We're on Fire

“C’mon, Ash, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Liam says and grabs my wrist pulling me toward another room. Where is he taking me? I think to myself as he leads me into the living room, phone in my hand.

Things are strewn everywhere like they just threw a party of some sort. A tall guy stood there, brown curly hair, glistening green eyes that you couldn’t help but get lost in, a Rolling Stones t-shirt and the tightest jeans I’ve ever seen. His exposed arms were littered in tattoos and he had a bunch of piercings, one in his lip, an eyebrow piercing and one in his earlobe. He had a slight hint of a smirk on his lips as he stared at me. I couldn't help but want to know what his deal was, why he was staring at me like he was.

“I’m Harry, nice to meet you, babe,” he tells me with a smirk and brings his lip in between his teeth. I smile a bit and shift my gaze away from his.

The room is silent for a few minutes and Liam speaks up, “Ash, how ‘bout I show you to your room, then I could give you a tour ‘round campus if y–” he says with a smile and moves so he was beside me.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Harry begin to look me up and down continuously. I try to brush it off and roll my eyes before slightly glancing down at my outfit. I was currently sporting my favorite skinny jeans, the most comfortable pair I own, which were a bit worn out in the knees, since I wear them a lot, along with a pink tank top and ankle boots. Why was he doing this when I hardly knew him at all?

“I could show ya ‘round, love, was about to head out and meet up with a few of my mates for a bit,” he interrupts with a slight smirk on his face and shifts the weight from one foot to the other before crosses his arms over his chest. “We’re goin’ to a party tonight, as well, you up to come with us?” he asks as he looks at me, the same smirk on his lips, as he waited for me to give him an answer.

I don’t answer right away, wanting to stay silent for a moment or two, so I could try and think this over. Should I go? A party, really? I’ve never been the girl to party and drink. I’ve only tasted some liquor once as a dare but that was a long time ago, when I was fifteen, I think. I was with Gretchen and a few other friends, one of them snuck a bottle of patron from their father’s liquor cellar and dared me to have a drink. I couldn’t stand the taste of it, at all. That ruled out drinking right there for me.

I mean, I just got here and wanted to get settled in. Plus, I was tired, no, exhausted, from being in the car practically all day. Before I catch myself, I’m spitting out an answer, “Uh, sure, I-I guess so,” I mumble and look back toward the staircase where my bags were. As I look back to where Harry stood, he wore that same stupid smirk on his lips.

“I…I may go freshen up a bit and take my bags to my room first off,” I reply a bit nervously and turn to make my way toward the stairs where my bags were. Just as I reach over to grab them, Liam comes forward and picks them all up at once. I let out a sigh and look over at him with a look that told him I was going to take them up myself.

“I got it, love, no worries,” he tells me with a smile and moves up the stairs, my bags in his hand. I thank him with a smile as he tosses them over his shoulder and continues up the stairs. He makes it midway up the stairs before turning toward where I stood, Harry beside me, a few feet in between us. “Oh, and Haz, tell Niall that Sadie and I’ll be there ‘round nine-thirty,” he finishes with a small hint of a smile on his face as he says her name; I take it, who obviously is his girlfriend. He’s mentioned her to me a few times but I’ve never met her.

“Will do, mate,” Harry tells him and I notice him take a step toward me.

“What kind of name is Niall? It sounds weird,” I remark with a slight hint of a laugh. He shrugs his shoulders and makes his way to the door. When he reaches the door, he glances back and stares at me.

“You comin’ or what?” he questions as he looks back at me and crosses his arms over his chest. He stands there and waits for me to move and make my way toward where he stood, near the front door. I nod my head slowly before I head to where he was; his eyes were still on mine. Soon, he opens the door and holds it open for me, which I thought was pretty nice.

I slip my iPhone in the pocket of my jeans as I step out onto the porch. A second or two after I put my phone in my pocket, he grabs my wrist a bit harshly and unexpectedly as he heads down the steps, me following suit. My mouth drops when I’m staring at the piece of junk looking car that was in front of me. A chuckle passes his lips and he brings his lip between his teeth. I look at the car before I turn back to him.

“You’re taking me ‘round in this?” I question and point to the black rustic looking car in front of my eyes. It was a black Mazda with a slight dent on the back passenger side.

“Why so many questions?” he asks as he walks to the passenger side to open the door. It doesn’t budge but does the job after banging on the metal a time or two. I shrug my shoulders and laugh a bit, covering my mouth with my hand to stifle the sound, as he has trouble opening the door. He soon gets the door open and holds it open for me. I nod my head in thanks as I climb inside and slam it shut.

“Don’t know, I’m the curious type, I guess, you won’t know things if you don’t ask,” I reply as he gets in the driver’s side, slamming the door and sticking the key in the ignition to start it up. I strap myself in with the safety belt and can’t help but brace myself as I prepare myself for being in a car with someone like him. I hope to God he wasn’t a reckless driver and swerved all over the road. I shake those thoughts from my mind as I turn to look at him.

After he puts his safety belt, he starts up the car. Soon, he starts it up and we’re on our way. “You’re right, I guess,” he mumbles under his breath as he pulls onto the street. As he drives, he begins to ask me a bunch of random questions and I can’t help but laugh a bit.

“You’re funny, says the one who asked why I ask so many questions. Now who’s the one asking all the questions, yeah?” I ask with a slight hint of a laugh in my voice. I look at him and see a smirk make his way on his lips.

“I’m curious too,” he tells me, the smirk never leaving his lips. “Want to get to know you,” he finishes, tightening his grip on the wheel, eyes on the road. I roll my eyes as I turn to stare out the window. Yeah, right. He didn’t seem like the type to “get to know someone” by actually holding conversation with them; but maybe I could be wrong.

