Then, once all completely unnecessary distractions were gone Harry and I were going to continue what we were doing when we were so rudely interrupted.
Yanking my robe around my dripping body, I stomped to the front door.
Where the hell was Gwen?
“What?” I yelled, throwing the door open.
“Honey, I’m home.” Golden eyes sparked back at me from their incredibly unwanted owner standing in front of me. Adrien.
Cassie’s POV:
“What are you doing here?” I was too stunned to do anything but stand there gaping at him. I could feel the water in my hair dripping down my back and onto the floor, but I didn’t care.
“Cass, who is it?” I paled as Harry came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, resting his head on my shoulder. I didn’t even have to turn around to know that he still wasn’t completely clothed, I could see it on Adrien’s face. His expressions shifted from the malicious grin He had been wearing when I’d opened the door to shock, and then to barely contained rage. He had put the pieces together Himself.
“Aid! Hey, I didn’t know you and Cassie were friends?” Harry laughed, running a hand through his sopping curls. He was clearly confused, but hell, I’d take confused boyfriend over enraged psycho ex any day.
“Oh yeah, we’re über close!” I glared at Him. His mocking tone was getting on my last nerve.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I growled, crossing my arms across my chest. If Harry felt any of the tension that was rapidly filling the air around us he didn’t let on.
“Awe, come on Cass, don’t be that way,” He cheered, a sadistic smile curling His lips, His eyes glued to Harry’s arms still locked protectively around my waist. I couldn’t help but grin triumphantly back at Him.
“What do you want, Adrien?”
“Oh, I just thought I’d do you a favor and bring this by.” I balked. Hanging on His index finger by one thin scarlet strap was my bra. A very old bra. A bra that I’d left in His dorm room back in North Carolina.
“I mean, I know that you had planned on coming over and getting it later, but I was in the area so I thought I’d save you the trip.” I felt Harry stiffen behind me and we all knew that Adrien had struck a nerve.
“Gee, how thoughtful of you,” I growled. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm further. Already the mental image of my hands curling around his thick neck was filling my head, tinting my vision red.
“Eh, I do what I can,” He shrugged, “Hey, mind if I use your bathroom?” He didn’t even wait for me to respond before pushing past me into the flat, “Ah! Found it! Thanks, Sweetheart!” I cringed at His choice of words.
“Um, Cassie?” Harry. Shit. I’d have to settle for killing Adrien later. Right now, I was on damage control. Taking a deep breath, I turned to face the incredibly confused and increasingly angry curly haired boy, “What the fuck?” He growled, the emphasis behind each word nearly knocking me off my feet.
“Ha, funny story,” I laughed, my nerves racing to come up with an explanation that would keep the immanent blood bath from happening. Anything was better than the truth. Not that he’d believe his new “best mate” was a psychopath anyway.
“So you know how y’all couldn’t find me the other day? Yeah well, Niall had come over and he and Gwen were all but humping on the couch, so I left. I-I ran into Adrien and it.... uh-... it started to rain and I didn’t have anywhere to go so I-I kind of...” I trailed off, the last few words a mumbled confession.
“What?”
“I-I crashed at His place,” my voice was only slightly louder this time but I knew that he’d heard me.
“I still waiting for the part where this gets funny.” His eyes were as hard and cold as the malachite they resembled.
“Well I... uh... He offered me a drink and I-I was so upset...” Angry and confused tears started to flood my eyes. Today had been so perfect, this whole week had been so damn near perfect that I could kill Adrien for ruining it.
“So what, Cassie. You stayed at a random man’s flat? A man you barely know?” The volume of his voice kept threatening to raise and I shifted uncomfortably on the balls of my feet. I knew Adrien was sitting in the other room listening from behind the closed door.
“I didn’t have anywhere else to go Harry,” I argued, completely ignoring his questions. I didn’t want to get into this with him right now. I was terrified that if he continued to pressure me for answers about Adrien all hell would break lose and someone, probably Harry, would end up in the hospital. Adrien had made it quite clear that if I ever did tell Harry, He would be sure to make him forget it.
“You could have come home!” I could tell that he was trying to remain calm, but his hands were clawing at his curls and his eyes were wild. I was seriously going to beat the living shit out of Adrien for this. We had finally gotten to a good place and then He had to go and ruin it.
“I would prefer not to see my best friend with her legs around your band mate”s face!”
“Cassie, I didn’t say here. I said home.” His eyes flashed and I knew exactly where he meant. We both knew that my home was with him now; I supposed it had been for a while.
