The One That Got Away (Teenage Dirtbag Sequel)

“Delilah. DELILAH!” I stirred awake thanks to my mum, who was shaking my shoulder. I could see it was dark outside and the digital clock on my desk show-ed exactly 10:00pm. “What mum?” I asked into my pillow, turning on the other side so I could shield myself away from the light coming from the hallway. She turned the light on and I yelled, fully covering myself up with the blanket. “Get up! Sam is here, you’re leaving for New York in four hours, remember?” “Shit, yeah. Ugh, fuck.” “Watch your mouth! And go take a shower!” I sighed as I got out of bed, grabbing the clothes I had set out for the trip. I felt excitement bubbling in my stomach, and I was eager to finally get going, even if that meant leaving Sam behind. “What’s the date today?” I asked as I went to the bathroom to take a shower and prepare myself. “It’s September 9th. Your deadline is the 11th, so you’re good. Now go princess, don’t want to be late! I’ll keep Sam a bit of company in the living room.” And with that she turned away, leaving me alone in my room. Of course you do I managed to take a shower and put makeup on in 26 minutes, be-fore I stuffed my Minnie Mouse Niall won for me two years ago in the backpack. I stared at the wall, wondering what Niall was doing at the exact same moment. I’d gotten over him a long time ago, before I got with Sam and fell in love with him. In spite of my relationship status, I sometimes found myself thin-king about what Niall was doing or thinking at that moment. I still had his red jacket he gave me when I last saw him and the piercing always reminded me of him. I pulled on a New York black sweatshirt over my plain bra and grabbed the backpack from the desk, ready to go. As I emerged down the stairs, I could hear my mum using her se-ductive voice, probably trying to lure my boyfriend with her breast implants. “Mum, I’m right here please go to bed. With my dad, you know, your husband for like, twenty years.” She turned to me embarrassed, buttoning the three top buttons of her already revealing nightgown. Thank god she never met Niall Not that Niall can compare to Sam Sam’s better, cutter, hotter, not Niall, smarter, funnier “Well good luck to you princess and call me as soon as you get there! Remember the credit card we talked about? We’re going to send you a monthly amount of $200 but you should find a job, okay? Your dad may also go for work in America a few times, so maybe you’re going to meet up. But be good and don’t ditch your classes, okay?” I nodded and she smiled. I’d chosen to sign myself up for literature major (I wrote a couple of songs here and there) and dancing as the extra option, just like Katherine, who took up psychology instead of literature. “Bye mum. We going babe?” I asked turning to Sam who was lea-ning against the door with his car keys in hand. He nodded and greeted my mother, before we both exited the door and he offered to carry my luggage. The car ride was filled with chatter (mostly on his part, he went on and on about how he was going to miss me) and lasted about an hour, before he finally pulled out in front of the airport. “Bye babe.” he said and leaned over the console. “Wait, aren’t you going to wait with me?” I asked. “I’m sleepy. I’m not going to wait three hours for a plane.” he smiled. “But I love you, so if you need anything, just call me.” “Are we-are we going to break up now?” “We can try long distance if you want. Plus, you can visit during the holidays, right?” “Right.” I said looking anywhere but his face. He pressed a kiss to my lips and I slipped my tongue into his mouth. We snogged for a couple of minutes, until the safety belt dug really painfully into my bladder. “Face Time me when you got settled in your dorm?” he asked smiling, revealing his pearly smile. “Sure.” “See you babe.” “See you.” I said and got out of the car, before going to retrieve my luggage from the trunk. I got one of those carts where I put all my boxes and suitcases so I would push them around easier. After I did whatever had to be done, I went and got some Star-bucks, before I called Katherine. “Hey bitch!” she greeted, too joyful for my taste. “Hi Katherine, um, so are you still going to pick me up from the airport?” “Yeah babe! Ricky and I were just about to go out, but we’ll be there around four right?” “Yes. Time zones and all that.” “Do you want me to get you anything? Like coffee or something?” “Just Skittles.” “Weird, but okay. I’m so excited!” Then I heard Ricky making some weird noise and the line went dead. I sighed and plopped myself down on one of the seats near the gate. I was extremely happy to finally start a new life and possible future on a whole other continent. It’s going to be amazing A few hours later, I was sitting between an old crinkly lady and a guy who smelled like tacos on my way to New York. Even the accents from the people were