21

"MJ, you have to take a shot, it's my birthday, bitch!" Lauren drunkly said grabbing my arm. Her dress was slipping up inappropriately and she was making a spectacle of herself. "Okay honey, in a second alright?" I calmed her down, treating her like a baby and had her sit down on the love seat. She did so, but soon slid over to her next victim, a random guy, and straddled him, leaving nothing else for him to do but kiss the girl. I winced away from them heading to the dancefloor, trying to find the rest of my group. We all had come out for Lauren's 21st birthday and tonight, the club was packed. You could barely move and drinks would spill on your shoes from here and there, but this was fun, right? I annoyingly got pushed, shoved and grabbed by a couple of guys until I found my girls in a circle. Candice, Julie and Rena were all having a good time, not one of them as drunk as the birthday girl. I was happy I wasn't the only one who was just buzzed. I was also kinda happy I wasn't 21 yet so I wasn't expected to be hammered. "Girls, I think we need another round, whose down?" Rena exclaimed happily, her brunette hair bouncing in the strobe lights. We all agreed, and headed to the bar. There was an insane amount of people here tonight, more than usual. It was uncomfortably packed. We made it to the bar, when a bunch of guys gawked at all of us. I saw one motion to buy me a drink and blow me a kiss. I turned around and went to the other side of the bar, leaving my friends, I was just getting sick of tonight. I made it to the other side of the bar and ordered water. No alcohol for the 19 year old. When I finished my drink, I ventured back to find my friends when somebody slapped my ass. I stopped dead in my tracks, put on my Bitchiest face and slowly turned around. "Who the fuck-" I started yelling when I was surrounded by two beautiful boys. Two beautiful, familiar boys, I couldn't pinpoint how I recognized them. One had curly brown hair and light eyes I couldn't tell what color they were, the other had pixie like blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. They were both pointing fingers at each other, gesturing who did the ass slapping and that enraged me even more. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" I finished my statement. "Don't ever fucking lay your hands on me again, I swear to God I will chop your balls off." A little harsh, but come on that was rude of them to do. The blond one apologized and scuffled off fairly fast, knowing he fucked up. He looked back at me one last time and I grimaced at him. He kept walking. The curly haired one, stared at me with intent eyes. I huffed at him and walked away. "I'm sorry about that, you'll have to forgive him, he's drunk." He added to his friends apology. "Drunk or stupid? Either way, I'm not that kinda girl." I snapped back, not even looking at his face. "I didn't think you were, I just felt the need To apologize." He said with loud volume due to the noise of the club. I just kept walking. "You know he only does that to very pretty girls- and you are very pretty." I stopped and faced the boy who was closely behind me and smiled at him. "You think I'm pretty?" I started with my arms crossed. "Because all night, after getting hit on, getting my ass grabbed, and getting spanked, I thought they were doing it because of my personality." I rolled my eyes and turned around, making sure my hair whipped him. I thought I heard him laugh, when he grabbed my hand and halted me. I looked at him, giving him a look to get his big hands the fuck off me. He did so and with a smile on his mouth, he came closer to my face. I think he was enjoying my reactions. Finally he looked in my eyes and said, "listen, were going about this all wrong. Can we please start over, I'm Harry, Harry Styles." There it was, the big ding ding ding. One Direction, it was Harry Styles. I was talking, well yelling a Harry styles. He put his hand out, waiting for me to shake it. "I know who you are" I said very coldly, looking at his hand. I didn't give a fuck who he was, I didn't like what he or his friend did. "Can I at least get your name?" He put his hand down, kind of defeated. I gritted my teeth, and looked him straight in his face. I took a deep breath, and slowly answered. "Mary Jane, but they call me MJ." I put my hand out to be nice, I didn't want to be a total bitch. He grabbed my hand eagerly and shook it gently. "MJ." He said it like it was his favorite name. "it's nice to meet you. I truly am sorry about -" I put my hand up, "stop, it's alright, you apologized enough." I felt bad he kept apologizing, it wasn't even him who did it." Nice meeting you too." I added with a half smile. "Was that a smile?" He joked, I struggled trying to frown and he laughed at me. I playfully slapped his stomach. "Goodnight Harry" I walked away, feeling his eyes burn into my back, and quickened my pace. I had to find my friends and tell them what happened. When I got to the VIP section, Lauren was passed out, Rena was dancing on the couch, Candace was making out with some guy and Julie was crying on the phone. It was time to go. I gathered all my friends, pulling them off of boys, couches and phones and tried walking to the front. We made it after some time, I was really resenting being the only 19 year old and the only sober one. Thankfully, there were a couple of taxis outside the club and I threw them all into one. "Why did he break up with me? I was so good to him!" Julie sobbed the whole way, while Rena and Candace could not stop laughing at the passed out Lauren. I finally got each of them in the taxi, when I heard a familiar voice behind me. "MJ!" Harry was walking out of the club, helping his intoxicated blond band