p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"("/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"So you're probably wondering, 'hm, I wonder where John was this whole time,'" John continued. "Nobody's thinking that!" Harry yelled through cupped hands. John shot him a dirty look and returned to the crowd. "Well, Julian and I were on our way up from the lobby. The party was already getting dull and we were beginning to wonder where Harry was at.")/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Julian had gotten this text from Harry, warning him that somebody was in their room and to not come up. Now, naturally as guys, when someone told them to not do something, they were going to do it. This peaked his interest, so he took John along. They discussed the possibilities on the walk there. Their choices ranged from fellow YouTubers to a burglar that Harry managed to tame with his impression of a rogue mountie who just so happened to be a moose. They knocked and impatiently waited by the door. "Who is it?" a voice asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Room service," Julian answered in a high-pitched voice./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? I didn't order any," Harry mumbled as he approached the door. He looked through the peephole and gasped. He paused and started thinking of the best way to shoo the two away. "Go away," he shouted in a whisper./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh come on, Harry. I need to get in the room. I need… ," Julian looked towards John for some help, who just shrugged. "I need my charger!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Use John's!" Harry retaliated./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He… uh… doesn't have one for my phone!" Julian made up./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You both have the same iPhone," Harry reminded flatly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Just hurry up and open the door, Harry," John interrupted, saving Julian from having to come up with another excuse./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry groaned and begrudgingly opened the door. Julian and John nearly burst through the frame simultaneously. They scanned the room, looking for the mystery guest. "Could you just get your charger and leave?" Harry ordered. Julian circled the room, turned around, and instantly complained, "I don't get it, you told me someone was here." Harry sighed. He had no choice. Obviously, they weren't going to leave until they found out who it was. "They're in the shower," Harry confessed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Who?" both of his nosy friends asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""A girl," Harry answered. Scoffing, snorting, and annoying laughter soon followed. Julian heaved over as John patted him on the back as they howled. "Oh, that was a good one," John said, wiping his watering eyes./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, really!" Julian let out a sigh, "So who's really in there?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry shrugged and moved towards the other side of the room. If they didn't want to believe him, fine, their problem. Julian and John followed him as he moved silently around the room. "Really, Harry," Julian insisted. Harry laid down on his bed and pulled out his phone. "Harry!" Julian continued, but any and all pleas were ignored. John looked on inquisitively. Julian jumped onto Harry's bed. "Are you honestly serious about having a girl in there?" Julian asked. No response. "Harry!" Julian yelled. This was getting them nowhere. There was no way Harry could actually be serious. Sure, he's been on dates before, but to get a girl in one night was too high of an accomplishment. Besides, why would she be in the shower anyways? Unless they already…/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you guys, ok?" a female voice asked from the doorway. Harry was laying down in bed with Julian crowded around him and John looking on in disappointment. Each of their heads whipped in her direction. Their eyes widened at the sight of the familiar girl clad in a fitted t-shirt and grey sweats. "Oh, you're done?" Harry asked, finally looking up from his phone. Kate peered over at the two frozen bodies. "Uh… yeah," she replied. Harry got up, tossed his phone on the bed, and walked towards her. "Do you need anything else?" he asked. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Um… no. I should be fine. Are they ok?" she whispered to Harry./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Them? Don't worry about them, they're fine. Are you going to go back up to your room?" Harry asked. Kate returned her belongings to her bag, keeping her eye on the two sets of eyes trained on hers. Was she wearing something odd? Sure, her shirt had the words "Currently in a relationship with my bed" emblazoned on it, but that shouldn't warrant those flabbergasted looks. "They don't seem ok," Kate observed. Harry walked behind the two fazed boys and gave them a nudge. "That's a real, live girl. A real girl just came out of his bathroom," John muttered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not just any girl. Summer," Julian whispered back. Thankfully, Kate was too far away to hear anything. Harry stood between Kate and the two idiots he called friends. "You're not going back to your room?" Harry asked again./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kate shook her head and continued to arrange her things. "Why?" Julian finally joined in. Kate scoffed. "Go back to the drunk, rapping couple? No, thank you," she retorted. Julian and John exchanged confused looks. What couple? There was couple in her room? What were they doing? Where did they come from? Ignoring his confused friends, Harry went back to the opportunity at hand. "Well, where are you going to sleep? Oh! I have an idea! Why not here?" he offered. Julian's and John's eyes doubled at the proposal. Summer? Sleep /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"here?