Deception

One.

"Don't go anywhere while I'm gone, ok? I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll be fine."

"Make good choices, I love you."

"I love you."

As he walks out the door she settles on the couch and puts on whatever tv show she could find and enjoys her solidarity until she can hear footsteps and whispers outside the door and eventually the sound of someone trying to open her front door. Panicking, she runs to her bedroom and to her closet, and that's when she can hear the sets of footsteps enter her house. The tears are flowing down her cheeks as she hears the low rumble of a mans voice. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." She throws her hand over her mouth and starts dialing the number of her brother.

*Ring*

She gasps when the handle on her closet door starts moving.

*Ring*

"Come on, sweetheart, we won't hurt you." The voice says

*Ring*

She prays for her brother to pick up the phone as the man starts pullings harder on her closet door.

*Hey, can't answer the phone right now. Leave a message.* *beep*

"Harry," she whispers into her phone as her tears fall more heavily "There are people in the house, please come home, they know I'm here, please" Just then the door gets ripped open and she screams "No! Harry! Please help!" she screams as she's dragged away from her phone. The only thing being heard are the distant cries for her brother.

-

It was about 10 A.M. when I got rudely awoken by Niall throwing a pillow at my head. I threw the pillow on the ground while he giggled and Louis came over with some aspirin and a beer. The boys had thrown a rager last night and I stayed over. We used to all live together but I moved out. It doesn't feel like I did because I'm always over anyway and look at me now, about to clean up their trashed house after their dumbasses threw a party. I stood up, paused for a second to catch my balance, and headed to the kitchen where Zayn was. "You look like hell, man."

"Thanks" I replied sarcastically and sat down next to him.

"How much of last night do you remember? You were pretty hammered."

"Enough to know why my head is fucking killing me,"

All the guys were in the kitchen now and in much better shape than I was. I don't even like parties, yet I am more than hungover and about to puke my guts out.

"Can we just clean up the damn house so I can go home and sleep?" I laid my head down on the table in front of me while Niall ran up behind me and draped his arms around my shoulders

"But you are home, buddy!"

"Is my bed here?" I retort and Niall goes quiet, taking his arms back from my shoulders. "Actually," Louis starts and I lift my head up "Jess wants us to stop by the club later." "What? Why?" I question

"Fuck if I know, she probably just wants help with something."

"Fine, just let me know when we're leaving." I say as I take myself upstairs and hear Niall whisper,

"When did he get so grumpy?"

"I can hear you, dumbass."

Jessica. Jess for short, or Jessie if you're Niall. Her name is Jessica but she hates it so we all just call her Jess, We've all known her for years and she's all of our best friend. She's the hard type, very tough. She's never taken any shit from anybody, not even us. She's a survivor. It's what got her so far in life. Because now, she owns the most known nightclub in the city, Enfer, which literally translates to Hell. I'm quite fond of the name actually, it fits the devilish theme the club has. Also, it doesn't hurt that we all get free admission and free drinks. It's the perk of knowing the owner. In exchange, though, we do help out most of the time. It's only fair for how much time we spend there. It's our second home.

Anyway, an hour or two passed and we were on our way to go see Jess but first had to make an "emergency" food stop as per Niall's request. Niall has a lot of "emergencies." But, anyway, we made it to the club sometime in the afternoon, obviously, it wasn't open yet but we made our way inside and there was a very happy Jess on the other side of the door. At this point, we were all beyond the point of greetings in our friendship so she got straight to the reason she wanted us here. "So, boys, exciting news! I've gotten myself a new roommate" She stands there like she's waiting for us to jump with joy. "She's new to the city but I've known her forever." She exaggerates like every girl. "But she doesn't really know anyone so I was hoping you could all behave yourselves tonight and meet her. What do you say?" Everyone nods and agrees and then turns to me. "Harry? What do you think?" "Sounds fan-fucking-tastic." I say with a fake smile. "Oh, come on Harry, I think you'll like her." Jess finds it amusing to try and find friends for me like I'm incapable. I have plenty of friends. "Lighten up, Har." Liam begins "It'll be good for you to meet new people. You know you haven't really gotten out there since-" he immediately gets cut off by Niall throwing his hand over his mouth and suddenly everyone looks at me like I'm a bomb about to go off.

I've had my share of bad relationships. Well, one bad relationship. So what? Apparently, everyone thinks I'm not over it which is some bullshit. Just because I haven't seen anyone since her doesn't mean I'm broken. Not dating is a personal choice that no one seems able to grasp. Some things work and some things don't. Me dating is one of the things that don't. Although, that doesn't mean I don't have my fair share of fun. Hookups here and there. Hell, Jess and I have hooked up a few times which is again why I don't see the point in her playing matchmaker.

Back to reality. Everyone's staring at me that I'm going to explode. "Can you guys stop that? I mean really, that was years ago." "Yeah, but-" "But nothing." One of them started and I interrupted. "So, what's her name?" I ask while taking a seat at a booth and Jess follows, excited to talk about her friend. Everyone else joins us as she starts talking. "Her name is Charlotte, I met her when we were both really young and she decided to move out here and so, of course, I offered her a place to stay and so now I get to live with my best friend, isn't that exciting?" "Hey, I thought we were your best friends." Niall pouts "You know you are, Ni." She says with a smile. "Now come on, we open soon."