The Good Girl and the Bad Boy

When Harry left, I still couldn’t believe I’d let him kiss me. And that I’d kissed him back! He was clearly not someone looking for a relationship or anything other than sex, really.

So why did I feel like I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life by sending him away?

I was too stressed to fall asleep that night. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. As soon as I closed my eyes, I just saw Harry, felt his lips against mine, against my neck …

No, I had to tell myself several times. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t care about you, and you don’t care about him. End of story. But I knew that I was only trying to convince myself, that I didn’t actually believe the words.

Working at Starbucks had never been so stressful. Sure, no one really came, it was still pretty dead, but that just left me alone with my thoughts. And I’d give anything to not have to think about everything (okay, Harry). So when I heard the doorbell, I basically jumped out of my chair, smiling at whoever.

Then I saw who it was, and my smile faltered. I immediately put on a fake smile, and said politely, “What can I get you?”

Harry smirked. “I don’t know. Are you on the menu?”

I rolled my eyes. “Nope”, I said simply.

“Okay, how about your number?”

“Are you going to order or not? I have better things to do than standing here listening to you trying to get in my pants, which is not going to happen, by the way.”

“Can I find your number on Google?” he asked, and I froze in place. I always reacted that way when someone mentioned me and Google in the same sentence.

“No”, I said, playing it off. “Can you please just order?”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Really? Because it seems like I could find anything about you on Google, even your favorite color.”

I bit my cheek. Dammit. He figured it out. Wonder how? He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d know everything – or anything, at that – about YA authors.

Or maybe he just knew who Luke was. Maybe he knew that I was his sister.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

“My number is private. If you Google my phone number, you’ll only find my publishers number. Mine’s private.”

“So it’s true then?” he said. “You really are an author? Like, a real one, with a publisher and stuff.”

I nodded. “How’d you find out? For some reason, I don’t think you figured it out by yourself. You don’t seem like the kind of guy who’d be interested in YA literature.”

“Your friend was very happy to help me”, he said. “Anyway, if you’re an author, why do you work at Starbucks? Isn’t that just boring?”

I rolled my eyes. “Because I want to work here. Because—“ I was cut off by a squeal.

“Are you Alyssa Hemmings?” a girl squealed. She was probably fourteen or fifteen years old, and honestly, her squealing reminded me of myself at her age – and still, to be honest.

“Yep, that’s me”, I said with a warm smile. After handling Luke’s fans for years, I was used to talking to fans, and knew how to handle press and media.

“Oh my God!” she yelled. “Oh my God! Anna will never believe this! Can I have your autograph? And can you take a picture with me? Please?”

I bit my cheek to stop from laughing, but Harry wasn’t all that polite. He burst out laughing.

The girl turned her attention from me to Harry, and frowned. I could literally see the questions popping up in her head. “Is he your boyfriend?” she asked curiously.

This time, I did laugh. “No. Definitely not. He’s just my friend’s friend.”

The girl didn’t stop frowning, but she didn’t ask any more questions.

“Okay, do you have a pen?” I asked her. “And something I can write on?”

The girl squealed again and pulled out a book from her bag. She was carrying a book around. Just like me.

She handed me the book and a pen, and I grabbed it. “Who should I write to?” I asked her.

“Abby”, she answered.

I signed the book and gave it back to her, and then we took a selfie – I never did that, unless with fans, so it felt kind of weird – and then she left, practically jumping, still squealing.
I couldn’t help but smile. She really was like me.

Then I remembered Harry, and turned around. “Sorry about that. What did you want to order?”

He stared at me for a few moments, then turned around and left without another word.

I frowned. What was that?


I came home pretty late that night, really looking forward to getting in bed. I sleepily unlocked the door, only to realize it was already unlocked.

I frowned. I never forgot to lock the door.

I opened the door and took a careful step inside, worried that there’d be someone else there.

Suddenly, the lights turned on, and my friends jumped out, yelling “Happy release party!”

I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, and then my face broke into a big smile. “You scared me half to death”, I scolded my friends when they all started hugging me and stuff, some giving me gifts.

Then I saw familiar curls, and froze. “What’s Harry doing here?” I whispered to Perrie.

Perrie grinned. “I invited him”, she said. “Isn’t it great?”

I sighed. “Perrie, I know you’re worried that I’m alone, but so is Dani, and so is El, and I’m fine, and Harry is …” I paused with a frown. “Well, he’s not looking for a relationship, obviously. If you want to fix me up with someone, I’m sure there’re plenty of boys who’d want a relationship.”

