Desolate - h.s. ✓

° thirty-eight °

     New Years Eve was the first time I got to see Ella, Lex, and Blair all at the same time. The three of them had left the state for a couple of days, but I was glad they were back for the party that Harry had told me about. He apparently was hoping he could snag me before midnight, but I was worried that the chances of that were rather low. Plus, I felt like Ethan was going to keep a close eye on me.

"I want to play!" I called out when someone was trying to make teams for beer pong.

"I'll play," Ella followed.

Another petite girl I had not met before agreed to playing, Harry saying he would also play. There was another table being set up next to us, Reggie asking if the petite girl would switch places with him. I sent Ella a wink, my friend flicking me off.

"Are you even good at this game?" Harry asked me lowly as someone filled the cups.

"I've played before."

"Okay, but are you good?" he asked.

"I've played before," I repeated, knowing that I was just okay at the game, but I wanted to have fun also. "It's fine, we'll do fiiine."

He chuckled, shaking his head before setting up the ten cups on our side. Reggie did the same on his end, laughing quietly at something that I was certain Ella had said. Honestly, she hadn't said much to me about him since the last party, but it was kind of obvious that they were getting along well. Making a mental note to talk to her about it later, I noticed Lex and Alex were watching on at the table beside us, Blair joining the smaller girl that had switched with Reggie in the game.

"Alright, is it you and me shooting first, Styles?" Reggie asked.

"Sure, mate."

Harry grabbed a ball from the water cup, a person quickly filling the last of the cups. I thanked him when he was done, the guy nodding and heading off. Multiple people were watching our game, and I wondered if it had to do with the people playing, or if there were really just that many people here and they didn't know what else to do. Brushing the thought off, I watched as Harry lost to Reggie, Harry only making one ball while Reggie made both.

"Ooh, it's going to be an easy game."

"You better watch it," Harry scoffed. "I'll beat your arse at this game."

Reggie looked like he was mocking Harry on his side as we cleaned the balls off, our opponent starting. He got one in the cup, though missed the second one. I glanced up at Harry, a small smirk on his face when he pointed to the cup. Sighing, I grabbed it, gulping down the horrible beer.

"God, I literally only like vodka," I scoffed.

"Mm, my poor baby," Harry laughed, handing me a clean ball to shoot. "You drank, so you shoot."

Grumbling, I took the ball, throwing it into a cup across the way. However, to my surprise, I landed the second ball in another cup as well. Harry and I cheered, watching as both Ella and Reggie took cups and drank. I got the balls back, shooting both of them, but only landing one. Reggie was the one to drink again, Harry squeezing my shoulders.

"Damn, look at you."

"Stop touching me," I whined, glaring at him briefly. "Ethan could be around."

"I'm just having some party fun with my best friend's sister," he teased. "No need for him to get cranky."

"Hey!" Reggie called. "Drink up."

Ella had landed the ball in one of the cups, Harry gulping down the beer quickly. It was followed by him shooting, and missing completely, leaving us with seven more cups to get, while Ella and Reggie still needed eight. It went back and forth for a while where we each only got one cup, however, when it got down to about four, we were having a harder time landing the balls. Reggie got two in a row at one point, nearly making it a solid three, but he missed both of his re-shoots. Harry ended up making the winning shot, my boyfriend smiling down at me. It continued to be the two of us winning for a couple of rounds, my brother popping in here and there to see how I was doing. Ella, Blair, and Lex kept stopping by also, my friends cheering me on anytime they stopped by while I was playing. Although, on about our fourth round, it was clear Harry and I were both under the influence just a little bit.