***Side-effects of slipups***

I woke up on a couch in the pub. A leather jacket was covering me like a blanket another shirt was under my head as a pillow.

"Goddamn." I muttered as I realized that my head was buried into Lars's dress shirt, and the faint bittersweet smell of vodka and cologne crept into my nose making me sneeze.

I didn't remember much of last night. I looked around for my phone, and spotted it on the bar. I pulled the jacket off of me, I yawned and stretched. I took my first step when a sharp pain went up my foot. I looked down and saw that my ankle was blue.

"OW!" I whined out loud, but there was no one to hear me complain.

Where were those guys anyway?? I hobbled on my left leg towards my phone and switched it on.

"99+ missed calls?!" I exclaimed.

All of them were from Ace, there were also texts expressing concern. Seriously, I was almost 21 now! So what if I got caught in a little fun last night, huh? I rubbed my eyes to get rid of the sleepiness that still rested in my body and then…

"Oh, hey! You're finally awake." Alex smiled at me.

"Hi. I really appreciate it, Y'know. You can just leave me here, yeah, while I wake up on a couch with CLOTHES over me, wondering what the HELL happened!"

"Sorry, sorry." He cutely apologized.

"Yeah, yeah. Just help me get home, will ya?" I asked.

"Why…wha--" And then he spotted my ankle.

"Right…"

He walked towards me, head tilted sideways. He had changed his clothes, he now wore ripped jeans with a blue T. He looked as good as always, his eyes showed signs of sleepiness and his messy hair was making me CRAZY! Why do boys have to be so….HOT?!

"Just a minute---" he scratched his head…

HE FLIPPING PICKED ME UP, AND I WAS NOW IN HIS ARMS!

"Lucky for you I brought my car, otherwise I would have to skateboard you."

I had a new angle of his face, I was so lost in thought about him. What was a girl like ME doing with a guy like HIM? Was I dreaming, if so, I don't wanna wake up! Why were his eyes so expressive and dreamy? Why was his hair so perfectly imperfect? Was I in love with him?

My chain of thoughts was interrupted when Lars and Adams saw us, and stopped dead in their tracks.

Each had a coffee in their hand, Adam had worn a fresh pair of clothes. Casual jeans and a sleeveless T. Lars too had changed, he wore his style, black leather jacket, white T, black jeans and black combat boots. And right now, they were both glaring at me and Alex.

"What--" Lars began

"--The hell---" Adam continued

"---IS GOING ON HERE?!" They both yelled in sync.

"Nothing…Y'know. I got hurt and he's taking me home." I explained, though I couldn't help but add "Jealous much?"

The angry look they gave me answered for them, they would kill Alex if we held this posture any longer. With a sigh, Alex lowered me.

"There, ya happy?" I asked crossly because I was kinda liking it up there.

Then I remembered Ace and I asked them who would drop me off, and that began an argument. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with them?

"OK, OK! You guys gonna make me walk home?" I asked, clearly frustrated.

About an hour had passed since the time I would normally be working at the store. Ace would probably be worried sick, and he probably also went to a couple of police stations, and I don't know what was happening!

"What's the rush, princess?" Lars asked me, making me blush terribly…"Why not come over for breakfast?"

I was shocked by the offer, and in normal circumstances, I would've fainted, but right now, I had other things to worry about.

"My brother…"

"I took care of him." Adam than notified, though he didn't seem very happy that I was going over to Lars's.

Seriously, he couldn't tell me that like 10 minutes ago??

"Sure then, why not." I accepted Lars's offer as if I got invitations from hot guys all the time.

I tried my best to keep my cool on the way to Lars's place, most probably a mansion! Inside, my heart was racing and I felt like a nervous wreck! Ever since our time at the bar, I had been so frank with them, and I hadn't stuttered once. But that was with Alex, he just seemed to create a comfortable atmosphere. He made everything, even the weirdest situation seem normal. Lars however, did not. He would throw flirty comments at me, and stare at me so intensely that I'd feel like he was looking through my clothes!

"We're here." He shut the engine.

The house in front of me was grand! It had a white modern exterior with light-blue tinted windows. There was a pool in the front yard, and the grass was neatly cut. The stoned path had cars parked on both sides of it, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi, Bugatti, you name it! The sliding front door was activated by Lars's thumbprint. I stepped into a very nice living room! It had a huge TV, comfy couches, fur rugs and a snooker table!

"You live alone, right?" I asked.

"I'm single, if that's what you mean." He laughed in a flirty tone.

I decided not to answer that, though I was secretly relieved.

"Kitchen's that way." He pointed

"Can I go to the washroom first, wash up?" I asked.

He showed me to his room, his room was just…wow! One of the walls was spray-painted, another had dancing LED lights, his room was soundproof and had a music system, he had a king sized bed which looked so comfy! And I caught myself imagining me on his bed with him…what a thought! I shyly walked to the washroom and nearly exploded as I shut the door, but then I realized, I had locked myself inside Lars's walk in closet.

"Ugh DAMN IT!" I muttered to myself.

