A/N-I can't believe five chapters ago I was thanking you guys for the 20k read count. Now I'm thanking you for doubling that number. Now, to serious business...
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“Can’t tell them apart.”
Liam looked at the two girls with a concentrated expression on his face and he crossed his arms. He shook his head and flung his arms out.
“I’m sorry. This is too frustrating.”
“You baby,” Kol laughed, as Harry’s arm draped her shoulders as they sat on the sofa. Kol had dressed the twins identically and styled their hair the same. There really was nothing to tell them apart and she had made a game out of it with the boys when she first brought them in.
The twins had been good sports about it though, and were talking in that same freakish way that Kol found weird. They even made an effort to make their voices the same.
The boys were having interviews in one of the hotel suites, and that was the only time that they could afford to meet the twins who Kol had insisted they should meet.
They seemed to all get along, but the boys acted the more reserved way they did when there were fans around. They were nice, but they seemed a lot more tired today. That didn’t mean they still didn’t go crazy though. The twins certainly got more than they bargained for.
Of course the boys had been enthusiastic. Twins brought up more fantasies for boys, after all, and these two were pretty young heiresses.
She could see Harry getting his flirt on, although he seemed to try to be restrained, with Kol there, and he knew he would get a lot of teasing for it. In effect, he stuck to her while the twins were in the room.
One of them sat down on Kol’s side.
“Thank you so much for having us,” she said to Kol.
Harry leant over Kol and said, “Which one of the two are you again?”
Kol knew that it was Alli. Kol was very good in tiny details, and she had noticed that there was a small mole at the side of Axel’s left neck.
“Alli,” the girls said as she looked at Harry in excitement. Kol knew Alli was more taken to Louis, but Harry was probably the next best thing for Alli.
They had about half an hour before the twins had to leave, since they had some piano lessons. They had a car waiting for them, so Kol didn’t have to make sure they got home safely.
Before leaving though, Alli whispered something cheeky to Kol. “Harry likes you. I can tell.”
Whether this was meant to be a joke or not, Kol couldn’t ask, since the sneaky little chit bounded away waving. They were too mischievous. It was madness, having the boys, Kol, and the twins all in one room.
“That was really nice of you, you know,” Niall said, slinging an arm around her and pressing his lips at the top of her head.
They had managed to get back to the old routine before they dated, but they would sometimes forget about their limits. Kol wasn’t really one who was uncomfortable with tiny sweet things like kisses on the head. She got that from her guy friends from back home, so it hadn’t been something restricted to just a boy she was dating.
“They didn’t scream at my face,” Kol smiled. “Of course they needed to meet you.”
Niall was called over for an interview then so he had to leave her. They were doing separate ones, since there were too many in the room. They routinely rotated who was going to have to be interviewed alone, when the need required it. Today, it was Harry’s turn.
He was just shaking the interviewers hand and looked up to see Kol drinking some tea that George, a guy from their crew, had given her. Everyone else was doing something and Kol didn’t want to disturb anyone by being there.
It had taken a lot of self-restraint for Harry not to just go for it once he saw Kol again. Niall wouldn’t take it very kindly at Harry trying to get Kol, since their breakup had only occurred because they were too busy. Harry had the same schedule, so going after Kol might make it seem like Harry was going to be able to make it work, as opposed to Niall failing in that aspect.
He couldn’t help it though. Kol had been a challenge, and Harry secretly liked challenges. It didn’t hurt that Kol had been his secret desire for quite a long time now. Harry had to go through this with even more caution, since his mate had actually dated her already.
“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else?” Harry said, taking out his phone just out of habit.
“One of the few times when I don’t have something to do,” Kol said, adding cream to her tea, “or is my company unwanted…?”
She started to stand up, but Harry pulled her back down. “You have to stop doing that. One day, I might just not pull you down.”
Kol neared her face to his and said, “When that day comes, prepare for battle.”
Harry stared at her eyes. He felt like he was going to fall into them. Her face was just a few inches away, and her lips were just as near.
He was in a room full of reporters and cameras, and he wasn’t thinking straight. He had been waiting for something like this to come along for quite a while.
Harry jutted his head and stood up. “Come on.” He pulled her to her feet and was just hoping that she’d follow.
“What?” Kol looked confused but she followed Harry out of the room.
Harry mumbled something to Preston, who looked at him then nodded, handing him a keycard.
Harry went out of the suite and continued walking down the hall as Kol followed. It was sort of fun, seeing him so wound up. She didn’t know what he was planning, but this was more entertaining than waiting around in a room where everyone was busy.
Harry took out his key and opened the door to their room. Kol looked at him weirdly now. What was he planning to do?
He couldn’t hold it in anymore as he pulled her and kissed her full on the lips, guiding her into the room. Kol lost all sense as she responded to Harry. She had only kissed him once, and it had been really good. Kissing him again seemed better, since she seemed deprived of that, even though she really shouldn’t be enjoying this right now. She had dated with Niall, for fucks sake!