exciting. “Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to land at JFK, New York.” Everyone clapped once we landed and I could practically smell the American air. I’m an idiot but who the fuck cares “I HOPPED OFF THE PLANE AT JFK WITH MY DREAMS AND MY CARDIGAN WELCOME IN THE LAND OF FAME EX-CESS, WHOA AM I GONNA FIT IN? JUMPED IN THE CA-” I started singing as I made my way towards the pick up bus. “Shut the fuck up!” someone yelled as the doors open and okay. My smile was spread across my face as I walked into the airport, looking for two familiar faces holding up a sign with my name on it. I immediately spotted Katherine and Ricky (they weren’t hard to distinguish from the normal people that weren’t jumping around and waving and yelling). I smiled and waved, walking towards them. I also saw someone oddly familiar with warm, hazel eyes and brown hair pulled in a small quiff. Katherine squealed and hugged me, before Ricky followed her actions. He was taller and slightly muscular. “OH MY GOD! You grew like…a foot!” she said pushing me a-way so she could look at me. “Actually, just two inch but whatever.” “Oh, oh! This is Liam!” she said looking at the familiar guy. “Liam this is my cousin Rey. Liam’s Ricky’s roommate at NYAA. Liam’s there to be a musician, he plays the drums.” Katherine wriggled her eyebrows at me, and I wanted to slap her across the face because this was so embarrassing. “I’m sorry, but, you seem really familiar.” I said turning to Liam, trying to ease the tension. “That’s what I was going to say, actually.” Liam spoke and oh, yes, I definitely know him from somewhere. “Wait. Weren’t you in that exchange thing with my sister two years ago? You know, when you had to stay at our house for a week and vice versa?” “Oh yeah! The Payne’s! I remember now.” How could I forget the kind face and oh my god I walked in on him naked in the bathroom once. He must’ve noticed my red cheeks because he smiled and Ka-therine shot us both a suspicious look. Then she changed the subject, telling me that she had a cab waiting and that all she really wanted to do was to get back to bed. Then it downed on me that it was actually 4am in New York and I had to call my mum. I tried not to stare at Liam’s muscles bulging through his thin long sleeved shirt as he managed to carry half of my bags; Ricky was carrying the other half. I called my mum who was emotional and used the cab as an excuse to hang up on her. Katherine then put an arm around my shoulder and widely smiled at me. “What?” I asked. “Sooo? You like Liam?” she said and I made a face. “What? Are you crazy? I have a boyfriend.” “Wh-what? Who? When? How? What?” she stuttered, genuinely surprised and confused. “Sam? Tattoos, brown eyes, hot?” “Ooooh…was he the guy I puked on at your 18th birthday?” “Yeah.” I said and she bit her lip. “Oh, I remember him. Your mum’s all over him.” “I know.” “And how long have you guys been dating?” “Two years this December.” “Two fucking years?” she yelled. “Whoa.” “What about you and Ricky?” I asked as the guys loaded the lug-gage in the trunk of the yellow cab. “Um, two years a week ago.” “Wow. I would’ve never expected that.” “Neither did we.” she said and shot Ricky a disgusting fond look. We finally piled up in the cab, Liam in the front and the rest of us in the back. “So where do you go to Uni?” I asked Ricky. “At New York Academy of Arts.” “And you’re a dancer?” He nodded. “But that’s an extra activity. I’m studying to become an actor.” “So when do you dance?” “At a dancing club with Kitty.” “And you’ll also join us, right? I already told Tyler a LOT about you.” Katherine butted in from the other side of the car. “Yeah, sure.” “What classes did you sign up for?” “Um, Literature, French, Music and Drama. But I’m studying to get a dancing degree.” Then Katherine informed me that she also wanted to get a dancing degree and that she took up Literature too, but she was a junior. The University was huge, and I had nervous butterflies in my sto-mach. There was barely anyone on campus, since it was so early in the morning. The building was gigantic, made out of red brick. It had a huge campus from what I could see, and quite a lot of buildings behind it, which I could only assume were the dorms. “So does this also have frat house-“ “Frat houses? Yeah. Alpha Beta Pi, Omega Xi, Sigma Delta Zeta and the best, Theta Delta Chi. I’m actually in a sorority, Sigma Kappa. We’re actually partners with Theta Delta Chi.” “So that’s why Theta Something is the best.” I said smiling as we walked towards the entrance of the building, so I would check in. “No, actually, TDC has the hottest guys on campus.” she said and hooked her arm around mine. “Yeah?” I asked uninterested. Long story short, the secretary gave me my room key and room number, before she gave me a schedule for all my classes and the map of the Uni. “Rush week is also going to be next week, in case you’re