Blue

I chalked it up to a string of excellent, good luck that the taxi driver knew what I was talking about when I asked him to take me to the Jimmy Kimmel show.

The entire bridal party—Vi included—was furious with me. Somehow, word had gotten out (Vi, I’m looking at you) that I’d had a one night stand and had picked some stranger with a penis over eight women and a bride who, supposedly, were my sisters for life. Whatever. Even if things ended with Harry at this moment in time, I’d feel a closer connection to him in twenty years than my sorority sisters. Let them be pissed. I was very, very rapidly falling in love.

With limited clothing options, I went for comfort and sexiness for my show/dinner/club ensemble: extremely short blue velvet shorts, black boots that rose up above my knees, and a white tube top with straps that criss-crossed around my neck. I left my hair down, teasing up the crown into a retro mini-bouffant and flipped the ends out. It was casual, but sexy. Just like me.

I started my loop around the venue. I’d been to approximately ten thousand rock concerts in my life and I knew, eventually, I’d stumble upon the will call booth. The key was just to look confident and like I totally meant to stroll around the building like this. With a suitcase. It’s all good. All part of the plan.

And then, there it was: the will call booth. I strolled up to it, feigning confidence with each step. “Hi.”

The man behind the desk looked bored. “Hello.”

“I’m here to pick up tickets? Um. For Clementine Darling?”

The man opened a drawer and thumbed through a stack of files, finally withdrawing a slim envelope. “Clementine….Darling.”

“Yeah.” He regarded me and then opened the envelope, unfolding a sheet of paper. He looked up. “Okay, Miss Darling, you just need to wait a couple minutes. I just need to make a quick call.”

“That’s fine.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. No, no actually that’s not okay. These are just supposed to be tickets. I’m supposed to see Harry do….um….whatever it is Harry is here to do. That doesn’t take a phone call. Hand me the damn tickets and move along.

To my horror, he picked up a telephone and, staring at the paper, dialed a number. There was a brief, uncomfortable pause and then, in a muffled voice, he said into the receiver, “Yes, this is Glen at the Will Call booth. Yes. I have a Miss Clementine Darling here to pick up her ticket. Mmm-hmm. Yes. Yes sir. Will do.”

I stared at him. What the fuck did that mean?

He answered, as if he’d telepathically heard my question. “You’re just going to need to wait here a moment, Miss Darling. Someone will be around in a moment.”

Fuck. Well, what did that mean? My stomach bottomed out in my body. Did this mean I really was just a one night/two fuck stand? Was this just a set up to get rid of me? Harry didn’t seem like that kind of guy at all, I mean, for Christ sake he left possibly the most romantic song I’d ever heard as the ring tone to his number and picture on my cell phone. He said he liked me. He meant it….right?

I smiled nervously at the booth attendant. Well, this was awkward. He probably knew what was going on and, here I was, just hanging out at the booth waiting for…um…someone to show up and…deal with me? Get rid of me? Who knew?

I stared out at the massive line waiting to get into the venue. The crowd was mostly girls—pre-teen to at least fifteen to twenty years older than me—waiting to get in to see this group, One Direction. I was fairly sure I’d met most of them at the wedding reception, though to be fair, I wasn’t entirely sure how many guys were in the group. Still, the guys I’d met seemed like perfectly normal individuals. Maybe not Harry, of course, he was more on par with a sex god, but they were just guys. The crowd was literally buzzing with electricity: they were here to see Them. The boys of One Direction. Weird.

I’d never had an allegiance to a band. I had an allegiance to Beethoven and Mozart, I guess, but that was different. Girls in the crowd were crying. Over normal guys.

Before I had further time to study this bizarre behavior, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned; a bulked up, shaved head, tall guy was staring at me. “You’re Clementine, aren’t you?”

I stared right back, not flinching or blinking. “In a manner of speaking.”

“You’ve got blue hair.”

“You’re attentive to detail.”

