Grade 8

They were now in LA a place Lena had been to in a few trips for various hair shows with her mom. It had been nearly a week since their talk in his room, and Niall and Lena hadn't spoken in once. Sam and Olly had left the night after but their was still too much tension between them to make them just keep a distance. Everyone saw the sudden change in both if them but no one knew how to deal with it. Which resulted in Lena and Harry spending every spare moment together. It was on one of these rare days off that Lena and Harry were spending time in his room together. Alone. More often then not one of the boys was there to ruin what was meant to be their alone time, even if they were in one of their rooms the boys found a way to disrupt them. Harry had a theory Paul put then up to it.

Lena's body was underneath Harry's toned, shirtless, body. His hands ran up and down her side pushing her shirt up. His fingertips ghosting down until they reached the top of her shorts where he popped the button open. His fingers dipped dangerously low inside of them causing a whimper to come from Lena. He smirked into her neck where he had been having fun kissing her.

"What are you doing?" Lena groaned as Harry pulled away.

He sat up completely a smirk that had her aching for him more forming. "I'm going to go shower."

He stood up from the bed heading in the direction of the bathroom. Lena sat up jaw dropping as he disappeared around the corner.

"You can't just start undressing me and leave!"

"Well if I was you I'd get my cute little arse in the shower." Harry called to her already in the bathroom. "Ya know, conserve water and all that."

Lena wasted no time in jumping up from the bed. She ran into the bathroom striping down to nothing as she went. Harry was already in the shower whistling a tune he was making up as he went.

After a very long shower they got out of the still steaming hot shower. The joy of living in a hotel, hot water that didn't get freezing cold ever. Harry took to laying on the bed in his towel while Lena tried to tame her hair before it dried on its own.

"Guess who has stolen Paul's master key!" Louis exclaimed walking into the room unannounced and not entirely welcome.

He stopped not expecting to see Harry. His eyes went from Harry who was lounging on the bed in nothing but a towel to Lena who had been blow drying her hair when he had barged in. A groan fell from his lips.

"I'm going to have to start knocking before coming in your rooms."

"You should knock anyway." Lean commented. "Was there a reason for you being here now?"

"Cranky." Louis shot. "Did Harry not do a good enough job?"

"Hey!" Harry yelled. "I did an amazing job, thank you very much."

"Why did you break in?" Lena asked cutting Louis's reply off.

Louis rolled his eyes. "We're in LA, we have to go out."

"What do you have in mind?" Harry asked sitting up.

"Well I just so happen to know where a party at a certain ginger's." Louis smirked. "Did you know he's renting a house here?"

"I did." Harry grinned. "A party at Ed's sounds alright."

"Brilliant."



Lena didn't know what to expect going to the party. She had been told there was no dress code to just wear whatever she wanted; nonetheless she tried to look better then normal. She let Lou experiment with her hair and makeup trusting her to know what would look best for the occasion. A black army shirt sleeves cut with a pair of cut up and frayed jeans, and her trusty converse on her feet.

Lena sat between Harry and Liam in the very back of the van. Niall was in the seat in front of her between Louis and Zayn. She had wanted to talk to him for days but everything seemed so off now. When they pulled into Ed's neighborhood there were a few cars parked along his street that were obviously party guests.

"How big is this party supposed to be?" Zayn asked looking out the window. "There are hardly any people here."

"Just wait." Louis grinned.

Inside Ed's rented house was not what they had expected. It looked like a proper house party with loud music and plastic red Solo cups in everyone's hands. It was easy to pick out a few celebs running around, Lena was pretty sure she saw Taylor Swift by the DJ booth. The boys all split up going their separate ways to do their own thing.

"I need a drink." Harry said grabbing on to Lena's hand. "Let's see if we can find anything worth while, yeah?"

Lena nodded her nerves getting the best of her. This was not the normal crowd of people she was used to being around. It was obvious this was Harry's type of environment as he smiled and waved at people her knew. Then as they entered the large kitchen Lena caught sight of a familiar ginger head, one she had only seen on YouTube but had dreamt of meeting.

"Sheeran." Harry greeted walking up to him.

Ed turned around with a large smile. "Styles! Glad you could make it!"

They embraced in a tight hug. "Wouldn't miss one of your parties."

"Have got anything to drink yet?" Ed asked already making his way to the bar he had set up in his island.

Harry held up his empty hands. "Me and my lady need a drink."

Ed glanced up eye wide giving Harry a confused look. "Lady?"

"Yes." Harry laughed gesturing to where Lena was awkwardly standing behind him. "This is Lena."

"Hi." She squeaked cheeks turning red. Ed Sheeran was looking directly at her and it wasn't helping her nerves much.

"Hello!" He poured something into a cup. "Glad to meet you! I've seen your covers on YouTube, you're bloody brilliant."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Lena wanted to die right there. Ed Sheeran just told her she was brilliant and that was her response, humiliation washed over her like a tsunami.

"Here you lot are." Ed placed two red cups in front of them. "Enjoy! I'll see you both around!"

