Dizzy Up the Girl

Getting to the gym, unfortunately, was the easiest part about my workout with Harry and Liam. Despite the shoddy directions that Harry had given me, I miraculously found the place after wandering around the street behind the hotel where the boys were staying. The security must have been given a heads up about me showing up as they let me in without too much of hassle before going back to work. Even dealing with the Harry’s annoyingly chipper mood at 7:00 in the morning didn’t unnerve me.

Their workout routine, however, did.

While a look at the two of them could have told anybody that they were in shape, I hadn’t realized the kind of effort they put into it. Liam could outrun me with ease, not that it was that hard to, and Harry could probably bench press me if he really wanted. I, on the other hand, opted for the safest possible means of exercise. As Harry told me, treadmills were boring and cheapened the feeling of working out. But putting one forth in front of the next was all I was interested in, and so I was okay with boring.

I had lost track of the time, listening to music from my phone rather than keeping up with the time when I felt a hand wrap around my arm that was holding on to the rails of the treadmill. I jerked, nearly stumbling off of the machine until the hand steadied me.

“And here I thought that you would be safe on this thing, Elizabeth. You like to prove me wrong, don’t you.” I rolled my eyes at Harry’s voice, reaching up with my free hand to turn of the treadmill, and I quickly glanced towards him.

“I was doing just fine, thank you. If you hadn’t surprised me, nothing would have happened.”

“Elizabeth, I think we both know that statement isn’t quite true. It’s a lie really, and my mum told me to never tell a lie, so...,” Harry started, but I nudged his shoulder, throwing him off balance.

“Oh, shut up. You’re such a strange one, Harry. I actually might start to worry about you if I get too attached,” I said as I stepped off the treadmill. Reaching down, I lifted my shirt up slightly to wipe the sweat off of my forehead before I remembered who I was standing in front of. I let go of my shirt quickly to find a cheeky grin spread on Harry’s face, and I blushed. If luck would have it my way, maybe he will just think that I’m red from jogging.

“Good going there, Elizabeth. I was beginning to wonder when you were going to take your top off in front of me,” Harry quipped, but I was far too embarrassed to come back with a decent comeback. I started to walk away, ready to get away from the boy, but he followed me as I headed towards the weights. He stayed quiet thankfully, and I kept my eyes on anywhere but him. From the other side of the room, I saw Liam some weights with Paul spotting him. However, Harry’s silence soon let up once I made my way to the weights.

“Let’s not be awkward about what happened back there. You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed by, trust me. Besides, I like to get naked all the time. It’s not that big of a deal,” he said as I tested a few dumbbells, trying to find one the right weight.

“I’m not embarrassed, Harry, and thanks for that tidbit of information. That was more than I needed to know,” I told him as I went to grab another weight to find that I couldn’t lift it. Blowing a piece of hair out of my face, I reached for a different one as Harry spoke up.

“That’s not the point. My point is now about Niall and yourself,” Harry said, and I paused, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You were talking about being naked about two seconds ago. How did that highlight this point?”

“I’m talking about what I told you over the phone now, Elizabeth. You need to catch up,” Harry said slowly, exaggerating each word. I shook my head at his antics, but I was actually quite interested to hear what he was going to tell me earlier if not a little bit worried.

“Well, spit it out already,” I told him, giving him my full attention. He looked at the floor for a moment, and his hair fell over his face. I stayed still, not wanting him to go off another random rant about pineapples or something when he finally looked back up at me.

“How do you feel about Niall?” I felt my eyes widen at the question, but I tried to not let it show. My stomach turned violently, and judging by the look on Harry’s face, I thought he might have known something that I didn’t.

“You-wha-what are you talking about?”

“It’s a simple question. How do you feel about Niall,” he repeated lowly, and I felt my face heat up.

“You can’t just ask a girl something like that, Harry. I thought you were some expert on women from what I’ve heard.” He frowned, and I bit my tongue, realizing how rude that comment might have sounded. But he pressed on.

“I don’t mean to be obnoxious, Elizabeth, and I know less than they apparently think. Do you like Niall? Yes or no,” Harry asked flatly. I turned back towards the weights, reaching for one before I answered.

“Harry, he is a lovely guy. I don’t have many friends, let alone any guy friends, so this is all a little new to me. But we’ve known each other for less than three days. I honestly don’t know what to make of him,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

“So, you’re saying that you don’t like him because you haven’t know him long enough.”

“No, I’m just saying that I don’t know.”

“How do you not know how you feel?” With a short breath, I turned my face to look at Harry, who was looking at me with a keen expression.

“What is this, huh? Twenty questions? What’s it to you anyways, Harry,” I asked shortly.

“If I liked a girl, I would want to let her know, that’s all.”

I kept my mouth shut, turning back towards the weights to start lifting them in hopes that he might drop the subject, but I should have known better. I gripped one of the weights tightly, ready to test it, but he rested his hand over mine. I jerked away at the sudden contact, and within a few seconds, I found myself on the floor after hearing a loud, crashing noise.

I coughed, trying to figure out what had just happened, when I realized that there was a heavy weight on my chest. I lifted my aching head to see Harry lying on my chest, breathing deeply with his eyes shut tightly. From the floor, I was able to see the rack of weights I had been using on the floor with several dumbbells rolling around from their fall.

“Guys, are you okay,” I heard Liam shout as he drew closer, and I could hear Paul’s heavy steps right behind him.

“We’re fine. Elizabeth was just being herself again,” Harry called back, lifting his head from my chest, but he kept his eyes on me. I blushed, feeling his eyes watch my every move before he rolled off of me and stood up. I sat up, watching Liam and Paul approach us with worried expressions, but I was soon pulled away by Harry’s hand ready to help me to my feet.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I took hold of his calloused hand, steadying myself as I got to my feet when Liam walked over.

“Scared the life right of me there. What happened,” he asked quickly, scanning us for any injuries.

“Elizabeth got distracted when picking her weights, and she pulled one too heavy. I knocked her out of the way before the whole shelf came down,” Harry said lightly, and I just nodded dumbly.

“Well, I think that we’ve been down here long enough, alright. Niall called earlier and said that he wanted to see Elizabeth about something, so let’s head up,” Liam said before turning around. I looked over towards Paul who had kept quiet the entire time to find that he was staring at Harry and I expectantly. I looked down and realized why.

Harry had yet to let go of my hand.

I tugged away from his hand slowly, untangling our fingers before I went after Liam. Without stopping to see if the other two were following me or not, I clenched the hand that Harry had been holding before letting out a long sigh.

This wasn't good.