Lost in London

Though she'd had a really great time in Ireland, Reilly was happy to return to London. The first thing she did when she got home was shower in her own bathroom, and then put on the most comfortable pajamas she owned even though it was still relatively early in the night. The only plans she had for the rest of the night involved relaxing and talking to her best friend.

She sat down at her computer and opened up Skype. Within moments a call popped up on the screen and Reilly immediately answered. The familiar blonde appeared on the screen in front of her.

"How was Ireland? I'm dying to know," she said without proper greeting.

Reilly smiled. "Beautiful," she said simply. Lexie looked at her friend carefully, a strange look crossing her face. "What?" Reilly asked.

"You look different. Did you change your hair, or something?" she asked.

"No," Reilly said in a confused tone while shaking her head. "My hair is the same as the last time we talked. Wet, but the same."

"Hmm," Lexie hummed. "Okay. Well, tell me about Ireland and don't leave anything out. I want to know everything because I'm jealous enough that you're living in London, and then you just get to go off to Ireland with some beautiful boy. Some people have all the luck," she said.

A giggle escaped Reilly. She hadn't really taken any time to realize that maybe she was a little bit lucky. Sure, she'd had it a little rough for awhile, but her friend was right. She was in London with an apartment she could call her own, and she'd met a handful of incredible boys who, after only a short time, treated her like family. She'd just gotten to go to Ireland with two of them, and hadn't been permitted to pay a dime for the trip. Lucky definitely seemed to fit.

She started telling Lexie about her weekend, about how Louis had invited himself along at the last minute, the beautiful green scenery, the lake Niall took her to while Louis slept. She was just starting to tell her about the day out she, Niall, and Louis had the day before when Lexie interrupted her.

"Oh my God. I figured it out. I know what's different," she exclaimed. "You had sex." Reilly's jaw dropped and she stared at her friend for a long time, speechless. "You can't even deny it. Oh my God. Who was it? The leprechaun? One of the leprechaun's leprechaun friends? No. I know. It was Louis. Oh my god. You had sex with Louis, didn't you?"

Reilly finally found her voice. "God no. Ew. No," she said. "No. Ew." A complete thought beyond that eluded her.

Lexie gave her a look that said she was crazy. "Why are you saying ew? I've see Louis. He's the exact opposite of 'ew'," she said.

"Because he's like the boy version of you," she said. "And besides, he's had a girlfriend for forever, and she is the sweetest person on the planet. I couldn't. Just. No."

"So, it was Niall, then?" she asked. Reilly covered her face with her hands and groaned, earning a laugh from her friend. "I knew it. How many times?" Reilly kept her face covered with one hand and held up three fingers on the other. Lexie clapped her hands together excitedly. "How was it?" she asked.

Reilly groaned again and finally uncovered her face. "Phenomenal," she said, her entire face turning red. "I may have left a bite mark on his shoulder," she confessed. Lexie's jaw dropped in surprise, and Reilly quickly went on. "He did this thing, I can't explain it. But his dad was asleep down the hall. And Louis was sleeping down the hall. And I had to do something so I didn't..." she trailed off.

"Did he leave any marks on you?" she asked, and Reilly shook her head. "Okay, I'm dying to know," Lexie said. "Is he a good kisser? Because I could see it going either way."

Reilly sighed softly and stayed quiet for a long moment. Finally she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. We never kissed," she said quietly.

"What?" Lexie exclaimed in disbelief. "You had... you didn't... what? How?" she asked, unable to form a complete, coherent thought.

She sighed again and explained the brief conversation she'd had with Niall before things escalated between them. "And then It just kind of happened. After, we just laid there and talked for awhile. Then it happened again. And then we talked some more. And it happened again. And then we talked until we fell asleep. But he kept his word, and he never kissed me because I never told him he could," she said, drawing her knees up to her chest and hugging them.

"Huh," Lexie said. "You two have an interesting dynamic, and a very, very strange relationship." She paused for a moment, but Reilly didn't say anything. "So, what now?" she asked.

Reilly shrugged. "Nothing. We're just friends. I can't give more than that," she said.

The blonde sighed and gave her friend a sad look. "So, you're still not admitting there's something there?" she asked. "I saw you guys interact for like four minutes through a couple of computer screens, and I could see there was something there."

"I'm not admitting it, but I'm not denying it, either."

"Rei, come on. Give him a chance," Lexie urged.

Reilly shook her head. "You know what? I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said.

"You can't run from your feelings forever."

Reilly didn't even bother to respond to her friend's comment. She was done with that topic of conversation. "How are you and Zachary?" she asked, changing the subject.