inte-rested, and feel free to join any clubs,” she added. Ricky and Liam then excused themselves, saying that they really wanted to go back to their dorm and sleep. Katherine pecked Ricky and he smiled, before they waved and exited the building. “I’ll show you to your room!” Katherine said and struggled with my suitcases while I struggled with my boxes. We eventually managed to exit the building and walk towards the dorms. We took the elevator to the fifth floor, where my room was. “Okay, this is it. 521.” I knocked with my foot and after a couple of tries; a blonde girl in pajamas opened the door. “May I help you?” she asked and Katherine and I shared a look. “Yeah, um, I’m your roommate? Rey. I would’ve used the key or shaken your hand, but I can’t.” “Let me help you then!” she offered and took a couple of boxes from my arms, inviting us in. The room was definitely smaller than my room at home. And it had no personal bathroom? Whoa. The room had a big window, with two identical desks against it. The one on the right was occupied, whereas the one on the left was empty. There were two bunk beds and two closets. “I’m Amy. Amy Jones.” “Rey. I mean, Renee Parker but people call me Rey.” “Cool.” she said smiling and I knew we would be getting along just fine. “Well I’m going to go now, I’m really tired. I’m Katherine by the way, Rey’s cousin.” “I know, you’re Soph’s roommate at SK.” “Yeah, yeah! You know her?” “She’s Ryan’s cousin.” “Fuck, I forgot. Anyway, I really got to go. See you later? We can go fetch some Starbucks? And I can show you around if you want. Liam can tag along.” she said winking, before she left, probably for-getting that I had a boyfriend and that I was NOT interested in Liam. “So you’re a freshman too?” “Sophomore. I’m studying to become a psychologist.” “Ah. Cool.” “You?” “Dancing.” “I’d love to chat, but my eyes are going to close any second now.” “Um, sure! But, where’s the bathroom? I kind of need to wash my hands before I can collapse onto the bed.” “Right down the hall, last on the right.” “Cheers.” “Cheers. I like that.” was all she said before she climbed back on the bed. I made my way out of the room and quickly peed and washed my hands at the bathroom, before I came back. I didn’t even bother to undress, I just took off my Vans and beanie, before I climbed up on the bed and face-planted the pillow. *** Three days and a finally gone jetlag later, I was ready to go ex-plore the ‘activities fair’ that has been going on for a week on cam-pus. Amy and Katherine offered to come with me, but as it turned out, Liam and Ricky also joined us, and the Ryan guy-who was from En-gland-tagged along too. “Where’s your roommate?” Katherine asked, slinging an arm around Ryan’s shoulder after I introduced myself. “The usual. Got mortal last night because today’s his birthday, won’t get up until noon so he can get the house ready, before getting mortal again. I think he shagged your roommate last night but I couldn’t tell. Was a bit drunk myself.” “Wait, today’s his birthday?” Katherine asked looking at Ricky. “Oh shit, it’s the 13th! Shit. I should message him or something.” Ricky shrugged and Katherine pulled her arm away. I saw Amy looking at Ryan weirdly, so I thought I’d ask. “What’s wrong?” “What do you mean?” she asked as she picked up a flyer from the science club, pretending to look through it. “I mean, you’re looking at Ryan with a look on your face.” “Oh yeah. I have a crush on him.” she said nonchalantly, flipping through the flyer before she threw it away. “So why don’t you do something about it?” “I don’t think he’d really go for it.” “Why not?” “Because he would never like me.” “Why not?” “I’m fat? And he and his roommate always call me whale. Well, only his roommate but Ryan’s guilty through association.” I frowned, feeling nothing but compassion for her. I knew what it was like to get picked on because of my weight. “You’re beautiful and funny, and Ryan and his asshole of a room-mate can fuck off, okay?” She smiled, and then made a joke about cows so it all went back to normal. “Oh, here’s our dance club! Sign yourself up Rey!” Katherine said as we passed a stand that wasn’t occupied by anyone. “But, there’s no one here.” “That’s because I’m supposed to take care of it, shit.” I rolled my eyes and wrote my name on it, and I noticed that it was quite popular, since I barely had room left to write my name. “A lot of people want to take up dancing classes. They think it’s just some free workout thing. We have serious gigs all over New York and we even get paid, so.” Katherine shrugged, sitting back in her foldout chair. “Do you guys want to get some coffee? There’s a Starbucks right around the corner?” Liam suggested, turning to Amy, Ryan and I. Ricky decided to join Katherine on haunting for new dancers-and by ‘joining’ I mean suck on her face. “Sure.” I shrugged and Liam smiled, his eyes crinkling up really