Woman | H.S.

THIRTEEN

Harry Styles

I hissed as Alice dragged me with her into the cold ocean.

"Ah, that's freezing." I said, still being pulled in deeper and deeper.

Alice finally let go of my hand and let herself fall backwards into the waves. She reemerged with a smile on her face.

"It feels amazing." She said, "You're a big baby."

"I am not." I scoffed, crossing my arms.

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, c'mere you." I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder, jogging farther into the water. Once I found a deep enough spot, I fell backwards with Alice in tow.

She laughed when she broke through the surface, splashing me.

"You got water up my nose!" She complained.

I shrugged with a smirk and she huffed, splashing me again.

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"You don't say much about your parents." I said to Alice, and she hummed.

We didn't stay in the water for much longer, instead we retreated back to our spot and laid in the sun.

"There isn't really much to say. My mom and I talk, but we aren't necessarily close. And my dad is pretty much a ghost, he pops up every now and then. Birthdays, holidays, all that stuff. He left not long after my little brother died." She said, sighing, "I remember coming home after everything and seeing him around for 2 weeks before my parents got in a pretty big fight. He left the next morning and my parents got a divorce right after."

"That must've been hard." I said and she shrugged.

"My dad was never really present even when he was around, if that makes any sense. We never had a special bond or anything like that. He was always holed up in his office or on a business trip."

"That's how it was with my dad, he was either working or gone."

Alice nodded, "It was really difficult, especially after my brother and all that. I remember in 5th grade, about a year later, there was a daddy-daughter dance and that was the only thing all my friends would talk about. My dad promised he would take me, so my mom got me a dress and curled my hair. I even got to wear her lipstick. I sat on the porch all night, watching for his truck." She laughed, but I could hear the sadness in it. "He got an earful from my mom after that one."

I was about to reply but my phone rang. I saw Zayn's name pop up on my screen.

"Sorry love, I gotta take this." I said and she gave me a smile.

I walked a few steps away and answered.

"Hey Z, I'm at the beach with Alice, is it urgent?"

"Yeah mate, it's pretty urgent." Zayn said, and his tone made me nervous.

"What's going on?"

"There's a house party tonight and you're expected to be there with a few last minute shipments." He said and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Uh, ok. That doesn't sound very urgent, Z."

"Yeah, well whoever called in the orders wants Alice there for some reason." He said nervously.

"What the hell are you talking about? No, that's not happening, those parties get out of control."

"I already tried to get her out of it, H. They aren't budging."

"God dammit." I muttered to myself. "Fine, send me the details."

"Alright. I'm sorry mate, I tried." He said.

"It's fine, just-" I huffed in frustration, "Just get me the information." I said and hung up.

I knew that day Alice was seen with me during that deal she'd be strung up in this somehow, but now it's actually happening. And honestly, I'm pissed off. This industry screws everyone over somehow in some way.

But the texts Alice got after the carnival was shot up is putting me on edge.

My phone buzzed with a text from Zayn.

Z- 11pm, Brownstone St.

You'll know which house.

Bag is at the BnB already.

I replied with a thumbs up and walked back over to Alice.

"Hey, you look stressed. What was the call about?"

"I can't tell you right now." I said and she raised her eyebrows, but nodded.

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"I'm so burnt." Alice called from the kitchen.

We had driven back to her Aunt's after realizing how burnt we got from the short time in the sun.

I was laying on the couch, smothered in aloe. Going to the party tonight was gonna be difficult. I told Alice on the drive here, and seeing how calm she was about the whole thing helped me relax a bit. She told me she's been to plenty of parties, especially ones with drugs, and this one would be no different. And I'm hoping she's right.

She walked back in with 2 plates, a sandwich with chips on each. She placed them on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch next to me, sitting with her legs crossed.

She flipped through a few movies on Netflix before aggressively turning to face me.

"Have you ever seen Gnomeo and Juliet?" She asked and I shook my head.

Her jaw drops and she turns on Amazon Prime, searching for the movie and turning it on.

"We're watching this." She says and I nodded, extremely confused.

"What exactly is this?" I ask, and she starts rambling on about a Gnome version of Romeo and Juliet.

"So they dig out these old lawn mowers and then they-" The doorbell rang and Alice huffed, pausing the movie before getting up to answer it.

"Lil! Ireland's here!" She called, and I got up to greet Niall as well.

"Oh hey mate, I thought you two were at the beach." He said.

"We were, we forgot sunscreen and got burnt so our trip was cut short." I said.

"Ahh."

Lilith came down the stairs and we made room for her to walk out on the porch.

"You look beautiful." He said and Alice fake gagged.

"Ok ok, I'm gonna vomit. Go on, Lil." She said, pushing her out the door. Niall smiled, holding out his hand for Lilith to take.

"Bye Alice, bye Harry." He said and we waved before closing the door.

"Niall has a motorcycle?" She asked.

"We all do."

"Hm, that's cool." She said, walking back over to the couch and unpausing the movie.

"Anyways, they race the lawnmowers and..."

A/N: HEY BROCHACHOS!! Here's chapter 13 for you, NEXT CHAPTER IS THE PARTAY!! LOVE YOU ALL!