Last Girl Standing

Pushing a free strand of hair behind her ear, Sadie shuffled her feet across the red carpet to stand in line next to the other girls. The boys were already standing in front of them, with Tanisha off to the left. They all had soft smiles on their faces, as they waited for the challenge to begin.

“Alright contestants,” Tanisha said, her grin wider than the ocean. “Is everyone ready for this week’s challenge?”

When everyone nodded, she continued. “As you all know, as part of Niall’s prize for winning Alpha Male, he gets to choose the challenge for this week and he has quite the idea planned. Niall, I’ll let you explain.”

Niall looked over to Tanisha, confusion on his face. He was clearly not prepared to announce the challenge to the group.

“Well,” Niall said, moving his gaze from Tanisha out to the girls. “For this challenge, I thought we could play a game of truth or dare. Each of us will get paired with two girls, with me getting the extra third, and the groups will take turns daring one another.”

“The groups will be placed in order, based on Niall’s decision,” Tanisha said, finishing the explanation for him. “And the group that would follow that one to be dared is the one that picks their dares. This group will agree on a truth and a dare. One person in your group must do the dare, and the another person must do the truth, while the last person, or in the case of Niall’s group, the last two people, get to sit it out until the next round. The first group to refuse to do a dare loses. Niall, you can start by grouping everyone together.”

It was at this point that it became even more obvious that the boy was lost. He had no idea who to group together, so his eyes flicked continuously through the girls.

“I’ll take October, Aurora, and Rachel.” The girls quickly moved to his side, standing on either side of him. “I’ll give Kass and Kelsie to Zayn, Sadie and Haley to Harry, Chelsea and Megan to Louis, and Jenna and Abelia to Liam.”

When he said the last girl’s name, his lips twitched a bit, causing Sadie to wonder what had happened to the once happy couple. She didn’t give it much thought, though, because the moment she stepped next to Harry, his bright smile sent all other thoughts out of her head.

His hand fell to her hip, setting it on fire, and he pulled her closer to him. Haley stood on his other side, with her arms folded across her chest.

“Niall,” Tanisha said, pointing to the blonde boy. “Who is up first?”

“Zayn’s group,” the boy said, his voice tight and angered. “And my group will be daring them.”

Zayn’s group took a few steps forward, standing on the small stage next to Tanisha. Zayn looked worried, as did Kassandra, but Kelsie didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on. The sweet girl kept a small smile on her face, while Zayn and Kass’s eyes kept darting back and forth.

Niall’s group whispered to one another, as they nodded their heads. After a few moments of speaking, the group looked up and Niall spoke. “Your truth is to tell everyone which person in the house you could most see yourself with, and your dare is to kiss anyone that you choose.”

At Niall’s words, Zayn’s eyes tightened, giving the blonde boy a glare. Sadie thought she hadn’t seen that much tension between the boys since she arrived at the house. Even in a house full of women, there was still too much testosterone.

Kelsie pulled on Zayn’s arm, bringing his attention to her. The group whispered, each of the girls nodding their heads. When they separated, Kelsie bit her lip tightly, and when she spoke, her voice was soft. “I’d have to say I could most see myself with Louis.”

Across the red carpet, Louis smiled at her, clearly pleased by the fact that he had another girl on his side. He only held her gaze for a moment and everyone’s attention was soon turned to Zayn.

With a deep breath, Zayn hopped off the small stage. He moved slowly over to Niall’s group, keeping his gaze focused only on October. His hands moved to her face, one finger running down the side of it. He leaned in slowly, giving her time to react to the kiss she was about to be forced into. When his lips pressed against hers, her hand moved immediately to his hair and wrapped up in it. They kissed for a few long moments, with no one able to take their eyes away from them.

When they pulled away, Tanisha cleared her throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Now who will be daring your group, Niall?”

Teeth grazing against his lip, Niall paused for a moment, looking between each of his friends. “Liam’s group.”

The three of them huddled together and began the same quite whispers Niall’s group had just done. After they each gave a quick nod of their heads, they pulled apart.

“Alright,” Liam said, tucking his hands in his pockets. “For your truth, you have to tell us the name of the last person in the house that you kissed, and for the dare, you have to give a lap dance to Tanisha.”

Everyone immediately began laughing, and Tanisha even buckled over in her laughter. One of the producers quickly brought over a chair for her to sit at, while Niall’s group decided who was going to do what.