He picked up my suitcase and nodded towards the gate. “I’m going to need you to come with me.” He said it really loud and that made me nervous. What the fuck did that mean? Was I being arrested? He didn’t look like a cop or someone of authority—which, in a way, was worth nothing, as I blindly followed him through the gate and through the mass crowd of girls and women. I heard snickers behind me. I felt my cheeks flush; I could hear the whispers, “I wonder what she did?” and “Look at her getting taken out of the venue! She must have done something really bad” and, my personal favorite, “Does she have blue hair?” It was almost funny—and, if I actually knew where this Rambo-wanna be was taking me, I might actually see humor in the situation. Maybe he was just taking me the roundabout way to the sidewalk. Maybe I was being made an example of what happens when you sleep around.

But, to my immediate surprise, instead of kicking me to the curb, he led me into the theater and down a long hallway. We were promptly alone, casually walking down a maze of 40s style corridors and glass windowed oak doors. In a soft voice, he said, “You’re Laney.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement of fact. I blinked. “Yes. That’s me.”

“Harry told me you were gorgeous.”

“Umm….you know Harry.” I tried to remember the path we’d just taken, just in case I was going to need to run back through it to safety. Odds weren’t in my favor. “That’s good.”

“I’m part of his security team.”

“Okay. I’m on board with that.” I was willing to go along with this, hoping on the off chance we’d actually end this march by finding Harry. He looked like a legit security guard. And, he knew my nickname was Clementine Darling. Nobody else knew that. Nobody, except Vi, a few people from Temple, and Harry Styles. “So…uh…am I in trouble?”

“Not unless you know something I don’t.” He laughed quietly. “Harry told me that you’d be here. I’m under strict order to bring you right to him, the second you showed up at will call. He told me I’d know it was you because of the blue hair and the, and I quote, slammin’ body.”

“Well, that’s random.” I blurted it out before I’d actually given thought to what I was saying. “Because, you know. This is weird.”

“I guess.”

“Does Harry ask for a lot of girls to be brought to him?”

“Nope.” He looked at me and then quickly looked away. “Just you.”

“Well, okay then.” I rubbed my arms with my hands, not necessarily because I was cold, but because I was still petrified this was some kind of joke and I was the punch line.

The guard seemed to sense my panic because he burst out laughing, slowing his pace considerably. “It’s okay, Laney. Harry told me you’re his girl. I’m taking you to him; you aren’t in trouble or getting kicked out or anything. He’s practically jumping up and down because he’s so excited to see you.”

“Uh….really?”

“Really. I’ve known Harry for three years—I’ve never seen him like this over a woman.” There was a brief pause. “But, now seeing you, I completely understand where he’s coming from.”

We walked in silence for several more minutes. I was trying to process exactly what was happening when, finally, he pushed opened a door and waited for me to step inside. The room was well lit, with a massive flat screen television at one end and three, plush couches facing the screen. At the side all was a long table, covered in bottles of water, platters of sandwiches, fruit, hummus and pita, chips, and a three tiered platter of various cakes, cookies, and brownies.

Harry was perched on the arm rest of one of the couches, now dressed in a patterned dress shirt (weird, but whatever), unbuttoned as his dress shirt was the night before, extremely tight black jeans, and brown leather boots. He was watching Louis and Liam set up a video game system, chuckling at the apparently inability to plug in the correct cables. The second the door opened, he turned; his face breaking into a broad smile. “Laney! Baby girl!”

I smiled, making a bee-line too him—never mind the silent security guard. Harry pulled me into his arms and planted a firm kiss on my lips. “How was the brunch? Were they pissed?”

“They definitely threw me under the bus. There was this unspoken, awkward communal knowledge that I’d slept with a guy and picked him over them.” I shrugged casually, mainly just thankful my trek ended in being with Harry and not, say, in prison. “But, I ate a lot of French toast and drank a lot of mimosas. I’m chalking it up as a victory, as victories go.”

“You look fucking amazing.” His voice was deliciously raspy, especially when he was trying to talk quietly. His hands slid down my hips. “I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off of you.”

“That’s what I was going for.” I smiled at him. “Sooo, I listened to the song you left me.”

His eyes lit up. “And?”