mate stumble out. I guess he couldn't drink legally either? "Do you need a ride home?" I looked behind me, noticing the taxi cab left without me. Cool. I ran my hand through my hair and looked back at him. "Oh No thank you, I'm just gonna walk, my hotel isn't that far." I said not so convincingly. He furrowed his brows at me, then looked at a muscular man, motioning him to leave without him. The man did as told, hopped in the a black mini van with the blond boy and drove off. Harry walked up to me. "What kind of friend would I be if I let you all alone in the streets of Los Angeles?" He joked, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. "Friends huh?" I smiled back at him and he smiled, flashing his dimples. "Honestly though, Thank you for staying with me, that was very sweet of you." I said. "I'm a sweet guy MJ, I'm not gonna hurt you." He slyly added. Why did I feel like that had some connotation to it? I smiled towards the ground. He edged closer to me and put his hand on my arm. "Are you hungry? I'm craving pancakes." I laughed at his suggestion when my stomach growled in agreement. I Looked back at him. "How did you know I love pancakes? Especially at 3 AM, they don't get better than that." I wasn't trying to sound sarcastic, it was a good idea. "Boulevard Diner is a great diner, wanna go there?" I suggested. "MJ you dare insult a chef? Chef Styles makes amazing pancakes, thank you very much." I laughed, he was so dorky "Excuse me Harry, how could I forget I was in the presence of a trained chef?" I shot back sarcastically. He laughed out loud, and lifted his arm up, hailing a cab. When we got a cab, he held the door open for me, and I slid in. He followed suit and told the taxi driver his address. We made small talk in the cab, talking about our friends, how it sucks to be underaged and how we both were celebrating tonight. We were nearing his place, the hills getting steeper, houses getting bigger. When we finally arrived, I was taken back. He was living in a mansion. It was behind concrete borders and iron gates. The whole place was lit up, people were in it. I noticed the black van from the club in the driveway. "Your house is gorgeous, oh my goodness." I had to say it. He smiled back at me, grabbing my hand and leading me up the stairs. "Thank you, we only get to be in it for a little bit, so we appreciate every moment here." Aww, he wasnt superficial. "By the way, I hope you dont mind, my bandmates are here, but theyre nice." "Are they as nice as the blondie?" I said, a little bitchy. He looked a little upset. "I mean, no worries, I cant wait to meet them." He shook his head with a smile on his face, and opened the door. He was getting used to my smart mouth. We walked in, and the place was even bigger inside. I couldnt believe this was their house, it was unreal. There was faint music playing, and I heard male voices from the kitchen. We headed there, Harry gripped my hand and it stopped me from staring at the huge house. He laughed at me. When we got to the kitchen, there were four boys sharing pizza and talking loudly at each other. I noticed the blond one first, who stood up from his chair scared. "Hey Im sorry about that, I really didnt mean to do that, please dont chop my balls off!" He held up his hands like he was getting arrested. He was truly scared, his bandmates looked at him weird. I tried to wipe the smile off my face. "Jesus Niall, what crap are you saying?" A guy with light brown straight hair said, giving his bandmate a WTF look. He had light eyes too, and the cutest face. "Niall, dont you think its time for bed?" another boy said, with shaved brown hair and deep brown eyes. He was very muscular, good looking as well. "Harry, whose your friend?" The last boy said with a wink. he had black hair and brown eyes. He looked Spanish, or Egyptian, and he was very handsome as well. All the boys were looking at me. "Boys, I'd like you to meet MJ. MJ, you know Niall, that is Louis, Liam and Zayn. MJ and I wanted pancakes, and I make the best pancakes." He said proudly, cheesing off a big smile. I laughed at him and looked around the room to the boys. "Hi guys, nice to meet you all." I said respectfully. "MJ as in Michael Jackson?" Louis said with a confused face. "No stupid, MJ as in marijuana." Zayn said pushing his eyebrows up and down. Harry looked at the boys with stern glances. "No, its short for Mary Jane, but marijuana was a great guess." I replied back sarcastically, and the boys laughed at Zayn who accepted his verbal burn. "How did you know Niall, MJ?" Liam asked very intently. Niall stood up to leave, but I shot a glance at him. He stopped and looked at me, waiting for me to spill. "Niall accidentally bumped into me and spilt my drink, but he got me a new one. Right, Niall?" I lied, it was an accident, he was drunk, whatever. Harry tightened around my hand and I could see him smiling. "Clumsy ol' Niall, but he is so cute." Liam brushed Niall's cheek. "Anyways, Harold if you're making pancakes, I'd like some too. No syrup and a cup of tea would be delightful." Louis asked patting Harry on the back, heading towards the living room, I assumed, where a big screen TV lit up the room. Liam approached Harry next with a smile. "Harry, can you put chips in mine? I haven't had chocolate chip pancakes in years. Thanks man" he too patted the boys back and ran to the TV, a soccer game was on. "I'll take some as well, I love pancakes." Niall said with a piece of pizza in his mouth. Zayn was the only who walked past Harry with no request. instead he pecked Harry on the cheek and joined the boys in the living room. I looked up at him with a smile, his friends were hysterical. "Those are the boys" he shrugged, "lets get started eh?"
