Book 1 || Finding Prince Charming || Harry Styles

Chapter 27

Her view.

I feel my stomach flip at the eagerness in his eyes. I hope I'm not giving him the wrong impression. I mean, he's definitely cute, but I'm still feeling pretty horrible about my encounter with Harry, King of assholes. "What's so funny?" Louis' eyes twinkle at me and then he gives Anna a wide smile. "Would you like something to drink?"
"I'll have a White Russian, please." She smiles back at him and I give her a look. "Hey, when in Rome." She shrugs and looks back at the table. I'm pretty sure she's checking to see if Niall's checking her out, which he's not. She looks disappointed as she turns back to me. "Your 'no alcohol policy' lasted for how long?" I shake my head. She grins at me and then looks back at Niall. "I don't think I'm going to settle for Niall just yet."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I mean, he's hot, but what's hot at the end of the day?"

I smile to myself at her words. How quickly she's been turned on and then off. She's like a guy like that, always wanting something or someone badly and then letting some small thing distract or annoy her and forgetting about it. I'm not sure how she's able to move on so quickly. I have the opposite problem; I tend to dwell on things for far too long.
"Maybe we should have stayed home and watch EastEnders."
"Anna, we've watched that show once." I laugh, thinking about the English soap opera that had enraptured us a few nights before. "We don't even know who anyone is."
"I just feel bad that I dragged you out." She makes a face, and I can see the disappointment in her eyes. This isn't about me, this is about her and the fact that Niall doesn't seem to be as interested as she was hoping.
"Excuse me please, Louis." I give him a small smile as he looks at us both in concern. "We'll be back inside in a moment."
"Take your time, ladies. I'll have the drinks ready and waiting for you."
"Thanks." I grab Anna's hand and drag her outside with me. "Okay, you need to relax."
"What?" She looks at me with a blank expression and red cheeks.
"Relax. We just got here. We're just meeting these people. We have six months to get to know everyone. If Niall is the one, you'll end up with him. Don't stress out."
"I really like him," Anna sighs. "I just feel like a fool."
"You were excited only five minutes ago. Literally five minutes ago, you said he asked you out on a date."
"Well, we both know that was a bit of an exaggeration." Anna giggles and places her arm around mine. "You know how I can get." She sighs and then smiles at me widely. "I'm glad we decided to do this together, Cassie. I'm not sure what I would've done if you hadn't come too."
"That's what best friends are for." I smile back at her. "Now let's go back inside and meet everyone else. Then we can leave early and go and pig out on ice cream."
"That sounds like a plan."

We walk back inside arm in arm, and I'm glad that I've been able to calm her down before she'd go crazy. I love Anna like a sister, but she has one of those manic personalities when it comes to guys. She just loses her mind and acts like a total psycho--many times after only one date. She's so obsessed with falling in love that she falls for every guy she thinks is cute, and if he doesn't seem interested right away, she either fools herself into believing he is or she falls into a deep funk. I always have to talk her off of the edge. Which is fine, because I'm the boring one.
I'm almost the opposite of Anna. I have a hard time with relationships because it's hard for me to let my guard down. That's why last night has been so completely exhilarating and out of the ordinary for me. I've never just met a guy and gone home with him. I tend to overanalyse too much. But I guess the alcohol has lowered my inhibitions, and the fact that I want to just go crazy doesn't help. For just once in my life.
And it feels magical.
Even the sparring with Harry has elevated everything in my body. I feel like I'm soaring, and the sex has been amazing. I feel like a masochist because a part of me wishes that I could have one more night with him--even though he's a jackass.