cute. He looked like a hot puppy-if puppies could even be considered as ‘hot’. “So what do you do, Liam Payne?” I asked as we walked down the crowded street. Amy and Ryan were walking behind us, and I could actually hear them having a conversation about a party that was apparently going down tonight. “I’m in a band. I’m the drummer.” “A band? What’s it called?” “One Direction.” “One Direction?” He nodded. “With three other mates.” “Who?” “Um, Zayn, his brother Jake and N-shit.” “What?” “We passed the shop,” he said seriously and I started laughing, even though it wasn’t that funny. When we got to Starbucks, a huge queue was already lined up. “Well fuck.” I said crossing my arms. “We’re going to wait here the whole day.” “Not necessarily. I work here part time during the week. But today’s Sunday so.” I nodded and he pulled out his Starbucks card-apparently they had those-, before he managed to get at the front and wave it in front of the girls’ face. She blushed and nodded, before she took our orders-two ice tea’s, a frappe and a latte. “What are you two talking about?” Liam asked once we settled outside at a table for four. “About the party tonight.” Amy said sipping on her latte. “Oh yeah, you should come.” “Me?” I asked, since everyone was apparently looking at me. “Yes! It’s going to be great! And you can finally meet everyone.” “Yeah. The birthday boy, Soph, Zayn, Jake.” Ryan said. “Okay? How should I dress?” “Well it’s a frat party…so show as much skin as possible.” Liam joked, but then got all serious. “I mean, not that-you shouldn’t-don’t-whatever feels comfortable.” “Got it.” I smiled. His stuttering was so cute. “So where can I get a job?” “You can’t.” they all said at once. “What? Why?” “It’s pretty hard to get a job in the city.” “So how come you guys work?” I asked. “I don’t.” Ryan shrugged. I looked at Amy questioningly. “I’m a phone sex operator,” she said and no one even flinched. “A-what?” “You know, you have phone sex with strangers, get paid ten bucks a minute. Easy money, I can work whenever.” “Whoa. Okay? Wow.” “Don’t worry love, you’ll find a job.” Liam said reassuringly wrapping a strong arm around my shoulder. I couldn’t help but lean into him. To my defense, he smelled like apples and vanilla and he was warm and kind. *** “Is this good?” I asked Amy a few hours later, when we were getting ready for the party. “What? Sorry?” she asked from her seat in front of the computer. “Is this good?” I repeated, holding out my choice of clothing. “Sure! You’ll look great.” “What about you? Aren’t you getting dressed?” “Just one more minute, I’m just checking Twitter.” “Oh, okay.” I put on my suspender skirt and the Superman crop top. My belly button piercing was on show, and I still couldn’t believe how I ma-naged to keep it hidden from my mum for two years. I had also gotten a tattoo in Arabic, which said ‘your name’. It was inspired by Ed Sheeran’s song, so when people would ask me what it meant, I’d say ‘your name’. It seemed cool at that time and I was a bit drunk. “Okay, you ready?” Amy asked as I finished applying mascara. “Yep.” I said closing the tube and putting it on the bed. “We’re going to meet up with Katherine at her sorority, is that okay?” I asked as we made our way towards the elevator. “Yeah, yeah. I like Soph anyway…so are you going to be the one in charge tonight?” “What?” “The one in charge? As in, the person that’s going to get half of us home when we’re piss drunk. Or wait, I think we can crash at the frat house.” “Um, I don’t really drink. And I’m not even legal in the states.” “Who is? Wait, the birthday boy turns 21 today so he’s going to be legal. Not that it stopped him before.” “And he’s also the one that makes fun of your weight?” “Yeah, but I know he wants me.” she said gesturing to her body; making some grinding movements that made me chuckle. “Who doesn’t? I’m just joking, I’m not that shallow.” “I know.” “So do you have a boyfriend back home? Or girlfriend?” “Yeah. Boyfriend.” “Cool. I’m kind of a no strings attached person,” she informed me, even though I didn’t ask. “So is this frat house far away?” “No, just around the corner of that street. Two blocks away from our dorms. Three minute walk. Actually kind of convenient when you’re drunk.” When we got to the end of the street, we could either go to the right or the left. “The left is sorority, right is frat.” “So left it is.” She nodded and I suddenly got nervous as I looked back at the street occupied by the frat houses. I could hear the music from here, and it wasn’t hard to spot the TDC house, the front yard was full of people. My first college party holy shit “REEYYYY!” Katherine yelled and there she was, dressed in a really short dress and a heart crop top. Next to her was a girl dressed slightly less revealing, with dyed blonde hair and blue eyes-from what I could see thanks to the streetlights. The sorority house was also made