Chapter 8

"I swear to God when I see him, I won't hesitate to kill him," I muttered when I sat down at the table in the lunchroom the following morning.

Perrie was already there, munching on a slice of toast, but no Harry or Nick was in sight. Good thing for the curly-headed one.

She turned to me, a look of confusion falling onto her face. "Who and what are you talking about?" She asked, her eyebrows knitted.

Pressing the palms of my hands against my face in exhaustion, I let out a deep groan. "Harry. He decided to play music on full fucking blast yesterday when I was just about to fall asleep. The second I see him, I swear I'm going to strangle him. I barely got any sleep because of him."

She let out a light chuckle. "That explains your shitty mood."

I turned to her, separating my fingers to see the amusement on her face. "Oh, fuck you."

Right then, a familiar voice was heard, making me visibly cringe. "Good morning, Perrie," he greeted, and I instantly dropped my hands from my face to look at the curly-haired man I had been waiting to see this morning so that I could punch him in the face.

With a clenched jaw, I narrowed my eyes at him. "You," I snarled. "Do you have any fucking decency, or are you just too much of a dickhead to understand that there are other people in this world?"

A smile spread on his lips, but he didn't turn to meet my eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

With that said, he turned around to go to the serving area to get some breakfast. Clenching my hands into tight fists, I gritted my teeth. "Please give me your permission to kill him. I bet it's going to be the most amazing feeling ever," I muttered, turning to Perrie, who let out a loud laugh.

"You're my friend, Louis, and I know you well enough to know that you would regret doing that. Yes, he's a pain in the ass, but he doesn't deserve to die," she replied, amusement clear in her eyes.

Rolling my eyes, I let out a huff. "And I thought you were on my side on this."

"I'm not on any side, Louis," she told me.

Pursing my lips, I got up to fetch some breakfast myself. When I returned, both Harry and Nick were sitting at the table across from Perrie and the seat I'd been sitting in before I left. I placed my tray on the table and plopped down, my lips pressed into a thin line.

"We're going out tonight," Nick announced, his white teeth on full display.

I furrowed my eyebrows, looking up to meet his gaze. "Going out where? We don't even know this place," I huffed.

He rolled his eyes. "To a pub, of course. It can't be that hard to find one in the area," he shrugged, snatching a pancake from Harry's plate.

"Don't steal my food, you tosser," Harry muttered, nudging Nick in the side.

The short-haired guy just chuckled, not seeming affected by the reprimand whatsoever as he took a bite of the pancake. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, Tommo. You're more than welcome to stay here."

"I'll be there," I mumbled, averting my gaze from him. Why I made the decision that I did, I had no idea. I was pretty sure I didn't want to go out with either Harry or Nick, but giving him the satisfaction of thinking he could control me wasn't an option.

"Well, I'm going out shopping before that. Anyone interested in joining me?" She asked, taking a bite of her croissant while glancing at Harry hopefully.

His eyes lit up brightly. "I'll come," he blurted out almost too quickly.

I honestly didn't know he was that much into shopping. When we were together, he didn't care all that much about what he was wearing, but considering the expensive suits he had worn the last couple of days, I should have known that had changed.

"I'm going to catch up on sleep," I muttered, glaring in Harry's direction. I was still pissed at him, and if the opportunity of getting back at him ever unfolded itself, I wouldn't hesitate to take it.

"Boring," Nick said, rolling his eyes.

Was it okay to punch him now that we weren't on television anymore? There were not that many people in the lunchroom, so no one would probably mind if I landed a punch on his impeccable face. That would be fine, right?

"That was unnecessary," Perrie frowned.

"Just because you weren't kept up all night by loud fucking music blaring from the speakers of your neighbor doesn't mean I wasn't. Now, if you would kindly shut the fuck up so that I can keep eating in peace, I'd love to, unless you want a bruise on your fucking cheek," I growled, my eyes narrowed at Nick.

"I'm not scared of you, Tommo," he smirked.

"Nick," Harry warned, catching me slightly off guard. He usually didn't try stopping arguments between us.

Nick let out a sigh and slumped his shoulders. Meanwhile, my gaze was stuck on the hand Harry had placed on Nick's forearm when he told him off. If they were dating and that girl Harry had been flirting with at the restaurant was just to prove me a point, we would have known by now, right?

