One Plus One

Chapter One

I was minding my own business. I was quite happy in the corner of the room standing by my friends whilst everyone else got themselves ridiculously drunk. Why this tall, blonde haired guy had to drag me away from them was an annoying question that I would have appreciated the answer to. The obviously intoxicated teenager snaked his hands all over me, thinking my desperate attempt to wriggle free of it was some sort of game. I dared not look up into his eyes. If I did, I knew he'd take it as some sort of connection. After another couple of minutes with him erratically trying to bury his head in the crook of my neck I'd had enough. I pushed him as hard as I could to which he took the hint and backed off. I walked back over to my group of friends and picked up my drink. As I glanced over the rim of the cup, they were all staring at me.

"What?"

"Marlie, what are you playing at? He was cute!" shouted Lily.

"Well if you think he's so cute, let him put his hands all over you."

"Happily." she giggled as a smile spread across her face, sparking a laugh amongst my other friends and a sigh of disgust from me.

"Oh come on, Marlie. Lighten up. You can't stay innocent forever." Katie said as she poked me in the side.

"You're eighteen. It's about time you loosened up." added Lily.

Lily went to open her mouth but promptly closed it. Her stare was fixed behind me, higher than my head. My guess was that she had taken a liking to a guy who had just passed me until she began to giggle. My eyebrows furrowed as I wondered what she was giggling at. I felt a tickle on my backside but when I turned around nothing was there. I dipped into my back pocket and pulled out my phone. I pressed the centre button and a message displayed itself on my screen.

"From : ?

Hey gorgeous. You've got a nice arse ;) .x"

My eyes widened at the screen in front of me. Now I knew what Lily had been so ferociously giggling at. I looked around hoping to see some smug idiot smirking at the reaction he got out of me. I didn't find one.

I put the phone back into my pocket and picked up my bag. I pushed through the crowd of people blocking my exit. I seemed to cause annoyance amongst the intoxicated teens who threw looks of disgust in my direction. When I finally reached the front door I forcefully pushed down the handle and burst into the street. I bumped into something hard on my way out which ended up with my bag dropping to the floor and the contents spilling out. I fumbled with everything trying to get it back in my bag apologising to the person who belonged to the white converse that stood in front of me for bumping into them.

"I change my description from "nice" to "amazing"" sounded a deep, raspy voice.

I quickly stood up to be met with a tall, slim guy with eyes that hinted at emerald and brown curls framed his face. His hand floated around behind me before I felt it rest on my backside. I gripped his wrist and pulled it away, my cheeks flushing with heat that he'd been so forward. My obvious embarrassment caused a smug grin to ignite on his face.

"Are you going back inside...?"

I assumed the pause was for me to fill in my name.

"Marlie."

"Ok, are you coming back in, Marlie?"

"No, I'm just leaving."

"Well do you need a lift?"

"No, I'm fine thank you. I didn't catch your name."

"Harry."

"Well thanks for the offer but I'd rather not get in a car with a guy who's just tried to feel me up. Somehow I think that opens up more opportunity for it."

"Ok. Well, I'll be seeing you again."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

All I got in response was a wink before he knocked on the door to be let back in. His dazzling green eyes never left mine for a second. Once he was out of sight and into the house was when I let out my sighs of disapproval.

I continued my hasty walk down the street, deeply inhaling the cold night air with each stride. Once I arrived at my house, I quickly turned the keys in the door before calling to Jaz, my sister, to let her know I was in. She appeared in the doorway to the living room and watched as I angrily threw down my keys and hung my jacket on the stairs.

"What's got you all a fluster, hmm?"

"For once, I'd like guys to keep their hands to themselves."

"Felt up again?"

"Yes. And the cheeky sod offered me a lift home!"

"What was his name?"

"Harry."

Her eyes widened at the sound of his name. I stared confused for a second but then I realised exactly the thoughts running through her head.

"He's the Harry that everyone talks about, isn't he?"

"You mean the one that's got a reputation with women, and well..."

She left the sentence hanging knowing she didn't need to finish it. Harry was well known for his repeated fights with the boyfriends of the girls he had slept with. From what I'd heard he left them in a bloody heap on the floor begging for him to stop. And now this guy had moved on to me.

"Oh shit." I muttered, before dropping my head into my hand.

*****

I sat on the couch as Jasmine paced up and down in the living room.

"Jaz, will you stop, you're giving me a headache."

"What are you going to do? I go back to Uni tomorrow so you're gonna be here on your own."

"I can handle myself. I'll be fine."

"But Marlie -"

"But nothing, Jaz. I'm not a child anymore. I can sort my own situations."

I rose from the couch and pushed past her and fled to the comfort of my room. I kicked my shoes into the corner and threw my phone onto the bed. I took off my clothes and added them to the wash pile before walking across my room to my bathroom. I stood in my underwear as I brushed my hair when I heard my phone start to buzz. I picked it up to find a new message from Lily.

"Is it true that it was Harry that took your phone? Xx"

We'd all heard of his reputation. A lot of it I believed to be an exaggeration on the truth but most of it seemed so harsh it could be nothing but true. It was a mess that I didn't want to get tangled in, but the way Harry had held my stare fixed to his played over and over in my mind. I didn't feel intimidated by him in the slightest. He just made my skin crawl at how forward he seemed to be.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Nothing is going to happen xx"

"Why not?! He's a bad boy. He could teach you a few things ;) Xx"

Lily never ceased to think of the sexual side of things. Something I had never taken an interest in. I had no desire to carry on a conversation about things that were never going to happen. I left my phone on my bedside cabinet and opened the draw to pull out a nightshirt. I slipped it on and crawled into my bed covers. I pulled them right over my head trying to blank out the curly haired boy that was penetrating my thoughts. It's almost as if he knew I was thinking about him. My phone buzzed once more, this time revealing a message from Harry.

"Night gorgeous, see you soon ;) .x"

My skin crawled at the thought of it. I dropped my phone next to my pillow and grabbed my other pillow to cover my face and groaned. Why did this have to happen to me? I wanted nothing to do with Harry. But it looked like my choice in the situation was non-existent.