“It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Well, I mean it.” He tilted my head and kissed my deeply, his tongue brushing and teasing against mine. When he pulled back, he smiled again. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Funny thing: I went to check out of my hotel room and someone else did it for me.” I trailed my fingers down his cheek. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.”

“Thank you.” I touched my lips to his and then smiled at him. “Seriously. That really means a lot to me.”

He flashed me his dazzling smile. “You’re worth it.”

“Are we allowed to say hi to her now, Harry?” Louis waved at me, winking slyly. “Hey beautiful. Harry said we’re gonna pop your pop cherry tonight, since you don’t like our music. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Harry pulled me down onto the couch arm in front on him, cupping his hand over my hip. “That’s not exactly what I said, Lou, um, actually.”

“Louie, try plugging that cord in over there instead of right…yeah, that one.” Liam cocked his head towards me. “How are you at Nintendo?”

“Poor bordering on bad.”

“Excellent. I’m playing you first in Mario Kart.” Liam pointed at me, like he was calling me out.

“Wait, so why do you guys have an old Super Nintendo?” I glanced at their work. “No, dude, he was right before. That plug plugs in there. Then you just plug it into the wall.”

“When we do shows and concerts and the like, they have us fill out a list of things we’d enjoy having backstage to keep us occupied.” Harry swept my hair to the side and kissed my bare shoulder. “We always request lots of food and some kind of…electronic entertainment. And very loud music.”

“But whenever we do Jimmy Kimmel’s show, he thinks it’s hilarious to give us not quite what we asked for.” Louis motioned to the Nintendo. “We asked for a Playstation 4. And we got this.”

“Interesting.” I pointed at the game system. “It’s kind of useless without controllers, though.”

Liam held up two controllers, again pointing at me. “Got ‘em. Let’s go, Laney girl, accept the challenge.”

I pointed back at him. “Challenge accepted.” I squeezed Harry’s hand and then walked over to the other two guys, sitting on the floor next to Liam.

Louis hopped up on the couch above me. “I play winner.”

“Then prepare to play Liam, because I suck at video games.” I held the controller on my palm, judging the weight of my weapon. “My brother once broke a vase in our living room with one of these. He was aiming at my face and missed. Hilarious.”

As we set up the game, briefly arguing over who got the Yoshi car, I heard the door open and then close again. A voice, higher than Harry’s and thick with an Irish brogue, said, “Is that her?”

I raised my hand up in the air and waved. “I’m Laney! The often imitated but never surpassed.”

“And she’s mine, so you can keep your hands off.” Even this far into knowing him, I still couldn’t get over just how sexy his voice was: so deep and husky. Damn, he could read me the yellow pages and I’d be riveted.

“I’m Niall.” I turned and smiled at him; he smiled back, running his hand through his spikey blond hair. “You’re shorter than I thought you’d be, after hearing about your legs.”

I scoffed. “I’m five foot five inches of coiled steel. Haters gonna hate, but short girls rock.”

“So, you’re familiar with the game?” Liam poked my leg with his index finger. “Because if you’re not, that’s really going to benefit me.”

“Oh, I’m familiar with it. And I’m going to lose in a blaze of supreme glory.” I quickly cracked my knuckles and then grabbed the controller, hovering my fingers over the buttons. “No whammies, baby. Bring it.”

The green light flashed on screen and we both slammed our fingers down on to the buttons. Our cars leapt forward and, despite my obvious poor Nintendo playing ability, I wasn’t in last place. Hurray! “I can’t remember what buttons do what.”

“Too bad.” Liam was focused on the enormous screen. “That is not a legitimate excuse not to play.”

“Look here, you, I have plenty of other marketable skills.” I skidded off the road and spun out, firmly solidifying myself in last place. “First, I don’t drive like this in real life. Second, despite not having taken gymnastics in seven years, I can still do back flips and round offs, and third, I’m hilarious.”

“And she’s amazing in bed.” Harry mumbled. Even without looking at him, I could tell he was smiling.

I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “Not to brag. But yes.”

“And how do’ya know that, huh, Harry?” Louis asked, feigning innocence as he spoke.

Harry snickered. “Jealous?”

