Know Your Enemy

I watched as Clara walked away and smiled.I was glad she was stepping out of her shell and living life. I turned back around to Louis, who had a worried expression on his face.

“What?” I asked, puzzled.

“Do you understand what you just did? I like Clara a lot, you know that, but there will be people at this party she doesn’t get along with. People like Lana. Harlow, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“I’m so sick of this whole divide thing. Like, why can’t people just be like,‘Alright, you’re cool, let’s drink’?”

Louis rolled his eyes and sighed. “It’s not that easy, but fine. You want her to come? Then let’s go. I’m just going to get really drunk at this bash and let you handle the drama.” And with that, he turned on his heel and walked away towards the car.

I exhaled loudly and ran to catch up to him. It wasn’t worth fighting over.

“Louis, wait,” I yelled, and he stopped. I ran up to his side and slid my arm through his, linking us together. “Don’t be mad at me,” I cooed and batted my eyelashes exaggeratedly at him.

He looked at me and laughed.“Fine. Let’s just have a good night, alright?” he asked, and I shook my head vigorously.

“Of course, let’s go!” So we headed off towards the parking lot, my heart beating loudly in my chest from the excitement.

When we reached the car, we noticed Clara looking around, looking awfully confused. We both laughed at how lost she looked. She looked nice though. Her hair was in a curly side-do, and she had on a nice white blouse with a long skirt. She turned in our direction and blushed, looking down at the ground.

We walked over to the car, and Louis opened up his door and pushed the seat up, smiling at Clara as he waved her in. She giggled and got in slowly. I hopped in my seat and bounced up and down enthusiastically as Louis started the car.

“You excited?” Louis asked, laughing, and I just beamed.

“Gee, can you not tell?” I retorted back sarcastically, but truth is, Ireally was. I was excited to go to a party, I was excited to meet new people, but most importantly, I was excited to see Harry. I had gotten butterflies when I heard he was going and spent extra time getting ready. I put on a medium length skirt that went right above my knees and a band t shirt that somehow looked classy.

As we drove towards our destination, I turned around in my seat and looked at Clara, who was nervously bouncing her leg and playing with her hair.

“Are you excited?” I asked her, and she looked up at me.

“Yeah, I am, actually,” she smiled, and I smiled back.

“Alright, ladies, we have arrived,” Louis said as we pulled up to a house that looked rather large when compared to those onthe rest of the street.

“It’s on this side of town?” I heard Clara ask, and I rolled my eyes at her.

Louis got out of the car first, and I followed in suit, heading up to the front door as he helped Clara get out of the backseat. I rang the doorbell, and a James Dean look-a-like fellow opened the door and leaned against the doorframe, just eyeing me.

“Hey, baby, how you doing tonight?” he drawled, his eyes raking over me like I was a piece of meat.

“Just swell, thanks. Now would you please excuse me? My boyfriend’s inside, and he wouldn’t want me talking to a creep,” I snapped and pushed past him into the dimly-lit, smoke-filled house. I heard him scoff behind me, but the sight of Clara approaching the door must have distracted him. I walked down a hallway into a room where at least twenty people hung around on sofas and chairs and, surprisingly, there was a jukebox in the middle of the room.

“Harlow!” I heard someone yell from across the room, and I looked, even though I could barely see, and vaguely made out a person who looked like Lana walking toward me. She had two beers in her hand, and I silently thanked the Lord. “Hey, I’m so glad you could make it,” she said, handing me a beer, which I gladly took.

“Yeah, I’m glad I came, too.” I smiled.

She looked around me. “Where’s Louis?” she asked, and suddenly, her eyes narrowed. Oh God, I thought, here we go.

“Now, listen,” I started and put my hand on her shoulder, “can we not do this tonight? I just want to have a good time.”

She just kind of looked at me, then back to where I assume Clara was,before bringing her gaze back to me and nodding.“Just make sure she doesn’t get in my way.” With that she walked away, back to Zayn, who by this point was too drunk and had to be held up by some guy.

Wait a minute. That guy looks familiar…

“Harry!” I yelled loudly, over the Elvis song that blared through
the jukebox. He turned around and smiled when he saw me, handing over Zayn to some other kid. He walked towards me, and I started to get butterflies again.

“Hey, Harlow, how are you?” he asked, and his deep voice made me swoon.

“Fine, thanks, glad to be here,” I said, looking up at him, and he smiled down at me.

“I’m glad you’re here, too,” he whispered near my ear, and his soft breath on my neck nearly made me melt into a puddle at my feet. I giggled slightly and took a swig of my beer, enjoying the taste.

I looked over at Louis, and he was propped up against the wall, two beers in his hand, talking to Clara. Although she looked still kind of uptight, this whole scene not being her thing, she relaxed a bit as she talked to Louis. He was tickled pink, I could just tell. His face lit up, and he was animatedly talking to her, his beers threatening to spill on her in any second, but she didn’t seem to care. I looked back to Harry, who was just kind of staring at me, and I blushed.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“Nothing. You want to dance?” he asked, and to be honest, I thought he’d never ask.