adrenaline rush : one
She makes it all of five steps before there’s a hand gently clasping around her right wrist. Instinct has Phe pulling away from the owner of the rather large hand, it fits around her wrist too easily. Her head turns so quickly she’s not sure that she didn’t whip them with her hair.
When she sees it’s Harry, her heart rate doesn’t go down but instead continues to pump at a mile a minute.
“Yes?” Phe asks, trying to sound like she wasn’t spooked by him at all. Hates giving off any other impression that she was cool, calm, and collected.
“What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.”
“Which historical region of Greece includes the capital, Athens?”
Phe’s not really paying attention to the pub quiz as much as she normally would have, considering she enjoyed it when her friends made comments about how bright she was (although they were said in a teasing matter it stroked her ego nevertheless). But tonight, she wasn’t feeling like her usual self. The Shamrock wasn’t a pub that she would choose to frequent in her spare time, especially because she knew that it was her brothers' friends and associates local. Phe was under no influence of the type of people that flocked to her brother like a child to a sweet shop, and it was made clear to her a long time ago that she was to keep those people at an arm's length.
So, to say she was a little on the edge tonight would be accurate. She’d only come because there was a promise of leaving right after the quiz but where they’d go after would depend on if they won or not. Before she left, they’d all go to Adam’s after whatever house party they’d been at and carry on with their night there. But Adam’s parents had sold their house and moved to Wales seven months ago and quite frankly nobody else’s place, or parent's, could even compare.
“G’wan Phe, you should know this one.”
Zayn gives her a nudge to her arm, softly encouraging her to participate. One glance at his face and she knows exactly what he’s thinking. He can see she’s not being her normal self and he knows that she didn’t want to come here. He’s the one who promised they’d shoot off after the quiz, with a promise of getting a McFlurry after.
“What’s the question?” She chirps at Natalie, moving to place her elbows on the table across from Adam’s. Her mother’s mantra of ‘elbows of the table’ echo’s through her head briefly but she ignores it, focusing on answering Natalie’s question as Adam rolls his eyes at her. It was typically the three of them that banded together and won quiz night, since if one of them missing and the success rate dropped significantly, no matter who else was there. The others like to tease them about it, but they laughed it off and drank the winning booze.
Taking a swig of her drink, she makes eye contact with Lauren, who gestures in the direction of the door leading upstairs. Phe knows exactly what she’s getting at and nods, making sure to leave her jacket on the chair next to Zayn, in hopes of nobody trying to steal her spot.
On their way back down from the toilet, they bump into a friend of Ronan’s, Kieran, who coincidentally happened to be leaving the toilets the same time as them and takes it upon himself to come sit with their circle of friends. He’s telling them about some sort of low-key boxing match that’s happening in town tonight, in a couple hours to be precise.
“Is Ronan here?” She asks, looking in the direction Kieran came from. He’s holding a fresh pint in his hand, with it almost spilling over the edge. Phe makes sure not to be in range of it as she starts walking back to the table.
“No, he’s already at the fight with Jimmy and Fat Boy. We’re gonna go meet up with them in ‘bout half hour though.”
“Meet who?” Zayn asks as the girls take their places from before and Kieran pulls a chair up for himself. He starts telling Zayn about the local match, telling him that it’s so and so’s cousin up against somebody else’s nephew. Adam starts to join in the conversation, all three of them discussing it amongst them whilst Phe, Natalie, and Lauren work on the last three quiz questions.
When the boys go outside for a smoke it’s announced that cheez is the winning team, with a total of twenty correct answers out of thirty. The group win a free bottle of wine and Lauren’s the one who goes to the bar to collect it with their sheet of answers. Natalie and Phe are discussing if it’d even worth sharing the prize or if one of them should take it home, since they did most of the work, as per usual.
It’s Kieran’s loud voice that startles them out of their conversation as he announces that they’re all going to see this boxing match. Phe just looks to Zayn to gauge his reaction but instead of dismissing it and reassuring her with one look, she’s moderately surprised when he comes to the defense of the man besides him.
“Why not? Pretty dead here, might as well.”
