18 - h.s

nine

Sophia Elliott

My eyes widened at the familiar rasp that spoke from behind me. I turned on my heels slowly to see that son of a bitch sat looking at me from the couch. His legs were spread out, his arm snaking along the back of the couch as my eyes moved in the direction of his hand, latching on to the sight of his fingers on his right hand spinning the ring sitting on his middle finger.

"Boo."

My breath hitched in my throat, my hands slipping as I nearly let the glass slip from my grip. Bright green eyes snapped to meet mine, with a smirk growing on his lips as he swiped his tongue over his bottom lip and continued to stare at me, but not in an objectifying way, which I found particularly strange. 

"I-I.. uh, I'm sorry," I stuttered an apology, my eyes darted to the floor and I didn't know where to put myself, I didn't know what to do. My brain was telling me to get the fuck out of there as soon as I could but my feet were planted to the floor, unable to move. 

Harry crossed his left leg over his right one and leaned back further into the sofa and looked down, shaking his head and simultaneously letting out a breathy chuckle. I stood still, waiting for him to look back up at me, while also dreading it at the same time. 

"Don't apologise, babe. Don't apologise at all." his smirk grew as his pulled his head back up to meet my gaze, me then breaking it again and nervously tucking my hair behind my ear, not knowing what to do or say. 

"Wha-what are you doing here?" I looked around the room to avoid our eyes meeting again as I noticed he pulled his hand away from the back of the couch and used his knuckles to push himself up off the couch, the rings making a small but just noticeable dent in the leather, making his mark on my furniture.

"I'm here for Josh, not you babe. Don't flatter yourself." He shook his head and leaned against the wall next to the couch, again a breathy chuckle escaping his lips but this time, it seemed more laced with a warning tone and not one from genuine laughter. He raked his eyes up and down my figure that the towel barely covered, making me remember I was only in a towel, my eyes widening in realisation. 

His eyes then met mine again, making my heart feel like it stopped for a second as he pushed away from the wall with his arms draped down his sides and his hands stuck in his pockets, making his way over to me. Again, my brain told me to walk away but I was stuck, watching as he approached me. He stopped inches away from me, shifting his eyes to look me up and down again before drifting his eyes back up to look me dead in mine and said with a hushed voice, "I would never."

I let out a shaky breath and pushed past him, his scent swallowing me for a brief second as I raced towards the stairs and practically ran straight in my room, again, avoiding Josh's calls out to me as I just made a B-line straight to my bed and threw myself onto it and wanting to scream into my pillow.

What the fuck was that?

I've never been more embarrassed in my fucking life.

I can never look at him again now.

Why did I feel so threatened yet safe at the same time?

He's never going to let me live that down.

Why didn't I stop and listen to Josh?

He told me not to go down there.

I just want to cry. 

I gripped my pillow so hard that my knuckles were now painted a white colour, as I just couldn't stop myself from gripping it even tighter, digging my nails into the pillow so hard it was almost as if I was going to pierce it.

I let out a cry of frustration into my pillow, muffling it as much as I could and then flipped myself over onto my back as I stared at the ceiling, the cogs in my brain whirring so fast I could hear them over the shouting in my head. 

Fuck.

Harry styles

Well, that wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I came over today.

 I certainly got more than I bargained for. 

"God, I am so sorry!" Josh shouted down to me as he jogged down the stairs, sighing and running his hand through his hair to move it away from his face. He scratched the back of his neck in an awkward manner and looked around the room, his eyes landing on the half empty glass of water that I didn't even notice Sophia placed back on the counter. His eyes snapped back at me, "I didn't realise she'd still be in the shower when you came and I did try and stop her from coming down here but she didn't listen. It was like i wasn't even there." Josh sighed and slumped himself on the couch, sinking back into it and looking up at the ceiling, his head turning to look at me when he noticed I followed and sat down next to him. "She's been acting super weird recently, I just don't know how to help her." 

"Yeah, I noticed the other day, is she okay?" I chewed the inside of my lip and pulled my lips to the side in thought, wondering if I should say anything, I didn't want to cross a boundary here. This response earned a confused reaction from Josh as he straightened up and turned ninety degrees to face me properly. I took this as a sign not to say anything, otherwise I probably would be crossing a line that wasn't mine to cross, nor any of my business, and I didn't want to start a rift between the two of them, they didn't seem to be getting along swimmingly as it is. 

"She was just talking to me and Niall and seemed a little distracted thats all." I shrugged, my hand playing with my rings that littered my fingers. "It's probably just school work stress or something I don't know." I shrugged it off and looked around the room, me taking suit after Sophia and avoiding his gaze. 

I really didn't want to make anything worse here or bring something up, it really wasn't my place to do that. Plus, it's happened with me way too many times to count and I know how it feels, I don't want to put that on Josh. 

"Yeah, probably." I saw Josh shrug from my peripheral vision and I honestly wanted to let out a sigh of relief at the fact he's letting it go a little, she seemed far too on edge to have a conversation about this right now, the last thing she probably needs is to be interrogated by her brother. 

I cleared my throat, tearing my thoughts away from her. I don't even care that much, It's josh I care about, he's an old mate, she's just his sister that's in a few of my classes and is sometimes at his house when I'm round here. 

That's all. 

She can do whatever she wants for all I care. 

Which I don't so.. that's the end of that.

"Anyway," I pulled my hands away from my rings to stop fiddling with them nervously and sat up straighter, looking at Josh who had a much less worrisome expression on his features. Josh looked at me and seemed to study my features, in a bid to analyse what I was thinking or feeling as I cleared my throat again. "Should we get on with this shit?"