Two Against One

Chapter 18

The music is booming as all of us walk into the club. I don't know what Harry was getting at but he definitely had something schemed and I wasn't liking it. Niall and I are holding hands when we walk in but we're ripped away from each other as someone bulldozes past to go outside. Niall and I give each other a look then rejoin to follow the others to the bar. Everyone's order something alcoholic except for Liam who just had a Pepsi. "That's all?" Niall asks, eyeing my drink which is nothing more than water.

"I'll just have something later on," I reply, shaking the glass. Lies. It's because you want to be on high alert for Harry. My subconscious was right, as usual. Usually I drank quite a bit when clubbing considering I was still eighteen, so every time I successfully was able to sneak into a club or bar I took advantage of it.

"So," Niall begins, "second date. How's it sounding?"

"It's sounding goo-" my reply's cut off by Jenna grabbing my arm and yanking me towards the centre of the club where many people are dancing.

"Let's dance, Tabitha!" she yells over the music. I smile and start moving my hips to the beat. While Jenna and I are having fun dancing, Lizzy and Louis are already snogging, while Liam and Zayn had joined Niall at the bar. Rachel must have wondered off to the bathroom becasue I didn't see her any where. I didn't bother looking around for Harry becasue, frankly, I didn't care where he was. I was still dancing with Jenna until she told me she was gonna go get a drink. I nod and she walks towards the bar, leaving me to dance by myself. As I turned to go find Rachel I feel hands on my hips. I turn around, ready to push them away when I see it's Harry. I roll my eyes.

"Go find a whore to grind on," I tell him as I start to walk away but he grabs my wrist and pulls me against his chest.

"I was trying to," Harry replies with a cocky smirk. I'm able to smell alcohol on his breath and know not to take him too seriously.

"Oh please," I scoff at him, "if I didn't know better, you've already gotten a girl to sneak outside with you." Harry smacks my bum and walks away just as Niall came into the crowd. Oh how much I'd love to see Harry get hit. Niall walks over to me and wraps his arms around my waist while pressed his body up against mine from behind. We sway, in sync, to the song as Rachel comes onto the dance floor and mouths 'bathroom'. It was her time of the month so hopefully no guys try to make moves on her or they'll not only get it from Zayn, but her too.  As a new song starts playing there's a huge crash and I spot Harry lying on the ground next to a knocked over table, another guy was standing over him.

"Watch where you're going next time asswipe!" the guy yells down at him. Dizzily, Harry stands up and sloppily swings but (obviously) misses. This makes the guy angry, causing him to swing at Harry but he hits his target. Harry's neck snaps back and his lip immediately starts protruding blood.

I look back at Niall who's still behind me. He gives me a concerned look. Coming to my senses I walk over to the scene where Harry's still attempting to battle it out. Though I'd wished it upon him earlier, I couldn't sit there and watch Harry get his ass kicked. Stepping in front of the stranger I shoot Harry daggers and look back at the man.

"I'm sorry," I apologize to him, "my friend is obviously drunk and has no idea how stupid he's being."

The guy scoffs. "Obviously. The dumb shit walked right into me and spilt his drink all over my shirt. Just get him out of my face before I change my mind and beat the shit out of him."

"Thank you," I say to him gratefully. Putting my arm around Harry's waist for support I bring him to the rest of our group.

"You better bring him back to the hotel, Tabitha," Rachel suggests. The music is still booming and everyone continues dancing since club fights are pretty common.

"Yeah, clean him up too," Jenna adds, looking him up and down.

"What about Niall?"

"Don't worry about him," Jenna assures me, "we'll tell him where you are, he won't mind. You're the only one out of all of us who's walking straight."

"Fine," I breathe and  walk Harry out of the club and sit him against the building as we wait for a cab. Of all nights of course tonight was the one where I don't decide to drink. Once the cab's there I help Harry in and go around the other side to sit beside him. "Now Harry," I say to him slowly once the cab's started moving. "We're going to go home now because you need to get cleaned up." Harry nods clumsily and slumps against my shoulder. Babysitting is always more fun when they aren't a drunk twenty-one year old.

**

Using the room key Liam had given me before I left, I open the door to their room and help Harry in. "I'm thirsty," Harry whines like a child.

"You can have water once I get this blood off you," I tell him impatiently. He nods lazily as I got a cloth from the bathroom and dampen it with cold water. Walking out of the bathroom I find Harry sitting on the couch with his blood stained shirt on the ground. Sitting next to him I take the cloth and lightly dabbed it on his still bleeding lip. "He got you pretty good, huh?" I ask as I see that Harry's lip was also starting to swells up.

"It stings," Harry complains. I rolled my eyes.

"Did you know you act like a five year old when you're drunk?" I tell him. He gives me a pouty look as I continued to dab his lip. A few minutes later I get up from the couch and say, "It'll just be swollen for a bit so don't go getting into more fights and it'll heal quickly." Harry nods in reply, his curls bobbing up and down. After going into the bathroom and washing the blood off the cloth I go back for his shirt and put it in his suitcase. Harry grabs my hand and looks up at me, his eyes barely staying open.

"Tabitha?" Harry asks sleepily.

"Yeah?" 

The corner of Harry's mouth tipped up. "Thank you." 

I could hear the drowsiness in his voice and knew he was about to fall asleep. "You're welcome," I reply.

"And one more thing?" He asked in such a whisper I could barely hear.

"Yeah Harry?" I asked questioningly. He lay there for a second but I knew he was still awake.

"I'm-" he trails off.

"You what?" I ask, curious now.

"I-" His head slumps and I know I'm not getting what he was going to say out of him. And, considering his drunken state, I probably never will.