Odds || H.S.

IV

"WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K!"

My eyes fluttered open and I scanned the scene before me. Addy was squatted in front of the couch with her phone camera pointed in my direction and Jon was standing in front of the TV with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. 

"Jon, shut up I was trying to take some pictures," Addy whined. 

My head was resting on Harry's chest while his arm was outstretched behind me. I pushed myself off of him and rushed to stand up. 

I glanced at them sheepishly, "Yay y'all are finally home"

"Hello friends," Harry drawled out lazily as he stretched on the couch. 

"Harry, as grateful as we are to see you again, what the hell are you doing here?" Jon questioned. 

"Geez, can't a guy visit his friends without an interrogation," Addy quickly jumped to Harry's defense, "you don't have to tell us why you are here, you are always welcome."

"Thanks, Addy, and for the record, I truly consider each of you my friend," Harry added. 

"To clarify, I'm not upset, just shocked. Now I know that I should not be surprised if I walk into my living room and see Harry Styles cuddling with my best friend, I should just start taking pictures," Jon said, rolling his eyes at Addy in annoyance. 

"May I ask why you are NOW arriving home," I teased Jon as I pointed to the morning light streaming through the window, "we fell asleep waiting for you to come home and tell us about your date."

"Well... his name is Alex and not to be dramatic but I think he is my soulmate! I'm definitely in love," Jon swooned. 

"See, it's possible, he fell in love within hours," Harry whispered to me. 

"He is a programmer at Google by day, but he paints in his free time. He is honestly amazing. Oh yeah and he's blind." Jon added.

"Wow a blind talented painter and programmer, that's actually kind of poetic," Addy said.

"It really is, I can't wait for all of you to meet him one day," he gushed, "We went back to his studio in Buschwick and drank wine while telling me about his inspirations for his paintings."

In my opinion, that sounds painful and pretentious, but if Jon was happy, then I am definitely happy for him. Turning to Addy I asked, "Where were you?"

"Oh yeah, after my shift I went to hook-up with this guy from Tinder. This girl has needs too," Addy blurted. 

Harry raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in approval. "Good for both of you!" 

"I'm glad Harry was here to keep your company, Lila," Jon chided.

"Yeah for real, it gave her something to do rather than burying her head in a textbook," Addy added, as a rolled my eyes in annoyance. 

"Yeah, we had fun chatting last night. Unfortunately, I can't stay much longer because I have a couple of meetings to attend," Harry sighed. 

"It's okay, I'm sure we will be seeing you again soon," Addy said with her whole chest. How is she so confident that Harry wants to be in our lives? It's not like we are the only people he knows in the city of New York. 

"You definitely will," Harry agreed as he slid his arms through his black sweatshirt. "See you later," he said as he slid out the front door. 

We all turned to each other and burst out laughing. "How did he even find us?" Jon asked between laughs. 

"Bro, I don't even know, he told me that he had his ways of figuring it out," I said, "Harry Styles, a true man of mystery." 

~~

After putting a bunch of hair products in my hair, my curls were finally tamed and I was ready to go. Finals season is upon us and we are all going to campus in hopes of finding a quiet place to study. In a school the size of NYU, this is a near-impossible task, especially when everyone is cramming in hopes of learning the material of the entire semester in one weekend.  

We slowly walked through Washington Square Park trying to soak up as much sunlight as we could before making our way into the cold, dark, and depressing library. 

"Why did I decide to go to college, is it even worth it," Addy groaned about an hour into our study session.

Jon nodded in agreement, "Honestly, I don't even know, these are supposed to be the best years of our lives."

"These are the best years of our lives, excluding exam season," I reasoned and slid my AirPods back in. This is the end of our junior year and I'll be damned if my GPA drops at this point. After another thirty minutes or so my short attention span gets the better of me as I stare out the window at the skaters falling, children blowing bubbles, and couples enjoying each other's company in the park. 

My mind wandered to our friend Harry and I wondered what he could possibly be doing right now. It had been about a month since we came to our apartment. Maybe he's writing or recording a new song, maybe he's visiting his mom, or maybe he is at a photo shoot. Who knows? It's weird to be friends with someone and have absolutely no way to contact them unless they pop up in your life. 

After a few hours, we decided to leave and treat ourselves to some nachos and $5 margaritas at our favorite restaurant, Blockheads.  Four rounds later, we stumbled back to our apartment singing Truth Hurts while Jon proclaimed his love of Lizzo to almost every person we passed. We collectively groaned as we open the door of our building and stared at the steep staircase. When you find a nice and cheap walk-up apartment in New York, you never think about nights like these. 

At the end of finals week, we found ourselves in a very similar predicament, but this time we were drunkenly walking down five flights of stairs. Tonight, we are celebrating the end of our junior year and the fact we all have amazing summer internships. Things are definitely looking up for all of us. Jon was still seeing his now-boyfriend, Alex, and Addy's tinder hookup turned into something more. His name is Chris, and while they aren't dating yet, I think they would make a perfect couple. They have a similar sense of humor, a love for children/dogs, and he's also a journalism student. As for me, I had spent last semester studying for the LSAT and scored in the 95th percentile so now I just have to fill out the law school applications. So, we all have our own slice of happiness right now. 

We stumbled out the door of our apartment building only to be greeted by a tall man. 

"Excuse us, sir," I slightly slurred as I tried to push past him. The man started to laugh and I immediately recognized him as Harry.  

"HARRY!" I exclaimed throwing my arms around his neck.

"Lila!" He said attempting to match my drunken enthusiasm. 

"Finally, honestly I was beginning to think you lied to us and you were never going to come back," Addy said as I latched on Harry's arm for some extra support. I knew playing drunk Uno was a bad idea...

Harry turned to give Jon a side-hug "I would never lie to you, where are you lot headed?"

"Well actually, wow this is embarrassing," Jon mumbled, "we are going to 1D night."

"Where?" Harry said, looking beyond confused.

"Every once in a while there is a club in the city that has One Direction themed nights, that's where we are going." Jon clarified. 

"Where we WERE going." Addy said, "We certainly are not leaving Harry and it's not like we can take him to a 1D night and expect no one to recognize him."

"Maybe not, but we can definitely still go to a club," I urged, I did my make-up and got dressed to go to a club so there is no way we are not going. 

"I know a place in Brooklyn, we could go there," Harry suggested. Any place Harry liked would be more than adequate. 

"Lead the way," I said. 

~~~~

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