Suddenly a loud shrill filled the depth of my room and pulled me away from my slumber. I cracked one eye open and saw my alarm was going off, and that it was ten o’clock in the morning.

“What the actual fuck?” I grumbled as I pulled the covers off of me and let out a yawn whilst stretching like a cat. “I feel like shit,” I whined to Malley who was still asleep against my spare pillow. “I’d kill to be a feline…dammit. I’m talking to myself again.” I shook my head before standing up and walking into my en suite bathroom and taking a look in the mirror. I looked like a lion with the way my hair was frizzed out. I didn’t get home until three in the morning from hanging out with Zayn and Niall all night. When we got back to their hotel we gathered in Zayn’s room where we drank some beers and listened to music. Zayn gave me a taste of his girlfriend’s band ‘Little Mix’ and I must say; I can really get down to their music. I learned a lot about the two, like Niall was the only one from a different country, and Zayn was the only one with a different religion from the boys. I learned a lot more, but I won’t dive into those details. Okay, I learned Niall drinks a shit ton of beer—go figure though because he’s Irish—and Zayn likes a girl named Mary Jane (and yes I’m talking about the narcotic that is also referred to as marijuana).

I washed my face to rid it of last night’s make up and threw my hair into a messy bun, because I just did not feel like messing with it today.

“Let’s go eat some breakfast, Mal,” I said and as the words left my mouth, Malley jumped off my bed and scampered into the kitchen. Once I walked into the kitchen I went straight to the fridge where I pulled out some moist cat food and put it in Malley’s bowl so he could eat. I grabbed a blueberry bagel from off the counter and placed it in the toaster while I pulled out the cream cheese and our bowl of cut up strawberries. Once the bagel was toasted I grabbed it and spread the cream cheese on it and placed a few strawberries on top before putting it on my plate and pouring myself a cup of coffee and fixing it up. I took my plate and my cup and walked over to the kitchen table that overlooked the living room and turned the TV on and began watching the morning music videos on MTV. They just got done playing some trashy rap video when I heard Lyla’s door open and close, followed with heavy footsteps coming down the hall.

“Aw, the famous walk of shame. Glad I get to witness this,” I said as Harry appeared from the hallway, when he heard my voice he gave a look like a deer caught in headlights.

“Can’t really call it that if nothing happened,” he said as he walked over to the couch and sat down to pull his boots on.

“She fell asleep again?!” I asked him with a mouthful of bagel, to which he gave a look of distaste but I shrugged it off.

“So falling asleep during the ‘foreplay’ of sex is a normal thing for her?” Harry asked with a smirk on his face.

“’fraid so. Honestly, I think she just brings a guy home to cuddle with,” I told him as I wiped my mouth.

“Then she should get a dog,” Harry joked as he stood up and walked over to the kitchen table. “Mind if I sit?” He asked as he sat down before I gave him an answer.

“What if I said no?” I told him, arching one of my eyebrows and he just shrugged his shoulders. “I told her she should get a cat; I mean that’s why I have Malley.”

“Who’s Malley?” Harry asked as he looked around.

“My kitten. He’s eating right now, so you won’t see him for at least two more minutes,” I told him while I took a sip of my coffee, the hot liquid burning my tongue.

“Why did you name him Malley?”

“After the cat from Aristocats, O’Malley, Mr. Tom O’Malley!” I exclaimed with humor, and Harry laughed at me. “So why did you stay if nothing happened between you two? Just curious, by the way.”

“I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to make sure she was okay and didn’t die in her sleep from choking on her throw up,” Harry said and it caused me to grimace while setting down the last bite of my bagel.

“She threw up?” I asked as I took my plate to the sink.

“Yeah at like four in the morning,” Harry said as he took his phone out and fiddled his thumbs around on the keyboard.

“That’s so pleasant of her,” I said as I drank the rest of my coffee and put it in the sink with my plate. “So, do you need a ride to your hotel? Or what?”

“My hotel is across town. I was just going to call a cab,” Harry said as he pointed to his phone.

“I figured your hotel would be on the other side of town, I can give you a ride. I’m headed that way anyways,” I told him as I walked past him and went to my room. “Just let me get ready!” I called out as I walked over to my dresser. I pulled on a pair of high waisted-torn shorts and threw on my sarcasm crop top. I walked over to my closet and pulled on a pair of brown lace up boots and completed my outfit by applying my makeup and putting on my jewelry. I grabbed my phone off its charger and grabbed my purse before exiting my room and walking out into the living room where Harry was seated on the couch, petting Malley.

“You a cat person?” I asked him once I walked in and he about jumped out of his skin.

“Bloody hell! You snuck up on me,” Harry exclaimed and it caused me to laugh.

