The game

Chapter three

"What's up guys?" I ask, moving as far away from Harry as the couch will allow.

"Just dropping by." Liam shrugs, plopping down next to me and putting his arm around me. The fangirl inside me just exploded, but lets not mention her. 

"How was the first day if school?" Louis asks, munching on the cheetohs. 

"Good." Is my automatic answer, but Niall has other ideas, with a mouthful of food muddling his Irish accent, he shouts, "Harry and Hadley wouldn't stop flirting!" I look at Niall with guns in my eyes, while Harry just shrugs.

"What can I say? She's h- beautiful." He says, making my heart go all a-flutter again, our almost kiss still making my cheeks pink.

"Beautiful, eh? In the note you were calling her hot." Niall says.

"Niall, you. Are. Not. Helping." I say, turning beat red. He shrugs and shoves more food into his mouth.

"Flirting, eh?" Liam says, laughing, though I feel like he stiffened a bit. Poor guy, doesn't remember how to flirt. 

"Yeah, he told me he made out with me in his dreams. Ugh." I fake shudder, laughing though.

"Oh, sweetheart, we did more than make out." Harry says, as if I'm a child.

"EW EW EW EW EW EW EW!" I yell, blocking my ears.

"See Harry, she's definitely not your type if she doesn't like the idea of doing it with you."  Liam laughs, but Harry's just laughing.

"It's not that, but the fact that i was the subject if one of THOSE dreams. Urgh, that's just... Urgh."

"Oh, so you would do it with me?" Harry grins.

"Harry!" I protest, throwing a pillow at him. 

"I didn't hear a no!" He sing songs. I lean into Liam and pout, " at least you're nice to me, lee." 

"I'll always be nice to you, Hadles."

"Hadles?" Louis asks, laughing.

"Hadles." Liam confirms.

"I like it, I sound like a dog. I've always wanted to be a dog." I joke, snuggling into Liam more. "Oh, so I was thinking of inviting Lydia and Liz over again, we could all hang out like last time. What do you guys think?" I ask, enjoying the feeling of Liam absentmindedly petting my hair. Again, dog.

"Sounds like fun, they're really nice." Zayn says looking into the bag of cheetohs which Niall just effectively inhaled.

"I'll ask tomorrow at school then." We sit for a while, just watching the telly when it hits me.

"HOLY S**T!" I say, sitting up from Liam's lap suddenly.

"What?" Niall asks.

"I was just cuddling with Liam Payne and Harry styles called me beautiful and almost kissed me and I'm hanging out with one direction and making plans and oh my god oh my god oh my god." I ramble.

"It was bound to get to her sooner or later." Louis laughs.

"What's this about almost kissing?" Liam asks.

"You barged in before we got the chance."

"And I was going to push him away and Niall just ate my cheetohs and Zayn called my friends nice and Harry and Niall go to my school and holy crap I don't think I can handle this-"

"Maybe we should like, hum a lullaby to calm her down?" Louis suggests.

"Oh god no, I'd probably burst into tears and I'm an ugly crier, you don't want to see that." I say. I continue to be on the verge of hyperventilation while they discuss how to calm me down.

"Why don't you go take a bath, Hadley? A nice relaxing bath?" Niall suggests. I start to breathe more normally and nod.

"I'll help you get undressed..." Harry jokes, which then of course just sends me into freak out mode again.

"Harry!" They all chide, noticing my breath get shallower again. 

"Not really, I'll just take her upstairs and get the water going for her if she needs it, your parents aren't home, are they?" Harry says, trying not to laugh at my pained expression. It's pained because I'm having trouble forming words. I shake my head and he takes my elbow and leads me upstairs, the contact not really helping the whole situation. He takes me to the bathroom and plugs in my iPod to the iPod dock, the song that was playing blaring: little things. He throws his head back and laughs, making my heart explode faster and starts singing along to his part while he finds the linen closet and gets me a towel. Then he goes into my room and looks in my dresser, which makes me freak out on the inside, but I'm working on calming myself. He gets out some pajamas and puts them on top of the toilet lid. 

"Do you have it from here? Are you going to be okay?" He asks after turning on the water.

"Yup, just my Fangirling coming back to haunt me." I say. He leaves the bathroom as Little Things replays, my iPod on repeat.

"Really?" He laughs from outside the door.

"It's my favorite song, not even because you guys sing it, just cause I like it. Don't judge." I say, stepping into the water once I'm undressed.

"I'm not judging." He says.

"I feel the judge." I retaliate. A minute goes by, "are you still there?" I ask.

"Yeah." He answers.

"Why?" I ask, laughing.

"I don't know, I'm bored and have nothing better to do." He laughs.