After a moment of deliberation, Niall shot his head up, glancing over at Tanisha. Everyone knew what was going to follow, and each of them were giddy in anticipation. Next to Niall, Rachel opened her mouth to speak. “The last person I kissed was Harry.”

Niall began walking over to Tanisha, but Sadie’s eyes didn’t follow him. She felt her heart sink in her chest and Harry’s once warm fingers felt cold against her skin. She never thought Harry would kiss any other girls in the house, but she should have known better. He had those curls and those eyes and he could have anyone he wanted. She should have known.

Before she had a chance to react any further, Harry turned to her, placing both his hands on her shoulders. Her mind wanted her to pull away, but her body wouldn’t let her. His head pressed against her forehead, while his eyes locked with hers.

“Sadie, that was in the beginning,” he said, his voice just barely above a whisper. “It was on our date on the ship, before I gave her to Louis so I could have you. I told you that we didn’t click, remember?” Sadie nodded her head. “That was why. I kissed her and I knew we weren’t a match, and I haven’t kissed her since.”

Harry stopped speaking, but kept his head pressed against hers. Through closed lips, Sadie let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she wasn’t sure whether or not she could believe him. It was a game, and for all she knew, he could just be playing it very, very well.

Her eyes closed, then opened, then did it again. Every time she did, she was met with Harry’s deep green eyes. The color was nearly an identical match to the muddy grass beneath their feet on the first day they kissed. That moment had been real, and she knew it. Looking into his eyes, she knew that this one was real too.

Her head titled forward in the only adequate response she could think of, and her lips pressed against his. He smiled against her, sending a chill down her spine, before gently kissing her back.

Everyone seemed to be too caught up in Niall’s dance to notice them, and she honestly didn’t care. It was better that way, when she could pretend it was just the two of them.

His lips pulled slowly away from hers, as if they never really wanted to leave, and he smiled.

“Alright, Niall,” Tanisha said, as the blonde boy walked away from her. “That was a lovely dance, but now I’m afraid we have to get on with the game. Who will be daring Liam’s group?”

Tapping his finger against his chin, Niall paused. “I guess Harry’s group.”

Harry looked from Sadie to Haley and back again. “What do you ladies think we should do?”

Sadie’s eyes darted back and forth, between the two of them. She had absolutely no ideas for any dares and her mind was unable to do any of the thinking for her. She tried to think back to high school – to the thousands of times she played to truth or dare – but she couldn’t think of anything.

As if she’d done it a thousand times before, Haley spoke quickly, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Your truth is to tell everyone your wildest sex story and your dare is to take a body shot off of one of your partners.”

From the stage, Liam bit his lip, as he turned to Jenna and Abelia. Jenna and Liam looked at each other simultaneously in their quick, unspoken agreement to spare Abelia the pain of going through the challenge.

Taking a deep breath, Jenna focused her gaze to the ground before speaking. “My senior year of high school, I had sex in one of the dressing rooms at Macy’s.”

Liam’s face turned up in a smile and he let out a soft chuckle, before pulling Jenna in for a hug. His mouth moved to her ear, whispering something no one else was able to hear.

When they pulled apart, Tanisha had a bottle of vodka in her hand, along with a slice of lime. It was almost as if the producers had planned it.

Shaking her head, Jenna laughed as she lay against the stage floor. Liam took the bottle from Tanisha’s hand and crouched down next to the beautiful blonde girl. His hand moved to her stomach, slowly lifting up the fabric until it reached just below her bra. The bottle leaned forward and a few small drops of the alcohol landed in her belly button.

Gripping the lime in his hand, he dripped the juice from the top of her skin down to her the pool of alcohol in her thin stomach. He looked down at her, his eyebrows raised as if to ask if it was okay. When she nodded her head, he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to her stomach, moving it all the way down until he sucked the vodka from his stomach.

He lifted up with a smile, taking it like a true champ.

When they were finished, Tanisha clapped her hands together, and turned to Niall again. “Niall, who will be daring Harry’s group?”

“Louis’s group.”

The moment the words fell from Niall’s lips, Harry’s body tensed up. Any dares Louis’s group gave them were bound to be bad.

Haley was the first to step forward, moving slowly to the stage, and Harry and Sadie were soon to follow. It felt as though Sadie’s feet were the heaviest they had ever been. She was practically dragging them against the floor.

