Kissing Strangers {h.s}

chapter four

Harry <3

"You look really pretty right now," I whisper to Alexie as she relaxes on the bed. She turns around with raised eyebrows and I smile, a different type of smile she normally has. This smile she had on her face when we were partying with Louis, Derrick and Cyrus tonight. She never looks this happy with me. But maybe it's all the alcohol she consumed. Yeah, she's definitely just drunk.

"I do?" She says and I nod my head.

My hand innocently travelled from her cheeks, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, to her shoulder and down her arm, slowly making my way down her hand. I trace my fingers over the rings she still had on and I gently pulled them off her fingers and put them on the bedside table.

It's about two in the morning and we just got back to her house after spending some time at the club with Louis and the rest of the band. I decided to take Alexie home after she had way too many drinks and she was stumbling around and almost fell face-first on the floor a few times. I will admit that I did laugh my ass off at her and it was only funnier when she'd flip me off and get grumpy.

Another reason I wanted Alexie to leave with me was Derrick. They were all over each other all night. Laughing together, talking and taking shots with each other. They even went dancing with one another. She has never danced with me.

I'm not gonna lie that her being like that with him did make me jealous, but she assured me that she was just enjoying making new friends and I believed her. I mean, there was no reason not to trust her.

I stare at Alexie. She looks peaceful with the sleepy drunk look on her face. The corners of my lips tug up in a smile as she starts to mumble incoherent words and little phrases. "What?" I whisper out in a laugh as she starts to speak in sentences.

"Derrick tells me I'm pretty all the time." She mumbles and I frown. He tells her she's pretty? I mean, she is. There's no denying it. She's probably the prettiest girl I have ever seen. But why would she mention that Derrick of all people called her pretty? And how many times did he call her pretty tonight? To my knowledge, tonight, at the show, was the first time they met each other.

"What?" I ask her and she starts to giggle louder, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her hand are cold and take them in mine to warm them up a bit.

"I'm in love with Derrick, silly." She says and my heart stops beating altogether. "I love my pretty Derrick." She slurs and I start to pull away from her, my eyes burning with unwanted tears. Then she gasps, "But don't tell Harry that." She says, whispering. She puts her finger over her lips and starts to make shushing sounds while laughing.

I sit up on the bed staring down at the girl I hopelessly fell in love with. Everything is silent. Alexie fell asleep and is lightly snoring like she always does.

Before I even get the chance to think about what she just said, my phone starts ringing. An unknown number flashes on the screen and I ignore it, turning my phone off again. But a few seconds later the phone's ringing again and I answer it with an annoyed 'hello'.

"Harry?" The faint voice of Iris makes me frown.

"Iris? What... W- why are you calling me." I'm confused as I listen to her sigh through the speaker. I also hear a gate opening and closing and distant yelling. "Are you okay?"

"Hi, umm. I'm so sorry to bother you but I've tried calling Alexie and it went straight to voicemail mail and Louis' calls won't even go through..." She rambles. I can't imagine calling my friends and none of them picking up, so if she had to call me, it must be important. At least Alexie has some sort of an excuse. Her phone died like two, three hours ago and I didn't even bother plugging it in when we got back to her apartment.