Chapter 13 Charlotte POV Day 14 of Tour: Vegas

It had been six days since we arrived in Vegas. Nothing much had happened. The boys had busy schedules filled with interviews and signings. I spent most of my time in our Bellagio hotel suite doing online courses. Only a few more sessions and I was done with the school year!

On that Friday afternoon I was sitting in our beautiful hotel room. The couch opposite of me was a deep purple that matched the long flowy curtains that flanked the window. Outside you could see the Vegas Eiffel Tower, sparkling in the summer sunshine. The tan armchair I was on was unbelievably comfy, and the fluffy carpet under my toes was just as pleasant.

"Hey there!" My roommates hollered. I turned around to see Louis and Zayn wandering in through the front door.

"How was the signing?" I smiled.

Zayn picked up an apple from the kitchenette counter. "It went great. No one was too freaky today."

"Yesterday was just messy." Louis shook his head in disgust.

I giggled. "Okay then."

Louis threw himself on my lap. I grunted, trying to push him off of me. He leaned back and rubbed his hair in my face.

"YOUR BODY IS CRUSHING ME." I giggled, running out of breath.

"Oh it is? Sorry I didn't see you there." He pushed himself off of me. I rolled my eyes.

"KNOCK! KNOCK!" Someone pounded away on our door excitedly.

"NO! They've FOUND ME!" Louis screamed dramatically. He took off running into the bedroom.

I rolled my eyes. "You're so weird!" I shouted out to him.

"Gazuntite!"

I didn't even sneeze.

I went over to the door and stood on my tiptoes. From the peep hole I saw the bottom of Harry's chin.

The door swung open and he invited himself inside.

"Where is everyone?" He asked me. I pointed to the bedroom. "Cool, thanks."

I trailed behind him. "What are you so excited about? You look like you just won the lottery!"

He rolled his eyes at me.

"Louis and Zayn! Let me in!" Harry stood at the door. It flew open, Zayn smiled at us handsomely.

"Vas happenin?"

"Remember that young producer we met awhile back in Milan?"

Louis nodded, "Yeah."

"He's having a party on the strip tonight. Put us at the top of the list. Niall and Liam can't make it, they have reservations and shit. But we're all free. And I don't know about you, but I want to do something sick before we head to Nebraska."

"I'm in." Zayn said.

"Me too," Louis gave a goofy smile. "Is Charles coming?"

I smiled up at Harry pleadingly. "I want to go!"

Harry looked down at me. "Sure! Why not? I think it's a great idea."

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Harry POV

"No! Why? I think it's an awful idea." Liam practically yelled at me from the other side of our room.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Lay up man! It's just a party!"

"In Vegas. I won't be there, Niall won't be there-"

"I'll be there. And Lou and Zaynster. Charlotte will be fine. She'll have so much fun, man." I looked over to Niall on the couch for some backup. "Right, Niall?" He hesitated. "Don't tell me you're on his side of this!"

"I see his point. I think Charlotte should come to dinner with us."

"Well, it's too late for that. I'm picking her up at nine."

"Harry..." Liam sighed tiredly. He was plain pissed at me.

I interrupted him. "I care about her too, you know? There's no way in hell I'm letting her near any crazy shit. Besides, she's like, dead afraid of alcohol. Her messed up dad definitely screwed her over there."

The two party poopers stayed dead quiet.

"Now, if you will excuse me I have a party to get ready for."

I pounded on the door.

A sigh and another knock later I looked down at my watch. It was ten past nine.

I pounded again.

And again.

Just as I raised my full fist to slam again the door flew in. My buddy Lou was on the other side, finishing up a phone conversation.

"Yeah. Talk to you later. Bye!" he hung up. Lou rested a hand on his hip and looked me up and down. "Damn boy you looking sexy."

"Back at you, you gorgeous thing!"

He pretended to blush.

I shoved past him into the suite. "So where are the rest of us? Our ride's here."

