Theirs- Completed

Chapter Thirty

"Hey Lil." 

"Hi. Um. Are you still at work?" 

"Yeah, I was about to head into a meeting with Erica. Where are you? It sounds busy." 

"It um. It is. I'm outside." 

"Well yeah I guessed that from the traffic." He snickered. 

"No Harry, I'm in London, outside the office. Can you drive me home please? Like home home. I know it's a big ask-" 

"Lil- wha- Why are you in London?" I sniffed. "Are you okay?" 

"I- um- I'll be fine. Just don't tell Erica I'm back. I'll call her when we're out of the way. I just don't need her trying to fix this right now." 

"Okay. Hold on." There was a bunch of shuffling behind the phone before his voice came out muffled. "Erica, I've got an emergency that I need to deal with right now and I probably won't be in tomorrow, I have to go right now though." I could hear her complaining at him. "I know. I'm taking my laptop, I'll work on it outside. I'll be back in as soon as I can but- Thanks Erica. You're the best."  The silence went on. I could hear him rushing through the office, the ring of the bell indicating he was coming down in the lift. "I'm coming Lil. 2 minutes okay?" I nodded. I don't know why, it's not like he could see me. I was just struggling with words right now. I felt like everyone's eyes were on me. I hated that feeling. A feeling like I was being judged for just existing. 

I was still wearing the same dress I had put on this morning. I just wanted my trackies right now. I didn't feel cute. I didn't want to make people stare. I just wanted to fade into the background. Go unnoticed. I never wanted to be noticed. 

"Lil!" Harry came running out of the lift, pulling his bag over his head, only partially zipped up. The second he was close enough he wrapped me into a hug and I started crying again. "Okay. I got you. You're okay. You're okay. I've got you Lil. I'm right here."  He held me like that until I slowed down crying, lifting off me and grabbing 2 suitcases, nodding in the direction of where he usually parked at the pack of the building. 

We put the suitcases in the back of the car in silence. Just me breathing and sniffing as I tried to stop myself begging for more attention. Then as soon as we were in the car, he pulled off. He knew I didn't want to wait around. I wanted to be on the move. It was going to be late by the time we got up to my parents'. Probably about 11pm or midnight. He'd have to satay the night but he could make it into work just a little late. If he sets off at 8am he'd get in for 1pm. I'd give him a paid half day. Fuck what Erica wants to do. 

"So. You're home like 2 and a half months early." I riffled through the smaller of my bags, pulling out my hoodie and a pair of sweats I just so happened to pack in here when I was throwing everything together. Once I had what I needed, I put the bag back into the rear seats, pulling the trackies on quickly. 

"Don't look." He nodded and I quickly pulled the dress off, over my head and replaced it with my hoodie. "Okay." He looked back as I screwed the dress up and put it in the back, getting more comfortable. I already felt a little safer just changing out of the dress. 

"So?" 

"I told him." 

"Told who what?" 

"I accidentally told him I loved him. Robin. Sophia posted a load of photos of me for my birthday today and-" 

"Today's your birthday?" He was looking between me and the road quickly. I nodded and he sighed. 

"She posted and I went to go kick off at him and told them I was leaving, he followed me out and I said I had no reason to stay. He wanted me to stay for him. And I was like, stay for you? You're the one who's made it so I can't fucking stay. The comments on the post Harry, they're fucking horrible. They're calling me things I didn't even know had meanings like how they're saying them. I can't stand there and watch him with her, have these comments. I've been there what like less than 2 weeks and he's done nothing but pick. I had something fun with Will and he started acting like some kind of bodyguard. Then on Friday, I almost got this sense that he liked me back." 

"What?" 

"Yeah. I'd worn a dress that day right. A normal sun dress and he got an attitude like I was walking around in my fucking underwear. Then Will asked me out to Lunch and he's all, no she has plans. And we had a full blown argument that I ended up walking away from." 

"Erica kind of mentioned something about that." 

"Right? It got worse after I hung up on her too." I turned in my seat facing him and getting angry as I retold him. "So I spent the day working and then me and Sophia hung out and got ready and just before we left we were taking my birthday picture. You know the one my mum has like all down her hallway. And the boys were laughing and he just bent down and whispered in my ear that I looked good, then he kissed my cheek lie a lot harder than normal, had his hand on my hip and everything. Then when the other boys moved to look at it, he just stood there, but he held onto me tighter and wouldn't let me leave. I looked up at him and he just had this look on his face." 

"A look on his face?" I sighed. 

"Yeah, it was like, proud, but like sad kind of but happy at the same time. I don't know. And his fingers, they weren't still, he was drawing on my hip, you know like you used to on the bottom of my back. Like that's an intimate thing right? That's not something you do to a friend. But his girlfriend was literally 6 feet away so I pulled myself away from him and tried to stay out of his way. Honestly, I'd been getting over it. Like with you and then how things were going with Will and him being so overbearing. I was just getting the ick but then Friday, I just-" I laid my head back as we pulled up at a red light. "I realised it's not something that's going to go away that easily. So I had to put some distance between us and I carried on with Will, I kind of wanted him to keep getting pissed at me and for us to argue becuase I felt like I'd have a reason to stop then and maybe that would help right? Does that make sense?" 

"It makes sense Lil. You wanted to be mad at him becuase being angry is easier than being sad." 

"Exactly." I nodded. "But then she posted that and I couldn't stay, right. That's what we agreed. If she fucked up, I left. So I'm walking out and he follows me and we stand in this alley way screaming at each other and it just falls out. That I can't sit around anymore when it should be me. And then I left. I told him I loved him and I turned around and almost ran away I was walking that fast. He didn't chase after me just shouted that I can't leave like that." 

"But you left anyway?" 

"I left anyway." I nodded and pulled the hood over my head, pulling the strings and letting out a loud groan against my arm. "He didn't even make a happy birthday post, didn't text me, didn't say it. Nothing. He hasn't text me since I left, hasn't text me in over a week. I mean, I know I've been with him, but even this weekend, I haven't seen him, I've been with Will. He hasn't text me even a 'hi' like he normally does. No TikToks, no reels, no memes. Nothing. Just radio silence. Like, how am I supposed to know what he's thinking. He's so fucking hot and cold. He might as well have kissed me on Friday with how he was acting. Even in the clubs, he was staring at me. His girlfriend was literally grinding on him, and he's watching me.  And then he just ghosts me? I don't understand. I'm so fucking confused." 

Harry put a hand on my knee, squeezing as we hit the motorway. I didn't know anymore. The past 2 months had been so confusing. I just didn't know what to do, or what not to do, where I should or shouldn't be looking, who was or wasn't right for me. I think I just needed to give myself a little bit of a break from it all. 

"I need to call Erica." I sighed. 

"Yeah, she was pretty pissed at me." I put my hand on his. 

"Sorry Haz. I didn't mean to drag you into this mess. I just really need to go home and my cars there." He nodded. 

"It's fine Lil. I've always got your back. You know that."