Chapter 19

**Harry’s POV**

The entire room was silent for several awkward moments. Lauren squeezed my hand and shifted next to me uncomfortably. “Hi, guys. I didn’t realize that this was a surprise party.”

Louis saved us from any more of the awkward silence. “Well, that’s the point of a surprise party, love.” Nervous chuckles filled the room and Louis continued. “I’m guessing you’re the mystery girl from the last party we had?”

I felt Lauren relax when people started picking up their own conversations and returning to normal. “Erm, yeah, I guess so.” She glanced at me, probably wondering why I hadn’t mentioned her to any of the boys.

“Shall we meet the rest of the guests?” I whispered to her, ignoring the obvious roll of the eyes I got from her. We were going to have an interesting talk later…

I caught Liam on by the shoulder when he breezed past me. “Wait, up a minute, Liam.” I looked at my girlfriend. “This is Liam. Liam, this is Lauren.”

“Nice to meet you, Lauren. Birthday boy, have you seen Katy?” His brown eyes darted everywhere except for Lauren.

“Katy? Don’t you mean Katelyn? I haven’ seen her.”

Liam’s face flashed with pain and his eyes settled onto me. “No one told you? Katelyn and I broke up.”

“Aw, mate, I’m sorry. I’ve been out of the loop these past few days, I guess.” I shoulder bumped Lauren, meaning to turn back to Liam, but he had already made a bee-line to where Katy was talking with Camilla.

“Nialler!” I put out an arm and grabbed the Irish boy who was passing by. “Where’s Claire?”

“Dunno, fixing her make up or something.” He gave me a quick hug, so fast that it was more of an one arm bump to the chest. “Happy birthday Harry! I’ll be back in a sec, I gotta, uh, ask Camilla about the buffet.”

He was gone in a blink. I turned back to Lauren, slightly annoyed. “Guess no one has time to stop and chat.”

Lauren rolled her eyes yet again. “I think you and me need to have a chat Styles.”

I wiggled my eyebrows, “Sounds kinky.”

We ducked through the crowd of people. Seems like Lou and Camilla rented out the entire top floor of the hotel, including ball room, game room, dinning room…I would bet money that they paid for a couple of bedrooms too.

“In here,” I pull Lauren into a hidden door behind a tall post. The second the door shut and the darkness enclosed upon us, my hands staked around her waist and in her long hair. “Mhmm…”

“Really Harry? You’re gonna put the moves on me in this broom closet?”

I peeked around, my eyes finally adjusting to the darkness. You still couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face but I felt what seemed to be a custodian’s bucket and broom behind me. “I’m classy like that.”

My lips caught hers and she automatically responded, her hands sneaking inside my blazer and fiddling with the t-shirt underneath. I felt her hand streak up and tickle my toned stomach, stopping to trace the outlines of my abs. I began kissing underneath her jawline, grinning as she finally let go of all presences of trying to resist.

We were finally getting into it before she murmured, “That better be a broom handle poking me.”

I chuckled lightly and pulled apart a bit. “You would think that it would familiar enough to you that you could recognize The Styles.”

Lauren groaned, in a completely unsexual way, and pushed me back. “We need to talk.”

My hands reached out for her form again. “In the dark? Where I can’t see at all? Where I can only my other senses to see for me?”

I ran my hands down her arms before jerking her to press against me. “I can only touch…”

I found her lips in the dark. “I can only taste…”

“Harry, why did you tell them I was your girlfriend?”

I sighed. Why was she cockblocking me on my birthday? Cruel. “Well why not?”

Lauren exploded. “Because! We never had that conversation! I told you I wasn’t ready to go public with you. We never even said we were exclusive!”

“Are you that against being with me?” I asked quietly.

“No,” I could feel her exasperation. She ran a hand through her hair and cupped my cheek. “I like you Harry, a lot. But I’m not sure if I’m ready for the death threats or the pressure.” Lauren paused for a moment. “And I’m not sure that you’re ready for that either.”