It's a Sign of the Times

Chapter Eleven: Up All Night

I push him away. "Harry i can't. Especially not here," I hiss at him, annoyed with how careless he'd be.

"Wait, please. I've never talked like that with anyone. Not the way that I could talk to you when we were upstairs," he says. "Chloe, listen to me. I picked you out of that crowd of girls for a reason tonight, I just know it."

"Well I don't. And I have to go," I say, grabbing Jobeth who's standing behind me and running to the cab where Caris is already standing. We climb in the car and tell the driver the name of the hotel where we're expecting to spend the rest of the night. He drives off and I don't look back.

Jobeth sits in between Caris and I, letting me have a window to look at all on my own. I watch the lights fly by as my mind whirls. I try to push my thoughts down, but I can't put the thought of Harry kissing me away. And then the whole ordeal of Luke wanting to kiss me. And also Gemma and Ashton? And...

"Wait. You guys were playing truth or dare with your idols," I say, staring at my friends. I don't know how they aren't gushing and screaming already now that we're as good as alone with the exception of the taxi driver.

"We figured you needed some down time, we don't want to overwhelm you," Caris says. Their thoughtfulness touches me.

"No, I want to hear about your night! Tonight was a big deal for you guys and I understand that, believe me. I don't want to downplay that at all," I say earnestly.

Jobeth smiles to herself. "Let's wait until we get checked into our rooms and then we can talk," she yawns. "Or maybe we should get some sleep and talk during the car ride tomorrow..." she ends her sentence by sleepily resting her head on the back of her seat. She drifts off before long and I return to looking out my window.

• • • • •

It isn't long before we've reached our hotel. We grab our phones and purses and wake Jobeth before heading inside. We check in at the front desk and head to our rooms. We decided to get one room with one king size bed and all just share for the night. We're all so tired it wouldn't have really made a difference no matter what we did as long as there was somewhere to rest our heads.

"Can we talk tomorrow? I'm sorry I'm just exhausted," Caris says, rubbing her eyes.

I nod my head, disappointed. "Yeah, of course. Let's get some rest. It's late."

We settle in for the night and it doesn't take me long to fall asleep, but my thoughts before I drift off are of Luke and Harry.

• • • • •

We all wake up at the same time. Not that it matters, because it's too late and my phone is still dead and our parents are still going to kill us.

We take turns in the shower - we're already late, what's another hour? - before we finally call another taxi and head back to the venue where my car is parked.

We don't talk much on the way to the venue, but the second we get inside my car, Jobeth bursts.

"I'm so sorry. But we have to talk right NOW. Harry Styles. Kissed you."

Caris whips her head around. "He WHAT? How did I miss that? CHLOE!"

The barrage me with questions and I laugh nervously. "It's a long story..."

"We have time," Caris points out.

And so I start the car and dive into all the events from the night before. They of course have all the rights reactions and things to say during the story.

"What are you going to do?" Jobeth asks me when I finish.

"Honestly? Nothing, I hope. I doubt I'll ever see either of them again, so it's not worth worrying about. I just have to figure out how to tell Adam all of this." I shake my head. "But tell me about your nights!"

They launch into a story about how Zayn is the most incredible, kindhearted person they've ever met and Niall and Caris are so well-matched and they're all exactly what they thought they'd be. Louis is so funny and Jobeth swears that Callum was flirting with her and she promised me that Michael was interested in Caris, but Caris denies it.

They tell me about how before I joined their game of truth or dare, Liam had already said he liked the idea of matching tattoos, Niall had admitted he was afraid of getting a tattoo, and Callum had eaten a spoonful of hot sauce. Lots of shots were taken between the group and Caris relays to me how relieved she was that none of them would be drinking.

They also tell me how much they like Gemma and they felt a weird vibe between her and Ashton, but now it made sense after I'd told them about running into them while they were upstairs.

When we're done reviewing the night's events, a silence falls over the car.

"Time for the big question," I say. "Are you happy that you went? And are you happy with how you spent your time?"

Jobeth nods and so does Caris. "Are you?"

I hesitate. "I am happy that I went, but I wish that I'd stayed with you both honestly. I think I would've had a better time with the two of you."

• • • • •

I drop the two of them off at their houses before heading home and preparing myself to face my own parents. We'd reviewed our story while we were still in the car to make sure we all told our parents the same thing - we were too tired after the concert and I didn't want to be unsafe while driving, so we got a hotel instead and we were so late today because we woke up late and I wanted to get breakfast at a diner. It's not too far from the actual truth.

I step into my house and hear my mom yell my name from the other room and I cringe. Maybe I should've stayed in Columbus.