“You said bloody,” I told him as I snorted and walked over to the door. “You coming or not?” I yelled out and a few seconds later I heard his heavy footsteps coming towards me.

“So why are you headed across town?” Harry asked once we got settled in my car, which is a Ford Escape.

“I’m getting a new piercing,” I told him as I pulled out onto the streets of Austin.

“Really? Where at?” He questioned as he watched the scenery pass by.

“I’m getting my industrial. It’s pretty much two cartilage piercings connected by a bar. It’s pretty sick,” I explained to him and he turned his top lip up in disgust.

“That sounds gross. Can I watch?” He asked and I laughed at him.

“Be my guest,” I told him before turning onto the freeway. We sat in silence for about 15 minutes, we were stuck in rush hour, and the radio was the only noise filling the car. “So, how’s your tattoo?”

“It’s really good. The fans aren’t too fond of it but I could care less,” Harry spoke, and I nodded my head while switching lanes. “By the way, do you have any lotion? I need to lather up.”

“Yeah, it’s in the glove box, it’s called Aquaphor. It’s great for tattoos and great if you don’t have a lot of free time to constantly moisturize it.” I heard Harry digging through my glove box, looking for the ointment when I looked over and saw him pull a photo out.

“Is this you?” Harry asked, showing me the photo. It was a childhood photo of me and my childhood best friend on a hiking trip at Enchanted Rock; I was probably around 8 years old.

“Uh yeah,” I told him, turning my attention back to the road instead of to the photo lying in his hands and clearing the lump from my throat as I thought of the other girl in the photo with me.

“Is that your sister?” He pondered and I shook my head before muttering a quiet ‘no’. “Is it Lyla?”

“No. It’s another best friend of mine,” I informed him, with a bit of irritation in my tone. “The aquaphor is right there, that small bottle,” I told him while pointing to it and taking the photo out of his hand. When I brought my spare hand back to the steering wheel I couldn’t help but glance at the Ankh symbol tattooed on my right arm, it’s an Egyptian symbol that represents life and probably the most meaningful piece of art tattooed on my skin. As I continued to drive I felt Harry’s gaze on me, and when I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, he had a look of confusion? Maybe frustration? I’m not sure, but he also looked constipated. The remainder of the car ride, which was a few minutes, was spent in silence, both of us avoiding the picture exchange.

“I’m sorry if me seeing that photo and asking about it brought up bad memories,” Harry explained as I pulled into a parking spot.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know. We’re here,” I told him as I turned my car off and climbed out of it. Harry held the door open to my friends shop and allowed me to walk in first. “Thanks,” I muttered before walking straight to the back.

“Aaron! You here?!” I yelled. I heard a loud crash come from one of the piercing rooms and then Aaron emerged from the room, holding his piercing gun.

“Holy shit, Kat! Don’t you know to call me first? You know how jumpy I am,” Aaron said as he pulled me in for a hug. “Who’s the friend?”

“Not a friend, a friend of a friend and a tattoo client. That’s Harry, Harry this is Aaron,” I introduced the two and they nodded at one another.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Harry said and I watched Aaron’s eyes go wide.

“What’s a britty doing in Texas?” Aaron said and I laughed at him before pushing him into one of the rooms.

“He’s in a band, Aaron. A famous band,” I told him as I sat down in the chair.

“Yeah, which one?” Aaron asked, turning to Harry who was leaning against the wall.

“One Direction,” Harry simply stated as he messed around on his phone.

“Oh yeah! I heard of them, my little sister listens to you guys. No offense bro, but I thought you guys were gay,” Aaron said as he climbed up his station.

“None taken, a lot of people do,” Harry said with a genuine smile on his face. He has a nice smile, no Kat! No. He’s into Lyla, not you.

“So Kat, what are you doing hanging out with a popstar?”

“I did his most recent tattoo, and he fell victim to Lyla’s trap,” I snorted, knowing I hit a soft spot for Aaron, who also fell victim to that trap one too many times. Poor guy.

“I told her if she ever just wants to cuddle to call me!” Aaron exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

“But you always want more than a cuddle, Aaron,” I told him, smacking his arm.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, she’s hot. One day, she’ll wake up and see that I’m what she needs,” Aaron told me, pointing his finger at me to help get his point across.

“Whatever you say. Now give me my industrial!!” I yelled at him, and it caused him and Harry to both jump back.

“Damn, bossy. Let’s do this shit,” Aaron said, holding his gun up and blowing across it. He sterilized his gun again. As he prepped my ear and made sure I was okay with everything he placed the gun up to the first whole. “Are you gonna scream? Do I need to get you a towel to bite on?” Aaron asked and I groaned.

“Shut up and just go,” I said and quickly reached for Harry’s hand and squeezed it as hard as I could as Aaron did the first hole. I whined and yelped once Aaron finished and he gave me a breather before he did the second hole.

