H A R R Y

IT WAS FRUSTRATING how alone I was. It wasn't that I was lonely, I was also just alone. The only person I knew in London was Ben, and I didn't want to be the dick friend that ripped him off his girlfriend all the damn time. So I stuck with watching TV and shopping for groceries and checking out the cool record shops in the city.

"I wish you'd told me to come with you," Ben said through the phone after I'd told him about my grocery shopping-which only really enclosed a milk carton, guava juice, fresh strawberries and a couple of bags of potato chips.

I like takeout.

"You have work," I pointed out. "And stop acting like I need babysitting."

"Screw you," Ben emphasized unhappily. "I'm your friend, you prick. I just want to hang out, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm worried about your ass."

I sighed, frowning at myself for being pathetic. "Right, you're right. Sorry, man, I'm just bored with myself."

"Exactly why I should come over."

"And leave work? No, stay put," I said seriously. "How about we meet after?"

"Go for a couple of pints like old times?"

I smiled at my best friend's hopeful tone. "Sure. I could use a drink or two."

Ben cheered through the other end of the line, getting rough shushing in the background. "Yes! I'll see you later, mate."

L U E L L A

"Look who's looking smokin' hot in her new dress!" Cindy squealed as she rushed into my room. She was wearing a tight black scuba number. With its mini length, low v-front and cut-out deets, the strappy dress looked like a killer on her. She'd paired it off with a plain black choker, large round earrings and rose gold makeup.

"Look who's talking! You look gorgeous," I genuinely complimented her and giggled as she turned in a circle and flipped her hair, flaunting herself.

"Why haven't you done your makeup yet?" Cindy asks, but her eyes light up. "You want some help?"

I laughed, shaking my head at her childlike excitement. I turned back to the mirror as I beckoned her over, earning yet another happy squeal. I was in a black body-con mini dress that had ribbed fabric, a popper side on my left and a bardot neckline. It was something I had spent my new pay on, because once I saw it, I fell in love with it.

However new it was for me, I made a point not to save up. I make good money at the bar, I keep a steady income and a good number in my bank account. And when I see something I want, I get. It's as simple as it ever will be for me. I want my own happiness so I do what I can to achieve that.

The dress I was wearing wasn't something Luella would wear at all. That somehow had a reason to play in my feeling confident in my own skin. I wore it like it was my life jacket and I tried to gain the feeling it gave off. It hugged my curves and showed some skin, and it made Alex look at me in a way that made me feel happy about it.

Red lips were a cliché but Cindy insisted that the dress needed some red to pop. I had red matte lipstick on, hard and catchy. My eyelids had a soft blend on them that wasn't too much, and the eyeliner was perfected into a considerably thick cat eye. Cindy and I were ready in an hour. Her brown hair was curled and rested against on her shoulders, while my blue vibrant hair was pulled back off my shoulders and styled to be intendedly messy.

"Holy fuck," Alex's eyes raked my body and my face as soon as we stepped out. "You look amazing, come here."

"Nuh-uh!" Cindy warned. "Don't mess up my masterpiece."

"Wow," Chandler said as he eyed the both of us, Cindy blushing even more through her blusher, if that was even possible. "Two hours didn't do you bad."

"Korra should be here any minute," Alex says, Chandler's eyes lighting up and Cindy grumbling and rolling hers.

"Try to keep it in your pants," Cindy snaps at Chandler who frowns and shrugs, going back into the kitchen and Alex follows him.

"God, I hate him," Cindy groans quietly so only I can hear as she walks past me to sit on the couch. I follow and sit beside her, nudging her elbow and raising my eyebrows.

When Alex gave me that job at his dad's bar, he helped me get to know the crew so I wasn't completely stranded. Alex, Cindy, Korra and Chandler were working there as well. We were switching between the rolls of runners, bartenders and cocktail waitresses-for me and the girls. But I guess Cindy and I bonded better when I started catching on to her gazes at Chandler.

It was no secret she had a massive crush on him, and he didn't even notice...or pretended not to. Because, he, too, was crushing on Korra. She was a long-haired, honey-eyed friend of Alex's who had an attitude most of the time. Cindy was aware of the attraction Chandler had for Korra, so she had a reason for despising her. But at least Korra wasn't into Chandler at all, though she was into Alex.

The biggest love triangle of all time. I'm not even sure it's a triangle anymore, it's more of a complicated geometric shape than a triangle.

"He has no heart," Cindy took her bottom lip between her teeth. "I'm pathetic."

"You're not pathetic," I argued. "He's the pathetic one. Korra doesn't actually give a shit about him, does she?"

"That's what's frustrating about it!" Cindy shook her head, eyes wide. "He's so fucking stupid. He has me under his nose all the time, but all he can see is that bitch."

"Hey, bitch is a strong word for her, don't you think? He's the one into her."

Cindy looked at me incredulously, her expression turning blank. "The bitch is into your man, Faith. What's wrong with you?"

"Alex...is not my man." I frowned, looking away. "We just mess around."

"Dude, you're living together."

"We're roommates. It's not like that."

"You've been living together for over a year!"

"So?"

"So!" Cindy flailed her arms around in exasperation and I rolled my eyes. "Oh, my God. You don't have a heart either, do you?"

I tipped my head back and laughed. "Cindy!"

"I don't understand your relationship," She shrugs. "Well, if you're not into Alex like that, why don't you get yourself laid tonight?"