out of red brick, just like the Uni and the dorms. “This is Sigma Kappa, my sorority. And this is Soph, my sister and roommate.” The girl smiled and shook my hand. “Hi.” “Hey.” “Let’s goo!” Katherine said pointing to TDC and I frowned confused, because she seemed drunk. “She had a few drinks before.” Soph whispered to me as we walked, before she made a funny drunk gesture, and okay, I like her. We got to the frat house in less than a minute. It was bigger than the other sorority houses, but made out of the same red bricks. A big banner with the Greek letters was draped over a balcony. “THIS, my dear cousin, is Theta Delta Chi. I’d tell you who the president is, but it’s his birthday and I think you know him quite well.” she winked but I brushed it off. We saw Ricky and Liam in the doorway, talking with red cups in their hands. Ricky saw us and waved us over, before Liam turned to us too, smiling. “Hey babe!” Ricky yelled kissing Katherine’s cheek. “And you’re drunk.” “Tips.” she corrected him, pulling the cup out of his hand. “Let’s go inside and congratulate the birthday boy! He’s going to get some birthday sex tonight, am I right?” She shot Soph an exaggerated wink, before she stepped into the house, making us follow her. Every single inch was packed with people between the ages of 18 and 25. A big banner was hung in the kitchen that had a big bar, saying ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY DICK!’. The work DICK was scribbled with graffiti over the actual name of the guy, which started with N, M or H. “I’m going to go find him! Probably playing beer pong or some-thing. Here, have this.” Katherine yelled over the music and handed me her almost empty cup. “I’m going to make sure she doesn’t get raped by someone.” Ricky said seriously, before he disappeared after his girlfriend. “Well I’d stay here and chat, but I’m gonna go and get myself a drink. Soda for you?” Amy asked and I nodded. “So whose birthday is it?” “It’s-“ “Rey?” I turned around at a familiar deep voice. “Harry?” “HIIII!” he yelled throwing his naked tattooed arms in the air. He’s drunk “Haven’t seen you since summer ’13! Your boobs are bigger!” “And you’re gay!” came another voice and soon enough, Louis made an appearance. He changed too. Got skinnier, had a beard and floppy hair that made him look cute. “So you guys are finally together?” I asked and Harry smiled, nodding. He was weird, because in spite of all his tattoos and piercings, he was a cupcake. “Engaged, actually.” Louis said and Harry held his right hand up to reveal a ring. “Wow, okay? Congratulations! Since when?” “A week.” Louis said, before Harry just jumped on him and star-ted snogging him. Wait a minute, weren’t they in California? Why are they here? I couldn’t ask them that, since their mouths were a bit busy. “Okay, that’s hot.” I turned to Liam, who was now smiling down at me. I know…wait what? Is Liam gay too? “Are you…?” “Bisexual.” “Oh.” “Is that a problem?” “No, of course not!” I said quickly. Amy returned shortly, handing me my Dr. Pepper and drinking from her cup. “Wanna go in the living room? They’re playing a mean game of beer pong there.” “Sure.” We followed her in the living room, but we couldn’t reach the ta-ble so we decided to go and sit on the couch with Katherine and Ri-cky, who were not making out. Liam politely asked the two girls snogging to let us sit, and they surprisingly obeyed, so I sat down, with Amy next to me. “Leeyum!” someone yelled and soon enough, a guy with black hair and a lot of tattoos appeared next to Liam, with a cup in his hand. His hair was disheveled and his lips were wet. “This is Zayn.” Liam explained and Zayn eyed me curiously. “Hi.” I waved and Zayn waved back, slurring a greeting. Every-one was already drunk, except of Liam and I, or so it seemed. “Leyum, we gon’ smoke some weed laterrr, don’t go anywhere. And keep your pretty lady too.” Zayn said, spitting out the last words. I could swear he pinched Liam’s bum before he whispered something into his ear-I heard the word ‘fuck you hard’-, but I didn’t look into it. “Have a pretzel.” Liam offered awkwardly, handing me a bowl of salty pretzels that was settled on the coffee table. A cheer then erupted from the beer pong table and that’s when Li-am suddenly disappeared in the crowd. “Fuck yeah!” someone loudly yelled, followed by another round of cheers, and I swear to God, I knew that voice. The next minutes passed extremely slow, everyone was dancing with their cups over their heads and Katherine and Ricky were half undressed next to me. “I’m going to look for some weed.” Amy then said, getting up from the couch. “Whoa, easy there you fuckin’ whale.” a voice said and she flip-ped that someone off, before she walked off, revealing the person whose voice sounded really familiar. “Get a fucking room! You-“ I looked up and my pretzel got stuck in my throat. Because in front of me stood Niall.