Harry reached his hand out to her, pressing it against her arm, and it seemed to make her feet three times lighter. With his help, she was able to make it to the stage, while her knees shook beneath her. There were so many nerves pulsing though her body that she didn’t know what to do with them.

When they reached the stage, Sadie’s eyes met Louis’s and he smiled at her, not the evil smile she had expected, but a calm one that told her she had nothing to be afraid of. Harry’s hand reached out to hers, gripping it tightly, and she let out a sigh of relief.

Louis didn’t even consult his other group members before speaking. “For your truth, one of you has to say the two things you hate most about the other people in your group. For your dare, you have to kiss the person you would be least likely to date.”

Sadie’s eyes moved from Haley’s to Harry’s, hoping they would make a decision without her. She didn’t want to do either of things, but she didn’t want to condemn them to doing them either.

“I came up with our dares, so you guys have to do them,” Haley said, smiling at the pair. “I’ve done my part.”

Harry looked at Sadie, their eyes meeting immediately. Neither of them knew what to do.
His lips turning up in a smile, Harry chuckled. “I don’t hate anything about you.”

“Think of something.”

“That means you’ll have to kiss someone,” Harry said, moving his gaze to the floor.

As much as he hated the thought of hearing two things Sadie hated about him, he hated thought of her kissing someone else even more.

“I know.”

Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Haley. “I hate that you snapped on Louis for no reason and I hate that you don’t want to be here but continue to stay.” His gaze turned to Sadie, as he gave a shake of his head. “I hate that you liked Louis first, and I hate that you’re definitely going to be the reason that I lose this game.”

Sadie laughed, pushing her gaze to the floor. She didn’t know how long she paused, but it was apparently long enough for everyone to notice.

“Now the dare,” Louis said, looking up at her from his place with his group.

With a deep breath, Sadie looked around at the boys in front of her. There were four of them she could choose from, but none of them seemed more wrong than any of the others. There was no one that stood out as being the perfectly wrong one, only one that seemed to be perfectly right. She’d never given any thought to the one like she liked the least because she was too focused on the one she liked the most.

In a moment of realization, as if the answer had been in front of her along, Sadie took three quick steps over to Tanisha, gripped the woman’s face in her hands, and gave her a quick kiss. The sight sent the entire group of laughing, with Niall nearly on the floor in his fit of hysterics.

From across the way, Louis glared at her, folding his arms across his chest. “You got me, Scott.”
A large smile graced his lips, and Sadie laughed at him, before following Harry and Haley off the stage.

Harry looked down at her, still letting out a few small laughs. “Good one.”

Tanisha laughed wildly from her place on the stage. “I’m getting all the action today.”

The producers laughed next to her, and Sadie was sure that her little charade would make it on the show, the exact opposite of what she had intended.

“Now that we’ve come full circle,” Tanisha said, “Zayn’s group gets to pick the dares for Louis’s group.”

The dark haired boy paused only for a moment before shouting out the dares to Louis’s group. “Your truth is to tell everyone the three things you like most about yourself, and your dare is to kiss the person you most want to date.”

The three of them huddled together, whispering like many groups before them. They didn’t take long to decide, and Megan was quick to shout out her three things. “I love my hair when it’s straightened. I love that my eyes match nearly everything I put on, and I love that my legs look good in a dress.”

Megan’s three things were nothing short of obvious. Sadie knew there was a reason she didn’t like the girl, aside from the fact that she had kissed Louis back when she was interested in him.

After everyone took a moment to acknowledge Megan’s three things, Louis hopped down from the stage. His teeth were tugging at his bottom lip, as he slowly walked away from the girls on his team. Megan had a small frown on her face, while Chelsea only looked surprised.

The boy continued walking, past Zayn’s group, where Kelsie eyed him, and past all the others. With every step Louis took, Harry shifted more. His feet were shuffling back and forth, almost as though they were out of his control.

Louis kept walking until he was just a few feet in front of them. His eyes were pointed at the ground, refusing to meet anyone else’s. He stood directly before them, his eyes darting back and forth. When he looked up, he moved so quickly no one had any time to process what he was doing.

His hand moved to Sadie’s face in one quick movement, and he pulled her against him. She stood completely frozen, entirely unsure of what to do. There was something so wrong about the moment that it didn’t allow her body to respond.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but to Sadie it felt like several awkward minutes.

