Breakfast was done and El had told me that she’d do the dished while Louis showered. Harry and I went back to his bedroom and he adjusted his towel and started picking out clothes.

“Can I pick out your clothes?” He smiled, stepping away from his closet and gesturing for me to take the lead. As I began walking by, his large arm stopped me momentarily and turned me to face his. His lips touched mine sweetly, as if there was no rush and no care in the world. I pulled away, looking at him with love in my eyes. His circles were less noticeable, but they were still there. I held his eyes with my gaze until I was inside his closet and looking at his clothing. Pulling out his white undershirt, I grabbed one of his flannels and tossed them to him. He grabbed some skinny jeans and he sagged just enough to see the waist band of his Jack Wills boxers. I rolled up his sleeves just enough to show the lower part of his forearms.

~

A little bit later, Louis had opened his presents and there was a knock on the door. Harry stood up to get it, but was cut off by Zayn. “I’ll get it.” After looking through the peep hole, he stepped out into the hallway and came back a few seconds later. “Okay Louis. I know that it’s your birthday, but I have something that I need to tell everyone.” Everyone looked at Zayn, ushering for him to continue. The look on his face was almost panicked but it eased as he said his next phrase. “I’ve met someone.” With that, he opened the door and in walked a girl only a little bit shorter than him. “Everyone,” he wrapped his arm around her waist as she blushed slightly at the crowd, “this is Haley.”

Her legs were long and she wore a romper, which made them look even longer. Her gladiator sandals were orange and it matched her white and orange outfit. Good sense of style, she was already on good terms with me. The bright colors made her look tanner than she already was. To be honest, most girls that Zayn brought to meet us wore revealing clothing and had multiple piercings and a tattoo or two. Haley didn’t even seem to have her ears pierced. I’m not saying that she was plain, but she seemed reserved, and respective of her body. Her hair was obviously not died; it was too alive to be dead. It was all one long length and fell gracefully around her shoulders. I almost wondered how that was going to work out when Zayn decided that he wanted something. Maybe this is what he needed; someone who wouldn’t give it all on the first try.

Zayn walked around, introducing everyone to Haley. When it came to me, she smiled and Zayn’s face mimicked hers. “You must be Hannah,” she reached out to shake my hand. In turn, I totally overpowered her outstretched hand and pulled her into a hug.

“It’s so nice to meet you.” I was really very excited for Zayn. This not only meant that he could get over me, but there wouldn’t be any tension. I would have Harry and he would have Haley and everything could come together while still being kept separate. I smiled at the both of them and struck up conversation.

~

We stood around chatting for awhile and then the boys announced that they needed to get ready for their interview. “Don’t flirt with the interviewer too much, okay?” I knew Harry was a flirt, and something told me that there was no stopping it, but I was hoping that he would again decide to amaze me.

“I won’t babe.” He stepped forward and held my head as he kissed me, letting our lips mold together. He slipped something into my hand and I knew that it was his credit card. He had openly told me that he hated leaving me here alone all day, so I guess that he thought that giving me something to entertain myself would satisfy me until his return. I tried to give it back to him but his large hand clasped tight around my smaller one, keeping it in my possession. I felt something on my stomach and Harry and I were suddenly pulled apart.

“I promise that I’ll keep an eye on him if you stop all of this mess,” Louis teased. I smiled and thanked him before he walked out the door.

“No one needs to watch out for me. I’ve got my bird, and I’m planning on her staying around.” He stepped towards me again, “Why would I risk fucking that up?” His voice was husky in my ear and I felt my heart start to melt. On that note, he kissed me on the cheek and pulled me into a long, tight hug. I saw a very red looking Haley over his shoulder.

Once all of the boys had gone out the door, Zayn was last, Haley beginning to follow him. “Oh Haley,” she stopped with Zayn by the doorway, “are you going to the interview with them?”

She looked at Zayn and then back to me. “Nope, I’m just gonna go chill at home.”

