Woman | H.S.

SEVEN

TW: Talks of Trauma, Toxic Behavior

Harry Styles

I was worried about Alice.

She bails on me not even 5 minutes after I met her at the beach, and then she calls me, sounding extremely upset, telling me her cousin is taking her home.

It's been a few hours since everything happened, and I was starting to get anxious. Why I cared so much was beyond me, but I did. My finger has hovered over the call button for about 10 minutes, and I've been battling with my subconscious the entire time.

Maybe she finally realized the situation they were in and got scared. Maybe I said something. Maybe-

My ringtone yanked me from my internal conflict, and I saw Alice was calling me. I picked up immediately, not caring whether I seemed desperate by how fast I answered.

"Alice, Hi. Are you ok?" I asked, and I could hear heavy breathing on the other line.

"Hi, uhm." She cleared her throat, she must've been crying. "I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier this morning. It wasn't you, you didn't do anything." She said, and I sagged a bit in relief.

"You don't have to explain, Alice. I'm just glad you're safe." I said, and I heard her sniff through the phone.

There was a few minutes of silence, just listening to her sniffles and quiet crying.

"Can you come over?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know if that's a good idea." I frowned.

"Please," She whispered tearfully. "Nobody else is home and...I just need to talk, Harry."

I felt a crack in my heart as she spoke. She called me, out of anyone she could've called, she called me.

"Yeah, I can come over." I said, and she breathed out a shaky breath.

"I'll text you the address." She said, and hung up.

The way she sounded so small ignited a feeling in me I haven't felt for someone new in years, sympathy. I didn't know Alice, but from what i've gathered she did not deserve whatever was making her feel like this. Again, I don't know why I felt this for someone who was merely a fling, but I did. And if she needed me, I would go to her.

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I pulled up to the house that I assumed was her Aunts. I jogged up the white wooden stairs until I reached the raised porch. I hesitated before knocking on the door, stepping back a little.

A few moments later, the door opened, and Alice's tearsoaked face came into view.

"Hi." She sniffed, opening the door more so I could come in.

"What's wrong?" I asked, Alice shutting and locking the door behind us.

"Do you wanna sit on the roof?" She offered, completely ignoring my questions.

"Erm, sure. Whatever you want." I said, and she led me up two flights of stairs and into a room.

There were two beds, covered in ocean themed bedspreads and throw pillows. I also saw 3 suitcases exploding with clothes. I assumed this was where Alice and her friends were staying. I watched as she unlatched the window lock and pushed it open before climbing out of it. I followed suit and we climbed a bit until we were laying on the slanted roof of her aunt's beach house.

"So, you wanna tell me what happened today?" I said, and she sighed.

"I ran into my ex. On the way to the bathroom."

Her ex was here? In Myrtle Beach? Did she know? God, I needed to calm down, my head hurts.

"Oh. Is that it?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No, um. He tried to get me to go to lunch with him, and no matter how many times I declined, he just kept pushing. I tried to walk away but he grabbed my waist and practically forced me to go with him." She said, looking down at her lap. She was picking at the skin around her nails and I could see some of her fingers were bleeding.

I felt a sort of guilt start to build up, if I had offered to walk her to the restroom this never would've happened. Why didn't she call me? Who did this guy think he was?

"Why didn't you call me? I would've come and gotten you." I said, frowning.

"I called Hunter, my cousin." She said, looking up, but still not at me. "We've had a code phrase thing for like ever. You don't know what Jonah's like."

Jonah, that was his name. He's in for it if I ever see him around.

"He's extremely controlling, he hates not having control. He gets nasty, he plays dirty. Our breakup was unbelievably messy. But, I never fully cut contact with him. I don't really know why, but." She huffed, "Anyway, I called Hunter and pretended he was Lola. And then we went to Saltwater while I waited. He ordered me a drink that I didn't want, and he even tried to force me to leave my phone while I went to the bathroom." She laughed bitterly.

"He's crazy, Harry. He scares the crap out of me." She finished, and I clenched my jaw.

He touched her, scared her too. It's on sight, Jonah.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there, Alice. I should've went with you." I said in grief, and she shook her head.

"It's not your fault, it's nobody's fault really. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." She whispered, shrugging.

"You didn't deserve that, Alice." I gently grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me. "You didn't deserve that at all, sweetheart."

She blushed, trying to hide the smile that pulled at her lips.

"Kiss me please."

And so I did, I held her face in my hands like it was a priceless diamond, my thumbs pressing into her cheeks. We fell backwards so we were laying down on the roof, the sun setting all around us. She started to pull me on top of her until we were almost melting into each other. I kissed her lips sweet and slow, only pulling away to admire her.

"I know I already told you, but I can't stay away from you, Alice." I said quietly, our foreheads touching as we caught our breath.

"Who says you have to?" She said, smiling at me.

The moment was so pure, so special. I felt high on life and I never wanted to come down. She looked over to the sun setting on the horizon of the sea. The seagulls calling, the waves crashing on the sand, and our breathing was the only sounds in the air. We adjusted our position so we could lay there and watch the colors sink and dance.

"You know, I've never actually just sat and watched the sunset before." I told her.

She looked at me in shock.

"Really? Kaden and I used to do this all the time."

Kaden...has she mentioned that name before? I wanted to know who it was, but I didn't want to tarnish the moment, so I didn't. I just layed there, holding her, watching the sunset.

I'm done lying to myself, I do care about her. And that scares me.

A/N: AWEEEE BABIESSS!! I hope you liked this update, I thought a little comfort would be appreciated after our last update. Who do we think Kaden is? I love you guys - L <3