Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Traces of Your Touch (An AU Fanfiction)

Chapter 21

Harry leant against the bar casually as the beautiful brunette, dressed up as a French maid, babbled away. He pretended to be interested in what she had to say, but it was hard to concentrate when there were so many hot chicks passing by and eyeing him up. Maurice sure knew how to throw a party. Booze and babes everywhere. And the dimly lit room did give a haunted aura to the old mansion owned by Maurice’s ancestors.

Everything was more than available here and that was exactly why Harry was bored out of his mind. These girls were literally serving themselves up on a platter, but that wasn’t what Harry was looking for. He wanted to make an effort for a change, instead of girls getting down on their knees before he could even say ‘hi’. He couldn’t remember the last time it had been a challenge to talk a girl up. He regretted wearing his cowboy costume now.

Harry excused himself politely from the now exasperated brunette and started searching for the rest of his group. He spotted Niall sitting at the poker table with Krug, who was trying to convince the girls there to play strip poker. Harry made his way towards Niall to ask where Louis and the rest were. However, he changed his course quickly when he saw Amy heading towards that table. Probably to ask Niall about Harry’s whereabouts.

If there was anyone who was obvious with her ventures, it was Amy. It wasn’t as though Harry didn’t like the attention his year’s most popular girl gave him, but the way she sometimes acted up seemed as though she owned Harry. This was something Harry never liked about women. Their tendency to cling on to him, when he always made it clear from the beginning, that he wasn’t the committed type.

Harry headed outside, his drink in his hand, looking for Louis and the rest of the boys. He scanned the porch, greeting every other familiar face with a smile or a nod, until his eyes landed on a particularly delectable sight. It was a pretty little blonde standing by the road, as her friends paid for the cab. She looked a bit lost as she looked at the huge mansion. She was clearly unaware of the attention she was attracting with the fitting black and red corset and the little polka-dotted skirt, which ended just three inches below her derriere. The beautiful, black, lace stocking only enhanced her toned legs.

Harry took a step forward to see her face properly, but it was way too dark for him. From what little he could see, her face seemed a bit familiar. But Harry couldn’t exactly pin down where he had seen her. Either way, he decided to introduce himself to her and see whether she turned out to be another one of those tenacious girls.



Aria tugged at her skirt for the hundredth time to cover up the skin that was on display but in vain. She hadn’t thought the skirt would be so short when she had bought it with Liana and Carol this morning. She had insisted on giving it a try before purchasing it, but her best friends had claimed to be in a rush and Aria had ended up buying it without even thinking things through. Now she realized why they had pretended to be in a hurry.

“Aria? Hey! It is you!”

Aria turned around to find Liam standing to her left with a beautiful girl in his arms. Aria greeted him with a smile and made her way towards him.

“Hi, Liam! Nice Batman costume!”

“Speak for yourself! You look amazing! I didn’t recognize you when you first arrived!”

Aria grimaced before looking down at her outfit bashfully.

“Yeah. Umm- It was a last moment thing.”

Liam just grinned at Aria before introducing her to the girl who had her arms locked with his as his girlfriend, Victoria. Apparently, the poor girl had flown all the way from England to be with him for only a week. Aria was soon joined by Liana and Carol and they were so engrossed in conversation, that Aria didn’t notice the tall form looming behind her before Liam spoke up.

“Harry! What are you doing standing over there? Come on over!”

Aria tensed when she felt Harry’s arm brush against her as he stood abreast her. His cologne filled her senses and she found herself breathing him in. Liam started telling them something about Harry, but Aria didn’t hear a thing as she stood frozen in her spot, fixedly staring at the ground. It didn’t seem as though he had recognized her or Liana and Carol yet, or at least he didn’t acknowledge their presence.

“Aria! Carol! Hey, guys!” came the excited voice of Nikhil from the porch. Aria turned towards him and waved but spun around when she heard Harry’s deep voice calling her name in confusion.

“Aria?”

He was looking down at her flabbergasted, trying to recognize her face through the makeup. His frown eventually vanished when his eyes reached hers, however his mouth formed an ‘o’. Aria felt satisfaction pass through her but it was short-lived because Harry started looking her up from top to toe. She could feel his eyes strip her down cloth by cloth, and as his eyes met hers once more, Aria noticed his eyes turning to a deeper shade of green.

