He hasn't texted.

Harry.

It's Tuesday of the following week, and it's been three days now since he and Rory hooked up and he said he'd call and he hasn't.

But, who was counting?

Rory.

She couldn't help it. That's just how her brain worked. She was logical. She used facts and figures to prove her points.

But Rory was also too strong and too grown to be thinking about some fuckboy even if he did rearrange her guts and have her in her feelings. Her momma raised her better than that, and she couldn't let her momma down.

It was her Achilles heel.

Her mother was a single parent who raised Rory alone in Oakland after her father died when she was young. She barely had any memories of him, and so it was really just Rory and her mom.

Really.

Truly.

Especially because both sets of Rory's grandparents disowned their own children when they married outside of their races, and while Rory's mom's side came around a bit...it was after her father died...there was still Rory. She was a product of both sides.

She was a mix, and a weird one, she'd say, because she was a girly-girl and a tomboy. She didn't have many friends growing up and the ones she did have were male. They were all athletes or mathletes, there was no in between. She ran track but she loved information systems and tech. She'd gotten a scholarship to Cal Berkeley off of those dualities. The essay she'd written for her college apps had been about that, too. It had been about her mixedness; about her African American mother and Indian father; about the father who died and left her with his love of tech; about the mother who raised her to embrace both cultures.

It's why she picked up and moved when she graduated college. She needed something else...she needed to get out of Northern California because that's all she'd ever known. She hadn't been farther than Los Angeles, and she was itching to travel; to see the world; to do something new.

Too feel close to her dad.

Phoenix was the first time she'd ever made girl-friends. It was the first time she'd felt family outside of her mother. It was the first time she'd ever let herself get caught up in a man who dicked her down and fucked her up.

"What're you in your head about?"

"Holy shit!"

The question startles her out of her thoughts.

"Asmaa! I'm not--"

Asmaa purses her lips, hands on her waist in the sparkly sequined dress she was trying on. "You're not...what? Distracted?" Asmaa shakes her head. "Lie to me again."

And Rory laughs because she loved this girl to pieces and might just do anything for her--Zayn better not ever fuck up. "I'm just...I'm not distracted, okay?"

And Desirée pops into the conversation. "Just thinkin' 'bout riding that dick?"

"Anyway," Rory begins, causing her friends to laugh. "I'm out. Asmaa, you look fine as shit in that dress."

"You don't think this is too much?" She twirls in front of the mirror, showing off the sparkly bodycon she might wear to Blaire's New Year's wedding. "Like, you don't think it's too..." she fiddles with her peach-colored hijab. "It's not too flashy?"

"As opposed to what?" Rory stands behind her, tugging on the tight fabric. "Nothing?"

"Right," snorts Kezie, dresses piled in her arms. "As opposed to nakedness?"

"Ha ha," Asmaa replies, watching her friends all laugh. "Whatever. I've never been to a New Year's Eve wedding before. Don't be haters."

"Which is why I want y'all to look good and catch a fine man," Blaire states, plopping in the couch placed before the triple mirrors set up in her flat. A whole showroom has been set up in her den and there are actual stylists from Whiteleys helping all of the girls from Phoenix try on clothes.

"Um, excuse me?" Charlotte snorts. "Asmaa has a fine man."

"Truth," nod the girls, and Asmaa starts blushing because her man is fine and she can't help but also swoon over him sometimes.

"That's why you have to get something cute to wear," Blaire grins slyly. "So on th enight of the wedding, Zayn'll pray he gets to take that dress off."

Rory purses her lips, "I think he's been praying," she whispers.

And Asmaa rolls her eyes but places a hand on her own hip, "You think you and Harry could make it to the room next time? Or is your dress gonna stay at the door...?"

"Asmaa!" Rory almost screams. "I cannot with you!"

Desirée cracks up. "At least your pussy's no longer dry."

"And from the sounds of things," Kezie nods, slipping into a silk floor-length gown, "he must've hit it right."

