Was it All an Accident? (A Harry Styles Fan Fiction, Book Three)

Aftermath (Part Two)

(Whytnie’s POV)

“Yo,” I reply and answer the door. It’s Emily, not Caleb. Huh, I’ve never known Caleb to be late. But I don’t dwell on that fact any longer since Emily’s in tears standing at my doorstep. What in the world? The rumors couldn’t have been that true, could they? “Emily?” Yeah, brilliant of me to say. I quickly usher her inside, showing her to the living room, with Zander’s art fully on display. “What happened?”

            “H-Have you h-heard?” Her head is in her hands and she won’t look up at me as she falls back onto the sofa. My black and brown cat at the other end of the sofa hisses a little bit before jumping off and trotting out of the room.

            “Only what people tell me.” I sit down next to her as she leans in closer to me. I start playing with her hair, hoping it’ll calm her down. My T.V. is on mute as it plays out the commercials, I hadn’t changed the channel yet.

            “I d-don’t kn-know!” She continues to sob. I take a deep breath as Niall’s face pops up on the T.V.

            “Well, maybe Niall does.”

            “No!” she screams out as I unmute the television. I give her a confused look as she glares at me, but immediately stops when Niall starts talking.

            “…No, there isn’t really anything to say.” He shrugs, his whole demeanor showing how indifferent he really felt about this whole thing. “Some people saw Emily and I fight and it ended up snow balling into an avalanche.” He shrugs. “Emily and I are still very close.” Very close, huh? Not together or anything like that? “People have just started to overreact. It’s nothing big, I can assure you.” Niall smiles at the camera. Wait, did he…?

            Nothing big, huh? Does that mean something?

            “I don’t wanna watch this,” Emily complains trying to get at the remote, but I throw it across the room and the back of it comes off as the batteries roll away. But neither of us goes after it, instead we keep watching the television.

            “So what you’re telling me is that you and Emily haven’t broken up?” Niall nods, although he does seem to waver whether or not he should. Emily must’ve noticed it if I did. “So if you haven’t broken up, then is the rumor about you proposing true?”

            “No.” He kind of smiles to himself. “Not yet, anyway.” It’s like he’s trying to make a joke. But who is it to? Nobody seems to understand him. Or well, I don’t, I guess. I’m not so sure where Emily stands right now. She hasn’t even told me what the fight was even about! I thought we were friends!?! Nah, you got to realize that Emily and I are alike in that way. When we’re ready to talk we will.

            “Are you thinking about it?”

            “Eventually? Yeah.”

            “So you two are still going strong?”

            “Pretty much.” He smiles at a few girls in the crowd who cry out like they just won the lottery or something. “Emily and I, well, we get each other, ya know?”

            No, I guess I don’t know. If you really “get each other” then why is she in my living room crying her eyes out!?!

            A knock at the door disturbs the eerie quiet that settled over my entire house. Emily doesn’t move, just keeps staring at the television. I sigh and go answer the door.

            “Yo,” I say and lean against the door frame. Caleb stands on the other side, his suitcase and backpack beside him. There’s a little knowing smile on his face and he immediately reaches out and hugs me. “Not too tight, Caleb!” I reply and laugh. He pulls away still smiling.

            “Whytnie! How have you been? There’s only so many phone calls and Skype dates I can handle without seeing the real you!” He kisses me on the cheek. “Man, it’s like your glowing!” I hit him on the shoulder and roll my eyes. He’s being overdramatic. “I just can’t believe you’re going to be a mother, you know?” He shakes his head as if the thought ages him. “Man, it has been too long!”

            Smiling, I open the door wider to let him in. As soon as the door shuts behind him, I say, “Yeah, I’ve missed my best friend.” He and I share a look. “So how is Cori?”

            “She’s good.” He shrugs. “Can’t wait to come up and visit you again. She absolutely adores you, you know?” I roll my eyes. “What? I’m not lying. She believes you’re an amazing person.”

            “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I shake my head but don’t lose my smile. “Way better than the last one.”

            “Tell me about it.” I lead him into the living room, where a commercial about some new cool car coming out. Emily was leaning back into the sofa, still staring at the television like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. My mouth opens to say something, but her phone’s ringtone shatters the silence. She glances down at the screen and pushes the phone away. Caleb and I both share a look before trying to get a closer look as to who was calling her.

            Big surprise there! It’s Niall.

            “Don’t you think you should answer it?” I ask as I sit down on the other side of her phone. Caleb drops his bags off by the wall before coming around to kneel in front of Emily.

            “Can’t be that bad, can it?” Caleb asks.

            “You have no idea, Caleb,” Emily replies.

            “Do you love him?” I ask. She looks over at me, her eyes still red and her mascara was smeared.

            “Y-Yeah…”

            “Then you need to take this phone call.” I hand her the phone and this time she takes it out of my hand. She gazes down at it like it’s going to burn her before shaking herself and answering the phone.

            “Yo?” she answers kind of quiet and not at all like her usual welcoming tone. She listens for a few moments before looking back up at me and giving me a small smile before she turns and walks out of the room.

            “Do you think she’s going to need brownies to cheer her up?” I give him a look, and he sheepishly shrugs back at me. “What? I’m just saying! It’s for her!” He laughs. “It’s just that you make the best brownies, Whytnie, and I couldn’t wait to come back here and eat some.”

            Rolling my eyes, I reply, “Why are you making this all about you?”

            “So is that a no on the brownies?” This time I laugh with him. He’s such a dork, I swear.

            “Fine! Jeesh, tie my arms behind my back, will ya?”

            “We’ll say they’re for Emily!” He helps me up and I give him a skeptical look. “After all, who doesn’t like brownies?”

            Shaking my head, I lead Caleb towards the kitchen while we let Emily work out her own problems. They’ll work everything out, I know they will. That’s how they are. Niall wouldn’t let her go, not without a fight. That much is obvious. So the brownies might not come with a sob fest, unless I can get Caleb to watch that new romance movie that came out. He’s a big crier at movies, no matter how much he tries to hide or deny it.