Trace

Chapter 47

  My heart freezes in my chest. I look at the girl in front of me, the girl who I had thought was a nice enough while on the plane. 

  Realisation seems to crawl down her face as she stares back at me.

"You are El? The El??"

   I don't say anything, but grit my teeth. 

She then laughs loudly and stumbles back a little in her drunken state. Much to my unlikings, Harry catches her by the arm to prevent her from falling, and I feel both anger and jealousy boil up inside of me at the sight of his arm around her. 

   "What are you doing here?" I snap. 

Her eyes widen in amusement as she stands back on her feet. "Well, I'm sure you remember our conversation on the plane, love," she giggles. 

   It's takes all of me to not slap her horrendous face as she flutters her eyelashes at Harry. 

    "You can't be serious," I mutter.

Harry looks down at me with a confused look on his face, but I scowl at him. 

  Gretchynn furrows her eyebrows. "Wait. . .you two are still together??"

Switching roles, it is I who wraps my arm around Harry protectively for once, claiming what is mine.

   "Why wouldn't we be?" I demand shortly. 

Gretchynn throws her head back and releases another awful laugh. "Harry Styles! What has this girl made of you?" she cackles.

   I get angrier and angrier at the silence of Harry. Why the fuck isn't he saying anything to stick up for me?

   "I never thought one of your relationships would ever last this long- what's your secret, El?" she winks.

  Gretchynn picks up a mug full of beer from a stand next to her. "You aren't even that trampy. On the plane, you looked like a little school girl!" she takes a swig of the alcohol, "but you're looking sexier now."

   I ball my hands into a fist. "Why the hell would you think I would be 'trampy'?"

She takes another gulp of the ale, quizzacly looking at Harry. "Have you not seen Harry's ex-girlfriends and flings?"

  My throat feels dry.  "No."

She laughs pulling out her phone. Harry tenses in my tight grip. 

  "Gretchynn," he says quickly, "what are you doing?"

She types something in her phone. "Searching your Facebook of course," she explains, like it's the obvious answer. 

  "Harry doesn't even have a Facebook," I state matter of factly. 

Gretchynn raises her eyebrows at me. "Yes he does. . ."

    I remove my arm from around Harry and glare up at him. His expression is nervous. 

"Gretchynn, put that away," he demands. 

  She only laughs. "Don't you think El deserves to see your past girlfriends? It's not like it means anything; you told me you loved her that one night," she chuckles to herself, still completely oblivious to my awareness of what feels like everything. 

  My stomach churns. "What night?" 

Gretchynn tears her eyes away from her phone screen to glance at Harry. "You didn't tell her?" 

 Harry bounces on of his knees nervously. "Why the fuck would I tell her that, Gretch?"

   All of a sudden, I feel terribly lightheaded.