Inverted Rolls

“Yes, Rachel,” she smiled. “I was waiting for you. Glad you made it in time!”

“Trust me, me too. I’m looking for Miranda Splender? She’s the one I’ve been talking with on the phone ever since I got my internship and she told me she’d be the one I would meet.”

“Well, she is right in front of you,” she laughed.

“Oh,” I said.

I couldn’t lie, I was a bit disappointed to discover that Miranda Splender, who I had been eager and impatient to finally meet, was only the receptionist. But I couldn’t act all surprised; Miranda had never told me that she was the editor-in-chef or the president of the company.

“It’s good to finally meet you,” she said as she stood from her chair and shook my hand. “So basically, I’m going to show you around and then I’ll take you to our Assistant Managing Editor, Viola, who’ll then assign your work and explain what you will do for us.”

I smiled widely. I was going to work with the Assistant Manager of The Edifice! I merrily followed Miranda as we walked towards the two beautiful opaque glass doors leading to inside the newsroom, my excitement becoming unbearable. I followed her inside after she opened the door and had to stop after a few steps because of the shock.

The place…was everything I had ever dreamed of.

It was a very vast, modern-looking workplace with wide windows providing the perfect view of London. There was a second floor inside the newsroom that was designed in an open architecture delimited by glass balustrades, like an interior balcony.

I was so struck by the scenery that I hadn’t noticed Miranda was now far ahead of me. I scurried behind her, but still couldn’t help but look all around me. From the reception, you really couldn’t tell that this place could be that big. The thought of having my own personal area inside such a magnificent environment made me feel accomplished.

“Wow,” I couldn’t help but let out.

“Pretty impressive, I agree,” Miranda turned to me. “I’ve worked here for a while now and I’m still amazed every time I cross those doors.”

“Are you sure…will I really be working here? I feel like I’m in a dream.”

Miranda suddenly stopped and pinched my arm.

“Outch!” I yelped, more surprised by her sudden behavior than hurt.

“You are definitely not dreaming,” she laughed. “Come on now, I’ve got loads of things to show you!”

Miranda made me an entire tour of the newsroom. She showed me the integrity of every department, the library and even the restrooms. Her easy-going and friendly personality made me feel very at ease, and I was almost disappointed when she announced that the tour was over and that she would bring me to Viola. But a new type of excitement grew inside of me. I couldn’t wait to meet Viola. I was still quite annoyed that all the material I had prepared throughout the whole night was left behind, but at the same time, I was quite glad I didn’t arrive with a box full of supplies. I would’ve appeared as someone way too eager.

We had to retrace our steps in order to reach the department where all the leader’s offices were located, a pretty secluded area. The leaders were the only workers who had their own private office. When we arrived, our steps decreased slowly.

“The leaders are always super busy,” Miranda murmured. “Sometimes they invite their clients over and have meetings or they’re making important phone calls. That’s why you can’t burst out or make too much noise here.”

“Understood,” I nodded.

We stopped in front of a door in the same style of the ones at the entrance. Miranda knocked three times and waited.

“What,” a voice echoed from the other side.

Miranda opened the door and peaked her head in.

“Hi, Viola, I just wanted to advise you that your intern, Rachel, is here and the tour is done.”

Miranda widened the door so that I could appear under the door frame. I went from excited to very nervous.

Then, I saw her.

She was sat behind her computer, only half of her face visible. She was typing fast on the keyboard and had a very stern expression. She didn’t make a sound or look up to us for at least a minute. For some reason, she reminded me of Mr Miles, which was not a good sign.

“Can’t you see I’m busy?” Viola then expressed in a cold tone.

“But Lynn said –”

Viola abruptly interrupted her. “Lynn isn’t here right now,” she finally raised her eyes to look at Miranda. “So, in the meantime, I’m the one in charge. And right now, I’m telling you that I am too busy. Besides, I don’t even know why you came all the way up here to bother me. Don’t you know where the interns usually work?”

Her bluntness astounded me. She hadn’t looked at me once during her little speech, and I couldn’t help but to stare at her with round eyes.

Oh no.

This couldn’t be happening.

Mr Miles was an angel compared to Viola and her rude behavior.

“But –” Miranda tried again, only to be interrupted again.

“Did I stutter, Miranda?” Viola raised a brow.

This time, Miranda didn’t say anything, simply shutting the door close in front of us. She turned to me.

“Well,” she said, “it seems like the plans have changed.”

I stared at Miranda, speechless. She didn’t even look slightly upset. Without waiting for me to answer, she walked past me. I was quick to follow her.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m not really sure what you could do now,” she said as we exited the leaders' department. “But, I can at least show you where you will work.”

Still shaken about Viola’s behavior, I couldn’t help but want to bring the subject. There was no way Miranda didn’t think that Viola’s attitude was more than condescending.

“Viola seems very…” I stopped to search for a good choice of words.

“Yeah,” Miranda laughed. “She’s special. But you have to learn not to take everything she says personally. She’s under a lot of stress, especially this week because our president, Lynn, is out of the country for a few days.”

“I…can imagine,” I hesitated with a frown. To me, that was still no excuse to act as discourteously. Manners before everything.

When we arrived to our destination, I was even more disappointed. My desk was in a corner with no windows or people near me. I was secluded from everyone else. There wasn’t even a computer on the desk, which had me even more confused. Weren’t journalists supposed to work on computers? Miranda must’ve caught my expression because she tried to cheer me up.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. It’s not the best spot, but at least the chair is very comfortable. And, one advantage is that when you’re done with work, you can always bring your laptop and your homework from school. If I remember well, you go to Mumbard, right?”

“I’m not sure to understand,” I said. “Won’t I need a computer for my internship?”

“Here’s the list of everything you’ll need to do,” Viola’s voice suddenly emerged beside us, which took both Miranda and I off-guard. “Every time you come to work you’ll have to check everything you’ve done on the list. Since you’ll only do shifts of four hours, you’ll have four tasks per day to achieve, which are all written in this document.”

She dropped the thickest, heaviest document in front of me, which consisted of at least a hundred pages.

“As for today, you can start with noting the inventory of the supplies for the printing, which is usually made in the beginning of each month.”

She then put on top of the first document the second biggest document on the table.

“It should keep you occupied until five,” she continued. “I’m sure Miranda’s already showed you the printing room and where all the material is hidden?”

“Yes,” I was quick to answer.

“Good, now I don’t want to hear about you until it’s done,” were her final words as she turned around and went away.

I wasn’t even sure she had given me one eye contact throughout her explanations. I looked at Miranda, who shot me an encouraging smile.

“I have to get back in front,” she told me, “but if you want I can walk you back to the printing room?”

I slowly nodded and took my coat off. Then, I took the second humongous document in my hands and followed Miranda, who was kind enough to let me borrow one of her pencils after I admitted that I had forgotten my own material.

The task in itself was easy; first you had to note the numbers of supplies left and then how many you needed for the next order, which was pretty simple as the total amount that each material needed were written. However, it became a real challenge when I found myself having to crouch very low or go very high to reach some storage cabinets. And since the printing room was wide, I had to go back and forth a lot to find all the furniture that were written on my document.

When I was finally done, I was sweating.

I walked to Viola’s office, a little bit nervous at the simple thought of facing her and her stiff attitude again. What if I had done something wrong and had to redo everything? She couldn’t be that heartless, could she?

I arrived in front of her door, held out a shaky hands and gently knocked on it.

No sound.

I knocked again, this time a little bit louder and waited. Still no response. Not even a dry “what”. I tried to look through the door to see if I could perceive any movements, but the fact that the glass was frosted really made it impossible to see anything inside Viola’s office.

With a sigh, I decided to find my way back to my desk and wait for Viola to come to me instead. As I waited for her to eventually show her face and dismiss me, since it was already almost five, I read all the tasks that I would have to do as an intern in the first document.

Halfway through it, I had to accept the evidence: I wouldn’t be learning, practicing or executing anything journalist-related.

I literally had been engaged to do the simple, stupid tasks nobody wanted or had time to do.

It made me want to cry.

I had been waited for so long for an opportunity like this, and now that I finally had the chance to be a part of my favourite newspaper’s company, that was all they offered me?

I stared at the document for what seemed like an eternity, eventually trying not to fall asleep. Being sat alone, in a corner, with nothing to do made me remember very quickly that I was in need of sleep. I decided to focus on something else and watched the other workers instead. Most of them were already gone. I realized how none of them had really paid attention to me when Miranda had been showing me around. No hellos, no nods.

Now I felt depress.

Did I really want to do my internship in this company?

But I had no choice, a voice inside of me whispered. The Edifice was too good for my resume for me to quit on the first day. Maybe things would get better, I thought without any conviction whatsoever.

I checked at the time.

5:10.

Still no sign of Viola.

In a frustrated sigh, I decided to go see Miranda instead and ask her if I could leave. As I arrived at the reception, she was just hanging up and seemed happy to see me.

“Oh, Rachel, I was just about to go see you!”

