Hardin Scott, Mr. Darcy, and lots of bad-boy vibes

Lizzie's on her knees— her emerald long dress ruffled around the edges as her hands fumble around the hundreds of closed books on the floor. Katniss is standing on a pile of books, her dirty, brown boots on top of them while she looks for the book on one of the upper shelves.

My blood runs wild through my veins, my breathing hitching. "Wait. Hardin Scott? As in After? As in the Harry Styles fanfiction?" I ask, barely fitting inside my body.

"No, no." Katniss shakes her head as she slides the climbs into a different stack of books. "Hardin Scott is his name. I'm sure."

"Oh my God!" I squeal, clapping my hands excitedly. "I read the books on Wattpad before they even got published, and his original name was Harry Styles and if he is the guy we are looking for...why the hell didn't you tell me there was an After book in here?"

I crawl to the floor and my hands start fumbling around the books scattered on a different section of the floor.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Peeta argues.

"I do not approve of this young man either. Hardin Scott is not a good acquaintance to keep," Mr. Darcy points out somewhere in the room.

Rolling my eyes, I keep searching.

"Relax," Elizabeth cajoles while sliding away a pile of books. " We will make sure to open the book in a part where he has grown up a bit."

"Here!" Katniss screams, hopping down the book stack she was at.

Elizabeth and I run in her direction. Katniss stares at the cover of 'After' as Lizzie and I stand at either side of her.

"Ready, ladies?" she whispers but I can hear the excitement in her tone.

Lizzie and I nod as we watch the book spreading open before our eyes.

My mouth hangs open as he materializes like a PowerPoint slide displayed by a projector but with all the dimensions perfectly curved.

This is not Hardin Scott. Yeah, I see the black combat boots, black ripped jeans, tousled hazelnut hair, dazzling emerald eyes, tattoos—everywhere. But let me say that again: This is not Hardin Scott—not at all. This is the exquisite blend of Harry Styles and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin. If anyone would ever attempt to personify physical perfection, this character right here would be it.

He's basically Harry Styles minus the TPWK attitude.

Anna Todd surely knew how to physically describe her characters because I have an improved version of Harry Styles—and I thought he couldn't get any better. I blame the ring pierced in his lip, and the other one in his eyebrow.

Elizabeth and Katniss're also staring at him—mouths agape.

"Hardin. Um- I, We-" Katniss stutters, her cheeks flushed. Even Katniss blushes with this guy, that's how hot he is.

"Hello to you too, love," he utters in that English accent that may melt the coldest of winters.

"Are you feeling like going out, Scott?" Peeta asks as he places a possessive arm around Katniss.

"Please, anything. I need to have a break from all the drama!" he demands.

"I can't promise you that, Styles..." I pat the side of his shoulder, "but at least it'd be in a different setting," I end, blushing in ten shades of red.

"Who is this girl, again?" he asks, raising his hand in my direction—wow, he has so many rings.

I offer my hand for him to shake. "I'm Sunset Williams. It is so nice to meet you. I love Tessa and your whole story."

"Yeah, I'm kind of in the middle of a fucking fight with her every two pages."

"I know!" I exclaim, squeezing his hand harder. I think my knee bones have turned goo.

"So." Peeta clears his throat. "Can you go with Sunset to the party and try to behave? Like, don't start any fights or anything? She needs your support."

"Yeah, anything to be out for a while," he accepts the offer, nodding his head.

"Ok!" I beam at him. "But just to be clear, I don't want to make Lukah jealous. It's just that I need, you know, support and company... " I trail.

"We know Sunset. You need him to go with you. Just try to have some fun, and distract yourself. You deserve to have a good time," Katniss encourages me.

I start getting my things ready to leave. I grab the infamous sweater and After. I start rushing my actions when I see that Hardin is already about to take the stairs.

"Wait." Mr. Darcy blocks Hardin's way, towering over him with a severe look on his face. "If I hear," he seethes in a baritone, "that you mistreat this young lady in any possible way, I will burn every book that exists about you, and your story will vanish from the fictional world forever."

