"We have to leave in five!"
Harry called, from downstairs. I slipped on my black heels, glancing in the mirror. Today was the day of the charity banquet. Harry met all of his partners annually at this banquet, which was of course black tie. I slowly walked down the steps, careful to not step on my flowing dress. Harry sat in the kitchen on a bar stool, one of his men waited with a solemn expression in front of the door. Harry seemed to be deep in thought, which accounted for the moments that passed before he noticed I was there. We went to leave when a thought popped into my head. I had struggled to zip the dress fully, so it needed to be zipped completely before we arrived at the event.
"Could you zip this please, Harry?"
I asked, moving my hair to the side so it wouldn't become stuck in the zipper. He gingerly zipped the dress, pausing before continuing to walk again. We walked silently behind the guard, as we neared the front door Harry did something unusual. He grabbed my hand, interlocking his fingers with mine. I gave him a questioning look, but he acted as if it was normal, granted it would have been, if it were three long years ago. I just pushed the questions to the back of my mind, realizing I should be enjoying this, not questioning it.
The ride to the manor was short. As we left the city behind, it seemed to become brighter, even though clouds still filled the sky. I watched the trees go by in a blur as Harry stared at his shoes,his fingers still interlocked with mine. The car stopped in a pebble driveway, I could see the manor through the windshield. Many black SUVs sat parked in front of ours. The car must coincide with the job, I thought. We walked towards the front door, I could already make out the two armed guards at the doors, beside them were two other people who were too far away to identify.
I loathed the banquet, it was always full of auctions for the filler people and heated discussions for Harry and his partners. Filler people, as I like to call them, are socialites who believe that the banquet is a legit charity banquet. They are invited every year to make the whole thing seem less suspicious if police ever arrived. This also meant that they went around and talked to everyone, which lead to forced conversations about things that I made up, like Harry and I's summer home in Southern France and our Yorkshire Terrier, Muffin. Harry and I sat at the same table along with all of his partners. Louis sat to my right, next to him was Zayn and his fiance, Liam and a woman I had never seen before, and then Niall. I slipped in and out of reality, listening to the announcer drone on about "this years prizes" and how they "hoped to double the donation amount this year". Sometimes I wondered what they did from the money they received from the fillers, but I never found the time to ask Harry.
"We have intelligence that someone is planning something big against us."
Liam announced,stirring his drink with a plastic straw.
"Just someone? Not a specific group or person. Just someone?"
Zayn rumbled, an angry look on his face. I looked away, trying to make it seem as if I wasn't listening.
"This information is new to all of us, if I knew who it was, I would tell you."
Liam spat, calling over a waitress for another drink. Liam was in charge of the security of the group as a whole. He found the snitches, had informants in the police so he could evacuate everyone in time to escape, along with many other things. I wondered if Harry had told him about the break in at our home, I assumed he did, but the way he was acting lately, I couldn't be sure. Louis seemed just as uninterested as me, which was also unusual for him. He was always the instigator of heated discussion, but yet he was silent. Maybe it was something in the water or maybe it was something even bigger.
***
"That was.."
Harry began, as he unlocked the apartment door.
"Horrible, boring, lame?"
I sighed, immediately taking off my heels and sitting down on the couch.
"Yeah."
He yawned, sitting down next to me. The banquet went on for what seemed like ages, heated conversations erupted, soon hushed so that no one could hear. I discovered that Harry had told Liam about the breech, but it didn't seem like a priority. There was a new shipment coming in and they made arrangements to retrieve it and distribute it. The night could not have ended soon enough. I practically jumped out of my seat when they said they were finished.
"Do you want to watch a film? We don't have to if you're too tired.."
I suggested, pulling the blanket from the back of the couch on to me.
"Only if I get to pick."
He smiled, standing and walking to the shelf where all of our films were.
"Don't pick a dumb one."
I joked, pointing a finger at him. He pulled a DVD off the shelf, placing it into the player and grabbing the remote before sitting back down.
"I did, just for you, babe."
He chuckled, interlacing our fingers once again.
