Target

I want to follow them inside when my phone rings. Seriously? It is Harry. Again. I decide not to answer it. He probably wants to hang out, but I don't have time for him. I swallow before I enter the cafe. I've never done this before and I'm not thrilled to do it now. This is exactly why I like the “don't-get-close” rule. Well, I suppose I don't have a choice.

Apart from Alysha and Gwenn, the cafe is empty. Gwenn is chatting with the bar tender and Alysha plays with her phone. Great. I swallow. For now, I just need to see her as some random girl, not one that… Come on, this can’t be that difficult. “ Hey,” I say. Alysha looks up, surprised. “Uhm hey?” At that moment, Gwenn turns around. “Seriously? I turn around for like one minute and you already forgot about me?” “Yeah, pretty much,” Alysha laughs. “I’m Liam.” “I’m Gwenn and this panda is Alysha.” I give her a puzzled look. “Don’t ask,” Alysha replies.

About an hour later, Gwenn gets up. “We should leave.” Alysha nods. “ Sorry,. We’re working on a project and it’s due next week.” She looks sorry that they have to leave. “Wait.” I quickly write my number down. “ Call me?” “ I’ll think about it.” Alysha gives me a teasing smile, while Gwenn drags her away. “Bye!” I watch as they head back to the library again. I sigh. This went a lot better and a lot worse than expected. Better, because it had been too easy to talk to her, both of them, and they told me quite a lot interesting things. Worse, because I’d found absolutely nothing that could be a reason for Conrad’s assignment. I know one thing for sure now: Gwenn and Alysha are always together. And I have no idea how to separate them. I walk slowly to the tube, trying to think of a solution, but the longer I think about it, the weirder my ideas become.

By the time I am back in Kingston upon Thames, I have an idea. It’ll give me free access to Alysha and it’ll give Harry a nice girlfriend for a change. I think. I do feel stupid that I didn’t ask her number, so now I just have to hope she does call. I close my eyes and try to push my guilty feelings aside. I have to do this, to protect the guys. I park the car, but make no attempt to get out until somebody knocks on my window. “ Don’t you have anything better to do than stalking me?” I ask Niall. “ No,” he laughs. I get out and all four of them wait for me, with creepy smiles. “Okay, so, avoiding us or seeing someone?” Harry asks. “ Neither, I was just… doing… things… without you guys. Please, we’re not married.” “I thought we had something special,” Niall pouts. I smile. “Sssh, that was our secret,” I laugh. Seriously, they are really crazy. My phone buzzes. I take it out and see it is an unknown number. I open the app. It was Alysha.

Notes

XX