Overdrive

Harry sat in the passenger seat, next to Louis, and sang along obnoxiously to the radio. Behind him, Niall lounged in the back seat.

The three of them had the weekend off, something that was very uncommon, and had spent it properly. Friday night at the Funky Buddha, Saturday afternoon out to the mall, Saturday night drinking in with the lads, and now Sunday. Sunday was a bump in the road. Sunday, Harry had promised to go see his sister Gemma at a friends yard sale. Niall and Louis had agreed to come along, because it was a long ride and Niall secretly thought Harry's sister was well fit.

The boys banged their heads along to a Skepta mix, driving in back roads they hoped no one would see them on.

"Why exactly are we driving for a yard sale, again?" Louis asked, turning down the music. Harry shrugged, rolling his eyes.

"Gemma wanted to see me, and our old friend's having a yard sale and wanted me to visit as well. Don't worry, hopefully we'll just stop in and say hi and be on our way. See some ladies while we're there." He winked, earning a look from Louis.

"Harry, Eleanor. Remember?"

Harry laughed, shrugging. "More for me then."

"Don't you want to see Gemma?" Niall asked. He didn't want to leave quickly, he wanted to stare at Gemma.

"Of course," Harry said quickly. "But I've always found yard sales real boring." He laughed, shaking his head. "And Gemma said she was thinking of driving up with mum in a month or so, anyway."

Niall nodded, settling back in his seat contently. Louis raised the volume again, lower than before so they could chat, and they continued their drive. They reached the house a little past three, pulling up on the curb. The front lawn was littered with a spectrum of things, books, knick knacks, furniture, you name it. A good amount of people were roaming around, looking for their chance to buy something.

“Harry! You came!”

Harry stepped out of Louis’s car smiling, opening his arms to welcome his sister. “I said I would,” he laughed. Gemma stepped out of their embrace and slapped his chest.

“Yeah, and we all know you’re one to ‘forget’ after a wild night out." Harry laughed, shrugging.

“But I promised this time, and you know,” he winked, “a Styles doesn’t go back on a promise.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “Good answer.”

“Now,” Harry turned and scanned the crowd, “Where’s Julie?”

“So you did show up, wonderful.”

Harry turned at the familiar voice, rolling his eyes playfully at Juliana. “Aw, not you too Julie. I’m better than that!”

Julie stepped into Harry’s arms, giving the younger boy a hug. “Yeah, if you say so. As long as you’re here, I’m happy.”

“Thank you,” Harry laughed, giving Gemma a pointed look.

Niall stepped over to Gemma, standing next to her. “Hey Gem, you alright?”

“Hi there Niall,” Gemma smiled, turning to the blonde. “Haven’t seen you in some time.” Niall smiled shyly, shrugging.

"Harry- check this out!"

Harry looked over at Louis sat comfortably in an old reclining chair. Harry laughed, going over to him. The chair was big and round and covered in a soft cotton dark brown fabric. It was old and worn and had a patch sewn in on an arm. It looked pathetic, stationed next to a nice set of four dining chairs. But it looked comfortable.

"Can we keep it Hazz," Louis begged, "please?"

Harry laughed, swatting Louis away. "Get out, let me have a go."

Louis moved, and let Harry sit in the chair. It was as comfortable as it looked, Harry sank in as soon as he sat down. He sighed, closing his eyes with a smile.

"Why would anyone get rid of this?" He mused, earning a laugh from Louis.

"Whoa, you look good in that mate."

Harry's eyes sprang open, and he jumped in the seat. He looked to find the source of the voice, looking over at Louis in confusion. But Louis was looking behind him, so Harry turned his head to see who had spoken to him.

She walked around the chair so that she was in front of Harry, smiling shyly, her eyes downcast.

"Right, sorry if that was too forward of me. You just look so comfortable in that chair- are you planning to buy it?"

Harry stared at the girl with an open mouth. She was gorgeous, a real bird. Her light brown hair cascaded in messy curls down to her breasts -which were lovely, and caught Harry's immediate attention. Her full, red colored lips and caramel skin and curvy body and the strange way she spoke were too much, way to much for Harry. He was rendered almost speechless just by the sight of her, and felt something in his chest bang.

"No actually," he finally got out, stuttering slightly. "I'm not."

She looked up at him in shock, and Harry marveled at her light green eyes.

"But why?" She demanded curiously. She smiled, "You look like a prince sitting in that chair."

Harry was momentarily stopped with her smile, but somehow got his mouth to cooperate.

"It doesn't exactly go with the rest of my furniture," he said easily, with a laugh and a knowing glance at Louis. The old chair, though comfortable, wouldn't fit with the very expensive furniture some decorator had choosen for the flat.