That’s unlike Zayn, Phe thinks. The Zayn she knows would go grab a six-piece chicken nugget meal from McDonald’s before going home and smoking a spliff in bed. Zayn didn’t do clubbing, although he had been quite a few times between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, when Phe wasn’t even legally allowed to drink, let alone drive. Since then he’d got into a routine of going to work, coming home with the occasional pub visit here and there. On an especially exciting week, he’d join Phe and Natalie for lunch on a Tuesday. Maybe even see his other friends on the weekend.
Lauren comes back from the bar, carrying their prize in both hands proudly before she’s asked if she’d wish to go and see this fight. With her agreement, it seems settled that the five of them are now joining her brothers' friends in their abnormal Wednesday night. Typical of Ronan and his friends to be doing reckless things without much thought put behind it. Phe wasn’t one to shy away from most things but even she had to question that it was a little shady that some unofficial boxing match was taking place in the middle of the week.
Before she knows it, they’re being joined by two men she recognizes from her elder brothers' school friends and they’re being squished into a mini bus. With her and Lauren being the smallest, the candy floss pink head of hers ends up practically sitting in an Adam’s lap and Phe’s able to squish between them and Zayn.
They arrive at some shifty looking warehouse type after being in the van roughly twenty-five minutes, since the roads were rather clear. Phe has a rough idea of where she is but isn’t too sure, makes a point of finding Ronan and sticking to his side for the remainder of the night (unless he was with a girl – then she’d keep her distance enough, since last time she saw Ronan out with a girl he ended up snapping at her for being there, as if she were some stupid teenager). Hopefully they’d make it home early enough not to wake their parents.
It must have been getting on a bit when they turned up, since the place seemed to be harboring more people than she expected. Phe notices a very distinct vibe immediately, with the air smelling of cheap beer and sweaty bodies. Clearly the spectators had been here quite some time before they showed up, for the floor was sticky enough to indicate they had been. So, when Natalie says she’s getting a call from her boyfriend (he lived a good forty-five-minute drive on a good day), Phe says she’ll join her outside.
“Don’t be long you two, it’s ‘bout to be startin’ soon, yeah?” Kieran tells the pair enthusiastically, with a smile and a wink from Zayn as they promise so come find them in ten minutes give or take.
“Not want anything from the bar?” Nat asks her, to which Phe tells her that she’s not really feeling that shit booze vibe tonight. The girls laugh in agreement, standing to the left of the double doors outside. As her friend lifts the phone to her ear, Phe makes herself busy by pulling out a cig and lighting it up. She doesn’t want to eavesdrop on their conversation so stands with her back leant against the brick wall, not looking in Nat’s direction in hopes of giving her some privacy.
There’s a small group stood just a few feet away from the pair, consisting of three guys and two blonde girls. The girls seem to be pretty cozied up with the men they’re stood closest to, both leaning towards them as a source of heat presumably, by the way they're dressed. Phe can understand, it’d been almost twenty-five degree’s today, so a dress was an obvious choice. Although, everyone seems to forget that once the sun gets down it’s still eligible to reach at least fifteen degrees, so Phe made sure to bring her denim jacket. Since it had so many pockets, it’d also made bringing a bag to quiz night seem pointless.
The third man, unlike the other two, smartly chose to wear a long sleeve CK jumper. He’s stood with his side profile to her, holding a plastic cup full of beer in his right hand, which seems to have a couple of rings on. Phe tries her best not to stare too much in the group's direction, but she can’t help but people watch. They seem to be happy to joke between one another, although she can tell that the two girls are regretting their choice of no jacket. So are the guys, probably damning their t shirts.
Phe hears Natalie say something along the lines of ‘train station’ and she glances over at her friend, who’s stood facing the ugly brick wall that she’s leant against, taking drags of her cigarette lazily. Not five seconds after the phone conversation’s coming to an end.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna spend the night at Aaron’s.” She tells her friend, “the train stations literally just ‘round the corner and he’s gonna pick me up from his station.”
Phe asks again if everything’s alright, to which Nat assures her that it is but she wasn’t really feeling like staying in this dungy warehouse too longer, would rather spend the night at her boyfriend’s. The next train is in ten minutes, so Phe offers to walk her to the station. Natalie’s lucky because the train station was a ten-minute walk down the road and she just makes it on time, giving her friend a hug goodbye and a promise of a text when she was safe.