“Is everything alright?” I asked with hesitancy.

“Yes, I just wanted to tell you that your boyfriend just called and said he was waiting for you downstairs at the lobby.”

I blinked.

“Sorry, my what?”

“Your boyfriend?” she tried again with a little less assurance in her voice. “A boy named Harry?”

“Oh,” I said, “that’s not my boyfriend.”

“I apologize. I guess I assumed too fast.”

“No, don’t worry. I’m just…surprised that he’s there?”

Miranda frowned. “Do you know him well?”

“Yes, he’s a friend of mine.”

“Alright,” she smiled. I had just noticed she had her coat on, as she was ready to leave. “See you on Friday?”

“Yes, but before you leave, I have a question… Where is Viola? I was waiting for her to give her the printing room inventory and I couldn’t find her? I didn’t want to just leave.”

“Oh, Viola finishes at 3h30! Did she forget to tell you?”

In order to tell someone something you had to be willing to speak to them, which Viola didn’t do at all.

I was furious.

Had Viola really forgotten to tell me she would be gone by the time I'd be done? Or was is voluntary? I didn’t know her, but I could feel that working with her was going to be a nightmare.

“It seems like so,” I tried not to hiss.

“I’m sorry about that, I hope you didn’t wait too long?”

I faked a smile. “Just enough.”

“You can give me that inventory; I will put it on her desk tomorrow morning.”

After I executed myself, I went back inside the newsroom to grab my coat and the tasks document. I reached for my cellphone, the only thing I had brought with me, only to see that I had three missed calls and two texts from Harry. The first one had been sent an hour ago and the second one was just sent.

Your car’s ok. I’m coming to get you.

I sighed of relief. At least my car hadn’t totally given up on me.

What’s taking you so long???

I rolled my eyes as I read his second text and hurried back to the reception that was now empty before entering the lift.

Harry was the first person I saw as I arrived on the first floor. He was stood near the front door, scrolling through his phone. He raised his head just as I was about to reach him.

“Harry!” I said, still surprised to see him here. “Why did you come all the way up here?”

He raised a brow. “You really didn’t think I would trust you enough to drive back with my car, did you?”

I scoffed. “What? I’m an excellent driver. But I’m still confused as to know how you got here if your car’s with me?”

“I took the taxi.”

I slowly nodded as I mentioned him to follow me to the lifts. We still had one floor to go before we’d reach the car park.

“How did you even know I was here? Or the time I would finish?” I asked again once we were inside the elevator.

He rolled his eyes. “Why do you ask do many fucking questions?”

I raised a brow, unimpressed. There was no way he was getting away with it.

“I asked Niall,” he finally admitted in a sigh. “Happy?”

“Very,” I smiled broadly.

As we arrived in the parking lot, found his car and drove off, another question tinkled me. I looked at Harry, who was driving with that same perpetuate frown that made me want to look inside his brain.

“Harry…how is that possible that my car works now? I thought the battery was dead?”

“It was,” he replied. “Brought it to the garage.”

“So you went ahead and paid for a new battery for me?” I raised my brows.

“What was I supposed to do?” he looked at me for a second, his expression quite befuddled. “I certainly didn’t waste thirty minutes freezing outside waiting for a tow truck only to leave it to them and just go back home?”

“How much do I owe you?”

He slightly shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything, Rae.”

“But you waited in the cold for half an hour because of me,” I protested. “There’s no way I’m not paying you back.”

He glanced at me once more. “You definitely need to learn how to just say thank you and get over it.”

“Hey…I know how to say thank you. Thank you. See?”

“You’re very welcomed,” he smirked.

I rolled my eyes and hid my grin as I turned my head towards the window. The darkness outside made me remember that I was so tired it was beginning to physically hurt. Making myself more comfortable on my seat, I was just about to close my eyes when something caught my attention.

“Why are we still on the highway?” I frowned. Harry hadn’t taken the exit we were supposed to take in order to head towards our neighborhood.

“Your car’s at the White House,” Harry said.

“Oh?”

“Put it in the garage.”

“So you do hang out over there.”

“Sometimes.”

I nodded.

I changed my idea about sleeping in the car, opting instead to try to keep me awake. Because I knew that once I would close my eyes, waking up would become practically impossible. And now that I knew that I had to drive from the White House to my flat, which was a good twenty-minute ride, I figured that I would need as much energy as possible. I turned up the volume of the radio, which had been playing much more as a background noise until now. Harry shot me a look but didn’t protest, which I was glad for. I crossed my arms and tried to concentrate on nothing more than the music playing.

When we finally parked in front of the White House, I exhaled deeply. We were finally there.

“Left your keys inside,” Harry said.

We exited the vehicle quickly and I followed Harry to the front door, my two documents pressed against my chest to protect me from the heavy, cold wind. When Harry opened the door, most of the lights were already turned on.

I stayed at the entrance while he walked further inside, removed his coat and threw it on the sofa of the first living room. I couldn’t help but look around and feel abnormally small. I was so used for this place to always be so packed, it felt like I was in a new house.

“Why are you standing there?” Harry turned to me. He was in the kitchen.

“I’m waiting for my keys.”

“Yeah but in order to access the garage you have to pass through the kitchen.”

“Oh,” I said as I walked towards him, trying not to spread too much snow on the floor with my boots.

Once I reached the kitchen, I saw Harry look around him with a perplexed look on his face. When he saw me, he stared at me with a blank expression.

“Please tell me you haven’t forgotten where you put my keys,” I said in a weary tone as I put my documents on the counter and crossed my arms.

“I haven’t forgotten,” he replied obstinately as he walked past me and disappeared inside the second living room.

I sighed and followed him to the room. I sat down on one of the couches as I stared at him while he was looking around for my keys like a lost child.

“Oh,” he finally said, more to himself than to me. “Right. They’re in my room.”

“Good,” I breathed out. “I’ll wait for you here,” I added as I settled into the sofa, which I noticed, was really comfortable.

I watched Harry exit the room as I rested my head on the armrest, and, without even realizing it, let myself get lulled by the sound of his steps climbing up the stairs.

***

I opened my eyes slowly. The brightness of the lights in the room made me squint. I rubbed my eyes. First thing I noticed was that I still had my coat on. I frowned in confusion and looked around me, before finally remembering that I wasn’t home.

I had fallen asleep on the couch of Harry’s mansion.

I sat down on the couch as I wondered how long had I sleep. The whole house was oddly silent. I stood up, wondering where Harry had gone. I slowly walked to the kitchen, still a bit drowsy and finally saw him across the room.

He was sat at the table of the dining room, his back facing me. I could see a map on the table, thousands of papers spread around him, with pens and different sized rulers.

I watched him in silent for a few seconds.

Harry must have felt my presence because he suddenly turned around. When his eyes met mine, his eyebrows firstly raised in surprise before turning into a frown.

“Are you stalking me?” he teased me.

“No,” I said in a detached tone even though I could I could feel my cheeks slowly burning red. I walked closer to him. “I didn’t want to distract you.”

I stopped just beside him to have a more precise look on what he was doing. I frowned. I understood nothing.

“I hope you didn’t drool all over my sofa.”

I looked down at Harry, slightly offended at his presumption at first, then embarrassed.

“I’m sorry…” I mumbled. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Clearly you needed some sleep,” he shrugged as he took a pen and continued writing some notes on the paper in front of him. “You were snoring when I came back.”

“No I wasn’t!”

“Yeah, you were,” he snorted. “I even have evidence on camera if you don’t believe me.”

I stared at him. “You must be kidding me.”

Harry raised his head and shot me a grin. I rolled my eyes and slowly sighed of relief. He definitely was kidding.

“How long have I slept?” I quickly searched around me for a hint about the time. At least, it was still dark outside, meaning that I hadn’t slept all night and missed tomorrow’s first class.

Harry took his phone on the table. “About three hours.”

I gasped. “Three hours??”

The doorbell suddenly rang. Harry and I both directed our gaze towards the entrance, before Harry stood from his chair quite promptly.

“Finally…” he mumbled to himself.

I watched him exit the dining room as I realized I was getting really hot with my coat and my scarf still on. Harry came back a minute later with a box of pizza in his hands. I instantly felt my stomach growl and my mouth water. I hadn’t eaten in hours.

“Well, I guess I’ll just leave then…” I said weakly as he put the box at the end of the table and proceeded to pick up his sheets on the table to have more space. “Don’t want to bother you while you’re eating.”

I found it really hard not to stare intensely at the box of pizza. The smell was just too exquisite for me to concentrate on anything else.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

I looked at Harry.

I couldn’t tell if it was an invitation or if my stomach had been so loud he was surprised I hadn’t jumped on his food yet. To be honest, I was surprised I hadn’t jumped on his food yet.

“Well?” Harry raised a brow in front of my silence.

“I’m starving,” I admitted.

