CHAPTER 4: up in flames
"Ah, joy," Harry droned sarcastically, turning to see Rosalie entering the room. "I don't know what I expected, really."
She gave him a look that could've melted snow. Her usual makeup was toned up a bit, a dark smokey eye on her lids that intensified the look as if it were actually leaving ashes in its wake. The lads were going out for a night, bringing along a few of the ladies, including Rosalie, Talia, Freya, and Nia.
"You look fit!" Talia gawped, walking over to Rosalie who couldn't help but grin at the compliment. She'd worn fishnets under her shredded black jeans, which peaked a few inches above the waistband to her slim waist. On top she'd worn a little black cropped tank with roses embroidered on, her hair spun into big, bouncy curls and a pair of black heeled boots on her feet.
"Coming from you, it must be a lie." Rose responded, taking in Talia's red dress with a plunging neckline. Her makeup always looked professionally done - probably since the girl herself was basically a professional.
"We ready, boys?" Callum broadcast to the room with his loud voice, dropping an arm around Rose's shoulder. She gazed up at him, at the smile that always included every single part of his face, at his short cropped hair. She'd always liked it better a little longer, a little shaggier, but this buzz was soft and fuzzy and she loved it too.
They headed out to the club, the music thumping so loud that she could feel it inside her stomach. She grabbed a vodka soda to sip, watching as the other boys opted to do a few rounds of shots off the bat, their voices rising as their alcohol intake did.
She lost track of Callum at some point while she was people watching, making up stories of what they must do in their free time, what jobs she'd guess they had. "How can you possibly manage to suck the fun out of being at a club?" Harry asked, sidling up beside her and resting his elbow on a bar stool next to her.
Rosalie rolled her eyes, looking over at him lazily. "How can you possibly manage to pick a fight out of absolutely nothing?"
"I don't like you being here." Harry responded simply, staring her down with his cool blue eyes.
"Clearly." Rose blanched, wrapping her mouth around her straw and sucking back a sip of her drink. "Where's Cal?"
"Why don't you pull up that GPS tracker you've probably got on him?" Harry quipped, lifting his beer in the direction of her phone.
Rose rolled her eyes, shoving her phone into her purse and standing up. "He's probably dancing. Are you coming, or are you going to sit over here and be a spoil sport for the rest of the night?"
She led them into the swarm of dancing bodies, Harry only managing to keep up with her on their search for their friends because her hair stuck out like a rose in a grass field. He slammed into her back, realizing she'd stopped only a second too late to save his beer, which was now mostly dripping down her back.
"What the fuck, Rosalie?" He snapped, looking up to see that she'd not reacted in the slightest to the beer he'd spilled on her, but instead she was transfixed as she watched Callum chatting up a couple of girls, his arm hanging low around the waist of one of them.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Rosalie asked coyly, looking up at Callum as Harry picked up on whatever conversation the girl had worked her way into.
"You can talk." Callum jabbed, giving her a sleazy look as he leaned back against the wall, exchanging a look with one of the two girls, who giggled.
"No need to be a dick." Harry said before he could stop himself, switching his now half-empty beer to the other hand and shaking the liquid off of the other.
Cal laughed loudly, and Rosalie fell back a step as if it had physically hit her. "You're one to talk, mate. If I can call you that anymore."
"I'm Rosalie, his ex-girlfriend." Rose interrupted the boys, holding out a hand to shake the girls' hands.
Callum straightened up quickly, his hand dropping away from the girl's hips as he stepped towards Rose, who stepped back and almost ran into Harry again. "Woah, woah, woah, I'm only messing! Don't be like that."
"That's not messing! That's you hitting on other girls in front of me, Callum." Rosalie shook his grip off her wrist, turning and shoving her drink into Harry's hands. He fumbled, taking it with mild surprise as he watched whatever the hell was working its way out.
"I'm trying to make you jealous, but seeing as you don't want to have sex with me would it be that stupid of me to try and get it somewhere else?" Callum argued, raising his eyebrows at her with a sharp, righteous tone to his voice.
