"I don't want to go." A female voice whined from outside my bedroom door.

I opened my door and stepped out after a long and boring day of resting, feeling a lot better than I did the past two days. I was feeling off yesterday about Maddie's date, afraid that maybe I lost her for good to that Adam guy. She seemed to like him, and it scared me to know that. But after she said they were staying friends, the relief I felt was amazing.

Although, shortly after her date, Brandon showed up with another call from their mom, and it ended in them agreeing to go to dinner with her today, which made my worry grow for them.

Maddie was laying on the couch, her face covered by her beautiful hands and her long legs out straight in Zayn's lap.

"You'll be fine. Just don't say anything that will upset her and you should be able to make it through dinner." Zayn advised, but Maddie scoffed.

"If I breathe the wrong way, I won't hear the end of it."

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Being the only one standing up, I walk over to the door and open it, revealing Maddie's brother.

"Ready to go?" Brandon asked once he saw his sister laying on the couch.

She turned onto her stomach and groaned into the pillow and I held back a chuckle.

"Come on. The later we are the more pissed she will be so let's go." Brandon sighed, rolling up the sleeves of his button up shirt.

"Good." She muttered, pushing herself off of the couch and adjusting the pants of her suit.

She looks so...perfect. The dark grey suit fit her perfectly, styled with a matching blazer while her hair rested along her shoulders. I felt like I was being suffocated by her beauty.

"Good luck. Try not to murder anyone." Zayn waved. She quickly flipped him off before waving at me. I gave her a smile as she walked out, and I closed the door behind them.

"How are you feeling, mate?" Zayn asked, watching as I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Better. Still got a headache but nothing too bad." I shrugged, sitting on the couch opposite him. "What are you watching?"

"Not sure. Something about the minds of a criminal."

I snorted at his response, knowing what he meant anyways. I also pushed down a smile, knowing it was one of Maddie's favorite shows.

"What's that smile for?" Louis smirked, but I shook my head and waved it off.

"Nothing."

We sat there in silence, actually paying attention to the show playing on the tv in front of us.

Throughout the episode playing, I got a few texts from Maddie, consisting of "help", "I want to take this fork and shove it down her throat", and "She said I look like a lesbian in this suit."

I smiled and responded with a "hang in there" before finishing the movie.

It was around seven o'clock when I decided to go for a walk around the halls, bored out of my mind and having nothing to do.

I was walking up the stairwell when I heard an infectious laugh come from the hallway. I opened the door and stepped out onto Maddie's floor, finding both her and Brandon walking towards their door, Maddie giggling while Brandon said something.

I can easily tell that she is drunk.

"Did you see the look on her face when you told her you're bisexual? Oh my god, that was fucking hilarious." Brandon cackled, fumbling with the apartment key in his hand.

"Are you guys drunk?" I asked in amusement as I finally approached them. Brandon didn't drive, did he?

"Maybe a little." Maddie giggled, pinching her small fingers together to demonstrate the amount even if it was false.

"This one had four glasses of wine. You should have seen our mother's face." Brandon broke out into laughter again, finally getting their door open.

"What about you?" I asked him, still a little worried that he was driving with alcohol in his system.

"I had two glasses. Don't worry we took an Uber." Brandon waved off, stepping their apartment. Relief hit me knowing neither of them got behind a wheel.

Maddie tripped over the small bump at the door frame and I was quick to wrap my arm around her waist to hold her up. "Easy there, Mads."

She laughed quietly to herself, Brandon joining in when he noticed her almost fall over, and I smiled at the sound of her laughter.

"Come on, love. Let's get you sobered up, yeah?" I say in her ear, keeping my arm around her and guiding her into her apartment, closing the door behind us.

"Riley. I said I'd help her take down her tree." She spoke. For a drunk person, I'm surprised she rarely slurred. Her words were as clear as day. I was just realizing I've never actually seen her this drunk before. Yeah, we've been to parties when we were together but she never actually drank as much alcohol as I did, always making sure one of us was aware of what was going on.

"Okay. Let's get you into something comfortable." I tell her, watching as Brandon thanked me and went into his room while I helped Maddie. It's the least I could do considering the amount of times she's helped me sober up.

I let go of her for a brief second so I could grab her comfortable clothing. When I turn around, Maddie was already stripping out of her clothes and throwing them on the bed. I gulped, my throat becoming dry at the sight of her in just a bra and underwear.

"Relax. It's not like you've never seen me naked."

I was caught off guard when she noticed how tense I was, and I let out a nervous chuckle as I handed her her clothes. I couldn't take my eyes off of her no matter how wrong it felt, but she didn't even seem to mind. She was eating up my gaze and I could have sworn I saw her smirk.

I continued to watch as she struggled to put on her shirt, glancing at me as a way of asking for help. I sigh and take the few steps over to her, helping her put her arms into the sleeves and pulling it down to cover her inviting chest.

I pull my eyes away from her now covered body, somehow landing on her lips, my heart speeding up as her bottom lip was between her teeth. Slowly, I met her eyes to see her looking up at me.