I promptly removed my coat and hung it on the back of a chair. Harry watched me in silence as I sat down and he promptly went to the kitchen once I caught him staring. He brought back two plates and handed me one. We both served ourselves a slice of pizza silently and Harry sat down right where he had been sat when he was doing his homework, which was just beside me. We ate quietly for a few minutes, and I tried not to appear as too awkward. Now that we were once again alone together, my mind couldn’t stop wandering towards our last kiss. I tried not to, but I kept glancing at Harry from the corner of my eyes, greedy to know what were his real thoughts about it.

He had to have an opinion about it.

I almost sighed in frustration. I really wished there had been a machine invented to read people’s minds. I stared back at my plate, defeated, and continued eating quietly.

“What are you thinking about?” Harry said beside me.

I turned my head to him. His brows were slightly furrowed as he held a small, inquisitive grin.

“I was actually thinking about what you were thinking,” I said bluntly.

“Is that what’s made you bounce your leg against mine for the last five minutes?”

I looked down at my foot and widened my eyes at the sight of it as I felt myself blush. I automatically stopped my movement and looked back at Harry with a petty smile.

“Sorry… Didn’t realize it was your foot.”

“I didn’t know I had that kind of effect on you,” he sneered at me.

I scoffed. “Don’t get it twisted!” I was quick to object. “You just…always look so thoughtful, it makes one wonder.”

“Thoughtful?” he repeated.

“Yes, but then you never talk so it’s hard to seize you.”

“You’re trying to seize me, huh?”

“Stop mocking me!” I hid my face between my hands, really embarrassed by the turning of the events.

He snorted. “No but I’m curious, what’s bothering you so much?”

I looked at him, quite off-guard. I really couldn’t bring the kiss up now, could I? It’d sound like I fancied him. Which I didn’t.

“Um…your…family? You’ve never mentioned them.”

“You want me to talk about my family?” he raised an eyebrow, not really buying it.

I nodded with a lot less confidence than intended but there was no turning back at this point. I wasn’t going to talk about that kiss.

“Does that mean you’ll tell me about yours too?”

I lowered my gaze and stared at my hands. He had a point.

“My parents both own a business company that they think me and my sister will join one day,” I was astonished to hear Harry say as I looked back at him. “Which we probably never will. My sister graduated with an Interior Design diploma a few years ago and has no intention of being part of the family business and I just hate business... so there's that. There’s not much to say, honestly. Since my parents travel a lot we don’t see them often anyway.”

“Why don’t you like business?” I asked.

“Cause it’s too shallow. You don’t get to learn or create anything…It’s just a big money-making machine.”

“Have you told that to your parents?”

He scoffed. “Trust me, I’ve been trying to for the past twenty years. They just can’t get no as an answer. Next thing you know, they’re buying you a car and a million-dollar house to make you see the kind of life you’d have if you followed their steps.”

I frowned. “It’s as if they’re trying to…buy you.”

He shrugged. “They just don’t think I’m capable of anything else.”

A wave of compassion passed through me as I simply couldn’t get my eyes off Harry. I knew he was trying to act as laid back as he could be, but it was impossible that it wasn’t affecting him. It made me want to reassure him, but I knew what kind of response I’d get from him.

In a weird sort of way, I also felt like Harry opening up a little more to me had crashed a wall between us. In an odd way, I felt closer to him. I suddenly wanted to know more about him. I wanted him to share his favourite color, his favourite food. His fears and his hopes. And I wanted to listen to him talk for hours. Like a real friend.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he rolled his eyes.

“Harry…” I almost murmured. “I want to try something.”

Harry looked at me very curiously but didn’t say a word.

I turned my whole body towards him and moved a little bit closer to him. Harry scanned my every move but remained still on his chair. I was starting to feel very nervous under his stare, but I forced myself not to look away as I raised two shaky hands and slowly brushed his cheeks. I paused for a second, trying to capture Harry’s reaction. He looked surprisingly calm. His eyebrows were shaped into a pensive frown and his eyes kept alternating between my lips and my eyes. I grabbed his face and pulled. He obeyed and his body leaned towards me. The only thing I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest. I looked at his lips and captured them in a slow, shy kiss. Harry’s reaction was unhesitant as he instantly wrapped his hands around me and responded to my kiss with much more fervor.

It was his turn to pull me towards him as he tilted his head and deepen our kiss. Our chairs were now so close I didn’t know where to place my legs as they were getting tangled all over his. Harry decided to handle the situation as he grabbed my waist, took me in his arms and sat me on him. His action took me off guard and I fell on him, which made me giggle softly against his lips as I readjusted myself correctly.

I couldn’t get my hands off his hair as Harry held me close against him. His tongue kept sliding smoothly around mine and his breath was warm. I truly couldn't think about anything but Harry. Harry's hands that were gently caressing me. Harry's sweet lips that were massaging mines eagerly. Harry's natural warm body pressed against mine.

It wasn't until I felt that same burning sensation I had felt last time, at the pitch of my belly, that I fully realized our position and abruptly broke the kiss. We were both panting. I looked at him with round eyes, astonished by the fact that I had lost control over myself so quickly. I let go of my grip on him as if he’d burned me and got off of him so swiftly I almost fell again.

“I have… to go now.”

I spoke in a rushed and stuttering voice. I wasted no time grabbing my coat and scarf on the chair I was originally sat on. I put them on quickly without being able to look at Harry. I had never felt more embarassed. This wasn't meant to happen!

“Your keys are on the little table next to the sofa you fell asleep on,” Harry said in a very monotonous tone.

I nodded quickly without addressing him a look and nearly ran to the second living room, where I spotted my keys instantly. When I turned around, Harry was at the entrance of the room, his arms crossed against him. I froze.

“I’ll show you where the garage is,” he said, again with no emotion.

I nodded and followed him as I kept my head low. I truly didn’t know how to handle what had just happened.

As we arrived in the garage, I simply walked past him and jumped into my car. Harry then opened the garage door for me and I turned the engine on, which easily groaned to life. Before I left, I allowed one glance at Harry, who was looking at me intensely.

“Six in the morning!?” Niall once again repeated in a much more awoken, loud voice.

“Not so loud!” I expressed. “You’re gonna wake up Zayn.”

“What do you want,” he groaned, defeated.

“As you know, today is the big day. My first day as an intern for The Edifice. I haven’t slept all night because I’ve just been too excited so instead, I decided to dress a list of things to prepare for this memorable day. I have my office material, thanks to you and Zayn, my laptop – which I’ve decided to change my One Tree Hill desktop background for a neutral white one, and I’ve noted questions to ask but also facts about the company to express so they know I take this internship very seriously and have educated myself. However, about an hour ago, I realized I had forgotten the most important aspect of the day; I haven’t got a proper outfit to wear!”

Nothing but silence answered me. I waited a few seconds, wondering if this time Niall really had fallen back asleep or if he was analyzing the situation.

“Niall?” I tried after a minute of silence in a small voice.

I was relieved to hear him answer. “Isn’t today the first day of the semester?”

“It is,” I nodded. “Which brings another dilemma: I only have a class from nine to twelve, which, in theory, seems perfect since my appointment at the office is only at one in the afternoon, but my issue is that I won’t have time to come back home to change or grab anything and that means I will have to leave all my stock in my car while I’m in class and I will have to wear the same outfit throughout the whole day, outfit I still haven’t found! This is a catastrophe.”

“I can’t believe you woke me up for this…” Niall grumbled. “Don’t you have another friend who’s more interested in your first world problems that could help you? Like Emmy or somethin’?”

My eyes widened. “I couldn’t wake her up now,” I scoffed as if the answer was obvious. “She has a class at eight this morning, she needs as much energy as she can get.”

“I have a class at eight too!” he returned angrily.

“Then how are you not already awake!?” I shot back. “You need to get ready! Get some breakfast, take a shower. Brush your teeth.”

“Alright that’s it – I’m gonna hang up.”

“What? But you haven’t been helpful at all! Don’t you get it? I’m miserable right now!”

I took a moment to look at my surroundings. I was sat on my bed, sheets spread around me, my laptop opened in front of me, three empty mugs of coffee on my nightstand, half of my wardrobe on the floor, an anguished expression on my face and my phone tightly pressed on my ear. And it was still dark outside.

“Go to sleep Rae,” he sighed. “God knows you need it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need some sleep; I need some advice.”

“Here’s my advice then; wear a dress and let me fuckin’ sleep!”

“But which dress??” I cried in frustration before hearing a clicking sound. I frowned. “…Niall?”

Since I was getting no response, I looked at my phone screen. I was surprised to perceive that the call had ended. I gasped. Had Niall literally just hung up on me??

I kept staring at my cellphone, mouth wide open and eyebrows furrowed in shock.

How rude!

***

I fell asleep in my bath.

At first, taking a bath filled with bubbles, chamomile scented candles and soft music playing in the background looked like a splendid idea. I somehow had managed to decide what I wanted to wear for the day – a simple white blouse and classic black pants that I would embellish with a nice yellow necklace to add more personality to it, and so was left with two hours in front of me before class started.

