One Plus One

Chapter Nine

The girls and I spent most of the night talking. We were later joined by Lily's older brother who looked incredibly happy to see five other girls in shorts and t-shirts sprawled across his living room floor. His eyes lingered on me longer than I liked. He was extremely attractive but the trouble was, he knew it and he knew it well.

"Brody, you've stood there long enough. Make yourself useful and bring us some bowls." shouted Lily.

"I'm not your slave, you've got legs, get them yourself."

He flashed a smile and threw a wink at me before he turned and jogged up the stairs. I was a bit taken aback. I excused myself from the conversation we were having and ran up the stairs. I was about to go into the bathroom when Brody appeared in his doorframe.

"Harry's bagged himself a gooden." he spoke quietly.

A breath caught in my throat. I spun sharply to face him and stared inquisitively, waiting for him to continue.

"He was late to work today. When I asked him, he said he'd been with a girl. I later found out it was you."

"You're friends with Harry?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, me and Harry go way back."

"Then why didn't Lily know who he was?"

"Lily has never met any of my friends. I know what she's like. She'd have felt half of them up before she'd even said hello."

I giggled as I moved some strands of hair behind my ear. When I looked back up at him, he was smiling widely at me.

"What?"

"Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"But you're going to."

"Harry likes you. He won't admit it but I can see it."

"What makes you think that?"

"He's never kept up with a girl for more than one night. If he doesn't get what he wants, he moves on."

My stomach lurched, suddenly thinking of everything everyone had said about him. I shifted my weight in my feet feeling uncomfortable.

"So what everyone says about him is true?" I asked, hoping not to hear what I expected to.

"That he's had a lot of girls? He's had a few, but no where near as many as everyone makes out. And all that shit about him beating guys up, that is definitely not true. Harry is not like that at all. He's only ever been in one fight."

"Over what?"

"Hovis."

I had to pause for a second. Brody laughed just thinking about the story behind Harry's fight. It took him a while to compose himself before he could tell me the story.

"We were in holiday in Benidorm, we were all drunk. Harry found a loaf of bread and was telling everyone not to touch it. Our mate Danny tried to take it from him and Harry punched him square in the face. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

I burst out laughing. Harry defending bread? Wow. I had to hold my stomach it was hurting from laughing.

"Listen, don't believe anything anyone says about Harry. He's a good guy."

When I looked up at him, he nodded encouragingly. We were then interrupted by footsteps padding up the stairs.

"Sorry to interrupt." began Lily. "Jaz is at the door for you, Marlie."

My stomach dropped. What on earth was she doing back from Uni? We hadn't yet spoken to each other after our argument. I walked down the stairs to find her standing on the doorstep, arms folded across her chest. She flicked her head for me to join her outside. I quickly slipped on my shoes and closed the door over behind me as I stepped out.