Chapter 14

I was confined in the small space of the room for possibly an hour and a half, Harry checking on me every once in a while. It was ok though, I had enough FIFA 13 and PlayStation 3 to keep me busy for a long time. I really did wonder what Harry was up to, possibly a party from the way he was talking to ‘Zayn’ on the phone. Was Zayn one of his friends that he mentioned? I then remembered that he was the star wars nerd. Do nerds have parties?

Clanging and shifting sounds could be heard and felt through the vibrations from downstairs, there must’ve been some heavy lifting/moving going on. I managed to get Chelsea to the League Finals in the short time that I had been playing, although I was playing on amateur mode which doesn’t really count because I was outclassing all the other teams. So many times I was tempted to peep through the dusty blinds, just to get a clear picture of what was going on but I held back because I really didn’t want to ruin Harry’s surprise.

I kept on instinctively patting my shorts pockets to feel for my phone but I forgot that I left it back in the hotel room. Why I did that, who knows. I felt quite naked without it. I hadn’t really checked up on social media at all since I met Harry, I had just been way too preoccupied to even care. My friends probably never thought about me, it was such a sad reality.

I heard a nervous knock on the front door. “Come in!” I shouted as I put down the PlayStation controller on the coffee table. The door creaked open and Harry walked in. His hair was a bit more tangled than usual, his shirt was tight against his chest and it was obvious that he had been sweating. He smiled and stood next to the door with his legs together and hands by his sides.

“Hey, are you ready to come out? We’re all finished.” He held his hand out the door, gesturing me to take a step outside.

I got up, stepping around all the obstacles and walked over to where Harry was standing. Looking up at him, I asked, “Will I be surprised?”

He shrugged hopefully and with a smile. I smiled back and his shoulders loosened a little bit. Harry put his arm around me and leant out of the door way, pointing down at something/somebody below. “Hey! Turn it up would you!”

As he turned back to me, music slow started pounding from down stairs; I could feel the vibrations in the floorboards. Pushing out of the door frame I zipped across the platform and leant over the edge of the stairs. From the top, I could see everything.  There was a DJ platform (with an actual DJ) set up towards the back of the room, speakers spread out through the whole place so that the sound travelled quicker. The car was now fenced off by some velvet ropes, similar to the ones that you see at the cinema or at a VIP lounge. A bar was set up directly in front of me with tables of food and other various drinks scattered across them. Flashing fluoro lights hung up on the roof, illuminating the whole warehouse with their constant psychedelic blinking which made me feel a bit dizzy.

A few people were already dancing, others were sitting by the bar chatting away, none of whom I vaguely even recognized. More were coming in through the smaller door of the garage. It was an unbelievable sight. It reminded me of a night club scene from an 80’s movie, the main character of the story surveying the place before she made her grand entrance with her teased hair and glow in the dark clothes. Only, there was no way I was going to make a grand entrance and I definitely wasn’t dressed like that.

I had never been to a party like this before, let alone a nightclub. Invites had been handed out in front of me before, but I was never invited to all the ‘cool’ parties. Chynn and Juls were invited to Jas’ massive birthday party the previous year but I think she just invited them in spite of me. I was literally in awe at all of what was in front of me.

Harry moved over next to me and leant over the bar. “What do you think?” His shoulders which were pushed so far forward and his bushy hair made it hard for him to turn his head towards me.

“I…” Before I could say anything Harry shot up and stared directly at the people coming in through the front door.

He held his hand out at me and I placed my hand in his. Smiling, though still looking at the people who just arrived he said, “There’s someone that I’d just like you to meet first.”

I was really confused. The party was amazing and I really didn’t know what to say. I was still dazed as Harry led me down the rickety stairs and across the room, towards the bar where the new arrivals had gone to sit. Harry looked determined to get over there as quickly as possible however, keeping classy at the same time. I noticed a couple, just ordering their drinks and going to sit on the bar stools in front of the bartender. The guy had tan skin, with dark brown hair styled into a perfectly done quiff. He wore a dark leather jacket with black jeans with a bandana in his back pocket. Weirdly enough he resembled a 1950’s greaser. His girlfriend (I presumed because they were holding hands) had purple hair with platinum blonde roots. They booth looked pretty intimidating, and we were heading straight for them!

