The ride to the event is extremely uncomfortable. Harry smiles at me reassuringly a few times, but I can't return it. I feel like something is really wrong this time. My parents are acting really strange. They both pull it together when we reach the office and get out of the car. Harry and I get out as well. He walks close beside me as we follow my parents into the building. We all get in the elevator and make our way to the seventh floor, where the company has an event room to host all these parties and other events. The ride is silent and I feel so embarrassed that Harry is witnessing this. After what feels like hours the elevator doors open and we all get out. My parents glare at each other before my mother takes his arm and they plaster fake smiles on their faces. I sigh and look at Harry before stepping out of the elevator. Someone takes our coats and we make our way into the room. My parents greet my father's coworkers, who make their way through to Harry and me.

"Langley, lovely to see you," I never remember these people's names, but I do know that he's a giant ass-kisser. They all are. My dad's their boss and they don't fail to suck up to my mom and I as well. It's extremely annoying.

"Thank you. This is my friend, Harry Styles," I say, putting my arm through Harry's. They shake hands and he looks at me curiously.

"Pleasure, Mr. Styles. Glad you could join us. Have a wonderful evening." He walks away and I roll my eyes as I look to my father, who gives me a stern look and mouths something to me. Behave. I nod and pull Harry with me to the bar. I was never refused a drink at these things; no one dared say no to me. I enjoyed it.

"Two whiskey sours, please," I tell the bartender. Harry raises an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Whiskey sours? That's quite the drink, love. Sure you can handle it?"

I smile and secretly thank my face for not turning red when he called me that. "Of course I can. When we go to parties I don't have to try and hide my intoxication, but trust me I'm really good at acting sober."

He chuckles as the bartender hands us each a drink. "I'll believe it when I see it." We both take a sip. "By the way," he continues, stepping closer to me. "I never mentioned how incredible you look tonight."

I look into his eyes as he takes another step closer to me. "And you do look absolutely breathtaking," he whispers. He's standing really close to me and I feel myself holding my breath. Suddenly someone clears their throat behind us and I take a step back. Harry doesn't move; he just keeps staring at me. I turn to see my father standing in front of me.

"Lana, you need to watch that tonight," he says, pointing to my drink. "And I don't need to remind you to be polite to Paul, you know how much he's invested in this company."

"I know, dad. You tell me the same thing every time. Don't worry about it, okay? I'll behave."

He looks at Harry and back to me before turning and making his way back to my mother. I roll my eyes when he kisses her cheek. Why do they keep up this act? Harry touches my arm lightly, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I think that's the longest conversation I've had with my father in months."

Harry's POV

I'm not sure what to say to that. Do I tell her I understand? That I don't even see my father anymore? No, I don't want to bring her down. I bring my fingers up and lightly touch her cheek.

"It's his loss." She looks up at me and smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. I want so much to hold her and comfort her right now, but I know this isn't the place. I can tell she's on the verge of tears. She seems especially bothered by her parents tonight. I never see her upset about this. She chugs back the rest of her drink and I take a few more sips. I look around the room, racking my brain for a way to cheer her up. I see a band playing live music on a small stage in front of a relatively small dance floor, but no one is dancing. I take her hand in mine and smile at her, leading her away. She gives me a curious look before looking in the direction we're walking. I see her eyes go wide when she realizes and she starts to pull back from me.

"No."

I turn and give her my best puppy dog eyes.

"Still no. And you have horrible puppy eyes." I laugh and continue walking while she tries to struggle. "Harry, I'm not kidding! There is no one else dancing. I am not doing this!"

I turn and take her other hand, walking backwards as we get onto the dance floor. "We can start the trend, then." She shakes her head vigorously as I pull her towards me, putting my left hand on her lower back. I think I hear her breathing hitch as she hits my body. I smile a little. "Please?"

She looks up at me, clearly nervous. I start to move back and forth to the music. It's not fast paced, but not very slow either. I see her start to look around the room. I know people are staring, but I can't take my eyes away from her face. She looks so beautiful, I can't even explain it. I was hoping when she asked me to come with her that she meant it to be a date. Now I wasn't really sure. She didn't meet my eyes just stared at my chest, occasionally looking down at her feet. My mum taught me how to dance when I was 14, so I knew what I was doing, but I could see that she hadn't really done this before. I smile when I see how nervous she is. I pull her closer to me and put my head next to hers, breathing in her scent. She smelled amazing.

She pulls back a little and looks into my eyes. "Did you just smell my hair, Mr. Styles?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at me. Shit, she caught me! I chuckle smoothly.

"Is that a problem, Ms. Forester?" I ask, smirking.

"Not at all. Just checking." She leans back into me and I position myself in the same way, smiling. I have a feelings she's feeling just as unsure as I am about where we are. We dance for a few more minutes as the song changes. When the second one ends, we still haven't spoken, but it's not awkward at all. The third song is a little slower, so I follow and slow my pace. I look around and notice two couples moving onto the dance floor. I smile, knowing this will make Lana more comfortable.

