12AM

{November 2015}

“Maya May!” Louis shouted as she walked in the front door of Niall’s flat.

“That’s not my middle name,” Maya smirked at him.

“You keep telling me that, but I don’t much care, love. You will always be Maya May to me!” Louis said, throwing an arm around her and leaving a wet kiss on her lips.

She silently thought to herself how utterly insane it was that nearly every single time she’d been around Louis he was drunker than a football fan on game day. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Louis was the happiest drunk she ever met.

As they walked deeper into the apartment, she noticed just how packed the place was with people – like it was some sort of holiday or something. But she knew Niall never did anything half-assed. He was the friendliest person she knew and he had a lot of friends because of it.

“Keg’s in the kitchen, love. You better catch up,” Louis told her.

Maya hated coming to the party late because everyone seemed to be having a much better time than she was. But she knew she could easily rectify that situation and she made a beeline toward the kitchen to grab herself a cup. There were a lot of people Maya didn’t know congregated in the kitchen, but there was one face she did recognize and he was smack dab in the middle of the new faces.

Harry’s eyes met with hers as soon as she walked it. Green stared into blue and it was so rewarding how she caught his attention so quickly. She smiled bashfully, biting her lip as she looked at him and he raised an eyebrow in response. She broke the eye contact when she saw the keg out of the corner of her eye. When she looked back up, Harry was already once again chatting up the people in his vicinity.

She didn’t want to look like she was waiting to talk to him, which she wasn’t, so she headed toward the living room where she knew Camille and Eleanor would be.

“Maya!” Camille said drunkly, getting off her boyfriend, Jeremy’s lap to greet her.

Maya was really happy for Camille that she was in a relationship and she really liked Jeremy, but sometimes it annoyed her that she was always clinging onto him. Like, she couldn’t do anything without Jeremy attached to her hip.

“We’re going play beer pong. Want to come?” Camille asked excitedly.

“Sure,” Maya said, shrugging her shoulders. Maybe it would take her mind off of Harry and the gang of girls he was chatting up.

Camille grabbed her hand and led her down to the basement where there were two beer pong tables set up in the common space. Once an available table opened up, Eleanor and Maya took one side against Jeremy and Camille. Maya thought it might be easy winning against them since Camille sucked so hard at beer pong. But what Camille lacked, Jeremy definitely made up for. He was really good, sinking his shots nearly every time. Eleanor and Maya were both getting pretty drunk after three games consecutively, having to get refills between each game.

When they finally decided to go upstairs and join the party again, Maya immediately felt Harry’s presence. She couldn’t help the feelings of jealousy bubbling up inside of her as she watched from afar as he carried on a conversation with the pretty blonde across the room. He and the girl were laughing together and it almost felt like someone was stabbing her straight in the heart. Maya remembered how great if felt when she was the new thing in Harry’s sights. She watched as the mystery girl flirted back, occasionally placing her hand on Harry’s arm and laughing at all his jokes. Both their body language spoke volumes as to how they felt. They wanted to fuck each other.

Maya took a deep breath and made a beeline for the kitchen where a whole array of different alcohol sat perched on the counter. She decided to grab a bottle of vodka and poured a little into her empty cup. She took the shot and let out a low hiss, reacting to the disgusting taste of it.

“No,” she said, screwing the top back on and placing it back on the counter.

Tequila? She asked herself before pouring some into the bottom of her cup. She took that shot too and another low hiss came out of her mouth, realizing that tequila was just as disgusting as vodka. Her last choice was whiskey. She dumped a little bit too much in the bottom of her cup, but tipped it back anyway. The brown liquid burned like fire all the way down, but she kind of liked the feeling.

“Awhh,” she sighed, satisfied with her last choice. Three’s a charm.

“What are you doing?” Maya heard Camille ask from behind her.

“Oh, uh. I’m trying to figure out what I should drink,” Maya told her.

“Whiskey? Absolutely vile,” Camille said, turning up her nose.

“I quite like it,” Maya said, pouring another shot for herself.

“I’ll take tequila!” Camille giggled, grabbing for the bottle to pour her own shot.

“Cheers?” Maya said once they both had a shot in each of their cups.

“Cheers!” Camille said happily, knocking her cup against Maya’s.

The two of them downed the liquid and let out satisfying hisses.