Harry was so fun to watch in the kitchen. He would pretend to be Julia Childs and speak in a womanly high pitched voice, while taking egg shells out of bowls and making a mess with sifted flour. He would occasionally go on his phone to make sure he was using the right recipe and then would ask me if I knew what was next. Some chef. When the batter was done, I poured it into a hot skillet and he stood behind me, grabbed my wrists and "showed" me how to flip pancakes. Harry did it too fast and harshly the first couple times, and batter got everywhere, but after a while, he finally flipped one perfectly. I cheered for him and he had the goofiest look on his face. He was so simple. He made the pancakes to everyone's liking and I brewed some tea, preparing a pretty good breakfast for dinner spread. The other boys ran into the kitchen and started to scarf down Harry's creation, so harry quickly grabbed a short stack of pancakes and nodded at me to grab some tea. I did so, and then he lead us out of the kitchen and up the stairs. We must've walked up five flights of steps, this house was huge. He opened a door and I walked into what looked like an office. Then he headed to the window, sat the platter down and unhinged the lock, opening it all the way. He grabbed the platter again, and looked back at me.
"Come on, I wanna show you my favorite place." He said raspy. He walked out of the window and out on the roof! I looked at him baffled but walked towards the window to get a better look. Outside was a huge backyard filled with green grass, hills and valleys in the distance and a starry night sky. A blue tinge hit the back of the house from the huge underground kidney shaped pool with a diving board, a slide and a basketball hoop.
"Hand me the teas, I'll help you out." harry got up from a nest of blankets and pillows he had set up in his little secret spot. It was a cozy cove, right where the second floor roof and second floor balcony hit. It was cute, his little hideout.
"Harry i don't know, I'm a little scared." I handed him the teas and braced myself to the window. There was a looooong drop if I fell.
"I got you, just slide out, you won't get hurt." He held out his arms.
"Umm okay give me a minute." I closed my eyes and started to lift my leg up, straddling the window.
"That looks painful. Are you alright?" Harry said concerned as he lounged to my side. "Love, just give me your hand. I got you." I hesitated as I slowly gave him my hand, eyes still closed.
"Trust me. Come on." I met his eyes, he was staring at my distressed body. I felt like such a child, so embarrassing. I gave him my hand, and in one swift move, he grabbed under my arms and swayed me to his side. Ah! I straddled his waist and snuggled my head into his neck, and I heard a low chuckle. He walked a little bit and then he stopped.
"MJ? You're safe." I slowly raised my head and looked around. I was on his roof, below me were pillows, blankets, pancakes and tea cups. I made it! I looked at him, and he was smiling. Just then, i realized I was still wrapped around his waist with my arms around his neck. I hopped down and looked at my feet, very embarrassed.
"Thank you, that wasn't so bad." He stared at me, smiling lightly. "This is adorable by the way, did you do this? I mean make a little roof lounge?"
He sat down and patted the blanket next to him. I folded down my dress and sat legs straight out.
"Yeah, one night I came home really late from the studio. It must've been 4 or even 5, but I wasn't tired. I was so revved up from the studio that I just had to calm down, be by myself to unwind. The sunrise was just starting," he pointed his fingers out, as if to trace the sky, "pink, purple, orange, red with some white specks of stars still filtering out. It was the most beautiful sunrise I'd ever seen, and I wanted to enjoy every second of it. So I grabbed a blanket, opened the window and jumped on the roof. I must've sat In this spot for hours, watching the sky change. I could spend my days in this same spot. The Boys don't know about it either." He looked at me to read my expression.
"Am I the only person you've shown this to?" I asked in a low voice. He nodded, and looked back out towards the landscape. He really was something else. Maybe he wasn't so simple. "What inspires you?" I said it so easily. He furrowed his brows. He was definitely thrown off by my random subject change.
"Everything." He breathed it quietly and stared out to the landscape. "The songs I write are all inspired by something. Sunrises , the season change, different cities, my band mates, everything" He looked at me, intensely. "A beautiful girl."