“How does it feel?” Aaron asked, getting another sterile needle for the second hole.

“Her ear or my hand?” Harry asked as he shook the feeling back into his hand. “I need this hand.”

“For what? Masturbating at night?” I snorted to him and he rolled his eyes.

“No, this is my microphone holding hand.”

“You’ll get over it,” I told him as Aaron got ready for the second hole and I took hold of Harry’s other hand and squeezed it again as Aaron did the second hole and pushed the bar through both holes before screwing the ends on.

“There, you’re all set,” Aaron said as he handed me a mirror and cleaned up his station. “You know the drill with taking care of it, so I’m not even going to remind you.”

“I’ll see you in the shop tonight?” I asked him as I hopped off the table and hiked my purse onto my shoulder.

“That you will, I’m gonna finish drawing it up for you before I stop by,” he said as he walked us out and gave me a hug goodbye. “Hey Harry, before you leave do you think you could sign a piece of paper for my little sister? Her birthday is in a couple of days and I figured I’d get brother of the year if I got one of her ‘husband’s’ autographs for her.”

“Yeah, of course. What’s her name?” Harry asked as he took the sheet of paper and signed his name.

“Mandy.” I watched as Harry wrote a little note, wishing Mandy a wonderful birthday, and handed the paper back to the Aaron. “Thanks, bro.” We walked out the door and climbed into my car and I set the radio to play some music.

“Where to?” I asked him, before pulling out of the parking spot.

“Well, after just watching that, I could really use some food before I throw up bile,” Harry said as he buckled himself in. “Do you mind if we go grab a bite to eat? I’ll pay.”

“Okay. Anything you craving?” I asked him as I pulled out of the spot I was occupying.

“Anything really. Just a place that’s low key,” he said and I nodded my head, knowing just the place. I pulled out onto the feeder row and quickly merged onto the freeway, heading to my favorite restaurant. After about ten minutes I was pulling into Red’s Porch and parking the car. “You’re about to have the best home cooking,” I told him as we both met at the back of my car and walked to the entrance of the restaurant.

“Is it only you two?” The hostess asked and I nodded my head and we followed her to table positioned on the back deck of the restaurant. Red’s Porch is an all outdoor restaurant over-looking Lake Travis, and it was a pretty big hotspot at night for Austin, due to the facility having different themed nights, like Trivia night. But during the middle of the afternoon, it was a quiet as a morning on the beach.

“So what’s good here?” Harry asked as he sat down and opened the menu.

“Everything is really good, but they’re known for their chicken fried chicken and green beans,” I told him as I set the menu down, already knowing what I wanted. Harry took in what I said as he looked over the menu, trying to decide what he wanted while I played on my phone. I went and checked my Twitter feed and saw I gained over a thousand followers overnight, and then I realized it was because Zayn and Niall had started following me. I shrugged it off and went back to my timeline to see what my friends were up to.

@LylaMarie: Woke up to @SimplyKatLike’s cat sitting its furry ass on my face. #hungover #killme

I snorted as I read Lyla’s tweet and favorited it.

“Hey, can I post a photo of you on Twitter?” I asked Harry as I looked up at him and saw he had his menu set down and was also playing on his phone.

“I don’t see why not, as long as I get to follow you,” he said and I shrugged my shoulders before holding my phone and taking a photo of Harry, who was looking at his phone again.

@SimplyKatLike: Airing out @LylaMarie’s dirty laundry right now. pic.twitter.com/gjhl345z7 9 (fake link)

I laughed at my tweet before pressing post and when I looked up I saw our waiter approaching our table.

“My name’s Tony and I’ll be your server today. What can I get you two to drink?” He asked before folding his hands together, waiting for our response.

“I’ll have a wa—“

“We’ll both have tea please,” I told him and Tony walked off and headed back into the kitchen to grab our drinks.

“I didn’t want tea, I wanted water,” Harry said, as he looked at me a little rudely.

“I don’t care. You’re in Texas, you need the full experience and tea will fulfill that,” I told him. It didn’t take long for Tony to bring out our drinks and before he left again we gave him our orders. I ordered the Truck Stop Style beef enchiladas with a side of mashed potatoes and Harry ordered the chicken fried chicken with green beans.

“So you dated Taylor Swift?” I asked him, remembering something Zayn mentioned about it last night.

“Unfortunately,” he groaned as he took a sip of tea, after adding a few packets of sugar to it.

“What was that like?” I asked him, leaning on my elbows, as if I were really interested in the word ‘unfortunately.’

“It was good at first, but then it was terrible. She dresses like such a hipster grandma, and yet she hates hipsters,” he said as he moved his hands around as he spoke.