"Yeah, but," Rory whispers amongst them, clicking her teeth, "it's Harry."

"What's wrong with him?" Asmaa asks. "He's like...He's so--"

"You like him 'cause he's Zayn's friend," Rory replies. "'Cause he's friends with all y'all men."

"So we can quadruple date of course," Asmaa grins. "I fail to see a negative."

"Asmaa," Rory sighs, because did she tell her? Asmaa truly had become her best friend, but she feels like being petty. This is a matter of pride, here.

"He's...He's..." Rory shakes her head, "He's..."

Kezie giggles her bubbly giggle. "He's what?"

"Whatever. I don't know, honestly. I just don't think I can fuck him again. The end."

"What?" Asmaa frowns, "But Zayn said Harry really really--"

"Harry really, what, Asmaa?"

"He used the words, 'Is fuckin' obsessed with Rory,' but," Asmaa shrugs, "I don't know, girl."

Rory grits her teeth, "He hasn't texted me at all, Asmaa."

"What? Who? Harry?"

"Yes."

"But--"

"Harry?" Tati looks up. "Harry Styles?"

"He's the one always in Phoenix," Suzy chirps, "Yeah?"

"Hell yeah," nods Minnie, as the girl go back and forth between racks of clothes and the mirrors, "He and his little blonde friend've literally paid my rent for the past few months."

"See," Rory juts out a hand. Here was another reason she needed to let this man go. She hisses, "See why I don't want to fuck him?"

Asmaa is still frowning. "But, I thought--"

"WHAT!?" Minnie chokes and nearly passes out. "Rory," she gasps, eyes wide, "You fucked him? You fucked Harry?"

"Wait, wait..?" Blaire begins as Rory's face twists. "Harry St--"

Rory groans, "Fuck."

"Harry?" Kezie nods, "Oh yeah. He's fine as shit."

"I know," Rory mutters. "And I hate it."

"He'll call," Asmaa grins, always the optimist. "I'm pretty sure he enjoyed that night as much as you."

"Who the hell's Harry?"

The girls are stuck on this now.

"A thirst-trap, that's who," replies Minnie as Maria looks up confusedly from the stylist fitting her into a dress, "He's literally always in Phoenix. Like, aways."

"In his defense!" Asmaa exclaims because she felt like this was something Rory might've wanted to keep just between them and their immediate friends, "He's in there to see Rory!"

"He is not."

"Ah," nods Blaire. "So, he's one of those, huh?"

"Just like Luke," Desirée chimes, because Rory is looking hella embarrassed and she's also trying to divert the conversation, "So, there's that and we've all been there. Leave it alone, Minnie."

"Honestly," Blaire nods, "as long as your man is trying to be with you, I don't care if he's up in Phoenix or not."

"Of course you don't," Maria rolls her eyes. "You're getting married, bitch. Obviously, your man didn't care."

"Look," Rory shakes her head, "Y'all are talking about this man like we're in a full-on, whole-ass relationship and we aren't, okay?"

"Y'all just fuckin'?" Asks Lyric.

"No, Lyr. We just fucked. Past tense, baby girl."

Minnie shrugs. "Nobody's knockin' it, Indya," she teases.

Rory flips her off as the girls laugh.

"What?" She laughs, her little cheek piercings glinting, "his little blonde friend is kind of cute."

"We'll double date," Rory rolls her eyes sarcastically, "bet he wouldn't mind playing with that cl—"

"I said he was cute," Minnie interjects. "Not that I wanted to have his kids."

"Ugh," Blaire begins, "Can we stop talking about men?"

Irene laughs aloud. "Says the girl getting married."

"I'm only joking," she replies. "But all of you need to get out of the strip club and find a nice, regular man. Not a regular Phoenix frequent."

"That's what I'm saying!" Exclaims Rory.

"So pick a dress, already! What do you think I did all this for? I want all my baddies to catch NYE."