However, as soon as I put the cucumber slices on my eyes to hide the eight hours on non-sleep I’d just had, I was gone. When I woke up, an hour had passed.

“Hello, my name is Rachel Brown and I’m your new intern…no, they’ll probably know who I am,” I said out loud as I stood in front of the mirror of my bathroom. “Hi, I’m Rae…,” I continued as I wrapped my hair in a towel and tightened the one already around me. “Too friendly,” I shook my head as I grabbed my toothbrush.  “It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you miss Splender. Wo’kin’ wi’ you has a’ways been a dweam…” I stopped myself to spit in the sink. I rolled my eyes. “Too fawning.” I glanced at the clock on my wall and squeaked.

Already eight and a half?? My first class of the semester started in less than an hour and I still had no clothes on.

I increased the speed of cleaning my teeth significantly. I grabbed some lotion.

“Hi, I’m Rachel Brown,” I mumbled as fast as I could while I applied my face moisturizer. “I have an appointment at 3’o clock for the training as your new intern that was confirmed a few weeks ago over the phone and by e-mail…No!” I sighed in frustration. “Why do you always talk so much??”

I stared at my reflection. My hair wasn’t done and I had no makeup on. My panic grew increasingly as I looked back at the time. There was no doubt; I was going to be late.

As I ran into my room to get dressed, I texted Liam, with whom I was glad to share the course with, to ask him to save me a seat beside him.

Once I finally got out of my flat, I calculated that I wouldn’t be more than ten minutes late, which really wasn’t bad. Even though I hated that kind of state of mind, I had to admit that the first classes of the semester truly never were the most substantial. The teacher probably wouldn’t have finished the introduction by the time I would arrive.

I drove to school at a good pace, fifth coffee of the day in hand, simply hoping then and there not to catch any red lights, which would slow me down. I glanced at my material for my internship on the seat beside me and smiled.

I probably should’ve at least slept a few hours, I thought as I took another sip of my coffee that was already cold. I shook my head. It was too late for regrets now.

I could see the campus when there was a sudden stream of heavy traffic. I turned down the volume of the radio and tried to see past the cars in front of me.

“No, no, no…not now,” I implored.

Why was there suddenly so many cars around the campus? Had there been an accident? I was trying to look for some signs or panels indicating something, but I couldn’t see a thing. Never had I ever seen this much traffic, even on the first day of school.

After a whole fifteen minutes of waiting, stressing and sighing, I was finally able to enter the car park of Mumbard, find an available spot and run to my class.

I was thirty minutes late.

I entered the classroom pitifully with my head low, avoiding to look at the teacher while trying to find Liam. Luckily, I was quick to find my friend, who’d subtly wave his hand to me. I almost ran to him and sat down with a pleased sigh, content that I had finally made it and that the stress was finally over.

My teacher, Mr Miles, hadn’t even given me a single look, nor did he pause what he was explaining to the class when I disrupted his course, which I thought was a great sign. He was tall with thick eyebrows and salt and pepper hair – probably hadn’t reached 50 yet. His voice was loud and firm, almost solemn-like, and he knew exactly what he was talking about, which I thought was very admirable. It wasn’t until less than twenty minutes after my arrival, after I’d made myself, perhaps, too comfortable on my seat that he made a speech about his intolerance for lateness in class. He didn’t mention my name, still hadn’t acknowledged me or looked into my eyes once, but suddenly, I felt very targeted and small on my chair. Liam and I glanced at each other and I hid my face behind my computer screen. I was glad that we weren’t sat in the front row.

I spent the rest of the class feeling uptight, fearing he’d blurt out another indirect warning towards me.

Well, as if Mr Miles had heard my fears, at the very end of the class, just when I thought I was safe and was getting up from my seat, he pointed me and asked me to come to his desk. I froze, half of my laptop out of its case. Liam and I exchanged another glance before I slowly nodded to my teacher, who had already broken our eye contact.

“Do you want me to wait for you outside?” Liam murmured.

“Please,” I breathed. “If I get murdered between those walls I’ll need a witness.”

Liam and I slowly walked side by side until we had no choice but to take separate paths. He turned on his right towards the door while I turned left towards Mr Miles’s desk, behind which he was sat and writing notes on some papers.

“What do you want to do after graduation, Miss Brown?” he asked the moment I was in front of him, without even looking up to me.

I gulped.

Teachers who already knew your name at the very beginning of the semester were usually the ones you didn’t want to mess with.

“A newspaper journalist, sir,” I said.

“Specialism?”

“Either Public Relations or Arts & Culture.”

Mr Miles finally raised his head and laid his eyes on me. I almost shivered in front of the coldness of his gaze and had to remind myself not to look nervous.

“And can you tell me what class is this?”

“Media Law and Ethics.”

“Right,” he slowly nodded, “also known as the Do’s and Don’t’s in the Media world. Lateness, miss Brown, is a major ‘Don’t’. So you see, I can’t help but find it ironic that you choose to follow the path of one of the strictest careers when it comes to punctuality, especially in the Public Relations area. One minute late to an event and you might’ve lost crucial information worth a full page. So next time you decide to take your time to come to this class, just don’t come at all. Don’t waste both of our times.”

And without waiting for a response from me, he went back to his papers. Just like that. Maybe he thought the conversation was over, but I was way too offended by such foolish prejudices to end it that way.

“But there was traffic!” I protested as I held my laptop case more tightly against me. “With all the respect Mr Miles, being late has never been one of my habits – just ask every other teacher form the department. I deeply apologize for today, but you can’t judge me based on only one time! It’s unfair!”

“See you next week, Miss Brown,” he said absently, which took me aback.

It was like he hadn’t listened to a word I had just said. I stared at him in silence, my mouth shaped in a “O”, barely believing that I was being ignored by my teacher. I walked out of the class seconds later as I realized that Mr Miles wouldn’t discuss.

Like he had promised, Liam was waiting for me outside of the classroom. When he saw me exit the class, he only raised a questioning brow, to which I responded by shaking my head as I walked past him in fast steps.

“He hates me,” I said out loud, knowing Liam had been following me.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Liam answered as he quickened his pace and reached my height.

“He does! He told me that it was ironic that I wanted to become a serious journalist and that next time I might be late I should stay home instead and stop wasting his time.”

“Ouch.”

“I can’t believe it,” I shook my head. “A teacher’s never hated me before! I don’t know what to do.”

“Wait – not so fast,” Liam grabbed my arm in an attempt to slow me down. I sighed and stopped, finally facing him for the first time. “I know that you’re upset, but might as well take it as a challenge?”

I raised a brow. “A challenge?”

“Yeah, kind of like…proving him wrong. And anyway, at one time or the other, he won’t have a choice but to see that you’re actually a brilliant student. You really shouldn’t take his comments too seriously. I think he clearly just wanted to shake you up.”

“Maybe you’re right…” I sighed. “I just felt so horrible, and he wasn’t trying to hear my point of view! He was so passive-aggressive.”

“Honestly, Rae, I think you’ve got more important things to worry about than a rude teacher.”

“You’re right,” I repeated in a nod before suddenly remembering that I had to get going. “Liam, my internship!” I exclaimed in an alarmed tone. “What time is it??”

As I began to look around in hopes to find a clock hooked on one of the walls of the hallway, Liam took out his phone.

“Twelve Fifteen.”

“Okay, I definitely have to leave now. I can’t afford to be late there as well.”

Liam and I walked quickly to the car park, where my car was located. After wishing me luck and reassuring me one last time about the encounter with Mr Miles, Liam went back to campus, leaving me all alone with my stressful thoughts and fears. But before going, I decided to redefine my makeup and examine every single thing that I had brought to be sure I had everything.

I was pleased to notice that there wasn’t any traffic on my way out of campus and I drove with a more serene state of mind, even though I was still slightly freaking out because I couldn’t believe today was my official first day as an intern for The Edifice.

However, halfway through my drive to the city, my car began to make a weird noise. It wasn’t particularly loud but it was persistent enough to annoy me. I searched for a button or a tool that maybe had been left on or that I had pressed unintentionally, but I couldn’t find anything. In a sigh, I resigned on having to wait until tomorrow to see if the sound persisted and tried not to think about it so much. But since the sound started to slowly drive me insane, I turned up the volume of the radio to at least hide it.

But it wasn’t done: a few minutes later, I started to hear the noise again. I began to worry a bit more, but didn’t allow myself to be too concerned about it. I was soon to be arrived at my destination and there was no way I would stop my car in the middle of the highway to detect the source of the noise.

Things went even worse when I felt my car loose its speed.

No.

Not now.

I hit the pedal with more avidity, but nothing seemed to change. My car was going slower and slower. I had no choice but to direct my vehicle towards the side of the road to prevent myself from getting into an accident. Once my car completely stopped, I began to properly freak out.

My choices were limited; I didn’t have time to call and wait for a car truck, I tried to call for a taxi but the rather rude man on the other end told me it would take about twenty-five minutes to pick me up, which I truly didn’t have enough time to wait, and I certainly wouldn’t start hitchhiking today.