I looked away, grabbed my cup of tea and sipped it slowly. I could see him smiling from the corner of my eye. What was that?
"You know, I've been to L.A plenty of times," he looked down to grab his cup of tea, "and you L.A girls are very fit, but some of you are a bit bonkers. Why is that?" He sipped his tea with furrowed brows. I laughed at his question. I actually laughed hysterically and he chuckled along with me. The thought of this poor, kind British boy getting a run for his money with these crazy, out of control models, actresses and maybe even some sex icons made me giggle. He has probably never seen anything like it.
"Why are you laughing?" He said in a broken laugh.
"No, sorry, you're right. I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh." I controlled my laughter, and looked up at him. I smiled and reached for words to say. "this is Los Angeles. People here don't care, in the best and worst way. Everything is casual, You could be whatever you want, as long as you're not a psychopath." I sipped my tea. "But even that, some people could call it art or creativity." I snorted and shook my head. He smiled wide and look down at me. "My friends for example, all want to either go into fashion or PR. That's it, nothing else. It's like the new doctor or lawyer thing. But why not?" I looked out towards the sky, it was starting to light up. "Do you know how many chances and opportunities you get in life?" I looked at him seriously. "You know, imagine if you didn't go on that show, or one of your band mates didn't, or all of you didn't. You don't get many chances." I looked at my empty tea mug. "L.A is your one time chance, it's your second opportunity. You have to be bonkers to go after what you want. Especially knowing that it's right there, you just have to go and get it."
"What do you want to be?" He said deeply. I stirred the words in my head and thought about everything I wanted to be. What did I go bonkers about?
"Everything." I looked back up at him. He stared at me, intensely, it made my stomach flip. I dropped my light smile, and my breathing hitched. I hope he couldn't notice. But then he lifted his hand and placed his thumb on my cheek and brushed it lightly, like he did outside the club. He put his other hand on the other side of my cheek, and held my face in his big hands. His thumbs caressed my lips as if to prepare them for some hot and steamy make out session. I whimpered lightly and closed my eyes. I felt like I was floating, I forgot where I was, and all he did was hold my face!
"A beautiful girl," he whispered an inch from my mouth. Then his soft plush lips crashed into mine. I clutched his arm, feeling sporadic. My body gelled towards his, my emotions were out of whack. He moved his big hands into my hair, over my neck and onto my back, all while his lips and tongue made their way with me. He let out a couple of soft groans as he picked me up and straddled me on his lap. My stomach clenched, I was on top of him, again! I grabbed the side of his face and ran my fingers through his silky hair harshly. He groaned hard which made him kiss me harder. He moved to my neck, sucking and kissing and nibbling and just making me crazy. I knew then, If I didn't stop now, I would never stop. I moved back to his mouth and sucked his bottom lip hard and then pulled away from him. His mouth was light pink and glistening from me. I stared into his eyes, onto his lips, and back towards him. He was breathing heavy, as was I, and he searched my eyes, wondering where he went wrong. I pecked his mouth again and again and he held my lower back, tightly. But then I pulled away again, and this time I held his face and stared at the unfurled boy under me.
"Harry I -"
"MaryJane, please,"
"I can't, I'm not, I -"
"Stay with me," I looked into his pleading eyes. His eyes were green, I could see them clearly now with the rising morning.
"You know I want to, but-"
"But what? Stay with me. Watch the sunrise with me."
"Harry, please, let me-"
"Watch the sunrise with me." He said lightly kissing my neck, going up my chin, onto my lips... I parted my mouth to speak, but he took it as a chance to kiss me, and kiss me hard. I kissed him back too, not sure if I should leave, or stay. We didn't have to do anything, I could just sit here with him and watch the sunrise. He went to my neck just then, and it jolted me. I grabbed his face again and stared into his lusting eyes.
"I can't." I said it, kissed his lips again, and then rose above him. I wiped my mouth, under my eyes, and smoothed my hair and dress. I couldn't look at him as I walked away. I ran to the window, this time seeing how easy it was to get into the house and felt foolish. I went into the office room, ran to the hallway, sprinted down the steps and got to the main door. I contemplated going back as I grabbed my purse and put on my heels. I touched my neck and winced. He wouldn't of stopped, and neither would I. He's a rock star anyway, what kind of relationship would I have with him? Be his girlfriend that lives in LA and sees him maybe twice out the year and doesn't know if he'll be faithful or not. Or maybe I'll just be the booty call every year he's in town that makes leaving wherever he's from worthwhile. Im not that kind of girl. To him, This is LA, I am a bunch of chances, and that's all i'll ever be. I felt bad for leaving so abruptly without explaining himself, but he should've understood. And this was probably the first time he's ever missed an "opportunity."