Lexie sighed, realizing how serious she was if she was bringing up Zachary. "There's no 'me and Zachary'. There was nothing there. We're just going to be friends," she said and Reilly nodded in understanding. "He still wants to talk to you, you know. Are you going to let him?" she asked.

"Probably. Louis thinks it would be good for me to hear what he has to say. I just need a little more time to prepare myself, because I'm sure I'm not going to like what he has to say."

The girls continued to talk, the subject constantly changing, each of them getting sidetracked and going off on tangents. But eventually it came back around to the trip Reilly had just returned from. She was telling her friend about the places they'd gone the day before when there was a knock on her door.

"Niall?" Lexie questioned, taking note of the confused look on her friend's face.

Reilly shrugged. "I have no idea," she said, grabbing her phone to see if she had any text messages she hadn't heard a notification for. But there was nothing. "I'll be right back," she told her friend.

She walked the short distance to the door and twisted the knob. The door was barely open before she was assaulted with a bear hug and being lifted off the ground, a mop of curly hair in her face. Her attacker placed a big kiss on her cheek and then put her down.

"I missed you, Reilly. Don't ever leave me again," he said.

Reilly couldn't help but laugh. "Have you been drinking, Harry?" she asked.

He smiled widely and nodded. "Just a bit," he said.

She laughed again. "Alright. Come on. I'm just talking to my friend Lexie," she said. He stepped further inside and she shut the door behind him. She led him through the apartment and motioned for him to have a seat. "Lexie, this is buzzed Harry. Harry, Lexie," she said, introducing her friends to each other before going into the kitchen to get some water for Harry.

Lexie gave a little wave, and Harry grinned widely at the pretty girl on the computer screen. "Hello, Lexie," he said.

"Ooh, I like the way you talk," she said. "Say that again."

"Hello, Lexie," he repeated, his voice lowering a little. "You're quite beautiful, if you don't mind me saying."

She grinned and shook her head. "Not at all. You're not so bad yourself," she told him. He flashed a smile at her. "So what brings you to Reilly's? It's late over there, isn't it?" she asked.

"Not too," he said. "I haven't seen her in over a week, and I knew she was home because I talked to Louis and he told me he dropped her off a couple hours ago. So I was just having a couple drinks at the pub with a friend, and I thought I'd come see her. She's really great, you know? And she doesn't even know it. Just a really sweet person," he rambled.

Lexie nodded. "Trust me, I know. She's always been that way," she said. "You have a thing for her?" she questioned.

"A thing?" he asked, confusion crossing his face for a moment. "Oh, a thing. No. Not like that at all. She's just become family to me, to all of us, really. Like, we haven't even known her that long, but I can't even recall what it was like before. Sometimes I'll think of something that happened months ago and I'll start to say, 'remember that time' and I'll have to stop because she wasn't there. But for just a minute I think she was."

"You can't keep her, you know," Lexie said, feigning seriousness. "She was my friend first, and I miss her. You have to give her back to me eventually."

"Or," Harry said, "You could come here. And we could all be one big happy family. It'll be, like, me and you, and our little girl, Reilly," he said.

Lexie raised her eyebrows. "That was rather forward," she told him.

"Too forward?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Nope. I like forward," she said, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind," he said, grinning cheekily at her. Just then Reilly returned and handed a glass of water to Harry. "Thank you very much," he said and blew a kiss to her.

"Mmhmm," she said, rolling her eyes playfully at him. "Don't think I didn't hear you two flirting. Keep it in your pants, Styles." She looked at the computer screen. "You too," she said to Lexie.

Lexie wiggled her eyebrows at Reilly and then looked at Harry. "Hey, want to know a secret?" she asked. Harry nodded enthusiastically. "She had sex with a leprechaun."

"Lexie!" Reilly shouted.

"What?" Harry said, dragging out the word. Confusion clouded his expression for a long moment. He gasped when he finally understood what she meant and turned to Reilly. "You slept with Niall?" he shouted.

A groan escaped Reilly. "Lexie, I'm going to murder you," she said and slammed her computer closed, disconnecting the call. "Harry, you can't tell anyone. Please. You can't even tell Niall you know. I'm serious," she told him.

"What? Why not?" he asked.

She sighed softly. "Just please, promise me you won't say anything. I'm begging you," she pleaded.

Even in his slightly intoxicated state, he could see that she was battling with something inside of herself. He nodded. "Of course, Reilly. I promise. Not a peep," he said. "Do you want to talk about it?" he inquired.

Reilly sat down shaking her head profusely. "No. No, I really don't."