“It burns so good,” Maya said with a laugh.

“Mm-hmm,” Camille said, her face still screwed up from the nasty tasting alcohol. Maya giggled at her friend.

“Beer… I need more beer,” Camille said, turning toward the keg and Maya laughed again.

“Yes, beer,” Maya agreed.

For the next hour or so, Maya continued to drink recklessly, trying to get Harry off her mind. But it was hard, because he was still hanging out with the blonde bimbo and it made Maya want to explode. Soon Maya was so drunk she could barely speak without slurring and barely stand without swaying.

“I-I don’ feel so good,” Maya told Eleanor who was standing next to her.

“Are you okay?” El asked, looking at her concerned.

“I’m goin’a puke,” Maya said as she quickly started for the bathroom.

She made it into Niall’s private bathroom just in time to empty her stomach into the toilet bowl. As much as she hated the taste of alcohol as it was going down, it was a million times worse coming back up. As she dry-heaved into the toilet, the tears came at full force.

“Oh my god, My. Are you okay?” Eleanor asked, standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

“Camille – get Camille,” Maya whined into the toilet bowl.

“Okay. I’ll be right back,” El said, leaving the bathroom.

Maya’s knees hurt as they ground into the bathroom tile, but nothing would stop the god damn dry-heaving. She thought her whole body might never stop convulsing.

“My – Maya, ohmygod,” Camille said quickly as she came into the bathroom and knelt by her friend, rubbing her back.

Maya continued to cry and the dry-heaving finally stopped, but she still didn’t feel like she was well enough to move away from the toilet.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Camille cooed, still rubbing her back. Maya whimpered, but she couldn’t find the energy to answer.

Her head spun and her stomach turned. All she could think about was Harry with the blonde. What were they doing now? Did they slipped away with each other to be alone?

“What time is it?” Maya managed to ask. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Camille look up at the doorway and she noticed that Eleanor was there again.

“Twelve-ten,” Eleanor told her softly. Maya groaned inwardly.

It was past midnight. Harry was probably with that girl and she felt betrayed. She had no right to be, but she did anyway. What was he doing with her? Was he making her laugh? Was he making her moan? At the thought of him in bed with the girl, Maya felt her stomach turn violently and she knew she would throw up again.

“Oh, God,” Maya moaned as she sat up on her knees and heaved into the toilet again as the tears streaked down her cheeks.

“Why doesn’t he love me?” Maya cried once her stomach had enough.

“My…” Camille breathed lowly, the nickname flowing off her tongue so sugary sweet.

“Why doesn’t he love me, Cami?” Maya cried again.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Camille said, running her palm up and down Maya’s back.

“He’s with another girl right now,” Maya pointed out.

“Who’s with another girl?” Eleanor asked curiously.

“Harry,” Camille told her.

“Harry fucking Styles,” Maya grumbled spitefully.

“Oh,” Eleanor said, sounding shocked. Harry and Maya managed to keep their little affair quiet for a long time – nearly two years, but it was the end of that – Maya didn’t care who knew anymore.

“Did you know… did you know that we… that midnight… that’s our time…” Maya began babbling through her drunken stupor. She looked up at Eleanor, who seemed to be hearing all of this for the first time, which meant Harry never told Louis, which didn’t sit well with Maya. Louis was his best mate. Why wouldn’t he tell his best mate? Maya told Camille everything about her relationship with Harry. The fact that he hid her from even his best mate just frustrated Maya even more.

“Yeah. For almost two years…” Maya told her.

“Two years?” Eleanor questioned incredulously, her eyes going wide.

“Maya, you’re really, really drunk right now,” Camille pointed out.

“I don’ care. I’ve spent two years being his… his what? His booty call? Jesus Christ. What the hell am I even doing? I-I let him… use me for two years. And for what? To be cryin’ in the loo over him when I see him with another girl? Fuck him. Fuck Harry Styles,” Maya ranted, trying to scrape up her dignity off the bathroom floor.

“I had no idea about you and Harry,” Eleanor told her.

“It’s okay. Nobody did. Harry’s ashamed or something. Didn’t even have the bollocks to tell his best mate!” Maya said, yelling the last part loudly.

“Maya, shhh. Calm down,” Camille told her.

