Chapter 14: Pass the Hat (Part I)
Harry’s POV
I had messed with my hair twenty times before I decided to just give up and hope that I looked good enough. I had gone casual for tonight—it was only going to be us, Danielle, Eleanor, and Perrie, and Nell. She was the one I was worried about.
What the fuck, Harry? I thought to myself for the thousandth time. She’s a girl. You’re great with girls. You’re some sex god. Of course you look good.
I walked into the living room, where everyone except for Nell was. The plan was to just hang out and talk, maybe watch a movie, and see where things went.
I sat there, fidgeting, while we all talked. I entered the conversation once or twice, when Eleanor asked me a question or teased me about being nervous. Finally, the doorbell rang. Niall looked like he was about to get it, but I shot up and walked to the door. I opened the door and
Oh my.
She was wearing a skintight black dress that had long sleeves and stopped mid-thigh. I got the feeling that it barely covered her ass, but I couldn’t tell, as I was facing her.
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” she said. “I just got off work.” You can get something else off, if you want.
“It’s fine.” I said. “You look nice. Did you really wear that to work?”
She laughed. “I had leggings on, before.”
I smirked. “And where are they now?”
She bit her lip and said sexily, “I lost them,” before pushing past me and walking towards the group.
My prediction about her ass had been correct.

Nell’s POV
Some evil part of me loved teasing Harry. It was cruel, I knew, but it was so much fun to watch his eyes darken and his hand twitch towards his crotch.
I’m so mean.
I walked into the living room, where the guys and presumably their girlfriends were. Niall stood up and gave me a hug—I wanted far more than that, Niall—and Liam, Louis, and Zayn all waved to me. I sat down next to Niall on the sofa. “Hey, I’m Nell,” I said, hoping the girls would introduce themselves.
“I’m Perrie,” A girl with lilac hair said.
“Danielle,” A tan girl with impossibly curly hair chimed in.
“And I’m Eleanor.” A girl who looked like a model or some shit piped up. She extricated herself from her boyfriend’s grasp and walked over to me. “Come over here with us,” she said as she took hold of my wrist. “We want to get to know you.”
I chatted with the girls for a while as the guys talked to each other. Finally Liam went over and dragged Danielle to sit with him. “I haven’t seen you that much, lately.” He said, grinning. “Come sit with me.” Louis and Zayn followed suit, and soon I was between Liam and Louis, who both sat with their girlfriends, and right across from Niall. Harry was to his left, so I kept making awkward eye contact with them. We were sitting in a circle on the floor, and Liam had made us all grab pieces of paper and pencils. I don’t know what kind of party game required writing utensils, but apparently there was one and we were going to play it.
“This is called “Pass the Hat”,” Liam said. “It’s pretty simple. It’s like truth or dare, without the dare. We take Zayn’s hat”—here he plucked the hat off of Zayn’s head, who protested loudly, but didn’t dare snatch it back—“and we pick someone to go first. Then, everyone writes down a question that they have about that person, make sure you disguise your writing, and puts it in the hat, and then we pass the hat to that person and they have to answer every question truthfully.”
I had to admit, that actually sounded pretty fun. Also dangerous, but I decided to not let that get to me. We picked Zayn to go first, so I would be third to last, after everyone but Danielle and Liam. I wrote down my question—‘Happiest day of your life’, I couldn’t think of anything else—and dropped it in the hat.
“Alright,” he said, “Let’s do this.” He started drawing slips of paper. “First kiss? A girl named…shit…Tanya? It was bad. Last kiss? I presume you mean most recent kiss, and that would be…” he looked around teasingly. “Oh, yeah, some girl named…Perrie.” He smiled at her and gave her a quick peck. She just rolled her eyes at him. Oh man, I wished I had a relationship like that. They were adorable. “Best kiss? Why are these all about kissing? I’m drawing these in impeccable order, aren’t I? Well it was also with this pretty lady,” he pointed at Perrie again, “And it was when we came back from tour last time, in the airport. I hadn’t seen her for eight months, and it was amazing. Favorite person? This is a cruel one. No offense to anyone, but still Per. Or my mom. Don’t make me choose! Favorite color? Someone’s uncreative. You could ask me anything, and you ask color. Black. Favorite song of ours? Okay, well now it was one of you guys. Don’t be so obvious next time, this is supposed to be anonymous. I guess I like More Than This. Happiest day of my life? Day I first took this young lady on a date. And that’s all you need to know.” He hugged Perrie with his arm a bit. I was so jealous of them.
Perrie went next, and she had a very Zayn-themed round of questions, too. It was Harry’s turn, and I wrote down my question. I scrawled, “Best sex of your life?” onto a bit of paper, folded it, and put it in the hat, smirking as I did so. Harry grabbed the hat and sighed, ready to start his inquisition.
“Okay, let’s go.” Somehow, my question ended up being first. “Best sex of your life? It was with this stripper a year back or so. Biggest turn on? Teasing.” He stared right at me with that one. I hoped no one noticed. “Worst kiss? A fan laid one on me at a signing. It was awful. It was like she was trying to swallow me whole. Biggest fear? Getting shot by a crazed fan. Biggest turn off? Okay, do you guys coordinate your questions or something?” He shot a look at Louis and Eleanor, then Liam and Danielle, then Zayn and Perrie. “Because it’s weird. Anyways, I guess desperateness. That’s pretty unappealing to me. Are you a virgin? Is that a joke? How many girls have you slept with?” He shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll take that to mean had sex with. Um…I’m actually not sure.” He looked at the ground. “At least 30,” he whispered. That was a huge number. Don’t judge, Nell. I thought. Don’t judge him. It’s not fair. He cleared his throat. “Who in this room would you shag right now? Someone wants to make this awkward for me, eh? Well, if I’m being honest, Nell.” Niall’s eyes flared with anger and I tried to hide myself. I hated him for that. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. Niall could sense my discomfort, so he tried to take the attention off me. “My turn, right?” He asked. Louis nodded and we all got to writing.
He warily grabbed the hat and took out a slip of paper. “Here we go,” he muttered. “First kiss? I don’t remember all that well, but I think her name was Angie. It wasn’t too bad, it was just kind of…flat. No emotion in it. How many drinks have you had tonight? Five pints. I’m not showing it, am I? Who is your celebrity man crush? Michael Buble. How many drinks would it take before you would shag a monkey?” He laughed at that one. “I know that’s you, Lou.” And the look on Louis’ face confirmed Niall’s suspicions. “Probably about twenty, if you dressed up the monkey so that it looked like a lady. Best moment of your life?”—That one was my question—“When me and the lads got put through on the X Factor. That was great. How many girls have you had sex with? Five.” That surprised me—I had expected someone as famous as him to have a much higher number than that. “And three were a mistake,” he added. “Biggest turn on? Drawing out a moment. Like, when something gets really steamy and you just take it really slow.” I mentally thanked him for not staring at me during that one. He made eye contact with me, quickly, and smiled, looking away. “And, finally, who of the guys am I closest to? Zayn, definitely. That was an easy round, thankfully. I’ve gotten things a lot more embarrassing than that.”