And to answer my question I heard them from the bathroom:

"This is awful!"

"Shut up!"

"I look like a stripper."

"You do not. Trust me, I've seen strippers before and you look much classier."

I peeked my head into the doorway. The first and only thing I saw was the back of Zayn. "Tell this girl she looks amazing," He told me, sidestepping out of the way so I could see her-

Holy shit.

"See?" Charlotte extended a manicured nail towards me. "He hates it."

"No. You've rendered him speechless."

Her unnaturally huge made up chocolate eyes watched me expectantly. The big messy beach curls around her face stuck to her bright shiny red lips that sat in a thick line. She was wearing a gold glittered one sleeved dress that hit just above her knees.

Let me tell you, I was reminded of why I had a crush on this girl when we met.

Yeah. I had a thing for her a while back.

"You look..." I struggled to find the word.

"Slutty," Charlotte prompted.

Zayn argued, "NOT slutty."

"Beautiful." I finished.

Charlotte started to blush the deepest shade of pink. "Oh, that's- thanks Hazza."

I shrugged, my eyes never leaving her. I was so zoned-out that when Lou came up behind me I ended up startled. I jumped about a foot in the air as his loud voice suddenly said, "WHO'S READY TO PARTY!?!"

"Jesus, Lou." I muttered, trying to collect my cool. "Scared the shit outta me."

"Oh sorry man," Lou said while looking anything but sorry. He just smiled. "But please, can we just leave now? I've been waiting forever for these two to get ready."

"Someone was being a DIVA." Zayn joked, whispering loud enough for Charlotte to hear.

"NO I wasn't! You're the one who insisted on taking me to get my nails done."

"IT'S A NECCESSITY!"

I rolled my eyes. Somehow they still stayed glued on Charlotte's legs in those high heels.

"Snap out of it Styles," I mentally scolded myself. I snapped my head towards Lou to occupy myself.

"Yeah let's head out of here." I said out loud. "The limo's downstairs."

"Limo?!" I heard Charlotte squeal.

We all started to walk out of the suite. "We were going to walk, because the party's not too far from here: just a bit down on the strip. But it's too cold outside, not really worth it." I explained, my eyes trained on the beige flooring.

"Oh it's cold?" Zayn asked, stopping in his tracks. "Charlotte you should grab a jacket."

"I don't have anything that looks good with this."

I rolled my eyes at both of them.

"Umm... I think I have a leather jacket somewhere. That'll look good."

"Will it fit me though?"

"It fits Perrie."

I groaned. "COME ON!"

Zayn puckered his lips at me. "Chill out," he said. Turning his attention to Charlotte he said, "Follow me. I think I know where it is."

She did just that, trailing him into the bedroom. I could just catch a glimpse of her bare arm propped up against the doorframe, leaning over Zayn's suitcase.

A sharp jab in my side startled me. Lou stabbed me with his elbow again, making some sort of weird constipated face.

"Take a picture," He wiggled his eyebrows. "It'll last longer."

"Shut the fuck up, Lou." I grumbled.

Louis did the opposite. He leaned closer to me and asked, "You still like her?"

I pushed the kid away from my ear. "No, and you know that."

Louis grinned all creepy like. "Suuuure."

He didn't know what he was talking about. There was no way I still had a thing for Charlotte. She was Niall's girl, and even the fact that I was checking her out was pretty messed up. No, I decided to let Charlotte go the moment she and Nialler became an item. And damn they were just too good together.

"Okay, we're ready now."

Charlotte and Zayn came out of the bedroom. Zayn's old black leather was thrown over her shoulders, just a bit too big. But damn, it was cute.

"Ready for that limo?" Louis poked Charlotte's cheek with his finger. "You cute little thing."

"I sure am."