She felt a sharp tug in her hand and turned to see Liana give her a pointed look, before she said.

“Let’s go inside. Shall we? We haven’t met Louis yet!” Liana turned her gaze towards Harry and glared at him, to which Harry just frowned. Aria quickly said her goodbyes to Liam and his girlfriend and started heading towards the house before Liana ended up killing Harry.



“Here!” Niall pushed a red cup on to Aria’s hand. “Drink up, Ari!”

Aria just grimaced at the swirling golden brown liquid in the cup to which Niall chuckled. Niall had been pretty forward with his compliments on Aria’s outfit while Krug had gaped at her open-mouthed. Although Aria was feeling beyond uncomfortable at the way some of the opposite sex were looking her up, she felt a guilty thrill from remembering how Harry had been dumbfounded by her bold outfit.

“You haven’t met Louis. Have you?” Niall cut through her thoughts.

“Oh umm- No! Where is he?”

“I’ll take you to him!” Niall guzzled down the rest of his drink in one go and ushered Aria to follow him.

Aria looked back at Liana and Carol for reassurance, and they gave her the thumbs up, each with a mischievous grin on their faces. To Aria’s complete discomfort, they had conjured up a plan last night to make Louis confess his feelings towards Aria. It wasn’t as though she didn’t want to know if Louis really liked her, it was just that she couldn’t grasp around everything that was happening. It just felt way too fast for Aria’s liking.

Aria followed Niall all the way out of the house, feeling more and more aware of the glares and leers given to her by both men and women. She pulled down on her skirt once again, keeping her head down all the way.

“Niall!” Aria and Niall turned towards the direction of the voice and spotted Zayn, who had dressed up as a pirate. Aria became unnerved when she spotted two other guys sitting beside Zayn; Louis and Harry sat side by side speaking to a pretty brunette. Aria halted and took a step back from the unsettling sight, but Niall hollered back at Zayn and looked back at Aria to speak.
“Come on! They’re right there!

Aria hesitantly followed behind Niall. The sight of the two of them sitting together intimidated her for some odd reason. Harry was quick to spot her and whispered something to Louis. Louis looked up and noticed Aria for the first time. He looked even more astonished by her outfit than Harry had. Aria managed to make her lips work and smile at him, but Louis just stared at her with his jaw hanging open.

“Wow!” Louis whispered to himself with a serious face, still shaken up and looking her up from top to bottom. Aria grinned at Louis before taking a small peek at Harry who was staring at Louis with a frown on his forehead.

“I mean hey!” Louis fixed his slip, shaking out of his thoughts and smiling at Aria. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Yeah! It was sort of a last minute thing!”

“Really? Cause you look pretty prepared to me!”

Aria’s eyes landed on the owner of the deep voice, who seemed a bit irritated. She noticed his outfit for the first time that night. He looked absolutely gorgeous in his cowboy outfit; a complete contrast to his British heredity. Aria felt herself wishing she could lasso him and hold him hostage for the rest of the night.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Louis speaking up and she felt herself blush, when she realized that Harry had noticed her ogling him up, by the twitch of his lips.

“What he’s trying to say is that you look absolutely breath taking!” Louis put in, embarrassed by his friend’s lack of etiquette. Aria felt herself cook up a plan to wipe away the smirk from Harry’s face.

“In that case, you wouldn’t mind showing me around. Would you?” Aria asked sweetly, widening her eyes as though to plead like a lost puppy. Aria felt content sink in when she saw that Harry’s smile had been wiped away.

“No! Not at all!” Louis replied instantly, and stood up to his full form. Aria smiled at him in gratitude and just before turning away, she grabbed the red cup that was in Harry’s hand and swigged down the contents in a single go. She felt the liquid burn down her throat and realized that Harry had chosen a stronger alcohol than the standard beer. She squinted her eyes till the burning sensation subsided and she heard three male voices speaking up simultaneously.

“Whoa!”

“Slow down, babe!”

“You okay?”

Aria looked towards Zayn, Louis and Harry and a giggle escaped from her lips when she saw their concerned faces. Aria could tell that the strong alcohol was getting to her head, but she felt a sense of rebellious freedom come over her. She handed the cup back to Harry, giving him a come-get-me smile before grabbing Louis’ hand and leading him back into the house.