“You shot me with a shell!” Liam cried, clapping his hands to his forehead. “You’re not even moving and you shot me with a shell!”

“That’s called tactics, buddy. Don’t be jealous of my boogie.” I smiled at him. “Five foot five inches of coiled steel, remember?”

“Not fair. She’s distracting me with her legs.”

“Lies, all lies. Liam, dude, you know what’s really not fair?” I snickered.

“That’s you’re fucking Harry?”

“No, that’s in the awesome sauce category.” I fired another shell at him. “This isn’t fair.”

“You’d better drive, missy, because I’m coming after you.” Liam started pounding on the controller. “You and your cute American-isms and your sexy legs.”

“Hey, watch it. That’s my girl you’re talking about.”

I lost miserably as expected and handed the controller to Louis. “Avenge my defeat, sir.”

Harry had moved down onto the couch cushion and reached his hand out to me, beckoning me over to his side. I readily complied, sitting as close to him as I could without actually sitting on top of him. Although, that would have been hot.

He draped his arm around my shoulders and started gently swirling his fingertips over my skin. “Have I told you how gorgeous you look tonight?”

“Maybe once.”

He tugged me closer to him, tangling his free hand into my hair and holding my head steady. “I want you…right now.”

“We’re in a room full of your friends.” I leaned towards him and brushed my lips against his. “They might not appreciate it.”

“Or they might.”

I laughed and snuggled next to him, letting my fingertips slide to the warm flesh of his bare chest. “Well, I’ve checked out of my hotel and I’ve missed my flight home, so I’m pretty much at your mercy right now.”

He dropped his hand to my waist and pulled me to him, so close that I was practically laying on his chest. “So, if I asked you to stay with me forever, would you?”

I thought about it. I wasn’t sure if he was talking seriously about this or if it was just hypothetical, like, well sure, if you need help moving, you just let me know. Nobody really wants to help their friends’ move, no matter what they say. But…I liked Harry. Not just the sex—though I did love that—but I liked being around him. He made me laugh. He was charming. So, hypothetical or not, I knew my answer. “Sure.”

He smiled at me, gently kissing the corner of my mouth. “I like the sound of that.”

####

The seat Harry left for me in the audience was smack in the front row, next to Liam’s girlfriend Sophia. The girl on her other side was crying hysterically.

“So, you’re Laney.” She smiled warmly. “I’ve heard a lot about you in the past twenty-four hours.”

“Oh?” I wrinkled up my nose. “All good things I hope and…um…nothing out of Liam’s mouth that would make you want to punch me or something.”

She giggled. “No, but I do know Harry’s head over heels for you.”

I felt myself blush. “Well, I mean, we’ve had an amazing time together so far…but…we just met. I mean, yeah, I banged him like a door in a hurricane but…I…um…don’t know how he feels about me.”

“Do you like him?” I nodded. All of a sudden I felt very self-aware that this was actually, sort of, happening. This wasn’t just me and Harry having fun naked, this was me actually discussing a pseudo relationship.

And I was not yet convinced this was a relationship. Sophia said it herself, we’d known each other twenty-four hours. We’d had sex twice and agreed we liked each other. That didn’t equate to, ‘and this is my girlfriend Laney’ territory. At this point, we were just friends…who really liked each other…and liked having sex together….

“How long are you staying in LA for?” Sophia didn’t skip a beat. “Or are you from here?”

I slowly shook my head. “No, I’m from Virginia. I was only supposed to be here for the weekend, but I decided to stay…for…ah…an undetermined amount of time.”

“With him?”

I nodded.

She leaned back against her chair, obviously biting back a smile. “I think that’s your answer right there.”

####

“Okay, so we need a plan. Who is all going to Lure?” Liam draped his arm over Sophia’s shoulders. “Show of hands.”

Louis, Niall, Harry, and I obediently raised our hands.

“Me and Soph makes six.” Liam ticked off six fingers. “As long as someone drives really, really slow, we can all fit in one car. Because if we get pulled over, that’s bad.”

