Luck

Generally, I liked Thursdays. In the scheme of things, they had a tendency to be less hectic than Wednesdays and Fridays - both were busy days for Lou and my more challenging classes - so Thursdays were a nice break before the weekends. But today, the stress was building and I felt like I could crumple under it at any second.

The mark was written in red ink, which only made it worse. It was a slap in the face in red, a reminder of how bad I had done. I had been doing so well, studying so hard, but this is what I got. A red 43%, lower than even my first quiz in the class.

But math had never been my best subject, and now I was freaking out wondering how - and if - I would be able to make up for lost time.

The final was a mere week and a half away. Only three more assignments and one more quiz stood between my grade being finalized. And while I wouldn’t fail, I didn’t want to start off university with a poor final mark.

Glancing around, I noticed that I was hardly the only one who didn’t do so well. I saw one girl discreetly wipe her eyes and hurry out of the hall like it was no big deal, her dumbfounded friend left beside her empty chair. Following the crowd out into the hallway, I hurried to get home.

The professor looked too busy to bother about my quiz, and I wasn’t in the mood to chat with him. He had office hours coming up sooner or later, and if I could I would pop in during some of those. So I headed back to the flat, comforted by the fact that Eva wouldn’t be there. She had class shortly after me, and not even she would dare to ditch this close to the final.

Crisp air surrounded me as I hurried home, a reminder of the rapidly changing seasons. Fall was turning into winter, the final leaves hanging on to the trees for dear life. The bushes that lined the front of my building were now bare, and the once green grass had faded into a mush of brown.

The first thing I noticed when I got back was the absence of Eva's purse and shoes. The second was the unusual coolness. The heat was running full blast, the roar echoing through the flat. Curious, I rushed to the living room, where a blast of cold air revealed the problem: some idiot (Eva) had left the window open.

I closed it quickly before I really took the time to ponder what in the world she was thinking leaving the windows open. It was nearly December - nearly Christmas - and here she was with the windows wide open like it was the middle of August.

I debated whether or not to talk to her about leaving the windows open.

Overall, I was a passive person. It’s what my second grade teacher had told my parents when the class bully had made me his target: “She’s too passive to stand up for herself.” It was true now, too.

Sighing, I decided to let it be. There was nothing I could do, and I still had half of a year left of rooming with her. There was no reason to damage our relationship further, and I had closed the window.

The other windows in the flat, the ones in both of our bedrooms, were left tightly sealed, so I pushed it out of my mind. Bound and determined, I decided to take out my quantitative analysis notes and my recently failed quiz to see where I had fallen short.

But math could only keep my attention so long; I found myself surfing the internet on my phone after nearly thirty minutes. Not long after that, I allowed myself to lay my head down, dozing off.

It was the slamming of the front door that woke me, not that my sleep had been particularly deep. I reached for my phone, relieved to see that I hadn’t been asleep for long. The majority of the day still stood in front of me.

“Savannah!” Eva called out, “Savannah, come out here right now! You’re all over my timeline!”

“What?!” I dropped my phone on my comforter and shot straight up.

“You’re all over my timeline!” Eva repeated, “Look it’s a picture of you and Harry!”

Moving like she had told me that the flat was on fire, I had her phone in my hands in a matter of seconds. She stood proudly beaming beside me, waving her phone happily, her laptop placed haphazardly on the table across from us.

It wasn’t really a picture of me and Harry. You couldn’t see us, we weren’t facing the camera, Lydia and Liam were. It was too blurry to really make them out; you only knew it was them because the caption said it was.

There was no real reason to panic. Yet. Emily didn’t know my name, and the picture she posted was so blurry that nobody would ever be able to pick out who I was just from the back of my head.

“Oh, and there’s a story to go along with it!” Eva added as I finished studying the picture.

I remembered Louis’ request that Emily not post the picture the boys had taken with her until later. There was no exact date attached to his request; it was all dependent on Emily’s interpretation.

Later, it turned out, was Thursday. At least that’s what Emily had decided was later.

Eva handed me her laptop to let me read the story. I sat down on the couch, biting my lip as I began to skim the story.