Biting my bottom lip, I looked away, feeling disgusted by the thought of Harry dating that scumbag. He could do so much better than that. I mean, he could literally have anyone he wanted, so why would he go for Nick?

"I'm going back up to the rooms," I announced after a while. I had only eaten half of the things on my tray, but I was full, and sleep felt much more appealing than what it did right now.

"I'll go with you," Perrie said, getting up from her seat with her tray.

"Meet you in the lobby in half an hour then, Perrie?" Harry asked, a small smile on his lips.

"Of course," she replied, returning the smile before leaving the lunchroom with me.

We went to the elevator together, waiting for it to come down before entering it. "He seems awfully excited about going shopping," I commented, breaking the silence between us.

Perrie shrugged her shoulders. "I can't blame him. I'm probably just as excited as he is. It's been a while since I last did, and I've never done it here before, so it's going to be a lot of fun."

I let out a hum, not saying anything to that. I didn't understand what was so fun about it, but I supposed I shouldn't be one to speak. It was just weird to see Harry so happy about something like that. Again, it felt like I didn't know him anymore, and I didn't know whether I liked that or not.

When we arrived at our rooms, we went our separate ways after saying goodbye to each other. Once inside, I didn't hesitate to flop down on the unmade bed, my baby blue pillow already laying there all wrinkled since the morning. Pulling the covers over my clothed body, I made myself comfortable before closing my eyes, letting sleep take over my exhausted body once and for all.

-----

I could tell when Harry and Perrie came back from their shopping trip because these walls weren't very isolated (if that wasn't already obvious enough), so I could hear when Harry's door shut a few hours later. I had slept for three hours and spent the next one watching TV.

The sound of bags being dropped on the floor was heard a few seconds later, and judging by the sounds of it, it couldn't possibly be only one bag. Raising my eyebrows at the thought, I shook my head. I shouldn't care. Why was I even thinking about this?

But then my thoughts wandered to how things looked on the other side of the wall; Harry standing by the bed, picking up the clothes he had bought from the bags to neatly fold them in either one of his suitcases or - if he had unpacked his clothes - in the closet. He had always been an organized person, picking up all the clothes I had thrown everywhere.

Glancing down at the floor beside my bed, I noticed that, yes, I was still the same messy person I had always been. I hadn't touched the clothes I had tossed on the floor yesterday when I couldn't find anything to wear for the show, so they were still scattered everywhere.

Pursing my lips, I glanced back up at the TV, trying to focus on the screen instead of the imaginations that were playing in my head. Thankfully, I didn't have to try for long because my phone started ringing only a couple of seconds later.

Looking at the caller ID, I noticed, to my great surprise, that it was Liam, so I didn't hesitate to swipe my thumb across the screen. "Liam, my man," I greeted, feeling a smile spread on my lips.

"Hi, Lou. How are you doing?" He asked casually.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess things could be better judging by the circumstances, but I probably shouldn't complain. How are you?"

He let out a sigh. "I'm great, thank you. So things with Harry aren't going very well then?" He hummed, and I could imagine him frowning on the other end.

Reaching up to run a hand through my hair, I let out a humorless laugh. "If you call him keeping me up till one am when I was exhausted just because he decided to play loud music from his speaker well, then yes. Things are going splendidly."

"He did what?"

Closing my eyes, I let out a deep sigh. "To put things short, I got mad at him when he sang in the shower, and to piss me off even more, he started playing music from his speaker. So I woke up this morning after only having slept for four hours and was still exhausted."

He let out a light chuckle. "Didn't think he was the kind of guy to do something like that. He must have taken after you. It honestly sounds a lot more like you."

I let out a snort. "Yeah, right."

I refused to admit that the thought of it being true made an electric shock run through my body. Just the idea of Harry being influenced by me... No.

"We're going out clubbing tonight," I told him instead, dropping the previous topic right there.

"Really? You're going to be okay with that?" He asked carefully.

I pulled my eyebrows together. "What do you mean by that? Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

Okay, so I hadn't gone out in a while... It had probably been more than a year since last time, but it wasn't like I wasn't okay with clubbing. I had done it plenty of times before. What would be so different about this time?

Then it hit me.

"You're talking about the fact that Harry's going to be there, aren't you?"

He sighed again. "I just don't want you to get hurt," he confessed.