/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Danny would throw a fit. Kate laughed at the thought of it; she could see her conversation with Nicole now: "Where'd you sleep last night?" Nicole would ask./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh just in the room of two boys I met a couple hours ago. NBD," Kate would respond. As if that was going to happen./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks, but no thanks. I'll bunk with a friend," Kate politely declined. Harry pouted. Having her sleepover would've give him all night to pump her for information. After everything Danny had told them, he was desperate to know about what happened in London two years ago. Plus he wanted to find out more about that underwear incident. How could you mix up a pair of boxers for shorts? It just didn't make any sense. He HAD to find out. "Are you sure? It'd really be no trouble. I'd sleep on Julian's bed, so you'd have mine all to yourself," Harry offered. Julian opened his mouth to object to the plan, but Harry quickly covered it before he could say a word. "That's sweet, but I already made plans. Thank you, though," Kate declined, looking through her bag for her phone. Damn it. Refused again. Apparently his "powers" weren't working as well as they used to./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"(/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I DO have powers!" exclaimed Harry from behind John. John sighed. "Sure you do, mate!" he shouted back. Harry crossed his arms and smiled smugly. John faced the audience and rolled his eyes. They laughed in response. "What? What'd he do? Did he roll his eyes? Cause that's plain rude," Harry retaliated. "Anyways," John heavily enunciated.)/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No matter what excuse, proposal, or offer Harry gave her, Kate wouldn't budge. "Well, what if you just hang out for a while?" Julian asked. Kate looked at the time. It wasn't late yet, and she did have time to kill anyways. "Sure, let me make a phone call first," she accepted. Kate began dialing a number and stepped out of the room. Harry pounced on Julian, shaking him and patting his back. "You're a genius!" he exclaimed. Julian grinned. He didn't exactly know what he did right, but he wasn't going to shy away from being praised either. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"By the time Kate returned, Harry had a movie on, pillows fluffed, and food on the way. "So, what are we watching?" Kate asked, taking a seat on a bed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Something on, uh," Harry squinted to make out the faded logo on the corner, "TBS." Harry smiled evilly as she got comfortable. He had leafed through the channels, trying to find the perfect movie. It needed to be interesting enough so they wouldn't change the channel, but be easy enough to zone out of so they could talk. AKA: Die Hard. "So what's going on in your room?" Julian asked. Kate sat down at the edge of the bed between Harry and John./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Nicole's just having a couple drinks with Ethan," she laughed at how much of an understatement 'couple drinks' was, "It's no big deal. I just figured it'd be easier to leave instead of ruining their mood." John's and Julian's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that, Ethan's alone in a room with Nicole?" John asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And he's actually able to say words?" Julian finished./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah," Kate replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The wanker actually did it," John said under his breath. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wait, he isn't going to /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"try/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" anything, right?" Kate nervously asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm just surprised he was able to form sentences," John replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well his rapping was pretty on point," Kate laughed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rapping? Ethan? He must be sloshed," John commented./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""If that means drunk out of their minds, then yes, they're completely sloshed," Kate repeated./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What about you, Kate? Have you ever been drunk?" Harry jumped in./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, I, uh, I don't like alcohol," she politely smiled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You don't?" repeated Julian./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's just the taste, you know? I can't ever seem to get past one sip. But it's fine, I mean, everyone needs a DD, right?" she tried to laugh it off./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Telling a bunch of guys you don't like to drink is hard enough, but tell a bunch to young, British guys must be a felony. Alcohol is their stock and trade! Great, now they were going to think