Descendants.
paper doll, come try it on.
Harry 10:07pm
I’ll be home at 11.
Come over.
Blair 10:10pm
Hello, to you too.
Nice to know you’re still alive.
And no.
Harry 10:12pm
What do you mean no?
COME.
OVER.
Blair 10:22pm
I’m busy, Harry.
Harry 10:23pm
I’ve been gone for 12 days.
Blair 10:24pm
I said I’m busy.
“Earth to Blair.” Georgia waved a hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention. A group of girls from the office had decided to make Thursday night the night that we walked across the street to the pub and drank away our week. This was only the second one I’d been to since I started, but it was already a tradition I looked forward to. Most of the women in the office were extremely pleasant to be around. There were only a handful that we refrained from bringing with us. Negative Nancy’s weren’t allowed.
Plus, they were big time gossips. And we’d discovered the more alcohol we consumed, the more we liked to discuss just how attractive the men we worked with were. Besides Blake, there were few upper level management members who were easy on the eyes.
“Sorry.” I sighed. I hadn’t had contact with Harry for a few weeks, but Liam had told me he’d been a real bear lately. Something about working himself into the ground that he always did when they started to get the tiniest bit busy again.
“You okay?” Heather, one of the other editors on my team, asked.
“I’m irritated. Do you guys ever just want to find someone who doesn’t act like a child when it comes to relationships?” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Not even relationships. I can’t even call it that. It was a fuck-and-run, to be honest.”
“He ran?” Georgia raised one eyebrow. “Or you did?”
“Technically, I was so drunk I forgot I actually slept with him.” The three women at the table burst into a fit of giggles. Georgia had tears rolling down her face within seconds, Heather was gesturing that she couldn’t breathe, and Maddy, our HR consultant, had her head on the edge of the table, but her shoulders were shaking with laughter. I smiled at the three of them, glad that someone found a little humor in my situation.
“But,” I continued. “He left the very next day. He’s been out of town for the past two weeks for work and I haven’t heard a word from him. Now that he’s almost home, he wants me to drop everything and be waiting for him when he gets back.”
“Was the sex good, at least?” Maddy wiggled her eyebrows, a mischevious grin on her pale face.
I paused, before I shook my head and laughed. “I can’t remember.”
As we struggled to catch our breath, the bodies in pub multipied almost instantly. A girl in hysterics stumbled into our table, sending our drinks crashing to the floor. She didn’t stop. She didn’t apologize. She definitely didn’t bother to buy us new drinks.
“What the hell is going on?” Heather shouted over the sudden rise in volume. “I have never seen this place so crazy.”
My stomach sank rapidly. The only other time I had seen this sort of immediate reaction was when I had gone out with all the guys. If it was just one or two of them, the reaction wasn’t as strong. But as soon as teenage girls got wind that their future husbands were in the building, all bets were off.
“One Direction!” I shouted. Heather and Maddy looked at me, confusion written on their faces. But Georgia nodded in agreement.
“I’ve seen it before.”
I looked around, trying to find out where they were. There were two options: try to keep myself hidden and fight the crowd, or find the VIP section and join in where at least the drinks would be free and the crowd would be a fraction of the size. I knew what the girls were going to want: free drinks. Grabbing my purse, I shouted for them to follow me and weaved my way through the wall-to-wall sea of people. There was about to be a fist fight when a lady grabbed the back of my sweater and almost threw me flat on the floor. If one of the security guards hadn’t been there to witness it, she would have had my fist in her face in a hurry.
“Miss Blair,” he said helping me to my feet. “I’m so sorry.” I shook it off and held up four fingers, letting him know how many of us there were. He moved the rope into the VIP section to the side and allowed us to enter.
“Jesus, Blair!” Georgia grabbed my arm, holding it out to the side, checking for injuries. She was overdramatic, if anything. Before she could assess any further damage, I felt a familiar arm hook around my neck and pull me in for a hug. I hadn’t taken into account how much I’d missed my little brother until I got him back again.
I felt him kiss the side of my face, squeezing me in tighter to his side, as he introduced himself to my friends.
“I take it you three have been taking good care of my sister while I’ve been out of town for a bit?” Their shock was obvious. “Ah, she didn’t tell you, eh?”
“We honestly had no idea.” Heather mumbled.
“I’m not surprised.” Liam laughed. “I’m Liam. The rest of the knuckleheads are around here somewhere. Missed you, B. Say hi to Sophia at some point, yeah?” And just like that, he was gone. With only a small amount of teasing from my friends, we grabbed a drink from a waiter passing and walked towards one of the tables.
I hated to admit that the second I saw him, every inch of me wanted to be on every inch of him. If it weren’t for the leggy blonde attached to his face, her body draped over his, I might have shown him that. Instead, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, my fingers moving faster than my brain had a chance to register what I was doing.
Blair 12:26am
I thought you didn’t act like that.