I looked at Zayn, astonished. “We just met her and you were going to send her home? No! Haley, just stay here and hang with us. I promise we’re not druggies or anything.” Both Zayn and Haley laughed at me before he kissed her cheek and headed out the door. I closed it behind him and we went to the couch where Eleanor and Dani were already watching T.V. “Hey you guys,” they both moved to at least let me know that they were paying a little bit of attention, “Haley’s gonna hang out with us, okay?”

“Alright,” they responded in unison. I walked over to stand in front of the telly while Hay stayed behind the couch. “We’re trying to watch Pretty Little Liars, Hannah!” I ignored them and turned off the T.V. They groaned in protest, and I just put my hands on my hips.

“Haley’s here today so we need to do something interesting or she’ll think that we’re boring.” I paused and the girls’ shoulders slumped, knowing that I was right. “Is that what you want her to think of us?”

“No,” they synchronized. Haley just giggled from behind them and stood there comfortably.

“Well what do you want to do Haley?” I coaxed.

“Erm… Shopping’s always good.” We all turned to smile at the idea.

~

We all got ready in Harry’s room and I let Haley pick out my clothes. The only ones that I had there were what I’d worn there and what he’d brought over from his mum’s house, so the selection was sort of limited.

“Uh, I’m not going to freeze like you must be.”

“No,” she scoffed, “have you been outside today?”

“Well… No, actually.” I furrowed my eyes and decided that I was probably pale because I spent all day inside all the time.

“It’s obnoxiously warm,” she said, pulling clothes for me out of my closet. Slightly curling my hair, she had me wear a white top and purple skinny jeans. I put on my normal eye makeup and tinted my lips purple with gloss before grabbing my white wallet and transferring my money, cards and ID.

Getting ready to walk out of the flat, I grabbed my keys off of the counter and noticed the credit card that Harry had left me, which I placed there right after he walked out. I simply walked passed it, not liking to spend his money for my own personal use. Instead, I put on my white gladiator sandals and was the last to walk out as I shut the door behind me.

I stepped outside and breathed in the sweet air. You know that it’s warm when you can smell absolutely everything. What the fuck? It was Christmas Eve and warmer than normal London whether? I couldn’t believe it, but the fact that it wasn’t even cold enough to give me goose bumps made it undeniable. I threw my arms out and let the sun hit my skin. Haley simply laughed at me and walked past me.

“What are you laughing at new girl?” I joked. She looked back and rolled her eyes at me.

“You need to get out more Hannah!” she yelled back to me.

Once we were at the mall, I savored every moment in the sun that I got until I was in the shade of the building. There were a few flashes around, so I tried not to look like too much of an idiot. The flashes followed us into the building before they calmed down a bit, apparently losing the light for a good picture.

Forever XXI was our first stop and I was really excited. I had gone with El and Dani a few times and I loved the way that we shopped. I’d never been with friends that made it quite as much fun as they did. We went through the store, carelessly picking out clothes; the cute ones, the ‘eh’ ones, the baggy ones, all of them. We went through each section, starting with the tops. Every girl found as many tops as she could carry and then we all bounded back towards the dressing rooms. I narrowed it down to two cute tops. One was three quarter length sleeved and had horizontal stripes of navy and cream. The other was royal blue and gripped my arms and my waist. It had holes in it, exposing the lack of tank top that needed to go underneath.

Once we had all chosen, we put on a mini fashion show and we then moved on to however many pairs of bottoms that would match the tops. We continued like this until we had gone through every section of the store, ending up with multiple new outfits.

After we had gone through every other section, we shamelessly walked into the lingerie. I needed something new, Harry hadn’t seen any of mine yet, but it was all last season… Not that he would really care if we were planning on being that intimate. All of the girls went ahead of me to start looking for things to impress their guy, but when I did a quick head count, there was one missing. I turned around to see Haley stopped in her tracks as she looked at the exposing clothing.

