CASUAL • Harry Lewis/w2s

nine

Back from vacation. Always feel free to vote and comment :))

"Maisieeee! I brought Starbucks!" Talia called as she got to my flat mid-morning.

Talia was the only person to have a key to my flat. She had gotten in case of an emergency but that was not how she was using it.

I stepped out of my room, relieved to have a brief break from editing a video, and sat down at the dining table. I winced when I made contact with the wooden chair.

"What was that look for?" Talia asked as she handed me my coffee drink.

"What look?" I asked innocently.

"Like you're in pain."

I bit my lip and hesitated before responding. "It just hurt to sit down."

Harry and I got at it multiple times last night, which left me feeling somewhat raw.

"Why would it- OH MY GOD- Who did you go home to after last night" She exclaimed with excitement.

I stayed silent, looking down at the floor and sipping my coffee. I couldn't get myself to tell her.

"Maisie, who did you go home- oh my god- You never left, did you?" This time, her 'Oh my god' was full of shock rather than excitement. She knew me too well.

I shook my head.

"You and Harry shagged after we all left?" She partially screamed.

"Yeaah..." I admitted, taking a bite from my bread.

"How did this happen?" Talia was in pure shock. "Was this the first time you hooked up?"

I explained everything to her, and it felt good to get it off my chest. Last night, before giving in to my urges, I was thinking about how wrong everything was. But something about the way he looked at me made me think with something other than my brain.

Talia was completely shocked, and that was an understatement. She of course told me how stupid I was and that I needed to talk things over with him but also kept on telling me we were a great fit. Like she kinda supported it.

"It won't happen again. We have a pretty packed schedule for the next few weeks, and I'll also be going back home to Doncaster on Saturday. When I return to London, he heads to Guernsey. So, yeah, maybe it was crazy, but it only happened twice," I explained.

Actually, 'it' happened more than twice, but that wasn't the point.

Talia stayed for a while before she had to get home. As soon as she left, I returned to editing because I wanted to finish up before I had to film for Sidemenreacts later. I spent the following days doing my usual stuff. Filming for Sidemen, my own channel, being with friends and etcetera.

Seeing Harry on a daily basis has also become easier. We stopped arguing and began talking normally to each other. I stopped avoiding him because I knew I could not blame him this time. He was the one who caused the first time, and I was drunk and didn't think. He started the second time, but I was sober and in complete control of what I wanted, and I knew I wanted him. And, for the first time, I didn't just know I needed to talk things over with him; I wanted to talk about it. I just needed the right point in time.

I decided to stay in London until Sunday instead of going to Doncaster on Saturday. My parents were only slightly irritated that I wasn't hurrying home. I'd be there for a week, and they'd probably be sick of me after two days. They could wait an extra day. The only drawback to staying was that I spent less time with my younger brother.

On Saturday night, we went back to the same club we'd gone to that first night I'd hooked up with Harry. It was just me, Talia, and Simon, so we didn't try to get VIP seating. Instead, we grabbed a table between the bar and the dance floor.

We'd Ubered over, so I was up for some serious drinking tonight. When the waiter approached us, Talia took charge. She ordered 18 tequila shots with salt and lime.

"Talia, 18 tequila shots? You want us to be passed out drunk in 20 minutes" I asked. "That's like 6 tequila shots each, I'll have alcohol poisoning."

"Not all of them are for us," Talia answered pointing her finger at something behind me.

I looked over my shoulder to see Cal, Lux and Harry. I watched as Harry sat down next to me. I shot Talia a look. She winked back at me. Of course, she knew he'd been invited; in fact, she'd probably been the one to orchestrate it.

Even though Harry and I were doing better. He was not the one I wanted to get drunk with tonight.

Harry leaned towards me, his face so close to me that his lips brushed my ear as he whispered to me, "You're looking especially good tonight, Missy." He was drunk, I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

Before we drifted apart, Harry would call me Missy every day. Like the other Sidemen members referred to me as Mais, he referred to me as Missy. But things changed, and then he only began calling me Missy when he was drunk, like now.

I was wearing a basic black spaghetti top with a pair of blue jeans and some white trainers. My hair was loose when I came but I put it up because I was sweating from dancing. I looked decent, but I wasn't dressed up at all.

My first thought was to thank him and tell him he looked sexy as hell too. Because he did. He wore the same jeans as at the Easter dinner. Seeing them reminded me of our latest night together. He also wore a light grey polo. I tried to push those thoughts out of my mind. Fuck. I needed to stop this right now.

"Don't get any ideas," I told him. The irony was not lost on me, given that my head was filled with the very ideas I was forbidding him to have.

The waiter returned with our order, causing a brief debate among the six of us about how to properly execute a tequila shot. I checked Google and proved to everyone that I was correct. Salt, tequila, lime. God, I enjoyed being right.

We took the shots in rapid succession. I knew I'd be able to feel it within 20 minutes. When the waiter returned to take away the empty shot glasses, I requested a large glass of water. Lux ordered a pint pitcher and a few more shots for himself and the others. I needed to pace myself, especially since Harry was with us. I was afraid I'd go home with him if I was too drunk. Given the way he kept looking at me, I think he knew it, too.