So instead, I called Niall, crying.

“Hiyaaa.”

“Niall?” I managed to voice through my tears.

“Rae!!” he replied rather too enthusiastically. “If you’re callin’ t’wake me up again, sorry but it’s too late! M’already awake!”

“Are you drunk?” I asked in disbelief.

“Might be.”

I was so startled I forgot I was crying.

“It’s not even one in the afternoon? Where are you?”

“Colin’s,” he giggled. “He invited a flew blokes from the team. T’celebrate the new semester!”

There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, but had to shake them all off my head and focus on the reason of my call.

“Okay, listen Niall,” I began, “I’m stuck on the highway because my car just let me down and I need someone to pick me up so I can make it in time for my internship, do you understand me?”

“Oh shit,” he said, “okay hang on.” I heard him put the phone away from him as he screamed through the room he was in. “Does anybody that have a car can get Rae??”

I heard a lot of voices arguing behind him, which had me wondered how many of them were at Colin’s. I nervously waited until Niall came back to me and kept looking at the time. 12h30. Only thirty minutes left before I had to be at the offices of The Edifice. I prayed that Niall would find someone willing to pick me up.

“Reggie’s coming!” Niall suddenly blurted out in my ear, which made me jump.

“Really??” I said once the shock had passed. “Oh my goodness, thank you! Tell him to come right away!”

After Niall promised me that Reggie was just leaving and that I expressed my exact location, I sighed of relief and hoped that the wait wouldn’t be too long.

I waited anxiously inside of my car, which was beginning to feel very cold. Without any type of heating device on now, I was starting to freeze. Ten minutes of waiting passed before I realized I didn’t even know what Reggie’s car looked like, and found myself getting agitated every time a car drove near me.

Five minutes later, a car stopped just behind me. I nearly cried of joy, until I recognized the car. A black Range Rover. Frowning, I raised my gaze through the rear-mirror to identify the driver and was mortified when my eyes laid on Harry. Shocked, I physically turned my head to peak through my car’s rear window as I couldn’t believe he was actually there. But when I saw him step out of his car and fully recognized him, I promptly looked back in front of me and suddenly desired to shrunk on my seat.

I remained stiff until I heard a few knocks on my side’s window. Slowly, I turned my head towards it and shot Harry the most forced smile.

Truth is, I didn’t know how to act with Harry anymore.

We hadn’t seen each other ever since that second kiss and truth was, I still hadn’t been able to fully understand why had it happened. Those past few days, I had found myself overthinking about it while feeling all types of emotions.

Did it mean something?

Of course it didn’t. At least, not for me. And I knew it meant nothing to him as well, Harry had told me himself.

Then why kiss me?

Out of pity? Because he was bored? Or did he really mean it when he said he just wanted to distract me?

I truly didn’t know. And now that he was stood just beside my car, I couldn’t find what I would say to him. Should I be distant and cold, making him know that the kiss had been unwanted and unnecessary? Or maybe I should try more of a laid-back approach and pretend, once again, it had never happened and that I was soover it?

Harry knocked once more on the window and I remembered that he was waiting for me to open the door.

“I thought Reggie was supposed to take me?” was the first thing that I was able to say as I finally got out of my car.

“Reggie was as drunk as Niall,” Harry rolled his eyes. “He was in no good state to drive.”

He took my keys from my hands and took my place inside the car, leaving the door wide-open. He tried to start the engine, but nothing happened. Not even a sound came from the car.

He looked at me. “When’s the last time you changed your battery?”

I tried to recall, but I wasn’t even sure if I had ever touched the battery since I had my car. “Uh…”

Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed his own keys inside his coat pocket. He handed them to me.

“Why are you giving me your keys?” I hesitated but eventually took them.

“You can’t leave your car alone on the road, can you?”

Right. I hadn’t thought about that.

“But… what about you?” I frowned.

“Aren’t you late or something?” Harry scoffed. “Just take my car and go wherever you need to go and let me deal with the rest.”

Harry was right. I needed to leave now in order to arrive in time. But for some unknown reason, I couldn’t move.

I stared at him. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Tired of what?”

“Of always saving me?”

“Where’s Brittany?” I frowned. I could’ve sworn that I had heard her voice when Niall had burst inside my flat to pick me up.

He stood up. “She’s not coming anymore,” he simply stated and grabbed his coat on the couch.

“What are you talking about? You let her go back home? Alone? In the storm?”

Niall shrugged without giving me a single look and adjusted his scarf around his neck. I rolled my eyes.

Niall and Brittany were becoming bickering experts. They always had been quite good at it, but in the beginning of their relationship, it was more subtle. They simply wouldn’t talk to each other for about twenty minutes and would then pretend nothing had happened. But ever since the Holidays had started, things had gotten worse. Their fights would often burst out of nothing, a simple phrase, and leave everyone around disconcerted. Brittany would storm out, Niall would feign indifference and two hours later, they’d call each other and apologize.

Zayn and I concluded that it was the result of them seeing each other every day. Now that the first semester had ended, they had nothing else to distract themselves with.

I shook my head. “Anyway,” I said while putting my boots on, knowing they would make up before the clocks would hit midnight, “I’m ready.”

“Finally,” Niall muttered as he walked towards the front door.

“Oh, come on! I only made you wait for ten minutes!” I scoffed behind him, getting slowly irritated by his temper. I grabbed my coat hooked on the wall and followed him out of my flat.

“More like thirty.”

I locked my door and turned to him, offended.

I really regretted Zayn’s absence. Usually, when Niall would get peevish over little nothings, he was there to defend and support me. But he was spending New Year’s Eve with Lana’s family and hadn’t been home since Christmas, leaving me all alone between Niall and Brittany. Even Emmy hadn’t been able to distract me since she was spending the Holidays in Lancashire with her family.

“Are you planning on being moody the whole night?”

Niall, who was walking way ahead of me in the corridor, stopped and spun around. I had both of my hands on my waist, very unamused.

He sighed in defeat. “I won’t be moody the whole night.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! I promise,” he said, his tone still annoyed but a lot more collected.

His answer left me pleased. “Good,” I smiled. Niall waited for me this time and once I reached him, I put an arm around his shoulder. “Or at least, if you’re going to be in a bad mood, just be sure it doesn’t last until next year,” I winked foolishly.

“You’re not funny.”

“Stop, I’m hilarious!” I laughed, which eventually made him chuckle.

There was my best friend!

***

The White House had never looked so spectacular. Bright lights and gold garlands were decorating the exterior of the house and a Christmas Wreath had been placed on the front door. Inside, the house embellishment was similar and I noticed that there was a Christmas tree in each single room. Glitters and lights definitely the main theme, and I was alright with it. The house looked magical.

Niall’s mood had gotten way better by the time we arrived, and I could see, by the way he was looking around him with an impressed nod, that he’d retrieved his enthusiasm. We walked side by side further inside the house until we finally found other people in the kitchen.

Even if it was still pretty early, I was glad that the house wasn’t as packed as I was accustomed for it to be. I recognized most of the faces and walked straightly to Rosalie, who was waiting for me with her arms opened.

“Merry Christmas!” we both exclaimed as we embraced.

Louis and Derek appeared on each side of me, both wearing 2015 glasses and top hats with ‘Happy New Year’ written in front. I hugged both of them with a laugh.

“I love to see people’s dedication for the New Year!"

“We have a few merchandise left if you’d like to join us,” Louis said.

“I think I’ll have to decline the offer,” I replied, thinking about the inevitable destruction of my – for once – well behaved curls if I wore one of those humongous things on my head.

“I thought Niall and Brittany were coming with you?” Derek expressed.

I looked around. I could’ve sworn Niall had been by my side up to the kitchen. Puzzled by his sudden absence, I shrugged.

“He must be somewhere.”

“So who are you kissing tonight?” Louis asked.

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

“It’s New Year’s Eve! Everybody’s gotta kiss someone at midnight, it’s a tradition.” His devious grin made me believe he was up to something, which was expectable from Louis.

I shot a nervous glance at Rosalie. “That’s not fair! I’m not even in a relationship.”

“Well it could change tonight,” he winked.

“Louis,” Rosalie warned, “Rae doesn’t have to kiss anyone if she doesn’t feel like it. Half of the boys here are gross anyway.”

“Hey!” Derek complained. “I’m not gross!”

“I said half, Derek.”

He turned to me. “It’s okay Rae, you don’t have to feel bad about yourself,” he gently taunted. “I’ll kiss you if you can’t find anybody to do it.”

I snorted. “Aren’t you so full of compassion! Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take a look on my other options first.”

“What other options?”

I froze and felt my face become livid. Louis, Derek and I simultaneously turned our heads behind us. A smiling Nick was looking at me.

We all stared at him silently. It was surprising that even Louis and Derek weren’t speaking.

Nick’s smile disappeared. “What?” he asked dubiously.

