Game Theory × NH

043 | technetium

× Mercury

I knew popping those pills wasn't the best idea I ever had, but taking the edge off seemed like a pretty damn good idea at the time.

Especially since I looked over across the living room and saw him, tangled up with a girl wearing a black and white tribal dress. Niall was pushing her against the couch, his mouth hard on hers, and hands tangled in her long black hair. The sight shouldn't have bothered me so much, but it did, and it hurt like hell to see it.

As I stood there with Harry's mouth against my neck, I felt my body grow instantly hot despite the lack of clothing I was wearing. Then almost like someone was continuously adjusting the lighting, the flashing lights in the room would intensify and then go down to a low glow, up and down like the electrical circuits were going haywire. I quickly averted my eyes from Niall and looked at everything and anything but him and the girl, but as I did I got double vision, seeing one thing and another thing at the same time, and I could feel a headache forming at the back of my head.

I placed my hands on Harry's chest and pushed. When he took his lips off my skin, his green eyes were filled with concern.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," I lied and took a quick peek over at the couch across the room. Niall was no longer in sight and the tribal girl he was with sat there with her ridiculously large, feathered headpiece in her lap, looking around the room. "I just... I think whatever pills I took are really getting to me. I'm going to get some fresh air for a second."

Before I could walk away, Harry gently grabbed my arm. "Should I come, too?"

"No," I said a little too quickly.

Harry looked at me for a couple of seconds before sighing in defeat. He took off his leather jacket and handed it to me. "In case you get cold."

Grabbing the jacket, I muttered a quick thank you and walked away and to the front door. I felt bad for leaving him when he obviously wanted to come with me outside, but I needed to be alone from him right now.

The past week had been wonderful, if I was being honest, which only made me feel worse about everything. He just didn't... feel right for some reason, which sucked on a whole new level because he was actually a really nice guy which was definitely something I needed at the moment.

It was chilly outside, maybe around forty degrees Fahrenheit, but the cold felt good on my hot skin. It was just as busy on the yard as it was inside. Carved pumpkins sat on the steps up to the house that glowed in the night, and fake spider web stuck to the corners of the porch with plastic spiders. There was different music playing from somewhere, a more rap vibe from the sounds of it, and groups of people either dancing, chatting in large circles as they drank their beer, or sitting on the porch passing around a joint.

There were many places to live at the University of Roehampton, like the halls for instance. There were six halls you could live at, but there were so many houses you could rent on campus, kind of like the Fraternities and Sororities in America, just without the common goals and the dreadful rush week.

Dylan and Thomas lived in one of those houses.

As I rounded the house to the backyard, I took Harry's jacket he gave me and pulled it on over my shoulders, the leather smooth against my bare arms.

The Nike costume I was wearing was something I got during my senior year at high school for some lame Halloween party. After being invited to Thomas' party, I called my grandma to see if she could ship me the costume, and a week later it arrived. Along with some hard candies and toiletries I also asked for because I was running low and didn't want to go out and buy them myself.