I tried to unlock the door, but it wasn't budging because I didn't have Lars's fingerprints. My phone was on the snooker table, and Lars's room was soundproof, so how could I call for help? Suddenly, his room wasn't so grand after all. I took the opportunity to look through his collection. He had every type of clothes and I was sure that he could rock any style. He had an amazing collection of shoes and caps. This boy was EPIC!

After about 5 minutes, Lars walked in the walk-in closet.

"Look who I caught snooping around!" He smirked.

"Oh hi…it's not what it looks like, I got locked…" I hastily explained, looking away.

"Hm…now if you'll follow me to the bathroom?"

After freshening up, I went to join him in the kitchen. He had his sleeves rolled up and he was slicing onions for an omelette.

"Oh wow…" I muttered out loud.

And he heard me. He didn't turn around but I could tell that he had a self-satisfied smirk on his face at that moment. He was rich, so why didn't he have servants? I hardly thought that the son of James Brandon would be cooking his own breakfast.

"You don't have servants to cook for ya?" I asked casually.

My heart was beating super-fast and I was doing my best not to lose my cool and fumble over my words. I remembered that the first time I met Adam, I had tripped over nothing, and he had laughed at me!

"Nah. I just don't like to be pampered." He replied with a grin.

"Man! You should live the luxurious life Y'know!" I exclaimed, clearly shocked.

He wasn't the spoilt brat I thought the son of a billionaire would be. He then switched on the speaker system of the kitchen and shut the sliding blinds with a remote.

"You listen to raps?" He asked.

"Not really, pop and hip-hop for me."

"I used to listen to pop all the time, before I fell in love with rap!"

"You like music?"

"You kidding? Music is my life! I had music through middle school, high school AND college"

"Same!!" I exclaimed.

We talked about the artists we liked, it felt good to have someone to talk to. Someone who agreed that Taylor Swift was underrated and BTS was overrated. He put on some of his favourite pop songs (no rap, just for you), and they mostly matched mine. We listened to 'How long-Charlie Puth', 'Holding me back-Shawn Mendes', 'Closer-Chain-smokers' and more. We were halfway through 'Birds-Imagine Dragons' when I thought of calling my brother. My phone was dead-amazing!

I borrowed his phone, and I was shocked. I expected his wallpaper to be…I don't know, something cool, but it was a girl of about 11, her hair matched Lars's, she wore glasses and a cute middle school uniform. I wonder who that was…Then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing and quickly dialled Ace's number.

"Hello?" Ace sounded distant…

"Hi…it's me…" I sighed, I knew that he would probably be angry.

"Oh, sup." He was answering like nothing at all had happened the day before.

"You OK? Look, I'm sorry for not coming home last night…I got caught---"

"Hey! You saw your boyfriend after a bunch of months, I understand, yeah. Though Adam mentioned two other dudes…where are you now, eh?" All of a sudden, Ace sounded like an overprotective older brother.

"Hey! Don't insult my cooking my letting it go cold, yeah!" Lars called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" I called back.

"That doesn't sound like Adam…" I could see Ace frowning.

"No, I'm with…a friend, yeah. I'll see ya later, K?"

"Oh yeah, Ab--" I cut the call before he could finish.

I walked to the kitchen, and the song 'Middle of the night-Elley Duhe' was playing. I hummed along as I grabbed the plate.

"You like?" He gave me a sideways glance.

"I'm wide awake, I crave your taste all night long!" I sang along winking at him.

He smiled at me, and hopped on top of the counter, then he patted the empty counter space next to him. All of a sudden, all the easiness I had felt with him just faded away. He's just a friend…just a friend. I took a deep breath before hopping on next to him.

"It feels good to finally have someone to talk to…" I subconsciously muttered.

"What do you mean?" He asked me.

I snapped back into reality and started blushing. What would I tell him? I had no one to properly talk to, I hadn't even told Adam the full story, just bits and pieces. I needed someone to heal me, to make me feel whole again. Sure, Adam was a great guy, he had looks, riches and he really cared for me, but he wasn't the one for me at the moment.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me." He apologized and looked away, clearly embarrassed.

The truth was, I wanted to tell him more than anything, because I felt like he would listen. I felt like he would tell me exactly what I wanted to hear, but what if he didn't? What if he laughed at me? What if he looked down on me? It was too much of a risk, I couldn't risk being broken again. For mine and my brother's sake.

We both ate in complete silence. After he finished, he cleared his throat and jumped off the counter. Just at the moment, 'Happier-Marshmallow' started playing faintly over the speakers and that instantly brought back tears, it suited my situation so perfectly.

"Lately, I've been, I've been thinking…I want you to be happier, I want you to be happier-er…" Lars gently stroked my cheek and smiled, and my cheeks were shocking pink then.

"You look like Lotso, from Toy Story" He cutely smirked, "But way slimmer and hotter" He added with a wink.

This time, I laughed along him, seriously, Lotso? After I was done, I thanked him and had him drop me home. He was treating me just like I wanted to be treated.

I mean, a girl can dream, can't she?