I met Harry, Louis and Liam at Val’s Pizza on Monday night! They were with Amelie and Lydia and some other girl I had never seen before. She was sitting next to Harry so I don’t know if they were on a date or not, but regardless… I MET ⅗ OF ONE DIRECTION. Basically I was at Val’s for my sister’s birthday dinner. They were sitting towards the back of the restaurant. I spent sooooooo much time trying to decide whether or not it was them, but then Amelie (at least I think it was Amelie… I’ve never really heard any of the GFs talk) screamed, “LOUIS” and I just knew. I knew instantly. So I worked out up my courage and then I just went for it.

I was soooooo nervous, but they were sooo nice! Really. Liam asked me what my name was and They all took a picture with me, Lydia took it. I have no idea who the girl Harry was with, but she and Amelie didn’t actually talk. Lydia just said “of course” when I asked her if she could take it. And then Louis asked me not to post it till later, so I waited till now? Idk hopefully this counts as later.

They left like immediately after, which kinda sucked. I saw that Lydia and Liam got in the same car, but Amelie, Louis, Harry and the other girl walked away together, but idk where. So anyways. THAT WAS MY EXPERIENCE MEETING LOUIS LIAM AND HARRY. if only niall had been with them, lol.

UPDATE: I honestly have never seen the girl before. It was definitely not Kendall and it was definitely not Cara and it was definitely not Paige, either. Also: the whole prettiness thing like isn’t relevant? I mean she wasn’t a model but she wasn’t ugly, either. Idk. Just let it be.

Numbly, I handed Eva’s phone back to her, and placed her laptop down on the table.

“The pretty thing got you down?” Eva asked. She was still buzzing with excitement, paying no attention to the dazed look on my face, “Because you’re not really ugly, don’t worry.”

“No,” I said quietly, “I’m really not that insecure about my looks.”

“I mean, you are dating a celebrity. Most celebrities have pretty girlfriends. It would make sense that you’d be worried about your looks. Can I have my laptop back?” She reached for it before I could respond, still as enthusiastic as before.

My head was pounding as I tried to process what she said. I closed my eyes, but the blurry picture of Harry and I at dinner filled my mind. Finally, it hit me what both Eva and Emily had implied.

“I. Am. Not. Dating. Harry. Styles.” My voice was so firm that it surprised even me, my hand clenched into a fist. I thought back to the time I punched Harry and wondered if I was developing an anger management problem. Maybe he was right. Maybe I should see a shrink.

“Well, you clearly went on a date with him,” Eva shook it off. She slammed her laptop shut, protectively hugging it, before chiding, “Don’t get so offended, Savannah. It’s your own fault you’re in this situation.”

At this point, I didn’t even have it in me to be mad at her.

[&&&]

I was half-asleep and in the midst of a strange dream where I was eating lunch at Val’s with my family, but there was a tiger guarding the exit and we couldn’t leave, even though we had finished our food ages ago, when my phone buzzed.

My eyes fluttered open, and I reached for my phone. But unlike before, this nap had taken away a considerable period of my day. I was groggy as I scanned the single text.

Wanna come over tonight?

I would be lying if a grin hadn’t overtaken my face the second I saw Harry’s text. It was a quick awakening, and when I sat up, I no longer felt tired.

Yeah of course! What time?

While I waited for him to respond, I decided to check my email. I tended to check it often, whenever I was bored or whenever I had a free second. The little bar at the bottom alerted me to several new emails, followed by a ding.

The first email that caught my eye was an alert to a sale at Primark’s. The second was an email from Wilson with the subject line “Sentencing Dates for Melissa Mitzler and Robert Mitzler.”

My stomach dropped before I even had a chance to open it. I could feel my lunch churning in my stomach and I felt like I was on the top of the Tower of Terror at Disney again.

At the top of my phone, the little banner appeared to alert me of a new text. It didn’t phase me, didn’t take my attention away from the sight on my screen.

I didn’t even read it, not really anyway. I could feel my eyes flying across the screen, soaking in the little bits of information. All I was looking for was a date. I didn’t care about the technicalities. I just wanted to know when I would find out what was going to happen to my parents.

It was at the bottom of the email, or maybe earlier. I wasn’t really soaking in the information, but I saw it: Friday, December 13th, 2013.

It was then I decided to check my texts.

