Taking Chances

I gnawed on my lip anxiously as I checked my phone for the fifteenth time. Or what seemed like the fifteenth time, anyway.

“How late is she?” Rebecca questioned in a conversational tone.

“Twenty-three minutes,” I responded before putting my phone back into my bag.

Rebecca laughed lightly. “I should have known that Louis would fall for someone who was late all the time.”

I nodded in agreement. “God knows that they wouldn’t last long if he fell for someone punctual. He’s always late for everything.”

And just then, as if on cue, Harper came jogging up behind the bench, calling, “I’m so sorry that I’m late. Traffic is horrible here.”

“It’s perfectly okay,” I reassured her as I got to my feet, brushing the creases out of my skinny jeans. “We have all day. There’s no rush.”

Harper’s dark blue eyes scanned over Rebecca and me, stopping short as they passed my right shoulder. “Where are Charlie and Hanny? I thought this was going to be a girl group get-together.”

I laughed for a second at her wording before shrugging. “It was, but I forgot that Charlie’s doing the X Factor thing. And when I asked Hanny, she said that she was going on an all-day date with Niall that they’d been planning for a while, so she couldn’t.”

Harper nodded. “So it’s just us three then,” she smiled, stepping in between the two of us and putting one arm around my shoulders, the other around Rebecca’s. “That’s cool. We’ll have fun.”

“Where should we go first?” I pondered as I walked over to the directory, tapping a newly-manicured finger against my chin.

“How about the food court?” Harper suggested with a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, but I was rushing and didn’t have time to have breakfast before I left my hotel room.”

“Oh my God, you haven’t eaten yet?” I gasped, nearly ripping off Rebecca’s arm as I rushed to check her watch. She gave a little squeak, but I ignored her, figuring that she was fine. “It’s almost two thirty!”

“And that’s why we should go to the food court first,” she laughed. “But you guys have to lead the way. I have no idea where anything is. I’ve never been here before.”

“I’ve only been here once…” I trailed off. “With Zayn.”

“And not me,” Rebecca chimed in before sticking her tongue out at me.

“It was before you came!” I defended. “Alright, let’s go get Harper some food before she passes out.”

With that, we started roaming around for the food court. Thankfully, it wasn’t that hard to find, since the mall was nearly a perfect rectangle, with the food court on the opposite side from where we were.

Once Harper had a burger, fries, and a shake from McDonald’s, we sat down at a table on the outskirts of the eating area.

“Are you guys sure you don’t want anything?” she questioned, eyeing us as she sipped her vanilla shake. “I feel like a pig eating in front of you.”

“I’m positive,” I voiced, sneaking a peek at Rebecca. “I ate kind of a late breakfast.”

“I ate lunch right before I came here,” Rebecca explained.

“Wait, you guys didn’t eat together?” Harper asked, though there was no accusatory tone. “I thought you guys were roommates.”

“We are,” I confirmed, feeling my face blush a bright red.

“But you don’t eat together?”

I gave a small cough, showing that the topic was uncomfortable and that I refused to answer, so Rebecca finally offered the embarrassing information: “Bailey kind of didn’t stay at the apartment last night.”

It took about a millisecond for Rebecca’s meaning to sink in for Harper, a slow grin spreading across her face to show that she completely understood. “Oh my God, did you stay at Zayn’s?” She turned to me, almost glowing with the information.

“Uhhh…” I trailed off, feeling even more blood rush to my face, which I hadn’t thought was possible. “I did, yeah.”

“Wow, it’s about time,” she laughed. “Last thing I heard, Louis told me that your virginity was still intact.”

“Oh my freaking God,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “Why the hell would he tell you something like that?”

“I asked him,” Harper dismissed. I snapped up my head to give her a confused look. “It was nothing personal. There was just something about the way that you and Zayn interacted that was so innocent and pure, and I just wanted to confirm my suspicions. But I’m sure that’s not the case anymore.”

I made a little noise that sounded a lot like a dying cow. “This is humiliating.” And just then, my mind flashed back to the other night, when I talked with Louis about his relationship status with Harper, and he said that he was too afraid to say anything.

And suddenly, that looked like the perfect opportunity to find out how she felt about him and change the subject.

“So, Harper,” I asked as she took a bite of her hamburger, “what’s up with you and Louis?”

Unlike Louis, Harper was completely calm about her reaction, simply shrugging for a second as she continued to chew. “I don’t know, honestly,” she replied smoothly. “I know he likes me, from the way he acts around me, but he hasn’t had the guts to ask me out yet. And I’m the kind of girl that wants the guy to make the first move.”

“Why’s that?” I responded, leaning forward on the table a little bit. “Why couldn’t you just ask him out?”

“It’s just a quality I like in a guy,” she told me simply. “It’s nothing about a lack of confidence or anything, and this isn’t my first rodeo, boyfriend-wise. And I guess part of me senses a kind of hesitation with him, and I don’t want to push him into something that he doesn’t want to do.”

I bit my lip, fighting with myself to keep from screaming out that Louis was completely ready, that he was entirely in love with her. But no matter how much I wanted Louis and Harper to get together, I didn’t want to betray Louis’ trust by telling her that. Not that we said it was a secret, but I guessed that it was kind of implied.

You have a point there,” I allowed, trying to keep my tone as neutral as possible.

“But if he ever asks me out, I’m going to accept without hesitation,” she chuckled. “I mean, have you seen that boy?” She trailed off, letting the shake of her head and a clucking noise do all the communicating she needed.

I let out a laugh, tucking my hair behind my ear. “By the way, Louis showed me that post that you put on Tumblr to get back at the haters…It was too perfect. I wish I had the guts to do that when people started hating on me.”

Harper smiled and thought for a second before saying, “Thanks. But, you know, I’m not sure you could have done that. I’m just me. But you’re Bailey Austin. You’re more of a brand than a person in the public eye. If you had posted a snappy comeback, then people would have been all over you, the paparazzi, fans, haters would come back full-force… But with me, I’m a girl from Durham who happens to have a cousin in a band. I won’t get any backlash for standing up for myself.”

I blinked a couple of times. “Harper, that was very introspective.”

She finished off her burger before smiling widely and getting to her feet. “I’m full of surprises.”

After she tossed her garbage in the trash, she gathered her long hair together with her hand and let it spill down her back. “Okay, let’s get to shopping now.”