she was some sort of boring prude. "Eh, you're not missing out on much. You just wake up the next morning with a massive hangover and a dry mouth," John concluded. The guys nodded and added their agreements. Kate breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that big of a deal. Ok, good. "And if you're John, you wake up with videos of you singing along to 'Dreamgirls' from the night before," Julian added. John frowned. "Wait, what?!" exclaimed Kate./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"(/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ok! Ok! We can skip past that part!" interrupted John. Harry laughed at the success of his vengeance. "But it's such a good story!" he teased. John pulled Harry back. "Another story for another day. Wouldn't want to confuse the audience with another story within a story. That'd be story-ception," John quickly added, "So basically, Julian tells her a little story about a previous event, that's all, and it took up a large portion of the night. Then Kate had to leave and Harry didn't take it so well.")/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The moment the door closed, Harry dropped his cheerful exterior, "We had a full proof plan!" The other two recoiled at the sharp tone. "Well, she said she had to leave", John pointed out. Julian sat up from the edge of the bed. "Yeah, she got a phone call and everything," Julian defended. Harry facepalmed himself. They were idiots. He did all that prepping, all that thinking, all that rehearsing, and all for nothing. Harry turned to glare at his two friends, but they were already too absorbed in the movie to notice. Crashes and gunshots sounded through the TV, causing Julian to let out audible oh's and ah's. Harry glanced over and saw the flashes of light reflecting off their attentive eyes. "Oh shit!" John exclaimed immediately after an explosion. Harry closed his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered and quickly walked over to TV, "Ok, ok! What'd I miss?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"By the time Kate got to the rooftop, the last of the cleaning staff were already gone. She made her way towards one of the beach chairs, put her bags on the table beside her, and got comfortable. Kate let out a sigh of content as she looked up. Granted she was still in the city and the light pollution prevented most of the stars from being seen, but the view from there couldn't have been better. It was one of those warm, summer nights and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With the kind of night she had, Kate needed to be in a wide, open space where her thoughts could dissipate into the constellations./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"This worked for a while, but thoughts of the unexpected meeting percolated in her mind. It'd been two years since they last saw each other. You would've figured it'd have lost its effect by now, but it didn't. Seeing him was just as paralyzing as it had been those years before. Naturally, she anticipated seeing him here, this was their territory after all, but she planned on staying far enough away that she wouldn't have to see him up-close. And his girlfriend? Oh, the infamous girlfriend (who, apparently, was also a fan) never even came into mind! Ugh. Could it /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"be/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" any worse? Kate shoved her face into the pillow and groaned loudly. She just wanted it all to get out of her head. She wanted every memory, every trace, every thought of the whole debacle to just fall out and roll off the edge of this damn hotel./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You might suffocate, you know," Danny informed as he approached the poor, unfortunate soul lamenting into a cushion. Kate slowly looked up and smiled meagerly. He took a seat at the end of lounge chair. "I was just, uh, letting off some steam," Kate excused./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So I see," Danny laughed. Kate avoided his gaze. After a few moments of awkward silence, Danny spoke. "So I take it your room was preoccupied?" he asked. Kate laughed at the memory of Nicole and Ethan's twerking capabilities. "Nicole and Ethan are having a little party," Kate informed. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Danny's eyebrows shot up as if to say "oh?". Apparently Ethan had finally gotten over his little stage fright. Atta boy. "So your go-to plan is to just stay here all night long?" Danny asked. Kate shrugged. "I heard this hotel had a rooftop pool. So I called the desk to see when it'd be empty and snuck in," Kate confessed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wow, such a rebel," Danny commented, leaning back on his hands./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Naturally," Kate curtly nodded, "What's your excuse?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I got bored and wanted to see how high the elevator would take me," Dany simply replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And you're sitting over there judging me for groaning into a pillow," Kate scoffed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I wasn't judging you!" Danny exclaimed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mhmm," Kate hummed. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Since you brought it up," Danny casually looked away, "What's with the whole sad, frustrated mood you've got going on?" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Kate pursed her lips, debating on how much she should tell him. On one hand, she really would rather not put this all on Danny again; after all, he already had to handle this years ago. On the other hand, if she didn't get this out now, she'd probably implode. Maybe...maybe letting a little bit out would be ok. "It's just the first time jitters, that's all," Kate downplayed. Danny resisted the urge to scoff at her obvious lie. When Kate saw Jordan, she was practically paralyzed. He hadn't seen anything like that since the one time John found out Harry recorded him singing 'Dreamgirls'./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"("Stop mentioning that!" John exclaimed. Harry was in the crowd, snickering with some fans. He caught his breath and said, "I'm sorry. You can continue now." He motioned the zipping of his lips and waved his approval.)/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It seemed like a lot more than just jitters," Danny reminded. Kate winced. "I was just shocked," Kate rephrased, looking at anywhere else but him. Danny nodded. "I see," he acknowledged like a Buddhist monk. Kate nearly giggled at the sight of him trying to sound like some old man. "Ah, and tell me what you see, oh wise one," Kate clasped her hands together and bowed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Danny laughed, unable to keep his cool any longer. After the laughter subsided, a moment of complete silence passed between the both of them. The night's events still weighted too heavily on Kate's mind. Realizing that he couldn't do anything at this point, Danny spoke. "So you're just going to stay up here?" he asked. Kate hummed as she thought about it. "Mm, yeah, pretty much," Kate nodded. Danny frowned. Now that just wouldn't do. Leaving a girl alone out at night? Who knows who could come up here! There were disgusting pigs everywhere. What if one of the cleaning staff found her and decided to get kinky? They would be completely isolated and in the middle of the night, he doubted anyone would come up here looking for them. Kate could get seriously hurt and- /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-d0306413-e8d6-5385-d6d2-70dc38959d17"span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Questrial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Kate punched Danny's arm. "I'm kidding!" she laughed. The look on Danny's face had been pretty priceless. She could see him turning white by the second, and that's saying something cause he was pretty pale to begin with. "I'm just going to stay up here for a while then I'll either go back to the room or bunk with a friend. I wouldn't be crazy enough to be up here by myself!" Kate replied. Danny exhaled. She really had him going there. He patted the chair cushion as he got up. "Call me if you need anything," Danny. Kate nodded, giving him a reassuring smile in the process. "Good night!" she called out as Danny walked back downstairs. Kate reclined in her seat, looked up at the stars above her, and sighed. Tomorrow should be better right? It had to be./span/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Julian had gotten this text from Harry, warning him that somebody was in their room and to not come up. Now, naturally as guys, when someone told them to not do something, they were going to do it. This peaked his interest, so he took John along. They discussed the possibilities on the walk there. Their choices ranged from fellow YouTubers to a burglar that Harry managed to tame with his impression of a rogue mountie who just so happened to be a moose. They knocked and impatiently waited by the door. "Who is it?" a voice asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Room service," Julian answered in a high-pitched voice./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? I didn't order any," Harry mumbled as he approached the door. He looked through the peephole and gasped. He paused and started thinking of the best way to shoo the two away. "Go away," he shouted in a whisper./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh come on, Harry. I need to get in the room. I need… ," Julian looked towards John for some help, who just shrugged. "I need my charger!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Use John's!" Harry retaliated./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He… uh… doesn't have one for my phone!" Julian made up./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You both have the same iPhone," Harry reminded flatly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Just hurry up and open the door, Harry," John interrupted, saving Julian from having to come up with another excuse./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry groaned and begrudgingly opened the door. Julian and John nearly burst through the frame simultaneously. They scanned the room, looking for the mystery guest. "Could you just get your charger and leave?" Harry ordered. Julian circled the room, turned around, and instantly complained, "I don't get it, you told me someone was here." Harry sighed. He had no choice. Obviously, they weren't going to leave until they found out who it was. "They're in the shower," Harry confessed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Who?" both of his nosy friends asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""A girl," Harry answered. Scoffing, snorting, and annoying laughter soon followed. Julian heaved over as John patted him on the back as they howled. "Oh, that was a good one," John said, wiping his watering eyes./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, really!" Julian let out a sigh, "So who's really in there?