[&&&]

Harry had texted me his gate code and told me to come on in when I arrived, but I still stood outside his front door waiting for him to open it after ringing the bell.

I saw Harry's face peak out of the nearby front window, a huge grin crossing his face the moment he saw me.

"Savannah." His voice was raspy as he opened the door and his green eyes were sparkling; I could have melted, "Excuse me," he coughed, "Come on in."

Harry's house was the same as always, as neat’s a guy’s house could be and a strange mix of homely and formal. I’d come to like it, come to see it as a safe place. It was escape from Eva, an escape from my parents, an escape from my crazy life.

“Were you napping?” I asked. His hair was disheveled and between that and his raspy voice.

He blushed sheepishly, “Yeah, actually,” he admitted.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I apologized quickly, but I couldn’t help but grin. There was something particularly enjoyable about a recently awoken Harry, something more intimate than what I was used to.

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have been sleeping anyway," Harry waved it off cheerily, "Besides, I knew you were coming over soon."

I placed my bag on his counter as I followed him in, crossing my arms. We exchanged pleasantries; he gave me a quick recap of his day, but didn’t ask for one of mine. Secretly, I was relieved.

"We should order Chinese," Harry suggested. My mouth watered at the idea, and I nodded while Harry smiled happily, "Want anything?"

"All of it?" I shrugged. The look on Harry's face suggested that he was taking my joke too seriously and I backtracked, "Well, not all of it. But I'm starving. Let's do it.”

It took us all of two minutes to narrow down our selections to Singapore rice noodles, Orange chicken, pork lo mein and egg drop soup. It still seemed a bit excessive to me, four dishes for two people, but Harry was ordering before I could voice a protest. And to be honest, I was starving. I knew I could probably manage to scarf down all that food.

“It should be here in thirty minutes.” He placed his phone down on the counter and folded his arms against his chest.

“Well, what should we do now?” I mirrored his stance, causing him to chuckle.

“We could watch a movie.” He unfolded his arms and gave me a suggestive look.

“See, the thing is that we always say that we’re going to watch a movie and then somehow we never actually do.” I kept mine arms folded, and gave him a slight frown.

He considered this for a second, a smile forming on his lips and I realized how badly I wanted to kiss him. Harry had popped in while I was watching Lux the other day, put in a movie and we had instead ended up making out for the entirety of the film.

“We could make a special effort to, you know, watch the movie today.” He smiled slyly, “I mean, at least until the food comes.”

“Yeah…” I agreed, my thoughts still going back to the other day. His offer was too tempting to resist, “Yeah, that would be good.”

It didn’t take us long to get settled on the couch in his living room, the same one we always ended up on, with a movie playing in the background. As always, he sat a little too closely to me, ignoring the expansive couch so that our thighs were touching.

The opening credits just had stopped rolling when the kisses started, neither of us wasting anytime to get wrapped up in each other. Hands wandering, Harry pressed open mouth kisses against my jaw, my neck and my collar bone. I traced the muscles of his stomach under his shirt, enjoying the feel of his toned skin.

We only pulled apart when the doorbell rang. Harry pulled his hand away from the flesh of my back, leaving me breathing heavily as he hurried to the door. It took me a moment to catch my breath before I stood up, only to catch him closing the door and carrying the food to the kitchen.

It took us no time to serve out the dishes, which were still steaming hot. We scarfed down our food hungrily in silence for the first few minutes.

“Eva left the windows open in the flat today. Can you believe that?! In the middle of November,” I broke the silence by stabbing a piece of orange chicken grumpily before eating it.

“You should move out,” Harry suggested.

“What?” At the mere suggestion, I dropped my fork.

“You should move out,” he repeated, slurping noisily at the soup, “Don’t give me that look. It’s just a suggestion.”

“What?” I shook my head, “I can’t just move out! My grandparents are the ones who made me room with her! I didn’t know that she’d be downright crazy.”

“Tell them that she’s downright crazy and you can’t live with her. Surely they’d accept that.” Harry avoided my gaze as he served himself some more Singapore rice noodles.

