Unhinged [h.s]

chapter 16

a/n: well hello there. i deeply apologize for going off the grid. A LOT has happened. but here i come with another update. f the publishing schedule, i'm just going to start publishing chapters as soon as i finish them. there's no point in waiting anymore. i hope you know i appreciate you if you're here and still reading. love you guys. new update coming very very soon i promise xo

The rest of the week goes by slowly. I haven't seen Harry once since Monday and it's currently Thursday. I'm not going to lie about the fact that I've been sneaking in and out of the gym the past couple days to avoid him. I'm still trying to figure him out but I think I've gotten a better handle on it now. I've been replaying everything he said to me on top of the roof that night.

After he closed himself off from me, we quietly made our way back to my office so he could grab his stuff. There weren't any staff to worry about as we were leaving, thank god, but there was still an unsettling energy the rest of the night. Before he left my office though, he made sure to remind me of his match that he wanted me to come to on Thursday. Tonight.

I had asked if I could braid his hair and he told me to come to his match on Thursday and he'd let me. I don't understand how he could be so rude and then flip emotions and feelings so easily to remind me to come to his stupid match. 

I'm still trying to get used to what he's like. I've never been friends with someone who acts the way he does, and that's scary. But today as I sat in class and let my mind feel heavily anxious about his fight tonight and how awkward it would be, I figured out a small snippet of how I'll have to act around Harry. I have to not care, which is easier said than done. I can't let myself get hurt about the way he treats me, considering he treats me better than 95% of people in his life right now. 

So, I've been trying not to care. I've been trying not to care about the fact that it's currently 5:15 on Thursday and I'm standing in the lobby of the gym, waiting on Harry freaking Styles to get here, and he hasn't shown up yet. I checked earlier in the day to see when he had scheduled the ring for, considering he hadn't told me a time. When I checked it said 5:00 PM, so I got here at 4, did some work in my office, and then came out here at 4:30, only to find that he hadn't shown up yet. 

"Hey," The coach of Harry's opponent pops out through the doorway to the gym, catching my attention as they speak to the receptionist, "If Styles isn't here and ready to fight by 5:30, we're calling it a fold." He says, as if any of us have any control of where Harry is and when he'll get here.

I tried texting Harry at 5, asking how late he'd be, but he didn't respond. And then I texted again 10 minutes later, to which got no reply. I decide to wait here until 5:30, for the sake of the other opponent, but if Harry doesn't show up then he doesn't show up. Not my fault. 

I just want to know why he's doing this. Why he'd schedule a fight he wasn't going to make it to, or invite me to a fight that he wasn't going to show up to. He was acting weird the last time we saw each other, but it didn't seem alarming. Harry being moody is not a shocker at this point.

Before I know it, the 15 minutes have passed and Harry's still not here. The coach and his fighter walk out into the lobby, all packed up to leave, talking about how fucked up it is that Harry didn't come, and I have to agree. 

They walk up to the staff members in the lobby. "Do you even know where he is?" He asks the man behind the desk. 

"No clue." He shrugs. "He's never done this before." It's the same man that knew my name on Monday when I was faking my injury. 

"Tell the fucker to not waste our money or time again." The coach says and struts out of the building, his boxer following behind like a baby duckling.