Before You Go

"Is it snowing?" Eleanor asked as they approached the doors to the mall. Both she and her friend Alice were laden down with coloured bags of kinds.
"I don't know, but I doubt it," Alice replied. She was petite and pale with light blonde shoulder length hair and a curvy figure - quite different to her best friend. "It's barely snowed all winter so far, and this is London."
"True," Eleanor sighed. She sounded so sad Alice had to bite back a laugh. "It looks like we'll be having another grey Christmas!" As she spoke, the sliding doors opened and the pair stepped out into a biting wind. Alice shivered and paused to wind her scarf tighter around her neck. The sky was dark grey and heavy and a thick slush lined the curb, but beautiful white snow had yet to fall. To their right, the Olympic Park stood highlighted against the horizon.
"If we wanted a white Christmas, we could always go down to Surrey," Alice teased "we could stay with Mr Watkins!"
"Oh please no!" Eleanor exclaimed in horror. Mr Watkins was one of their lecturers, and he was always going on about how nice it was in Surrey. He was ancient and lecherous and just a generally weird man.
"No snow, or Mr Watkins...it's such a tough choice." Alice said wryly. Snorting prettily, Eleanor rammed her shoulder against Alice’s. Unstable in her boots, Alice teetered.
"You are so mean to me!" She squeaked one firm footing had been regained.
"I love you!" Eleanor sing-songed in reply. Shaking her head, Alice rootled in her pocket for her keys. It was difficult, considering that she had five bags on that arm. Having at last succeeding in finding her keys, she unlocked the car and the girls piled their bags into the backseat.
"We are going to have the best marathon present wrapping session ever!" Eleanor crowed in delight as she eyed the packed backseat.
"Remind me to stop at that shop on the way home and we'll get some grenadine!" Alice called across the top of the car as she slid into the driver’s seat. Her kitten heels were perhaps not the best shoes to wear, but she'd driven in worse.
Four AM with seven inch stilettos...not fun.
"Cocktails and Christmas presents? Best afternoon ever!" Eleanor sighed from the passenger seat. The girls beamed at each other.

The drive to the apartment took half an hour including the stop for grenadine. On the way, the girls discussed the upcoming Christmas parties scheduled for their social calendars. They were most looking forward to the party being held by Louis and Harry. Louis was Eleanor’s boyfriend, and Harry was his band mate. They were both very rich and loved to drink. Their party was sure to be amazing - that and the fact that Alice was hoping Harry might ask her out. They'd been friends for two years now but lately they had become very close. On arriving at the apartment, Alice locked her car and they walked upstairs. Alice lived in a tiny, three roomed apartment in a nice area of North London. The building itself was only three stories high, and each flat had a nice little balcony. In honour of the season, Alice had wrapped fairy lights around the handrail. Alice loved her apartment, despite its size. The walls were covered in posters and prints and she had lights
- and clothes - everywhere. The girls spent the afternoon eating pizza, drinking cocktails and wrapping Christmas presents.
The radio was playing quietly in the background throughout the afternoon. Eleanor called a cab and went home just before dinner, and Alice stood for awhile and looked at the impressive pile of present beneath her tree. The tree itself was small, only two feet high, but it glittered merrily with sparkly baubles and coloured lights. Alice loved the Christmas season. If only it could be Christmas all year round. As she clambered into bed much later that night, her mind decided that it was going to reminisce on the day she and Harry met.

"Excuse me," A deep voice resonated from behind her. She turned on one heel. "Are you a model?" A tall boy stood behind her. He looked about 16 or 17 and the first thing she noticed about him was his terrible bright green hoodie. Beyond that, he had light brown curly hair and sparkling green eyes. Alice liked him at once.
"It sounds funny when you say it like that," she said "but yes, I am."
"I thought I recognised you!" the boy smiled. He had a very charming smile. "There's a cardboard cut out of you in Hollister!"
Alice had taken a sip of her drink and now she almost spat it out. "There's a what?"
"A cardboard cut out of you! You were on the ad!"
"Um..." Alice faltered "which Hollister was this?"
"Reading!"
"Well," Alice allowed a smile to rise to the surface of her features. "It's a little weird you recognised me from a cut out in Reading but alright." She smiled at him and he smiled back.
"I'm Harry, by the way." He held out his left hand. Shifting her drink from palm to palm, she shook it. "Alice. Are you from around here? You look familiar."
"I'm on the X Factor." He said it in such a casual, offhand way that Alice had to laugh. "I'm sorry if I don’t know your face off by heart," she said, grinning "but I don't tend to watch reality shows. I must have known you from a commercial."
"Oh that's fine. It's a bit unnerving when people recognise me in the street, actually."