“You girls alright in here?” Niall asked, poking his head into the bathroom.

“Yeah, just fine,” Maya snapped.

“Ohh-kay,” Niall said awkwardly.

“No, Niall. No. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I love you, Niiiialllll,” Maya crooned. Niall laughed immediately because of how drunk she was.

“We’re fine, Niall,” Camille told him.

“Take care of her,” Niall chuckled.

“Hey, hey, Niall,” Maya said drunkly.

“Yes, love,” Niall said, smiling amusingly at her.

“Tell Harry something for me, would ya?” Maya asked.

“Anything, love,” Niall said with a laugh.

“Say… say ‘fuck you from Maya’,” Maya said with as much seriousness in her tone as she could muster.

“No, no, Niall. Don’t say that. No,” Camille said, waving her hand through the air.

“Whoa-ho-ho,” Niall laughed out loud.

“She’s really drunk. You’ll have to forgive her,” Eleanor said, gently pushing Niall out of his own bathroom.

“No! No! Tell him ‘FUCK YOU’!” Maya yelled loudly even after Eleanor shut the bathroom door on Niall.

“Oh my god, Maya,” Eleanor laughed.

“You need to take a deep breath,” Camille laughed at her best friend.

“I hate him for making me feel like this,” Maya said, taking a deep breath before the tears began anew.

“Maya, I want you to listen to me right now, okay,” Camille said, looking straight into Maya’s eyes. Maya continued to cry, feeling a pain in her heart she never felt before.

“Are you listening?” Camille asked and Maya slowly nodded her head.

“I think now is the time you need to either tell Harry exactly how you feel or end it with him altogether. You can’t keep doing this to yourself, Maya,” Camille told her.

“How do I do that?” Maya asked quietly, an unabashed terror crawling through her veins at the thought of either of those options.

“I don’t know. But you can’t keep living like this. It’s not fair for Harry to use you as a booty call whenever he feels like it – you know, fuck you in a laundry room and then flirt with other girl’s right in front of you. It’s not fair,” Camille said sternly.

“A laundry room?” Eleanor gasped quietly.

“Yeah, at Zayn’s Halloween party,” Camille filled her in. Maya closed her eyes and thought about how different her life was before she saw Harry with that girl and how much closer she felt to having him all for herself.

.

.

{Halloween 2015}

Maya wasn’t sure why it was like an unwritten rule for a female to dress in a slutty costume for Halloween – slutty nurse, slutty police officer, slutty school girl, etc – but it was. She never really followed that rule in Halloween’s in the past – the previous year she was Hermione from Harry Potter and not a slutty one. This year really wasn’t any different. Although she did decide to revamp her Halloween style a bit, arriving at Zayn’s Halloween party dressed as a female heavyweight boxer. It wasn’t purposely slutty, but the too-tight white tank top and too-short golden shorts were enough to categorize it as such. She wore her hair in twin boxer braids and had tape wrapped around her knuckles like a boxer would. She thought she looked more classy than slutty, but that was just her biased opinion.

When she got to the Halloween party, she was more than ready to have a good time. She really loved her friends and enjoyed all the time she got to spend with them – especially one. She caught his green stare from across the living room. Her insides immediately tightened just thinking about being in his presence again, thinking about how she wanted to end the night – with her under him or vice versa.

Harry was dressed as a police officer, fake mustache and all. She might have thought he looked ridiculous in his costume if she didn’t find him so hypnotically attractive all the time. Maya knew she needed a drink and she needed it as soon as possible if she were going to survive another night of the two of them pretending they knew each other a lot less than they really did. How they managed to fool their whole group of friends for two years was baffling to her.

As the night progressed, Louis ended up running around the party half-naked after ditching his itchy and physically annoying costume of fifty different gray paint swatches – a play on 50 Shades of Grey. After the first few swatches fell off and he spilled a beer down the front of himself, he was done playing Halloween. Zayn dressed as Scarface for the party, Liam came as a lumberjack and Niall won the costume contest, dressing elaborately as Jon Snow from the Game of Thrones at the moment he got stabbed in the gut by his brothers of the night watch. Camille dressed as Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, unaware that she would look more like a couple with Niall than her boyfriend Jeremy, who dressed as a dragon to go along with Daenerys’ whole Mother of Dragons vibe. Eleanor decided not to dress all matchy-matchy with Louis and came as Jessica Rabbit from the 80’s American cult-classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit? – sexy red dress, long ginger hair and all. Maya loved Halloween because she loved seeing everyone’s creativity come alive and she loved being someone else for a night. It was all so much fun.

