Midnight Memories

t w o

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present." - Francis Bacon

The entire subway ride across town to NYU, I tried not to think too much about Derrick. Meeting him was nothing like when I had first met Louis, love at first sight, but there was something about him that intrigued me. I just wasn't quite sure what it was quite yet.

The campus was bustling, as usual. I wasn't used to the big crowds at all, at Parsons there was an average of about ten people in each class and everyone was like me: quiet, awkward, and artistic. I had to admit though, Perrie with her rainbow hair colors and eccentric outfits fit in perfectly here at NYU. When she had told me she had been accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts, I had cried I was so happy. Having Perrie here was like having family I could escape to when my actual family was too much to handle.

I followed a dreadlocked boy in a sarong into Perrie's dorm, slipping in unnoticed as usual. Taking the elevator up to the fifth floor, I walked excitedly down the hall to the door that said Perrie's and her roommate, Sophia's, names in sparkly letters.

I knocked cautiously, not taking the risk of just walking on in, as I would have if I had called ahead. Sophia, the roommate, hated when I did that. She was a southern belle and sorority girl extraordinaire that had transferred here from the University of Alabama when her family had moved, and was now obviously hating her football on Saturdays, frat boy, anorak and spirit jersey-less life.

Speak of the devil, the door swung open to reveal Sophia, dressed in jeans, Tory Burch riding boots, and a lavender colored long sleeve with "Alpha Omicron Pi" emblazoned on the back. "Oh." She frowned. "It's just you."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her bitchiness. "Is Perrie here?"

"She just went to get a soda from the vending machine. You can come in, I guess." Sophia said blandly, as if I was wasting her time. I had to admit, when it came to diva like antics, Sophia almost had Eleanor Calder, my ex classmate and least favorite person on the planet, beat. Eleanor was supposedly at Florida State majoring in sociology and being a perfectly coiffed sister of Zeta Tau Alpha, basically the brunette version of Sophia, but she seemed to be spending a lot more time jet setting with Louis then going to school.

"Thanks." I said, equally as blandly, walking into the room and taking a seat on Perrie's side. While Perrie had decorated in her signature bohemian style, with a hand crocheted quilt and a collage of pictures, Bob Marley posters, and inspirational quotes on her wall, Sophia's side was nauseatingly stereotypical of an ACC sorority girl. Striped navy blue and pink Tommy Hilfiger bedding, framed photographs of her and her "sisters" scantily clad at frat houses, and her letters hung on the wall covered in red glitter. It was so ironic that the two of them had been put together, but Perrie never complained. She had a lot more patience than I did.

"Babycakes!" Came a happy voice from the doorway. "You didn't tell me you were coming over."

I smiled at my best friend, taking in her freshly dyed blonde curls, galaxy print leggings, and oversize sweater, which had most likely come from Goodwill. As usual, she looked flawless. "I hope you don't mind I just dropped by."

"Of course not." She said, flopping down on her bed. "Soooo, how was Nialler's new apartment?"

"You knew?!" I asked, not really surprised. Zayn couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

Perrie laughed. "Duh. He was so excited to show it to you Stel. Honestly, why aren't you two dating again?"

I gave her a look. "Perrie, you know why."

"I know, I know." She picked at a hole in her quilt. "You know I was you two's biggest fan as well."

"Anyway." I said quickly, anxious to change the subject. "Are we meeting the boys for dinner in a bit?"

"Oh yeah!" Perrie perked up. "Niall wants to try out a new restaurant, Corner Bistro I think it's called. Sophia, would you like to come?"

I rolled my eyes at Perrie, who shrugged in a "She's sitting right there I had no choice" kind of way.

"Is Liam going to be there?" Sophia asked, and I rolled my eyes again. Sophia was obsessed with Liam, she even had a poster of him on her wall. When she had found out that the One Direction consisted of our oldest and closest friends, she had almost had a coronary. Sadly for all of us, Liam and Danielle had broken up due to the overwhelming amount of hate Danielle had received as Liam became increasingly famous. She was now at UCLA studying dance, and Perrie and I missed her terribly. This meant that Liam was very single, and unfortunately ready to mingle.

"Yes, Liam will be there." Perrie sighed.

"Then of course i'm coming!" Sophia shot up. "I have to change."

She ran over to her closet. "What are you two wearing?"

Perrie and I looked down simultaneously at our clothes. "Um, what we have on?" I said.

Sophia looked disgusted, as if we had personally offended her. She began digging through her racks and racks of clothes, pulling out a white eyelet lace confection. "How about this? It's Lilly!"

The dress was so sorority it still had a game day button that read "AOΠ ❤️'s Roll Tide" on it. I cringed, but Perrie nodded supportively. "Perfect!"

"Yay!" Sophia said excitedly. "I'll just go change."

Sophia slipped into the bathroom and I immediately turned to look at Perrie. "She's worse than Eleanor." I whispered.

Perrie shook her head vigorously. "You obviously haven't spent time with Eleanor lately. She's a nightmare. The fans love her though, they seem to think she's some sort of princess."

"Is she in town?" I asked, praying the answer was no.

Perrie shook her head again. "It's her initiation week. She'll probably be up next week though."

I frowned, but I suppose it didn't really matter if she came up or not. I didn't have any contact with Louis, so I wouldn't have any with her.

Sophia came out of the bathroom, placing the game day button down on her desk and digging through her jewelry box for a string of pearls. "Y'all ready to go?"

"Yep!" Perrie sprung up. "Stel, ready to hit the road?"

"Ready as i'll ever be." I said moodily, watching Sophia slip her perfectly pedicured feet into a pair of Charlotte Russe wedges. Slipping my purse back over my shoulder, I followed the two of them back out into the hall.