Alice smiled to herself as she remembered Harry's words to her that night at the party. They'd been friends for two years since then, now, and his opinion had changed a lot. If anything, it was same-old, same-old. But Alice got a fair bit of street recognition, too. As a part-time model and loud body-image and animal-rights campaigner, she was often stopped in the street. People recognised her, like Harry had. She didn't really mind, but it was somewhat annoying when Starbucks baristas wrote their numbers on her coffee cups. As she lay there, she wondered if the recognition would get even worse if Harry did actually ask her out. She'd seen how it was for Eleanor. A lot of people weren't exactly nice to her. She had over a million followers on Twitter, too, just because she was dating Louis. Alice had 7,000...would that change?
Or course it was all just speculation. She didn't know for sure that Harry would, in fact, ask her out. She was just speculating. Beside her, her phone suddenly lit up. She rolled onto one elbow and picked it up.
Harry:
Are you awake?
Alice smiled a little to herself. She rolled back onto her back and keyed a reply.
Alice:
Yeah. Why?
A few seconds passed.
Harry:
I'm bored.
Alice:
Midnight shopping spree??
Harry:
I'll meet you at the usual Tesco in half an hour :)
Grinning to herself, Alive rolled out of bed. She grabbed a hoodie and threw it on, tying up her hair into a loose ponytail as she slipped on her uggs. She didn't bother taking her car - the Tesco was a 20 minute walk away and she could easily get there in time. She locked her apartment door behind her and set off at a fast walk. These midnight Tesco trips were a bit of a thing between her and Harry. Whenever they were both awake and in the city, they'd go shopping. Usually, the strangest
things were purchased. One memorable time, they bought 20 different magazines and had spent the rest of the night lying on Alice's living room floor making a collage. It currently hung above Harry's sofa.
The light layer of snow crunched under Alice's feet as she walked. She hadn't bothered to grab her iPod, so she was stuck listening to the faint rumbles of traffic. She didn't really mind. It was probably quite dangerous to walk around North London in the middle of the night (in fact, she knew it was – her friend Sasha was always telling her off for it) but it was fun. Nothing bad had ever happened. Alice turned off her quiet apartment-lined street and onto a slightly busier road.
Despite all, it was peaceful.
She arrived at the Tesco just as Harry's SUV was pulling into the carpark. He flashed his headlights at her.
"Good evening!" He crowed as he leapt from the car, slamming the door shut behind.
"Good evening to you too, sir!"
Harry wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug. He smelt like chicken.
"Harry, what did you have for dinner tonight?" Alice mumbled into his jacket.
"Roast chicken - why?"
"You smell like it!"
"Well, you smell like poo!"
"God!" Alice pulled back, frowning. "Could you be more immature?"
Mere seconds later, however, her frown was broken. Casually, Harry took her hand and tugged her into the Tesco. The staff there were used to them by now and paid them no attention. Together they ambled up and down the aisles, snatching random things: bread, chips, felt tip pens, pepsi, chocolate yoghurt and a Lions scarf.
"It's about time you got into football." He nodded at the scarf in response to Alice's questioning look.
"I'll wear it with pride." she promised.
"You better!" He exclaimed and as soon as they had paid for their purchases, he dug it out of the bag and wrapped it around her neck. "Now smile!"
Alice smiled cheesily as Harry took out his iPhone and snapped a picture.
"Your place or mine?" she asked him once the picture had been taken. Harry didn't even need to stop and think.
"Yours, of course!"

The two walked closely out to Harry's car, not talking. They didn't talk much in the car either, but Alice liked that.
It was nice, just hanging out without the intense pressure to talk all the time. As soon as they got up to the apartment, Alice turned the TV on to Sky Movies. Thor was playing.
"Sorry I don't have any colouring books so we can put these to good use." she said to Harry, brandishing the felt pens.
"You need to get some then," Harry said seriously. "No home is complete without a few colouring books!"
"Very true. Now you know what to get me for Christmas!" Alice winked.
"Ah, but I already have your Christmas present."
"Ooh, what is it?" Alice asked from her seat on the sofa. Harry, standing in the kitchen, ignored her. Instead, he opened a pot of chocolate yoghurt and took a spoon out of Alice's drawer. Without asking her, he threw a pottle and a spoon at her too.
"Thank you. You're not going to tell me what you've bought me, are you?" Alice stared him down as he came to sit beside her on the sofa.
"Of course not. You can wait 'til Tuesday!"
"You're mean." Alice pouted. She was just being silly of course - in actual fact she had never known Harry to be mean to anyone. He was a general all around nice person.
"No, you're mean!" Harry accused. He was pouting. Alice poked him in the arm.
"We're both mean! That's why we're best friends, and all the nice people just wish that they were as cool as us!"
Something flickered in Harry's eyes. Alice almost didn't notice it, it was gone that quickly and Harry was beaming back at her. He didn’t say anything, he just there with a fixed cheesy grin on his face.
"Dumbass," Alice said under her breath, and turned to the movie on the TV in front of her.
"I love you too," Harry said as he placed his arm around her shoulder.