As Maya made her way back toward the kitchen to re-fill her drink, Harry caught up with her, stopping her in her tracks. His stick-on mustache fell off his upper lip and was now stuck to the side of his orange solo cup – appropriately colored for the holiday. He leaned in closely, his lips skating across her ear lobe. She couldn’t breathe while he was so close to her. His presence suffocated her, but she knew she would never tire of being with him, even if it was bad for her health. Her heart began to pound heavily against her ribcage as he whispered in her ear, despite the fact that all of their friends were mere feet away from them.

“It’s almost twelve,” Harry breathed quietly.

Maya’s breathing hitched. It was never spoken out loud that 12 am was a thing between them. It was just something she noticed – like a coincidence. She looked at Harry questioningly, wondering if it was planned that way all along. Like it was his master plan for all these years.

12 am. It was their time.

“You…” She breathed, unable to finish the sentence.

“I covet this time of night,” he whispered, leaving a kiss on her forehead before walking into the kitchen, silently begging her to follow him.

Maya’s head spun from his words, from their meaning. Harry was an enigma. She was certain she would never understand him.

Harry disappeared into a small room right off the kitchen and she followed quickly behind him, realizing it was Zayn’s laundry room. Once they were alone together Harry pulled the small pocket door closed behind them. Maya sent him a mischievous smile and he rewarded her with one of his own. Moments later, Harry leaned in and captured her lips with his own, tangling their tongues together. His fingers slipped down the front of her tiny shorts and she giggled against his mouth.

“In here?” Maya asked, feeling a bit self-conscious that any passer-by would be able to hear them.

“Yeah. Why not?” He asked, looking down in her eyes expectantly. Maya bit her lip hesitantly.

“Fine. Here,” Harry said, leaning over to turn the dial on the dryer before he pressed the start button and the dryer came to life.

“Is that better? It will drown out any noise,” Harry told her.

“Okay,” Maya said quietly, finally getting on board.

“Okay,” Harry breathed against her lips before he kissed her again.

Their mouths were back on one another’s a moment later and Maya could already feel herself getting turned on just by the prospect of sex with Harry – not to mention the almost voyeuristic nature of it, being they could be caught at any moment. Her hands slid up his shirt, beginning the task of unbuttoning his shirt. Harry slipped his hands around her waist, then down to her backside before picking her up just to place her down on the top of the dryer. Maya let out a tiny squeal at his sudden movement and then giggled as she looked into his eyes. Harry smirked back at her before quickly pulling her to the utmost edge of appliance.

Maya bit her lip, feeling the heat and the rumble of the dryer below her. It was rapidly helping her sexual mood. Harry’s fingers tugged at her tight tank top and she lifted her arms for him to pull it off of her. It was discarded a second later somewhere on the floor as Harry’s hands found her again, sliding seductively underneath the bottom edge of her sports bra.

“Take it off,” she challenged, quirking a brow at him.

“Gladly,” Harry snipped, gripping onto the garment before ripping it off of her.

Once she was topless, she could see the lust swirling in Harry’s eyes, which was doing her in. She loved making him horny. She loved that she held that power when they were alone with one another. She loved the look in his eyes. She would forever have it bookmarked in her brain. Their time together would always mean to so much to her.

Her fingers went back to their task of unbuttoning his shirt and finally succeeded, slipping it off of his shoulders slowly, admiring his supple flesh peppered with tattoos. He looked almost ethereal in the dim light. She was completely captivated.

When her mind came back to its senses, Maya quickly began unbuckling his belt as he leaned in, kissing across her clavicle. Once she got his trousers undone, she pushed them down the swell of his ass and they fell to the floor with a loud thud – his toy gun falling out of the holster on the belt, clanging across the floor. The two of them froze for a moment, hoping they didn’t just draw attention to themselves. Maya giggled a moment later, biting at her lip.

“You,” Harry accused playfully, smiling widely at her.

“Me? Ha!” She laughed.