Rosalie laughed, loud and bitter and anything but funny. "Maybe I'd want to have sex with you if it wasn't a substitution for actual constructive conversation! Every time I open my mouth, I'm not asking you to stick your dick in it, Callum."
"Woah, okay, why don't we just-" Harry interrupted, holding out both drink-clad hands between the two and trying to part the argument. Rosalie's hand shot up, pushing squarely into Harry's chest without so much as a glance towards him.
"What do you want to talk about, then? Now's clearly a great time." Callum shouted, throwing his hands out to gesture at their surroundings. Rose burned him to the ground with the withering look she gave.
"Let's talk about our days, or what you think about politics, or your family, or maybe my job, which you never ask about." Rosalie ranted, listing them off with a touch on each finger. "In fact, we can literally sing the alphabet song if that fills your fancy, but I'd appreciate you actually trying to get to know me instead of just my vagina."
"God, you're such a fucking cow!" Cal shouted, turning a few heads at this one. "You're useless, that's why I try to fuck you all the time, because there's nothing special about you except for what you look like!"
"Take that back." Rose breathed quietly, wilting slightly as she shrunk a step back.
Callum stayed quiet for a minute, both of the girls he'd chatted disappearing into the crowds of people with a few wary looks over their shoulders. Harry clutched the drinks, watching Cal's face shifting over Rose's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." Callum confessed softly, stepping forward and holding out a hand. Rosalie didn't stop him this time, letting him put a hand on her arm softly. "I'm drunk and I got mad. I didn't mean it."
She nodded, her hair bobbing from that Harry could see, but he couldn't see how her eyes were closed as she did it, because there was water extinguishing the flame in them. Rose sniffed once, and then slid out of Callum's grip.
"I need to go home, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay, baby?" Rosalie said tenderly, lifting a hand to Callum's cheek softly. He nodded, looking down at her with a tired, forlorn look. "Have fun, okay?" She lifted, kissing him on the cheek, and then turned and brushed past Harry quickly, leaving him to look back and forth between his friend and her like it was a tennis match.
"You can have these." Harry said, shoving both drinks into Cal's hands as JJ appeared behind the boy, smacking both hands down on the skinnier lad's shoulders.
"Come do shots, man!" JJ cheered, grinning fiendishly at Harry as he chuckled. Callum's face quickly flipped to a giant smile as he turned to the boy, as if the last few minutes hadn't happened at all, and disappeared to the bar. Harry watched him go, then turned on his heel, searching the sea of heads until he spotted some red hair ducking out the door.
He dashed onward, not entirely sure what was pulling him after him like a moth to a candle, sliding between bodies without faces until he was out the front, turning left and right until he saw where she was walking up the street. Both of Rosalie's arms were wrapped tightly around herself, containing the emotions like she was capping a bottle. "Rosalie!"
She didn't turn, didn't slow as Harry chased her down, catching up and matching her pace. "Leave me the fuck alone, Harry, I am so not in the mood right now."
"You can't walk home alone, not dressed like that. You'll freeze, or some paedo will come out." Harry explained, pulling his hoodie off and shoving it at her. She turned to look at him in surprise, but he glued his eyes forward, avoiding the awkward eye contact.
"Thanks." Rosalie said finally, taking it and pulling it over her head. She swam in it, but instead of rolling up the sleeves once or twice, she recoiled into the fabric like it was a safety blanket.
Harry raised his hand across his chest, scratching at his shoulder in a nervous tick that had followed him since he was younger. His hands clenched and unclenched, dropping back to swing at his sides finally.
They walked in silence for a few blocks, her heels clicking and his sneakers scuffing as they went, randos stumbling drunkenly from bars along the side streets.
"I think I might've been wrong about you." Harry admitted, breaking the silence. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, again fixing his eyes straight ahead of them.
Rose didn't look at him this time. "I don't need to hear this."
"But I need to say it." Harry responded quickly, chancing a glance over at the girl, realizing some of her makeup was smudged, damp. "I think I was wrong."