College Crushing

“Oh my gosh! That really happened in class?” I laugh.
“Yeah! Right in the middle of class too! It was so awkward, and the professor didn’t even know what to say. He just asked them nicely to take things outside.” He rubs his hands over his face, still in disbelief that two people were being ‘intimate’ during class.
“KEN!” I hear my name and turn to see Alex making her way toward me. Once she reaches us she gives me a hug and gives Harry a smile, “Hey, I'm Alex. You must be Harry?”
“Yeah, it's nice to meet you.” He gives her one of his infamous smiles and I can't help but feel a pang of jealousy when I see her flirtatiously playing with her hair.
“So what's up, Alex?” I ask, drawing her attention back to me
“I was going to ask if you wanted to eat lunch together?”
“Oh, I was going to join Harry and his friends. Um, did you want to join us?” I question
“Yes! Is that alright?”
I look at Harry and he shrugs, leaving the decision up to me, “Yeah, sure.”
“Perfect!” she claps her hands and hooks arms with me. We let her in on what happened in Harry’s class and she’s laughing so hard, a vein in her forehead is bulging, “Oh my gosh! I NEED to find out who they were!”
“I haven’t seen them before. Oh, but my friends are sitting over there” Harry points to one of the largest tables in the cafeteria and leads the way, “Hey everyone, this is Kennedy and Alex.”
“Yeah, I know Alex!” A man across from us smiles, “Who doesn’t know Alex?”
“Hey, Louis! I didn’t know you knew Harry!” She sets her plate down beside me and gives him a hug as she leans over the table.
“Yeah! We met freshman year. He’s a Gamma!” He looks at me, “Kennedy, yeah?” I nod. “Well let me introduce you to everyone since Harry failed to do so.”
“Hey! I can do it myself!” Harry laughs and shakes his head. “Anyways. That's Louis, Eleanor, Niall, Liam, and Cheryl” Louis sat with Eleanor on his left side and Cheryl on her left. Liam was sat across from Cheryl with Niall next to him across from Eleanor. Harry chose a seat across from Louis and I sat next to Harry with Alex next to me.
“Oh! And there’s Zayn, Gigi and it looks like they brought Justin!” Alex cuts in.
“Damn Alex. I should have known you knew everyone at this school,” Louis chuckles. “You’re like the female version of Niall.”
“Shut it you asshole. You know them too. Harry, why have we never met? I know all of your friends!” Alex leans across from me and pokes him.
Harry laughs and simply shrugs while Louis answers for him, “Harry here doesn’t go to parties. He just sits back and plays music with his friend Ed.” Harry and music? I see he has pink rising to his cheeks, but before Louis can add on more people walk up to the table.
Zayn and Gigi introduce themselves to me and Gigi sits right next to Alex with Zayn across from them.
Justin sets down his plate in the empty seat between Louis and Zayn, across from me and gives me a smile, “Hi. I'm Justin.”
“I’m Kennedy and this is Harry” I turn and gesture towards Harry who gives him a nod.
“How do you know the lovely Alex, here?” Justin smiles as he takes a bite of his burger.
Alex gives him a death glare causing Louis and Zayn to laugh next to Justin, “We met freshman year at orientation. Been friends ever since.”
“Oh, nice! Yeah, Zayn and I share the same major with her, so I think we are stuck with her.”
“Can it, Justin. You know you love me the most.” Alex laughs as she throws a French fry at him, but it hits Zayn instead.
“Oi! Watch it, will ya?”
“Yeah! If you're gonna throw food, throw it in my mouth! No need to waste.” I hear Niall yell from the other side of Harry and laughter begins to erupt from the whole table.
“How did I know you were gonna say that?” Liam jokes.
“See what I'm dealing with here, Kennedy? These people are wild.” Justin winks at me and I only laugh as I dip one of my own French fries in ketchup.
Harry shifts in his seat as he turns to talk to the people on his other side as Justin continues to talk to me. Before I know it Harry is tapping me on my shoulder and I look up to see him standing with his backpack back on, “I'm gonna go. You good?”
“Wait, aren't we going to the library?” He smiles at this and I stand up to clean up. I see Justin begin to stand and he takes my plate from me, “you don't have to. I can take it.”
“It's fine, I'll see you later?” He smiles at me.
“Yeah, of course.” Harry clears his throat and I grab my backpack and say goodbye to the others still at the table.
As I'm walking with Harry, I can't hide the smile on my face. “That was fun, huh?”
“Yeah. I’m glad you got to meet them.”
“It’s funny how Alex knew all of them, but not you. So I guess you’re not at all the parties I missed out on, huh?”
“Nah. Not really my scene. If I do go, I mainly just help out with the music.”
“Oh, with Ed?”
He laughs, “Ed is probably the one handling all of the music if he’s there. He’s a genius.”
“Hmm, cool. Why wasn’t he there?”
“He’s not in a Fraternity, but everyone wanted him so now he just is basically considered an honorary member with almost all the Frats.” I laugh at this while he adds, “and the ladies love him because of his amazing voice.”
I scoff, “I bet the ladies love you too.” He blushes at this and I coo, “aww. You're so cute.”
He grabs my arm before I can pinch his cheek and he pulls me into a bear hug, “you did not just call me cute”
“I did,” I say into his chest, “but it's a good thing.”