Charlie lifts a dress off one of the racks. "Um, can I catch in a designer dress? Fuck yes."

"Seriously," Maria looks around, "I love having rich friends," she laughs. "Bitch, fuck your fiancé. Marry me."

That was another thing Asmaa just found out: Blaire was loaded.

And she wasn't a trust fund baby at all. She came from the Caribbean, moving overseas with her parents when she was thirteen for school, and she'd vowed to herself to repay her parents, who left their own businesses and a very comfortable living in Barbados for her to come and get an education in the UK.

She'd started stripping for Phoenix when they'd opened. She was only eighteen; a baby then when she realized that she was making enough money to flip. In other words, she was bringing in more than enough money to start saving and to start investing.

And Asmaa started working for Phoenix just after Blaire had left, so it was the other girls who told her that she was their teacher. She was like, everyone's financial advisor. She was the one who showed Rory how to turn her money into more money so she could afford her car's lease; she showed Desi how to buy her house so her brothers could have a place to stay; she showed Kezie how to put aside enough to pay for school.

"She literally used to sit here and help us with our finances," said Charlie one night after their shifts. "Like, would open up a notebook and walk us, step-by-step, through the processes of opening accounts and things," she shrugged. "Like, before her I was a poor girl from Wales trying to make it in London.

And to Asmaa, that made all the sense in the world. She can remember Blaire being the one to tell her to be smart about her money once she started stripping .

"Stack your paper and be smart about your expenses. And before you know it, believe me, you won't even have to strip no mo'."

"Um," Asmaa shakes her head, "I need those lessons regularly. Like, right now. Like, today. Like, seriously."

And Blaire laughs aloud. "I never realized I didn't get to go through your money with you," and she lifts a dress for her to try. "Zayn's gonna die," she grins. And she shakes her head, "and of course, my love. Tell me the day and the time and I'll come over. We can do it together."

"Count me in," says Rory.

"We need those meetings regularly," says Charlie. "'Cause I didn't realize how necessary it was to constantly have someone on your ass about your spending habits until you left us, Bun."

And Blaire nods, hand on her chest. "I'm touched," she grins. "Yes, babes. We'll make it a thing, yeah? Monthly sessions or somethin', how about it?"

And Asmaa nods with the other girls. For ages, she thought her friends afforded their lifestyles from Phoenix. It turns out, they were really getting their money from Phoenix plus Blaire. She was like the money guru. And personally, Asmaa had been saving for her own place, but to save and invest? That was a game-changer. That was the type of good fortune she'd prayed for when she was struggling in her crap flat at the beginning of summer.

Asmaa takes the shimmery black dress and grins adorably, "Thanks, momma."

Blaire laughs aloud. "Anything for my youngest daughter."

But, Blaire always had a way of making her feel comfortable. She was one of the first to welcome Asmaa into their little clique, and she was constantly proving to be that necessary presence in their group dynamic.

She was the mother.

She was their Momma Blaire.

And the girls continue looking through dresses, talking about men and Phoenix and Blaire's impending wedding and Asmaa truly does feel included within the special bond between these women. Like, yeah they stripped, but it was them versus. In those conditions, there was almost no way for them not to grow close, and whether or not London or society or Phoenix frequents understood that, this occupation had brought them all together and somehow, Asmaa realizes that this was a little family she'd created, all on her own, out here in England.

These thoughts make her feel guilty, too.

Here she was creating a new family and neglecting her old one. She'd barely found time to speak to her sister, much less her mother and father.

She had to go home and call them.

Tonight.

But, then again, what would she say? When her mother asked of work, what would she do? Would she lie?

She couldn't lie.

Not to her mother.

What is she doing with herself, is really the question. Stripping? Taking off her clothes for money? That is indisputably haraam—strictly forbidden—where Islam is concerned.

What would her mother say about that?

The guilt was eating her alive.

