Lockdown | Harry Styles | AU

Chapter 46

3 Weeks Later...

Aubrey opened the front door to her flat to find Harry standing there. His depressed eyes brimming with emotion. Shoulders hunched over, a look of pure misery carved across his handsome face.

He looked like fucking death.

Like he had been dug up from his own grave.

His skin lifeless. His body appearing gaunt and tired.

It actually shocked Aubrey at how awful he looked. Her lips parting in surprise when their gaze met.

She didn't know someone so goddam beautiful could look so... absolutely terrible.

His hair was mattered and greasy, hands trembling, his stare bloodshot and engulfed by dark circles. His clothes looked wrinkled and dirty, like he hadn't even bothered to change let alone shower for god knows how long.

But even despite his awful appearance, just seeing him again made Aubrey's heart race. Her skin flustering and nerves utterly shot.

She hadn't seen Harry since the night she left the restaurant after storming off. The night that Dakota found out about them and Harry's life turned upside down.

And even though Harry had felt sickening PTSD walking down the hallway towards Aubrey's flat, he actually felt excited to see her again. He felt... happy. His chest hummed with excitement, his stomach sparkling to life.

Maybe he was still buzzed from the alcohol that still lingered in him from the night before?

But Aubrey didn't feel excited or happy.

She felt nothing but pain and anxiety just texting Harry to ask him to come over. Especially since last time he came round it was the night of the blow up, when in his blind drunk state he had spontaneously turned up at her door to try and see her. However Cleo and Sofia were quick to turn him away.

Aubrey was just hoping he was sober this time.

"Thanks for coming." She finally mumbled stepping aside so Harry could enter her flat.

"Thanks for inviting me." Harry responded, rough and glum. His throat horse from whiskey and cigarettes, as well as the many lines of coke he had done that week. His teeth chewing on his bottom lip as he passed Aubrey in order to cross over the threshold into her apartment.

Aubrey could smell the old booze on him, like his body had absorbed so much it was now seeping out of his pores. She could also tell that he hadn't been looking after himself, the smell of his body odor battling with the scent of alcohol.

Once Aubrey closed the door behind them they both silently made their way into the living room, awkwardly sitting on the couch while keeping their distance. Like two complete strangers about to have an awkward conversation.

The way they acted so alien towards each other, it was like no intimacy had been shared between them. As though they hadn't broken each others hearts. Like they hadn't fucked each other senseless. Kissed passionately. Held one another for hours. Laughed together.

They were so haunted by their relationship that the shock had now made them both numb.

Every toxic trait they had.