When she makes it back, she spots Zayn stood outside, chatting with the group outside from a distance. Brown eyes spot her and shout a thanks in their direction before turning his attention towards her, reaching out to grab her arm gently.
“Where you run off to, huh? It’s startin!” He says, gorgeous face frowning softly, “Where’s Nat gone?”
Phe lets him know the situation, as he puts his arm around her shoulders and guides her towards where the rest of their group are sat inside. One glance back behind her and she makes eye contact with the dark-haired man in the jumper. She expects him to divert his eyes, ashamed for being caught staring, but if anything, he does the opposite. Has the nerve to drop his left eye into a wink as he takes a swig from his cup of what she presumes is cider.
Phe doesn’t falter once, just gives him a once over before looking inside, seeing the overhead lights have dimmed significantly. The small crowd, if you could even call it that since there were maximum of fifty people, had turned their attention towards the center where a boxing ring seemed to be conveniently placed.
Her stomach does a summer salt when she see’s this, and when she see’s the two men in the middle. Especially when she clocks on that they both seem to lack the proper fighting equipment for the sport, supporting bare knuckles.
Oh Ronan, she can’t help but think to herself when the first punch is thrown.
There weren’t much these days that she didn’t expect her brother to have some part in. She understood he liked to have his hand in somebody’s pie, whether it was good for him or not. Especially when it came to the drug kind.
But this? This was new, even for him. Glancing over at said elder brother, stood next to his new ‘friend’, she can only hope that this was only a mild fascination for the sport. There was only so much that their parents could handle, too, and she didn’t want them having to worry about him more than they already did.
Phe tries, she really does, but when the second match starts, she can feel her patience running thin. The girl attached to Ronan’s side was getting on her nerves, from the way she was shooting dirty looks in Phe and Lauren’s direction, to the way she kept batting her real mink eyelash extensions up at her brother. She’d sobered up a while ago, whilst they were in the cab over since she’d only had a couple of drinks at The Shamrock, so the house music overhead was only jumbling her thoughts up.
She makes sure to let Lauren know that she’s just going to the toilet, shooting a wink up at Zayn as he looks at her brush past him. She knows him like the back of her hand and could speak to one another with just a look. Natalie was also like that, she’d known her for almost as long as she knew Zayn, since he was originally her brothers' friend first.
In the toilets, it’s not so loud and allows Phe a moment to herself to think. She thinks about work tomorrow and how thankful she was that she had a later start. Even goes as far to check the time, 10:18, and calculate how much longer they’d be here and how many hours of sleep she’d be able to get.
Taking the time to wipe her hands dry, she throws the paper towels into the nearby bin before giving her auburn locks a quick smooth down. When she makes her way back to her friends and brother, it’s clear that it’s some sort of half time, probably to give the crowd time to go buy more drinks. Phe’s blue eyes land on the broad back stood talking to not only Zayn, but Ronan and his friends too. Lauren doesn’t seem to be particularly listening, from the way she’s stood, but the men seems to be very interested in what he’s saying.
“Phe-” Zayn starts as his hazel eyes lock with hers, Lauren perking up also, “stayin’ at mine tonight, yeah?” He puts his arm around her shoulders, guiding her to stand facing Lauren, not the strange man.
But she gets a glance up at him, and recognizes him from the guy outside in the CK jumper. Pink lips are parted as he seems to be saying something to Ronan, too quiet for her to hear even though she’s less than three feet away. Sure, the spectators around them had quieted down since there wasn’t currently two guys trying to kill each other in the ring, but they were making enough noise for her have to strain just to her the two people closest to her.
“Who’s that?” Instead of acknowledging Zayn’s question, or Lauren’s unsure look, she makes sure to not stare too hard and just does a small nod in the man's direction to indicate who’s she’s asking about.
“Harry, a mate of Ronan’s.” He whispers back, removing his arm from her small frame before repeating his previous question.
She just nods, sneaking a glance towards Harry again, only for his eyes to wander down to her. A small smirk appears on his lips as jade green eyes look her up and down, body turning ever so slightly in her direction. Phe thinks he’s about to say something but his attention is taken away by a familiar blond from before. Said blond whispers something in Harry’s ear, who just nods and utters a ‘see you later’ to the men stood around him, dares to throw a wink in Phe’s direction, then makes his way towards where she assumes the fighters are waiting.