"Why does everyone think I'm going to get so fucking hurt all the time? We're not together anymore, meaning his doings don't matter to me. So he can do whatever the fuck he wants," I muttered.

"Okay," he said in defeat. "Whatever you say."

After that, we talked about what else had happened since we last spoke to each other. He told me he would model for Hugo in a week, and I told him what had happened at the restaurant two days ago. I didn't miss out on telling him what a pain in the ass Grimshaw had been the last couple of days.

"He's probably just jealous," Liam told me.

"Jealous about what?" I asked him, a frown on my face.

"That you've been in a relationship with Harry. It's a known fact that's the reason he has never liked you and why you two don't get along. You had what he couldn't have," he explained, making me even more confused.

"But I'm not with Harry anymore," I muttered.

"And that can only mean one thing, Louis," he told me. "He isn't either."

-----

A few hours later, we were wandering the streets of Cardiff, praying that no one would recognize us in the darkness. Nick and Harry were walking a few steps in front of us, talking about God knows what while Perrie and I stayed behind, me smoking while Perrie helped Nick and Hary look for an appropriate pub we could enter.

Harry was wearing a glittery black suit tonight with a black shirt underneath that was basically revealing his entire chest, along with a pair of black heels. Yes, heels. They must be at least two inches high, and I secretly wondered how he managed to walk in them because I was pretty sure I would have fallen if I even tried.

I had found a black and white Fred Perry shirt in my suitcase - or on the floor to be precise - along with some baggy blue jeans. My hair was styled in a quiff because I thought, why not dress up a little if we were actually going out? Might as well make an effort.

Perrie had also dressed up, a white, almost see-through blouse covering her torso and a pair of black, skinny jeans hugging her legs. Nick was dressed in an ordinary black suit, probably the same one he had worn on our first day together. It wouldn't surprise me.

"Hey, doesn't this look nice?" Nick called out, turning back to face us.

I blew out the smoke I had inhaled while furrowing my eyebrows, turning to where he was pointing. It was indeed a pub, the loud music playing inside making its way through the walls of the building.

"Let's see what it has to offer," Harry suggested, already taking a step towards the line that was outside the entrance.

I raised my eyebrows at him but decided to tag along after putting out my cigarette when Nick and Perrie followed suit. Harry didn't bother standing in line but just walked straight up to the bouncer, tilting his head to the side with a sly smile on his face. It didn't take more than a second until the buff guy recognized him and instantly let him through.

He seemed to recognize the rest of us as well, as he didn't bat an eye as we walked through, following Harry into the building. There was indeed loud music playing here, the noise blaring from the speakers. There were plenty of people here too, dancing and jumping on the dance floor while some were sitting at the bar and some in the booths.

"You think you can get us a booth?" Nick asked Harry over the loud music, and the curly-haired man shrugged his shoulders simply.

"Don't think that would be a problem," he smirked, walking away to go talk to the person who was responsible for the place.

"Come on, Louis. Let's go buy something to drink," Perrie suggested, grabbing my arm to pull me towards the bar.

Nick followed suit, sitting down beside us at the bar. He ordered some kind of blue drink while Perrie went for an orange one and I a beer. The bartender, a guy my age, smirked as he saw who it was in front of him, clearly recognizing all three of us. Once I had the beer in my hand, I looked out on the dance floor, almost scrunching my nose because it didn't feel like me anymore. I had come a long way since I used to let loose like that.

"Come on, guys. We've got a table over here," Harry announced when he returned, taking us to a table in the right corner of the building.

There were a lot of other groups there as well, but all of them were too caught up in their own conversations to notice us walk by. When we arrived at the table, Harry announced that he would go buy us a round of drinks, and really? Who did he think he was? First, he walked right up to the bouncer, kind of flirted his way inside, and then he talked to the person responsible for the place to get us a table, and now this? Might as well try getting us free drinks too.

I had tried not to think about it because I didn't want it to be true, but this repetitive behavior of his was making me think of what Simon had told me that day almost three years ago.

"The fuck does he think he is?" I muttered, turning to Perrie, who was sitting next to me in the booth.

She shrugged. "I don't know, but I like it. See, I think he's actually getting us free drinks by flirting with that bartender," she said, nudging me in the side.

