Not The Betting Type ~ Harry Lewis

Chapter Fourteen

I purposely didn't see Harry again until the next weekend, avoiding Cal's many invitations to have dinner or to hang out at their flat.

I was trying my best with the bet too, letting it consume my spare time to try and keep my mind off Harry.

I'd been on numerous dates during the week and my total count was currently 25. I wasn't sure on Harry's but I knew I would get an update about it tonight since we were all going out together again.

I was nervous to see Harry again, even though it was my choice not to see him throughout the week. Even though I wanted to focus on the bet and put my time and effort into boys that weren't him, there was still a part of me that wanted to kiss his lips instead.

I anxiously knocked on the door across the hall and prayed that Cal would be the one to open it.

I cursed under my breath as Harry ended up being the one to open the door and I realised that it was only fitting that praying didnt work for me since I didn't actually believe in god.

He hadnt put much effort into his look tonight but for some reason that made him look even better. He was wearing a black shirt and black jeans with a pair of white shoes, on anyone else a very basic look, but on Harry it was ridiculously attractive.

"Jess." He leaned an outstretched arm against the doorframe and greeted me in the familiar way that made my heart switch into overdrive.

"Harry." I croaked out as I tried not to stare too hard at him. He seemed to have gotten ten times fitter in the last week and I had to remind myself that it literally wasn't possible and I was overreacting.

"You're a bit late." He stated and it was only then that I noticed the music playing in the background.

"Late for what?" I asked as I walked in the doorway and he shut the door behind me.

"We're having pre-drinks, come on you're already about five drinks behind." He joked as he put his hands on my shoulders and lightly pushed, encouraging me to walk further into the flat. I could feel my heart betraying my head at his touch and I tried to stop myself imagining how good his hands would feel on other parts of my body.

"Didn't Talia tell you?" He added and I shook my head slowly.

I walked into the lounge and was relieved to see that it was mostly familiar faces, with a few girls I'd never seen before who looked like they came straight from a modelling agency. I tucked my hair behind my ear and tried to shake the feeling of being extremely self conscious.

Talia and Simon were snuggled up on the couch chatting away to a few of the other sidemen that I hadn't yet met. I only knew their faces because Harry had forced me to watch a sidemen video and learn who everyone was.

The only person I noticed was missing from the sidemen tonight was Vik who I learned had chosen to spend the night with his girlfriend instead.

"You remember all of their names yeah?" Harry asked me and he seemed almost nervous with the way he asked it.

"Yes I remember their names Harry." I said rolling my eyes at him.

"See there's Josh right there." I joked while purposely pointing at JJ.

"Jess! That's quite clearly-"

"I know you numpty! I'm just teasing." I said with a grin as I turned to face him.

He laughed and looked down at me warmly. I felt like I could write a book about how blue his eyes were and I swear that I noticed his gaze move to my lips for a fleeting second before returning to meet mine.

"Jess! I'm so glad you're here! We can finally start the drinking games!" Cal said as he pulled me into a hug, breaking up whatever moment was happening between Harry and I.

I could smell the alcohol on his breath and he was leaning a lot of his bodyweight on me which wasn't working very well considering our height difference.

"Drinking games? I feel like you don't really need a drinking game Cal!" I said with a laugh as he struggled to stand up straight.

"Nonsense! Come on guys." He said as he tried to gather everyone in the lounge.

"Let's get you a drink first yeah?" Harry said as he took me into the kitchen and poured me a heavily mixed vodka and coke.

"You're lucky that I've got a lot of catching up to do Harry because in a normal world, I would never accept a drink with that much alcohol in it." I told him sternly as I took a sip and winced.

"What there's not even that much in there?" Harry said innocently as he raised his hands in the air.

"At least half of that is alcohol Harry I watched you pour it!"

"Yeah like I said, that's not much!" He said with a cheeky grin and I gave him a light shove while rolling my eyes.

"Oi you two, we don't have all night, come on!" Cal yelled from the lounge and we both skulked over like two little kids who'd just been told off by their teacher.

We sat down on the floor and made a circle around the coffee table as we started to play a game called Picolo.

I'd never played it before but the rules were simple enough, on a phone there were certain prompts, if the prompt applied to you, you had to drink. Sometimes you had to choose between doing a dare or drinking instead.

Hardly anyone was choosing to drink instead so there was a lot of chaos going on. Sucking of toes, lap dances and kissing people. The only time anybody refused to kiss somebody was if they were in a relationship.

I had currently kissed JJ and Tobi, who was surprisingly a very good kisser and Talia had given me a lap dance. I was becoming increasingly drunk as the game went on and was hysterically giggling with Talia when Harry got a prompt.

"Harry, kiss the person to your left." Tobi read off the phone.

I felt the whole world stand still as it dawned on me that I was the person to his left. There was suddenly a large lump in my throat that hadn't been there before and I swallowed it down as I turned to look at him.

I wondered whether he'd prefer to drink instead of kissing me but he was already looking back at me with a lazy smile on his face.

"Come here then." He said and I practically melted at the words. I didn't want to let him or anyone else know how excited I was so I tried to be coy.

"I think you're supposed to come to me." I said challenging him to make the first move and he laughed before he started to move closer.

At that very moment things seemed to move in slow motion.

Harry was slowly moving closer to me but one of the model girls had tripped over on her way back to the circle and fell right in between us.

We helped her up and made sure she was okay but to my frustration she was now sat in between me and Harry.

"Harry are you kissing Jess or Erica? Remember the person to your left?" Tobi pressed, wanting to move on with the game.

"Oh nelly, it would be rude not to, she's just had a fall." Harry replied before cupping Erica's chin in his hand and leaning in to kiss her right in front of me.

I couldn't look away and the longer it went on the more upsetting it was. That could have been me.

It should have been me. And Harry chose her instead.

"I believe my total is now 33." He whispered to me as he pulled away from Erica and sent a wink in my direction.

My heart dropped as I was reminded yet again exactly who Harry was, a player who despised romance and relationships... which ironically was everything I wanted from him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Don't kill me for this one.
It's a slow burn and I promise you it'll be worth it.
Love you guys for reading and voting x