Silence goes audible in the room.

I'm next to Hardin now.

"Do I make myself clear Mr. Scott?" Darcy asks in staccatos.

"There's always Wattpad." Hardin shrugs his shoulders, teasing poor Darcy.

"Mr. Scott-"

"Relax, old man. We'll just have some fun. I'm kind of tired of all the drama and the fighting. Every character deserves a break, not just you." Harry pokes Darcy's shoulder and his eyes drag to that spot.

My muscles tense up when Hardin's hand sneaks around my waist and we wait for Darcy to let us go through.

"Come on!" Lizzie insists, clutching Darcy's hand. "Let the girl live a little." Elizabeth looks pleadingly at him.

After a long pause, Darcy pushes himself away from our path.

Mr. Darcy is truly the perfect book boyfriend—shame he's married and fictional.

"I promise we will burn together his book if he does something to me!" I hug Darcy, who goes stone-still as I do, so I quickly let go.

He smiles at me shyly, and I turn to look at Hardin. "See you in a bit?" I ask, holding the open book in my hands.

He nods in reply, and I gently close After and put it in my bag. I dash upstairs until I reach the door and I stop in my tracks.

I turn, fixing my eyes on all of these beautiful people looking at me. "Are you sure you don't want to come?" I ask, feeling terrible to leave them locked in this rotten basement.

"Just go! This time we will stay. It's not safe for so many worlds to collide outside the reality realm," Elizabeth explains to me and I would ask her what, and how, and why, but an alternate version of Harry Styles is in my backpack and I just want to leave.

"Have fun!" Katniss cheers, smiling brightly at me as the side of her head rests on Peeta's shoulder.

"But not too much!" Peeta warns.

"And don't forget this!" Lizzie tosses me Lukah's burnt sweater.

I catch it mid-air and shove it inside my bag. "Thank you all so much for this," I speak, my heart swelling with happiness. I close the door, locking it with the key.

My brother beckons me from one of the tables. Lukah's with him and I should be a nervous wreck, but having a version of Harry Styles in my backpack has considerably reduced my anxiety.

"Hi," I greet them flatly. "Can we leave?"

"Yeah. Go, wait for me in the car while I pay," he states.

Lukah passes me his car keys but I ignore him, my eyes set on my brother.

"We're going in Lukah's car," Raiden explains, after gulping his coffee.

Ugh. Great.

I don't question them. I'm just tired of the whole car thing and I have Hardin Scott coming to the bonfire with me—so this is irrelevant information for me now.

After snatching the keys out of his grasp, I tread away.

I slide inside the car, sitting on the back seat. Seconds later, Lukah hops in the driver's seat while I notice that my brother's still inside the Café.

I sigh as loudly as I can, showing how annoyed and uncomfortable I feel.

"Well, someone's in a mood." Lukah rolls his grey eyes—or whatever color they are today.

"I haven't said a word to you and I am planning on not saying too many," I spit.

"What have I ever done to you?" His torso turns towards me.

"Existing—basically." I do a weird gesture with both of my hands without looking into his eyes.

Raiden finally shows up, sitting next to the driver's seat.

"What is that burnt smell?" He complains with disgust.

My eyes shut as I sink into my seat. Sliding the window down, my muscles tense and I pray that Lukah won't ask about his sweater.

"Can we just go?" I ask, annoyed. "I've got a date tonight that I plan to take to the bonfire and I need to get changed," I state, knowing that this information will save me from the issue of the burnt smell coming out of my bag.

Raiden turns on his seat, staring at me. "A date? Who? When? How did this happen?" he quizzes me.

Okay. Maybe we should go back to the burnt sweater topic.

"Just some random guy that's not your friend, so relax." I grab Raiden's shoulders and force him to sit facing forward.

Scoffing, Lukah turns the ignition on. "So, now she dates," he mutters.

I glare at him. "Just drive, Casanova."