7 - It's The Least I Can Do

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I got to work on Monday morning to find Gary and Sarah planning a night out for Friday. Although it was the last thing I felt like doing, I agreed - and it was decided that rather than going for drinks straight from work like we normally did, we would make it a proper night out. I vetoed The Rose Garden, as I had no desire to bump into Grimmy again. This was nothing personal against him - I just didn't want to be reminded of Harry while I was still trying to get over him.

Adam texted me on Wednesday and asked me out at the weekend, and I agreed to meet him for a couple of drinks on Sunday afternoon. I decided this was more casual, as I wasn't really up for an official date. I wanted to take this slowly. I had jumped in feet first with Harry, and felt this was part of the reason that things had gone pear-shaped. If I'd kept my distance I would have been able to walk away far more easily, and wouldn't be in the mess I was in currently: crying pathetically almost every night over the way he had treated me. Who was I kidding - it was every night.

I knew from overhearing a whispered conversation on Thursday morning between Sarah and Nicki that the One Direction boys had been in London on Wednesday in between shows for the launch of their new fragrance, and it had taken everything I had in me not to go on Twitter and look up any of the 1D update accounts to stare at pictures of them. I guessed Harry would still be in London, and I knew they had one final show in Helsinki on Saturday before they had ten days off, and then Harry would be in the States for the summer and I would finally be able to breathe. I felt like I was on countdown until then, when I knew he would be out of the country and hopefully out of my thoughts.

I got ready for the night out on Friday, and Callie texted me saying she was out with her sister and some friends, so we agreed to try and meet up at some point. By the time I arrived in Covent Garden to meet Sarah, it was nearly 8.30pm.

I walked into the bar and immediately saw her sitting with Gary, Nicki and a few others. Gary was playing on his phone and Sarah was pouring Prosecco into some glasses. I made my way over to them and sat down. Sarah slid a glass across the table to me.

"Thanks," I said. I pulled my phone out of my bag and texted Callie to let her know where we were.

"You look lovely," Gary smiled, and I blushed and smiled back.

My phone pinged and I picked it up, expecting it to be Callie. My stomach flipped over when I saw my screen.

1 new message from Louis Tomlinson.

I wasn't prepared.

My heart pounding, I opened the message.

From: Louis Tomlinson: If you're still in Covent Garden later on, come down to Libertine in Soho! I'll get you and your mates on the guest list if you want

"What's up with your face?" Sarah asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

I hesitated. I knew if I told her the truth we would end up going to Libertine. I didn't want to risk Harry being there, but then again he didn't really socialise that much with the other boys when they were all in the UK.

"Louis has just texted me and invited us to Libertine," I muttered.

Her mouth dropped open. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," I said.

"I hope you've said yes!" she spluttered.

"What if Harry's there?" I mumbled.

"When do they ever go on nights out together over here?" she said, rolling her eyes. "Come on Jess, pleeeeease."

I sighed. "Fine. Fine. I'll say yes."

Wait - How did he even know I was in Covent Garden?!

To: Louis Tomlinson: How do you know where I am?! Stalker. Yeah ok, we'll drop by later.

From: Louis Tomlinson: Err, your mate checked you in on Facebook?! You're the stalker. You found out where we were staying in Brussels! Text me your friends' names and I'll let the door staff know. We'll be there after 10pm.

To: Louis Tomlinson: Actually, Gemma tipped me off about the hotel so that doesn't count. We???

From: Louis Tomlinson: Me and Niall. Not Harry.

To: Louis Tomlinson: OK. I'll let you know who's coming.

"Niall's there too," I told Sarah, and she and Nicki grinned at each other excitedly. "I'm not taking everyone down there," I told them. "Just you guys, OK?"

"And me," Gary piped up.

I rolled my eyes. "Your man crush won't be there, you know."

"I haven't got a man crush," Gary protested.

Sarah coughed, "Harry Styles!" into her hand, and Gary pulled a face.

Callie said she'd join us, so I texted Louis back with the names.

We shared a couple more bottles of Prosecco between us, and at quarter to ten Sarah began getting restless. "Come onnnn," she pleaded. "Let's go."

"I'm not getting there before them," I said. "Wait until about ten thirty."

By ten fifteen she was driving me crazy, so I called a cab and we arrived at Libertine at ten forty-five. There were paparazzi swarming outside and they snapped a couple of pictures of us all as we walked up to the bouncers, but they didn't seem to recognise me, thankfully, and we were ushered inside without a fuss.

We went straight to the bar and I pulled my phone out and texted Louis to let him know we were there. About a minute later one of One Direction's security that I half recognised from the Cardiff show, who I suspected may be called Preston, came over to us.

"You want to come over to VIP?" he asked.

"Yes!" Sarah said, smiling at him and taking his arm. He chuckled and led us across the crowded club to a cordoned off section, where I could see Louis sitting in a booth with a load of guys, including Niall and their security.

"Well well well, look who's here," Louis smirked as we approached them. "How are you?"

"Fine," I replied, my heart thumping as he stood up and gave me a hug. I mean come on, it was Louis Tomlinson, now officially my favourite member of One Direction. I was allowed to fangirl a little bit. I admired his tight white t-shirt and skinny jeans. He looked hot, as always.