“Hey guys!” Colin barged in the kitchen, grasping Nick’s attention.

We all sighed of relief.

Nick greeted our friend, who put an arm around him. “So, who’s gonna get kissed tonight?” Colin suggestively raised his brows.

“Seriously?” Louis breathed before rolling his eyes.

It was Colin’s turn to stare at us in confusion.

“Wha-“

“Hey Nick, how about we go grab some other beers in the basement?” Louis interrupted, leaving poor Colin even more befuddled.

“Yeah I’ll help too, it might be heavy,” Derek was quick to add.

“You’re coming too, mate.” Louis grabbed Colin by the collar and dragged him alongside them. Nick followed without a word, both of his brows still low.

I waited until they were all of sight before turning to Rosalie.

“They all know, don’t they?”

“I promise I only told Louis!”

“Rosalie!”

“It was an accident, I swear! Besides, you can’t tell me you weren’t expecting people not to notice you have a mad crush on Nick!”

“Shut!” I pressed, verifying nobody around had heard us. “It’s not… It’s not that obvious, is it?” I added nervously.

“Rae, you have nothing to worry about. If I’m quite honest, he’s not really subtle either.”

I opened, then closed my mouth. Then opened it again only to close it one last time.

“Be honest with me, Rosalie…” I finally decided to express. “Should I kiss Nick at midnight?”

“I definitely think you deserve a midnight kiss,” she smiled. “They’re the best.”

“Plus, I’ve never been kissed on New Year’s before…”

“Then you have your answer!”

***

“There you are!”

In an attempt of finding Niall, I had come across Harry instead, who I also wanted to see eventually. I had promised myself I’d congratulate him for the house decor.

Harry was in the entrance hall, crouched in the middle of a mass of boots and coats people had neglected on the floor that were blocking the front door. He raised his head at the same time I squatted down beside him and helped him by grabbing some coats on the floor.

“I couldn’t believe I wouldn’t have the chance to compliment the owner of the house for those fairy decorations.”

“Yeah, about that…” he trailed as he stood up and began to properly hang the coats in the vast closet beside the door. “Let’s not mention anything about any owner of this place.”

I remained crouched on the floor, five different coats in hands, looking at Harry.

“Don’t people already know?”

He reached down to take the coats off my hands and placed them with the others. I took some more on the floor.

“They know I have the connections, but they’re not aware I actually own it.”

“Why? Would it change something?”

He leaned down again and grabbed the coats I was handing him.

“Probably everything,” he said as he wrapped a coat around a hanger. “They’d assume they can just throw parties here whenever they want since it’s mine and not some stranger’s.”

I raised a brow. “Cause there’s another purpose for this house?”

“It’s a great place to just think and relax too.”

“What, alone?” I said, mildly horrified. “Won’t you sometimes feel so…small? And what if an intruder comes inside? You would never even know. You were right last time, living here by yourself must be so…lonesome.”

It was the first time in so long I had a thought for what had happened last time I’d been here. Our drunken conversation that had lead into Harry and I’s first kiss. I felt my cheeks become red at the memory and hoped Harry wasn’t thinking about the same thing.

“Rae,” Harry sneered.

I brought my attention back to him.

“What? Don’t look at me like that! There’s a fair amount of sick murderers in London, too!”

“No, I meant, the coats.”

I finally saw the hand he was extending to me.

“Oh!” I quickly grabbed the last three coats and gave them to him.

I stood back up and pushed the coats to one side of the closet so Harry could hang the last ones easily. I looked at the time on my watch. Midnight was in less than an hour, now.

I was beginning to feel that kissing Nick at midnight was a much less enticing idea than it sounded two hours ago. I hadn’t really seen him or talked to him ever since I’d arrived. Was I just supposed to grab him and kiss his lips when the clock would hit midnight?

I glanced at Harry, trying not to mention Nick or ask anything about him. We both knew he’d probably only roll his eyes and call me pathetic.

“Have you seen Niall?” I asked instead.

“Last time I saw him he was heading out of the house.”

“Probably to pick Brittany up,” I grinned to myself before remembering I’d spoken out loud.

I looked at Harry who was back on the floor, now placing everybody’s boots against the wall.

“It was Lucie, by the way,” he suddenly spoke.

I blinked.

“I’m sorry, who?”

“The lady that let you in on Christmas Eve,” he replied, although looking deeply concentrated into sorting every pair of boots.

“Ah, Lucie!” I smiled, crossing my arm. I leaned against the closed closet. “Is she one of your aunts or something?”

“Nope. My dad’s accountant.”

I found it funny that Harry’s father had permit his accountant to join them for Christmas, at Harry’s sister’s house. Harry had mentioned he didn’t know the majority of the people who were at the penthouse and it left me deeply curious as to know why Christmas wasn’t only celebrated between Harry and his family. But I refrained myself from asking. It wasn’t my duty to know.

Thus, I only nodded. “How do you know it was her?”

He finally raised his head to look at me. “She asked me if my little friend had found me.”

“Little friend?” I repeated, a tad offended.

“Well you are quite little,” he shrugged.

I pondered his words. “So…does that mean we’re friends now?” I said in a careful, slow smile.

He stayed silent and continued setting the boots. I couldn’t tell if he was ignoring me or if he hadn’t heard. Then, after he was finished, I watched him stand up and tower me. I tried to look nonchalant, still leaning against the closet with arms crossed. However, I couldn’t stop my left leg from bouncing.

He finally looked down on me. “Maybe,” he smirked.

I opened my mouth, ready to reply, when the front door suddenly swung open and almost hit Harry’s back. We both promptly took a few steps away.

Niall entered the house first followed by – oh, big surprise – Brittany. I smirked to myself as I noticed that they were holding hands.

“Oh, hey!” Niall said. “Sorry, didn’t see you there mate!” he told Harry.

They fist-bumped, but I could see Harry was ready to go somewhere else. Brittany smiled at him, smile that he didn’t bother to return. Instead, he looked at me.

“Anyway, thanks uh…for the help.”

“You’re welcomed…” I began, but he was already far into the crowd of people in the house.

I looked back at Niall, who was removing his boots. I shot him a smug smile that he tried to ignore, but the little smirk he was trying to hide couldn't fool me.

“So glad to see you, Brittany!” I smiled even bigger as she was hanging her coat in the closet.

She answered with a timid smile and I decided not to nag them any longer. I left them and went to the kitchen, hoping that Nick would be there. He wasn’t. I slowly found myself looking for him through the house. From every living room to all the little hallways, I went. I even peered from the window just in case I’d find him outside.

Still no signs of Nick.

Frustrated, but determined, I remembered the basement Louis had mentioned and went on a quest to find it by myself. It seemed like there was a new room for me to discover every single time here. I found the door to the basement quite quickly, even though it was pretty hidden. If I hadn’t been looking for a mysterious door, I probably would’ve never guessed there was a small space behind the kitchen that hid one. Fingers crossed, I slowly opened the door leading downstairs and peaked an ear to see if I could recognize any familiar voice down there.

“You look like you’re looking for someone,” someone just behind me said that made me jump so abruptly I almost lost my balance. If I wasn’t holding the doorknob, I could’ve easily fallen down the stairs.

After the short fear of losing my life tumbling down some billion dollar house stairs was gone, the fear of facing the person I immediately recognized took me. I slowly spun around.

“Nick,” I breathed, without truly believing I had finally found him. Or in this case, he had found me. I became very aware that I was staring at him and regained some posture. “I…huh…actually, I was looking for the bath…room.”

Nick gently laughed. “You always seem to have a hard time finding the bathrooms.”

“Yeah…” I chuckled uneasily.

“Here, follow me,” he motioned with his head.

I gladly followed him. As we were walking inside of the house, I tried to find an excuse not to actually go to the bathroom. The last thing I wanted, now that I had him for myself, was to lose him again.

“There’s like three on the main floor but they’re always occupied,” he mentioned. “We’ll just go to the one on the top floor.”

“I thought we couldn’t go upstairs?”

“Who told you that?”

“Oh…nevermind,” I blathered, my last conversation with Harry coming back to my mind. It was quite surreal to think that even Nick probably had no idea that the house was under his best mate’s name.

We quickly ran up the stairs and were greeted by the sculptures and portraits on each side of the second floor's hallway. I had to contemplate each single of them again, reviving the serenity I had felt the first time I had walked on this floor.

“I know, it’s pretty amazing,” Nick said in a lower tone, which made me realize how close we’d gotten. We were walking side by side, our arms sometimes brushing from the inconstant swing of our arms. “I had the same face the first time I came up here too.”

My smile froze.

The first time I had come here, I had kiss Nick’s best friend. And now, I was back on this floor with Nick, as if it was some kind of flirting tactic of mine. I once again chased away those memories. Nobody would ever know.

We walked past the main bedroom, Harry’s bedroom. I shivered at the simple sight of the door, but also wondered where Nick was taking me. I thought the bathroom was inside the bedroom.

