The Timeline

12.

February 2nd, 2014:

What does it mean when a popstar kisses you on the lips?

What does it mean when a drunk popstar kisses you on the lips?

What does it mean when a drunk popstar who also happen to be your friend of a year kisses you on the lips?

Claire hadn't been able to sleep, despite the fact she had her friends had gotten home at nearing 3:30AM. She had been in what she could consider to be a state of profound dazedness mixed with dread mixed with exhilaration mixed with fear mixed with the thrilling of something that ran through her blood and that she couldn't quite put a name to.

She had spent the night tossing and turning and throwing the covers off of her and then back on when she got too cold then jutting a foot out then dragging it back under the covers because it got too cold and she wasn't wearing socks and then she had sat up and laid down again and then she had hid her head under the pillow and then she had screamed into the duvet.

Her friends, she could tell, were all fast asleep, bellies full of good food and alcohol, minds tired and not clouded by all types of thoughts like hers was.

They hadn't seen anything, and how could they have seen anything?

Claire had replayed the scene at least a thousandth of times in her head. It hadn't been long, so - she had realized - in the span of an hour she could replay it about 120 times, almost twice a minute.

Harry taking the gifts for him she had bought for him; Claire turning to leave because David was literally eating her ear off with his screaming; Harry grabbing Claire's wrist; Harry dragging her to him; Claire hitting his chest; Harry's mouth on hers.

It hadn't been a long kiss, nor a passionate one. Mainly because she had been too shocked to properly react, so Harry's lips had simply closed over her own closed ones. On top of all of it, Harry had been drunk, and as soon as his lips had touched hers and stayed there for a couple of seconds, it had looked like something in his brain had switched so fast because he had staggered back. The expression in his eyes had been clouded, confused and - somehow - shocked, as if he couldn't believe what he had done. He let go of her, dropping her wrist, took a step back and before Claire could even whisper his name, he had turned around and stormed inside of the house.

And then David had shouted for Claire to come and she had heard a commotion behind her and turned around: David was walking back through the gate. She had had to go.

For a moment, in the car, she had pondered if she should tell her friends what had just happened, but her mind was too jumbled and she felt too jumpy to even entertain that idea for more than short fleetings seconds.

Lying in her bed, replaying the scene over and over and over again, Claire started to realize that sleep would've never come to her, not that night. Not even shutting her eyes real tight and pretending to be asleep helped her. Her mind was too alive with the night she had just lived and whenever she closed her eyes she saw the way Harry had looked at her after he had stopped the kiss. The peck. The lips meeting.

In the wee hours of the morning, Claire took her pillow, slipped it from under her head and pressed it over her face, real tight, so she could scream into it.

What did it mean?

What did the whole night mean, actually?

Because the kiss hadn't been the only part of the night that had made her brain go into a small fumble, making her feel like she was made of scrambled eggs, now that she thought about it.

Why were people referring to her as Michelle Pfeiffer? What was the deal with it? Did she even look like Michelle Pfeiffer?!

Why had Harry been so weird about her and Niall? Specifically, about her and Niall being friends?! What did he mean when he asked her if the two were friends? What did it mean when he had asked her if the two of them were friends like she and him were?! And now the she overthought it - since she was already down that path - hadn't she detected a hint of coldness in Harry's voice when he had addressed Niall, all throughout the night? Hadn't he reacted in a weird way when Zayn had mentioned Niall having her number? What did it all mean?