Broken

Chapter 17

'It's so tight.' I say, examining the red, velvet Santa outfit in the mirror. 'I can hardly breathe.'

Danielle turns around, wearing the same garment as me. She really pulls it off, much better than I could.

'Wow, you look pretty hot.' Danielle says, grabbing me by the waist and staring me down.

'I look like a potato next to you.' I sigh, causing her reciprocate in giggles. 'There is no way I can wear this in front of everyone, what would my parents think?' I signal Danielle to help me unzip my dress.

'I'm being honest when I say you look good, Miranda went to all the trouble of getting the outfits so soon. Your dad isn't going to be anywhere near here the night of the party so it's not like he'll ever know.'

She walks over and helps me undo the dress. I take one more look in the mirror before dropping the red material to the floor. 'I'll think about.'

'Sorry, I'm late Professor.' The hurried voice exclaims.

'It's fine Niall, we've just started. Take a seat.'

He walks past me to the desk on my left. His blonde hair, styled in a messy quiff at the top of his forehead.

'Where were you?' I whisper.

'I overslept.'

'It's 12:30?'

'I know.' He chuckles.

We remain in silence until Professor Campbell finishes her lecture. She informs us to get on with our still life portraits, allowing Niall and I to catch up.

'I saw that you gave your deck of cards drawing to Zayn.'

'Oh, well he saw it and he liked it so I just let him have it.'

'It was really good, I want a tattoo.' I announce. 'You could draw me one.'

'You want me to draw you a tattoo?'

'Yeah, why not?' I ask, noticing the concerned look on his face.

'You don't look like the type.' He smiles, pulling out his notepad. 'What do you want?'

'Can we talk about this during lunch? I need to finish my work.'

'Is that your way of asking me on a date, Lara?'

'No.' I strictly condemn him. I hope he doesn't have the wrong idea.

'I'm joking, just finish your work.' He sighs, half laughing.

After an hour of silent class, I've finally finished my work. It doesn't even look half bad if I'm honest, definitely one of my best. It kind of resembles the scene from mine and Harry's night. The panoramic view of Chicago. Well, what I can remember anyway.

Niall and I decide to eat in the CTU canteen. I say Niall and I loosely, it was actually me. He was pretty insistent to go somewhere off campus but I have to stand firm. I'm not entirely sure what his intentions are yet. We get our food, Mac and Cheese, and sit down in the centre of the busy canteen, surrounded by a variety of conversations.Niall stops anyone else from sitting at our table. He can be really intimidating, much like Harry. 'Have you decided what you want then?' He asks, pulling out his notepad once more.

'I think I want a swallow on my wrist.'

'Not a quote under your boob or a dragon down your thigh?' He smiles smugly, resulting in me smacking his arm playfully.

'I was kidding, calm down. Just give me a minute.' Niall says, begin to sketch on his pad.

I begin eating my dinner and within 5 minutes, Niall is shoving the notepad infront of me.

'Oh my god, Niall. It's perfect. How did you do it so fast?'

'I've been practising for years, a swallow isn't that hard to draw.'

As soon as I'm about to speak, my phone begins to ring. I slide the bar at the bottom of the screen to answer.

'Hello?'

'Hey, it's me.'

'I know Harry, caller ID.'

'Oh.' He starts laughing, such a perfect sound. 'I was wondering whether you wanted to get some dinner or something. I want to talk to you.'

'I've just had it, but I mean I could meet you now if you want? I need to talk to you aswell.' I add, realising I need him to tell me of the nights events. Was Zayn really telling the truth?

'Yeah okay, where are you?'

'The canteen.'

'I'm on my way, I'll find you inside.'

And with that he hangs up. Without a goodbye once again. I'm starting to think this is a habit of his.

'Can I rip this out?' I ask niall, pointing to the swallow.

'Yeah sure, it's yours. What did Harry want?'

'He just wants to talk I think, he should be here in a minute.' I say, ripping out the piece of paper and shoving in my coat pocket.

'He's quick isn't he.' Niall calls before looking up. 'Alright fuckboy?'

'Oh look, it's a wild cunt.' Harry responds. I cringe at his choice of words. 'This looks awfully cosy.'

'We were just having dinner.' I say standing from the table.

'We can talk back at my dorm, it's only a 10 minute walk.' He says, picking up my coat. The tattoo template falling to the ground.

'What's this?' He asks, studying the swallow.