The sound of eager hands gliding over skin, moving lips, and heavy panting mixed with moans of ecstasy filled the London flat. Other then those small noises the flat was silent.
It was when a click of a door was heard that the hands and the lips came to a quick stop and the moans turned to gasps of shock.
"Shit," Justin cursed under his breath.
"Hey, Justin! I'm home!"
Justin and Selena began panicking before Justin suddenly stopped and gripped Selena by her shoulders.
"Go into the restroom - automatically flush the toilet when you're in there," he whispered. "Then listen to what I say closely and go along with it."
Selena quietly rushed into the restroom down the hallway while Justin waited for his roommate to enter into the living room. Luckily before Selena came over, he had been playing video games. So Justin picked up the controller and started the game to make himself look busy.
"Hey mate," Zayn said, stepping onto the carpeted floor of the living room. As few seconds after the raven haired boy had sat down beside Justin, the flush of the toilet from down the hall was heard. "Who's here?"
Justin tried to seem nonchalant by keeping his eyes on the screen and appearing uninterested on the topic.
"Your sister came by to see you," he answered.
"Oh. How long has she been waiting?"
"Just a few minutes."
On cue, Selena exited out of the restroom and entered the living room.
"Hey, you're finally here," she smiled, plopping down on the sofa beside him. Zayn nodded and wrapped his arm around her. They leaned back to get comfortable.
"Yeah. What's up? You never come over randomly like this," Zayn said.
"Well I was on my way home but then I remembered that Christmas is a few days away and I was wondering how we're gonna spend it this year?" Selena lied although she was being partially honest. She was wondering how the pair were going to celebrate this year.
"Oh yeah," Zayn groaned. "God, I forgot it's Christmas time."
"How could you forget?" Justin laughed, pausing his game, then pointing to their large white Christmas tree decorated in blue hues that sat in the corner. "What'd you think we had that in here for?"
"I don't know, okay!"
Selena and Justin laughed at Zayn until he cut them off.
"Back on topic though! We can't go home this year that's for sure," Zayn stated.
Selena suddenly frowned. They couldn't go home. Home use to be in Bradford with their parents but they simply had nothing to go back to. There was no home anymore. Their parents had divorced and moved far away from Bradford, each other, and their children. Their father had moved to Australia with his new younger girlfriend while their mother moved to New York to be a CEO of a successful publishing company.
Justin spotted Selena's frown and wanted nothing more than to jump over Zayn and comfort her. He couldn't though. Zayn had no idea that his sister and his roommate have been secretly dating behind his back. If Zayn knew that Selena was seeing Justin, he'd rip Justin to shreds. He was protective of his sister and Justin didn't exactly have a clean reputation when it came to women. One thing was for sure though, Justin was madly in love with her. He hadn't told Selena yet but he was. The Canadian native was under her spell. He could no longer think of anything else but her. Justin was whipped.
"Yeah," Selena finally spoke up then sent a reassuring smile to both worrying boys. "So what then Zayn?"
"Well this can be my first Christmas with Perrie," he grinned widely. "We can plan something with her. What about you though Justin? You heading back home this Christmas?"
Justin shook his head. "Can't. I have work on the day after Christmas. There's no way I can get back on time. Plus knowing Canada, some type of blizzard will hit and I don't wanna take the chance of getting stuck back home and missing work."
"Looks like we're spending Christmas in London together for the first time," Zayn said. "This is the step to adulthood, you guys. I can feel it."
Selena giggled lightly.
"You guys don't mind me celebrating with you this Christmas?" Justin asked carefully.
"Of course not!" Selena replied back quickly.
"Not at all," Zayn added. "Plus I think this would be good for us. We're growing up and doing things on our own. This is good, you guys."
"Well alright then," Selena sighed, patting Zayn's leg and standing up. "Let me know when you talk to Perrie and straighten everything out, okay?"
Zayn nodded and offered to walk his sister to the door. Before Selena left the living room, she hugged a goodbye to Justin. She didn't pull away until she placed a sneaky kiss under his ear.
"See you next time," she smirked then left to the front door with Zayn trailing behind her.
The dark haired siblings bid each other farewell and Selena made her way to the lift.
• • •
The bell dinged on the countertop loudly and as the oven was opened, Howl Palace, was once again filled with the smell of chocolate.
"Selena! Your chocolate cake is ready!" Brian, a fry cook, yelled. Selena groaned as she tried finishing up the two slices of strawberry shortcake in front of her.
"Alice! Where the hell is Alice?!" Selena shouted back while putting the final touches on the pieces before her and placing them in clear, plastic containers. She sighed when she didn't get a response. Selena made her way to the oven, took the chocolate cake out and placed it on the prep table. Just as she was about to angrily demolish the cake for cake balls, Harry came strutting in.
"It's seven-thirty babe," Harry informed her." Our shifts are over."
"Alice here yet? Has she clocked in?"
Harry nodded. "She's talking with Debby so you're good to go."
Selena sighed in relief and nodded. She ordered for her and Alice's shadow to remind Alice of the cake. She then grabbed at the containers of dessert and exited into the employe locker room with Harry. The two packed their things, removed their uniforms and headed out.
"Any frustrating customers today?" Selena questions to Harry. The co-workers/friends were on their way to the uni campus while enjoying Selena's fresh strawberry shortcake.
Harry was still in school and a part time waiter at Howl Palace while Selena had graduated in the culinary arts (her specialty being pastries).
"They're always a handful," Harry said. "Especially the older folk."
Selena grimaced and silently gave thanks to not having to work in the front of the house like Harry. Plus she liked baking.
They continued walking, making light conversation. As they neared the building, Harry began removing his scarf. Selena looked over and noticed the various love bites scattered across his neck.
