Friends.

Chapter 44

I watch him as he finishes the game, eventually dying too many times and giving up. He sighs, turning around to face me and leaning back against the machine. 

"What now?" He asks with a hopeful smile on his face. 

I chew the inside of my bottom lip with my teeth as I stare at the person in front of me. Looking at him flashes me back to the day I stood on his doorstep, professing how I felt about him properly and begging him to be with me, only to find out  seconds later that he was engaged. The pain hits me all over again as his eyes meet mine and I feel like I could fall to the floor and fall apart. I was fine until his fingers grazed over mine only moments ago. 

"What's wrong?" He asks, furrowing his brow and stepping towards me. 

"Nothing." Everything. But it's fine, I'm fine. One last night in his company, pretending none of that happened and that we're still just friends could be exactly the closure I need. Then, as he said, I'll be in New York and he'll be on tour, effectively out of each other's lives. I can let myself have fun for one night, get lost in the moment and not let my mind wander to all the ways he's hurt me. 

"Come on, lets play this." He says with a grin, bounding over to where a miniture basketball game is, two hoops set up side by side, a net surrounding them and a ramp leading down from below the hoop that returns the ball back to you every time, as well as about three spare balls for each hoop so you can constantly shoot. A score board is above each hoop that calculates how many each person has actually made into the hoop. 

"Ready? Now we can see who the best really is." A grin overtakes his face as he spins a basketball on his index finger. 

"Bring it Styles." I smirk, picking up my basketball. 

"Okay, go!" He presses the button that sends off a loud beep sound and a countdown starts. 

I quickly knock his ball out of his hands before starting to shoot at my own hoop. 

"You're such a cheat," Harry yells, chasing after his ball. Idiot hasn't realised there's like three other balls he could be using. 

"Girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!" I laugh as I keep shooting, my score is now 5 whilst Harry remains at zero. But when he finally starts shooting it doesn't take him long to catch up to me. I've never been one for sports and about fifty percent of the time my ball doesn't go in the hoop.  

The clock reads one more minute and I am in that state of panic where I'm trying to go as fast as I can but am missing lots of shots as a result and Harry has a 5 point lead on me. I need some sort of tactic to distract him so I can catch up. 

I kick the back of his knee, causing his leg to bend and he falls over, he's so clumsy and I giggle to myself while I keep shooting, that is until he grabs the bottom of my dress and pulls backwards, causing my feet to slip out from under me and my back to hit the floor with a loud thud. 

"Ow!!!! Not fair!" I whine, Harry and I now looking equally ridiculous, both on the floor laughing. 

"You want to talk about fair? You're the worst sport in the world! Such a nasty player." He laughs as we both sit up. 

"Yeah but I had to win somehow, if you don't have the talent you can still win, you just need strategy." I grin, pushing myself to stand up as Harry does the same. 

"Yeah exactly, and all of your strategies involve cheating!" He teases. 

"Like I said, girls gotta do what a girls gotta do." 

"Photobooth?" He suggests, pointing to the corner where of course there is a photo booth...because naturally every video arcade has a photobooth? Not...actually, I wouldn't know...I can't say I frequent them that much. I nod and follow him into the small booth, pulling the red curtain shut and pulling a funny face for the first photo.