We caught a taxi to Corner Bistro, in the Lower West Side. Perrie gave Zayn's name to the waitress, who checked all our IDs before taking us through the crowded restaurant to a private room in the back. Niall, Liam and Zayn were sitting at a large table, but immediately sprung up when they saw us.

"STEL!" Liam threw his arms around me, as if it had been years, not a couple of weeks, since we had last seen one another.

"Hey darl." I squeezed him tightly. "I missed you."

Over the last few months, Liam and I had become closer friends than I had ever thought would happen. He always had my back, and was always genuinely happy to see me. I enjoyed spending time with him.

Behind me, Sophia cleared her throat, obviously wanting me to introduce her. "Oh Liam," I began. "This is Sophia, she rooms with Perrie at NYU."

Sophia practically pushed me out of the way to get to him. "Sophia Smith." She held out a hand for him to shake.

"Liam Payne." He shook her hand, ever the gentleman. "Are you from the south? You have an accent."

"Born and bred in Tuscaloosa!" She said in a much perkier tone than she ever used with me and Perrie.

"Oh, the University of Alabama! I got a football scholarship there, but I had to give it up for X Factor." Liam said excitedly.

Uh oh, this conversation was going a little too well. Luckily Niall grabbed my hand and pulled me aside, out of earshot.

"You okay? You seem a little out of it." He asked, concern filling his Tiffany box blue eyes.

What was I suppose to tell him? That every single day was a struggle? That every single day I lived without Louis I might as well not be living at all? It was nothing new to him. It was nothing new to me either, but that didn't make it any easier.

"I'm fine. Just hungry." Was my curt reply. Niall pulled out a chair for me, taking the one next to it.

"Order whatever you'd like, my treat."

A thin brunette waitress came in, holding a magnum sized bottle of Moët champagne. "Excuse me, but which one of you is Miss Stella Parker?"

Confused, I raised my hand slightly. "Um, I am."

She set the large bottle down in front of me, before producing a set of champagne flutes and placing one in front of every person at the table. "This is compliments of Mr. Derrick Vanderbilt, he says he hopes you enjoy your evening with your friends."

"Derrick Vanderbilt?" I stared at the oversized bottle. "But i'm not even old enough to drink!"

The waitress just shrugged. "I'll be back in a bit to take your orders."

"Who's Derrick Vanderbilt?" Niall asked as soon as the waitress was gone.

"Oh, he's just a friend of Asher's." I tried to play it cool.

"Who's Derrick Vanderbilt?" Sophia shrieked from the opposite side of the table. "He's only the wealthiest, most eligible bachelor in the entire city! He has girls lining up to date him." 

"Ohhh I know of him! Everyone at Tisch can't stop raving about him, didn't he just win a Tony?" Perrie cut in. Niall did not look happy. 

"Well," Said Liam, unwrapping the foil off the bottle. "Thank you Derrick for the champagne, whoever you are." 

"So, what are everyone's plans for the weekend?" I asked, desperate to get Derrick off of my mind. 

"A couple photo shoots, some promo for the album." Zayn spoke up for the first time. "Nothing too interesting." 

"What about the party?" Sophia asked, and everyone fell silent, shooting her daggers. She had obviously just spilled the beans about something nobody had wanted to tell me.

"What party?" I asked cautiously. 

"Um," Niall began slowly. "Louis just got a new apartment here in the city too, and he's having a housewarming party tomorrow."

"Oh." My stomach did a flip. "Well that's nice." 

"You're invited of course!" Liam said. "If you'd like to come, and bring a friend. Or go with Niall."

Oh god. This was worth than I thought. Not only did all my friends think that I was completely and totally hung up on Louis, which I was, but they thought I was so pathetic I couldn't even find anyone to take me to a party besides Niall. I felt nauseous.

I pushed my chair back from the table. "I'm not hungry anymore. I think i'm just going to go for a walk."

"Oh Stel!" Said Perrie, looking horrified. "Don't go! Like Liam says, it's not as if you're not invited, we just didn't think you'd feel comfortable going!" 

I just shook my head. "No, no, it has nothing to do with that, I just need some fresh air. Enjoy the champagne." 

Before Niall could even ask if I wanted him to go with me, which I knew he would, I was out of there, pushing my way back through the crowded restaurant. I knew this was only going to give them more to talk about, but I didn't care. When it came to Louis, there was no thinking rationally for me, there never had been. There was only acting on impulse, and right now my impulse was telling me to get out of the restaurant before I started crying. 

"Stella!" Called an accented voice from behind me, but I didn't stop. 

"Look, Niall, please, I just want to be alone." I turned to look, but it wasn't Niall. "Derrick, what are you doing here?"

Derrick jogged over to me, sticking his hands into the pockets of his preppy Ralph Lauren cardigan. "I was having dinner with some friends as well. I tried to get your attention when you came in, but you didn't see me, so I sent the champagne." 

Well, at least now I knew he wasn't stalking me. "Well, thanks. For the champagne."

"You're welcome." Derrick frowned. "But are you okay? You seem really upset about something."

I nodded quickly, looking down at the sidewalk. "Yes, yes i'm fine." I lied yet again."

"No." He shook his head. "You're not. Do you want to talk about it? To an objective source."

Did I want to talk about it? No, but maybe it would be good to finally get all these bottled up feelings i'd spent a year hiding away out of my system. Plus, Derrick seemed like a nice person, and my brother wouldn't be such good friends with him if he wasn't trustworthy. "Okay."

"I know the perfect place we can go." Derrick smiled. "Come on."

He took off down the sidewalk, beckoning me to follow. 

And that was how, without even a second thought, I followed trouble back into the darkness.