The song gets to his part and he hums along, and them on the last line of his part he sings along loudly, "but you're perfect to me."

I blush, knowing it was directed at me.

"You can sing to me all you want, styles, but I'm not gonna kiss you just yet." I say through the door.

"Yet?" He asks, and I can hear the smirk in his voice.

"Hey, my mum taught me to never knock something until I've tried it, but think it through first." I joke, feeling normal and not fangirly anymore. He added bubble soap. BUBBLE SOAP. He is just, urgh, too awesome. The warm water is seeping into my skin and taking away any stress from the hatred I can feel directed towards me from the other girls in my school, and the stress to be cool around One Direction. The rose smell from the bubble soap helps to calm me down too. 

We talk while I finish up the bath. I step out of the water after draining it and wrap myself in a towel, once I'm dry I put on the pjs, and burst into laughter at his choice.

"Nice pajamas, styles, really. Thanks a ton." I say through the door, brushing my long hair. He picked probably the worst pajamas I could've possibly imagined: a nightgown. Not only that, but a nightgown from the sixth grade when I was about a foot and a half shorter and he didn't get me a bra or underpants.

"I thought you might like it." Again, I hear that cocky grin in his voice.

"Harry, get me different pajamas or I swear I'll tell the boys that you tried to molest me."

"No, I want to see how you look."

"On the count of three. One... Two... Thr-"

"fine! Fine, here are your boring pajamas." He says, his hand over his eyes as he hands them to me.

"Now was that so hard?" I ask, coming out of the bathroom drying my hair in a towel.

"Extremely." He pouts.

"C'mon, let's go back downstairs." I say, laughing.

"Are you sure? Can you handle it?" He teases, grinning his incredibly famous (not to mention gorgeous) crooked grin while poking me in the side, making me jump and squeal. "Ticklish, eh?" He laughs.

"Shut your face, Styles, before I do it for you." I growl. "And yes I can handle it!" 

"Ooh, I'm so scared." He says, still chuckling. I ignore him and head downstairs. And plop back next to Liam.

"Harry was being mean to me again." I state, crossing my arms.

"What else is new?" Niall laughs. I watch Louis and Zayn playing video games as Harry says, "But look what happened when you poke her!" Before I can react, Harry's finger jabs my side and I jump and scream, clapping my hands over my mouth.

"Arsehole!" I yell leaning over Liam to whack Harry repeatedly. My shirt must ride up in the back because I hear Louis say, "Is that a tattoo, hadles?" 

"No!" I say, sitting up quickly and pulling my shirt back.

"It totally was! Let us see!" Zayn urges.

"Hadley, do you have a tramp stamp?" Niall asks, laughing incredibly hard.

"I- I, n- yes. Yes, I, Hadley Charleston, have a tramp stamp." I say sophisticatedly, "but I was sixteen! I was rebellious back then, and I have other tattoos but that's the only one I regret." The boys all fall back into fits of laughter.

"Hey! At least I didn't get 'Hi' permanently inked into my skin." I say, directed at Harry.

"Well, what does it say then?" Liam asks.

"N-nothing." I say, sitting on the hem of my shirt.

"C'mon, no fair! Let us see!" Louis whines.

"Fine. Fine." I sigh and I get up and lift the back of my shirt. They gather around and simultaneously they burst into fits of laughter.

"One of the Staples easy buttons?! That's the best thing I've ever seen." Niall says I between gasps of laughing.

"Like I said, I regret it." I say, immediately yanking my shirt back down. Harry and Niall are both still rolling around, while Louis is just wiping tears from his eyes after laughing so much, and Zayn and Liam are just smiling and shaking their heads.

"What other tattoos do you have?" Zayn asks, the tattoo enthusiast who's not hysterically laughing.

I pull aside my hair to show him the tattoo that says 'Far Away" and the y curls around and goes into a bird that's behind my ear. The words are below my hair line on my neck.  And then I show them the bird flying on the right side of my collar bone and winding onto my shoulder, and finally the music notes winding around my left pinky finger's base, which I sometimes cover with rings, and they hadn't seen before.

"Wow, those are pretty." Harry comments, tracing a finger on the y of the 'away' and making me shiver.

"Why did you get them?" Liam asks.

"I got the far away last year because I really hate this town. I want to live in a big city, I want to go far away, pretty much. And I got the music notes because in my rebellious phase I was depressed, and music really helped me through it. I got the birds because I've always been fascinated with flight, and how it's so free. I want another tattoo sometime, probably more birds." I say.

"I like them." Liam nods.

"We'll now that show and tell is over, what do want to do this fine afternoon? Well maybe Lydia and Liz should sleep over tonight." I say mostly to myself.

