Before She Falls

Chapter 12

The game starts and the noise in this arena is ridiculous. Even though I live so close to Madison Square Garden, I've only been to here one time and it was to see Beyoncé for my thirteenth birthday, my dad had bought Vanessa and I tickets.

Harry, Vanessa, and I are seated about five rows up from being court side.

Harry's been acting extremely normal around me though. Not that I expect him not to, I mean I just slept in his bed and wore his t-shirt the last time I saw him.

"Do you even enjoy basketball?" Harry asks and I can't tell if he's talking to me or Vanessa. When I look over to see if Vanessa is paying attention, I catch her staring down towards the court, obviously zoning out a bit.

"Me?" I ask Harry and he nods.

"Not particularly, but I don't hate it" I reply.

"Are you as good at basketball as you are at futball?" Harry teases me, knowing from the various times the boys have played soccer at Liam's house that I am a terrible soccer player.

"I can actually dunk" I lie just to joke around.

"Oh really?" Harry's eyebrows raise as a smile forms on his face. How dare he not believe that my 5'5" height could dunk on a ten foot hoop.

"Yep" I lean back in my seat.

"I'd love to see that" Harry chuckles and runs his fingers through his messy hair.

"What did we miss?" I hear Liam's voice behind me as he places his hand on my shoulder.

"Not much" Harry replies.

"Not much? The score's 27 to 4" Zayn says as he moves, hand in hand with Perrie, to sit next to Harry.

Liam and Danielle sit on the other side of Zayn and Perrie, and Niall grabs the last seat next to Vanessa. As soon as the boys and their girls take their seats, it's hard not to notice the obvious photographers across from us. There were some men down on the court floor snapping pictures of the eight of us and I could feel like stares from everyone surrounding us, I mean people were even pointing at us.

"Is this how it always is?" Vanessa asks out loud and I'm not sure she even meant to.

The boys can't control this kind of stuff, I'm sure they aren't exactly enjoying it at the moment either.

"Most of the time" Niall answers her with a half smile.

"Doesn't that get annoying?" Vanessa asks Niall and I can't tell if she genuinely wants to know the answer or if she's just trying to spark up a conversation.

I tune out of their conversation when Harry asks me, "You don't mind being photographed, do you?"

"Not really, I mean I wasn't expecting to be. But I don't exactly have a choice, do I?" I smile and gesture towards the photographers on the floor of the court and the, what seems like, hundreds of people in the stands taking pictures with their phones.

"I guess not" Harry's accent makes him even cuter right now.

I haven't exactly sorted through my thoughts about Harry. He's attractive, of course, and I dare any female on this earth to tell me that he isn't adorable. His messy clutter of brown hair on his head, his bright green eyes, his wide smile, and his tall, lean body would be any girl's type of guy. But mine. Harry isn't my type of guy but I find him overwhelming alluring. I mean, Mark Hunting is my type down to a tee; bulky, athletic, blond and blue eyes. I even thought Harry was doofy-looking back when we were both sixteen.

"You're staying over again tonight, are you?" Harry breaks my thought stream and I'm left asking him to repeat what he just said.

"You're sleeping at our hotel tonight?" Harry looks at me.

"Oh, yeah. Liam said that Louis's bed was empty so Vanessa and I would have a place to sleep if we wanted to stay" I explain to Harry.

"Strange, I would have assumed you would want to sleep where you did the last time you were here" Harry looks innocently upward but the smirk on his face shows the cheekiness of his comment.

"And why's that?" I turn the tables on Harry but he doesn't look taken back at all.

"I dunno" his accent sounds heavenly accompanied by his deep voice. "It just seems to be a growing habit."

I laugh, "Maybe you're right."

"So maybe you'll sleep in Louis's bed?" Harry asks.

"Or maybe I won't" I give him a smirk and turn my attention back to the game.