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry shrugged and moved towards the other side of the room. If they didn't want to believe him, fine, their problem. Julian and John followed him as he moved silently around the room. "Really, Harry," Julian insisted. Harry laid down on his bed and pulled out his phone. "Harry!" Julian continued, but any and all pleas were ignored. John looked on inquisitively. Julian jumped onto Harry's bed. "Are you honestly serious about having a girl in there?" Julian asked. No response. "Harry!" Julian yelled. This was getting them nowhere. There was no way Harry could actually be serious. Sure, he's been on dates before, but to get a girl in one night was too high of an accomplishment. Besides, why would she be in the shower anyways? Unless they already…/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you guys, ok?" a female voice asked from the doorway. Harry was laying down in bed with Julian crowded around him and John looking on in disappointment. Each of their heads whipped in her direction. Their eyes widened at the sight of the familiar girl clad in a fitted t-shirt and grey sweats. "Oh, you're done?" Harry asked, finally looking up from his phone. Kate peered over at the two frozen bodies. "Uh… yeah," she replied. Harry got up, tossed his phone on the bed, and walked towards her. "Do you need anything else?" he asked. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Um… no. I should be fine. Are they ok?" she whispered to Harry./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Them? Don't worry about them, they're fine. Are you going to go back up to your room?" Harry asked. Kate returned her belongings to her bag, keeping her eye on the two sets of eyes trained on hers. Was she wearing something odd? Sure, her shirt had the words "Currently in a relationship with my bed" emblazoned on it, but that shouldn't warrant those flabbergasted looks. "They don't seem ok," Kate observed. Harry walked behind the two fazed boys and gave them a nudge. "That's a real, live girl. A real girl just came out of his bathroom," John muttered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not just any girl. Summer," Julian whispered back. Thankfully, Kate was too far away to hear anything. Harry stood between Kate and the two idiots he called friends. "You're not going back to your room?" Harry asked again./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kate shook her head and continued to arrange her things. "Why?" Julian finally joined in. Kate scoffed. "Go back to the drunk, rapping couple? No, thank you," she retorted. Julian and John exchanged confused looks. What couple? There was couple in her room? What were they doing? Where did they come from? Ignoring his confused friends, Harry went back to the opportunity at hand. "Well, where are you going to sleep? Oh! I have an idea! Why not here?" he offered. Julian's and John's eyes doubled at the proposal. Summer? Sleep /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"here?/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Danny would throw a fit. Kate laughed at the thought of it; she could see her conversation with Nicole now: "Where'd you sleep last night?" Nicole would ask./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh just in the room of two boys I met a couple hours ago. NBD," Kate would respond. As if that was going to happen./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks, but no thanks. I'll bunk with a friend," Kate politely declined. Harry pouted. Having her sleepover would've give him all night to pump her for information. After everything Danny had told them, he was desperate to know about what happened in London two years ago. Plus he wanted to find out more about that underwear incident. How could you mix up a pair of boxers for shorts? It just didn't make any sense. He HAD to find out. "Are you sure? It'd really be no trouble. I'd sleep on Julian's bed, so you'd have mine all to yourself," Harry offered. Julian opened his mouth to object to the plan, but Harry quickly covered it before he could say a word. "That's sweet, but I already made plans. Thank you, though," Kate declined, looking through her bag for her phone. Damn it. Refused again. Apparently his "powers" weren't working as well as they used to./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"(/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I DO have powers!" exclaimed Harry from behind John. John sighed. "Sure you do, mate!" he shouted back. Harry crossed his arms and smiled smugly. John faced the audience and rolled his eyes. They laughed in response. "What? What'd he do? Did he roll his eyes? Cause that's plain rude," Harry retaliated. "Anyways," John heavily enunciated.)/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No matter what excuse, proposal, or offer Harry gave her, Kate wouldn't budge. "Well, what if you just hang out for a while?" Julian asked. Kate looked at the time. It wasn't late yet, and she did have time to kill anyways. "Sure, let me make a phone call first," she accepted. Kate began dialing a number and stepped out of the room. Harry pounced on Julian, shaking him and patting his back. "You're a genius!" he exclaimed. Julian grinned. He didn't exactly know what he did right, but he wasn't going to shy away from being praised either. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"By the time Kate returned, Harry had a movie on, pillows fluffed, and food on the way. "So, what are we watching?" Kate asked, taking a seat on a bed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Something on, uh," Harry squinted to make out the faded logo on the corner, "TBS." Harry smiled evilly as she got comfortable. He had leafed through the channels, trying to find the perfect movie. It needed to be interesting enough so they wouldn't change the channel, but be easy enough to zone out of so they could talk. AKA: Die Hard. "So what's going on in your room?" Julian asked. Kate sat down at the edge of the bed between Harry and John./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Nicole's just having a couple drinks with Ethan," she laughed at how much of an understatement 'couple drinks' was, "It's no big deal. I just figured it'd be easier to leave instead of ruining their mood." John's and Julian's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that, Ethan's alone in a room with Nicole?" John asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And he's actually able to say words?" Julian finished./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah," Kate replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The wanker actually did it," John said under his breath. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wait, he isn't going to /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"try/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" anything, right?" Kate nervously asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm just surprised he was able to form sentences," John replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well his rapping was pretty on point," Kate laughed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rapping? Ethan? He must be sloshed," John commented./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""If that means drunk out of their minds, then yes, they're completely sloshed," Kate repeated./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What about you, Kate? Have you ever been drunk?" Harry jumped in./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, I, uh, I don't like alcohol," she politely smiled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You don't?" repeated Julian./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's just the taste, you know? I can't ever seem to get past one sip. But it's fine, I mean, everyone needs a DD, right?" she tried to laugh it off./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Telling a bunch of guys you don't like to drink is hard enough, but tell a bunch to young, British guys must be a felony. Alcohol is their stock and trade! Great, now they were going to think she was some sort of boring prude. "Eh, you're not missing out on much. You just wake up the next morning with a massive hangover and a dry mouth," John concluded. The guys nodded and added their agreements. Kate breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that big of a deal. Ok, good. "And if you're John, you wake up with videos of you singing along to 'Dreamgirls' from the night before," Julian added. John frowned. "Wait, what?!" exclaimed Kate./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"(/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ok! Ok! We can skip past that part!" interrupted John. Harry laughed at the success of his vengeance. "But it's such a good story!" he teased. John pulled Harry back. "Another story for another day. Wouldn't want to confuse the audience with another story within a story. That'd be story-ception," John quickly added, "So basically, Julian tells her a little story about a previous event, that's all, and it took up a large portion of the night. Then Kate had to leave and Harry didn't take it so well.")/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The moment the door closed, Harry dropped his cheerful exterior, "We had a full proof plan!" The other two recoiled at the sharp tone. "Well, she said she had to leave", John pointed out. Julian sat up from the edge of the bed. "Yeah, she got a phone call and everything," Julian defended. Harry facepalmed himself. They were idiots. He did all that prepping, all that thinking, all that rehearsing, and all for nothing. Harry turned to glare at his two friends, but they were already too absorbed in the movie to notice. Crashes and gunshots sounded through the TV, causing Julian to let out audible oh's and ah's. Harry glanced over and saw the flashes of light reflecting off their attentive eyes. "Oh shit!" John exclaimed immediately after an explosion. Harry closed his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered and quickly walked over to TV, "Ok, ok! What'd I miss?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"By the time Kate got to the rooftop, the last of the cleaning staff were already gone. She made her way towards one of the beach chairs, put her bags on the table beside her, and got comfortable. Kate let out a sigh of content as she looked up. Granted she was still in the city and the light pollution prevented most of the stars from being seen, but the view from there couldn't have been better. It was one of those warm, summer nights and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With the kind of night she had, Kate needed to be in a wide, open space where her thoughts could dissipate into the constellations./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"This worked for a while, but thoughts of the unexpected meeting percolated in her mind. It'd been two years since they last saw each other. You would've figured it'd have lost its effect by now, but it didn't. Seeing him was just as paralyzing as it had been those years before. Naturally, she