Cat's POV

I tripped slightly over my heels as I pushed my way through people. Athena was sitting on Niall's lap, their faces smashed together. Ew.

"Uhm, Niall?" I said drunkenly.

Athena lifted her hand and gave me a shooing motion. My anger bubbled over and tears started to blur my vision. One thing you should know about me, whenever I get really angry, I cry.

"No, I need to…" I trailed off. Did I need to? Why should I? Niall obviously wasn't making any effort to pry Athena off of him.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Harry, who was sitting nearby and could see, jumped up and rushed over to me.

"Cat, what are you doing?" he started tugging me away. Harry knew about how I felt about Niall.

I let him pull me away, letting angry tears fall. Emma scurried up and followed Harry and me as he pulled me into a room with no one in it and shut the door tightly.

"Catherine!" Emma said, using my full name, which is something she never does unless she's being really serious. "Now is definitely not the time."

"Wait, hold up. What is even going on right now?" Harry asked.

"Well, Cat thought it would be a wonderful idea to tell Niall that she likes him." Emma answered for me.

"What? Why would she do that?"

"Well she's obviously under the influence." Emma waved a hand at me. "And she just kind of couldn't handle it anymore."

"Well, she knows that no one likes Athena, but now would not be the time to tell Niall."

"Well I know that! But they were kind of being a little, uh, open tonight."

"I agree, I haven't seen them not mouth to mouth all night. That's even more reason for Cat not to do it!"

Have you ever been sitting in a room while people talked about you like you weren't there? Yeah, well let me be the one to tell you, it's not the most fun thing on the world.

"Guys, I'm sitting right here…" I mumbled.

Harry and Emma looked as if they had forgotten.

"I'm sorry boo." Emma said, sitting next to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulder. ?

Harry sat on my other side and leaned his head down on mine.

"I promise you, he's going to realize all that he's missing sooner or later." Harry comforted me.

The door swung open quickly, causing us all to jump back in shock.

Niall and Athena stood in the doorway, giggling like they were in middle school.

"Ooopsie, I think this room is taken." Athena giggled innocently like she didn't know we were in here, but the evil glint in her eyes told a different story.

Niall looked at me, taking in my tear streaked face.

"What's wrong?" he took a step forward, a step away from Athena, looking concerned.

"I just…" The tears started to fall again, but this time they weren't from anger. I'd liked Niall for so long, and he never caught on. I didn't understand it, I really didn't.

"Cat?" he sounded worried. He took a few more step towards me.

"I need to tell you something." I choked, barely managing to get the words out.

"You can tell me anything, you should know that by now." He reached me at the sofa and grabbed my hand. Athena was standing in the doorway, staring daggers at me.

"I think you should know that…" I started, struggling to get the words out.

"You should know, that we were in this room, so you and Athena should look somewhere else." Harry cut me off, finishing my sentence.

"Okaaaay…" Niall said. He gave me a confused look before shrugging his shoulders and turning back to Athena, hooking an arm around her shoulder and pulling her out of the door.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him I turned to glare at Harry.

"What the hell Harry!"

"Cat, I know that right now, you really think that you should do it, but I don't think you should. I'm only doing this because I don't want you to get hurt." He said slowly.

"So you're saying that if I would have told him, he would have completely denied me?" I asked agitatedly.

"No, I just think that… He really didn't…. Right now isn't…." Harry stuttered, realizing what he said.

"He didn't mean it like that." Emma jumped in, defending her best friend. "He was just saying no one really knows what Niall is going to say because it's not like anyone's had a reason to ask him how he feels about you. Especially with Athena alone. There will be a time to tell him, and it'll be when the two of you are alone. You'll know when that is. Now, drunk, at a party, and with Athena the Teenage Witch clinging to his side, is not the proper time."

I sighed, deflating, as she finished her lecture. She was right.

"I'm sorry for flipping out on you, Harry." I muttered. "And thanks for being here guys."

"You're one of our best friends; of course we'll always be here for you." Harry said, before him and Emma enveloped me in a crushing hug.

"Now let's go party!" Emma bubbled, yanking me and Harry off the sofa with her and pulling us back into the mass of people and pounding music.

Harry's POV

The last group of people heading out the door, waving over their shoulders. Finally, all that was left was the boys, Emma, Cat, Rose, and Sophie. Athena had thankfully left an hour ago.

"You wanna just crash here tonight?" I asked Emma. We were lounging across the couch and I was attempting, and failing, to braid her hair.

"Sure," she reached up and touched her head. "What are you doing to my hair?"

"Tying it into knots, basically." I giggled.

"Harry!" she yelled, reaching her arm around to smack me on the head.

I laughed. "I can fix it, I am a professional!"

"You better fix it, or you have to let me do whatever I want to your hair." She threatened.

"Oh god! Please know!" I begged.

"Shut up and fix it, Styles."

I obeyed, yanking at the knots I had created in her hair.

"I think I'm going to get going guys." Cat said, yawning and cracking her back. She had returned to normal after me and Emma's little pep talk.

"You don't wanna stay here tonight? It's pretty late…" Niall asked from his position on the ground.