“No. No, I couldn’t.” I shook my head, my self-control betraying me as the tears sprang free, running down my cheeks.
“What do you want me to do to prove to you that you can trust me?”
“I-I can’t be that-that girl anymore.”
“What girl?”
“That girl who can’t fight her own damn battles,” I growled, sucking in several sharp breaths struggling to regain my composure, “I’m sick of always depending on other people to save me. I love you, I do, but you’re not always going to be there to come to my rescue, Harry.” I gritted my teeth, knowing that Adrien was hearing every single word said.
“So you won’t let me help you but you’ll let a guy you’ve known for less than two weeks?” I could see the pain lurking just behind the cool mask he was putting up between us.
“Harry! Just let it go! You don’t know anything about Him or about what happened! Not everything is always so black and white! There are shitty, fucked up grey areas where things are muddled and sucky. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you, Harry. You’re supposed to trust me to do what I believe to be the right thing. We’re supposed to trust each other!” I yelled, no longer caring if Adrien or any of my neighbors heard us.
“I do trust you! It’s you that doesn’t trust me!”
“What?”
“I don’t know anything because you don't trust me enough to tell me!”
“There’s nothing to tell! It was raining and he gave me a place to stay. We had a couple drinks and then fell asleep. Nothing happened!”
“Then why the hell does he have your bra?”
“That’s a good fucking question,” I mumbled, glaring at the darkened hallway where I knew he stood, eavesdropping. I saw a shadow flicker along the wall and I shifted my glare to the curly haired boy in front of me. I knew he was still looking for an answer.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. I had no clue how he had the bra or why but I sure as hell was going to find out, “He’ll be back any second. I can’t do this with you right now,” I sighed, raking my nails across my scalp. The dragging pain soothed me, clearing my head.
“So what? You expect me to just let this go? I can see there there’s something going on here, something you’re refusing to tell me!”
I blanked. He knew? Slowly, I shook my head, a silent dismissal of his accusations. I couldn’t deal with this right now.
“N-No, I expect you to trust me, Harry,” I stuttered, wrapping my arms around his neck. He visibly relaxed and I marveled at the fact that one simple touch could have that sort of effect.
“I do,” he mumbled, burying his face in my neck.
“Then let me sort this mess out.”
“Cass.”
“Trust me,” I whispered, pecking him gently on the cheek.
“I do, it’s him I don’t trust,” he huffed, pushing past me to slip a pair of his jeans, a t-shirt, and his shoes. Something inside of me relaxed. Harry was more observant than I gave him credit for.
“I thought y’all were friends?” I mumbled, plucking at the curls on the back of his neck, my mind racing at the sudden possibility of Harry knowing. I wouldn’t have to keep lying to him.
“We were.” He pressed a quick peck to my forehead, pulling away to scoop up his phone and his keys before turning back to me.
“Harry,” I pleaded, “please don’t leave.” I was terrified of the prospect of being alone with Adrien. He was at the breaking point right now.
“I’ll be back,” he grumbled, “we will talk about this later,” His eyes flashed, warning me that he was definitely not ready to drop it. I expelled a breath I didn’t know I was holding when he placed a chaste kiss to my cheek before walking out of the apartment, the front door clicking shut behind him.
“Trouble in paradise?” I struggled to restrain the overwhelming urge to beat the life out of the blonde at the sound of His smug chuckle behind me. I jolted when cold hands gripped my hips.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” I screamed, whipping around and shoving Him back as hard as I could. He stumbled backward, His expression shifting from amused, to shocked, then back to amused. He eyed me slowly before crossing His arms across his broad chest with a lazy grin. My blood was boiling and I swore I was seeing red.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” I growled, stalking forward. I knew that it was useless to try and match His height so I settled for glaring defiantly up at Him. My anger was giving me confidence and I wasn’t backing down any time soon.
“Doing you a favor,” He shrugged, his malicious grin was making me sick to my stomach. He had so many personalities it was hard to keep track. Right now I was dealing with the milder, smug version of Jealous Adrien. Jealous Adrien was possibly the most dangerous of all of His many personas. The annoyingly persistent voice in my head kept warning me away. I was dangerously close to pushing Him over the edge. If I tipped forward any farther we would both plummet head over heels into oblivion. I was dancing on the edge and I needed to be careful.
“No. You’re doing yourself a favor. I was happy. I was happy without you and you just couldn’t fucking stand it so you felt the need to come over here and fuck with the one truly good thing I had left in my life.” He didn’t say anything, He didn’t have to. The victorious smirk plastered across His face spoke volumes.