When he pulled away, before Sadie even had to chance to process what had happened, Harry shot forward, shoving Louis to the ground. The curly haired boy was quickly on top of him, throwing a few quick punches against Louis’s face. In response, Louis held his hands up, attempting to push Harry off of him.

Niall, Zayn, and Liam quickly raced over to the pair of fighting boys. The three of them used all their strength to pull Harry off of Louis, while everyone else stood in total shock.

Harry Styles had punched Louis Tomlinson square in the jaw and no one knew what to do.

Liam and Niall kept their arms around Harry, pushing him away from Louis every time he tried to move forward.

“What the bloody Hell were you thinking?” Harry shouted, his voice thick with anger. “Why can’t you just get your own damn girl and stay away from mine?”

“Your girl?” Louis said, bringing his hand to his bloody nose. “I had her first. I liked her first. I told you that and you went after her anyway. We called dibs.” Louis looked around at the other boys. “We all did and you’re ignoring it like it’s nothing. Do you remember what we said at the beginning? We wouldn’t go after any of the girls that the others liked. We agreed that we wouldn’t fight over girls. You called dibs on Regina and no one touched her-”

“We sent her home in the first bloody round,” Harry said, cutting him off. “Obviously things are going to change.”

“That’s not the point,” Louis shouted, throwing his hands to his sides. “You said you wanted Regina and I respected that. I told you that I wanted Sadie, and then you go macking on her every chance you get. You were supposed to use the time on the boat to find out if she was right for me, not go falling in love with her. You ruined everything.” Louis looked around at the other boys. “You all did. We had agreements and you all broke them. Now look what’s happened. We’re all going mad trying to get back at one another instead of actually having fun.”

Harry took a deep breath, letting his thoughts settle, before pushing Liam and Niall off of him. Louis had a point. Louis had a thousand points, all of which made sense. They had made plans. They had promised to stay away from the girls that the others had claimed. They had said a lot of things, but hadn’t followed through on any of them.

“I’m sorry, Lou,” Harry said, taking a few slow steps towards the boy. “I really like Sadie. I don’t know how it happened and I didn’t intend for it to, but it did. I want her, Lou. Please understand that.”

Louis sighed, tightening his eyes at his friend. “I’m only doing this for you because I hope one day you’ll do the same for me.”

“I hope I’ll never have to.”

Harry reached out his hand, while Louis did the same. For the first time since they arrived at the house, they did the handshake they’re created all that time ago, back on X Factor, and it was as if none of what happened had mattered. Louis liked Sadie, but he could get past it. As long as his best friend was happy, he could find another girl.

Tanisha cleared her throat, gathering everyone’s attention back to her. “In light of what’s happened, I’m afraid we have to end the challenge here. By default, Niall is the Alpha once again. At 5 o’clock tonight, Niall will pass out the dates so we want each girl to be prepared to be one of them. You are all excused.”

Everyone began walking slowly, most of the girls clearly still shocked by the scene that had unfolded in front of them, while the boys were laughing as if nothing had happened. Everyone continued to walk into the house, until only Harry and Sadie were left.

Sadie’s eyes were locked on the back of Harry’s curly head. When he turned around, the corner of his lips were turned up in what could only be described as a suppressed smile. His gaze was focused on the ground in front of her, while his feet shuffled back and forth.

When his head lifted up, and their eyes met, Sadie smiled. He let out an awkward laugh, completely unsure of what to do next.

Pressing her lips together, Sadie shot forward, jumping against Harry. Her arms wrapped around his neck, while his hands snaked around her waist. His rough fingers pressed against the small of her back, sending chills through her body as he lifted her into the air.

Every doubt she’d ever had about Harry – and they were few far between – rushed out of her mind. He’d confessed to Louis, to the other girls, to the producers, to the audience, and to her, that she was the only girl he wanted. Everyone else could have their games, because he only wanted her.

The agreements they had made all those weeks ago were tossed out the window and were replaced with new ones. When another guy felt the same way about another girl the way that Harry felt about Sadie, no one else was allowed to touch her.

The games wouldn’t stop, but the way they played them would. From then on, they were going to play fair. There was going to be a noticeable shift in the house, and things were going to change for the better.

But little did everyone know, the games had only just begun.