I watched from behind Georgia as he pulled his phone out from under his hip, taking both hands off the girl in front of him to form a response.
Harry 12:27am
I thought you were busy.
Blair 12:28am
You obviously are.
Now who’s lying?
His hands reached down, onto the girl’s hips, as he pushed her off his lap and onto the chair next to him. She wore an embarrassed look of defeat and for a second, I almost felt bad for her. Resting his elbows on his bent knees, he concentrated on the phone in his hands.
Harry 12:37am
Cut the shit, Blair.
Where are you?
Blair 12:41am
Straight ahead.
I saw the second he found me. In one solid movement, he slid his chair back, causing it to fall to the ground. He didn’t bother to pick it up, as he cut straight across the room. I bit the inside of my cheek. Before he reached the table, I heard Maddy sigh beside me.
“Please tell me that is your fuck-and-run.”
I didn’t have a chance to answer before he’d grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the table. I was pretty sure I could hear Georgia start to protest at his agressivness, when Heather told her to politely stop talking, for once in her life. I couldn’t help the goofy grin that crept up on my face when he roughly spun me around to face him, alone in the shadows and too far away for anyone to hear our conversation.
“What are you smiling about?!” His index finger snaked out and grabbed the nearest belt loop on my jeans, pulling me flush with his body. I put both hands on his chest, trying my hardest to push him back a step or two. I couldn’t concentrate when he was so close. He didn’t budge.
Instead, his hands dropped to my back pockets as he squeezed, hard.
“I’ve had dreams about this arse.”
“You haven’t said a word to me since you threw a mug at my head and you want me to just sit by as you cop a feel wherever you want?” I elbowed his arms away from my body, my temper starting to flare.
“Yes.”
“Fuck you.” I bit out, my fists connecting with the toned muscle of his chest. I hit him repeatidly, without any sort of reaction. Finally, he grabbed one wrist in each hand and hauled me up on my tip toes, my eyes spitting fire directly in front of his.
“Oh, baby.” He growled. “I wish you would.” His lips crushed against mine. I opened my mouth just enough to suck his lower lip in between mine before I bit down, causing him to jump backwards. Instead of pushing me away like I was expecting, the humor in his pupils dilated futher. I managed to untangle myself from his grasp, stalking back to the table where the girls still sat, now thankfully distracted by Niall and Zayn.
Two very long minutes later, I grabbed my phone and sighed in defeat.
Blair 1:23am
8214 Lyons Dr.
#5.
20 minutes.
Don’t be late.
I’ll be home at 11.
Come over.
Blair 10:10pm
Hello, to you too.
Nice to know you’re still alive.
And no.
Harry 10:12pm
What do you mean no?
COME.
OVER.
Blair 10:22pm
I’m busy, Harry.
Harry 10:23pm
I’ve been gone for 12 days.
Blair 10:24pm
I said I’m busy.
“Earth to Blair.” Georgia waved a hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention. A group of girls from the office had decided to make Thursday night the night that we walked across the street to the pub and drank away our week. This was only the second one I’d been to since I started, but it was already a tradition I looked forward to. Most of the women in the office were extremely pleasant to be around. There were only a handful that we refrained from bringing with us. Negative Nancy’s weren’t allowed.
Plus, they were big time gossips. And we’d discovered the more alcohol we consumed, the more we liked to discuss just how attractive the men we worked with were. Besides Blake, there were few upper level management members who were easy on the eyes.
“Sorry.” I sighed. I hadn’t had contact with Harry for a few weeks, but Liam had told me he’d been a real bear lately. Something about working himself into the ground that he always did when they started to get the tiniest bit busy again.
“You okay?” Heather, one of the other editors on my team, asked.
“I’m irritated. Do you guys ever just want to find someone who doesn’t act like a child when it comes to relationships?” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Not even relationships. I can’t even call it that. It was a fuck-and-run, to be honest.”
“He ran?” Georgia raised one eyebrow. “Or you did?”
“Technically, I was so drunk I forgot I actually slept with him.” The three women at the table burst into a fit of giggles. Georgia had tears rolling down her face within seconds, Heather was gesturing that she couldn’t breathe, and Maddy, our HR consultant, had her head on the edge of the table, but her shoulders were shaking with laughter. I smiled at the three of them, glad that someone found a little humor in my situation.
“But,” I continued. “He left the very next day. He’s been out of town for the past two weeks for work and I haven’t heard a word from him. Now that he’s almost home, he wants me to drop everything and be waiting for him when he gets back.”
“Was the sex good, at least?” Maddy wiggled her eyebrows, a mischevious grin on her pale face.
I paused, before I shook my head and laughed. “I can’t remember.”
As we struggled to catch our breath, the bodies in pub multipied almost instantly. A girl in hysterics stumbled into our table, sending our drinks crashing to the floor. She didn’t stop. She didn’t apologize. She definitely didn’t bother to buy us new drinks.