“You coming Haley?” Her face looked to mine, eyes full of slight terror.

“I’m good,” her arms self consciously crossing her chest, “I don’t think I’m going to be needing any of this stuff for a while.” She gestured towards one of the racks, taking in a silky slip between her fingers. A visible shudder went through her body before she let the silk fall back under the rest of the garment. I walked over and stood next to her, digging through the sizes of the item that she had just fiddled with.

“Neither will Harry and I,” I checked to see that everyone else was too engulfed in their searches to listen to our conversation, “even though everyone else seems to think that I already need this.” I held up to her what looked like would be her size as she playfully swatted my hands away. I put my hands to my sides in defeat.

Her eyebrows furrowed as confusion crossed her face. “Wait, you don’t?”

I smiled at her in disbelief, shaking my head. “No! But it’s still fun to mess around with.” With that, I tugged on her hand, yanking her into the most explicit shopping that she had ever done.

~

Once we had left the mall, I was mentally thinking about what food I had in my apartment because that was probably all that I would be eating for about the next week. We had climbed into the car as I slid my phone out of my pocket, opening as everyone else clambered into the car.

Harry: Did u girls go shopping?
~ Hazza ~

Hannah: Yeah, r u home?
~ xoxo Hannah <3 ~

Harry: I stopped there 2 change. Yd u leave my card there?
~ Hazza ~

Harry: The guys and I r going to laser tag for Louis’ b-day. C u at home a lil bit later.
~ Hazza ~

~

When we got home, we started having some new girl talk, as there was one more guy to talk about than what we were used to.

“Is he a good kisser?” Dani leaned forward and El and I burst out laughing at her innocence.

“Fuck that,” El didn’t give Haley the chance to answer. “Is he a good shag?” Haley’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in surprise.

“I don’t think that we’re exactly at that point yet.” Her cheeks flushed as her body became slightly rigid.

“Oh,” Eleanor’s face fell slightly. “So you’re in that same boat as Hannah and Harry.” She rolled her eyes and then all eyes were on me. I could feel the stares burning into my skin. It was like they were pressing me to share.

“Okay, then let’s have an unbiased opinion,” shit. “Okay, Hannah. How long do you think two people should wait before they… take it all the way?” She raised her eye brows and tilted her head down, innocently pretending that I didn’t have a clue as to what we were talking about.

“Well… this is biased, but it’s because I haven’t dated anyone long enough for me to give it all to them…”

“Wait, so you’re a…”

“Yeah, I’m a virgin.” El and Dani stiffened slightly at my words, but I figured that it was because their virginity was so far gone that they had no hymen left. “I just think that you should really know that you love someone, and you should know that you love them for a long time before you give it all away. If that means that I won’t know how it feels for awhile then I just won’t know, because I want to make sure that Harry’s really the one. Actually, we’re just getting over this really big fight, and if we hadn’t been thrown back together, we probably wouldn’t have tried it again. So, I almost think that a couple should have to live through a couple of fights before their relationship gets glued into place with a sexual relationship.” After my ramble, I fiddled with my fingers slightly, embarrassed that I was so comfortable sharing my thoughts with my new and old friends. When I did look up, I saw Haley, looking at me with a peaceful smile on her face. She walked over and sat down next to me, putting an arm around my shoulder to let me know that she agreed with me. “Welcome to my boat.” I grinned at her cheekily as we laughed.

We all sat around watching T.V. and playing video games. I had beaten the girls by a lap in Mario Cart about sixteen times before we all got the same text:

Go back 2 the flat. Il b home soon. All of the girls left, Eleanor saying that she would call Louis and tell him to meet her at a restaurant.

Notes

Hold on everyone! Chapter Twenty Five gets a little bumpy! I hope that you like it :) Give me lots of feedback, it helps me write better honestly.
How long can Harry keep going like this? How much longer with these girls' 'virginity' stay in tact? Keep reading and find out :)
xoxo Hannah <3