In And Out Of Love

For once, Naomi was right on time. Actually, she was by my house five minutes earlier, than she was supposed to be. It had started to rain, so I grabbed my umbrella and pulled my hood on as I stepped outside.

"Why are you so early? You're never early!" I laughed as I sat on the passenger seat of Naomi's car.

"I had to get out of our house. Mom and dad were all flirty to one another the whole day and I had enough of it!" She said and rolled her eyes.

"Oh my god! They do that? But it's cute though, at least they are happy together." I said and wished I could have a relationship like that, when I was older.

"Yeah, I guess so. By the way, do you think Harry will be there tonight?" Naomi's question surprised me.

"Um... Maybe. I don't really know. But come to think of it, he might. Why?" I looked at Naomi, who was now smiling a bit. I knew what that smile was for.

"I actually hope to see him. I need to apologise to him. And then try to win him over again!" She laughed.

"Haha, right. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you." Truthfully, I didn't want to keep my fingers crossed. I had no idea, why I was so into him myself. But she was the first one to attempt anything with him and she was my best friend. I had to respect that. And I had to get Harry off of my mind.

We arrived to the building, where the boys always rehearsed for upcoming gigs. It was still pouring rain, so I opened my umbrella as we got out of the car. We both squeezed under it and ran inside. We could already hear singing.

"Heart beats harder, time escapes me, trembling hands touch skin, it makes this harder... And the tears stream down my face..." Liam sang softly and Niall played the guitar.

The lads acknowledged our arrival, but finished the song as if nothing had happened. They sounded so good! We were just sitting in silence with Naomi and listening to them. After they had done two songs, they took a break and we started clapping loudly to them.

"Hey girls, how are you?" Niall said as they came up to us.

"Good, good. We already missed you, so we decided to come here." Naomi smiled.

"Oh c'mon, you just didn't have anything better to do!" Louis said and shook his head as he looked at Naomi. We started laughing at his fair comment.

"Maybe so... But we still enjoy hearing you guys sing. Our evening could definitely be worse." I said honestly.

We were talking all together for a little while, mostly about Naomi's drunken state last night. Liam was on the phone, talking to someone. I tried to make out if he was talking with Harry, but he was too quick with his words. He saw me looking at him and walked over to me. I looked at him confused.

"Yes, this is Harry." He smiled and said, while Harry was still on the phone. Naomi gave me a weird look as she heard his name being mentioned. Liam walked away from us and continued talking and moving his free hand around as he spoke. As if Harry could see him.

"Why did he say it like that?" Naomi asked me.

"Um... No idea! He was just playing around. So, are you going to learn to play the guitar or what?" I changed the subject to what they had been talking about with Niall. Thankfully, she didn't ask about Harry or the call any more and went on to talking with Niall.

I got up from the scuffed out sofa and went to get a soda from the fridge. I left out a small squeal when I closed the door of the fridge because Liam was standing right behind it and made a silly face at me.

"Don't ever do that again!" I laughed and opened the coke can.

"Why, is my face really that scary?" He said innocently. I shook my head and told him he knew what I meant.

"Harry's coming here soon. Can you keep him company? We still need to practice. We can do something else later all together." Liam said and got himself a soda too.

"I think Naomi is more than happy to keep him company. No problem, he's in good hands." I tried to smile at my stupid joke.

"Thanks babe. Wait, there he is! How did you get here so fast? We were just on the phone!" Liam looked over my head at Harry and made me turn around too. Harry's hair was dripping wet from the rain outside.

"I was just driving around and I was nearby. What's up lad?" He laughed and gave a silly bro hug to Liam. I was staring at his dripping wet curly hair. Fuck this.

"Hey Grace, no hangover?" Harry came up to me and I snapped out of my dreams. Dreams about him.

"No, not at all!"

"It was that kebab, it helped you." Harry said thoughtfully. Damn, Naomi can't hear this.

"Probably yeah. Thanks for it again. So, you ready to hear these boys sing?" I needed to come up with something else fast. I got him a soda from the fridge as well.

"I can't wait to hear them! Let's go and sit there." He said and pointed towards the sofa.

We walked over to the sofa, the boys took their places and Naomi turned away from Niall. Her whole face lit up as she saw Harry sitting on the sofa. I had intentionally sat to the other end of it. She was smiling from ear to ear as she sat in between us. Harry was smiling too. Awesome.

"I'm so glad you came. I want to tell you how sorry I am about last night. I was so terrible! Please, forgive me." Naomi pleaded and pushed herself closer to Harry. He didn't move away.

"It's ok, really. I'm just glad to see you alright." Harry answered and looked at her with a smile on his face.

"I'm perfect. So tell me, how do you like it here so far?" Naomi started the conversation with Harry.

