Take My Body

Work the next day was shit. Not only did I have the literal worst hangover of my life, but I woke up late and left my flat only ten minutes before my shift was meant to start. My head was pounding, my stomach was in knots, and I felt like death warmed over. I hadn't even had the time to properly get dressed, running out the door with one shoe on and the other in my hand. My hair was thrown up in a shitty bun and I had absolutely no make up on. I silently swore to myself that if any of those rowdy boys came into the shop that day I wouldn't force myself to keep cool. It was going to be one of those days.

Or so I thought. The moment I walked up to the tiny old bookstore my spirits were lifted. I knew that when I strolled through the door I would be overcome by the smell of old books and coffee and the quiet sound of pages turning. Reynold's had been my home away from home away from home the past three years and no matter the mood I was in before my shift began I was always in a much better one by the time I was sat behind the old wooden counter.

The bell over the door signaled my entrance to Janice, my boss and one of my dearest friends, and the other patrons of the shop. I made my way to the counter and pushed myself behind it, smiling at Janice and relieving her of her duties. I sat my behind on the stool she'd been on and waved at her as she walked to the back room and left me to handle things on my own for a while.

When I woke up that morning, I was still in my clothes from the previous night and Taissa was passed out in the bed beside me. I couldn't remember how we'd gotten back to mine, but I silently prayed that when I walked outside my car would be in one piece and the complex wouldn't be surround by police. After waking up Taissa as well as I could, I told her I was off to work and that she could stay as long as she wanted. I cursed myself for going out when I knew I had to work the next day.

Business was slow. It was noon on a Friday, which meant that most people were either in school or at work themselves. I flipped through my old copy of Peter Pan, occasionally looking up to check on the customers or to check someone out. Weekday afternoons were the worst times to work at the shop. Although I loved it to bits, it could, at times, be incredibly boring. Most of the time people only came in and flipped through a few books before leaving. Reynold's was what Finn tended to call a Passersby Shop. It looked interesting and so people came in, they stayed for awhile, but then they left. He was quite right, though we did have a few regulars that came in on an almost daily basis, and even bought things on each trip in. Those were my favorite customers. Much better than the boys that came in every now and again while skipping class to mess with me and my sometimes coworker Madelyn.

I had just gotten to the part in my book where Wendy tells Peter that her and the boys are leaving when Janice came over and started pestering me, in the way that only older sisters and best friends can.

"So, how was last night?" she asked, flipping her cherry-red hair over her shoulder and grinning at me.

I marked my place and closed the book, looking up at her with a laugh. "Last night?"

"You look like shit, babe," she laughed, voice deep and raspy from years of smoking.

My smile widened when she hopped up on the counter top, knowing that I would tell her the story of my work night antics in full. "Taissa and Finn made me go out with them to this horrible bar." She raised an eyebrow. "It was open-mic night, Jan, and let me tell you it was so terrible."

"The booze was good though, yeah?" She grinned.

"I was so pissed. My head feels like it's going to burst. But I blame Finn for that. He was his normal prickish self last night and I ended up drinking way more than I intended to."

Janice patted me on the head, knowing how Finn could get from the times he and Taissa had visited me at work. "So open-mic night was terrible, huh?"

"God, yes. The girls were dress like- Like-"

"Slags?"

"Yeah! Exactly, and the boys were...fucking chavs. I don't know how else to explain them. The best any of them could do was screech into the microphone and play a few out of tune notes on the guitar. Another reason I drowned myself in the alcohol."

Janice laughed. "There wasn't a single good one?"

And that's when I remembered him. It was like a rush of emotion overtook me for a moment, and I had to lean myself against the counter to stop from getting light headed. I didn't understand how I could have forgotten him, although the amount of alcohol I had consumed even before he took the stage would have contributed to my memory loss. But after I did remember him, I thought that I would never be able to think of anyone - or anything - else again. While most of the acts had been less than superb, with some almost okay ones scattered here and there, Niall Horan's performance had captivated me in ways I couldn't even begin to explain. He played his intrument as if it was a part of him and though his voice wasn't very strong, it was sweet and no one convince me that he wasn't incredibly talented. I had never been one to believe in love at first sight, but what I was feeling towards the lad was definitely more than just admiration.