“Here we are,” Nick said. It was a good thing I hadn’t mentioned anything because there was, in fact, another door a few meters further. “What’s wrong?” he added, sensing my hesitation to enter.

Nick was so close to me I could feel his natural warmth embracing me. I realized that this was it. This was it, I repeated to myself. I had to let him know that he was making me nervous. That when I was around him, I only took stupid decisions and when he wasn’t, I felt a hole in my heart…

Alright, maybe not that last part.

If there was one thing I dreaded, it had to be him thinking I was too dramatic, which was clearly untrue.

“The truth is… I didn’t really want to go to the bathroom,” I found the courage to say.

He frowned and took one step closer to me. Our arms were touching again. “Why did you make me go all the way upstairs with you, then?” he asked in a dumfounded laugh.

A nervous laugh escaped from my lips and I nervously started to play with my hair. I stopped myself mechanically, reminding myself of all the time I had spent to make my curls look this tight. They didn’t deserve to get destroyed now.

I took a deep breath. “Because you took me by surprise and I didn’t want to look like I was actually looking for you… which I was…”

“You were looking for me?”

I started to get really agitated. I couldn’t tell if he was truly confused or taunting me a little. Maybe he knew exactly where I was going. Maybe I had been so unsuccessful at being subtle about fancying Nick that even Nick knew I was fancying Nick.

“I…yes.”

I really couldn’t give any more hints. It was like I was stuck in my own body without being able to control my actions. My mind wanted me to say much more, but my whole body was frozen.

“Why were you looking for me?” Nick said. “Did you need to tell me something?”

“No! I mean… not really. I just…wanted to talk to you. I know it’s stupid…”

“No, not at all!” he shook his head, his smile altering into a much more genuine, bright one. “I think it’s a very fair reason, actually.”

“Don’t laugh at me…”

“I’m not!” he tried not to giggle but simply couldn’t control his laughter. I joined in, although mine was a little less sincere. “If I’m honest I wanted to talk to you too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he gently chuckled once more. “I think it’s fair to say it has been a while since the last time we had a chat, hasn’t it?”

I nodded. “Right.”

He moved forward and opened the bathroom’s door. “Then let’s chat!”

“What, in there?”

Nick was already inside flicking the lights on before turning to me.

“Why not?”

I followed him inside. We both had to take a moment to admire the inside of the bathroom. If the bathroom inside of Harry’s room was luxurious, this one was majestic. There was a Jacuzzi in the middle, a chandelier above it. The wall, the floor and even the ceiling were all in an obvious high end material and there was even a dressing table in the left corner.

“I don’t know what kind of contacts Harry’s got on his phone to provide us a house like that but he needs to introduce me,” Nick said in awe.

“You don’t…even have an idea of who owns the house?”

In one hand I didn’t want to break my promise to Harry but in the other, I reallycouldn’t believe that Nick had no idea the house was Harry’s when Harry hadn’t hesitated to tell me. There was even a picture of him in the main bedroom, for God’s sake!

Nick shrugged. “I’m starting to think this place is either abandoned or Harry just knows sick rich people. Which wouldn’t even surprise me, actually.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Harry doesn’t really talk about himself,” Nick laughed. “The only thing we know for sure about him is that he often goes to his sister’s in Birmingham and…that he studies at Mumbard University.”

“Do you know anything about his parents?”

I instantly bit my tongue.

One of the things I detested with a passion was when people got intrusive about my family and private life. So for me to ask, not even to Harry himself, but to his pal about his parents made me feel like a hypocrite. Ever since that trip from Birmingham, there had been some sort of non-verbal agreement between us two. He never asked me about my personal issues, so I had decided to respect him the same way. Until now.

“Well their names are on every bill Harry receives, so they must be somewhere.”

I simply nodded, careful to not add anything else. When I looked back at Nick, he was sat on the edge of the Jacuzzi, smiling at me.

I felt myself blush. “Why are you smiling?”

“You look very pretty tonight,” he said without breaking our eye contact.

The color of my cheeks became heavily pigmented. “You don’t look so bad too,” I was able to spur out with a semblance of confidence.

“You’ve actually got a great sense of style,” he continued. “I remember that one outfit you wore… where was it from again? Ah, Clueless!”

For him to remember precisely an outfit I wore the second time we had met was surprising enough, but the fact that he actually knew what movie it was inspired from was astonishing.

“You’ve watched Clueless?” I said in disbelief.

“My sister was obsessed with it and made me watch it several times,” he laughed. “I probably shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t judge me.”

“I’m not judging! I’m quite impressed, actually. So you have a sister?”

“A twin sister, yes. But she’s studying abroad in Italy.”

Nick proceeded to tell me more about his family. He explained to me his sister's degree and why she decided to head to Italy for her studies. He talked about his hometown and his parents. I was trying to listen carefully, but his simple presence left me so overwhelmed with joy I couldn’t completely concentrate on his words.

I kept getting lost in his eyes, and glanced at his hands that he used quite a lot to gesture his words. I also kept glancing at his lips. I really wanted him to kiss me.

Rosalie was right; I deserved a midnight kiss – even though I grew afraid I wouldn’t be able to hold myself until midnight to kiss Nick. I got lost in my own thoughts for a few minutes, asking myself how could I make a first step towards Nick to make him seize my intentions.

“Nick?”

The voice broke my reverie and Nick cut his speech short. We both turned our heads towards the door. The voice was coming from the hallway.

“Nick, I know you’re somewhere here!”

It was a female’s voice.

Nick and I kept silent, only staring at the door, waiting for it to open. Soon enough, we heard the person open a door not far from us, which had to be Harry’s bedroom.

“Nick!” the girl giggled, and her voice became closer and louder. “Are you fucking hiding or what??”

The door of the bathroom opened a second later. A girl barged inside, a playful smile tugged on her lips.

“Nick!” she exclaimed, clearly happy to see him.

I looked at Nick. He seemed surprised to see her, but not discontent.

“Mia!” he smiled.

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you??” the girl said as she put a hand on her hip in an exaggerated manner. “You promised you would teach me to play pool, remember?” she added in a pout.

She must have been referring to the enormous pool table that was in the second living room. I’d never taken interest in venturing there because it was always the fullest room of the house. Apparently, people loved to play pool.

“Oh, yeah…” Nick said as he scratched the back of his head.

He glanced at me. It was the first time he was laying his eyes on me ever since Mia had interrupted us. Coincidentally, Mia suddenly seemed to realize there was another person in the room. Her eyes widened as her gaze fell on me.

“Oh,” she said, “am I interrupting something?”

It was hard for me not to shot her the most unimpressed look. I was standing in the middle of the room. She bloody well knew I had been there all along!

I suddenly remembered her. She was one of the first years that had hung out with Nick and Harry at the last party. A sudden resent for Mia had me uptight. She clearly was up to something no good. Even her name was suspicious. Mia. That couldn’t be her real name.

Nick and Mia were staring at me, apparently waiting for me to decide of the next events. I glanced back and forth at them, clueless of what to respond. Even though I knew very well I wanted Mia to leave.

“You can…go,” I slowly told Nick, uncertainty filled in my tone.

Nick raised both of his brows. “You sure? Cause we can-“

“No, it’s alright. We’ll talk later.”

I faked a smile and he nodded. The fact the he wasn’t smiling anymore had me wondering if my answer hadn’t been the one he had hoped for. But I was probably wrong. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left with her.

I watched them exit the bathroom resentfully. I sighed deeply and went to sit down on the dressing table chair. I checked my watch. 11:45pm.

I gasped.

Already??

Feeling completely defeated, I dropped my head between my hands. I couldn’t believe I just had missed the biggest opportunity to finally make a move on Nick.

When I exited the bathroom a few minutes later, I chose to have a seat in the middle of stairs. From where I was sat, I had a good view of the people on the main floor. I watched the raging party and tried to find people I recognized. I wondered who they came with, who were their friends… who they wished to kiss in less than ten minutes.

“You’re blocking the way.”

I looked up. “Harry!” I recognized him from upside down. He was stood on the step behind me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were upstairs.” I pushed myself against the railing to let him pass.

“Yeah and now, because of you, nobody will be able to reach the second floor.”

“I thought people weren't allowed up there?”

He took a few steps down and looked up to me. “Clearly that hasn’t stopped anybody.”

“Sorry,” I shot him an apologizing grin. “I guess you heard us?”

“I hadn’t realized someone else was on the floor until Mia began to fucking yell in the hallway.”

I almost snorted but the sound of her name still felt too bittersweet for me to feel anything but aversion. Mia.

Harry didn’t wait for an answer and walked down the last steps, turned left and disappeared behind a wall that lead to the kitchen.

I was surprised to see him retrace his steps and stop at the bottom of the stairs.

He glared at me.

“You gonna stand there the whole time?” he raised a brow.

I shrugged with not much conviction.

He sighed and began to climb the stairs, one slow step at a time.

“Honestly, you can’t just come at a party to be moody and alone on some stairs.”