anticipated seeing him here, this was their territory after all, but she planned on staying far enough away that she wouldn't have to see him up-close. And his girlfriend? Oh, the infamous girlfriend (who, apparently, was also a fan) never even came into mind! Ugh. Could it /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"be/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" any worse? Kate shoved her face into the pillow and groaned loudly. She just wanted it all to get out of her head. She wanted every memory, every trace, every thought of the whole debacle to just fall out and roll off the edge of this damn hotel./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You might suffocate, you know," Danny informed as he approached the poor, unfortunate soul lamenting into a cushion. Kate slowly looked up and smiled meagerly. He took a seat at the end of lounge chair. "I was just, uh, letting off some steam," Kate excused./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So I see," Danny laughed. Kate avoided his gaze. After a few moments of awkward silence, Danny spoke. "So I take it your room was preoccupied?" he asked. Kate laughed at the memory of Nicole and Ethan's twerking capabilities. "Nicole and Ethan are having a little party," Kate informed. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Danny's eyebrows shot up as if to say "oh?". Apparently Ethan had finally gotten over his little stage fright. Atta boy. "So your go-to plan is to just stay here all night long?" Danny asked. Kate shrugged. "I heard this hotel had a rooftop pool. So I called the desk to see when it'd be empty and snuck in," Kate confessed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wow, such a rebel," Danny commented, leaning back on his hands./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Naturally," Kate curtly nodded, "What's your excuse?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I got bored and wanted to see how high the elevator would take me," Dany simply replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And you're sitting over there judging me for groaning into a pillow," Kate scoffed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I wasn't judging you!" Danny exclaimed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mhmm," Kate hummed. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Since you brought it up," Danny casually looked away, "What's with the whole sad, frustrated mood you've got going on?" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Kate pursed her lips, debating on how much she should tell him. On one hand, she really would rather not put this all on Danny again; after all, he already had to handle this years ago. On the other hand, if she didn't get this out now, she'd probably implode. Maybe...maybe letting a little bit out would be ok. "It's just the first time jitters, that's all," Kate downplayed. Danny resisted the urge to scoff at her obvious lie. When Kate saw Jordan, she was practically paralyzed. He hadn't seen anything like that since the one time John found out Harry recorded him singing 'Dreamgirls'./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"("Stop mentioning that!" John exclaimed. Harry was in the crowd, snickering with some fans. He caught his breath and said, "I'm sorry. You can continue now." He motioned the zipping of his lips and waved his approval.)/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It seemed like a lot more than just jitters," Danny reminded. Kate winced. "I was just shocked," Kate rephrased, looking at anywhere else but him. Danny nodded. "I see," he acknowledged like a Buddhist monk. Kate nearly giggled at the sight of him trying to sound like some old man. "Ah, and tell me what you see, oh wise one," Kate clasped her hands together and bowed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Danny laughed, unable to keep his cool any longer. After the laughter subsided, a moment of complete silence passed between the both of them. The night's events still weighted too heavily on Kate's mind. Realizing that he couldn't do anything at this point, Danny spoke. "So you're just going to stay up here?" he asked. Kate hummed as she thought about it. "Mm, yeah, pretty much," Kate nodded. Danny frowned. Now that just wouldn't do. Leaving a girl alone out at night? Who knows who could come up here! There were disgusting pigs everywhere. What if one of the cleaning staff found her and decided to get kinky? They would be completely isolated and in the middle of the night, he doubted anyone would come up here looking for them. Kate could get seriously hurt and- /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-d0306413-e8d6-5385-d6d2-70dc38959d17"span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Questrial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Kate punched Danny's arm. "I'm kidding!" she laughed. The look on Danny's face had been pretty priceless. She could see him turning white by the second, and that's saying something cause he was pretty pale to begin with. "I'm just going to stay up here for a while then I'll either go back to the room or bunk with a friend. I wouldn't be crazy enough to be up here by myself!" Kate replied. Danny exhaled. She really had him going there. He patted the chair cushion as he got up. "Call me if you need anything," Danny. Kate nodded, giving him a reassuring smile in the process. "Good night!" she called out as Danny walked back downstairs. Kate reclined in her seat, looked up at the stars above her, and sighed. Tomorrow should be better right? It had to be./span/span/p