“I doubt it. My grandparents screwed up big time with my dad, I think they think that I’ve given them a chance to start over. Like, 'yes maybe our son turned out to be a huge drug lord that also probably murdered a kid or two, but we put our granddaughter through school and look what a success she is!' That sort of thing." I sighed dramatically to add merit to my story.

“Savannah, I’ve known you for a few months now and I really think that you’re probably the least likely person in the world to smuggle in drugs and call it ‘accounting.’ Surely they can see that, too.”

“They don’t really know me,” I said, “It had been years since I had seen them before I showed up asking for help.”

Harry shrugged, “And they helped you out. They can’t think you’re all bad. Tell them you can’t live with her and you want to move out.”

“My grandparents are financing my education, Harry,” I told him sternly, “I can’t just disobey them. Right now, they’re the only thing I have.”

"Oh." It had taken Harry a while, but he finally seemed able to accept my explanation.

We sat in silence for a minute or two, both consumed with the food in front of us. Out of the handful of Chinese places Eva and I had sampled since moving to London, Jade Palace was by far the best.

“Emily - that fan you met - she posted a story about meeting you online on Monday,” I changed the subject, although I wasn’t particularly thrilled about this one, “And she posted the picture you guys took with her but she also posted a stalker picture of the group of us at dinner.”

“Yeah, my publicist told me,” Harry avoided my gaze, “It’s fine. It’s not a big deal. I’m not bothered by it.”

“Are - are you sure?” There was something unfamiliar about Harry’s voice, and I wasn’t sure if I believed him.

“Yeah, Savannah, I’m sure.”

“I wouldn’t be offended, Harry,” I promised him, “I mean, I know that there’s, uh, certain issues with my parents. I know you have to appeal to the younger audiences and being seen with a girl whose parents are apparently drug smugglers isn’t good.”

“Savannah, I told you not to worry about it.” Slightly exasperated, Harry put down his fork and stared straight at me.

“I’m just saying I understand. I don’t want to get you into trouble.” This time, it was me avoiding Harry’s gaze.

“You’re worried about it, aren’t you?” There was a hint of accusation in his voice.

“Harry, I’m so stressed.” I said honestly.

“About what?” Instantly, there was a change in his demeanor. It was as if he could sense that I wasn’t just stressed about the picture of us together, but that there was more bothering me.

“About everything!” I said like it was an answer, “About finals, about Emily’s little story that’s floating around online, about my parent’s trial, about Eva being crazy… I have so much to be stressed about. I think I’m going to die.”

“I’ll tell you one thing, Savannah, you’re probably not going to die from the stress. You’ll die one day and maybe it will be earlier due to stress but probably not anytime soon. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Harry’s tone had changed to one of joking, teasing, but it only made me feel a little bit better.

“You’re not helping,” I pouted.

“I’m sorry,” Harry’s voice and face expressed sincerness, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

I shook my head, “Not unless you can teach me quantitive analysis, teach Eva how to be normal and tell me the future.”

It took Harry a moment to process what I was requesting. He gave me the most pitiful look I had ever seen, but only after a look of determination, deep in thought. I knew he was trying to think of a way to give me what I wanted. It touched my heart, but everything I was asking for couldn’t be given, regardless of how much money you had stored in your bank account.

"What day is it?" Harry asked finally, "What day is the sentencing?"

“It’s December 13th,” I said finally, “That’s the day they get sentenced. Both of them. My mom at ten thirty and my dad at eleven.”

Harry’s face twisted into one of sympathy and concern, “Isn’t that your birthday?”

“And I have an exam that day! Some birthday it will be!” I cried. There were tears beginning to form in the corner of my eye, but I blinked them away.

“We’ll make it a birthday, Savannah,” Harry promised, “You’ll do great on your exam and then you’ll find out about your parents and then we can go out and party.”

“I don’t even like parties,” I said dully.

“We don’t have to party, then,” he said, “We’ll go out to dinner or something.”

I tried to smile at him, tell him that that sounded good, that I would like that, but instead the tears that I had been trying to push back escaped.

“Don’t cry, Savannah,” Harry stood up and pulled me into a giant hug, “Please don’t cry.”

But I cried anyway. I cried and I cried and I cried until there were no more tears, and Harry’s shirt was soaked. But the entire time, he held me like it was no big deal, kissing the tears away. I spent the night at his that night.