‹ Prequel: This.
Status: You don't have to read the prequel to follow what's going on:)

The Jerk Theory

Slightly Hungover

“So how good of an actor are you, Holly?” Harry asked as we walked down the road. Holly looked over at him with a confused expression, and then shrugged. We came across a small street market that had a lot of people milling around. Harry loved this kind of setting.

“I think it’ll be great to have a lady on out side, Liam. We could go for some sympathy.” He said dramatically.

“Don’t be a twat, Harry.” I warned him in a semi-serious tone.

“I’m serious! Holly, what do you think?” He asked her, not really looking at her because he was surveying the crowds.

“Um, well I guess it depends on what you want.” She said. I looked over at her and she smirked at me. I rolled my eyes. Of course she was playing along with it.

“Okay. Look at that girl.” He pointed in the direction of a small blonde girl in a nice dress. She was alone and browsing a small rack of books. “She just screams empathy.”

“What, you want her to insult you in front of her or something?” I asked, not really following where he was going with that.

“Not exactly.” Harry said mischievously. He looked at her again. “Holly, just stand here.” He grabbed her and repositioned her. And then put me in front of her. I glared at him and smacked his hands off me.

“Now, show me anger. You’re mad at each other. Holly never appreciates you, Liam!” Harry said melodramatically. “Holly, you’re a bitch that doesn’t deserve him. He never does anything right!”

“What are you-“ Holly started to asked. Harry shushed her by placing a finger over her lips. Holly went cross eyed looked at the finger on her mouth, causing me to laugh.

“No laughing. Do not break character.” He demanded, pointing at me. He gave us one more look over, and then nodded in satisfaction. “Aaaaand….Action!” He said and started to walk away.

“What the hell?” I mused. Holly laughed as she watched Harry make his way to the girl.

“He is such an idiot.” She said with a glare that was directed at me. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“What are you doing?” I asked her. Her angry face wasn’t very convincing.
“Come on! They’re watching. You’re shoes are really dumb.” She insisted, still glaring. She threw her arms up in the air in an exasperated fashion. I rolled my eyes and returned the glare.

“My shoes are not dumb.” I looked down at my converse sneakers. “You’re wearing the same ones!” I tried not to laugh.

“So you’re wearing girl shoes?” She asked, placing her hands on her hips. I looked over at Harry who waved a hand discretely.

“I think that’s you’re queue to leave.” I said to her, pointing in a random direction, my glare still intact.

“Fine. Good luck.” She said, giving my chest a gentle shove. She gave me a wink and stalked away. I started after her suddenly unsure of what to do. I walked over to the bookracks and pretended to browse. Looking around, I spotted Harry and Holly watching from a safe distance.

“You okay?” Someone asked behind me. I turned and saw the girl in the dress. I stared at her for a moment, surprised that it had actually worked. I thought that it was just another one of Harry’s ridiculous ploys.

“Uh, yeah. Just a little shook up I guess.” I chuckled awkwardly.

“I can be complicated sometimes.” She observed. I shrugged.

“I just want something simple, you know?” I told her, angling my body so that we were facing each other better.

“I know what you mean. It’s so hard to find something fun these days.” She said conversationally. She wasn’t very subtle as she checked me out. “I’m Amanda.”

“I’m Liam. And you look like loads of fun, Amanda.” I said, eying her up and down, much like she was doing to me. She was nice looking, with a decent body. I wouldn’t be opposed to spending some time with her.

“And I’m very simple.” She told me, stepping closer and looking at me through her lashes.

“Excellent.” I said with a smirk.

***


I woke up the next morning slightly hungover and incredibly satisfied. My night with Amanda turned out to be great. She really knew how to let loose and she was decent in bed. Not only that, but she had a great personality. We got on real well. If it wasn’t against everything Harry believed in, I would ask her out again. I glanced over at her sleeping form and smiled. I had to remember to thank Harry. His idea turned out to be brilliant.

I slipped out of bed quietly so I didn’t disturb her. I pulled a pair of boxers off the floor and fished a clean shirt from the dresser. I didn’t want to stay there since I was awake now, so I deicide to wait it out in the kitchen. I started to prepare some coffee.