He pressed her against the closet and trailed his kisses down her neck and she was given time to breathe. Harry was so much more aggressive than Niall had been. Kol didn’t know if she liked that or not. On Harry’s part, he was aggressive because he had been deprived of something he wanted for so long and it was like drinking large amounts of water after being stuck in a desert for a week without it.
Kol pushed him away gently and he looked down at her. He towered over her by a few inches, since he was the tallest out of all the boys.
“What the hell, Harry?” she said, trying to get a hold of her own feelings. She always thought of Harry as one of her best friends, but he ended up muddling her thoughts when he kissed her.
“I really tried to stop it, honest,” Harry said, coming in close, leaning his forehead on hers. He could smell her scent. He kept a serious face and looked into her dark eyes, wanting her to just understand it. “I’m not good at hiding my feelings.”
Her eyes darted up at his. Harry liked walking around naked, since he felt like it was liberating. This was the first time that she felt like he really was revealing himself, and he was fully clothed. It was freaking her out.
“I can’t Harry,” she said in a low voice. She didn’t want to. The situation was too bad, and she didn’t want it to be obvious, but she did still have feelings for Niall.
“And you just couldn’t wait to leap into Niall’s did you?” Harry said, aggravated. He didn’t move way though, but he hit the closet behind her with an angry punch.
“It’s wrong!” she said reasonably. “He’s one of your band mates, not to mention one of your best friends! Wouldn’t that just be awkward?”
“You haven’t said anything about how you felt though.”
She stared up at him. “What?”
“You’ve said everything that would make it wrong, but you haven’t said anything about not liking me.”
Kol looked at him, dumbfounded. She was silent because she didn’t know what to answer to it. She never really thought about Harry and her. Then again, maybe she should have seen this coming, since he treated her kind of like it. Calls during his late nights. Texts about how his day was going. Queries about what she was up to. Occasional care packages with all her favorite European food products.
He took her silence as encouraging, so he bent down for a more expected, tentative kiss. That was a lot more gentle and sweet, but Kol tilted her face to the side this time. As nice as it felt, it wasn’t something that she felt good about.
The most inopportune thing happened next.
The door opened and Louis’ voice was happily saying, “Harold! Preston told us where you were! It’s over…” His voice then trailed off with a less happy sound.
The rest of the four from One Direction all stood right outside the door, looking at Harry and Kol, both so close, with Harry’s head leaning downward a little because of the disappointment from her pulling away.
“Shit,” Kol heard Harry mutter, before a flash of red and blond bounded out of nowhere and tackled him off her.
Kol heard the door close as Liam, Louis and Zayn rushed into the room.
“What the fuck, Harry?” Niall said, acid in his tone. Fists were flying and Harry was trying to get off from under Niall. He wasn’t hitting Niall back though, only trying to shove him away.
“Get off each other!” Kol heard Liam’s authoritative voice, as the boys separated the two from each other.
Kol could just watch as the five of them started shouting at each other. Niall and Harry were swearing, while the other three had to shout over their voices to calm down and think rationally.
She hadn’t moved from her place the whole time.
It seemed the five of them were really the only ones who were really in on everything, no matter how many best friends they had on the crew or anywhere else. Seeing them in this state just broke Kol’s heart. They weren’t meant to be fighting, and this was all her fault.
“Kol’s not yours anymore, Niall!” Harry shouted.
“So you think you can have a go just whenever you fucking feel like it, do you?” Niall retorted. “You’re just going to drop her after you’re through. You always do!”
“That’s rich! You can’t bloody pin that on me, considering you haven’t had a proper one in your life!” Harry yelled, his face looking formidable.
Zayn had to restrain Niall even more as he tried having a go at Harry. Liam was right in between, and Louis was pulling Harry back.
“Easy, easy,” Liam said, alternating looks at both of them as he stretched out his hands to Niall and Harry.
“You knew I fucking loved her, Harry. How could you?” Niall said darkly, but he had stopped yelling. His eyes shifted from Harry to Kol, who stood frozen by the closet.
Never had they said to each other that they loved each other. They had lasted eight months, but that was never mentioned. Kol was always too protective of her feelings, because she was scared about giving too much and ending up disappointed in the end. As emotional and aware Niall was for a boy, he never thought to bring it up over the phone or anything either. During their eight months together, they had probably only seen each other two months combining all their personal meetings after all. It hadn’t been the ideal period for both of them to show how much they cared when they hardly even saw each other. Of course Niall had to say it first, and it had to be under these circumstances.
“I still do,” Niall said, unwaveringly looking at her face.
Liam looked directly at Kol and seemed just as lost she was. “I think you should go, Koz,” he said gently. That was the best idea Kol heard today.
“I think so too,” she said, backing up until she felt the door behind her.
“No, Kol, please…” Harry said, advancing toward her.
“You’re not going anywhere near her,” Niall said venomously as he shoved Zayn off him to block Harry.
Kol ran out of that room as fast as she could.
How could such a good day end up turning so bad?