“You’ll need a designated driver and security,” the big dude from earlier, Sean, crossed his arms, “so Paul, Rick, and I are coming.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Who’s riding with who?” Liam narrowed his eyes. “I’m not driving Louis this time after the whole mooning incident, thank you very much.”

Harry slid his hands around my waist. “Laney’s with me.”

“The only person who complained about the mooning, Liam, was you because you’re lame.” Louis nudged Harry’s arm. “You’re not lame. Let me ride with you.”

I extended my hand to Liam, smiling broadly at him. “Hello, I’m Laney. I, too, am lame. In fact, I was recently voted ‘most lame’ in this weekend’s bridal party. I’m very excited.”

Liam started laughing and shook my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, love. We don’t think you’re lame, though. So you know.”

“Okay, so Harry, Laney, and Louis come with me,” Paul spun a car key around his finger, “Liam, Niall, Soph, you go with Rick. Sean, you take Laney’s luggage and go in whichever car you want.”

“And,” Liam broke in, “I’ll suggest you don’t pick the vehicle with Louis the mooner in it.”

“It was time, asshole.”

Niall held his hand up. “Is anyone else in my vehicle hungry, because I’m starving. If we’re going to drink, I need a sandwich or something first. What do you girls have in your purses? Girls always have food in their purses.”

I peeked into mine. “I have…um….a broken ginger cookie from the airplane.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Seriously, man,” Liam looked disgusted, “we had pallets of food in the green room and you didn’t touch anything. That’s your own fault. Don’t take advantage of Laney and her cookies! What if she was saving that?”

“I actually don’t like ginger so you’re doing me a favor.”

Niall shoved part of the cookie in his mouth. “If you don’t like ginger, why’d ya keep it?”

“Well, obviously.” I rolled my eyes dramatically. “I caught an Irishman with it.”

“What’d you use to catch Harry?” Louis tapped his finger to his bottom lip. “What else do you have in that purse that catches curly haired boys from Cheshire?”

“Sorry, I don’t kiss and tell.”

“You admitted you slept with him.”

I again rolled my eyes. “Everyone here knows that. So, move it along, buddy. There’s nothing to see here. If you want all the salacious details, you’ll have to ask him. I’m in the behavioral health field—I don’t release any information without a signed authorization. Even then, chances are I’m still not telling.”

“Do you have another cookie in your purse?” Niall looked hopeful. “That was actually really good.”

“Okay, people, look if we’re going let’s go.” Sean shook his head, the look on his face somewhere between amusement and exasperation. “Do you see why it takes us so long to get them anywhere? It’s like trying to load cats into a paper bag.”

“It was worse when Zayn was still in the group because we had to stop every twenty minutes so he could stare at himself in a fucking mirror.” Louis ran his hands through his hair. “I’m sitting in the front so the lovebirds can fuck in the back…or whatever they’re going to do. Move, Niall.”

“Can we at least check the green room to see if the food is still there?” Niall followed Louis down the hallway. “Guys, I’m serious, I didn’t have dinner.”

I leaned over to Harry. “Who’s Zayn?”

“He was the other lad in the group until he dropped us. He said he couldn’t handle it anymore or whatever; I have this…mixed emotion over the whole situation because he was my friend…but…it was all fucked up.” Harry trailed his fingertips down my arm, lacing his fingers around mine. He smiled shyly. “Ready to go?”

I nodded, my heart flip flopping like a fish scooped out of water and slapped down on the pier. This was the first time he’d held my hand. I was blowing it way, way out of proportion, considering we’d already slept together, but the way he cradled my hand in his, the way our hands seemed to fit perfectly together, sent shivers down my arms.

From further down the hall, we could hear Liam yelling, “Put your pants back on Louis, Jesus Christ, I don’t want to see your ass and neither does she.”

Sean ran his hand down his face. “Are you sure you’re ready for this kind of insanity, Laney? Because you still have time to save yourself.”

I responded to him, but I smiled at Harry. “I’m sure.”

He smiled back and, after a beat, crushed his lips to mine, kissing me deeply in front of all three security guards. His tongue was against mine, lapping against my tongue ring, and then he sucked my lip into his mouth, gently nibbling on the tender flesh.

He took my breath away.

Notes