With that he departed getting lost around a corner. Lena sipped at the drink and tried not to look too out of place. She followed Harry like a lost puppy into the other room where his eyes scanned for a friendly face.

"If it isn't the biggest arsehole I've had the displeasure of meeting."

Lena looked at the girl looking at Harry with a smirk. Her dark hair was pulled up showing off a pair of dark eyes. Long, tan, legs shown off in a short black skirt midriff just as visible in her crop top.

"Well if it isn't the most insufferable lesbian I've ever met." Harry fired back with a smirk to match hers.

Suddenly they were hugging causing Lena to become even more confused. Their smiles big as they asked each other how they'd been. The girls eyes flickered to Lena catching Harry's attention.

"This is Lena." Harry finally said pulling Lena closer to his side.

"Hello." Lena greeted a blush creeping its way on to her cheeks.

"Hello, I'm Olivia." Olivia gave her a nod. "You're their opener, yeah?"

"Uh, yeah I am." Lena confirmed.

"I've heard you're brilliant."

"She is brilliant." Harry agreed giving Lena a smile. He looked at Olivia again. "What are you doing here?"

"Amy brought me as her date." Olivia said a proud look crossing her features. "Finally decided not to give a fuck about what people think."

"That's great." Harry said his smile widening. "Amy and Adam in the same room together? This should be interesting."

"You're telling me." Olivia laughed, even her laugh was perfect Lena thought.

Another girl came walked over to them, Lena vaguely recognized her but couldn't quite put her finger on how. She came to a stop next to Olivia their hands instantly linking together.

"Hello, Harry." She said giving Harry a pat on the arm. When her eyes landed on Lena, and more importantly the arm Harry had around her, her eyes narrowed a fraction. "I'm Amy."

Lena shook this girls hand meeting her gaze for a moment. There was a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Lena."

"Have you seen my sister?" Amy asked already losing interest in Lena, striking blue eyes going back to Harry.

"Alexis is here?" The happiness that Harry had was gone. His smile twisting into a frown.

"You didn't know?" Olivia asked dread filling her instantly.

"No." Harry dropped his arm from around Lena. "Does Zayn know?"

"I thought so." Amy glanced at Olivia. "I guess I just assumed she told you since you guys are close."

Olivia cleared her throat subtly nudging Amy in the arm. "We'll go find her ourselves. See you around I'm sure."

Olivia took Amy away from them their heads bowed toward each other whispering together. Harry rubbed a hand across his face suddenly in need of a drink.

"I'll be back." He mumbled not waiting for Lena to say anything as he left her side.

Lena was left in the middle of people she didn't know and the panic that set in was crippling. Sweet started to build around her hairline the air was to thick making it hard to breathe right. Without much thought she moved toward the kitchen again remembering a glad door that lead to the back yard. Fresh air was the only thing on her mind.

It was almost twenty minutes later when Harry found himself sitting on the sofa with Adam David. They had been close for awhile before he ever met Alexis but the two hadn't spoken much since she got together with Zayn.

"You know you really dodged a bullet." Adam said before taking a long drink of his beer.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"With Alexis." Adam clarified. "I love my sister but she is not the relationship type she would have broken your heart."

Harry didn't mention the fact that she had already done that. "Is she cheating on him?"

"Oh yeah." Adam shook his head. "Zayn fucked her up so bad that I think even if she wanted to she couldn't be faithful."

"He doesn't know though." Harry looked across the crowded room where he could see Zayn talking to some music producer who wanted to work with them. "Does he?"

"I doubt it." Adam admitted. "She's been keeping a low profile in New York, but I know she's not being the faithful girlfriend Zayn thinks she is."

"So you don't know for sure?" Harry asked momentarily forgetting about his drink.

"I know my sister, H."

Harry drank the rest of his beer needing an excuse to get away from Adam. All this talk about Alexis was getting to him.

Harry spotted Lena talking to Louis she didn't look happy. Like she knew he was looking at her she looked his way. She said something to Louis before making her way towards him.

"Hey." He said smiling up at her. She gave him a small one back. "Have you met Adam yet?"

Her eyes widened jaw going slack. She hadn't seen who Harry was sitting with before but now she couldn't believe she who was in front of her.

"Hiya!" Adam greeted giving her one of his rock star smirks. "You must be the talented, and beautiful, Lena Gold."

"That would be her." Harry answered for her since she was having trouble forming a coherent thought. "She's a big fan of yours."

"I hadn't noticed."

This broke Lena out of her stupor. "You're amazing."

"Thank you." This looked like it boasted Adam's ego a bit.

"Do you need another drink?" Harry asked Lena noticing her hands were void of a cup or bottle.

"Sure." Lena agreed.

Harry stood up giving Adam a salute. "See ya around mate."

Lena quickly waved at Adam before rushing to catch up with Harry.



"Hey Harry."