The couples were gazing into each other’s eyes and sharing a joke before Harry strutted up to the quiff guy and lightly punched him in the shoulder. Sweat ran down the back of my neck because I was fairly certain that the greaser was going to swing his chair around and throw a punch right into Harry’s face.

Much to my surprise, he turned around and smiled. “Harreh!” They both went in for a man hug, slapping each other’s backs and fist bumping. Danny Zuko’s girlfriend turned to me and smiled, she mouthed the words “boys…” I shyly smiled back and nodded, still quite intimidated of them both.

The boys pulled out of the hug, arms still around each other’s shoulders. The girl said, “It’s like yeh havent seen each otha fer years! It’s only ben four hours.” They laughed in unison before ‘Danny’ turned to me and nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Yer must be Tilleh. Mah nems Zen and this is me girlfriend, Perrie.” He held out his hand and I shook it nervously. Perrie held out hers and I shook it too. “Nice to me ya Tilleh.”

That’s Zayn? He doesn’t look like much of a star wars nerd to me.  In fact, he looked far from a star wars fan. Both Zayn and Perrie had thicker British accents to Harry. Not too bad that I can’t completely understand, but kind of like my commerce teacher who came from Newcastle, words were a bit slurry and deep.

“Harreh talks a lot bout you. A bit too much if yer ask me haha.” Zayn rubbed Harry’s shoulders as he went a bit red in the face, obviously embarrassed though I thought it was extremely cute.

Perrie laughed and put her hand on my shoulder. “He’s only jokin’ Tilleh.  Zen don’t embarrass Harreh like that!”

Zayn chuckled and apologized jokingly before Harry moved over to my side and slipped his hand into mine before going into to whisper into my ear. “Listen, I’ve got to go and talk to Zayn privately for a second so I’m going to leave you here with Perrie, don’t worry she won’t bite.” He kissed my cheek and let go of my hand.

“Come on Zayn, I need to show you something mate.” He patted his hand on Zayn’s shoulder, and then walked past him before Zayn got up, smiled at me before pecking Perrie on the cheek and then followed Harry towards the stairs leading up to the platform.

I stood there awkwardly, feeling Perrie’s gaze judging me by the second. Should I say something or just keep quiet? Does she hate me already? I had no idea what to do. The bar tender finished making their drinks before putting it down on the bar in front of Perrie. She picked up her glass of tonic and took a sip before putting it back down on a piece of tissue paper.

“Well don’t just stand there hun! Come on, take a seat.” Perrie smiled at me and I realized that she was talking to me. I got up onto Zayn’s seat and sat with my hands in my lap. The seat was already warm from Zayn sitting on it but it was okay because it wasn’t too hot inside the warehouse.

“So, how long have yer and Harreh been datin’?” She took another sip from her glass, although still watching me.

It shocked me but I realized that it had only been 24 hours since Harry and I had had our first kiss. “Um… A day...” I felt embarrassed but I thought an explanation was needed. “But it feels like we have been together for a year! We had been out a few times before that but never anything official until last night.”

“Aww, that’s cute. I can see by the wey that he looks at yer that he really likes yer. Infact, he’s lookin’ at yer right now.” She nodded her head up towards the platform and I spun around.

Harry and Zayn were leaning over the railings where we had been 10 minutes ago, in deep conversation. As soon as I turned around to look at him, Harry turned his head away, pretending to be engrossed with what Zayn was saying.

I smiled to myself and turned back to Perrie who was smiling too. “So when did you and Zayn start going out?” I was playing it safe by asking the same question, it wasn’t too personal.

“It’s ben almost 2 months officially but we’ve talked and gone out a few times before that. He’s really so sweet on meh, I really love ‘im.” Her eyes darted from me to up at Zayn before she sighed satisfyingly. She took yet another sip from her tonic. “Would yer like anythin’ to drink Tilleh?”

“Um, just an apple juice thanks.” I am so lame. She smiled at me and then waved the bar tender over. “Another tonic and an apple juice for me friend here thanks.”

I felt touched that Perrie had called me her ‘friend’. It really felt good but I think she just did it out of kindness. No one wanted me as their friend… I watched the bar man poor the apple juice into a glass before he handed it to me. I learnt in P.E that every time someone you don’t know makes you a drink, you have to watch them do it so they don’t slip anything in. He gave Perrie her tonic and we both took a sip.

