The Gambler

The first thing he noticed about her were the three solid black hearts that lined the nape of her neck. They were small and he knew they would be undetected if he hair moved even an inch over. They were exposed due to the low cut dress that was a warm cream colour and her hair being swept over her shoulder. In an instant, they were hidden from view again as the blonde locks fanned over her back. He watched as she threw her head back and downed the shot quickly and he admired the way she did a small dance after she had finished. Her laugh carried through the bar in an entrancing way causing most patrons-all male-to glance her way for a moment before turning back to their previous conversations. Harry Styles, however, found his gaze locked on those three tiny hearts.

He had always been one to notice the little things about people. Whether it be the subtle things like the way their eyes changed when something made them happy or sad; to the way his mother and sister would style their hair depending on their mood. More often than not, it was things like these that went unnoticed by a lot of people he knew, something that had never made sense to him. So as he watched the girl, he also studied her in the most innocent way. From the way she threw her head back when she laughed to the way she swiveled on the chair discretely when she was listening to what the bartender who stood in front of her was saying. He also noticed that when she was talking, her foot would bounce lightly on the legs of the bar stool.

Harry Styles had walked into the small bar in lower Manhattan not expecting to meet anyone, let alone have a girl catch his eye. He had arrived with his four bandmates and after a quick nod from the bouncers, the five young men had been let in. Harry was a member of the popular boy band, One Direction. Together, he and his four bandmates: Niall, Zayn, Louis and Liam were sweeping across the world and gaining a following. But, tonight wasn’t about the crazy antics of being a superstar, but rather a time to relax and have a few pints with his best friends. He had breathed a sigh of relief when he had first stepped into the small establishment, eager to take a seat as he couldn’t see any sort of teenage girl waiting to meet and take a picture with him. Yet, the curiosity filled him as his eyes danced over all of the patrons sussing out whether or not there were any pretty girls present.

So as Harry stared at the back of the girl, he scolded himself for falling back into old habits, albeit pleased that she seemed to be only girl in the whole place.

“Honestly Hazza, just go talk to the bird.” Louis’ voice rang out from Harry’s right.

Harry turned to look at the older boy, taking in the knowing glance he was sending his way and shook his head, scratching at the edge of the wooden table in front of him, “We said tonight would be about the boys. Not pulling a bird.”

“Who says you could even bring her back to the hotel?” Niall piped up with a mischievous grin.

Harry rolled his eyes, but his lips spread into a lazy grin, “We all know I could.”

The table laughed together before Harry saw Zayn beginning to stand up, “Well, Haz, if you don’t go for it, I will.”

Harry studied the dark haired boy, trying to tell if he was serious or not. Zayn took another step forward before Harry called out to him, “Sit down, Malik. I’ve already got dibs on this one.”

Zayn held up his hands in defense before he sat down again. Harry stood up and with a rather large gulp of his illegally purchased beer, stood up and walked over to the mystery girl. Her back remained turned, hiding her face away from him and he felt a lump rise up in his throat. He had absolutely no idea what he was going to say to her when he reached her. He only hoped it would impress her enough to let him buy her a drink.

As he neared, her voice was becoming clearer to him. It was raspier than he had imagined yet had a certain school girl gossiping tone to it. She was talking about a TV show that Harry had only heard of briefly and she seemed to be discussing the plot in great depth. Harry finally reached her just as she finished talking to the man beside her and Harry froze. Until then, he hadn’t noticed the man sitting beside her and the fact that he seemed to be twice the size of Harry. Just as he was about to turn around and run with his tail between his legs back to the boys, the man turned and caught Harry’s eye.

The man turned in his seat and nodded his head at Harry, his arms tensing as he did so, “Can I help you?”

Harry remained frozen as he saw the girl begin to turn around. Within moments, he found himself looking into a pair of beautiful green eyes, more vibrant than his. Her face was etched with confusion and Harry was gobsmacked by just how beautiful she really was. He was mesmerized and felt like he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“Can I help you?” The man’s voice rang out again, this time more tense than the first.

Harry snapped out of his trance before he opened his mouth to speak. Lamely, he put out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Harry.”

The blonde girl glanced down at his hand for a brief moment before she looked back at him. Raising an eyebrow at him, her own hand came up to meet his, “Hi Harry.”

Her smooth fingertips grazed the edge of his and she shook his hand lightly before pulling away from his grasp. He knew he was being a complete and utter knob, but couldn’t find the words he had wanted to say to her.

“A bit starstruck, are you?” She asked with a tiny laugh.

Harry shook his head and regained his focus, she was talking to him. His voice came out raspy at first, “No, it’s not that. I was just wondering if I could buy a drink for the prettiest girl in here.”

The blonde stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before her lips spread out into a smirk. She glanced away from him to pick up her drink, downing it in one single gulp before she grabbed her clutch off of the bar top, “I think I’m all set. Goodbye Harry.”

She went to stand up, but Harry protested, “No, please don’t go. I’m sorry, I just g-”

He was stopped by the man beside her who had stood up as well and had placed a firm hand on Harry’s chest pushing him backwards lightly, “I think it’s time you walked away.”

“Sorry,” Harry apologized sincerely, “I just-I’m sorry for hitting on your girl.”

Harry’s sheer dumbness was enveloping him as he realized he had just hit on the very tall and very muscly man’s girlfriend.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” The blonde said with a furrow of her brow before she shook her head in confusion, “I’ll say it again, goodbye Harry. It was lovely to meet you.”

With that, the blonde and the muscly man were both out of his sight. Harry heard the sound of the front door opening and closing before he felt the embarrassment wash over him. His eyes closed as he tried to forget what had just happened, but the loud sound of Louis and Niall laughing at him reminded him that this was indeed his life and that had just happened.

He turned sheepishly a second later, his lips shifted into an embarrassed smile and he simply walked back to the table with a red tint adorning his cheeks, “Guess she was taken.”

Niall roared with laughter and ran a hand over his face to try and calm his laughs, “Y’think? ‘ve never seen a bird dodge Harry that quickly before.”

Harry rolled his eyes and threw a coaster at his giggling friend, “Shove off.”

“You do realize who that was, right?” Liam’s cool voice broke through the laughter and all of the boys turned towards him in curiosity.

Liam laughed and took a sip of his drink before looking over at Harry, “You just flirted with one of the most famous people in the world.”

“Flirted, more like made an ass of ‘imself.” Niall said and broke out into giggles again, this time making Louis laugh as well.

Harry shushed them and looked at Liam with a confused expression, “Who?”

“That was Elle Peters, Harry. She’s the biggest female artist in the world.” Liam answered.

Harry felt his cheeks grow warm again. He had just met possibly the only person more popular than him in the music industry at this given moment and had made a complete ass of himself.

Niall’s laughter was unstoppable now and Harry let out a tiny groan at his misfortune.