lost // h.s

iv.

"oh my god, you should've seen the look on his face!" gemma exclaimed as her and lyle strolled through the mall, "completely and utterly priceless, i tell you!"

"was that the first time?" lyle responded.

"that he had to bail me out of jail?" gemma said rather proudly. "no, this is probably the seventh time round. but it's been a long while since."

gemma sort of expected a reaction from the hazel-eyed girl beside her, but she only saw her tongue slightly poking out from her mouth.

in all honesty, lyle wasn't very comfortable with gemma either but she'd been the nicest and most hospitable among zayn's friends which is why she'd reluctantly agreed to come along. i mean after a while, she would eventually have to learn to not squirm in discomfort in other peoples company.

an hour later, they grew tired, and not to mention, hungry. and so they made their way to the food court and ordered some chinese (gemma's favourite!) and paid for their orders.

when their food was ready, they went to sit down and placed their trays in front of them, gemma immediately devouring her meal while lyle took her time to open the styrofoam hinged take-out container and chopsticks.

"did you have fun today?" gemma asked, smiling as she took a sip from her diet coke.

lyle nodded and then continued chewing her food.

gemma's smile grew wider, "i'm glad you did."

when they were done, they rose from their seats. gemma straightened her shirt and hooked her handbag on her shoulder after taking out her car keys - heading to the parking lot.

in no time, gemma pulled the brakes and parked on the curb of zayn's driveway. she turned to lyle excitedly and said, "we should do this again some time."

lyle was caught off guard; she didn't think that gemma had actually enjoyed their time together. granted, it was a couple of hours, most of which were spent window shopping, and didn't require much conversation, but she was still surprised nevertheless.

then she was startled out of her reverie when gemma placed a hand on her shoulder, looking concerned.

lyle shook her head to rid of her trance. pursing her lips, she thought of course she'd try to ask me to hang out with her again - this sweet, generous, kind girl in front of her was one of zayn's closest friends and was just trying to be nice.

so she didn't say anything after that. instead, she shut the car door and walked up the front steps of zayn's porch without looking back.

-

harry stumbled on the steps on the way to gemma's apartment. he had leaned against the wall and tried to hold himself up but groaned in pain when his head accidentally banged against the ugly blue walls of the building.

he had just drove back from dave's bar - a renowned club that the whole town knew of. he wasn't drunk though: sure he had a couple of shots with louis, but that was it.

okay, maybe he had twenty.

or fifty.

he didn't know. all he knew was that he was tipsy and needed some advil and water to cure his pounding headache. his features contorted in discomfort as he managed to turn the key in the lock.

he sighed, feeling himself instantly surrounded by the pure darkness of the room. the air was stale. his temples pulsated and his palms throbbed.

harry then barged into the bathroom, sweaty hands directly aiming for the shelves as they scrambled through drawers and cupboards filled with packets of pills, tablets, deodorant and perfume bottles.