"Cindy!"

"I know, that's my name." She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Faith. All I'm saying is, you should find some lovin' tonight."

I sighed, shaking my head. "You should find some for yourself, Cin."

She scoffed, acknowledging that I'm not talking about me or my life again, and, yet again, flipping the topic of conversation back to her. "You're no fun."

"Korra's here!" Chandler yelled from the kitchen.

"Bitch's here," Cindy mumbled under her breath. "God, it's going to be a long night."

H A R R Y

"Wanderlust?" I gulped down the rock in my throat, my eyes freezing on the building.

"Yeah, my mates here have been going there a lot, and I hadn't seen the place because it was far downtown, so I figured we'd try it out." Ben raised an eyebrow at my dazed state. "Have you been?"

"Yeah... Remember I hung out with the guys from work?" I had tried to get rid of the memory as much as I could, but seeing the place, I felt traumatized, which was fucking pathetic, really. I shook my head, assuring myself that no more hallucinations would take place tonight.

But what if it wasn't a hallucination after all? What if she was real?

Shutting down that hopeful, desperate voice inside me, I make my mind. I'm out with my best mate, finally getting back to myself, and nothing is going to ruin this night. I will drink as much as I can and I'm going to forget about her. Even if it's only for one bloody night.

The place is busier than I remember it being last time I was here. Ben orders two glasses of root beer and argues to sit on the bar, which had no blue-haired bartenders. Subconsciously, I'm wary. Very, very wary. I know it wasn't her, it couldn't be her. So why was I sitting stiff in a bar stool, training my eyes all over the place like she was going to pop out of nowhere?

Ben gulps down the last of his beer and grins wide as he orders another one. "You know how long it's been since I had a drink like that? A while! Kate's dad is really posh, and if he's drinking, it's really expensive wine or some shit. I grew sick of it."

"Lucky night for you then!" I laughed, my eyes gliding over the crowded place full of sweaty people and loud music. So much different than the frat parties yet so much the same.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Ben frowned over and I shook my head, mimicking his frown.

"What's up with me?" I repeated. "I'm fine."

"You're stiff as a board, Harry." Ben fixes his gaze on me for a moment then glances around the place. "Do you see someone you like?"

"No, it's not that," I give him a look. "It's not that. I'm just...exploring. And I really need to pee."

"Gross, Styles," My best mate makes a sound and fakes gagging as I laughed and got off the stool.

"I'll be right back,"

"Don't forget to wash your hands."

Laughing, I shook my head at him and started my search for a restroom. And when I found it, I wish I hadn't. It smelled like shit, but I guess that was the point. Grumbling in annoyance, I tried to hold my breath until I was done washing my face and ridding it of the beads of sweat that were starting to accumulate on my forehead.

I had to squeeze through masses of dancing bodies entangled together in one sweaty mess as I was walking back to the bar. They all blended in together as I kept my head down and kept muttering to a lot of people to excuse me as I pushed past them anyway. All through which I had nasty glances thrown my way, but I didn't even want to start on the smell.

As I tried to keep my head down and just push through to reach the end of it, the corner of my eye caught something. Something blinking in between the blend of people. Something blue. The back of some girl's head was a dark blue faded color, and some guy seemed to be giving her a hard time. She was squirming in his hold as he tried to get her closer to him.

"Get off of me!" The girl shrieked and my mind broke into chaos. A manifesto of fuss and chaos and anarchy began and all hell broke loose in my head. I shut it off and acted on instinct.

"Hey!" I stepped in, pushing the guy away by the shoulders. His hard eyes fixated on me and turned into slits. He was bulky, I'll give him that. He was strong-built and had a lot of potential of kicking my ass, but I didn't care. "You heard her, buddy."

"Are you talkin' to me?" He narrowed his eyes, challenging me.

"Look, let's not do this, alright?"

"Is she yours?" He raised his eyebrows now, setting the line. I opened my mouth, then closed it, glancing at the blue-haired... Luella?

My world stops.

This can't be her. This is not her. The woman in front of me is clad in a mini dress, short and revealing, she's wearing loads of makeup, she... She has blue hair. But...

The lips, the eyes, the depth of her cheekbones and the dip between the base of her neck and her collarbones... Luella? My ears ring with the intensity of the sounds around me, but the sound of her voice as she stumbles and almost falls before I catch her in my arms, it deafens me.

"Hey, you look familiar," she says, in her voice, the voice I'd heard when I thought I was hallucinating her. I hear that voice, her voice, and I feel like my heart has stopped, that my mind is blank, that my organs and my cells are no longer working. My blood is pumping three thousand times faster at the sound of her voice.

The guy that was standing right in front of us turns around grumbling as she clutches onto my collar and shoulder to catch herself from falling. As my heart gets heavier with every passing nanosecond, her weight on me follows suit. My breathing is shallow, but I realize...

Luella is in my arms. Luella is drunk and almost passed out in my arms.

"Harry," she breathes out my name as she holds onto me, her tiny fingers almost turning white from how hard she's gripping onto my top.

And that's what it took for me to break out of my dazed trance. With her saying my name, my doubts evaporate. It's definitely Luella in my arms. It's definitely Luella, drunk and passed out...in my arms.

note:
i feel like next chapter is definitely going to be here sooner rather than later, because i can't wait to write it!!! shit is going down, my friends. it's going down.
tell me what you think. comment how you think luella would react when she's sober.
all the love,
ness. x