Perrie frowned. “You know, he asked me about you”, she said. “He said that you looked familiar, and he asked about you. Why would he care to ask me about you if he weren’t interested?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, I’m sure he’s interested”, I said. “To get into my pants.”

I heard someone groan behind me, and then a familiar voice. “Please, not in front of me. The thought of someone getting into your pants makes me want to throw up.”

I spun around, my eyes wide in surprise, filled with tears – happy tears.

“Luke!” I yelled and threw my arms around him. He stumbled several steps back, trying to regain his balance.

“Hey there, little sis”, he said and hugged me back tightly, burying his face in my hair. Even though we were twins, he was several inches taller than me – I was very short. And we didn’t look slightly alike. My hair was a fiery red, while his was brown. He was pretty tall; I was very short. The only thing we had in common was our blue eyes.

So why everyone thought – and said – that we were very alike, I had no idea.

“Only by two minutes”, I muttered in response. I hated when he called me little sis, because that made me feel … small.
Luke just laughed.

I pulled away from the hug. “Are the others here?” I asked curiously, my voice filled with hope. I really missed Luke and his three best friends, Michael, Calum and Ashton. They’d started a band when they were really young, and I’d grown up listening to their music. It was hard not to get to know them all, and it’d been hard if I hadn’t liked them, since they spend all their free time at our house, rehearsing.

“Maybe”, Luke said with a smug smile. “Maybe not. You’ll have to see. Now, I want to know exactly who is trying to get into your pants so I can go murder him.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop smiling. I’d missed him so much. “It’s no one”, I said. “And it doesn’t matter, anyway.”
Luke looked at Perrie. “Who is it, Perr?”

“Harry Styles”, she said. “He knows Niall.”

“And you invited him here?” Luke raised his eyebrows at her.
“She feels like she owes me after I fixed her up with Zayn”, I said. “And she felt like the best way to make it up to me was to invite Harry to my surprise party, whom I haven’t spoken to more than twice, and who’s been very clear that he doesn’t want anything but to get in my pants.”

Luke looked worried. “But you’re not, you, know …?”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you really need to ask that question?” I asked him.

“You’re right”, he said. “What was I thinking?”

I heard a familiar chorus call my name, and immediately smiled. “Hey, guys”, I said as they all hugged at the same time. I laughed at their puppy-like eagerness and excitement. “You know, there are better ways of saying ‘hi, I’ve missed you’ than suffocating me.”

They all dropped me, faking worry. “Are you okay?”

“We didn’t hurt you, did we?”

“Should we take you to the hospital?”

I snorted. “Yeah, right. Drive me to the hospital”, I said sarcastically.

“You know, there’s this guy who’s been asking for you all night”, Ashton said. “He was curly, probably cute by girl standards, if it wasn’t for all the tattoos.”

“Yeah, that’s Harry”, I said with a sigh. “I guess I better go talk to him, before he does something stupid to ruin the party.”
It wasn’t that hard to find Harry – I found his curls almost immediately, moving towards the kitchen, so I hurried after him.

“Hey”, I said and forced a smile.

He turned around, clearly surprised that he had company. “Hey”, he said. “Are you having a good time?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess”, I said.

“I saw you with someone, Luke, I think?”

I think I saw a hint of jealousy in his eyes, but he quickly hid it. I almost burst out laughing at his tone.

“What’s so funny?”

“Luke is my twin brother”, I said. “I don’t understand how you didn’t notice – people think we’re very alike.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Really? I don’t see it.”

“Me neither, but that’s the first thing everyone says when they see us together.” I paused, and we stood in an awkward silence for a few moments. “So, are you stealing from my kitchen?” I said, trying to make a joke.

“I was just checking for some beer or something.”

I rolled my eyes. “Then you’ll have to go to the store, or my neighbor, because you won’t find it here.”

“I’m fine with any kind of alcohol”, Harry said.

“I don’t drink, remember? I don’t have any alcohol. Sorry”, I added, though I didn’t exactly feel it.

I was just about to turn and go back to my party, when I thought of something. “Oh, and try not to flirt with anyone while you’re here. I don’t want to have to worry about cleaning my sheets tomorrow.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “That almost sounded … jealous”, he said, amused.

I shook my head. “Nope”, I said, though I knew it was a lie. “I’m just worried about my sheets.”

He just smirked at me.

Notes

I know this wasn't the best chapter, but I'll try to update again soon. Please tell me your thoughts in a comment, it inspires me to continue writing this.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you like this story so far!
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