I flipped through some text messages I had missed since I was a little occupied. They were mostly from Harry and Holly.

From: Dumbass Styles

You better get some tonight.

I promise won’t get offended that you aren’t texting me back.

I take from you’re lack of response that things are going well?

Fine. Holly and I are going to get drunk tonight.

Would you get mad if I seduced Holly? She’s well fit.


I rolled my eyes at his messages, only slightly irritated about his comments about Holly. I opened up her messages next.

From: Holly

I’m a little pissed that you ditched me. We were supposed to be hanging out. It better have been worth it.

I’m sorry…that seemed rude. It was my idea to get you a date. You can make it up to me later. We’ll get lunch. You can buy since you’re rich.

I will not be sleeping with Harry anytime soon. I promise.


I smiled. Of course. Holly wouldn’t go for a guy like Harry. My phone buzzed, alerting me of another message from Holly:

Call when you get the chance, I’m very interested to hear about your night;)

I laughed at the smiley face. I hadn’t gotten a text with a smiley face in it for a long time. I took a sip of my coffee and began to text Harry back. Amanda poked her head in the kitchen gave me a sheepish smile.

“Hey.” She said. Thankfully she had gotten dressed and appeared to be ready to go. I looked up at her for a second then went back to texting.

“Hey.” I responded. I had to make a conscious effort not to strike up a conversation with her. She was a nice girl, but I had to do this right.

“So this is it?” She said, running her fingers through her bed head. I smirked at my phone and shrugged.

“I suppose.” I said. She stood there for a moment longer before she walked out of the apartment slowly. I felt bad, but I assumed it was just because I’m a rookie. Harry didn’t seem to have a problem with hurting feelings anymore.

As soon as the door shut I called Holly.

“So, how was it?” She asked me without greetings.

“It was fun. She was nice.” I said carefully. I felt like I had to contemplate all of my words when I was talking to her.

“Did you at least remember her name?” She said in a serious tone. I rolled my eyes.

“Amanda.” I snapped.

“Jeez. Claws away. I was just asking.”

“Whatever.”

“So you slept with her, yes?”

“Depends on what your response will be.”

“Liam Payne! You are a proper slag! This is vile. Did your mother raise you this way? What would she have to say about this?”

“Fuck off, Holly.” I said over her rant. She laughed in reply. “So what did you do last night?”

“Well after you ditched me and Harry at the market, we shopped around for a while. Then we caught an early dinner. Then he took me to a pub where we proceeded to get smashed and watch footy reruns.” She said casually.

“So you and Harry had fun.” I clarified. I couldn’t quite decide why them hanging out bothered me so much.

“Yes. It was okay.” She sniffed. She didn’t seem too keen on giving me any details.

“You uh… do you like to hang out with Harry?” I asked. In retrospect, I realize that it was very untactful.

“Are you jealous?” She said with a laugh.

“No! I’m not jealous. I was just asking, god.” I scoffed.

“Sure. So you wouldn’t be mad if I told you that we snogged for like three hours on his couch?” She asked me.

“I would be bloody furious because you are too good for him.” I informed her.

“Okay. Just making sure. Don’t worry. I won’t be snogging that prick anytime soon. But we are going to dinner next weekend. Obviously you’re coming.” She said. I breathed a sigh of relief when she revealed that she was kidding.

“Sure.” I said.

“Well, I have to run. I’ll see you next weekend.” She said, and then hung up before I could respond. She wasn’t very good at phone calls I thought with a chuckle.

For some reason, I found myself blushing as I thought about what Holly’s laugh sounded like.
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terribly sorry that this has taken so long. and that it's total shit. I always regret doing stories in first person POV. I know where i want this to go, but its so hard to do only from liam's perspective. and I feel really weird about writing as him because he's like...real and stuff.

anyway. sorry if you're disappointed with this. this was just some conversational deal that i tried to focus around the harry/holly/liam relationship. so i guess its like a preamble to the future.

do you think harry is going to cause some problems???:) feedback would still be lovely!

thanks for reading!!