Murphy's Law ✔️

Chapter Sixteen.

"God, look at you two. You two disgust me, y'know that? With your- your matching, bloody outfits! You make me sick!"

Standing in the entryway of the living room, Niall glared at his two friends- who had, apparently, made things 'official' as of the week prior.

Huffing, he crossed his arms and took a chance to look their appearances over. Harry stood looking rather dapper in his sapphire green suit- his hair pushed back behind his ears and his hand, which was splayed across Murphy's hip, adorned in rings. His nails were painted black.

Murphy stood beside him, and apparently, she had dyed her hair. Niall wasn't used to seeing her as a brunette- he got extremely accustomed to the long, fluffy white mane she typically rocked. According to Harry, they'd spent the night awake with a few bottles of cheap dye, bringing her hair back to her natural, ashy brown color. Niall almost felt betrayed.

She, too, wore the color green. It was a long, form fitting gown that touched the floor and fell decently low on her chest. A gorgeous, shiny necklace fell gently across her collarbones and her hand, too, was also adorned in rings. Apparently, the two of them had painted each other's nails the previous night- hers also a deep black.

Murphy cocked an eyebrow, a faux pout on her red lips. "Do you feel left out?"

"Yes!" Niall huffed, his arms crossed over his chest, "Harry's usually my date to these parties! He's my matching buddy!"

"Niall, come on," Harry urged with an eye roll, "what ever happened to Natalie?"

Niall blinked and placed a hand to his chest, stepping back almost offendedly. "Natalie?"

"Yeah, remember her? Your girlfriend?"

Groaning, Niall squeezed his eyes shut and placed a hand over his face, leaning back against the wall. "Ah, bloody hell! She's gonna set my shit on fire again!"

Murphy turned to Harry, her eyebrows pulling together. "Again?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded solemnly, "she set his bed on fire a few months ago after he forgot her birthday."

"Wow," Murphy mused, her eyebrows raising, "she sounds like a winner."

Harry grinned at her, turning his head forward to find Niall running out the door with his phone to his ear, rushing out phrases like, 'baby, I'm sorry, just get dressed and I'll pick you up,' and then a, 'Natalie, don't touch the bloody curtains! D'ya know how expensive those were?!'.

With a rush of air exhaled through his lips and a chuckle, Harry turned back to Murphy to place a gentle kiss on her temple. "Ready?"

"Ready."

*

Every year, Harry's company threw an extravagant gala in honor of the hard work that the employees managed to get done throughout the year. Big-name clients, managers, executives, family and friends were all invited to a night filled with free drinks (Harry's favorite part), raffles, and of course, live music.

It was something Harry dreaded coming to every year.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to get out of it, Niall had always sucked him back in somehow. I'll pay for your next tattoo!, he'd say, or, 'if you come, I'll roll a blunt that we can smoke in the loo, and then we can leave early and hit the pub!'

They never did leave early, and for some reason, it had become tradition for Harry to make a fool of himself at every party.

His first year in the company, one of the higher-ups asked Harry why he didn't bring a date. Still sensitive about a break up, he'd drank himself silly, won a raffle, face planted on the dance floor (which broke the raffle he'd just won), and ended up in the ER with a broken nose.