“Mm-hmm,” he hummed, eyeing her blithely.

“Shut it,” she said, smirking at him as she wiggled herself out of her shorts and panties, tossing them to the floor.

With a smirk, Harry dropped his boxer briefs and stepped up close to her, pulling her toward the edge of the dryer again. Their lips connected, their tongues tangling wildly. It was only then that she questioned to herself the decision to get fully naked. What if someone were to walk in? What if someone were to walk in and there was a full viewing audience in the kitchen? They would both be on display for everyone. God forbid anyone have the camera on their phone open. Hashtag naked selfie. Maya pulled Harry’s body closer to herself, hoping he would be able to block her nakedness if they were to get caught. Because at this point, who out of all their friends hadn’t seen Harry’s ass. He and his mates had drunkenly streaked through a party on more than one occasion just to get a laugh out of people.

When Maya felt Harry press inside of her, she let out a low moan and tightened her grasp around him. She always loved those first few seconds of penetration. She always felt so full – of Harry, of his love, his attention. She was his.

Harry built up a quick rhythm inside of her as she finally loosened her grip on him. His mouth traveled down her front, sucking in a nipple. A spark of pleasure shot through her and she let out another moan. The vibrations from the dryer were heightening everything inside of her as he fucked her until she was seeing stars. She was almost there and she knew it. Harry’s rhythm faltered, and a moment later he stopped altogether. A sense of dread washed over her when she hadn’t found her ending before he did.

“My, we… we need to switch positions,” Harry told her and she felt relief when she realized he hadn’t come yet.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure,” she told him.

“Come… come down here,” he said quietly.

“Okay,” she said, slipping down the dryer as her feet found the floor again.

“Turn around,” he said, gripping onto her waist to help her fulfil his wish as he physically turned her toward the dryer.

“Lean down a bit,” he said, patting his hand lightly on the top of the dryer. Maya did as asked and leaned her front against the dryer, which caused her bottom to pop out at him.

“Perfect,” he breathed, sliding his hands gently down her backside.

A moment later, she felt his mouth on her from behind and she let out a low moan, feeling his tongue slip down her slit before he stood back up, pressing himself inside of her from behind. She let out another moan as her head dropped down in front of her. Pleasure engulfed her again quickly as he built up his rhythm again. It wouldn’t be long before she lost it. He seemed to be at a better angle for both of them and she could feel his fingers digging savagely into her hips, like he might lose it at any moment.

“Please… oh… please, keep going,” she breathed lowly as her entire body began tingling with orgasm. She felt it build within her, turning her almost inside out with its intensity.

“Oh, God. Oh, God,” she moaned lowly as she gripped against the sides of the rumbling dryer.

A few more thrusts and she heard Harry let out a low groan moments before his body fell forward, pressing her hard against the dryer. His heavy breathing whirled passed her ear. She could barely breathe with him against her, but she couldn’t move or speak. She was in a sexual paralysis that she revealed in. A moment later the dryer buzzed loudly and the two of them scrambled away from it in a startled panic.

“Holy shit,” Harry said, letting out a chuckle.

“Oh my god,” Maya snapped as she clutched at her chest just above her rapidly beating heart.

“Christ,” Harry grumbled, running his fingers through his wild hair.

“That fucking dryer almost gave me a heart attack,” Maya said, pointing at the inanimate object. Harry let out a low laugh as he leaned down to pick up his boxer briefs, quietly slipping them back on.

The two dressed in silence before Harry inched open the laundry room door to check if the coast was clear.

“Okay. You can go out first and then I’ll follow after. There’s no one in the kitchen, but I don’t expect it to stay that way for long,” Harry explained.

“Okay,” Maya said quietly, looking up into his big green eyes.

Harry smiled down at her and she smiled back before he leaned down, kissing the tip of her nose.

“You’re so fun, Maya,” he breathed.

“Yeah…” she said, the word falling off the tip of her tongue like a person falling off a cliff. It held the same grave feeling too.

She was fun. She knew what fun meant to him and she knew it didn’t bode well with the feelings she felt for him. She was fun and she was naïve and she was stupid and she knew her plan to win him over entirely was bound to fail in the end. What kind of relationship did she expect to gain by fucking him whenever and wherever he wanted? Answer: none. Absolutely none.

Notes