“I put an entire ocean between us, Adrien. Why can’t you just take the hint? I moved here to get away from you, to get away from everything holding me back. But you’re like a parasite! No matter what I do to try to get rid of you, you keep coming back. It’s killing me, Adrien. It is literally killing me!” Something softened in his topaz gaze as useless tears pooled in my eyes.
“I hate lying to him, Aid,” I whispered. My anger was dissipating, leaving me with gut wrenching guilt. I was emotionally exhausted and I was sick of fighting with Him all the time.
“He doesn’t deserve you, Cass.”
I scoffed at the sound of his soft voice, swiping at the tears leaking down my cheeks, “And what? You do?”
“I never said that.”
“It was implied,” I grumbled, pushing past Him into the kitchen, readying the kettle. I’d picked up more than a few habits since moving in with Gwen, one of them being a dependence on tea to settle my nerves.
“I am making an effort here, Cassandra. Why can’t you see that?”
“Because you switch personalities so often that it’s giving me whiplash. Because every chance you get you do everything you can to undermine my relationship with Harry. Because I am still struggling to cope with the emotional trauma of my boyfriend nearly beating me to death,” I listed, refusing to look at Him as I bobbed the bag of mint tea up and down, swirling it in the boiling water.
His distinct groan sounded out behind me and I knew that He was scrubbing His hands across His face, something He only did when He was either stressed or frustrated.
“Cassie, please-.”
“Please what Adrien? What do you want because I am still trying to figure out why you’re here in the first place?”
“I want you to listen to me, to see that I’ve changed and to-... to give us a second chance.” I nearly laughed out loud.
“You’re joking right? Because there is no way in hell that you could possibly be serious.”
“We used to be happy, Cass.”
“Yeah we used to be as in past tense. It’s over now, Adrien. Leave the past alone.”
“I hadn’t had a drink for six months up until saturday night,” He whispered, taking me gently by the hips and spinning me around to face Him. I could see the honesty burning within His honey colored gaze and I had to look away.
“I’m glad,” I sighed, pressing a tentative hand against His chest as He pulled me closer still. I needed to keep some sort of space between us.
“I’ve been trying to change... for you.”
“I-... I appreciate that, Adrien, and I’m happy for you. Really, I am, but that doesn’t change anything. I’m with Harry. I love Harry.” Anger flashed through his amber gaze and I tensed but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
“For now.”
“Adrien, you can’t change my mind.” I could hear the determination in His voice and I knew that I was fighting a losing battle. Nothing I said would change His mind. He could be as stubborn as me.
“You loved me once, Cassie. You still love me,” I opened my mouth to protest but he held a finger up to my lips, “No. Don’t. I’ve seen it. I can see it right now. It’s the only thing keeping you from throwing me out on my ass.”
“I-.... I don’t...” I wanted to deny it but I couldn’t. I was sick of lying. I’d lied more in the past two weeks than I had in a year.
“What were you doing with that?” I sighed, raking one hand through my damp, knotted hair, gesturing at his trophy with the other.
“I had Dan ship my stuff out here. I left in a bit of a hurry and I didn’t know how long it would take to convince you to come back with me.”
“Adrien, I’m not-.”
“Not yet. Anyway, it was in one of the boxes.”
“And you felt the need to bring it here because...?” I prompted, choosing to ignore his claim in hopes of avoiding a worse argument.
“I wanted an excuse to see you again, plus I remembered it being one of your favorites.”
“That was a lifetime ago,” I mumbled, looking down at the limited space left between us.
“It wasn’t so long,” he whispered, tilting my chin up, forcing me to meet his soft gaze, “time flies when you have something to look forward to.” Before I could say another word his lips crashed down against mine. Fire coursed through my body and my self-control flew out the window. My fingers tangled in his hair, his lips moving in an old, familiar pattern with my own.
Once again that little voice decided to pipe up but this time it was backed by the frantic beating of my heart. This is wrong, Cassie. This is so fucking wrong.
I jolted at the sound of the front door slamming against the wall. My eyes flew open and I pushed him away, “Harry... I-,” I gasped, refusing to meet his eyes.
“You need to go.” His voice sent shards of ice racing through my veins.
“Cassie-.”
“Get the fuck out, Adrien!” I shrieked, wanting nothing more than to curl up into a ball in my own private corner of the universe and die.
He grinned at me, rolling His eyes before shoving His way past Harry and closing the door. The second he was gone I slid down to ground. I was shaking, my heart hammering against my chest. My skin was crawling and I felt revolting. I wiped one trembling hand across my mouth, desperate to rid myself of his taste. What had I just done?
