Not The Betting Type ~ Harry Lewis

Chapter Six

The next day I was sat across the table from a guy named James at a local cafe listening to him talk about crypto. As fit as he was, the chemistry was just not there for me, which was probably a good thing considering the challenge going on.

My mind was on Harry. I wondered what number he was up to by now and if this whole thing was going to be impossible for me considering his fame.

James had apparently stopped talking by now and was looking at me expectantly.

Shit.

"Sorry could you repeat that?" I asked with a nervous laugh.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come back to my place after this?" James asked and it took everything in me not to groan out loud.

"Um maybe another time, but you could walk me back to my apartment if you wanted?" I asked, not expecting to have to ask so soon.

"Yeah I can do that love, how far is it?"

"Just around the corner." I replied with a sweet smile.

I had planned this out carefully, I was going to lead him back to a different apartment building, for safety reasons, close enough for Cal to walk to from home, kiss James goodbye outside and never see him again, which thankfully, I didn't want to anyway.

We split the bill and started the walk back. I messaged Cal telling him we were close and put my phone back in my bag.

It took us no more than five minutes to reach the building and I saw Cal sitting on a bench nearby so I knew I was good to go. It felt like I was on a secret mission, which helped to distract from the fact that I was about to kiss a guy I had absolutely no interest in.

"Thanks for today James, I had a good time." I lied through my teeth and smiled again, looking up at him.

"Yeah so did I love, did you want me to walk you to your door? I could come inside?" He asked and I almost shuddered at the thought.

"Just here's fine." I said as I leaned in for a hug.

Thankfully it wasn't hard to initiate a kiss from the hug, considering that he wanted to get upstairs into my fake apartment anyway.

Our lips met and I'll admit that the kiss was pleasant, which surprised me considering that I wasn't interested in pursuing anything else.

We pulled away and he gave me another kiss on the cheek before saying goodbye and walking away.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched him walk around the corner and Cal started walking over to me with his thumbs up and a big grin on his face.

"Let's go! First kiss in the bag!" He said ecstatically and gave me a fist bump.

We walked along in the direction of our actual apartment building and chatted away. I learned that Harry was still on zero points and mentally congratulated myself, even though we were only technically about thirteen hours into the challenge.

"It's so much easier for him because if he invites a girl over, you're right there to witness it!" I complained as we walked.

"Yeah I was wondering about that myself." Cal agreed.

"Maybe we rethink that rule?" I pushed and Cal said he'd talk to Harry about it later.

We made it back to the apartment building and took the elevator back up.

As the doors opened up on our floor Harry stood at the door of their flat with a girl who could have easily passed for a model. He leaned against the side of the doorframe as he talked to her and then as soon as he spotted us he placed a lazy hand on her cheek and leaned down to kiss her.

He kissed her slowly and I could tell from the way that she practically melted in his hands that he was a good kisser.

I could feel the defeat in the pit of my stomach knowing that I was no longer beating him and I rolled my eyes at Cal who was looking back at me with an amused look on his face.

"Game on." He said as he walked away from me and towards Harry, who had finally pulled away from the girl and was staring at me.

"Jess." Harry acknowledged as he gave me a nod, while simultaneously holding up two fingers and stroking them through this girl's hair.

I knew what he was doing. He was telling me that he'd kissed two girls already.

"Harry." I replied as I raised my middle finger and scratched my cheek.

He smirked and went back to kissing the girl while Cal shrugged his shoulders behind them and walked inside their flat.

I turned and unlocked my own apartment, now more than ever determined to beat Harry.

How on earth had he kissed two girls in the time frame of me kissing one person?

Just as I was thinking this I got a text from an unknown number.

It was a video of Harry kissing a different girl. It was short and the girl hadn't noticed he'd taken it but it was enough proof.

I saved his number and replied quickly.

Those poor girls.

I pressed send and put my phone down before sitting down at my desk and drawing up a few designs.

I was annoyed that I had to work for the rest of the day and by the time I'd cooked dinner I was too tired to try and organise another date.

This was, I learned the next day, a mistake on my part since Harry had a different girl stay over and was at a count of three.

Cal let me know the news over breakfast.

"But, never fear, I have a brilliant plan for you to not only catch up, but leave Harry in the dust!" He said as he chewed on a piece of bacon.

"Please do tell." I said with a laugh, unsure what kind of plan he'd managed to cook up overnight.

"We're going out tonight! It's a Friday night! You can meet some more of our friends and you can pull ahead!" He said with obvious excitement.

It was hard not to feel Cal's excitement and I felt it build more and more as the day went on.

I got straight into my work that day, determined to do as much as possible so I wouldn't have to do any in the weekend, and as I turned my sewing machine off at 5pm, Cal was already knocking on my door again.