Both Sides of the Story

I had honestly forgotten all about Christmas until the boys brought up Louis' birthday which was the day before. They didn't have too many plans and I was too enthralled by the fact that we were in Paris, France. Our hotel wasn't too far from the Eiffel Tower and I could see it from my hotel room window.

The boys waited until Louis left with Paul to go shopping with Lou Teasdale, their stylist. She had agreed to keep him away for a few hours while we planned something.

"What could we even do?" Harry asked from next to me. He poked my side, urging me to join in on the conversation. I was half paying attention, half playing Call of Duty. I was fending off a third swarm of enemy soldiers and as much as I loved Lou, this was important.

And by love, I meant as a friend.

"Harry, I advise you not touch me right now." I said through gritted teeth.

"Aw, why not, Reese? Too occupied with your game?"

"Yes, now leave me be!" I had just taken down a dozen guys and was hurrying to refill my ammo when Harry decided it would be a good idea to dig his fingers into my side. His tickling made me jerk to the side and I ended up dropping my controller and my soldier to stood still while a helicopter showered him with gunfire.

Harry leaped on me and continued to tickle me while I watched my soldier die on the screen.

"Harry, I am going to kill you!" I said between gasps and giggles. He continued to torture me until Bex got up and shoved him off of me.

"I hate to interrupt the lovefest, but we're planning a celebration here. Plus, Louis would be heartbroken to see his girlfriend under his best friend." She said the last part teasingly.

"Fuck you, I'm not Louis' girlfriend."

"Yet." She smirked and went back to her spot on her bed next to Liam. I decided not to tease her about their relationship and straightened my white t-shirt out and sat up.

Louis and I had become closer over the past two weeks. He was just too funny and charming not to like. We had a lot in common and got along amazingly. That being said, I'm not so sure that I want us to be a thing. Tour relationships were always the same and I liked Louis too much to have him just be a tour fling.

"Let's just take him out, get dinner, get drinks and celebrate together." Niall offered.

Everyone eventually agreed after another half hour of brainstorming. The boys all said that he'd be just as happy since we were all going to be there. Plus, we had the next few days for the holidays off so he'd also be glad to get to relax.



Louis had been genuinely surprised when we said we were going out for his birthday. For some odd reason, he was under the impression that we had forgotten.

The restaurant we all went to was private and quaint and the Eiffel Tower was visible from our window seats. We all decided to order the most authentic French food they had and share it. I tasted snails that night and I never would again.

Along with the food and endless bottles of wine, we ordered a huge cake and all of the waiters sang happy birthday to Louis. The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting and I wanted to make love to it.

By the end of the night, we were all drunk and full of food and cake. Liam also indulged so Paul, Preston and the rest of the security team had a fun time taking all of us back to the hotel.

"You know, this birthday was my favorite," Louis slurred into my ear. We were back in the hotel and I had shed my strapless red dress to lie in Louis' bed with him.

"Why is that?" I managed back. My head was swimming and I couldn't help but be distracted by Louis half naked body. We were tangled in one another's arms in our underwear and it was hard to concentrate.

"Because you were here." My eyes squinted to make contact with his and I felt the goofy, drunken smile that formed on my face. Louis looked from my eyes, to my lips, to my chest, then back to my eyes.

I was sure he was going to lean over and kiss me. Even against my better judgement, I licked my lips and readied myself. I had told myself it was fine but I didn't need to. Louis was attempting to lean over to me when a contorted look crossed his face and he jumped up and ran into the bathroom.

I let out a sigh and pulled the blanket over my head. Kissing was obviously not an option anymore.



"I know how we can get back at Harry!" I plopped next to Bex on her hotel bed. She looked up from her phone and raised her eyebrow at me. It had been a few days after Louis' birthday and Christmas and New Years was two days away.

"Get back at him for what?"

"For ruining my game on Modern Warfare 3! I had almost beat my personal best time when the asshole killed me!"

"Oh yeah. I remember when you cut nipple holes in a bunch of my shirts Mean Girls style when I erased your saved game that one time."

"Yeah. Let's not bring that up. Anyway, I say we cut all of his pants into shorts."

Bex raised both of her eyebrows at me this time and laughed. "What is it with you and cutting people's clothes?"

"Don't judge me, just help me when he goes to sleep?"

"Yeah, yeah. The curly haired one will get a new wardrobe."

Sure enough, when one a.m. rolled around, Bex and I crept from our room and into Harry and Louis' across the hall. Both boys were sound asleep so we were able to get in and get out soundlessly without getting caught.

When the morning rolled around, we were woken up by Harry's screeches.

"What the bloody hell happened to all my trousers?!" I sat up to see Harry had busted into our room and was standing there angrily in only a pair of tan chinos that ended mid thigh.

I couldn't help the chuckles that escaped my mouth. He looked absolutely ridiculous and it made my morning.

"Well, maybe next time you'll think twice about bothering me when I'm concentrating on my video games."

"You did this over a stupid game?!"

"Excuse you, Call of Duty is a way of life!"

Harry looked absolutely pissed. "Just so you know, you've just asked for trouble, Reese. You better hope I don't come up with a way of payback."

"Oh, I'm so afraid of you, Harry." He glared at me once more before storming out of the room. Harry Styles didn't scare me and neither did his empty threats.