Janice snapped her fingers right in front of my face, breaking me out of my thoughts. "I'm going to guess that there was a good one then?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Ummm, I guess you could say that."

"Oooh," she waggled her eyebrows at me. "Was it a boy? I know how you like musicians, Allie."

"I do not like musicians," I laughed. "I went on one date with that kid."

Janice rolled her eyes at me and attempted to muss my hair. "So did you shag him?"

My mouth dropped open. "What?"

"The bloke from the pub, you daftie," she said, shoving me backwards and almost pushing me from the stool. She sometimes forgot how strong she was and how small I was.

"No, Janice, I did not shag him. I didn't even talk to him." Which was true. Finn had, after Niall's set, told me that if I didn't go talk to him, he would do if for me, and if I wasn't the one to talk the kid Finn would most definitely say something embarrassing and highly out of character for myself. I threatened that if he even breathed around Niall I would chop his balls off, and that was the end of that. Finn was very, very attached to his genitals.

She scoffed at me. "God, you're so boring, Al. What do you do all day besides work? I know you hardly ever go out. And whenever business is slow you are always reading that book." She poked her finger at Peter Pan and gave me one of her famous Looks, which I reciprocated. "I'm only saying, baby girl. You're young. You should be out doing things with your friends, having fun. Not sitting in your flat by yourself reading a children's book and watching the children's cartoon based on said children's book."

"Such a mother," I muttered.

Janice grinned at me, patted my shoulder, and hopped off the counter. "This was a nice discussion. We should do this more often, babe." She headed towards the back room again and yelled, "I hope you learned something."

I rolled my eyes at her back as she walked away.



Taissa was still at mine when I got back from work. She was sat on the sofa with a plate of food in one hand and the remote in the other. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were chip and cookie crumbs surrounding her on the couch and on her - which was actually my - shirt.

I took my shoes off and laid my purse on the dining table before walking over and taking a seat beside my friend. "How was your day?" I asked, taking the remote from her and stopping on a rerun of Doctor Who.

Taissa made a high whining sound and slammed her head against the back of the sofa. "I got sick like seven times, Allie. I took aspirin and drank water and I still feel like shit. Also David called and said that he isn't going to be back in town until next weekend now because of something stupid with his great-aunt or I don't know. I'm going mad, Al. One of these days I'm going to just jump off your balcony."

"Good thing my flat's only on the second floor then," I grinned at her.

She huffed. "You're a horrible friend, Allyson Hartley. Don't you understand that I haven't had a proper shag in over three weeks. We didn't even fuck the night before David left for Spain, and he won't even have phone sex when I ask him because 'his family's in the other room'. God, he's such a pussy. Why am I even dating him?"

My eyes widened as I looked at her and I raised an eyebrow. "Are you drunk?" I turned my head, looking around the room. "I was sure I didn't have any alcohol in the house."

"No! I'm never drinking again."

"So, you're high then?"

She glared over at me. "You're a piece of shit."

"Finn called me on my walk home."

"What the bloody fuck did he want?" She took a huge bite of the sandwich on her plate in the middle of her sentence, food falling from her mouth as she finished speaking.

"That's attractive-" She glared at me. "He wanted us to go out with him again."

Taissa nearly threw her plate across the room. "Fuck that. He always forgets that I need at least a day to get myself back. I can't just go out two nights in a row."

"He wants us to be his DDs."

"No" was all Taissa said before she finished picking at the crumbs on her shirt and shoving them in her mouth.

I laughed. "No worries. That's what I told him."

Taissa looked over at me and pouted. "Can we just have a movie night? Please? We haven't had a movie night in a long time. We're always hanging out with Finn at pubs and I'm sick of him. We need Taissa-Allie time."

I wrapped my arm around her messy shoulders and laid my head against hers. "Sounds good to me, Tai."