I quickly looked over, narrowing my eyes because yes, he was definitely flirting with that bartender, his chin in his palm while leaning against the counter. Of fucking course. "It's not like he can't afford the drinks anyway," I mumbled, turning back around to see that Nick wasn't very pleased with the sight of Harry flirting with the bartender either.

Letting out a snort, I took a big swig of my beer, telling myself I might as well get fucking drunk tonight because we had just come here, and things were already going downhill.

When Harry returned, he was carrying a tray of drinks with a broad smile on his lips. "I think that bartender liked me," he grinned, placing it in the middle of the table.

I fucking bet he did.

Three rounds of drinks and three beers later, it was safe to say I was intoxicated. I still had a perception of my surroundings, but my head was spinning a little. Harry was a giggling mess, leaning his head on Nick's shoulder every time he found something funny. Nick wasn't better himself, cracking stupid jokes that I was pretty sure weren't even jokes, but Harry found them funny anyway, while Perrie was trying to get me to join her to the dance floor.

"I'm not going, Pez. I'm not telling you again," I drawled, trying to look determined by narrowing my eyebrows at her, but she only started laughing at me.

"I know you don't want to watch them anymore anyway. Just come with me," she told me, extending a hand for me to take.

I pouted at it before letting out a dramatic sigh and eventually taking it in mine. "Alright, fine, but only because you are you," I muttered.

Harry and Nick didn't even seem to notice that we disappeared, seeing as they kept laughing and cracking jokes. My stomach felt kind of weird at this point, but I was pretty sure it was due to the alcohol and not because of the chemistry between the two of them.

"I'm going to find you a guy, Louis," Perrie said excitedly, pulling me into the crowd of people.

She didn't find me a guy, but we did dance - or more like jump - for at least thirty minutes until I felt a strong need to release my bladder. "I'm going to the bathroom, Pez!" I shouted to her over the music, but she was too busy talking to a brown-haired man to hear me.

Rolling my eyes, I made my way out of the crowd and headed to the bathroom next to the bar. Surprisingly, it wasn't crowded, so I could easily find an empty stall and exhale a large breath. What a fucking night, and it had only begun.

After flushing the toilet, I got out to splash water on my face in an attempt to sober up a bit. Someone needed to get us out of here safely tonight, and that someone might as well be me. I wasn't the oldest, but Nick was an immature child that would probably never grow up, so no one could count on him.

When I exited the bathroom, I was about to go find Perrie again when I noticed Harry sitting at the bar, talking to a group of girls. Nick was nowhere to be found, which I found weird, so I decided to stay close to keep an eye on the curly-haired man.

One of the girls had her arm draped over one of Harry's shoulders, her head tilted to the side while listening to him talk intently. He didn't seem to mind as he was smiling crookedly, his eyes shining from the lights in the room. I narrowed my eyes, finding the situation a bit off because this wasn't like Harry at all. I had witnessed him talking to girls before, and he had never let them come this close to him. Maybe that was because he had been in a relationship with me at the time, though. At this point, I should probably not even be surprised that he wasn't the same anymore.

I was just about to leave with a huff when I noticed that one of the girls was extending her drink to Harry. Who was so stupid to give away their drink to someone? I mean, drinks at the pub were expensive as fuck, and even if Harry were a superstar, this girl wouldn't just give away her drink to him just like that, right?

Feeling alarmed, I walked over to them with quick strides, watching how Harry happily brought the glass to his lips and- "You can't honestly tell me you're that stupid," I snapped, snatching the glass from his hand to place it on the counter next to his body.

His eyes widened briefly, probably shocked that I had stopped him out of all people. The girls left within a few seconds, and during that time, Harry seemed to sober up as his eyes darkened. "Don't fucking interfere in my doings," he retorted, glaring at me.

I rolled my eyes, letting out a snort. "So you mean you would have happily drunk that? For fuck's sake, it could have been spiked! You have no idea what those girls' intentions were!"

He furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head. "It wasn't spiked," he snarled. "And so what if it was? It's not like you would have given a fuck about it anyway."

"No," I muttered. "That's exactly why I'm here right now."

With that said, I walked away, not looking back as I took up my search of finding Perrie. Making my way through the crowd of people, I turned my head from side to side, hoping to get a glimpse of her. I wasn't very successful, though, but I did end up finding Nick. He was pressed to the wall by some tall guy, who was pressing kisses up his neck to his lips. I quickly averted my gaze as tongues got involved, feeling myself shuddering. Talk about going from one man to another. Damn.

