Downfall [h.s]

↞ Chapter 20 ↠

Harry was here... and he was looking right at me.

Just a second before I had been boiling from the combined heat of the people around us, but now my blood ran cold. Even though there were a million people between him and I, it seemed like it was only the two of us in the building. I wondered if the reason I couldn't feel my heart beat was because it was thumping like a racehorse in my chest or if it had stopped altogether.

Harry was the last person I wanted to see, but of course he managed to be at the same place my date was. To make matters worse, he was sitting with Louis and the other guys. So not only was he here, but he was hanging out with my date's stepbrother. No doubt I would be forced to hang out with him at some point during the night.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Toby shouted, pulling on my arm to grab my attention. I didn't even realize I had stopped dancing until Toby gave me a look of concern. "You look a little pale. Let's take you back over to the couches and get you something to eat before you pass out."

I was glad to get off of the dance floor and break eye contact with Harry, until I realized that the couches that Toby was talking about were in the VIP section. It was currently the last place I wanted to be, but it was too late to protest.

The girls were gone by the time we made it back to the couch, but all of the guys were still there sipping on beers. They looked up when we approached, all except Harry who was staring out at the dance floor.

So now he decided he didn't want to look at me.

"Hey Lou, would you mind looking after her while I grab her something to eat? It looks like she might pass out," Toby asked, sitting me right in between Louis and the other brunnette, I think his name was Liam, before taking off. As I watched him disappear into the sea of people, I briefly wondered if he even noticed Harry was sitting to Louis's right. He had met him at school before, and I had talked about him enough times, he knew who he was.

"Are you okay, love?" Louis asked, glancing at me in concern. "Is my step brother really that bad of a dancer?"

At this, I couldn't help but chuckle, "He's a great dancer. I guess... I just overheated out there."

"Looks like you had seen a ghost," Liam added, sipping on his beer.

I couldn't help but glance over at Harry. Of course, he had already been looking at me. "I think I might have."

My confession seemed to spark a debate between the group. I barely followed along, but the bit I did catch sounded like it was something along the lines of the club being haunted. The guys bantered back and forth but Harry stayed quiet as he stared at me from the other side of Louis. I tried to look away but it was like I wasn't capable of keeping my eyes off him, and every time they went back to him, he was still looking at me.