They were totally ignoring me, although probably not on purpose. I wasn't being very active myself. I listened to Naomi's questions about his life for a little while after I decided to move over towards the piano. Zayn nodded approvingly as I looked at him and pointed at the piano. I sat to the little bench and waited for their commands.

"Thanks Grace. You know this one, 'I Want'. Remember it?" Louis asked me.

"Sure thing, let's go." I just wanted to do something to get my mind off of Naomi and Harry talking and smiling at each other.

Zayn started the first verse of the song. I banged the piano probably a little too enthusiastically, but couldn't care less. I saw from the corner of my eye as Harry turned to look at me. They had stopped talking. I took a quick look at the boys singing in front of me and saw Harry now smiling at me. Naomi was smiling too, clueless about my feelings.

"Wow, that was amazing! Thanks Grace for joining in. We should do this more often!" Liam said happily and messed with my hair.

"Don't!" I laughed. "It was a lot of fun, definitely!" I got up from the bench and went to check my phone.

"Hey, that was really good. You all sound like you could do this for living. I had no idea, Liam. Do you honestly do these songs yourselves?" Harry asked obviously amazed by what he had just heard.

"Yeah man. It's all us. And thanks, means a lot." Liam said and the others nodded beside him.

I pretended to be still occupied with my phone. Naomi sneaked outside with Zayn to have a cigarette. Harry looked at me and I had to look back. He didn't say anything, but just motioned with his hand for me to come and sit next to him. I obeyed and sat next to him, not too close though.

"You got some talent, Grace. I was really impressed. Have you been playing for long?" Harry asked with a more serious face. He pushed his hair back with his fingers and I got shivers as he did it.

"For about three years now. Every now and then I kind of have a break from it and then I play for days straight. It's kind of a love-hate thing. I'm not very patient, so I get frustrated easily if I don't learn something fast enough. But on the other hand, it's like therapy for me and makes me calmer." I blabbed on and thought he could care less about my long answer.

"Wow, three years only. You're then just naturally talented. Keep it up!" He smiled and looked surprised.
He turned his head slowly and looked at the lads. "Are we doing something else tonight?" He asked and turned to look at me again. His eyes were piercing through mine - unintentionally.

"I think so, yeah. Movie maybe? The weather sucks now, so we can't really do anything outside either."

"Movies are fun, let's do that. Let me see what they have on right now." He said thoughtfully and took his phone from his pocket. "Great! You know that new Paranormal Activity movie they have out? We have to see that!" He was super excited and I was just in shock.

"Are you kidding? I can't sleep at night, if we go see that!" Harry started laughing. "No, I'm serious." I continued.

"Oh." He said and stopped laughing. "I'll hold your hand."

"Haha, at night? I don't think so. Let's ask the others. I'll go, if it's fine with everyone else." I gave in. We asked and of course everyone agreed. Naomi was practically jumping with excitement and I had to laugh at her being so funny.

"Can I sit next to him? He is so hot, I'm telling you! I can't wait to get him under the covers." Naomi said quietly as we were together in the toilet.

"Naomi! Wait for a minute here. Why can't you just try to have a normal relationship with him first, you know, date him? Don't give everything in the beginning." I said and really meant it.

"I know, I know. I just like sex way too much to have a boring relationship. And who knows, maybe he is the one I could actually date for a little longer. I can't wait to taste his lips." She said and bit her lower lip.

"You're impossible!" I laughed. I decided to let go of my crush and support my friend.

We went to the movies, got popcorn, soda and some candy and sat to the almost empty theatre as it was already 10.30pm. Naomi went to sit to the end of the row, Harry following her, then Liam, then me and the rest of the lads. Liam turned around and wanted to switch places with me.

"I thought you were Niall! I need to sit next to him, he is the only one who can calm me down, if needed." He joked, took me by the shoulders and placed me next to Harry.

"Niall is cute and everything, but he is a boy!" We all started laughing. I wasn't exactly happy about my new seating, but I had to accept it in order to deal with Harry and Naomi in the future.

The movie started and ten minutes in, Naomi was already all over Harry, pretending to be scared as hell. Or maybe she was. I know I was. I ducked my head over to Liam a couple of times and held my popcorn in front of my face and peeked behind it several times at the scariest parts.

"You ok? It's really not that scary." Harry leaned in and whispered to my ear. I could smell his cologne and it was good, very good.

"Yes it is. I won't be sleeping tonight." I whispered back.

I saw Naomi grabbing Harry's hand and he didn't hesitate to hold hers. I turned away and watched the rest of the movie trying not to think about them. It was the first time me and Naomi had been interested about the same guy and it was not fun. For Naomi, it was mostly just about sleeping with him. For me, I actually really liked him, he was different. But was it worth loosing my best friend?

Notes

Update :)

Have you you ever been interested about the same guy as a good friend of yours? How did it turn out?