He slowly loosens his grip and we continue walking to the library, “how is being cute a good thing when we’re in University?”
“I told you, here, we just call it college. Anyways, because you're so bashful and it's cute. You're not cocky and a snob like some of the other attractive guys.” I giggle while walking through the door he holds open for me once we reached the building.
“Did you just call me attractive?” Harry grins
Rolling my eyes, I claim, “like you didn't know that. I don't know how you're still single, did you not see the way Alex was throwing herself at you?”
He shrugs, “I wouldn’t say that. And she's lovely, but not for me.” I give him a questioning look while I step into line at Starbucks. “I know what I want, and I don't want to waste my time or any other girls time if I know they're not the one for me.”
I nod at this, “That's smart, but not what I expected. I guess I'm the same way.”
“What about that Justin guy?” He nudges me in my arm as he takes out his wallet and orders, “Hi Barbie. Just the usual for Kenny, and I'll get the same.”
“Hey, Harry and Kennedy! How are Y'all?” She rings up our orders as Harry pays this time since I paid last night.
I give her a smile, “We’re good! Getting some studying in while we can.”
“Y'all are so studious. I don't know how y'all do it.”
Harry laughs as he shakes his head, “I wouldn't be studying this much if it wasn't for her. This is our hangout though, so might as well get work done.”
“Y'all are so cute.” I look at Harry at this and he only laughs at her statement as she puts the lids on our teas, “Okay, there you go!”
We grab our cups and say thanks before we climb the stairs to our usual spot where we first met. “Anyways, what about Justin? He's friendly.”
“Mhm, seemed to be interested in you?” He sits down and takes out his law books while I take out my anatomy book and laptop.
“Please. I don't have time for that.”
“Of course you do. You would probably just be studying with him instead of me.” I look up at him and see a slight frown on his face.
“I don't want to do this with anyone else, but you. Now study.” This causes his dimples to appear forcing me to shake my head to break the eye contact and take out my pen.
“Ditto.” I glance up to see him still looking at me and I just roll my eyes to prevent myself from blushing.
“Study.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He laughs and opens his book.
I don't have a lot of homework in college, it's mainly studying for quizzes and tests. However, if I ever do have homework it's mainly writing papers, Harry, on the other hand, seems to have more busy work than anything. I guess if he wants to be a lawyer he is going to deal with a lot of paperwork, so I guess it's teaching him to get used to it. I have no idea. Watching him go through his stack of papers and flip through the pages of his book begins to distract me and I can't seem to take my eyes off of him. The way he scrunches his eyebrows together as he reads a question and how his fingers flip the pages. I hear someone clear their throat, pulling me out of my trance and I see Zayn standing above our table.
“‘Mind if I join?” I shake my head and gesture to the open chair, “thanks”
“No problem. What are you studying for?”
He pulls out his laptop and sets it on the table, “I'm writing a paper for English.”
“Brit lit?” Harry cuts in and Zayn nods, “yeah. It sucks. Luckily I already finished mine since Kennedy has me coming to the library every day.”
“Oh really? Everyday? I get tired of this place.”
“I love it here.” I look around at all the books surrounding me and the lamp in the middle of the table, “it's relaxing.”
Zayn scoffs at this and I notice Harry shift in his seat, “you and I have very different meanings of relaxing, love.” I only laugh at his reply and continue on with my homework before I’m interrupted once again, “Hey man!”
I raise my head and see Zayn standing up to give a handshake to Justin, “Hey. Since when do you come to the library?”
Zayn shrugs, “Whenever I feel like it. Harry here is giving me pointers on my paper.”
“Nice. Hey Harry, Hi Kennedy. Nice to see you two again.” Justin says mainly to me.
Harry flips a page in his book, not truly acknowledging Justin.
“Hi, Justin. Are you just now getting to the library? Isn’t it kind of late?”
Justin laughs, “I’ve been here since dinner, but I was downstairs and I needed to come mingle before the quiet became too much.”
“Oh. The extremely quiet zone is where you go? I like it down there too, but I don’t know. I feel like people can hear me swallow and it makes me self-conscious.” I rest my elbow on the table with my chin in my hand.
Zayn laughs, “I haven’t even been down there. It’s intimidating.” Justin rolls his eyes as he hits the back of Zayn’s head, “Oi! Chill mate!”
“Are you coming to the party Saturday night?” Justin asks, completely ignoring Zayn
“What party?” I ask and Harry looks up
“It’s at the Gamma house. You two should come, I’m surprised Alex hasn’t mentioned it, or you lad, it’s your frat house.” Zayn adds while looking at Harry.
“You know I hardly go to those,” Harry mumbles
“She probably gave up on inviting me to parties,” I reply, “I usually never go.”
“You should go to this one. I’ll be there.” Justin winks at me causing my cheeks to heat up.
“Get out of here you big flirt,” Zayn pushes Justin and he gives us a wave goodbye as he walks off. “But really. You two should come, apparently it’s supposed to be the party of the year.”
“It is?” Harry asks
“Mate. You need to get out more.”
“I’ll think about it. If Harry goes, I’ll go.” I shrug and give Harry a small smile.
“Come on lad, just show up and bring her. It’s gonna be LIT.”
I laugh, “LIT? I didn’t know British boys said that.”
Zayn shrugs with a sly smile, “I’m picking up a few things from my frat brothers.”

Notes