Devotion [L. S.]

1

Harry Styles

"Red or pink?", Taylor asked. I really do not care about the colour of her lipstick.

"I don't know... red? I guess. It's your colour."

"Thanks, babes! You ready?", she asked me.

I wasn't ready. I've been wearing the same black jeans and white shirt, with a black Pink Floyd prisma on it for 5 days now. So I should really change. I just really didn't want to.

"Yeah, almost. Let me just use the bathroom really quick."

I wasn't looking forward to tonight and I don't know why. It should be fun, sad too, but mostly fun.

It was the 31st of August which means that this was the last day of summer vacation. Tomorrow I'd be starting my senior year.

Well, normally that wouldn't be the case. See I'm only 16, but I skipped junior year. Classes were just very boring to me. Everything went by so slowly.

Normally my boredom in class would be fixed by extra exercises that I had to do or just a little chat with the teacher, but the boredom stayed and I straight up aced every test.

So last year they decided that I'd be finishing my sophomore year and then go straight to my senior year. In order for that to happen, I did need to catch up a little over summer, which I did and Taylor helped me with that.

She's my girlfriend, if you haven't figured that out yet. We have been the 'perfect couple' since we were 5. Really, since we were 5. I remember us sitting at our little lunch table around noon. And Taylor asking me if I wanted to be her boyfriend, because it'd be fun.

She was my best friend and keep in mind we were 5, so obviously I said yes. And well we kind of never broke up I guess. I haven't really had the need to date another girl, but I did like to be in a relationship, so I guess Taylor was the easy option.

I know I should tell her and I will. It's just that Taylor is not going to skip her junior year, so we won't have any classes together anymore. And I know I'm a horrible person for thinking this, but I'm hoping that her feelings will slowly start to fade over time. Because I always had the feeling she was more in love with me than I was with her and I felt bad because of that. If you could call whatever I feel for her love, like in more than a best friend way.

After peeing I went up to the sink to wash my hands. When I looked up into the mirror of Taylor's perfect little bathroom I was shocked. The hard blue bruise just below my cheekbone was almost visible.

While panicking I started to look through the drawers of Taylors huge amount of cupboards. The first drawer I opened was one full of hair stuff: hairsprays, some weird clips that I didn't know the use of, hairbrushes and lots more.

"Shit, shit, shit", I mumbled underneath my breath. Then I opened another drawer with an awful amount of lipsticks, mostly red. Then I finally found what I was looking for: concealer. I'm glad my sister told me all about this stuff and how to use it. I loved listening to Gemma.

Gemma is 4 years older than me, so she's a 20-year-old, studying at Sheffield Hallam University, to become a teacher in elementary school. She's gonna do great, I just know. So right now she is also packing her bags to go back to college tomorrow. I'm gonna miss her so bad.

While applying the concealer, pretty clumsy, but I was trying, I thought about yesterday night.

Flashback

So I lay there totally frozen underneath the sheets, with my eyes pinched shut, waiting for that terrifying sound of a front door being slammed shut. This Saturday it is at exactly 3 am. I'm not surprised anymore from a front door closing at 3 am. I already know it's my dad, Des Styles.

Even after 16 years I still had the tiniest bit of hope that he'd just go to sleep and not wake anyone. Although I knew that he's always totally plastered when he comes home from the pub. And when my dad is drunk he gets aggressive, very aggressive.

After around a minute I realize that I've been holding my breath since the time I heard the door close. While releasing it, I listen patiently. The first thing I hear is angry footsteps on the stairs.

I know that the stairs in our little home in Holmes Chapel, have fourteen steps. Dad has already made 4 which leaves 10 more before he's upstairs. And god knows what's gonna happen then.

9, 8, 7, 6- I'm terrified. It has only been a week since my dad got drunk for the last time. And my bruises were finally starting to fade.

5, 4, 3, 2- Obviously it hurt, but I didn't really care if I got beaten. No, what I did care about is when my mom, Anne or Gemma were beaten, which luckily happened less often.

1. He was upstairs. I waited patiently. Then I heard one of the things I was most scared of, my dad entered the room next to me, Gemma's room.

I consider what to do. Then I hear a loud voice: "You fucking bitch! Do you know how hard I work every fucking day for you to go to that stupid college?", Des yelled.

Oh, one of his favourite subjects when he was drunk. My dad is trying to make Gemma feel bad for leaving and going off to college. He has been doing so for 2 years now. He likes to rub it in how he has to work his ass off for this family and how Gemma and I, but mostly my mom just sit on our lazy bums all day. He is a marketing director at Quickdox, just a lot of stuff with papers.

I couldn't stand it when he said stuff like that. My mom is a hard-working housewife, with 2 children. She does all the chores. Gemma is studying full time and whenever she has the time she babysits. And besides my schoolwork, mostly on Saturdays, I work in a little bakery near my home.

So we could not be called lazy. "I am the one who always brings in the fucking money, am I not?", I hear my dad's muffled voice yell through the thin wall.

That's enough.

With my shaking hands down my sides, I get up out of bed. After contemplating if I should just let him burst out for a couple of minutes and hope it'll pass, I decide to go over there anyway. Even if it would make everything worse I, couldn't let Gemma go through it all by herself.

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Soooo chapter 1! I really hope you guys enjoyed it!

Please, if you have advice or a comment on the writing or story, let me know!

I'm so excited about this fanfiction and I hope you are too!

Lots of love and take care!

Xox Nora