“Can I give yer a tip about Harreh?” She moved her stool closer to me without seeming suspicious.

I started to get nervous. “Yes please.” She picked up her drink and spun her chair around to face the platform. I took my drink and followed. We watched more and more people come in through the door, I wondered if Harry actually knew them all. Some couples walked through, some huge groups, some individuals. They all looked really different in a way. Indies, Hipsters (blergh), most of them looked and moved like models which made me quite jealous.

“Well, if yer don’t already know, Harreh’s a bit of a lady’s man.” She took my hand and squeezed it. “Be careful with him alright. He doesn’t like to share many secrets with many people, it even took Zen a while for him to gain Harreh’s trust. Don’t feel disappointed if he doesn’t tell you everything all at once, if he doesn’t tell yer something he’s usually just trying to protect you.”

I really did wonder what she was talking about, I was intrigued  but I was anxious to find out what Harry was keeping from me and what was to come. I looked up at Harry and surely enough he was looking at me and we smiled at each other. Perrie must’ve seen the look in my eyes and squeezed my hand tighter. “Hey don’t worry. Zayn’s a bit like that too so I’ll show you the ropes okay? That’s what friends are for.”

I nodded at her and smiled. “Okay…”

“But for now, we have fun!” She lifted up her drink in Zayn’s direction and he pointed down at her with an energetic smile. We clunked our glasses together and drunk all of what was left in our glasses.

Perrie got up, still holding my hand. “Hey come on, enough serious talk, let’s dance Tilleh!” She tugged on my arm and I jumped off my stool and we walked with our arms linked towards the middle of the dance floor.

***

As the night went on, the music grew louder. More and more people came and went, the warehouse was literally packed. At one point, the air inside the massive room became so thin because of all the people breathing it in and out + the heat, it was almost impossible to breath. The dance floor was covered in so much sweat that every 15 minutes it had to be cleared so that someone could come through and mop it up so that no one would slip on it. Some of Harry’s friends had some pretty fresh dance moves. This guy with darker skin and a bit of an afro came into the middle of the floor and full on started break dancing and it was amazing. Everyone started chanting “Maz! Maz!” so I presumed his name was Maz.

15 minutes after Perrie and I started dancing, Harry and Zayn came down to join us. I was never a very good dancer so when Harry started watching me dance I became very self-conscious of myself. Perrie was fantastic though, her and Zayn together… they were like the same person! When Harry had turned his back, Zayn got up onto the Aston Martin and started doing this semi-dougie dance and everyone was pissing themselves laughing... except Harry who went absolutely off his head. He was so purple I thought he was going to explode. It was a bit scary but he calmed down after he realized that Zayn was a little bit drunk so his common sense went a bit down the drain.

The whole night Perrie only drank tonic. She explained to me (having to shout over all the noise) that she didn’t really like to drink. Me, being under age and all, kept to my apple juice, not ashamed because Perrie was drinking with me too. Perrie was being so nice to me I seriously felt like I didn’t deserve it at all.

I was back at the bar, chatting with Perrie when Harry crept on over to us. He tapped my right shoulder from behind, tricking me to look over before he put his chin on my left shoulder and grinned cheekily at Perrie. At first I didn’t even realize it was Harry at first so I grabbed my glass and threw my apple juice right in his face. I gasped and held my hands up to my face in shock, unable to comprehend what I had done. Apple juice was dripping down Harry’s soggy hair onto his white t-shirt, leaving stains as they fell. A grin appeared on Harry’s face and he started to laugh. The chain reaction caused Perrie to start giggling behind me. I guess it was a little funny and a I began to smile a little bit too. Harry held my chin up and he went in for a kiss. Mmm… fruity.

“Well aren’t you two cute?” We turned back to Perrie who had her arm on the bar, chin pressed on her fist, smiling at us in a somehow motherly way. “Now don’t get too dirty, we are in public you know.”

“And you’re one to talk Perrie!”  Harry gave me another quick fruity kiss and walked in between us, leaning backwards with his elbows resting on the bar table. Perrie stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes jokingly. Harry shook his hair like a dog that had just gotten a bath, sending apple juice flying everywhere. A few drops even landed in Perrie’s drink.  

“Seriously Styles you are disgusting. Ugh! Men!” Perrie stuck her middle finger up at Harry whilst waving the bar tender over. She ordered another round of drinks for us all (including Harry who also asked for an apple juice).