Louis looked taken aback by the boldness in Aria’s behavior and turned his head to find Zayn smirking and winking at him in encouragement, while Harry just stood there with a deep scowl directed at Louis. Louis found himself confused more than ever about Aria and his best friend. Was there something he didn’t know about?



Aria and Louis laughed hysterically as they stared down at the rest of the people at the party from the balcony. Aria stopped herself and tried to gasp for air but ended up laughing even more. Both of them were drunk, but it looked like the alcohol had gotten to her head more than it had gotten to Louis, since she hadn’t drunk much before.

Louis managed to control himself and spoke up. “You know you were right!”

“About what?” Aria asked, her shoulders still shaking from chuckling.

“About you having two left feet!”

Aria punched Louis’ arm lightheartedly, making Louis rub the spot in mock hurt. She recalled how Louis had insisted her to dance with him but she had refused telling him how much she sucked at it. Her decision had soon changed when she had noticed Harry dancing with the same brunette that she had seen him talking to earlier. Aria had pretended not to be bothered by this sight and had pulled Louis towards the dance floor, finishing another cup of beer on her way.

“Can I ask you something?” Louis broke her train of thoughts by looking at her seriously.

“Yeah! Go ahead!”

“Is everything alright between you and Harry?”

Aria almost choked on the fourth cup of beer that she had drinking. She coughed, out of breath, while Louis tried to pat her back.

“You okay?”

“Uh- yeah! I’m fine!” Aria managed to put up a smile on her face before continuing. “What do you mean between Harry and I?”

“I don’t know. I felt some sort of tension between you two.”

“No! Of course n-not!” Aria chocked on her own words as she lied through her teeth. If Louis ever found out that she has had a crush on Harry for the past six years, he would probably think that she was some sort of a creep or stalker.

“That’s good because I don’t want you to dislike any of my best mates.” Louis smiled secretively and took a sip from his cup, now leaning forward against the railing of the balcony. Aria did the same and a frown appeared on her face once her slow functioning brain worked out the meaning of his words.

“Hold up! Harry’s one of your best friends?”

“Well yeah!” Louis exclaimed before looking down as if in deep thought. “Or at least he was!”

Aria thought she heard regret laced in Louis’ voice and knew that the smile that Louis was giving her now was forced. She could tell that it was an uncharted territory and that she needed to tread through this topic cautiously. So, she asked him as casually as she could.

“So, umm- what happened to change that?”

Louis sighed resignedly and gave her another one of those sad, forced smiles and Aria could tell he wouldn’t tell her the complete truth.

“I guess- we just grew apart.”

Louis turned away from Aria and started drinking from his cup once again. Aria felt horrible making him remember something that made him so vulnerable so she did the first thing that came to her mind. She turned him around and gave him a hug.

“I’m sorry!” She whispered against his shoulder and tightened her arms around him. Aria knew how dreadful it felt to lose a best friend. At least Harry wasn’t Louis’ arch enemy and they didn’t hate each other with their lives.

Aria felt Louis’ hands slowly creep up behind her as he hugged her back. They stood there for almost a minute before Aria suddenly remembered Liana and Carol’s words: It’s true! You know he likes you, Ari!

The reminder was enough to rupture the friendly mood and Aria felt herself pulling back from the embrace, with a blush creeping onto her cheeks.Aria didn’t meet Louis’ eye and stared at the ground for the longest time, biting down on her lips.

“Umm- sorry about tha-“ Aria stopped apologizing mid way when she glanced up to see the look in Louis’ eyes. His blue eyes had turned to a deeper shade and he was looking down at Aria’s lips and then back at her eyes. Aria felt his face inching towards her and her heart started beating wildly against her chest. She tried to take a step back but felt the railing against her back.

“Louis.“ Aria tried to jostle him out of his hypnotized state but felt herself getting dragged into it by the look in his eyes.

Louis’ nose was just inches away from Aria’s and she couldn’t help but close her eyes, anticipating the kiss. Her head was way too clogged up by the alcohol to function properly and in a way, somewhere deep down in her brain, she wanted to know how it would be like to cross the line of friendship between the two of them.

“Not yet!” Louis whispered against Aria’s lips, his hot breath making all the hair in Aria’s body stand up.

It took a minute for Aria to decipher what he had said since her head was still a bit foggy. She opened her eyes as soon as she felt him draw back from her.