"So tell me Harold," she started with a smirk. "Did you have a late night last night?"
Harry turned to her confused until she indicated her eyes towards his neck and raised her eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh. I - um - maybe, okay?" Harry cracked near the end and the two began laughing lightly. "You could say that."
Selena eyed the marks embellishing his creamy skin again before suddenly turning serious with a sigh.
"You ever think of settling down?" she asked.
"What do you mean?"
Selena narrowed her eyes at him because he knew exactly what she meant.
"Have you ever fallen in love, Harry?"
Harry remained silent for a few seconds and he wanted to answer. He really did but he couldn't. Saying it out loud, made it real and it couldn't be real. It was too stupid of him to fall in love.
"Depends on what love really is," he finally answered somewhat truthfully.
"Well, I don't know," Selena replied sadly.
"Why the question?"
Selena shrugged. "I guess, I just grew curious. I always see you with hickeys but I've never heard you talk about a girlfriend."
"It's - " Harry bit at his lip and shook his head, not really sure how to explain it. "It's complicated."
"Oh, I know about complicated."
"Oh, really?" Harry mimicked her.
"Yeah."
"I'll tell you if you tell me," Harry bargained and held out his hand. Selena quickly agreed and shook his hand.
"Rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first?"
Harry laughed. "I'll go first."
"I'm all ears then, shoot!"
"Okay, all the hickeys are from the same person," he started. "But we aren't in a relationship. Well, we kind of are but at the same time we aren't."
"Complicated," Selena stated plainly.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "And it's just - actually come this way. I wanna show you something."
After throwing their containers of cake away in the nearest bin, he gripped at Selena's wrist and changed their direction on the path. Selena followed silently. Then soon came upon a record store.
"What's this?"
"It's the uni radio station," Harry told her. "They also sell records, CD's, films, exetreca. This isn't the point though."
Harry then grabbed Selena by her shoulders and positioned them so they weren't visible from the occupants of the store yet they could see in.
"Okay, now see that girl at the register," Harry said, pointing at the dark skinned beauty with pitch black hair in a large afro.
"Yeah. Is that your girl?"
"Not exactly. See her left hand?"
Selena squited, struggling to see what Harry wanted her to see on the girl's left hand. It was when the girl, left the counter to fix a few films on a high shelf that Selena spotted the shine of her ring. Two rings to be exact: an engagement ring and a wedding ring.
"So she's married," Selena pointed out. "What exactly is your point here Harry?"
"That's my point!" Harry said. "She's not exactly all mine . . . " He stopped himself there not wanting to fully say it. It sounded so vile and wrong being said. Harry knew it was so wrong.
"All yours?" Selena processed his words carefully and it hit her. Hit her so hard, her jaw dropped. "Is she having an affair with you?!"
"Yes!" Harry cried in confirmation then let it all spill out like word vomit. "It's wrong, I know! I don't know why - I just - I don't know, okay? I just really, really like her."
"Enough to possibly ruin her marriage? You know you can do that right? Ruin her marriage?"
"Yes, okay! Of course I know that and she knows that too!"
Selena sighed and she simply had no words to say until their previous conversation popped back in her head.
"Harry, do you love her?" she asked the green eyed boy.
"I already told you. I don't know. I'm not really sure what love should feel like, to be honest," he admitted. "But she makes me feel different. She makes me smile all the time and she just makes me really happy and - I guess, I can imagine us in the future. You know, having a future together - just me and her . . ."
"Oh Harry," Selena gasped. "You love her. You actually love her. What shit have you gotten yourself into?"
"Alright, that's enough. It's whatever, okay? I'll figure this out on my own," Harry said and began walking away from the record store. Selena followed after him with quick steps.
"I wanna help you but I don't really know how. All I can say is: tell her how you feel. Be honest and don't let this affair drag on. This isn't right, Harry, and you know that."
"Yeah, I know," he confirmed. "What about you then? Please make me feel less like shit."
"Well, I'm not having an affair. I'll start off with that," Selena frowned not really pleased with what Harry was doing. "But I've been hiding my relationship from my brother, Zayn."
"Why?" Harry asked incredulously. From what Selena had told him, she and her brother were extremely close. Selena adored her brother and he adored her. They were the only family the other had really.
"He wouldn't be very happy with who I'm dating."
"Why?" Harry repeated.
"I'm dating his roommate and well, he's kind of a player but - I like him. I really like him and I think - no, I know, he's changed."
"How long has it been going on then?"
Selena cringed before answering. "Officially: three months. It kind of started when my parents divorced. He was there to comfort me while Zayn was in Paris with his girlfriend."
"Wait, three months?!" Harry yelled, stopping mid-step and spinning around to face her. "Your brother lives with him and you two have been hiding it for three months!?"
Selena nodded in shame.
"You win," Harry suddenly stated. "I feel less like shit."
"What?!" Selena gaped, looking up at him in shock. "I'm not a homewrecker!" The brown haired beauty quickly realized what she said and wanted nothing more than to take it back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
"It's fine, Selena. It's true. I am a homewrecker but you're hiding a relationship from your brother. What if you end up falling in love with this guy? Then what? Are you two gonna run off and elope? Come back and all of a sudden Zayn wakes up to find his sister and his roommate, who he didn't even know we're dating, are now married!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Selena interrupted his ranting. "Who said we're getting married? Better yet, who said we're in love?!"
"I said what if, Selena," Harry replied dully. "There's a lot more important things at stake here than in mine and Leigh-Anne's affair. Like your brother's trust."
Selena chewed at the inside of her cheek as she pondered Harry's words carefully.
He was right about her and Justin - and Zayn. She was right about him and Leigh-Anne. And they were both royally screwed.
___________