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From the moment we stepped into that party I knew it had been a good idea. Charlotte fit right in, just blending in with the crowd. She stayed glued at one of our sides, just like I had promised Liam. The elaborate place was crowded with hundreds of well-dressed people. Amazing tasting drinks were passed around in high stemmed glasses, and little cocktail treats flew around the room on silver trays. Music pounded the walls, people shook the floor. The multi colored lights that shimmered off of Charlotte's dress drew her even more attention. And let me tell you, she was attracting almost as much attention as I was.

I was sitting at the bar with her, twirling the umbrella in my drink. Louis had wandered off onto the dance floor a while back, and no one knew where Zayn went.

"Can I get you anything, sweetheart?" The bartender leaned towards her and asked.

She shook her head, crossing her legs at the knees. "No I'm fine."

"You sure? We might have something you like."

"I don't drink, but thank you." Charlotte said oh so politely.

"How about a long island iced tea? It's very refreshing-"

God, this guy would not stop!

"Did you not hear the lady? She doesn't want any of your shit. Now fuck off." I said coldly.

The bartender glared at me in the dark lights of the bar. He turned around and walked away, heading towards another young group of girls.

I glanced over at Charlotte, who was staring at me curiously. "Don't ever get one of those." I told her. "Unless you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Oh, okay then." She let out a breathy giggle. er

The umbrella in my drink popped me on the nose as I took a sip. Through the blurry glass of the cup I could see Charlotte staring at me. "What?" I asked.

She shook her head dismissively. "I was just thinking about how I haven't thanked you yet."

"For... that? With creepy ass bartender? No thanks needed-"

"No not that." She laughed. "For this. For the party, for taking me along wherever you guys go; for all of it. I know I'm not the most fun, and you end up babysitting most of the time. But I wanted you to know that I appreciate you guys."

I stared ahead at the crowd of dancers. "No problem." I looked over at her. "You're one of us now; remember?"

Charlotte smiled at me sweetly, not saying a word.

Ke$ha sang Blow overhead. People who had been piled up at the bar started to seep onto the dance floor where the strobe lights flashed brighter.

From the other side of Charlotte I saw a young man walk over. I recognized him to be that young music producer from Milan. He had suntanned skin and sun-bleached hair.

"Harry Styles! So glad you could make it!" He shook my hand excitedly.

"Same here. Thanks for the invite."

"And who is this?" He saw Charlotte and said.

"Charlotte Hemming," She said softly, giving him her hand.

He shook it gently. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ray Dennings." He looked down at the barstool she was seated on. "How come you aren't out there dancing?" She shrugged. "If you'd like, my wife and her friends are on the floor. They know how to tear it up, that's for sure. Care to join us?"

Charlotte bit back at her lip. She peeked over at me.

"Go for it, babe." I waved her away.

She smiled brightly, looking to Ray. "I would love too."

He helped her off of the stool and down to the dance floor. She glanced back at me once, a look of doubt on her cute face. I rolled my eyes at her and briskly waved her forward. Charlotte smiled before speeding up to the center of the floor where she disappeared in the mass of people.

I finished up my drink and clashed the cup back on the bar top. I considered following after her. I mean, I told Liam and Niall we would watch her.

Nah, she was fine out there. I would just stay here and wait for her to come back-

"Hey there," Someone purred. To my right was a tall gorgeous blonde.

I leaned back in my seat. "And you are?"

"Crosby. And you're Harry Styles, right?" Her pink lips puckered.

I nodded, "That would be me."

Crosby edged closer to me. "Would Harry Styles like to dance?" Her finger laced its way to my shirt collar, tugging at a loose string.

I laughed under my breath, damn this girl was wasted.

But what the hell.

"He sure would," I stepped off my stool and took her to the dance floor.

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Zayn POV

"And then I said, 'How many times do I need to punch you in the face before you leave her alone?'"

A round of laughter filled the small room. I grinned a bit, glancing around the pool table. The classy men were either totally wasted or total idiots.