For a moment she’s a little thrown off by the handsome stranger, from his brown curls seeming to be effortless styled off of his face, to the air of confidence that he gave off. Not to mention the wink? Some part of her is saying that they’ve met before, but they can’t have even as much as glanced at each other, otherwise she’d remember.
Phe could tell he was the type of man that you can’t forget about, wouldn’t let you forget about. From the peeks of tattoos at his collarbones she could tell that he was the type who could ruin a girl's life without a second thought.
It was almost as if that wink was some sort of promise.
***
After the last fight ended, everyone was quick to leave and continue their night somewhere else. Nobody seemed too keen on sticking around since the bar wasn’t open for much longer after the bell rang and the winner’s name was called out. So, since Lauren had to use the toilet, herself and Zayn chose to wait inside for her instead of risk being bulldozed over, whilst the rest made their way outside for a smoke.
They’d open the all two fire escape doors, which helped a little, but also not really. By the time Lauren comes out, pink hair visible from a mile away, it’s cleared out enough to Phe’s liking.
The three of them step outside, Phe wanting to say a goodnight to her brother before they all head off to Zayn’s for the night. Lauren’s folks are out of town this week, seeing some relative’s, so she’s crashing along with Phe. They’d most likely end up sharing Zayn’s bed together, with him either on the sofa or in bed with his roommate, Niall, depending on if he was home and what mood he was in. The Irishman had declined coming along tonight because he wasn’t feeling too ill and didn’t want to make himself any worse.
Lauren spotted Ronan first, pointing him out to Phe. He was stood with the girl from earlier, thinks her names Ava but doesn’t remember being formally introduced to her, who’s stood as if they were joined at the hip. Kieran’s talking to him, cigarette in hand matching her brother’s, whilst the girl just leans against him like a human post.
Phe manages to say goodbye and goodnight to her brother whilst ignoring his ‘friend’ completely. Even goes as far to say a bye to Kieran, before she’s making her way over to where Zayn and Lauren are stood waiting besides an uber that just pulled up.
She makes it all of five steps before there’s a hand gently clasping around her right wrist. Instinct has Phe pulling away from the owner of the rather large hand, it fits around her wrist too easily. Her head turns so quickly she’s not sure that she didn’t whip them with her hair.
When she sees it’s Harry, her heartrate doesn’t go down but instead continues to pump at a mile a minute.
“Yes?” Phe asks, trying to sound like she wasn’t spooked by him at all. Hates giving off any other impression that she was cool, calm, and collected.
“What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.” Very aware of his hand still holding her arm, she glances down at where they’re connected. Green eyes follow and let go, making sure to brush her fingers as they do. Phe expects him to backdown at her brashness but he just smiles.
“Your Thorns sister, ain’t you?” He doesn’t move, continues to stand in her circle of space without a care in the world. Even places his hands in the front pocket of his jeans, which are jet black and have holes in at the knees, like her own.
“Whatever gave it away.” She says dryly, dark brows raising slightly as she takes a glance in her brothers' direction.
Although he chose to keep his hair cropped short, you could still tell that he was a natural ginger, albeit a darker shade than her own. The freckles on his nose gave it away, too. Ronan had been the lucky one who was blessed with a light dusting of them paired with the ability to tan nicely. Whereas Phe had been cursed to be fair skinned forever, with the absence of any prominent freckles.
“I’m Harry.” He holds his hand out between them this time, letting Phe get a good look at the Rolex on his wrist. Her father always said that watches weren’t for telling the time, but simply just for show.
“Phe.”
“Phe.” He repeats, almost satisfyingly, like a child finally getting the answer they’d been dying to know. Since she’d barely placed her hand in his, she’d expected his hand not to engulf her hand so easily. A quick glance down at their still connected hands and Harry starts to let go, making sure his fingers brush the length of hers.
“You’re slipping through my fingers.”
At first, she doesn’t realise that he’s making a joke, albeit a rather poor one, and can just about manage a blink in his direction through her confusion. It’s only when he sends her another wink paired with a little wave of his fingers as he walks off does it click in her head.
With an eye roll and a sigh she makes her way over to her friends.