"Nah, Eva and Jo, my new roommate, are probably still up waiting for me with details of this smashing shin dig." She laughed. She stood and started searching for her shoes.

"Okay, I'll drive you then." Niall said, standing as well.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Liam said.

"Why not?" asked Niall.

"Well, I don't think you should drive right now. You're kinda drunk." Liam, always the responsible one. "I'll drive Cat."

Cat looked somewhat disappointed, but agreed. She hugged us all goodbye and left with Liam.

"I feel so bad for her." Emma said to me.

"Why? Liam's not going to hurt her…" Niall, evidently, had overheard.

"Because…because she…" she trailed off, looking at me for help.

"Because she has her roommates and still goes to school. She can't stay here and spend as much time with us." I finished smoothly. Emma gave me a grateful look.

Niall gave us a look, but didn't press any further.

"We're going to bed." Zayn said, his arm around Sophie's shoulder.

"Are you really?" Louis joked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Sophie tossed her hair over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Louis, before letting Zayn lead her up the stairs.

"HAVE FUN GUYS!" Louis called up after them.

"Shut up!" Zayn's voice drifted back down the stairs.

Louis laughed. "I think we're gonna go to bed too." He said.

"Are you really?" I mocked.

"Nope!" He yanked Rose up onto his back and sprinted up the stairs.

"HAVE FUN! BE SAFE!" Emma yelled after them.

"Oh my, I swear, he act like he's 12, not 20." I said.

"Yeah, says the oh so mature, you." Emma laughed, pulling at one of my curls so it was perfectly straight, before letting it snap back into its' curl.

"Did you guys ever think about dating?" Niall asked.

I stiffened.

"Of course not, we're best friends." Emma rolled her eyes.

I relaxed, giving Niall a glare.

"What about you? Have you ever thought of dating your best friend?" I asked him.

"Uhm, no, well yes, but…" he spluttered.

Emma sent me a hopeful look before turning back to interrogate Niall.

"But what?" She asked, trying to be casual.

"But I have a girlfriend. And it's not like that with Cat."

"Have you ever talked to her about it though? You never know." I said as if I didn't know the answer.

"Well, I haven't but I just know. And I'm dating Athena."

"Well, maybe you should try talking to her about it?" Emma suggested.

"Why should I do that?" he was starting to get agitated.

"Just a suggestion." I said.

"Whatever." He looked back to the t.v. that was playing some random rerun.

"Well, we're off to bed too then." Emma said, pulling me off the couch.

"Kay." He said without looking back.

I followed Emma up the steps to my room, watching her brown curls bounce behind her, knowing exactly how Cat felt.

Liam's POV

"Thanks for driving me home, Liam." Cat smiled as I wound the car through empty streets.

"No problem." I grinned back, taking my eyes off the road for only a second.

"So how do you like your new roommate?"

"I didn't get to talk to her for long, but she seems really sweet."

"That's good."

"Mhmm." She hummed. "So how did you like your party?"

"It was great. Thanks so much! I can't believe you guys would do something like that. I also can't believe you guys were able to keep it a secret too!"

"You're welcome. We tried keeping it a secret but I think Harry was having some troubles and kept giving you hints. He's such a gossip." She joked.

I laughed. "Yeah he is."

We pulled into the college parking light. It was completely dark except for the streetlights.

"Do you want me to walk you up to your room?" I offered.

"Sure."

We walked through the silent campus, up to her dorm room.

"You looked really nice tonight." I said before I could stop myself.

"Thanks Liam." she sounded somewhat surprised.

"Welcome." I muttered before relapsing into silence.

We reached the door of her room.

"Well I guess I'll see you later then." She said with her hand on the door.

"Yeah. See you." I gave her a quick hug and turned to walk away.

I got about ten steps away before I turned back around. "Cat?"

She was fishing around in her purse looking for her keys, but looked up when I said her name.

"Yeah?"

"Would you maybe, uh, wanna go on a date with me sometime?" I stammered. Truth was, for about a month or two I had had a bit of a er, crush, on Cat. I never asked before because one, I was scared. Two, I always thought Niall and Cat had something going on, but Niall and Athena seem to be going pretty strong. Now, at three o' clock in the morning in a darkened college hallway, I thought it would be a good time. What the hell is wrong with me?

Cat looked completely shocked. She stood with her hand halfway in her purse, her big browns eyes widened, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." I muttered, looking down.

"No. It's okay. Yeah I would." She smiled up at me.

"Really?" I asked, hardly daring to believe.

She walked over to where I was standing and tilted my head so I was looking at her.

"Yes, I would love to go on a date with you, Liam."

"Okay." I beamed. "I'll text you then."

"Alright." She murmured into my chest, hugging me once more before pulling her keys out of her bag and opening the door. She gave me a smile and a wave before stepping into her room and shutting the door.

I walked back through the empty campus, practically floating with happiness.

So sorry it took so long to update! I've been having issues with my computer. I promise it'll never take that long again. And also sorry if this chapter is kind of confusing, I wasn't really sure how to get my point across.