The bar tender also gave us some complementary peanuts (?) since Harry was the host of the party. I’m not really into nuts but I took some and stuffed them into my mouth out of kindness. I crunched down the severe saltiness; it was torture to my taste buds.

“You know you don’t have to eat those…” Harry looked down at me strangely.

“Yeah they’re disgusting!” Perrie added, pointing her finger down her throat and making a gagging action.

I regretted even laying eyes on those wretched nuts. I took the nearest napkin and spat them out, wrapping them in the tissue so that they would never be able to see light again. The bar tender gave me a confused look when he put our drinks on the table. Yes it must’ve been a strange site seeing me rubbing my tongue and spitting into a tissue. I straight away took my newest apple juice and drunk up, gargling the taste out of my mouth.

Everyone in the 5 meter radius was staring at me in all my weirdness so I slid my glass back onto the bar. Harry and Perrie were secretly giggling to themselves and staring at me. “What?!” I demanded.

“Oh just…” Harry began to explain before he was interrupted by a guy who came running in our direction, stopping right in front of us. He was sweating and smelt like really bad body odour. The guy was big and buff with close cropped hair, wearing all black and he was stocked up with an ear piece. He wasn’t young, but he wasn’t exactly old either.

“Harry sir, we’ve got a situation out the front.  They’ve found us. Do you want us to call the police or do you want to go out there…” The big man was fiddling with his watch, sweating like absolute crazy.

Harry tensed up; this must’ve been something serious. “How did they find us? Do you really think it’s safe Preston? Do you think they’ll leave if I go out for a while?”

“I don’t know son, I hope so. If you go out, we’ll be with you the whole time.” He nodded to Harry.

He contemplated for a moment, in serious thought. I looked over to Perrie who seemed to understand the situation, she was also pondering something. I was the only one in the dark there.

After a few more seconds Harry said, “Ok I’ll go out but make sure Paul’s there to. He’s here right?”

Preston nodded once again, still fiddling with his watch. “We don’t have much time now. Come on Harry let’s get you outside.”

Harry got up, looked at us both apologetically and started following Preston towards the front door of the building. Once again, I was totally confused.

“What exactly is going on here? Who is outside?” I asked Perrie in all my frustration. Now that Perrie brought it up, Harry did seem to be keeping a lot of secrets and it was beginning to frustrate me a bit.

She looked at me in surprise. “What? Yer don’t know?”

I shook my head in confusion. I don’t know what? What exactly has Harry been keeping from me?

“Oh…” Suddenly things became slightly awkward because Perrie knew a lot more about MY boyfriend than I did. I guess since she had known him longer but you’d think that if it was that important he would’ve told me straight away.

“Hmm…” Perrie said as she twisted the straw in her drink, staring into the distance. “Okay, come with me.”

She got up and started walking towards the front door where Harry and Preston had gone, stopping to turn back to me and gesturing me to follow her. Quizzically I followed her. We walked quickly to the front door where a bouncer was waiting in front of it.

His arms were crossed across his massive chest; he was also wearing all black with an ear piece sitting in his ear. A clipboard was clenched in his arms, looking like it was about to break underneath the biceps.

“My nem’s Perrie Edwards, can I go outside please?” Perrie looked up at the bouncer with a cute, puppy dog but still managing to be sexy sort of look.

The bouncer laughed. “No one’s going outside now, not even you Ms. Edwards.”

“Oh please, my friend is claustrophobic.” She gestured to me and I pretended to fan myself in exasperation. I could sense a bit of annoyance in Perrie’s voice, she seemed pretty determined to get us outside.

“Sorry but NO. It’s way too crazy out there. Mr. Styles is going to be back in here at any minute, we’re barely prepared. You have to understand…” He looked at us both with an apologetic look and shook his head.

“Fine.” Perrie turned back to me with an extremely irritated look. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

I could hear a faint buzzing sound coming from outside, it was quite similar to the ones that I heard earlier that day. “Can you hear that?” I asked Perrie as we began walking back to the bar. “What is that sound?”

Perrie shook her head. “It’s them. They never seem to leave him alone honestly. Kind of the same with Zayn too but… Yeah.” Once again she shook her head.

