Taking Chances

I didn’t look anything like myself.

I squinted a little bit, tilting my head to the side, struggling to see the real me buried behind the costume I was wearing. My hair was not its curly self; Hanny had straightened it so it was no wavier than a pin, and it went down almost to my waist, as opposed to my shoulder blades, where it usually fell. My eyes popped from the makeup Hanny had applied, and my freckles and little imperfections were completely covered.

Not to mention the dress I was wearing left pretty much nothing to the imagination, resting only a few inches under my butt and hugging every one of my curves snugly.

“You look smoking hot,” Charlie complimented from behind me. She didn’t seem to notice the worried look on my face, that I kept biting my lip with fear. How the fuck was I supposed to show my face wearing what I was? It just wasn’t me.

Instead of voicing my thoughts, I smiled at her and said, “Thanks. You guys look fantastic, too.”

They did. Charlie and Hanny were drop-dead gorgeous girls, and they certainly seemed to know it. Their dresses had similar fits to mine, but they were more slender, so it suited them better. Their makeup was done impeccably, thanks to Hanny, and they could pass for twenty-one in a second. Or, um, eighteen, which was the drinking age in England.

Charlie giggled at me. “Zayn’s going to pass out when he sees you.”

I glanced at myself in the mirror again and sighed. Part of me wanted to get hardcore swoonage, but the other half didn’t. Because if he swooned at this girl, then it would be like he didn’t find me attractive on a normal day. Since I looked absolutely nothing like I did then.

“C’mon,” Hanny broke through my thoughts, grabbing my hand and starting out of the room. “We said we’d meet at Zayn’s apartment twenty minutes ago.”

My face filled with a flush. I really, really didn’t like being late. Even though it seemed to happen to me a lot where the boys were concerned.

The walk to Zayn’s apartment seemed very long, yet too short at the same time. But when Hanny knocked on the door and stepped back, time seemed to move in slow motion: Zayn opening the door, seeing me, his face showing shock, the surprise, then complete happiness. “Whoa,” he finally spoke after a long moment of speechlessness, “Bailey, you look fantastic.”

“Told you so,” Charlie teased, bumping her hip against mine. “Alright, let’s go. Where are the rest of the boys?”

Charlie squeezed past Zayn to pop into the apartment, screaming something. But my attention was on Zayn, who was still staring at me.

I swallowed and turned beet red. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” he asked innocently.

“Like…that. Whatever that is. Don’t do it.”

He laughed and moved toward me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “Sorry. You just look so…incredibly hot.”

I gave him a half-smile. “Thanks. You don’t look too shabby yourself,” I chuckled, poking him in the stomach.

He turned and grinned at me.

“Alright, that’s enough, lovebirds,” Louis intervened, stepping between Zayn and me and throwing an arm around each of our shoulders. “Holy shit, Bailey. You look…wow.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “It’s all Hanny and Charlie’s doing.”

“Oh, we know that,” Harry assured me. “There’s no-”

Charlie elbowed him in the side and glared at him.

I chuckled, knowing what he was going to say, and shook my head. “Let’s just get this over with.

* * *

“I can’t believe Liam refused to come,” Louis grumbled as we waited in line for club.

“I can,” Niall replied lightly. “He doesn’t drink and he’s the kind of guy that likes to hang out by himself most of the time.”

“I guess you’ve got a point,” Louis admitted reluctantly. “He’s still a wanker for not coming, though.”

“We’ll have fun without him,” Harry encouraged his friend.

When we got to the front of the line, the bodyguard took one look at the lot of us and waved us through. “I know you guys,” he explained. “No IDs necessary.”

“Thank you, kind sir,” Louis grinned widely. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you.”

Inside the club was ridiculously dark, only a few scattered lights around the place to assist in sight. The music pumped through my head, the ground shaking under my feet, bodies writhing against each other on the dance floor.

I gulped as inaudibly as I could, but Zayn still seemed to sense my hesitance, grabbing my hand and squeezing it comfortingly.