From across the building I could hear and feel the music that pumped. I assumed the dance floor was where the rest of my mates were. I was starting to get bored with pool and lonely quite frankly. So I figured that I would take Charlotte from either Harry or Louis. I glanced down at my watch. It was about twenty past midnight, so we had been there three hours already. Liam said he wanted Charlotte back by one, so if we left in the next few minutes we would be golden. Without saying a word I wandered out of the room. The burgundy walls turned to dark grey, the hardwood floor turned into fancy stone.

The bar was filled with people and the floor was just as crowded. I scanned the masses of dancers and finally spotted Louis in the corner with a group of fans. He was busy signing autographs. Charlotte was nowhere near him.

"She must be with Harry," I thought.

I started to search for either a glittery gold dress or a mess of brown Styles curls. I spotted the latter first, in the center of the dance floor surrounded by pretty girls.

I wandered over to him, my dark eyes trained on his face to not lose him. I finally got within ears reach and pulled on his arm.

Harry staggered back to me. "Oh it's you." He said in his deep voice, even deeper with the stench of alcohol.

"Yeah. Where's Charlotte?" I got straight to the point.

Harry pointed to somewhere, "She was with Ray."

"Ray?"

"The music producer. That Ray."

I sighed. "Harry you have to help me find her."

He glanced back at his dancing babes. "Okay. Then I'm coming back."

"Sure whatever."

He and I both left the group of short skirts. We were tossed around in between the dancers, our feet stumbling not to crush anyone's toes. "We find Ray, we find her." Harry told me loudly above the music. "It shouldn't be too hard."

I spotted the music producer at the bar. "Nope. It wasn't." We jogged over to him.

Ray was in the middle of a conversation with a tall and beautiful red head. She turned her head to smile at us. Ray saw her turn and smiled as well. "How's it going?" He asked.

"Great!" Harry said casually.

"Yeah, nice party." I nodded.

"Glad you all could make it."

"Anyway," I changed the subject. "I'm heading out here soon; I was planning on taking Charlotte with me. Could you grab her?"

"Charlotte?" The red head repeated. "We haven't seen her in a while."

"But you were dancing with her," Harry said calmly.

Ray laughed, "That was two hours ago!"

I turned my head to glare at Harry. "When was the last time you saw her, Ray?" I asked the guy.

"Oh... umm, when was it, honey?" He asked the red head.

"About an hour and a half ago. She was over here at the bar by herself."

"By herself." I repeated. "That's great."

"Okay then. Uh, we have to go. Great party, Ray. Thanks and bye." Suddenly Harry wasn't so calm and collected. He drug me away before Ray could even reply. "We have to find her before one or Liam is going to KILL US!"

"You don't think I know that!!?" I whisper shouted.

"I'm going to go back to the bar; you grab Louis and see if he knows where she is."

I nodded. "Got it."

We went our separate ways. I ran over to Louis, pulling him away from a conversation. "Have you seen Charlotte? Tell me you've seen her. Have you?" I asked him urgently.

"Woah there, Zaynster." He laughed. "No, I haven't. Don't freak out, she's around here somewhere." He set both big hands of his on my shoulders. "Take a deep breath. She's probably just in the bathroom."

I took a breath. "You're right. I'm over thinking this, mate."

"Uhhhh yeah." Lou smiled. "Come on, I'll help you look."

He kept one hand on my back and led me off of the dance floor. We kept a slow relaxed pace, wandering over to where Harry was standing at the bar. I caught Harry's eye; and I just knew something was wrong.

Louis did too. "What's wrong, buddy?"

Harry's green eyes were wide as dinner plates. He looked like he was going to either hurl or punch some poor lass in the neck. "Someone saw her leave an hour ago."

I started to panic. "She LEFT?!?"

"Woah calm down, guys. We don't know- she could have gone home."

Harry smacked both of his hands on the sides of Lou's face. He pulled him close. "She left- WITH A GUY."

A moment of awful silence passed.

"Fuck," Louis groaned.

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Louis POV

"No no no no no no no no no no no." Zayn paced around in circles and chanted.

