camouflage [h.s]

2

I continually tried to pull the tight fabric away from my skin. Casey promised I looked "hot", but in all honesty I felt very uncomfortable.

We finally pulled up to a large frat house in Casey's yellow bug car. We found a parking spot on the opposite side of the street. The music was so loud that the car literally vibrated.

"Time for your party debut!" Casey shut off the ignition and climbed out of the car, I nervously followed suit, the dress making me feel uneasy.

Casey quickly rounded the car and gripped my forearm, leading me right into the party.

So, this is what I've missed out on during my high school years. Young adults walked around drunk, or viciously attacking each others mouthes.

My eyes landed on a group of guys, one with blonde hair caught my attention as he literally jumped on a brown haired boy.

Shit.

My breath hitched as I realized that boy was the one and only Harry Styles. He seemed to have seen me too because his eyes widened at the site of me.

Do I look bad? I knew I shouldn't have worn this dress.

"Here you go!" Casey handed me a red cup.

"No thank you, I don't drink."

"Come on, it's just one drink." I hesitantly took the cup from her and took a sip, the alcohol burning the back of my throat.

After a few more sips it became easier to swallow, and actually tasted quite good. Casey proudly smiled as I finished the drink and led me deeper into the crowd. I became nervous as we approached the same group of guys I had noticed earlier.

"Hello boys, this is my roommate Leah!" All of them gave me a friendly wave.

"We've already met, right? You're in my fictional writing, and I borrowed a pencil." Harry said before finishing his drink.

"How could I forget?" I said, almost immediately regretting the words as the left my mouth.

"And I'm sure no one will forget you in this dress, you look amazing." My cheeks flushed at Harry's compliment.

"T-Thank you."

"You're pretty cute, Leah." The blonde one spoke with a deep Irish accent, as he eyed my body.

"You're not so bad yourself, what's your name?" This new confidence of mine is so bizarre.

"Niall Horan, nice to meet you babe." We shook hands, and he was pretty cute. Okay, he was very cute.

"Would you like a drink?" Niall asked sweetly, I immediately said yes and he walked off into the crowd.

Harry awkwardly coughed, "So, how was your first day?" He asked.

"It was not so bad, I was so nervous though, I'm not good at meeting new people or just being social at all, gosh I'm talking too much." I began to laugh at myself, sober Leah would never say any of this. What the hell is happening to me?

Harry smiled genuinely, "No, it's okay. I'd actually like to get to know you better."

"Well you'd have to ask me out on a date for that to happen."

Thank god the blonde walked up with two red cups in hand, saving me from the aftermath of my embarrassing comment.

"Thank you Neil." I said to him before taking a sip of the intoxicating drink.

"It's Niall." He said, sounding offended.

"Oh, sorry!" I said quickly, he just shrugged it off. I caught a side glance of Harry snickering.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"It's just that Niall hates being called Neil, his brother used to call him that when they fought." My mouth formed an 'O' shape. I turned back to find Niall was gone, probably uninterested in me now.

"Hey, um, do you want to dance?" Harry scratched the back of his neck, clearly a nervous habit.

"Sure, but I'm not really very good at it I mean I've tried it a few times and I always just made a fool of myself it was really-" Harry cut me off by putting his finger to my lips.

"You ramble too much." He said softly, clearly not trying to be mean about it. Before I could say anything, he dragged me into the crowd of dancing bodies.

"I-I'm not very good at this." Suddenly, the nervous Leah was back.

"It's alright, I'll help you out." I knew he was probably smiling at me for my lack of dancing knowledge, but decided to save myself from embarrassment by not looking up.

Harry took my hands and brought them up to the nape of his neck, he then placed his on my hips. The song was fast paced, but we moved slowly. I found courage to bring my eyes up to Harry's, the dim lighting barely showing his green iris'. He was staring at me, and I felt this odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was like a million firecrackers going off from inside of me.

It must be because I'm drunk, yes that's definitely the reason.

"You're not so bad at this, Hudson." Harry's deep, raspy voice tickled my ear as he spoke. He slightly pulled back, planting a delicate kiss on my cheek. My heart began to beat so fast, I thought it might burst out of my chest at any moment.

"There she is! My roooommateeeeee!" Casey screamed over the music, Harry and I both separated as Casey drunkenly walked toward us.

"I think we should get going." I said as Casey fell into my arms. She giggled into my chest, she is beyond wasted.

"I'm going to drive you two home." I gave him a concerned look, how many drinks has he had? "I've only had two Leah, I've got her." He peeled Casey off of me and threw her over his shoulder, his strength showing.

We walked out into the cool night air, crossing the street towards a black range rover. Harry threw Casey in the back before getting into the drivers seat. I climbed in also and told him our address.

"The apartments around here are really nice, consider yourself lucky. Frat houses aren't exactly the funnest places to live despite the rumors."

I could definitely see that, all the parties would drive me insane.

"Yeah it's not so bad, it's a decent sized apartment too." I stared out the window as I spoke, watching unknown streets pass by.

"Well I may just have to check it out when we get there." We both smiled, I really like Harry and he seems like a decent enough person.

"Well here we are, I guess I'll carry her upstairs." We both got out of the car, Harry retrieved Casey, slinging her over his shoulder once again.

"You smell really good." Casey slurred as we walked up to the building. Harry merely laughed at her drunken state as we took to the stairs. We finally reached the apartment and Harry sat Casey down on her bed.

"You're right, it really is nice in here." Harry remarked as he walked towards the door.

"Yeah, thanks for tonight Harry I don't know what I would've done if you weren't there to help."

"It wasn't a problem at all, I'll see you tomorrow Leah Hudson."

"See you later, Harry Styles." He laughed lightly before opening the door, and leaving the apartment building.

I got ready for bed, finished my coursework, and checked on Casey one last time before shutting off the lights and calling it a night.