“What the hell is going on?” Heather shouted over the sudden rise in volume. “I have never seen this place so crazy.”
My stomach sank rapidly. The only other time I had seen this sort of immediate reaction was when I had gone out with all the guys. If it was just one or two of them, the reaction wasn’t as strong. But as soon as teenage girls got wind that their future husbands were in the building, all bets were off.
“One Direction!” I shouted. Heather and Maddy looked at me, confusion written on their faces. But Georgia nodded in agreement.
“I’ve seen it before.”
I looked around, trying to find out where they were. There were two options: try to keep myself hidden and fight the crowd, or find the VIP section and join in where at least the drinks would be free and the crowd would be a fraction of the size. I knew what the girls were going to want: free drinks. Grabbing my purse, I shouted for them to follow me and weaved my way through the wall-to-wall sea of people. There was about to be a fist fight when a lady grabbed the back of my sweater and almost threw me flat on the floor. If one of the security guards hadn’t been there to witness it, she would have had my fist in her face in a hurry.
“Miss Blair,” he said helping me to my feet. “I’m so sorry.” I shook it off and held up four fingers, letting him know how many of us there were. He moved the rope into the VIP section to the side and allowed us to enter.
“Jesus, Blair!” Georgia grabbed my arm, holding it out to the side, checking for injuries. She was overdramatic, if anything. Before she could assess any further damage, I felt a familiar arm hook around my neck and pull me in for a hug. I hadn’t taken into account how much I’d missed my little brother until I got him back again.
I felt him kiss the side of my face, squeezing me in tighter to his side, as he introduced himself to my friends.
“I take it you three have been taking good care of my sister while I’ve been out of town for a bit?” Their shock was obvious. “Ah, she didn’t tell you, eh?”
“We honestly had no idea.” Heather mumbled.
“I’m not surprised.” Liam laughed. “I’m Liam. The rest of the knuckleheads are around here somewhere. Missed you, B. Say hi to Sophia at some point, yeah?” And just like that, he was gone. With only a small amount of teasing from my friends, we grabbed a drink from a waiter passing and walked towards one of the tables.
I hated to admit that the second I saw him, every inch of me wanted to be on every inch of him. If it weren’t for the leggy blonde attached to his face, her body draped over his, I might have shown him that. Instead, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, my fingers moving faster than my brain had a chance to register what I was doing.
Blair 12:26am
I thought you didn’t act like that.
I watched from behind Georgia as he pulled his phone out from under his hip, taking both hands off the girl in front of him to form a response.
Harry 12:27am
I thought you were busy.
Blair 12:28am
You obviously are.
Now who’s lying?
His hands reached down, onto the girl’s hips, as he pushed her off his lap and onto the chair next to him. She wore an embarrassed look of defeat and for a second, I almost felt bad for her. Resting his elbows on his bent knees, he concentrated on the phone in his hands.
Harry 12:37am
Cut the shit, Blair.
Where are you?
Blair 12:41am
Straight ahead.
I saw the second he found me. In one solid movement, he slid his chair back, causing it to fall to the ground. He didn’t bother to pick it up, as he cut straight across the room. I bit the inside of my cheek. Before he reached the table, I heard Maddy sigh beside me.
“Please tell me that is your fuck-and-run.”
I didn’t have a chance to answer before he’d grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the table. I was pretty sure I could hear Georgia start to protest at his agressivness, when Heather told her to politely stop talking, for once in her life. I couldn’t help the goofy grin that crept up on my face when he roughly spun me around to face him, alone in the shadows and too far away for anyone to hear our conversation.
“What are you smiling about?!” His index finger snaked out and grabbed the nearest belt loop on my jeans, pulling me flush with his body. I put both hands on his chest, trying my hardest to push him back a step or two. I couldn’t concentrate when he was so close. He didn’t budge.
Instead, his hands dropped to my back pockets as he squeezed, hard.
“I’ve had dreams about this arse.”
“You haven’t said a word to me since you threw a mug at my head and you want me to just sit by as you cop a feel wherever you want?” I elbowed his arms away from my body, my temper starting to flare.
“Yes.”
“Fuck you.” I bit out, my fists connecting with the toned muscle of his chest. I hit him repeatidly, without any sort of reaction. Finally, he grabbed one wrist in each hand and hauled me up on my tip toes, my eyes spitting fire directly in front of his.
“Oh, baby.” He growled. “I wish you would.” His lips crushed against mine. I opened my mouth just enough to suck his lower lip in between mine before I bit down, causing him to jump backwards. Instead of pushing me away like I was expecting, the humor in his pupils dilated futher. I managed to untangle myself from his grasp, stalking back to the table where the girls still sat, now thankfully distracted by Niall and Zayn.
Two very long minutes later, I grabbed my phone and sighed in defeat.
Blair 1:23am
8214 Lyons Dr.
#5.
20 minutes.
Don’t be late.
Notes
Chapter Title lyrics: "Paper Doll" by John Mayer.