___

Harry stares at the unsent text in his hand and wonders if he should just call.

He should just call, right?

He should call.

Except, he's standing in the middle of Zayn's living room as he and his friends all get personally fitted for tuxedos that Zayn insisted they just rent but Louis had insisted he get custom-made and buy himself.

"S'been a long time since we'd even seen each other, and I'm really hoping this might start to change that."

Harry didn't want to be won back.

He didn't want Louis to feel like he had to buy back his friendship. He just wanted to...

What did Harry want?

It was the second week of December—already the tenth, and Louis was rushing the suits and everything, too...just so they would be ready in time for fittings before the wedding.

Since Zayn was best man, he had been helping; he'd been helping Lou finalize the last bit of planning...including the bachelor party.

And since Harry was helping Zayn, he'd suggested Phoenix, of course.

"S'where it all began, isn't it?" He had said, a statement that rang true for him as well as Louis. This is what it was all about, wasn't it? Phoenix is not only why Louis is getting married, it's why Harry is staring at his phone wondering what he should say...if he should say anything at all.

"Real quiet over there, mate," says Calum as the two fitters Lou hired measure both Zayn and Luke. "What's up?"

"It's..." Harry thinks about lying, and then decides against it and holds out his phone for him to read. "I got her number."

Calum frowns as he read the contact, "Rory?" He frowns. And his eyebrows raise knowingly, "Kezie's Rory?"

Harry nods.

"You..." He smiles smugly, "You hooked up?"

Harry nods.

"And?"

"What d'you mean, and?" Harry laughs, lowering his voice as his friends all commence with their fittings.

"You gonna see her again? Or was this just a one-time thing?"

"I--" Harry frowns. "I don't know."

"You know..." Calum begins, watching as Louis and Zayn and Niall and Ash all laugh at some joke Michael's told, "It's been ages since we've all been together in one room. All of us."

"Yeah," Harry nods. "I do."

"S'been even longer since we were like, laughing."

Harry chuckles. "Things aren't all patched up, Cal. Not completely, anyway."

"It's a step, though."

"True..." Harry replies slowly. "S'a step."

And Calum lowers his voice, "He's not gonna be mad if you like her, Hazza."

"Hell--" Harry scrubs his face with both hands, "What type of fucking hypocrite would I be? Doing exactly what I warned him about?"

"Hey," Calum's eyes flash, "you're not the only one. And," he adds, "you supported me before I even--"

"Admitted you had feelings for Kez?" Harry chuckles deeply. "I know."

"Because you're my mate and I love you," Calum adds, "And I support you--she's Kezie's best friend, mate. I don't think you can go wrong with that."

"Yeah, mate," Harry nods, inhaling deeply. "I know."

__

After hours of shopping in Blaire's, the girls are all sitting outside, bags in hand, as they wait for their rides.

"Don't forget about my rehearsal dinner!" Blaire exclaims. "I need to see you there, and at the bachelorette party, which is shit timing but plot twist, it's Christmas Eve."

"Ooh," Asmaa grimaces. "What if I'll be in Bradford..."

"Lemme guess," Blaire lifts an eyebrow, "with Zayn."

"Heh..."

"What?" Kezie looks up. "You're going to Bradford? For what?"

"Just for a few days," she admits. "'Cause Zayn invited me to meet his parents, yeah?

"Parents?" Desi whistles, "That's serious."

"Is it?" Asmaa asks. "You think so?"

"If a man wants you to meet his parents," Blaire nods, "he must really be into you."

"I hope so," Asmaa laughs, causing all the girls to join in, "And I get back a few days before the wedding, so the rehearsal dinner? I'm there."

"You'd better be," Kezie grins, linking their arms. "Or else bridezilla's gonna flip a shit."

"Of course I'm not mad," she laughs. "But I'm sad 'cause you're gonna miss our turn to see some strippers."

"Oop!" Irene claps her hands. "I'm down."

