When I Come Around

Chapter 1

I woke up with a killer headache, the light from the window only making it worse. I groaned, stuffing my face into my pillow.

"Eleanor!" I called, my voice almost inaudible because of the pillow.

"What?" My roommate asked, entering my bedroom.

"Can you get me some aspirin?" I asked, glancing back to her. She sighed, retreating to my bathroom. She brought me two pills with a glass of water.

"You didn't come home until four this morning," she said. I tried to remember what I did last night, but I couldn't. How much did I drink? "You really should stop doing this, this constant partying will mess up your internship," Eleanor lectured me. I rolled my eyes.

"I just went to a party. You should come with me, it will really loosen you up," I said. She gave me a deadly state, before retreating out of the room. I chuckled, pulling out my phone as I heard it buzz.

'Have a terrible headache! But last night was sick' Louis texted me. Louis and I have been best friends since the second grade. Our parents always said we were meant to be together, but I didn't think so. I don't think relationships are worth anyone's time. Louis and I enjoyed being friends, nothing more. Even if I did like him, he began having the likes for my roommate, Eleanor. I loved teasing him about it, but I couldn't be happier for the two of them.

'Would have been a better night if I could remember it' I sent.

'I can't remember anything after my sixth beer' Louis responded, making me laugh. I didn't drink too often, but I partied hard. I admit, going to parties introduced me to a group of people that are not the most pleasurable, but I am still grounded, and so was Louis.

'Wanna come to my apartment today? I'm having a few friends over, watch a few films' Louis sent, and I agreed.

"El, wanna go hang out with Lou today?" I called to my friend.

"Valerie, it's Sunday. Don't you think we should both be studying for tomorrow?" Eleanor said, referring to our college finals the next day.

"We have studied all week, a couple hours out will not hurt," I said, smiling, "it will only be a couple people, it isn't some huge party. Just a few movies." Eleanor sighed, agreeing. She was so gullible. I had only known her for a little over two years, but she was a great friend. We had completely opposite personalities, but it balanced each other out.

Once we arrived at Louis' apartment, we sat in the living room. Only two other people were there so far, and it was Lou's friends Harry and Zayn. I had met Zayn before, but never met Harry.

"It's been a while! Valerie, right?" Zayn said, smiling towards me.

"Yeah, and this is my roommate, Eleanor," I said, gesturing to my friend.

"Nice to meet you," Zayn said with a smile. I loved hanging out with Zayn. He was so easy to talk to and we always had a great laugh. Louis came in with a bag of chips and some sodas.

"Harry, this is Valerie, and her friend Eleanor," Louis introduced us.

"Ah, Valerie! Louis has told me a lot about you," Harry said with a charming grin.

"Hopefully what he said wasn't too horrid about me," I said, grinning towards Louis.

"No, not at all. I almost feel like I have known you for years," Harry said, and we laughed.

"What movie do you want to watch?" Louis asked, opening his drawer of movies. Louis and I were huge movie buffs and always competed to see who had the most DVDs. I was winning so far, but Louis still had his fair share of films.

"Spider-man!" Zayn said. We agreed, and Louis popped the DVD in the player. Louis sat beside me, closing the space between Eleanor and I. I tried my best not to lean over and wink at Eleanor teasingly, simply because I knew it would embarrass her.

As the movie ended, Zayn headed out. He said he had a date, and almost instantly we all threw some jokes across the room.

"Zayn has got a date tonight!" Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows, making us laugh.

"Her name is Perrie, I met her at that award show," Zayn said, smiling as he pulled his jacket on. He left a couple minutes later, and Harry sat beside me on the long couch.

Louis and Eleanor stood to get more sodas, so it was only Harry and me in the living room.

"I think I'm turning into a third wheel," Harry said softly, smiling.

"You and me both," I said, grinning. He grinned.

"Do you live around here?" Harry asked, looking towards me.

"Yeah, I live about ten minutes from here," I said.

"Maybe we could get together, get lunch or something," Harry said with a smile.

"That sounds great," I said, smiling towards him. He handed me his phone to put my number into, so I did. I didn't have a boyfriend, but I was seeing someone. Andrew Simmons. He goes to the same university as I, and I met him through mutual friends. Things were going great between Andy and I, so I figured Harry was simply interested in being friends.