You Only Want Me When I'm Taken

Chapter 17

HARRY’S POV:

   I slumped grouchily on the couch after a long day of signings and interviews. I laid my head back trying to rub the headache off. I wondered what Emily would be doing right now at 7 P.M. on a Monday night. I missed her. Every atom in my body missed her. Tomorrow would be our two-month anniversary, and we wouldn’t even be together to celebrate it. It’s really weird though since we’ve only spent one week together when she came to visit me in L.A. ever since we started dating. We weren’t even allowed to be seen in public since management wouldn’t allow it, so we had to spend the whole week in the hotel. It was never this hard with Caroline, so why was distance such an issue with Emily?

  I knew she wasn’t complaining because she didn’t want to make me feel bad, but I knew how hard it was for her too. I grabbed my laptop switching it on so I can log onto Skype. I checked the contact list to see if she was online but she wasn’t which was weird because we’d agreed to Skype everyday at seven. I grabbed my phone and dialed her number.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hey” I said cheerfully “I miss you!”

  “I miss you too” she said half-heartedly.

  “What have you been up to lately?” I asked casually.

  “Oh, nothing much; I just have this family dinner I have to go to right now. I’ll call you when I get back home, okay babe?”

“Okay, sure” I said disappointed “I love—” she hung up before I could finish my sentence. I stared at my phone with confusion.

I laid on my bed and turned the television on deciding I would call Emily again in half an hour. I heard the lads coming in with the pizza. Niall and Louis were arguing about pizza, Liam was trying to calm them down, and Zayn was on the phone.

  I walked over to the living room ready to join the commotion when something caught my attention.

  “No, but seriously” Zayn was laughing on the phone “Nutella is WAY better than peanut butter! Don’t try to deny it, Emily!” So Zayn was on the phone with Emily. Wasn’t she supposed to ‘go to a family dinner’? She hung up on me to discuss the dilemma of Nutella and peanut butter with Zayn? My confusion turned into fury within a second. What the heck was up with Emily? I clenched my fist and returned to my room forgetting all about my hunger. I considered calling Emily again asking her what all of that was about, but why would I bother her when obviously she preferred talking to Zayn?

  I watched as the door knob turned and Zayn stepped in, unaware of me inside the room. He snickered one more time before speaking again “Okay, fine; you win. I’ll talk to you later, Em” he hung up then met my eyes. He froze for a couple of moments before scratching his neck “I didn’t see you there” he said sitting on the bed taking his shoes off. I glared at him although he couldn’t see me since I was facing his back.

  “So was that Emily on the phone?” I asked him playing dumb”

  “Um, yeah” he stuttered “She…um…wanted to know when we’ll be done with our concert tomorrow so we could all skype”

  “And Nutella and peanut butter were so relevant to the question, right?” I asked sarcastically. He turned to face me as I raised my eyebrows indicating that I knew that they weren’t really discussing the concert.

  “The conversation just sort of got carried away” he said “I’m really hungry” he said changing the subject quickly “Let’s go get some pizza”

  “No thanks” I said bitterly lying on my stomach “I lost my appetite”

  “Look man” he said “You can’t get mad about small things like this”

  “No offense” I said facing him again “But I don’t see how it’s any of your business” Zayn just looked at me remorsefully before walking towards the door and pulling it open.

   “You know,” he started “You shouldn’t take everything so negatively. Emily loves you and so do I. Just remember that before making unnecessary assumptions again” He got out of the room and shut the door behind him. I cooled down a bit, and the fury turned into guilt. I shouldn’t have taken out my stress on Zayn. Maybe he really was telling the truth. Plus, Emily and Zayn were really good…friends. I should trust both of them even though I’m a tad jealous of their relationship. I still didn’t get why Emily was acting like this though.

  I rested my head on the pillow as I drifted into deep sleep.

*

“HARRY” I heard someone yell as I forced my eyelids open “HARRRRRRY” I recognized the voice as Louis’. What did he want now at 8 AM on a day off? I stuffed my head under a pillow hoping I can fall asleep again “HAAAAARRRRRRRY” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

  “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I yelled with a groan as I got out of bed. I found Louis and the rest of the boys gathered around the breakfast table with goofy smirks on their faces “What do you want?” I asked again rubbing my eyes.

  “We have a surprise for you” Louis beamed mimicking a TV host “But you have to do some tricks for us before we grant you with the special surprise”

  “Guys” I started “It’s 8 AM, I’m dead tired, and I want to go back—”

  “Alright!” Louis interrupted “Stand on one foot”

 “What?”

“Just do it, man!” Niall said stifling a laugh. I stood on one foot playing along with their little joke.

“Now turn around in circles” Liam added.

 “I’m not gonna—”

  “YOU HAVE TO, HAROLD” Zayn yelled fake crying.

  “What the heck is wrong with you guys?” I asked running out of patience. I opened my mouth to speak again when I felt two hands covering my eyes. I could tell that they were tiny hands and that the person behind me was way shorter than me. I placed my hands on the person behind me’s. It only took me two seconds to realize who that person was from the feeling of my hands on hers. I turned around and grabbed Emily as tight as I can, spinning her around in circles.