"Look, Lan." She pulls back and looks around for a second before her eyes land on the people moving onto the dance floor. She smiles and looks up at me. I smile back and can't help but quickly look to her lips. I know she notices this, but she doesn't say anything. She just continues staring into my eyes. I take her right hand and place it on my shoulder then move my hand to her lower back, interlocking my fingers. She brings her right hand up and clasps her hands behind my neck. More people come to the dance floor, but my focus is completely on Lana. My eyes betray me once again, flickering to her lips. My heart starts racing, and I can't help but wonder if she wants me to kiss her. I want to kiss her. It's been way too long. She keeps looking at me, and I can see in her eyes that she's nervous. Hell, I am too.

I slowly start leaning my face towards hers, trying to read her expression. I catch her looking quickly at my lips. I take that as her giving me permission. I lean down a little more when suddenly the song ends and the band starts to play a fast one. she jumps a little, pulling back slightly. I sigh, but smile and take her hands from my neck and twirl her around then pull her back to me. She smiles and raises an eyebrow when she's back up against my body.

"I had no idea you could dance," she says, as I start moving to the music again, taking her hands back in my own. I just laugh as I lead her through a dance, spinning her around as we move along the dance floor. She smiles and giggles the whole time, not sure of her steps but trusting me to lead her. She looks like she's having fun and I'm glad she seems to be over her problems with her parents for a while. I can't help but feel disappointed, though. I was so close to kissing her. Damn band, all I needed was a few more seconds.

They play another fast song and we keep dancing, spinning around gracefully. I must admit, we move quite well together. Not that I'm surprised. Halfway through the song she stops and pulls me off the dance floor and back to the bar. She leans on it with her hands and asks for two martinis. Who knew this girl could be so classy with her alcohol? She turns around and leans back against the bar.

"I think this is the first time I've actually had fun at one of these things," she says, smiling and looking at the dance floor. "It's also the first time anyone has actually used the dance floor."

"Really?" I nod a thank you to the bartender as he places our drinks in front of us.

"Have you taken a look around tonight? Do these look like the type of people to get drunk and have a good time?"

I laugh and glance around. Most of them do look uptight. The few that don't are the ones that are on the dance floor. I look back at Lana to see her staring at her parents.

"Don't pat attention to them, Lan." She nods and finishes her drink. I take another sip of mine and laugh softly at her. She puts her glass down and takes my hand, leading me back to the dance floor. We spend the rest of the night going between the bar and the dance floor, laughing and talking while we slowly get drunk. More and more people start dancing, and Lana's parents even dance together for one of the slower songs. I don't try to kiss her again because I know she's drunk and I don't want this to be the way we get together.

The band announces the last song of the night and start to play. It's a slow pace so I take Lana's hand and pull her close to me, putting my cheek against hers. She sighs and wraps her arms around my neck while I move my hands to her back. I feel like I could stay like this forever.

We sway back and forth, hardly moving, just holding each other. When the song ends we stay like that, just standing still. After a few minutes she pulls back and looks into my eyes. She reaches up and pushes a stray hair away from my forehead, looking at me tenderly. After about a minute she breaks the silence.

"My parents are probably waiting," she whispers, not moving. I nod but stay where I am, so does she. She finally tears her eyes away from mine and looks to her parents, who are saying their goodbyes. She removes her hands from behind my neck and slides them down my arms, taking my right hand in her left one and pulling me towards the elevator. We get in without a word from her parents, enduring another silent ride to the lobby. Lana looks back and forth between her them, never letting go of my hand. I squeeze it lightly and she looks up at me and smiles. The car ride home is also silent and I can feel the tension emitting from the Foresters. It's palpable. I don't enjoy it. I don't know how Lana lives with them. I'm suddenly really happy that I worked so hard to keep her at my house as much as possible.

We pull into the driveway and everyone gets out of the vehicle.

Lana walks around to my side of the car and looks at her parents. "I'm going to walk Harry back for a sec," she informs them. They both nod and look at me. So awkward.

"Thanks for letting me come," I say, trying to fill the silence. "I had a nice time." They nod again and Lana takes my hand, leading me across the street. "Goodnight!" I half-shout as we walk across towards my house.

"Why are you being nice to them?" She asks, laughing darkly and leaning up against my front door. I step up onto the porch and walk towards her slowly.

"I was trying to ease the tension, love." She straightens up as I get closer, still supporting her weight against the door. I lean into her body, resting my hands on the door on either side of her face. I can hear her breathing start to get heavier and I feel mine do the same. Our faces are about two inches apart. I know I should stop and just wait for us both to be sober, but I don't know if I can.

"Lana?"

"Yes?" she breathes, looking back and forth between my eyes and lips.

"I..." I lean in a little more and suddenly feel like I can't do this, like it's going to ruin everything for some reason. I need to wait. "I need to get some rest," I whisper, backing away a little bit.

"Okay," she says, still staring at me. I lean in again, but move my face to the side of hers, kissing her cheek. I let my lips linger for a moment before I pull away and take a small step back, looking back into her eyes. She looks confused, but doesn't say anything as she stands up straight and steps away from the door. I step back again and she steps to the side, walking around me. I can tell she feels rejected, and I don't want her to feel bad. As she walks past me I grab her wrist, making her turn to face me. I'm not sure what to say, though. She looks at me, eyes glistening.

"Goodnight, Harry," she whispers finally, tugging her arm away from mine. She stares at me for a few more seconds before turning and walking back to her house. I watch her go inside and run my hands through my hair.

Shit.