"Hi." She says adorably.

"Hi." I found myself smiling, but I knew I had to put distance between us. This was wrong. She was drunk, and I was still a little sick even if I had no symptoms. I couldn't be this close to her otherwise I'd do something stupid.

"Can you get me water, please? I still have to take my makeup off." She asked, hiding a frown as she noticed I took a few steps back from her.

"Yeah." I say, cleaning my throat and walking out of her room, feeling a heavy weight off of my chest.

Fuck, I hope she didn't notice how hard I was in my sweats.

This was dangerous.

• • •

Dinner was a nightmare, ending with Brandon and I drunk and pissing our mom off even more.

I don't remember much from the last hour since I got back, other than Harry helping me sober up enough to come help Riley take her tree down.

After grabbing my water, he left my apartment in a hurry and I haven't seen him since then.

"Look who I brought!" Zayn announces, bursting into the apartment. Harry trailed behind him, hands shoved into the pockets of his black Nike hoodie. Not only was Harry with him, but so was Louis.

Riley began to freak out. "Zayn, don't bring him around us! He could still be contagious!" She pulls her shirt over her nose and mouth, like it's going to help.

I scowl at her. "Riley, don't be rude. He was over the other day."

"I forgot. Anyways, the wedding is next week. We can't get sick." She declared.

I grab an ornament and toss it at her head. "Calm down. After a few days, it's not contagious anymore. The only way you could get it now is if he kisses you."

She releases her shirt and takes a breath of air. "Oh. Well then you better stay away from him."

I grab another ornament to throw at her head and laugh when she fails to catch it.

"It's a good thing he's here, though. We need someone tall enough to reach the top of the tree to grab the star."

"I could reach the top for you guys." Louis approaches.

Riley and I look at each other before snorting and bursting out laughing. Lou looks at us, demented. "What's so funny?"

I wipe a fake tear away and stop laughing. "No offense, but it's just... you are tiny. You can't reach the top even standing on a stool." I winded up teasingly.

He gasps, looking offended. "I am not tiny! I'm massive." He tries to show off his biceps and stick his chest out to look taller, but it only makes me see him as a puppy trying to look angry.

Riley snorted. "Yeah, you are."

I take another ornament off of the tree and toss it at her again.

"How many times are you going to do that so I know to wear a helmet?"

"As many times as it takes for you learn that not every thought you have has to be said out loud." I pick up the ornaments that scattered around and put them back in the box.

Harry snickered, taking slow steps towards me and the tree, helping me remove the ornaments and star.

As we both went to grab the same ornament, I was a little taken back when his hand jerked back. Okay?

Brushing off his behavior, I remove the last ornament and start taking the branches off. After another thirty minutes, her tree was packed away into the box and Louis took it out to the balcony closet.

"Finally. I'm exhausted." I fall back onto the couch and Riley comes over to sit on my legs.

"Speaking of which, how was the fitting and dinner?" She asked.

I raise a brow. "How is that related to what I just said?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. But how was it?"

"The dress still fit me so that's a good sign, but I still need to find a plus one." I sigh. "Dinner was okay, mostly because I don't remember half of it. Remind me to never drink wine again."

"Not going to happen. You love your wine too much." Riley snorted, making me chuckle and agree before she continued. "I thought Nick was your date to the wedding?"

"He was invited." I replied shortly.

"What about Mason? Or Adam?" She suggested, but I shake my head.

"Mason is out of town for a funeral and Adam has to work overtime the week of the wedding." We continued to think of other guys we knew, but nobody came to mind.

"Then how about you take Harry?" Louis proposed, looking between all three of us.

Harry seemed a little stunned that Louis suggested him, but he wasn't exactly against the idea.

I did think of Harry as a candidate, but I figured it would be a little weird for him to be my date considering our history. But like Adam and I say, it's only weird if you make it weird.

"If he wants to go then I don't see why not." I answered simply, seeing Harry relax from the corner of my eyes.

"I'd love to go with you." Harry replies a little quickly. He clears his throat and hides a smile. "I mean, sure. Yeah, I'll go."

I wanted to burst out in laughter at his attempt to act cool, but I held it in when I got a FaceTime call from Nick.

Sighing, I pick up my phone and answer it. "How can I help you, Nicholas?"

"Can I come over? Natalie got back with her boyfriend and they are being loud." He asks, cutting off here and there.

"I'm at Riley's so you have to ask her." I point the camera towards her.

"No. You can suffer for one night." She says, adding that she was just joking. "I'm kidding. Yeah, you can come."

"Thank god. I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and flipped onto the couch, letting out a loud groan into the pillow for no reason. Sometimes I just feel like screaming, you know?

"Hey, how did you two even become friends? I just thought about that." Harry asked Louis and I randomly.

Riley burst out laughing like a hyena, pointing to the two of us. Louis and I looked at each other and he snickered at the horror written on my face. "No. Absolutely not." I say, giving him a pointed look. If Harry were to find out how we met, I will literally end my life.