"Yeah! Invite them over." Niall urges.

"Okay." I agree and text them. 

After dinner, (my parents are both working late, they won't be home until around four in the morning) Lydia, Liz, and I was down to Harry's apartment. We're all legal to drink, Liz just turned 18 last month, and so my parents told me the code to the liquor cabinet. I bring down two bottles of tequila and knock on the door. Liam opens it and breaks into a grin at the bottles. 

We all sit in a circle on the floor drinking and talking.

"Truth or dare?" Zayn suggests. 

"I like the way you think!" I say, laughing.

"Okay, Liz, truth or dare?" He asks.

"Truth." She says.

"Hm... How far have you gone with a boy?"

She blushes and fiddles with her hair, "Almost all the way, but he was, erm, he didn't have a lot of stamina." The boys laugh and then it's Liz's turn.

"Niall, truth or dare?" She asks.

"Truth."

"Since your last relationship, how many girls have you made out with?"

He thinks for a moment, "Sixteen." 

Then it's his turn, "Hadley, truth or dare?"

"Hold on." I laugh, downing a shot, "okay, I'm ready, dare."

"Oh good," he says evilly, "I dare you to kiss each of us and then tell us which one was the best. Not including the girls, obviously-"

"Unless you want to..." Louis adds, and I shoot him a glare.

"Anyway, it has to be for over 10 seconds."

"Ten?!" I exclaim.

"Zayn and I are out, cuz were taken men. But yes, and open mouthed. Closed doesn't count as a kiss." Louis laughs.

"Hey, I don't know if you remember p, but I'm taken too, as of late." Niall informs him.

"So I'm kissing Liam and Harry, basically?"

"Making out with." Zayn corrects.

"It's ten seconds! That's not a make out." I protest.

"Whatever." He laughs.

"So... Who's first?" I ask, cracking my knuckles in a nervous habit.

"I say Liam." Harry says.

"Okay, let's go over there." He points toward the other side of the room, behind an out cropping in the wall. I nod and we go over there. We stand behind the outcropping and he awkwardly leans in, but I'm buzzed enough that I go on my tip toes and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me, our mouths meeting in a feverish kiss. After the ten? Fifteen? Seconds are up, we break apart.

"Wow." He breathes, and we head back to the group.

"C'mon, styles." I say confidently, though my heart is racing, one reason being kissing Liam Payne, and another because I'm about to make out with Harry styles. And he already tried to kiss me once today.

We reach the area and he looks into my eyes.

"Beautiful." He says, smiling slightly.

"You're drunk." I state.

"You're drunker." He retaliates.

"Let's get this over with." I sigh. His green eyes still mercilessly looking deep into mine. He cups my face in his hands and my heart practically jumps out of my ribcage from beating so fast. And then his lips meet mine and it stops. Everything just stops. The world stops spinning on its axis, and the sun stops turning, the moon skids to a halt and I swear to god my ear drums burst from all the silence. Our lips and tongues are dancing together, and my fingers tangle themselves in his curly dark brown hair. I have to restrict a moan or just how amazing of a kisser he is, though he seems to be enjoying it just as much as I am, his fingers digging into the small of my back.

Finally after... What? A minute? Three? We break apart, gasping for air. The sounds of the outside world hitting my brain like a truck. That was the best kiss I've ever had. But he can't know that, it'll get to his head.

"So?" Niall asks as I sit down. 

"Liam." I say, certain. Liam grins and Harry looks appalled.

"B-but, that was the best kiss of my life! And I've kissed a lot of girls!"

"It was mediocre for me." I shrug. 

"Pour me a shot, Lou, I'm depressed." He says. 

Liam looks happy with himself, and I try my best to convince myself that he really was the better kiss. That the universe didn't stop the moment Harry's lips met mine, that was just my sanity jumping ship.

But, no.

Author's Note

Longest chapter like ever
Reviews please!

Reviews

[Taylor Ann]

I love long chapters! I never wanted it to stop! It's just, so, so, so beautiful! I'm am fangirling so badly right now, it isn't even funny. Okay, it is kinda funny, but still. Lol.
That was so adorable! I'm at a loss of words, literally. There are times where I'm just like, 'Woah, Pervert Styles' and there's other times where I'm like, 'Just love him already!!!' It's just...gah! What have you done to me, Sophie?! What have you done?!
Just so you know, I kinda need the next chapter, like, soon. Because I can't wait to read the next chapter. I just..can't. Lol

[Sophie]

:D

[AlwaysCasey]

I loved the discription of how everything stopped when her and harry kissed. all that detail really made it better :)

[Dark and Mysterious]

Fangirgling like anything.. Awesome!!