The sound began to fade as we walked closer and closer to the speakers which blurred out most of the other sounds. The music was so loud I could barely even hear myself think. People kept on dancing and dancing, some of the people I even recognized from hours before on the floor. It was amazing how they could just keep going. I could barely even stay up till 12 even on New Year’s Eve.

I wondered how long we had been in the warehouse for. I wondered how long the party had been going on for. I had completely lost track of time, I was so disorientated at that moment in time. Everything was just so confusing.

“Hey!”

Perrie and I turned around at the same time. Harry was speed walking up to us, smiling at people that he awkwardly walked past. His shirt looked even more ruffled and stained than before, his hair as messy as ever.

“What did they want?” Perrie asked as soon as Harry caught up to us. We walked back to the bar together.

He shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair. “The usual. You know how they can get…”

She nodded in agreement. Our stools had been taken away to make more room for dancing. It was beginning to get extremely hot again, the air becoming thinner as more people got up to dance. I wiped my hand across my forehead, the sweat wiping away with my arm. My hair was probably extremely frazzled, my eyes fluttering close every few seconds just to catch a few moments rest to keep going again.

I was extremely thirsty so I drunk the rest of my apple juice which I had left previously. It was so refreshing. I tried to block out all the frustrating thoughts about Harry, Harry who had now wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my cheek with his nose. Perrie pushed away her drink and turned around to gaze into the sea of people.

Suddenly, the lights turned off. It was absolutely pitch black. The only light that could be see was the reflection of the moon onto the windows. A few screams and random shouts came out from the dance floor, only a few people began to panic. A spotlight shone onto the DJ’s stand. Zayn came out from behind one of the speakers, shirtless with an OBEY snapback sitting behind the quiff, careful not to ruffle it even slightly.

Zayn picked up the microphone and breathed into it really heavily. He was definitely drunk. I could hear Perrie face palm behind me and then chuckle to herself slightly. 

Zayn breathed into the microphone once again before saying, “Vas Happenin! DJ Malik in the house!”

Gosh he hasn’t said that in a while, Harry whispered to himself.

“How’s everyone’s night been?! A’right we’re going to get the real party started.” Zayn picked up a cd case and took out the disk before clumsily putting it in the player. He pushed a few wrong buttons which caused it to eject a few times but then finally managed to get the right track.

“Okay let’s do this!” He shouted into the microphone before he pressed play.

A beat started playing and Harry’s grip on me tightened. “Come on! I love this song. Let’s go and dance.” He took my hand and led me out onto the floor with all the other crazy dancers. Everything was beginning to look a little bit double, I must’ve been getting really tired.

It feels like we been living in fast-forward, another moment passing by. (Up, up, up all night)

Harry turned around and begun to dance. He looked so happy, he must’ve really liked the song. I tried to lift my arm up into the air but I just felt so tired that it didn’t even feel possible. Really, I couldn’t feel my arm at all.

The party’s ending but it’s now or never, nobody’s going home tonight. (Up, up, up all night)

People began to push up against me; it felt like they were all shouting into my ear. Everything felt 100 times louder, I really felt like my eardrums were going to explode any second. Harry was smiling down at me, laughing his head off. Zayn must’ve been doing something hilarious but my head just wouldn’t turn to look at him. My stomach began to churn. It didn’t feel normal at all.

Katy Perry’s on replay, she’s on replay. DJ (Zayn hooted) got the floor to shake, the floor to shake.

I was beginning to see triple. People were doubling by the second. Voices surrounded my ears, filling me with terror. Harry was still laughing like absolute crazy. People continued to push me and I couldn’t stand up straight, I couldn’t control my own body. It was like I was in a dream, a dream where I was watching myself and the only thing I could do was watch.

People going all the way, yeah all the way.

My knees buckled and I feel to the floor, gripping my stomach. It felt like something was burning inside of me. Maybe someone had filled me with petrol and thrown a match in through my mouth. I crawled into a fetal position. People were still trampling on me.

I’m still wide awake.

I could just hear Harry shouting into my ear, his blurry figure leaned over me, shaking my body. I wanted so badly to talk but it felt like the fire was coming up through my throat. More and more people circled over me, shouting at me. Everyone sounded like gibberish now. The music was still blaring. I felt Harry’s mouth touch mine and the last thing I heard that night were the lines to the music, I wanna stay up all night…

Author's Note

i have no idea why the font changes sorry