“Really? I mean, I thought she was a hipster. But I now I totally see the hipster grandma thing,” I told him and he let out a laugh.

“Yeah. I regret ever dating her though.”

“How come?” I asked him, leaning back in my seat and people watching.

“Because now she’s going to write a whole album about me and tour on that album for the longest time ever,” he said with such annoyance. “She’s a complete low life, dating guys just to get a song out of it. I felt used.”

“Man, that’s deep. But I know how you feel about being used. My ex got in a relationship with me, I’d give him tattoos with discounts and then we went out for roughly four months before he broke up with me because I wouldn’t do anything with him,” I told Harry as Tony set our food down in front of us. “And then told our group of friends that I’m a lesbian.”

“Are you?” Harry asked and I looked up at him with a smirk.

“Why? Would that upset you if I were?” I asked him, arching an eyebrow.

“Huh? No—I just I accept people who are into that kind of thing. You—you just don’t,” Harry tripped over his words as he tried to explain his answer and I couldn’t hold my laughter in any longer. I burst out laughing and Harry quickly shut his mouth and gave me a nasty look. “What’s so funny?”

“You tripping over your sentence. I’m not a lesbian, Harry. Just a badass,” I simply told him, a smirk lingering on my face.

“Thanks,” he, dryly, said before eating his food. The next 20 minutes we both sat in silence as we scarfed our food down. I was just about to shove the last bite in my mouth when my phone, where it sat on the table, started going off. I took a quick look at the caller ID and saw Jimmy’s name flashing across the screen. I rolled my eyes before pressing decline and shoved the last bite in my mouth. I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly annoyed with the boy trying to call me. In the entire 5 minutes it took Harry to finish his meal, Jimmy had called over 6 times, and I could tell Harry saw my phone going off. Tony had just brought Harry his card back when Jimmy called me for the 11th time.

“I’m gonna step out in the parking lot and take this,” I said to Harry with an irritated tone before grabbing my phone and pressing answer as I walked off towards my car.

“What the hell is your problem, Jimmy?” I seethed into the phone, not wanting to talk to the dumbass on the other side of the phone.

“I want to get back together with you, Katriona! What don’t you understand about that?!” Jimmy yelled into the phone and my skin stung as he used my full name.

“Don’t use my full name, only a few people can use it and you are not one of those people!” I yelled at him. “I want nothing to do with you, Jimmy. You used me for tattoos and you thought I’d fuck you two weeks into our relationship and then broke up with me after four months because you had blue balls. Get the fuck out of my life!” I yelled into the phone and then hung up on. I aggressively shoved my phone into my pocket before leaning against the back of my car and looking up at the sky.

“Why is life so difficult, Bre?” I muttered with my eye closed, thinking of my best friend that I lost so many years ago. “It was a lot easier when you were here to help me.”

“Who are you talking to?” Harry asked as he walked up to me and leaned against the back of my car as well.

“No one,” I told him, closing my eyes again.

“Is everything okay? You seem a little tense,” Harry said as he nudged me with his shoulder, like I was his friend or something.

“Just trying to erase the idiots from my life,” I told him. I suddenly remembered the breath-taking view sitting at the end of the parking lot. “Wanna see something cool?” I asked Harry and he nodded his head. I walked through about 3 lanes of parked cars and walked up to the barrier at the end of the parking lot that overlooked Lake Travis and I held my hands out as if I were saying ‘wa la.’

“Wow, it’s really pretty,” Harry said as he leaned his forearms against the barricade in front of us.

“Yeah, this is a good spot to watch the sunset but one of the better spots is the balcony at a restaurant called The Oasis.” I saw Harry, out of the corner of my eye, take a few steps back and pull his phone out to take a photo. “Get a good photo?” I asked him, turning and looking at him slide his thumbs across the screen of his iPhone.

“Yeah,” he said after pocketing his phone.

“Ready to head back to your hotel? I gotta open up shop in an hour,” I told him as we walked back to my car and got in.

“Yeah, I need a shower,” Harry said as he entered the hotel’s address into his GPS and began telling me directions on how to get there. After about 15 minutes, thanks to the lunch rush on the freeway, I pulled into the circular drive of the Hyatt and brought my car to a stop.

“Thanks for letting me crush your hand during my piercing,” I told him as I looked at him as he unbuckled his seat belt.

“I didn’t really have a choice, but no problem. Thanks for going to lunch with me and showing me a really gorgeous view,” he said as he opened the door and stepped out. “I had a lovely time. Hopefully now we’re friends instead of me being Zayn’s friend,” he said with a smirk before shutting the door and waving goodbye. I smiled at him and waved back before pulling out of the hotel and heading to the tattoo shop.

Notes

Kat's Outfit