After ten minutes and still no success in finding Perrie, I walked back to our booth, slumping down in one of the seats. Our empty glasses were scattered all over the table, spilled drinks lying in puddles on the wooden surface.

"Hey, I recognize you," a voice suddenly spoke up, catching my attention.

I looked up to find a guy with blonde locks and brown eyes standing in front of me, a crooked smile on his lips. "Uh, yeah, I'm Louis, Louis Tomlinson."

"Right, from that boyband. I remember watching the X Factor that year you came third. So where are all your friends? You didn't come here alone, did you?" He asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

I shook my head. "No, I just lost them," I chuckled dryly. Or, I lost the most important one.

"Oh, how about I take you dancing while you wait for them to show up?" He suggested, tilting his head to the side.

I narrowed my eyes, looking at my surroundings. Perrie was still nowhere to be seen, and if I were honest, I didn't want to spend the rest of the night sitting here all by myself. "Fine," I mumbled, getting up to follow him back to the dance floor.

An upbeat song was on at the moment, making it difficult to stay in one place because people were all over the dance floor, jumping like maniacs. The unknown guy decided to take the opportunity by placing a hand on the small of my back, guiding me forward until we were in the middle of the crowd. I wasn't going to lie, I was a bit uncomfortable.

Things didn't get better when the guy brought his other hand to my waist as well, keeping his arms around me as we danced to the music. I wasn't sure if he did in order to not lose me or if he did because he wanted something more than I did.

When one of his hands moved to grab my bum, I was pretty sure it was the latter, though. Feeling every muscle in my body tense, I looked up at him in shock, seeing amusement in his eyes. It made me furrow my eyebrows. "What are you doing?" I asked harshly.

He tilted his head to the side, the smile never leaving his face. "I'm touching you. What does it seem like I'm doing?"

"I've got a girlfriend," I said quickly, trying to take a step back, but he wouldn't let me.

He let out a loud bark of laughter, throwing his head back. "Girlfriend? And I'm married to Queen Elizabeth," he cackled, making my jaw clench. "You can't honestly mean you're trying to tell me you're straight."

"I'm not trying to tell you anything other than to stop fucking touch me," I snapped, trying to take his hand away from my body, but he yet again kept his hand firm on my ass.

"I have a feeling you don't actually mean that," he told me, but I was seeing fucking red by now, so I was sure I meant exactly what I said. The thing was, I wasn't strong enough to get him away from me.

Didn't anyone see that he was sexually assaulting me? Or were the people in this fucking place too caught up getting drunk and dancing their asses off? Where were the securities when you needed them?

"You can't be straight with an ass like this. It'd be pretty sad for every guy out there," the guy chuckled, placing his other hand on my bum too, much to my dismay.

"What is it with 'I don't want you to fucking touch me' that you don't understand?" A new voice snapped, cutting through my body like a knife because I knew that voice. I knew it too well for my own liking.

The blonde guy instantly tensed, his head snapping to the source. My face was turned towards the person too, and let's just say that it was a very long time ago I had seen Harry so angry, his nostrils flaring while his eyes were boring into the blonde-haired man's face. "I swear to God, if you don't let go of him right the fuck now, I will beat you to a fucking pulp."

The guy finally let go of me. "If you had told me you had a boyfriend, I would have actually believed you. You should have done that instead of giving me that girlfriend crap you were on about," he scoffed, leaving without so much as looking back.

Before I could comprehend what was going on, Harry turned around to leave too, but I managed to grab hold of his forearm before he could do so. He turned around hesitantly, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I... Thank you," I told him sincerely, my eyes locked on his face.

He nodded, showing no emotion whatsoever now that the guy was gone.

"I should probably say the same thing to you."

With that said, he pulled his arm out of my hold and continued making his way out of the crowd.

And damn, what a fucking night this turned out to be.

-----

Dramaaaaa! I quite honestly liked this chapter! You found out Harry and Nick aren't dating, and you got a little progress between Harry and Louis. What did you think?

It's incredible what we have accomplished with Defenceless. Louis deserves it so much, and it's amazing that we are able to do this for him. So proud of him x

This chapter has been edited by: @butterflies151 x

Pauline .xx