He takes me around and shows me where everything is, even . The University quad, the student center and the buildings for the classes I’ll be taking. He even takes me to where I get my schedule with all my classes for Monday, when class started, plus my ID with my picture that actually turned out pretty decent. He even took me to the place so I could get all the books I needed for the classes I would be taking.

Soon, he is taking me down Greek row, where all the sororities and frat houses are. That is when Harry tells me that this is the place we’ll be tonight, for the party. We soon run into a few guys who were carrying cases of beers in their hands.

They call out to Harry and I as they approach where we stand, “’Ey Haz! What’s up, man? You comin’ tonight? And who’s this pretty bird ya got with ya?” the mysterious looking one asks with the dark hair and dark eyes says with a smirk. He high-fives the other boy, the one with long messy brown hair and blue eyes as they walk up to where we were. Both of these guys, whoever they were, looked like Harry, in a way, with all the tattoos and piercings. I give a small smile and shift my gaze to the pavement so I could try not to stare at either of them, which was a bad habit of mine.

“This is Ashton, lads. She’s comin’ with us tonight, just moved in with Liam and I earlier, was showin’ her ‘round,” he tells them and shrugs his shoulders which I notice him doing from the corner of my eye and I see him looking at me. I fixate my gaze back to my feet where I stood trying to avoid their stares. A few minutes go by and I lift my head and give them a small hint of a smile along with a nod of my head.

“See you tonight, babe,” the tanned boy with the dark hair, who’s name I still didn’t know, says with a smile and a wink toward me. I roll my eyes at his actions. For the next few minutes, I stand there; a bit awkwardly as Harry interacts with these guys he’s supposedly “mates” with. Pretty soon, the two of them walk off and leave me standing there with Harry.

He soon takes me back to the house so I can get some of my things situated in my new room where I was staying. I also wanted to rest up a bit before tonight. It was going to be a long night, that’s for sure. A good fifteen minutes later, we are pulling up to the front of the house. I climb out of the car and grab most of the things I could carry, a few of my books, thankfully only three, and carry them up to the front door.

Harry comes forward a few minutes later and opens the door for me, kindly. I thank him as I move forward inside the house and head for the stairs, stumbling a bit, books in hand. He gives me a slight nod and steps inside after I walked in.

I could hear Liam in the other room talking to someone, a girl, I presume. His girlfriend, I bet, Sadie, if I recall correctly. “Ashton, is that you, love?” I hear my best friend call out to me a bit on the louder side.

“Yeah, it’s me, carrying a load of books that are quite heavy,” I reply with a slight chuckle. I hear some shuffling of feet, his most likely, and I am soon met with a smile from my best friend as he bounds into the room. Behind Liam, a girl with slightly tanned skin stood there, with light brown hair with blond highlights and blue eyes.

“Liam, who’s–” she asks as he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her into his side. “You’re Ashton, right, love?” she questions a friendly smile on her face.

“Sure am, and you’re Sadie, I take it?” I reply with a smile and feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment as I think of all the possible things he’s told her about me. She nods her head and comes forward, pulling me into a hug.

We pull away from the hug a few seconds later, at the sound of Harry’s deep voice, “Yeah, well, sorry to interrupt but I’ll be upstairs, we’re leaving at 9,” Harry speaks and moves past me toward the stairs in a rushed manner.

“Hi to you too, Styles,” Sadie tells the rude boy who was making his way up the stairs.

“Liam’s told me a lot about you! He even told me that you’re going to the party tonight! You can borrow somethin’ of mine if ya like, have a few ” she tells me with a smile. I nod my head slowly and give her a small smile, which told her I wouldn’t mind it. Thinking of it, I don’t even think I had a single dress in my suitcase. I smile as she grabs my wrist and pulls me up the stairs so we can find something for me to wear for tonight. When we were halfway up the staircase, I turn to ask Liam something.

“Li, what room am I staying in?” I ask him and shift the books in my arms.

“Second room to the right at the top of the stairs, Ash,” he replies with a smile.

I give him a smile and thank him before continue up the stairs. I bring the books to the door he told me to and push it open with my freehand. As I walk in, I spot my bags on the chest at the end of the bed. I set the books down on the desk opposite the bed. There was even a window seat with a nice view out the window to watch the stars or something. I look over to the doorway to find Sadie standing there.

A good thirty minutes later, both of us were close to finishing up getting ready. She wore a dress that was cut-out on the sides along with a pair of heels. I wore a simple black dress that showed off my curves along with a pair of flats. I decided to stick with those since I’ve never been one to go around in heels. I soon finish up doing my makeup how I wanted and styled my hair in a side French braid, which took a good fifteen minutes or so to get it like that.

By the time we finish up, it’s close to nine when we were supposedly leaving. Sadie smiles wide as she looks over at me, her hair falling down in nice waves. Her makeup looked great. “You look great, love,” she tells me with a smile.

“So d’you,” I reply with a smile as I grab my phone from my purse and hold onto it tightly in my palm.

The two of us head down the stairs only to be met by Liam and Harry. As I make my way to the bottom of the stairs, I feel his eyes on mine. My blue eyes meet his green-blue ones when I see he was looking me up and down, a smirk on his lips. He wore the same jeans from earlier and a flannel button down, his hair messy and these ugly looking brown boots on his feet.

“Lookin’ good babe,” Harry tells me with a smirk, eyes slowly looking me up and down. I can’t help but roll my eyes. This was sure going to be one hell of a long night.

Notes

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