Harry looked up from the beer he was currently popping the top off of. There she was a vision in black, the girl who haunted is every thought. In her leather jacket he had never seen her with out and black skinny jeans and those black army boots she wore just as much as he wore his brown boots. Her dark hair falling out of the hasty bun she had put it in after a nice romp in the bathroom, not that Harry knew that tidbit. Dark eyes dilated a tell tale sign that she was not only probably drunk but high as well. Same old Alexis.

"You haven't been returning my calls."

"I know." Harry looked around in search for Lena. He knew talking to Alexis right now was not what he needed, he was drunk and trying to have a good time. "I should go."

"Wait." Alexis grabbed onto his arm before he could move. "We need to talk."

"There isn't anything to talk about Alexis."

It was Alexis' turn to look away glancing quickly around the room. She didn't need to worry about Zayn he had been avoiding her all night only making eye contact across the room and at the moment he was no where in sight.

"There is something we need to talk about." Alexis disagreed. "Like why are you giving me the cold shoulder one moment and calling me drunk the next."

"That was a mistake." Harry took a deep breath. "I have nothing to say to you. Now if you would please leave me alone."

Harry walked away taking his beer and drinking it as he walked. With that confrontation out of the way he wanted to get properly fucked.

Lena watched Harry and Alexis, she saw the way Harry's eyes never left Alexis even when she was looking away. It was heart breaking to see him looking at her in a way she had thought was only reserved for her.

"She's his you know." Lena jumped not expecting anyone to talk to her. Olivia was watching her best friends as well. "Alexis had him wrapped around her finger. There's not much you can do now."

"I don't know about that." Lena mumbled although she lacked confidence in that statement.

"You'll see."



Lena had been at this party for two hours and she had yet to actual have any fun. She was in her third beer and the alcohol was finally getting to her body. She made her way to the only bathroom she knew of in the house. Opening the door after a quick knock on the outside she wasn't expecting anyone to be sitting on the ground in front of the toilet.

"Oh." She said looking back out the door. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Alexis waved her away. She looked like she was having a hard time sitting up right. "You go."

Lena looked back longingly with a sigh she stepped further into the room closing the door behind her. She kneeled in front if Alexis who looked at her face blank.

"What're you doing?"

"Siting with you so you don't die or something." Lena sat back crossing her legs in front of her.

"You don't like me."

"Not really." Lena answered. "But I could."

"I'm a terrible person." Alexis slurred. "You should just keep hating me."

This was not how Lena's night was supposed to go. Taking care of a drunk girl in the bathroom, and not just any girl but the very girl that could ruin her relationship at the snap of her manicured fingers.

"I think I made a mistake."

Lena assumed she meant drinking so much. "Every one makes this mistake at least once."

"I don't think so." Alexis let her head fall back against the wall. "I should have done things differently."

"Like what?" Lena asked rubbing at her eyes.

"Like maybe given Harry a real chance."

Lena glanced at the drunk girl confused. "A chance?"

"Yeah." Alexis laughed. "I picked the easy way out but it hasn't been so easy."

"Going out with Zayn was the easy way out?" Lena asked now even more confused. "How so?"

"Well I thought things would be easy with Zayn." Alexis moved away from the toilet stomach not feeling so bad any more. "Fuck me."

Lena didn't know what to say to her. What could she say?

"There's too much shit in our past to work." Alexis continued. "I can't get over everything that's happened."

"Probably doesn't help that you're fooling around behind his back."

Alexis glanced at her eyes narrowed. "Maybe. All I'm saying is being with Zayn isn't what I thought it would be."

"It isn't supposed to be easy."

"You and Harry are a thing." Alexis waved her arms around. "Yeah?"

"I guess." Lena shrugged. "We're hanging out."

"So you really don't want to hear what I have to say." Alexis grimaced.

"It's alright, you look like you need someone to talk to." She wasn't sure what made her say it but it slipped out.

"Not really." Alexis looked her a smirk forming. "I'm sure the boys have told you enough about me as it is."

"Not really. We don't talk about you if we can help it."

Alexis laughed and just like with Harry Lena saw the really Alexis. She was a lot more beautiful with a smile.

"Doesn't surprise me." She said shrugging. "They hate me too."

"I should go find Harry." Lena looked at her phone checking the time.

Lena stood up then done with Alexis at the moment. She left the bathroom without a backwards glance. She began her search for Harry hoping to find him and leave the party.

Finally Lena found Harry stumbling out of a room with Adam and Ed trailing behind him. A cloud of smoke following them out of them room a distinct smell hitting Lena's nose. Harry caught sight of her and immediately came over to her.

"I want to leave." Lena said to Harry.

His glazed over eyes met hers. "Why?"

"I'm not having any fun." Lena tried to keep her face as calm as possible. "I just really want to go."

"I'm not ready to leave." Harry shook his head. "C'mon Lena! Have a little fun!"

"I'm not having fun here that's the problem!" Lena was starting to get irritated enough to just leave on her own. "Please come back to the hotel with me."

"I'm having fun." Harry looked back at his two friends who were watching them. "You go on back to the hotel."