A/N: Thank y'all so mcuh for reading!!!!!!
I'm sorry for the wait! This entire past week and a half has been total insanity! I was supposed to post this last night but I was a bit intoxicated so.......
Anyway, I know that y'all probably hate me for all of the cliffhangers by now but I promise that I do love y'all!!!!!!
I wish that I could be one of those writers who like updates on a consistent schedule but that would just stress me out and I probably wouldn't write at all. I try and get each chapter out to y'all as quickly as possible but it all depends on how complex a chapter is. Some are a lot easier to write than others so I have them out sooner. This chapter took about 4 hours total so yeah.
The next bit is a total recap of my concert experience so if you don't want to read it you don't have to! Thank y'all for reading Strings! Please spread it around! I love y'all so much it isn't even funny!!!!!!!
Concert Story Time...
Okay so this past sunday (July 21) One Direction performed in Houston. They arrived in town around noon on saturday. They had original reservations at the Four Seasons but they were forced to change because too many fans found out and it was a security issue. Instead, they stayed at the Hotel ZaZa in the Museum District in Downtown Houston. One of my best friends had made reservations at Hotel ZaZa last August so that she would have a place to go to after the concert this year. She reserved their best suite, the Black Label. It is the biggest in the hotel and by far the nicest. She invited me to come back to the hotel with her a few months ago and we had hoped that One Direction would stay there....... (Dreams CAN come true).
Anyway, I ended up waiting outside of the hotel in the rain for the majority of saturday. No one aside from Hotel Guests were allowed to go inside. Harry went golfing in River Oaks (The richest part of Houston) and Niall stayed at the hotel. No one really knows where the other boys were during their day off in Houston. Zayn got to the hotel around midnight and he was seen smoking out on the terrace of the Black Label suite.
We drove down to Hotel ZaZa the next morning and checked in around 8:00 AM. THey wouldn't let us into our suite yet so we went and had breakfast. We found out 2 hours later that One Direction were having breakfast at the same time in a private room... they were literally 20 feet away. We hung out around the hotel all morning, alternating from the hotel pool and the lobby. One of the times that we were on our way up to the pool, someone came down from the 12th floor. I was texting a bunch of my friends completely freaking out that we were in the hotel. A H U G E foreign man steps off the elevator and starts to yell at me and the two 15 year old girls that I had been placed in charge of for the day. He went as far as to call us "disgusting" and to say that we had "no self respect". I was fuming. We found out later on that it was Niall's P E R S O N A L security guard. We told the hotel staff about it and how completely ridiculous his behavior was. I know that they are truly just trying to do their jobs, but the fact that I had to stand there while a grown man verbally abused not only myself but the two minors that I was in charge of was completely uncalled for and unprofessional.
We saw Harry, Gemma, and Niall leave the hotel and head to the photoshoot and hotel staff gave them the painting that I had made of Harry. I saw the entire group walking out and one of the guards was carrying my rolled up painting out to the bus with them.
We decided to go for starbucks like an hour and a half later and accidentally came across one of the busses in an abandoned parkinglot. We followed it and it WENT BACK TO THE HOTEL. It was there to pick up Sandy, Dan and Josh. I talked to all three of them and they were incredibly nice. They couldn't take pictures becaue too many fans were still around but Josh was photobombing people taking pictures in front of the bus.
When we were finally able to check in we found out that Paul Higgins had been registed in our suite the night before and that a few of the boys had stayed in our room. We DESTROYED the room as soon as we got in, jumping in the beds and running through the bathrooms. There was glitter confetti all over the 12th floor, leading into our suite. The trail ended inside of the outdoor bathtub on the terrace. (We slept in their beds and showered in their showers. I sitll can't believe how close we were) We found Zayn's pack of cigarettes out on the terrace, there are still three left. There were used champagne flutes in the dishwasher too.
I made Lexi a poster right before we left the hotel. She had 2nd row tickets. During the concert 2/4 of 5SOS said happy birthday as well as the One Direction boys... (we have video proof). There is a picture of her poster on the One Direction instagram profile and a picture of us with the poster on my instagram @for_niallarnia.
This week has been so surreal and I still have issues comprehending everything that happened. I probably missed a few things but I still just...... omg. I can't breathe. We came so fucking close.
Anywayyyyyy that's my concert experience! Thank you to those of y'all that cared enough to read lol
Love y'all and I will try to have the next update out as soon as possible!!!!!!!!!!
Vote/Comment/Follow please!!!!!!!!!
♡Elle