“Not just yet!” Louis whispered almost to himself but it was enough to bring Aria back from her reverie.

Louis backed away from Aria, his eyes still holding hers as he walked back inside, leaving Aria standing there with her mouth hanging open.



“Does my breath stink?” Aria opened her mouth for Liana and Carol, who were sitting in the middle of the stairs, as drunk as Aria.

“Yes! You reek from all that alcohol!” Liana grimaced, without actually smelling Aria’s open mouth.

“No! It’s just- why do guys hate kissing me? I mean my mouth can’t smell that bad. Can it? First, Harry does it and then denies the entire thing and now Louis doesn’t even wanna kiss me!” Aria pouted, her words becoming a slur by the end.

“Men are such pigs!” Carol muttered, loathingly. She was still sulking over the fact that Jack had promised to come to the party but had left her hanging.

“Amen to that!” Liana exclaimed, holding her cup up.

“Oh my God! Is that maid-girl?”

Aria heard a random girl shout and point towards her.

“We have to tell Amy!”, another exclaimed.

“Ari, hide! Now! Amy’s coming!” Carol spoke up, getting up from the stairs.

“What? Where?” Aria asked, panic evident in her voice as she got up with shaky legs.

“Go upstairs! We’ll go downstairs so that she thinks you’re with us!”, Liana put in, getting up as well.

Aria spun around and made her way up the stairs. She reached the corridor brimmed with people and almost staggered her way through. She tried opening a few doors but they were locked and Aria could tell what people were doing inside it. The thought made her queasy for some reason.

As she tried to make her way towards the end of the corridor, someone grabbeded her hand and pulled her inside a dark room, shutting the door. Aria tried to squint in the darkness to see who it was but in vain. Utter terror started setting in once she realized that this could be any random, drunk creep trying to have his way with her. Aria opened her mouth to scream for help but her words were muffled when a large, warm hand covered up her mouth.

“Sshh! Babe, it’s me!”

Aria heard the deep velvety voice of Harry Styles as his body leant against her own to stop her from struggling. She stopped shouting but her entire body tensed up wondering why on earth Harry would pull her into a dark secluded room.

Notes

A/N: Hi, lovelies! :D So, I know this chapter took forever but I had a writer's block. I know it didn't turn out to be as good as you all expected but for some reason I couldn't get my head to function when I was writing this chapter down. Please don't hate me. :( It's 4 a.m here so I will reply back to all of you tomorrow! I'm sorry about all the hassle!

And thank you so freaking much for all the love and support! :D We don't know what we would've done without you! Thankkkkkk yyyyyyyoooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!! We love you to bits and pieces! :D <3 x

Please keep voting, subscribing and leaving feedbacks? :) We love you! <3

S/O: AbiiHoran_, Thatband1d, Niall_kiss_me_, ChloewuvsHarry, jenlep, Elizabeth1Dfan, curlyhipstahh, EmStyles 1993, Canadianeeh, hormoniall, Harryscupcakeox, awaywithwords, PauliStyles, Niallsgirl, Gabby Tomkins, Meowimafishy, ashleyyyyy2468, Sofie, Ciao Niccie, Amber Night, Nowshin Styles, Zizzle Stick, Claudia Stylinson, Tomlinson is my love, MorrocanQueen and Zoe Malikstagram!

These people have helped me go through a very crucial phase of my life! I can't thank them enough for being so incredibly supportive! :') All I want to say is that I'm eternally grateful to you guys for all your kind words through the comments and messages. :') I will forever be indebted to you all!

I know not all of these readers write stories but for those who do, everyone please go check out their stories! They are exceptionally brilliant writers and I envy them all! :D Please go vote, subscribe and comment on their stories! I promise they won't disappoint since I myself am reading most of their stories! :D Love you guys to bits and pieces! :D <3 x -N.K

Comments

Hey I have read your stories and subscribed to them and. Ang wait until they are updated. Hope everything is okay thanks

@Nam.Annie

haha.. you took your time. It's not a crime :) I hope you are well :)

@Anwyn
Am I 10 months too late? :( Don't hate me.

Nam.Annie Nam.Annie
4/21/16

@Ziamesomelove
On it, love. :)

Nam.Annie Nam.Annie
4/21/16

Please update this story. I need to get back to this.

Ziamesomelove Ziamesomelove
4/19/16