“Hey!” I replied, frankly offended. “I’m not bothering anyone. Besides, what’s telling you I’m moody? I’m having the time of my life. Isn’t that obvious?”

Harry snorted and sat down beside me. He rested his elbows on the step behind us.

I stared at him. “You don’t have to stay with me, you know?” I said. “I'm doing just fine and I don't need your pity.” I took a look on my watch. 11:55pm.

I gulped.

“And I don’t need a moody girl on my stairs, but yet, here we are…”

“I told you I'm not moody!”

“Yeah, right. Nick goes missing with Mia and I suddenly find you here all thoughtful and…moody.”

I almost snapped my neck looking at him. The grin he had plastered on his face clearly indicated that he was mocking me. Instead of responding with a scathing reply, I raised an eyebrow.

“Are you drunk?”

He lost his grin. “No, but what does it have to do with anything?”

“You only crack jokes when you’re drunk, I’ve noticed.”

He frowned. “That’s not true.”

“With me, at least.”

Lost for words, he could only stare at me dubiously. I checked once again at the time.

11h58.

I began to bounce my leg anxiously. I was about to miss my New Year’s kiss.

“Why are you always checking your watch?” Harry asked.

Before I could reply, I recognized Louis and Derek’s voices from the main living room, calling everybody to join them for the countdown soon to begin. I got even more tensed.

“You can’t be serious…” Harry groaned.

“What?”

“They fucking put in your head that you should kiss Nick tonight, haven’t they?”

I was speechless.

It was a known fact that people kissed at the beginning of the year. Nobody had put anything in my mind. It was totally a thing!

“What if I actually want to have a midnight kiss?” I spat, more nervously than angrily. I was on the edge of having a break down. I glanced to the main floor, hoping that Nick would suddenly appear in front of the stairs.

“Then go find Nick and kiss him, for Christ’s Sake,” Harry said in the most exasperated tone. “It’s really not that complicated.”

"I can't just go and kiss him!"

"Then stop complaining."

"He'll probably kiss Mia anyway."

"Yeah cause you chose to sit here and cry instead of actually making a move."

I scoffed. "Now you're just being heartless!"

“10…” everybody in the house suddenly chanted.

Harry and I looked down in front of us.

Oh no.

The countdown had already begun.

I restlessly scanned the crowd downstairs. Maybe if I was able to find Nick, and our eyes locked, he'd come. Better, even, he'd call for my name and I'd rush down the stairs like in the movies.

“9...8...7..."

Harry snorted beside me. I threw him an angry stare

"You should see your face," he smirked.

"It's not funny!"

“6…”

"Nick is not coming, Rae."

“5…”

"Who said I was waiting for him?" I protested as I felt my cheeks become red.

“4…3…”

Please God.

"It's not that important." I could sense his tone was really amused, but I couldn't keep my eyes off the crowd.

"It is to me!"

“2…1..."

At this point, I really just was waiting for a miracle.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

My heart dropped to my stomach.

I had missed it. I didn't kiss Nick.

Feeling gutted, I looked at Harry who was smugly smiling at me.

He was smirking when he moved closer to me. He was smirking when he brought his hand to my face. He was smirking when he pulled my head towards him. And he was smirking when he crashed his lips on mine.

I completely froze.

I remained still for a few seconds, the shock not allowing me to move. Harry pressed his lips with a little more insistence and my mouth slowly followed his motion by itself. He gently slid his hand behind my ear and my body instantly relaxed. I sighed into his mouth.

Harry hadn’t been lying when he affirmed that he wasn’t drunk. His mouth tasted sweet and his kiss was less sloppy than the first time. I grabbed his shirt and slowly pulled him even closer to me.

The only similarity I could recollect from our first kiss was that when I was kissing Harry, I couldn’t think about anything. He had this sort of aura surrounding him that left me intoxicated every time I was too close to him. Like in a trance.

As I felt a vibrant warmth at the bottom of my tummy, Harry broke the kiss.

My memory slowly came back.

The party. We were at a party, with a lot of our classmates. I slightly frowned. How long had we been kissing? Who had seen us?

I opened my eyes in a quick gesture. I was breathless.

I stared at Harry with the most muddled expression. “You… kissed me!”

I abruptly looked down the stairs, in search of people who had witnessed the whole thing.

“Relax, nobody's seen us.”

“Why did you kiss me??” I looked back at Harry, my tone more curious than accusing.

"You said you wanted a midnight kiss. I was trying to distract you."

“So you...kissed me?” I looked at him dead in the eye, somehow having a hard time believing what had just happened and how opened Harry felt about it.

“Well… it worked, hasn’t it?”

I blinked.

He was grinning.

He was grinning!

"I...am confused," I began as I stood on my feet and walked down the stairs. Harry followed me. "First you kiss me, then don't want to speak about it, then you kiss meagain and act as if nothing."

"No," Harry said behind me. "First, you lure me into kissing you and take advantage of me while I was clearly not sober, then I kiss you to teach you that midnight kisses don't mean anything and shouldn't be taken this seriously."

I promptly spun around.

"Take advantage of you??" I shook my head in disbelief.

"I'm joking, Rae."

He clearly wasn’t grasping the gravity of his actions.

“What if Nick saw us??” I said in a lower tone as I shot a nervous glance around us.

He rolled his eyes. “He hasn’t.”

“How do you know that??”

“Happy New Years!!”

Harry and I both jumped. I quickly crossed my arms against my chest while Harry took one step away from me as Niall approached us.

With everything that had just happened, I hadn't realized we were in front of the kitchen.

Niall walked towards us, his arms opened and a 2015 pair of glasses on his nose, under which his glossy eyes were half-closed. He clearly had a few beers.

“Where have you guys been!?” he added in his drunken state.

He hugged me tightly against him, hug that I couldn’t even return because my arms were still against me and his embrace was too tight for me to move. He turned to Harry.

“You should’ve been there, was awesome….” he mumbled as he exchanged a hug with Harry. “We all shouted the countdown and the blokes popped some champagne…buzzin.”

“We were there, Niall,” I laughed nervously.

I glanced at Harry, who raised a brow. I ignored him.

Niall’s eyes widened. “You were??”

“Yes…” I answered with difficulty. “I was just beside you.”

Niall blinked.

“You were??” he repeated, amazed. “Wow…I swear I didn’t even see you.”

I would’ve normally laughed at his expression but everything right now was feeling so…strange. Strange party. Strange atmosphere. Strange kiss.

“Let’s go get you some water, mate,” Harry said as he put both of his hands on Niall’s shoulders.

Niall kept repeating that he wasn’t thirsty but let Harry guide him to the sink anyway.

As I lost them through the crowd, I went inside the main living room and spent the rest of the party watching Louis and Reggie play beer pong with fellow teammates with an abstracted mind. They would ask me every now and then if I wanted to play, offer that I'd always decline with an absentminded smile. At some point, Rosalie spotted me and asked me if I had kissed Nick. I could only shake my head. The truth was, I hadn't thought about Nick ever since Harry and Niall had left me.

I saw Harry a few times through the rest of the night. He was smiling and talking to people, but his eyes would never lower on me. It was slowly driving me insane, but I tried to act as nonchalant as one could be.

Brittany, Niall and I left a little after two in the morning. I had to drive Niall’s car since he wasn’t in the right state to be driving, and we first had to drop Britany off at her parent’s house because she had a family brunch in the afternoon. Niall, still intoxicated, kept begging Brittany to sleep at his for the night and swore that he’d drive her at her parents' in the morning. But Brittany and I weren’t deluded by his promises. We both knew that all hangover-Niall was capable of was to sleep all day. He probably wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed.

He finally gave up after a while and was somehow able to walk Brittany to her front door. When he came back inside the car, he instantly fell asleep.

It took me some time to wake him up once we were home as he kept mumbling incomprehensible words. When I eventually had him up and out of the car, he looked exhausted, but a little more lucid.

As we arrived on our floor, I waited for him to get inside his flat first. Niall seemed to have a hard time unlocking his door by himself and I almost took his keys from his hands. I finally heard the click of the door and was about to say goodnight but Niall spoke before:

“You and Harry…you weren’t really beside me during the countdown, were you?”

His words took me aback. The fact that Niall was still stood in front of his door, his back facing me, had me momently wishing he was just drunk chatting and was totally unaware of what he was saying.

But in front of my silence, he slowly turned to face me. He was waiting for an answer.

“What makes you think that?” I asked hesitantly.

“Cos I remember…you weren’t there.”

I took a deep breathe. “You’re right… I wasn’t.”

He nodded. “Alright. Goodnight.”

I raised a brow. “That’s it? You don’t want to know why I lied?”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Niall yawned. “I’m knackered.” He turned around and opened his door.

“Right…Goodnight, then?”

I spun around with a bemused expression and grabbed my keys inside of my bag. As I was about to unlock my door, Niall’s voice rose from behind.

“By the way, has anyone told you you had a bit of smeared lipstick around your mouth?”