"This is bad," I said to no one in particular. "This is bad."

"DUH!" Harry shouted.

Zayn stopped running in circles. "This is your fault!" he pointed a finger in Harry's face.

"ME?" He shouted. "She was ALL of our responsibilities! NOT just MINE!"

"Okay, okay," I tried to reason. "Let's take a break from the blame game and maybe, I don't know... TRY TO FIND CHARLES."

Zaynster glared at Hazza. "Fine. But where the hell do we start?"

I pulled out my phone. "Let's head out of this place while I call her."

I went into contacts and pulled up Charlie's goofy contact picture. She was giggling like mad while I licked her face...

I sighed and pressed send.

The line rang.

And rang.

"Hey there, this is Charlotte! Please leave a message and I might call you back! Bye!"

"Hello Charles," I said after the beep. We were just stepping outside into the weirdly chilly Nevada air. "We just left the party... we're looking for ya. Call me back, okay?" I hung up.

"You could have made it a bit more urgent," Harry snapped.

I sighed, walking farther out onto the Vegas strip. The lights of tall buildings and spraying fountains made it almost like daytime. It would have been very pretty if I wasn't a big stress case.

Zayn sat down on a curb. Behind him was a fancy flower bed with tall shrubs. "Why don't we text her?"

I sat down next to him and started to pull out my phone.

"No, I'll do it." Harry grumbled. He took out his IPhone and started to furiously text away. "That girl better text me back." He growled under his breath.

He shut it off, holding it in his left hand.

"We found love in a hopeless place

We found love in a hopeless place

We found love in a hopeless place

We found love in a hopeless place."

I froze like a Tomlinson statue.

"Can someone please tell me why I can hear Charlotte's ringtone?" I asked.

"That's not hers..." Zayn tried to convince himself.

"She set that song as my ringtone after I told her how much I hated that song," Harry mumbled, pushing his face into his big hands.

The song continued to ring out. I turned to where I thought it was coming from. Reaching my hand into the bush behind me, I felt the sparkly surface of a tiny clutch purse. I grasped it.

"And someone please tell me why her purse was dumped in a bush?" I spattered, seeing the sparkly black thing. I dug around and found a tube of lip gloss, a slip of paper, and her singing phone. No wallet.

I opened the text message.

HAZZA STYLING: dammit charlotte where are you

I rolled my head to him. "Very classy." I sighed, snapping the phone closed.

"What do we do now?" Harry freaked.

Zayn stood up. "We look for her." He started to walk away.

"What? No that won't do anything." Harry snapped. "She went home with some douche, Crosby saw it."

"Oh CROSBY saw it. So it must be true," Zayn said sarcastically. "Charlotte wouldn't do that, would she Louis?"

"Not on purpose..." I lowered my voice. "But let's face it, Charlie's an easy target."

Harry stood up, hands clenched at both sides. "Holy shit we have to find her."

"I have a plan." I reassured them. They doubted me with stares. "Trust me here. We each have a picture of her, right?"

Zayn nodded. "On my phone."

"Ditto," Harry grumbled.

"Good. Let's split up, take the picture around and see who's seen her." Harry looked hesitant. "We don't have any other choice right now. Unless we want to ring Liam..."

"NO!" They both jumped nervously.

"Pictures. Got it." Harry forced a smile.

"Good." I held my fist out in the center of our circle. "Good luck boys."

They smacked their hands in the center.

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Harry POV

"Excuse me mam, have you seen my friend?" I held out my lit up IPhone screen. The lady barely glanced down before shaking her head and walking away. "Okay. Thanks for the help," I said sarcastically.

I sat down at the bus bench. The crowd loaded onto the bus, leaving me all alone.

"You need a ride, kid?" The bus driver asked me. I shook my head.

As the bus drove off my phone started to buzz. I held it up, my blood turning cold at Liam's picture ID.

With a shaking spirit I held it up to my ear. "Hey there, LI!" I tried to sound happy.

