Know Your Enemy

The bash was a hit with everyone, except for me. The house party got too crowded for comfort when a little someone walked in. I gritted my teeth and took my eyes off Zayn for a minute to see where Harry had run off to. My eyes scanned the room and found him in the crowd, dancing with Harlow.

A few feet behind them, leaning against the wall, were Louis and Clara. Louis was clearly a few sips away from being hammered, and it didn’t seem like he had any intention of stopping anytime soon.

Spill it on her, Tomlinson, I silently hoped as he exaggeratedly talked with his hands. One drop of beer on that outfit of hers, and she’d be livid. Louis would see what a bitch she really was and look past those dumb little hearts I could basically see forming in his hazy eyes. He was slowly getting closer to her, which made me wrack my brains as I tried to figure out why anyone would want to touch her with a ten foot pole. All pom-poms and poodle skirts.

The song changed, and he looked around excitedly. “I love this song!” he hollered.

A few trashed people yelled back in agreement. Clara smiled at him, and I rolled my eyes without even realizing it. I refused to go in another room to get away from her. She could do that. This was my turf.

Taking a side glance, I saw a tall, relatively good-looking, dark-haired kid stumble over to me. I was still keeping an eye on an increasingly drunk Louis Tomlinson when the kid opened his mouth to talk. “Soo-” he started sloppily.

I spun on my high heels to face the kid, took a gulp of beer, and cut him off with a brief, “No.” I looked past the confused look on his face and craned my neck to check on Zayn. With a flick of the wrist, I shooed the mystery guy away and headed for Zayn before he hit the floor.

I caught him and brought his arm up and around my shoulders. With an arm around his waist, I brought him over to a couch and sat him down next to me.

“Where are your keys?” I pronounced as if I was talking to a little kid.

“Uhh...” he hummed while he dug around in his pockets for a while. He got a hold on them and waved them in my face.

After snatching them from him, I stuffed them in my jacket pocket. His jaw dropped to say something in protest, but I cut him off. “No way in hell.” I sighed loudly and let my back mold into the couch as I kicked off my heels. Instantly, the pain in my feet started to wear off, and I was in heaven. Zayn slumped down so his shoulders were level with mine against the couch. My eyes wandered to him, and I let out a light laugh. He was messing around with the hair that was now falling in his face.

“You’re wasted, Malik.”

“I’m not even drunk...” he denied.

I nodded in fake agreement and took another sip of my drink. The bottle was feeling as light as a feather, so I downed the rest of it in a few gulps. Last one of the night, thanks to the idiot beside me, I thought.

Until Clara got there, I had been having a great time. Outside of school was supposed to be my time to do whatever, and that time was definitely not supposed to be shared with her. My prediction of how the night was going to go had done a complete 180.

I was aching to liven things up a bit. From across the room, I spotted a few girls fawning over Zayn. Maybe they thought it’d be easier to chat him up while he was drunk. I was going to let those chips fall where they may and stir things up. “I’m going over there for a minute. Tell me when you wanna leave, and we’ll go.” He nodded and went on with whatever it was he was doing.

I slipped on my shoes again and got back in the crowd. Clara was still there; not to mention, the square still wasn’t drinking. What the hell did she think it was, poison?

One of Zayn’s friends I had seen around before was by the beer, taking a drag from his cigarette, adding to the already huge cloud of smoke hovering in the house. Strolling by the table, I tapped the ash-blond boy on the shoulder. His expression looked like a cross between confusion and pleasant surprise.

“Wanna dance?” I asked with a glint in my eyes.

“Sure thing, honey.”

I led him out to the middle of the dance floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry motion to the front door. Harlow went along with him, and they weaved out of the crowd.

Looking back at Zayn’s friend, I noticed how good-looking he actually was. When we were dancing, a little streak of light hit his eyes, and I saw that they were a gunmetal gray. He held out his cigarette to me, and I shared it with him.

Out of nowhere, a hand wrapped around my wrist and yanked me back. I spun around, and Niall was there to quickly spit out, “Check your 3:00.”

Where does this kid come from? I glanced to see some brunette that had her arms crossed and did not look too pleased.

She stormed across the room and started jabbing her finger at the guy’s chest, telling him off. “Are you kidding me, Jesse?” I heard her over the music.

“Oh. How was I supposed to know?” I did feel bad, but at least I wasn’t getting the heat for it.

Niall’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he looked behind me. He pointed and mouthed, “Is that-?”

Then someone crashed into me from behind, sending me slamming into Niall. I instantly turned around with narrowed eyes. I told Harlow to not let Clara get in my way to avoid what was sure as hell going to happen now.