Nicki and Sarah slid into the booth opposite Niall, who gave me a grin and a thumbs up, and I sat down between Louis and Gary.

"Champagne?" Louis offered, gesturing to a bottle on the table, but I held up my full glass of wine. "Oh yeah, I forgot Harry said you like paying your way," he nodded, and my stomach lurched at the mention of Harry's name.

"We'd just got them at the bar," I mumbled.

"Well drink up," Louis urged. "The night is young."

I drank my wine as quickly as I could and as soon as my glass was empty Louis reached over and filled it from their bottle. He turned so he was sitting forward in his chair, his legs open and his forearms on his knees, looking at me intently.

"Thanks," I smiled, taking a sip.

"No problem," he said. "You don't pay for anything else tonight, OK?"

I opened my mouth to argue but he held up his hand and made a sharp "Uh!" sound. I laughed and tried again but he did the same thing, silencing me, and I shook my head and looked away, grinning.

He leaned over so his mouth was close my ear and shouted over the music, "It's the least I can do after all the shit you-know-who put you through."

I snapped my head round to look at him, my face serious, and he gave me an awkward smile.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to speak out of turn."

"N-no, it's fine, you.. didn't," I stammered. I took another sip of Champagne to steady my nerves.

"I did," he sighed. "Sorry. You know what I'm like. I speak before I think."

I chuckled. This was so true.

He leaned towards my ear again, resting his arms back on his knees. "He's not OK."

My heart gave a huge jump and my stomach began churning. "Who?" I asked, knowing full well who he meant.

He pulled back from me and twisted his face into a Really?! expression.

"Harry," he said. "He-who-must-not-be-named."

"That's Voldemort," I joked, and Louis gave me a grin and a nod of acknowledgement.

I took a gulp of Champagne. I couldn't listen to this. I couldn't let myself think he might be missing me or that he might regret what happened, or I would never be able to move on with my life. I would be stuck, forever a Directioner, forever hankering after Harry Styles: the boy that broke my heart. I couldn't live like that.

I looked at Louis defiantly and shook my head. "Harry's fine," I said bluntly.

"He's not."

"He is," I insisted. "I know he is."

"How? Have you seen him recently?"

"I saw him last week. And I've seen... videos."

"What videos?" Louis asked, confused.

"A video of him on stage in Oslo. He looks fine to me. And he couldn't even be arsed to look at me when Karen dragged me to your stupid management office to try and convince me to play happy families with him."

I could feel all the anger and resentment I had previously locked away beginning to surface again. This was exactly why I shouldn't be talking about it.

"Of course he's fine on stage," Louis scoffed. "He has to be. The show must go on."

"He's had every opportunity to beg for forgiveness," I said. "And he hasn't asked once."

Louis rolled his eyes. "I know."

"And while we're on the subject, why did you tell Karen I offered Harry a second chance?" I demanded.

"Because none of us can work out what the fůck he's doing," Louis said, bluntly. "He loves you. But he's acting like a dīckhead."

"I won't argue with that last part," I snapped. "But he doesn't love me. He never did. I wish people would stop trying to convince me otherwise, when I've heard it from the horse's mouth."

"I hoped Karen might have been able to shed some light on it, but she's as much in the dark as the rest of us," Louis went on. "I reckon the only people who might know any more are his mum and sister."

"There's nothing more to know!" I groaned in exasperation. "It's over! He cheated, and he didn't want to work things out. I'm getting over him and trying to forget it ever happened."

"There's more to it," Louis said, leaning close to my ear again. "More than you know."

My heart began to pound again. I felt the colour drain from my face.

"Wha... what do you mean?" I asked, staring at him.

He paused for a second, jigging one leg and looking away.

"Louis!" I said, and he looked back over at me.

"I'm going for smoke," he said. "I think you should come with me."

He stood up and dug his hands in his pocket, pulling out his phone, a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He shouted over to Niall that he was going outside and Niall started to stand up too, but Louis shook his head and then inclined it towards me. Niall gave a nod of understanding and sat back down and carried on with his conversation, and Louis pulled a cigarette out of the packet and put it between his lips.

"Where are you going?" Gary asked as I stood up too, and wobbled slightly.

I looked down at him. "Just outside with Louis for a minute," I said. "Just to talk."

He gave me a suspicious look. "What about?"

I rolled my eyes. "What do you think? Harry."

"Don't waste any more time on that loser," Gary said.

I hesitated. "I need to hear this," I said, fully aware of how pathetic I was.

"Do you want me to come too?" he offered, but I shook my head.

"That's really sweet of you, Gary, but I'm fine," I said. "Thanks, though."

I looked over at Louis who was tapping away on his phone. He slid it back into his pocket and looked up at me, pressed his lips together and raised his eyebrows. I nodded and followed him out of the VIP area, through the club, down some stairs and outside into a small back street. I looked around nervously, expecting to see paps.

"It's a private road," Louis said, cupping his hand to his mouth around his cigarette and flicking his lighter.

I said nothing, but twisted my fingers together nervously. He took a drag on the cigarette and blew a small smoke ring.

And I looked at him expectantly, wondering what on earth he could possibly have to say that would have the power to change my feelings.

----****----

So....

Sorry to break it there, but you know I love leaving it on a cliffhanger ;)

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