"Where are you?" Well. He liked to get straight to the point.

"At the party. We've been here all night, man."

"That's great. But Charlotte was supposed to be home an hour and a half ago." I glanced down at my screen. Yep, it was almost three in the morning.

"It is? Sorry man..."

"Why isn't she answering my calls?"

"This place is loud man; she can barely hear me talking to her!"

I felt him doubting me. I cringed.

"Fine."

I sighed of relief.

"But I want her home soon, Harry."

"Stop worrying, mate. She's having a good ole time." I lied again.

"I'm dead serious. Get her home." And then he hung up.

Damn. That guy could get intimidatingly bossy.

I rubbed my chin. I squinted my eyes shut.

Someone ran up. "Shit I missed it again," He grouched. Soon he was sitting himself down next to me. I opened my eyes and scanned him.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

He smacked his bubble gum. "Maybe."

I swear I had seen this guy before. The dark beard, blue eyes, way tight pants...

"You're that asshole bartender!" I said.

"Speak for yourself, prick." He shot back.

I growled. I pulled out my phone, having no choice but to ask him. "Have you seen this girl? You know, after you tried to give her alcohol poisoning."

Bartender guy glared at me. "Why? Is she your girl?"

"None of your business," I mumbled.

He stared at me. "That's a no. Figures, she was out of your league anyway. Way hot."

"Just answer the damn question!"

"Fine." He took the phone from me. Holding it up, he scanned her face. "Yeah I saw her not to long before my shift ended."

I sat up taller. "Really?"

"Yeah. I went out back to smoke one. She came out of the employee's only exit. She started to head towards Koval Lane."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah man I'm not lying to you." He pointed off to the right. "Koval is just there."

I stood up. "Thanks. But I still don't like you." I turned around and took off running.

"The feelings mutual!" He shouted after me.

I ran as fast as my feet could take me. The nightlife was just starting, people crowding the streets. I pulled out my phone and sent a group text to Zayn and Lou, telling them to meet me on Koval. I skittered onto the street out of breath. I looked up at the sign above me that read "KOVAL." I felt pretty self-satisfied.

Glancing around, I saw a few faces. None of which were Charlotte's. I raced up to the nearest guy and showed him her picture. He shook his head and walked away. So did the next. And the four after that.

"Any luck?" Zayn asked. I turned to see him and Louis jogging up to me.

I sighed. "None."

"We need to approach this differently." Louis took a look around us. "IF you were Charlie, and your three best friends lost you in Vegas, then you were kidnapped by a potential rapist, where would you go?"

"Don't say it like that; that makes it sound really bad." Zayn whined.

"It is bad. WE LOST HER."

"Answer my question. Where would you go?"

Zayn and I looked to each other.

"Is there a restaurant anywhere around here?"

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Louis POV

"I can't believe we lost her." I said softly.

The rain pattered against the roof of the café. Harry had his coffee clutched in his right hand, his legs bouncing nervously. I glanced up at the analog clock on the wall: it was five o'clock.

"We have to call Liam." Zayn said just as gently.

Harry threw his face out of his hands. "We lost his "baby sister". He's going to stuff us."

I nodded, forcing a nervous laugh. "Yeah. He will. What else are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know. You're the oldest; you're supposed to be the wisest." Harry joked tiredly. Even with the coffee in his system he looked way exhausted.

I pulled out my IPhone. "I'll do it."

The other two looked on nervously as I set the phone to my ear. It rang twice before Liam answered.

"Louis where are you guys?" He asked.

"Oh hey Liam!"

"Louis, please just tell me if something went wrong. What happened; is she drunk?"

"Umm..." I looked to the ground. "Not really."

"Okay then. Is she refusing to come back?"

"No not at all..."

"Tell me Lou. She was supposed to be home four hours ago. None of you will tell me what's going on, and I'm freaking out over here. Whatever it is it can't be that bad."

Oh I highly doubted that.

I cleared my throat. "Well, you see..."