𝐜𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐲 » 𝐳.𝐬. ✔️

chapter five

Harry Styles

"Don't believe anything Zayn tells you, Haz." Carmen sighs as she helps me scrub the stain off of Amy's sweatshirt. I furrow my eyebrows, turning to face her.

"What do you mean?" I ask quietly.

"I've seen Zayn doing lines before." She says and my eyes widen. She can't be serious!

"Are you sure?" I ask and she looks up at me, nodding her head. I can't believe I believed him. He seemed so genuine when he told me that... I guess he is just really good at lying.

"Yes. I'm serious, Harry. Stay away from him." She warns, staring directly into my eyes. I nod obediently, however, I'm wondering how she knows so much about Zayn. They seem to know each other and there is a bit of tension, but it's mostly from Carmen. Zayn looks like he could care less, but then again that might just be apart of his frat boy facade.

"Looks pretty good." Carmen says, holding up the sweatshirt to take a good look at it. There's a huge wet spot, but the pigment from the beer is gone. All I have to do is let it dry.

"You didn't do it, did you?" I ask suddenly, looking over at my best friend seriously.

Carmen scoffs, putting her hands on her hips. "Of course not. I might drink, but I would never do hard drugs." She says, sitting the sweatshirt down on the counter to dry.

She then grabs my hands and leads me over to the bath tub, sitting down on the edge and pulling me down with her. "And especially after what happened with Gemma...Amy and I were both there for that. We would never want that to happen to us or you." She says seriously.

My eyes water as I think about my sister but I shake it off, squeezing her hands before wrapping my arms around her tightly and burying my face in her neck. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost either of you." I whisper and she just hugs me back tightly.

Amy walks in a few moments later and frowns at the sight of us. "What's the matter?" She asks, her face looking guilty. Good. She should feel guilty for leaving me alone. Again. Seriously, she is the worst party buddy ever.

"Nothing. You just left Harry, again." Carmen sighs, rubbing my shoulder before I pull away and wipe my eyes.

"Stop it," I swat at Carmen's shoulder before looking up at Amy, "It's nothing. I'm just being emotional." I whisper before standing up, shivering suddenly as I realized that I am still bare from the waist up. "And I don't have a shirt to wear."

Amy bites her lip for a moment before she points to the room across the hall. "I'll grab one out of the there. They won't notice we took it." She says and runs over before I can protest.

I really don't want to steal someone's shirt but I also don't want to walk around a college party shirtless. God, this was such a bad idea. Never again, Harry.

Amy comes back seconds later with a big gray sweatshirt with the Temple logo across the front. There's some words on the back, but I don't catch them because their covered by the hood. I shrug, taking it from her hands. It doesn't seem too expensive, so I pull it on over my head. The material is super soft on the inside, and it's the perfect size too big. (I'm going to have a hard time giving it back.) I check the mirror and shake out my bouncy curls, making sure I look decent enough to return to the party.

"Good enough?" I ask, turning to face them. They both nod and I give them a serious look. "I hope you both know that I am never coming to another college party again." I mutter.

Amy laughs, but Carmen stays silent as she grabs the wet sweatshirt on the sink counter and hangs it over the window ledge. "It'll dry faster this way and then you can return that shirt before we leave." She says, and I look at her in surprise. I expected Carmen to tell my just to take the sweatshirt and not give it back. (She has shoplifted on multiple occasions, something I do not condone, but I can't control her.)

"Let's go downstairs." Amy says, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the bathroom. I follow her to the top of the stairs before turning around, furrowing my brows as I see Carmen staring at my back.

"What is it?" I ask, trying to look over my shoulder to see if there was a stain on the sweatshirt or something.

Carmen just shakes her head, offering me an odd smile. "It's nothing. I'm just jealous, I wish I had a sweatshirt. Wanna switch?" She teases, or at least I think she's teasing. I definitely wouldn't want to change into her slutty shirt. (Not that Carmen is a slut by any means, but that shirt shows way too much cleavage.)

I just laugh and brush off her weird behavior, "Come on." I say and follow Amy down the stairs. When we reach the bottom, I look around at the crowd that has grown considerably larger since the last time we were down here.

"I'm gonna get some water. Come with me." I say and the both nod, helping me walk through the crowd and make my way into the illuminated room. I walk to the fridge and grab a bottle of water, ignoring two girls who are making out on the counter.

"By the way, where is Sophie?" I ask Amy before taking a sip of my water bottle, automatically feeling refreshed and hydrated again.

Amy shrugs. "She was on her way but they got pulled over for something. She told me not to wait up for her. And then my phone died." She mumbles.

I narrow my eyes, crossing my arms. "I told you! You should have listened to me and charged your phone the whole way." I groan. "Now if we get separated, how will we be able to contact you?"

"Don't worry, Haz. I know where we parked and we won't get separated again." She promises and I raise an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"Sure. My charger is in the car, you should go get it." I suggest, looking at Carmen who reaches into her pocket and grabs her keys.

"You know where everything's at." She says, handing her keys to Amy.

"Wait, I don't know how to open the box." Amy frowns and Carmen rolls her eyes.

"Oh my god. I'll come with you. Harry, will you be okay?" Carmen asks and I nod. Of course I'm gonna be alone again. I should have expected this honestly.

"Good. Just stay here and we'll be back in fifteen minutes, tops." Carmen explains before leading Amy out of the kitchen.