Taking Chances

I settled down at the table between Rebecca and Louis with my coffee, flipping my hair behind my shoulder. Across the table, Charlie and Hanny were deep in discussion about the X Factor, but they were talking too quietly for us to join in the conversation.

“Oh, Rebecca,” I started, turning to face her as I took a sip of my drink, “now that you’ve found a college to apply to, we should start looking for a place soon.”

“I was actually just thinking about that,” she responded with enthusiasm. “I looked through the paper yesterday-”

“Yesterday?” I laughed. “And you didn’t think of bringing it up then?”

“You and Zayn were cuddling on the couch and watching TV. I didn’t want to interrupt you.” She looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes, even though I was nowhere near angry.

I shook my head, still snickering, before saying, “Alright, what were you saying?”

“I saw an apartment for rent in the ads, and it’s only a few blocks from the apartment building where all the boys live. So I think it’d be perfect. The rent’s pretty good, too.”

“We’ll have to check it out soon,” I voiced, smiling at her. She was always so on the ball. It was insane. “’Cause I don’t want to mooch off Zayn forever.”

“I just want to say,” Louis butted in matter-of-factly, “that Zayn would definitely not mind if you lived with him forever. In fact, he probably wants you to stay there forever.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know he wouldn’t mind, but that doesn’t mean that I want to stay there for eternity. I am a strong, independent black woman who don’t need no man.” To accentuate my point, I bobbed my head back and forth sassily.

Rebecca and Louis stared at me blankly, blinking before sharing a confused look.

My face colored deeply. “Wait, are you guys serious? You haven’t heard that? Like…on the internet? Nothing?”

“No…” Louis trailed off, smirking at me in a snarky way.

I coughed into my hand as I blushed more violently. “Well, this is now officially awkward.”

There was a short silence before Louis reached over and took my necklace into his hand, running his thumb over the stones. “What’s this?” he asked.

I almost cocked an eyebrow at him before I remembered that I hadn’t seen him in the couple of days since I’d gotten it. “It’s a necklace, Louis.”

“Thank you!” he replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me. “I meant, where did you get it? Smart arse.”

I smiled at him before responding, “Zayn gave it to me. Just to congratulate me for getting the contract with Simon and…”

“And the whole Whitney thing?” Louis finished knowingly.

“Wait, what whole Whitney thing?” Charlie interjected, turning her attention to conversation. She and Hanny must have finished talking about whatever it was they were discussing.

“Nothing,” I muttered, but Louis talked over me, explaining the entire story.

Charlie nodded approvingly. “That’s incredible.”

“I’m not as good as you,” I chuckled bashfully, taking a sip of my coffee.

“Oh, stop putting yourself down,” Louis demanded, slapping my shoulder playfully. “You ought to have gotten some confidence from the fact you could sing I Have Nothing without warming up your voice.”

“Well, technically,” I corrected, “I sang some music on the way over. So I didn’t sing it completely cold.”

All I got for that one was a slap off the back of the head. “Shut up, Bailey. That doesn’t count.”

I stuck my bottom lip out at Louis, but he shoved my face away with the palm of his hand, laughing. “Your pouting isn’t going to make me say anything bad about you.”

“Chris?” Charlie called out of nowhere, getting to her feet.

“Um…” I trailed off, looking around the table. “There’s no one here named Chris.”

She chuckled and pointed across the coffee shop. “No. That’s Chris. He’s my brother’s band mate.”

“Ohhhhh…” I trailed off, feeling embarrassed. “Right. Forgot about him.”

Rebecca gave me a confused look. “You didn’t know he was here…”

I coughed and laughed. “That, too.”

“You’re insane,” Louis commented, shaking his head back and forth like he really wished he didn’t know us.

The guy walked over with a grin on his face, a girl who looked about my height trailing a few steps behind him.

“Hi, Charlie!” the guy, Chris, greeted with a grin. “Fancy meeting you here, huh?”

“You’re staying around the block,” Charlie reminded him. “It’s not exactly a freak accident.”

“A bit of serendipity, then, maybe?” He let out a loud laugh before turning to us. “Louis, Bailey, Rebecca, hi.” He brought his eyes over to Hanny. “And hey there, Hanny.”

“Hi!” she replied back enthusiastically.

“Who’s your friend?” Charlie questioned, leaning around Chris to look at the redheaded girl behind him.

“Not friend,” Chris corrected. “This is my cousin, Harper. She’s from Durham, but she came down to London to see some of our shows while we’re here.”

“Hey!” she greeted with a wide smile.

She finally came out from behind Chris, and Rebecca and I waved shyly. She looked at me, eyes a little widened, as she flicked her dark red hair behind her shoulder.

“Oh my God, you’re Bailey Austin!” she exclaimed in her accent.

“Harper!” Chris whined. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“No need to get embarrassed,” I reassured Chris, though I was blushing like crazy. “Yeah, I’m Bailey. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet me?!” Harper let out a laugh. “No way. It’s super nice to meet you. I…Wow. Chris!" She turned to her cousin to glare at him. "Why didn’t you tell me you were friends with Bailey Austin?”

“Uh…’cause I'm not,” Chris laughed. “I don’t think we’ve spoken more than three times.”

Harper, ignoring her cousin, pulled over a chair and plopped down between Louis and me. “So are the rumors true?” she asked excitedly. “Are you starting your new album? And are you now under Simon Cowell’s label?”

Normally, I would have thought her questions were totally intrusive, but there was something about her face and her tone of voice that showed she was just being friendly, trying to sound interested. She wasn’t snooping for the insider scoop so she could run and tell the press, claiming to be one of my best friends. She was just a nice person. Unfortunately, nice people just weren’t that common once someone’s thrust into the public eye.

“Yeah, I am,” I chuckled. “I’m going to start doing songwriting sessions in a couple of days.”

“That’s fantastic! I absolutely loved your last CD. Do you think it’s going to be similar to that, or way different?”

“Pretty different,” I informed her. “According to Simon, my songs are going to mean more and my voice is going to be way less processed.”

“Brilliant! I thought you had a great voice live, and it always pissed me off a little bit that they made you sound like fucking Ke$ha or whatever.”

I let out a laugh that might have been a little too loud for public before slapping my hand over my mouth. “Oh my God. No, don’t worry. I’ll never sound like Ke$ha again.”

Harper turned around to face my best guy friend, her expression apologetic. “Oh, wow. I’m so sorry. Hi, Louis. I didn’t even acknowledge you.”

“Hey,” he responded with a smile. “And it’s alright. Bailey’s more interesting than me, anyway.”

I turned to give him an annoyed look, and that was when I saw it. That look. The one I had seen in his eyes when I was confronting him about being in love with me.

But it wasn’t directed at me anymore. He was staring at Harper.

Butterflies filled my stomach, and I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from grinning like crazy.

I didn’t want to jump the gun, but it was entirely possible that Louis was finally moving on from me.

There was no way to describe how excited I was.