A Day In The Life // H.S.

28. | 8:24 PM

"Okay, and you can swing by around 8, if that works?" I offered Niall, who had phoned me discuss the details of my party. "Yeah, mate. Sounds great. See you then," Niall said and hung up. I looked down at my suitcase which still hadn't been unpacked from my trip to London. I sighed. Maybe throwing a party the day after I got home wasn't necessarily such a great idea. But, then again, I was going to do something special for Chloe. So, hopefully it was going to be good.

It was 11 AM and people were supposed to start showing up at around 8, with the exception of Hayley, who was going to sneak out to come help me decorate the pool area to Chloe's liking, and then sneak back to her apartment, and then come back for the start of the party. I needed her help on this. I'm not very good at decorating.

I quickly tided up and unpacked my bag before taking a long overdue shower and eating some lunch. As I was putting my dishes away, the doorbell rang. I walked over and opened it, seeing Hayley standing there, scrolling through her phone and looking less than impressed. She looked as if she had just rolled out of bed.

"Hi." I laughed out and she glared up at me. "I rolled out of bed just to come here early. That's how much I love my best friend, so you better have some good ideas." Hayley groaned, shoving past me and walking into my house. I laughed and closed the door behind her. "It's actually courtesy of Louis. He gave me the idea when I was in London. It's really smashing. What I'm gonna do is string lights up outside above the pool and have candles and stuff, but I'll keep everything dim out there until I ask her if she wants to talk outside and then boom! Niall will turn the lights on and I'll light the candles!" I said excitedly.

I examined Hayley's face and saw a hint of surprise in it. "Does it sound like a good plan?" I asked hopefully. "Actually, yeah, surprisingly. I was ready to walk in here and tell you that you're doing everything wrong. Turns out I was wrong." Hayley looked stunned and it gave me so much happiness. It was one of my missions in life to prove to her that I was actually good enough for her best friend.

"Perfect! Now, I just need your help setting it all up. I don't really know how it should look. I feel like you know what Chloe would find nice." I admitted, taking the string lights out of a closet. I looked back over to Hayley who shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." She casually said, looking at her phone. My face dropped. "Excuse me?" I said in disbelief. I had counted on her guidance on this. "To be honest, Harry, no one has ever gone to this much trouble just to make her smile. I've never seen any grand gestures like this for her, let alone heard her talk about what she liked or disliked about it. I'm just as in the dark as you." She admitted.

Her response made me feel happy. I felt happy that I was the one doing this, and that no one else had before.

"Well, you've known her for much longer. You have to know something." I pressed, and she shrugged again. "She used to hang string lights in her room back in New York after she broke up with Ryan because she thought they would add a bit of glimmer back into her life. About a week after that she found out she was going to be interning at Illusion Magazine. And then, you. Guess it worked." Hayley said, and I felt the biggest smile on my face.

"Okay, we have to string these lights up before the party actually starts." I laughed, grabbing the boxes and Hayley followed me out to the pool. "Woah." Hayley breathed out as she saw the patio area where the pool was. "You're really that rich, aren't you?" She shook her head in disbelief, grabbing a string of lights and helping me hang it. I laughed off her question. My money wasn't my favourite thing to talk about. It made me feel superficial.

As we worked our way through the string lights, hanging them up above the pool, we talked about things we had in common, laughed at each other when we lost our balance and fell in the pool, and shared our favourite things about Chloe with each other. Hayley's was Chloe's unbreakable will and her determination to do anything and everything. Mine was her intelligence and dimples.