Take My Breath (KShaw)

Chapter 18

Things go back to normal. Not the way they had been before the holidays, but the way they'd been during the first couple weeks of school. Harry goes back to hating JJ for every single thing he does, and JJ goes back to hating every single thing Harry does. Every time one of them opens their mouth in the room, the other snaps at them for it. Every time JJ's stuff crosses the halfway line in their room, Harry throws a fit. Every time Harry is in the room when JJ gets there, JJ sneers and walks back out. And it's better this way.

"-see why he can't just clean up his fucking shit," Harry grumbles. "Like, is it that hard to pick up a sock every once in a while?" "Ask Ethan." Tobi smirks. "If he didn't have me, his room would be trashed." "It's true," Ethan agrees. "Tobi's my guardian angel." "Do you think I'm being unreasonable, though?" Harry asks, ignoring them. "Like, isn't it completely within the line to get pissed off because he's a slob?" "Depends," Ethan answers. "Are you naggy about it? Or do you politely ask him to maybe clean his stuff up once in a while?" Harry makes a face at him, the answer to that pretty fucking obvious. "Then you can't really blame him. And you realize he probably does it just to piss you off, right?" "Yeah, I'm aware." JJ does a lot of shit just to piss him off. And vice versa. "You've really made a mess of things," Ethan tells him. "Haven't you?" "Yeah, I'm aware."

Suddenly, without warning, Harry has two pairs of arms wrapping around him. Ethan squeezes him tightly, Tobi's hand rubs at his back, and it's nice, even if he can't breathe. Warm and comforting. What did he do to deserve these two? He's really not sure.

"Harry." Both of them release him just as suddenly as they'd hugged him. Harry looks up, frowning when he finds Simon standing in front of the couch the three of them are occupying. "Yeah?" "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Simon has his hands stuffed deeply in the pockets of a sweater, and he's got a pinched look on his face. It's such a contrast to how he normally looks, all sunny smiles and bright openness. Now he's cold and closed off. "Um." Harry looks between Ethan and Tobi for a moment before shrugging. "Sure." "Alone," Simon adds. Harry shrugs again and gets off the couch, following Simon through the common room, out into the stairwell. Simon leans against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and Harry stands there a little awkwardly.

"I like you," Simon says. "You know that, right? I think you're a good guy, Harry." "Uh, thank you." Harry frowns and shifts a little awkwardly on his feet. "I like you too." "So then maybe you could tell me what the fuck is going on with you and JJ," Simon says angrily. "Maybe. Because I'm pretty damn confused, and I hate seeing him upset." Harry takes a step back in surprise. "What?" "Don't play dumb, okay? I know you two were sleeping together." Harry swallows. He told Ethan and Tobi, so it's no surprise that JJ told Simon. He had every right to, right? As much of a right as Harry had telling his friends. "We're not anymore, though," Harry says quickly. "I know that." He can tell Simon's patience is wearing thin; he's tapping his foot impatiently against the ground, arms tightening around his middle. "What I wanna know is why. And what you did, because he won't talk to me about it, but he's been pretty fucked up the last couple weeks. Ever since we got back from break."

"He's the one who called it off," Harry says, more than a little defensive. Why does he get the feeling that Simon blames him for this? And Simon's wrong, too, because JJ's been fine the last couple of weeks. More than fine, really. Hell, every time JJ's in the room, he seems pretty freaking peachy to Harry. Especially considering he's usually got his girlfriend with him. Which Harry refuses to get jealous about. He's not jealous about it. Even those times when he walks in and JJ's got his shirt off and she's groping him and- Harry doesn't care. Only he does. And what's even worse is that she's nice. She's sweet and polite to Harry, and she always offers to leave when he comes into the room, because she respects that it's Harry's room as much as it is JJ's. And Harry honestly fucking likes her, but he wishes he didn't. He wishes he could hate her.