"Oh god, this should be good." Riley says, wiping a stray tear from under her eye.

Louis turned to look at me. "Should I tell him or do you want to?" He asked, practically bouncing on the couch with excitement.

"No." I shook my head vigorously, sitting up on the couch as I internally panicked.

"Okay so-" Lou started.

"Louis, don't." I threatened, on the edge of my seat.

"When I first moved here two years ago, we were both at one of David's parties and-"

"Louis, I swear to god, stop talking." I was waiting for the floor to swallow me up at this point because I knew Louis was not going to stop talking.

"Anyways, we were absolutely shitfaced when we met, and we almost slept together!" Louis cackled, slapping his knee.

"Oh." Harry says, disappointment flashing in his eyes. I shook my head and rested my head in my hands in embarrassment. At least Louis didn't mention-

"But that's not even the best part," Louis continued, still trying to catch his breath.

My head shot up. I spoke too soon.

"We were so close to getting naked and then Bam! She-"

I jumped up from my spot and flung myself onto Louis, pushing my hand over his mouth and giving him a daring look. "Louis, I'm literally begging you." I pleaded, knowing he can see the fear in my eyes.

He relaxed underneath me and nodded so I sighed in relief and took my hand off of his mouth. I was very wrong to trust him because the moment I got off of him, he shouted "she moaned your name!"

I nearly choked on the oxygen around me and I just knew my face was glowing with embarrassment. I avoided looking at Harry at all costs.

"Oh god." I mumbled to myself, hiding my face in my hands.

The only thing I could hear was Riley's laughter along with Louis and Zayn's cackling.

Too anxious to wait for Harry to speak, I peak up at him between my fingers to see his unreadable expression.

His lips were rolled into his mouth, and the corners of his mouth were turned up slightly. I could clearly tell he was having mixed emotions about the information Louis blurted out.

"That's...an odd way to become friends with someone." Harry cleared his throat and shifted on the couch, clearly stifling a laugh.

"Oh god." I whispered again, praying the ground could swallow me up right now.

"Is the confident Madison Russo embarrassed?" Harry finally laughed.

"The hell are you laughing at, Styles? I just heard you say her name while getting off ten minutes ago." Zayn outed, making Harry stop laughing immediately. I lifted my head up and I'm pretty sure my face was completely red, but I couldn't help but stifle a laugh at Harry's expression.

His face was as white as a ghost, but I kept a hand over my mouth so he didn't feel as worse as I did. I didn't know whether or not I should be flattered with this information. I mean, I did purposefully get naked in front of him earlier while he helped me change so I don't blame him. It's my fault, really.

"God, if only I could put two and two together at the time and figure out you guys used to be together." Louis added with a chuckle.

Feeling very uncomfortable in this situation, I clear my throat and stand up. "I'm gonna go..." I trailed off, beginning to walk towards the front door.

"Wait! Nick is coming so just stay a little longer." Riley tries convincing.

"I think I've been embarrassed enough for one night." I responded, already walking out the door. Sensing someone was following, I glance over my shoulder and mentally groan when I saw Harry behind me.

"Don't think I didn't see how that story just fed your ego." I said, reaching for the door handle to the stairwell.

"Maddie." He sighed, reaching for my hand and keeping me from opening the door. "It's not a big deal. So you said my name when you were with someone else. So what? It happens to a lot of people." He tried to justify, but I still felt gross.

"But that's the thing, Harry. I said your name when I was about to sleep with your friend. Do you know how disgusting that makes me feel?" I finally spoke, turning around and facing him again.

"You didn't know he was my friend."

"Oh, is that supposed to make it better?" The sarcasm blatantly dripping from my voice.

Harry shook his head and squeezed my hand, reminding me of how close we were. I pulled my hand from his and took a step back, breaking eye contact. "I'm sorry for laughing. It was wrong of me."

I fought back a smile as I remembered Louis' confession about Harry. "I'm sorry for laughing at you saying my name while you...you know." I apologized, making Harry smile in relief. I snickered as I added "Don't beat yourself over it."

His smile fell quickly at my play on words. "Wow." He said, obviously hiding he was impressed with my humour. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"Nope." I just grinned and walked past him, going back to Riley's as he followed alongside me.

"Did you guys bond over how you moaned each other's names out there?" Louis laughed scornfully as he noticed us come back in.

"Do you have a death wish?" I asked in response, sitting in my old spot next to Louis.

"I'm so glad we are friends." Louis said, patting my head like I was a dog and waiting for me to say the same thing. Although Louis and I act like we hate each other, he is the life of the party and I was glad we are friends now; but that does not mean he doesn't get on my nerves sometimes.

"Alright, I guess being friends with you isn't that bad." My exaggeration earned a light shove front Louis with his elbow.

"Isn't that bad? I think you are forgetting that I took care of you when you had your wisdom teeth out."

I scoff. "No you didn't. You were sexting Riley the whole time."

"With the way you two argue, you would think you're related." Riley retorted.

Louis and I look at each other and shudder at the thought of being related, considering how we met.

"Absolutely not."

• • •