"Then get some new furniture," she shrugged. Harry raised an eyebrow at the girl, wondering why she was so pushy. She urged on. "I can see it," she said persuasively, "you, that chair, in front of the game. A big burger in your hands," she held an invisible hamburger in her hands, smiling at Harry. Louis, beside the girl, let a laugh slip. But the girl's eyes never left Harry.

"No," Harry finally said, standing, "I'm afraid I can't, I just don't think-"

"Look," she said quickly, stepping over so there was little space between them. "Just buy it, would you? It's a big ticket item, and I can't seem to get anyone to buy it. I'm desperate, please?"

Harry's eyes widened, and a confused 'what' slipped out his mouth. Louis leaned in.

"Oh I get it,” the older boy said knowingly, “this is your yard sale too, eh?"

Blinking, the beautiful girl shook her head and smiled nervously. "No, not exactly. This is all a friend of mine's. I'm just here to- uhm, assist customers with their purchase decisions."

This time Louis was the one with a, "what?" The girl sighed.

"Alright, they asked me to get people to buy things because I'm good at persuasion. I get 20 percent of everything I sell, and I need you to buy this chair because I'm broke."

Harry and Louis stared at the girl, then at each other, and back to her, before bursting into a fit of laughs. Harry fell back into the recliner, he was laughing so hard.

She simply stood there, biting her lip and waiting for them to quiet down, hoping they weren't attracting too much attention.

Unfortunately, someone did notice. Fortunately, it was just Julie. She wandered over, smiling excitingly.

"Oh, I see you've met the boys. Aren't they a riot? Harry, did you want to get that chair? It's really comfy, no?"

Harry sobered up long enough to nod at Julie. "It is, it is." He said, still trying not to laugh. He looked over at the beautiful girl biting her lip nervously and nodded again at Julie. "Yeah, I did want to get it. Your friend here convinced me."

Julie glanced at the girl knowingly with a look Harry would have missed, had he not known the truth.

"Okay, just come with me so we can settle payments, yeah?" Harry nodded, not taking his eyes off the girl.

"Louis," he said, "take care of that, yeah?"

Louis smiled, patting his friend on the back before following Julie. Harry smiled at the girl in front of him, offering her his hand.

"Harry," he introduced. Her eyes looked down at his hand before looking back at him, shaking his hand with a smile.

"Marilyn." She said warmly. "Nice to meet you, Harry."

She spoke with a UK accent, but it carried more weight on the r's and occasionally her words meshed together at the end. The way she said his name alone made the hair stand up on Harry's neck.

"The pleasure is mine." Harry smiled cheekily. "So, how do you know Julie?"

"Gemma introduced us."

"You know my sister?"

"We met in line at a book store."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yes."

They stood in silence, Harry scratching the back of his neck and Marilyn glancing around.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Harry. Thanks for buying that chair, really did me a favor mate. I hope you can fit it in with the rest of your stuff," she laughed, giving Harry a small wave before walking away.

Harry watched her as she left him, not even looking at her rear end. He kicked himself for not saying anymore. He was an idiot.

"All done!" Louis came over, smiling. "That lovely chair is yours Hazza, congratulations. And that bird is yours as well, I hope." He looked over and saw Marilyn walking away. "I hope she's going to get a pen to give you her number, yeah?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know what happened, Lou. I couldn't think of anything to say to her. It was quiet and she left."

"Bloody hell, Harry." Louis rolled his eyes. "Do I have to do everything?"

He jogged away from Harry, going to catch up with Marilyn. Harry watched in horror as he stopped her and began to chat with her.

"What's Lou doing?" Niall asked, coming up behind Harry.

"I'm surprised you stopped staring at my sister long enough to notice."

Niall ducked his head, turning a shade of pink. He coughed. "Really though, who's that?"

Louis smiled at Marilyn and thanked her, waving her goodbye and coming back over to Harry.

"I'll tell you later," Harry answered Niall, taking a few steps to quickly meet Louis.

"What happened, what did you do?" He asked quickly. Louis laughed, handing him a small slip of paper with her number on it. Harry laughed in excitement and jumped into Louis's arms.

"Thank you Lou, I knew you wouldn't let me down mate."

"Anything for you, sweetcheeks." Louis laughed, setting Harry down. Gemma walked over, a hurried expression on her face. She put an arm around her brother.

“You guys should go, someone gave a tip to where you were- the paps could be here any minute.”

Niall cursed under his breath, and the three boys quickly said their goodbyes. Harry’s eyes scanned for Marilyn, but could only see the top of her head some feet away, and was pulled into the car before he could get her attention. Louis drove quickly away, Harry frantically playing with the GPS to find new roads to drive on.

“Well,” Niall laughed, “That was fun.”