Breathing by Jason Derulo was drawing to a close as Charlie and Harry led the group toward the dance floor. Immediately, Charlie backed up against Harry and started grinding on him. He didn’t hesitate to reciprocate, putting his hands on her swaying hips and pulling her tighter against him.

I didn’t realize that I was staring at them condescendingly until Zayn laughed in my ear. “C’mon, it’s okay. We’ll dance like we did at the club in Houston.”

I nodded, feeling a little more comfortable, as I turned to face him, throwing my arms around his neck. His went around my waist, pulling me close, but not too close, as an unfamiliar Spanish song started blaring through the speakers.

Hanny and Charlie both squealed as they faced each other, Charlie running over to her friend and completely forgetting about Harry.

As they moved to the music, looking graceful and completely content, they screamed the lyrics at the top of their lungs in rapid-fire Spanish. I stopped, watching them, Zayn following my lead.

Soon, everyone around us stopped to stare at the Spanish girls, showing off how gorgeous they were, flaunting their beautiful language. I smiled, understanding most of the lyrics from my time taking Spanish in high school, but there was no way I could have spoken as fluidly as they could.

Once the song ended, the people gathered around burst into applause. Hanny and Charlie held hands and bowed for the audience, grins lighting up their features.

“Okay, I’m dying of thirst,” Charlie voiced. “Beers for everyone?”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she shot a look at me, urging me to keep quiet. Soon, she, Hanny, and Harry disappeared to get the drinks.

“It’s going to be okay,” Zayn assured me as we got into our previous position. “One beer isn’t going to do anything to you.”

“Um, I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “I’ve never drank before.”

“Never?”

My face filled with a violent flush as I looked down at our feet, which were moving with our dancing, the sounds of International Love by Pitbull and Chris Brown playing behind us.

“Well, not never. I had a glass of champagne at my cousin’s wedding when I was fifteen. It was awful, though. I just choked it down to be polite.”

He chuckled. “It’s okay. I bet you’ll still be fine.”

A minute later, Charlie walked over, handing beers to Zayn and me. “Ah! I love this song.” She grabbed Zayn’s arm and dragged him away from me. “And you love Chris Brown, too, yeah?”

He nodded, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Yeah…what are you doing?”

“Dance with me!” she giggled. And then, she moved back, dancing with Zayn much like she’d been dancing with Harry earlier.

I kept telling myself that she was just goofing around, that she was just doing it as friends having fun at a club. It didn’t mean anything. She loved Harry, Harry loved her. But the look on Harry’s face looked just how my insides felt: jealous, hurt, and a little sick.

“Hey,” Harry interjected, trying to keep his tone light, “you don’t have to grind up on my girl.”

I didn’t have the nerve to say anything, so I just took a long gulp of my beer. I hadn’t expected it to be so carbonated, so I struggled for a second, swallowing repeatedly to get all the bubbles down, the pain of them bursting in my throat a little too much.

Zayn laughed and pushed Charlie away from him gently. “Aw, Harry, it’s just fun. Don’t worry. I’ve got my own girl.”

He pulled me close to him, planting a kiss on the top of my head, while I just took another swig of my beer, prepared for the bubbles the second time around.

As the night went on, I finished off my beer, plus another one, and my head was starting to get a little cloudy, a little off-focus, since I had such a low alcohol tolerance.

Zayn and I were continuing to dance like we had always done, ignoring all the grinding going on around us. Louis had found a girl who came alone to dance with, and they were having a grand old time.

When Turn All the Lights Off by T-Pain featuring Ne-Yo started playing, I could feel Zayn’s grip tighten with excitement. “Let me guess,” I whispered in his ear, “you’re a Ne-Yo fan, too?”

He nodded. “I love Ne-Yo.”

“He’s fantastic!” Niall agreed, pulling Hanny tighter against him.

To my shock, even in my state, I turned around, pressing my backside against Zayn. “What are you doing?” he questioned.

“Just go with it,” I responded, taking his hands and putting them on my hips. I tried to move as Charlie had, which was embarrassing to admit, since she was so much younger than me. I must have done a good enough job because after his brief hesitation, Zayn started moving with me, feeling the music, his grip tight and warm on me.

I should have known then and there that nothing good would come from that night.