They fell asleep together on the sofa. Alice was awoken in the early hours of the morning by the sound of the door shutting quietly. Still half asleep, she sat up straight and stretched. Harry had left, clearly, but that was no surprise. He was always busy doing something or other with the band. In fact, she had a suspicion that today they were recording some Christmas music for a charity album. Gazing blearily around her at the debris on her living room floor, she noticed that the light dribbling in her ranch slider was brighter than it should be at this hour. Stumbling slightly, Alice got to her feet and wandered to the door, pulling the lace netting back. What she saw caused to gasp and then grin. A thick layer of snow lay draped across the road like a white woollen blanket. It covered the eaves of the apartments opposite, and it was still falling. Alice watched in delight. The snow had never fallen this thickly in London in all the time she had lived there (which was admittedly only a year and half) and it was a beautiful sight. Born and raised in Lancashire, heavy snow around Christmas time was something that she was used to. She had fond memories of giant snowballs fights between her and her siblings and her cousins on Christmas morning. However, it seemed 100 times more special in the glittering capital. As she gazed out at the street, she noticed Harry leaving the building and walking to his car. He began to brush the snow off of it, but then stopped and stared at the road. Alice left the window.

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to move it!” she called as she jogged down the steps in front of her building. She’d paused on her way out only to grab a thick puffer jacket.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” Harry was frowning at the road.
“But then again, your car could probably manage it...” Alice thought aloud. Harry turned to look at her. The intensity of his gaze brought a flush to Alice’s cheeks. “What? Why are you staring at me?”
“Er, no reason.” Harry turned back to his car. “I was just thinking that...”
“That what?”
“That you...look very...pretty this morning.” The words left his mouth in a jumbled rush.
“Why, thank you, Harry,” Alice said sweetly. Harry didn’t give compliments lightly. She was flattered.
“Um...” He changed the subject. “I hope my car starts!”
“It should do,” Alice pushed her hair behind her ears. “It’s not actually all the cold this morning.”
Whilst Harry got into his car, Alice went around to both rear vision mirrors and breathed on them, wiping off the thin layer of ice. She stepped back onto the curb as the engine roared to life. Harry waved out the window at her as he reversed carefully, U turning to get his car pointed in the right direction. Alice waved back until his car was out of sight.

Today was going to be a lazy day, she decided, as she walked back into her apartment. She was going to read a few chapters of her holiday reading, write her weekly column for the magazine ‘Zebra’, and then tidy up her apartment. The day seemed to pass by very quickly. It was at about four o clock that her phone began buzzing very loudly. Alice turned off the tab, allowing the scalding water to sit in the sink, and answered her phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey Alice,” It was Eleanor.
“What’s up?”
“I was just wondering if you’d like to come out for a drink with us tonight...”
“Who’s ‘us’?” Alice asked as she repositioned her phone into the crook of her neck.
“Danielle, Perrie and I. We’re just going to Bar 21 on Oxford Street, and we wanted to know if you’d like to join us.”
Alice had met Danielle and Perrie before at parties and the like, but she didn’t know them very well. They were the other ‘One Direction girlfriends’. It was a label that had been stuck on to them and one that they took too gladly. Alice wondered if this was some sort of prelude – hopefully she would be joining that club soon enough.
“Sure. What time are you all meeting?”

At nine o clock that night, Alice was fighting her way through sheer swarms of late night last minute Christmas shoppers. She was dressed in dark red skinny jeans and a tucked in Ramones t-shirt, over which she was wearing a thick, warm black woollen winter pea coat. The bar was down a floor from the street, to be accessed by a set of steps flanked by wrought iron fences that were, in the daytime, painted dark green. The low rumble of chatter flooded out of the open door. Alice stepped carefully down the stairs and entered the dark bar. Her eyes adjusted almost at once and she saw the three girls sitting at a table beside the bar.
“Hi everyone,” she said once she was within earshot of them.
“Hey!” Eleanor stood up an enveloped Alice in a hug, kissing her on the cheek. Alice kissed her back, followed by hug and kissed from Danielle and Perrie. They all sat down again, save for Perrie, who had gone to get drinks.
“We were just discussing our latest gig.” Eleanor said to Alice, pointing at herself and then her fair-headed friend.
“What, the Swarovski one?”
“Yes. It’s going to be an International photoshoot, you see,” she said to Danielle, who was nodding.
“But I thought you were only a floor model, El.” Perrie said, returning with a selection of beers. Alice grabbed one and took a mouthful.
“Well I was, but that’s how the scouts spotted me,” she said, sounding slightly embarrassed. “It’s a different story for Alice though.”
“Oh shush you,” Alice said good-naturedly. “We’re both under contract!”
“True.” Eleanor agreed, tipping her head to one side.
“I propose a toast to contracts of all kind – dancing, modelling, and recording!” Danielle said, smiling around at the other three as she raised her glass.
“To contracts!” They all echoed, and drank.

Much of the night was passed in a haze of alcohol and casual conversation which grew steadily louder as the alcohol units increased. At about one AM taxis were called. Instead of going back to her home that night, Alice decided that she would stay the night at Eleanor’s flat, which was much closer. As soon as they were in the door, Alice dressed herself in the pair of her friend’s pyjamas, and crashed onto the guest bed.