Tale of Two

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Dedicated to the lovely frenchbraidsx! 

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It would have been a bit of an overstatement to say that the party was in full swing. So far there were six girls gathered in the living room, sitting in a circle on the flower patterned rug. It looked like a scene taken out of a second class movie, all girly chit chat and cocktails. Cora was watching them with a wicked grin, knowing that Harry didn't forget the invitation, he actually texted her earlier to ask if the party was still on and if he could maybe bring the boys too, to which Cora answered with a tight-lipped yes.

She wasn't exactly mad at him, but his rapid leave after the foot-massage-affair was strange and borderline rude, especially because he failed to give her an explanation, pretending as if nothing happened. Cora could tell he was on edge all week, still sporting the trademark lopsided grin, but his eyes weren't smiling.

It was terribly unusual to see an agitated Harry Styles.

But Cora had a feeling that tonight would be different. The fact that Melissa and Angelica didn't have a single male on their guest list was hilarious on its own, but inviting Harry to a girls night, technically a sleepover, was stupefyingly good. So after she finished mixing her glorious pina colada, dropping a cherry on top, she lazily walked back to the living-room and plopped down on the couch.

"Fit lass, but no brain. In terms of intelligence she wasn't a partner... " the girl named Cassie said in an extremely bored voice. Cora had no idea where they got her from, but she was the classic tomboy feminist of the group and she was always bored. Obviously she liked boys and girls equally, hated the government and the church equally, and refused to shave her armpits, cementing all the ridiculous stereotypes about a feminist in every single person who had the displeasure of hearing one of her typical little speeches about life. Cora thought she was hot, but her unfortunate personality made her prominently unattractive.

"Oh Cassie, I'm so sorry. You'll find someone soon, I can feel it," Mel smiled.

"Yeah, I don't know..." she grimaced and brought the beer bottle to her lips. "Maybe it's time to build a career or get in touch with my true self or something instead of dating the wrong people..." she announced and Cora snorted, not believing one word of this idiocy. "What?"

"Nothing... But you know... dating is cool."

"Yeah I can see that you're the relationship type."

"Of course I am. I like people. But what type are you? The bo-" The sound of the bell came at a rather lucky moment, before Cora could throw some shade at Cassie, so she quickly stood up and shook her head, not quite knowing why the pale blonde was getting on her nerves so much.

Opening the door Cora came face to face with a grinning Harry, rocking on the balls of his feet before he leant down to press a loud and wet kiss on her cheek, which she wiped off a second later.

"Good evening. I can't hear a pumping bass... Or the screams of pleasure in the night? What's going on?" he cheerfully shouted as he walked in and kicked his boots off right away.

"Well, this is a party apparently. I have to tell you I quite like it. I'm sick of the uni life, I can't handle a hangover anymore. This is chill. You know girls sitting in a circle, drinking cherry vodka..." She was watching the boys getting their coats off as she spoke. As soon as Zayn heard the word 'girls', he quietly sauntered off in the direction of the living room, leaving Louis, Liam and Harry behind. "Nate's not coming?"

"No," Harry answered. "He's meeting a producer bloke in London. Says he may get him to come to one of our gigs..."

"Wow that's something. Go lads," Cora cheered and raised her glass.