There's a quick honk and Kezie starts beaming.

"Looks like your man's here, Des."

"That's your man?" Minnie points to Luke as he steps from the shiny black car, walking to the passenger side to lean against the door.

"Fuckin' hell, mama," Maria mutters as he runs a hand through his hair, "Des, he's fine as shit."

Desirée shrugs. "He's alright."

"Which, in Desi-speak means, 'I know y'all, he's fine and dicks me down,'" interjects Rory, making the girls all laugh and making Desirée flip her off. "It's all good, boo. I understand you."

"Of course," Kezie smiles, her bubbly giggle escaping. "You've seen what a good mood she's been in."

"Mhm," Irene purses her lips, staring at her nails, "It's that dick."

Blaire grins, "We read between the lines."

"He got any friends, love?" Charlie asks. "Let 'im know that you do and her name's Charlotte and she's lookin' for a footie player."

"And good dick!" Chimes Rory.

"I'll keep that in mind," Desirée replies, breaking from the other women and jogging to the waiting car. "Bye."

Asmaa sighs, "They grow up so fast."

Blaire laughs, "Says our baby."

"Growth," Asmaa nods, as Blaire giggles beside her. "That's personal growth."

And Desirée meets Luke against the black Tesla and rises to her toes. "Hey."

"Hey, you," smiles Luke, ducking to give her a kiss. "Your place or mine?"

"Mine," she replies. "I'll cook."

"You're trying to make me fat, aren't you?"

"I'm trying to make you eat seasoned food," she replies with a laugh, and all of her friends are staring at each other in shock because Desi is laughing with a man and she looks like she likes him.

"The fuck is all this?" Tatiana exclaims, laughing. "If Des can get boo'd up then where the fuck is mine?"

They're watching Luke laugh and stare at their friend like she hung the moon, and they're all like, yes because they were pulling for all of their girls to find a man who looked at them like Luke was staring at Desirée.

"Fair," he replies, and he leans down to open the car door, "M'lady."

Desi sighs, shaking her head as she slides into his car, "So weird, Luke."

"You like it, though."

And when she says nothing, Luke's smile grows.

"That's what I thought," he replies smugly, and he jogs around the side of his car, sliding into the driver's seat.

"Crying," Asmaa grins happily as she watches the car pull off.

She nudges Rory. "Is that you and Harry, or...?"

And Rory chokes. "Asmaa," she rolls her eyes. "You're crazy."

"What?" She exclaims. "I'm being positive. I'm pre-paving what we want—"

"We?" Rory rolls her eyes. "It's been two days, my girl."

"Yeah, but," Asmaa falls dramatically against her, "he called you babe."

"And?"

"And, you want him to call, Rory. I want you to be happy—"

"Oh boy, would you look at what perfect timing," Rory replies, making Blaire laugh now, "Look, Asmaa! It's Zayn."

And Asmaa looks up, because yes it is Zayn and Rory has truly been saved by this new development.

"I'll see you," she points, "at home."

Rory laughs, "If I'm not at--"

"Harry's?" Asmaa nods, dishing out hugs to the other women. "Right, okay."

"Fuck you Asmaa!"

She laughs, throwing her head back as she jogs towards Zayn in his car.

"No motorcycle today, huh?" She grins as she slides into his passenger seat.

"Only 'cause my girl hates it," he replies. "Unless she's changed her mind...?"

"She hasn't," she grins, welcoming his little kiss before he pulls from the curb. "She has not indeed."

"One day, then," he chuckles. "Besides, I can't drive you home on my bike."

"Thank goodness."

__

Yesssss Blaire! I love a girl with her own moneyyy lol

Also, I added a chapter called 'supporting cast list' so y'all can see the rest of the babes.

alsoooo what's everyone's fave chapter/part of the story so far? I'M CURIOUS TELL ME.

Excited for these next chapters bc asmaa is going home with zaynnnn!

;) luh ya. comment and vote!