Between The Lines

“I’ll go get changed and then meet you guys in the lobby in an hour” Harper told the boys as they stood outside the hotel.

“See you soon!” Louis shouted after her as she made the walk back to her apartment.
Not wanting to take too much time, Harper quickly showered, re-did her makeup and slipped into her favourite golden sequin dress matched with electric blue pumps. She let her hair fall out of its bun, styling it so it fell loosely down her back. Satisfied with her outfit, she grabbed her coat and clutch before heading back out to meet the boys.

The boys all came into view as she stepped through the door of the hotel. All of them lounging on the couches waiting for Harper. She had to admit, they scrubbed up nicely, all wearing button up shirts matched with dress pants. Her heels clicking against the marble floor alerted them to someone’s presence and they all looked up to see Harper approaching them.

“Wow” Harry let out a low whistle “You should dress like this more often".

“You look really lovely Harper” Liam told her, the others all nodding in agreement.

“Thank you boys” she smiled “Now shall we get going?”

The boys decided on a popular club adjacent to Times Square, that no one under the legal age should be allowed in. However, being One Direction had its perks and they were above this rule. The bouncer at the door even asking them for their autographs for his little girl.

Once they were led to the VIP section by a staff member, a pretty brunette girl who told that if they needed anything just ask, the boys immediately ordered a drink each and a round of shots.

“A cosmo for you, love” Harry handed her a pink drink in a cocktail glass. She didn’t plan on drinking much tonight, as she had to keep an eye on the boys, but one or two wouldn’t hurt.

After a few rounds and some shots, Harry, Louis and Zayn made a beeline for the dance floor, all clearly drunk. Harry immediately found a girl, his arms wrapping around her waist as the pair grinded their hips together. Zayn and Louis, being in relationships, chose to dance around like idiots. Harry came back and dragged Niall and Liam with him, shoving them both at a girl he’d found for them to dance with.

Harper laughed at the bands behaviour, moving to the bar to order herself a drink and keep a closer eye on the boys. Sipping on her drink, she watched Liam and Zayn take over the DJ booth, both grinning widely as they got the club pumping. A hand tapped her on the shoulder; she turned to see a very attractive guy in front of her.

“Do you want to dance?” He asked, leaning in closer to her ear so she could hear over the loud music.
Harped nodded and took the guys hand as he led her to the dance floor, near where Harry’s lips were getting well acquainted with some blonde. Wrapping her arms around the guy’s neck, they moved rhythmically in time to the music, almost grinding together.

Feeling the rush of adrenaline pump through her body, mixed with the alcohol, Harper forgot she was supposed to be watching the boys of One Direction. The guy, whose name she did not even know, pulled her even close to his body as they continued to sway to the music. He leant down and crashed his lips against hers. Harper didn’t object, parting her lips and kissing him back. His hands trailed down her side, right down to the hemline of her dress, raising it up her thigh slightly.
“No” she said, tugging it back down.

“Come on” He whispered in her ear “let’s get out of here” The guy wrapped his hand around Harper’s small to take her away from the club.

“I can’t” She tried to pull away from the guy, but he tightened his grip on her wrist, pulling her close again and attacking her at the neck. She struggled against his strong grasp. “Let go of me!”

“Hey!” someone shouted, shoving the guy off Harper “Let her go”. Harper was relieved to see that it was Niall who was helping her.

The guy never replied to Niall, instead he swung his fist at him, connecting it with Niall's face. Niall stumbled a bit, but clenched his fist and hit the guy back. A club fight was the last thing the media needed to hear about. Harper quickly jumped in trying to break the two angry guys apart, just as the club security came, they dragged away the drunk idiot and kicked him out of the club.

“Thank you” Harped told Niall.

“Just helping out, that guy looked like trouble from the start” Harper blushed slightly, realising Niall must have seen her with her tongue down his throat.

“Well thank you for helping me”

“You’re shaking” Harper looked down at her hands, not realising they were shaking “Do you want to get out of here?” She nodded and followed him to round up the drunken members of the band.

It took them almost twenty minutes to find them, each protesting that it was too early to leave, but followed them nonetheless. Harry and Louis had their arms across each other’s shoulders, singing Live While We’re Young with Zayn and Liam whilst the group walked back to the hotel.

“Tonight let’s get some!” The four of them sang “And live while we’re young!”

Niall and Harper couldn’t help but laugh at the behaviour of the other boys, they were all in such good spirits, but would definitely regret the night in the morning. With Niall’s help, Harper got the boys safely back into their beds, all much more tired than the walk back to the hotel.

“Niall your face!” Harper exclaimed, finally seeing the blonde in better light. He had a cut lip and a bruise developing around his right eye as well as a few small cuts. Niall looked in the mirror in the lounge room and laughed at his reflection.

“Battle scars” He told her.

“Here let me help clean you up”. She motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen. Niall propped himself up onto the kitchen counter as Harper wet a wash cloth.

Pressing lightly at his lip, she cleaned away the dry blood. Niall winced when she got to his eye, that was the worst of his injuries.

“I’m sorry” Harper said pulling away.

“It doesn’t hurt that much”. Harper lightly pressed the cloth back to his eye, cleaning the cuts, but there was nothing she could do for the black eye.

“There, done” she announced, washing the cloth in the sink to get rid of the blood from it. “Your eye will probably get worse by the morning though”

“As long as it doesn’t hurt too much” Niall frowned slightly realising something. “Wait, we don’t have any interviews tomorrow do we?”

“No, but you had a photo shoot for Seventeen magazine’s December issue” Harper sighed realising Niall was going to look all banged up for it. “And it can’t be postponed”

“I’m sure they can cover it, and then make me look even more beautiful with Photoshop”

“Yeah” Harper agreed absentmindedly “I’m going to have to do major damage control tomorrow, I’m sorry Niall”

“Don’t apologise” He said getting down from the counter. “That guy was a creep; it’s not your fault”

“Thank you, again” Harper offered him a weak smile “I should get going now”

“Stay” Niall said “It’s late and you shouldn’t be walking the streets alone, you can have my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch”

Niall led Harper to his bedroom and rummaged through his unpacked suitcase. He handed her a t-shirt pair of sweats so she didn’t have to sleep in her dress.

“You looked really beautiful tonight” Niall said, standing in the doorway “Goodnight”

“Night” Harper smiled at the blonde boy as he shut the door behind him.

Harper slipped out of her dress and into Niall’s clothes. The t-shirt hung loosely around her small figure and the sweat pants were baggy but still clung to hips without falling down, having rolled them a few times. Climbing into bed, Harper pulled the covers tight around her as she let sleep overcome her, wanting to forget the night’s events.