Boys like you *Harry Styles*

Chapter 26

I slammed my room door over behind me as my dad angrily followed me up stairs. He was screaming loudly, but I had managed to block out all sound. I was numb and unfocused, unable to concentrate on anything other than Harry. I had been so cruel with my use of words, and they had been haunting me ever since they left my mouth. He was nothing like Charlie. Nothing like him, at all. I threw myself down on my bed, my legs hanging over the edge. It was then that I felt the sudden urge to burst into tears, but not a single drop of water fell from my cold eyes; like I was finally all out of tears, and that itself, was something of a relief.

My dad crashed into the room, my eyes watching him intensity as his cracked lips moved, but still I heard no sound. I smiled, inwardly laughing at his anger, with no idea as to why it amused me the way it did. Maybe I was loosing me mind. I mean, it sure seemed that way. I constantly felt like I was falling into a bottomless pit, and no amount of strength could get me out of it. I could see a vision of myself in my mind-- tiny and frail, clawing my way to the surface, only to be knocked back down.

"Shut up." I mumbled, slowing rising to my feet as he paused in shock. I had never said anything bad, or rude to my dad.

"Just shut the fuck up, please." I choked, shaking my head from side to side as Harry's voice rung in my ears. I love you, Scarlet. Please, don't leave me.

My dad stepped forward, roughly taking my wrists in his hands as all sound came rushing back. I looked up at him and gasped, he was hurting me; physically and emotionally. I knew what he was about to say, and I already knew what my reply would be.

"You've not to see that boy again, do you hear me?" He screeched, and only now could I see Becky, Aunt Kathy, and my mum watching on from the top of the stairs.

"I hear you," I whispered, breathlessly; wincing as he released my wrists from his tight and unforgiving wrists.

"Good." He mumbled, slowly walking towards the door.

"But...i will see him again, and you can't tell me otherwise." I insisted, standing up to my dad for the first time in my life. It felt strangely empowering -- like, finally I was my own person, only I wasn't, was I? I was Harry's, and I wanted to be -- but I couldn't help but think that, that made me weak, and weak was something I never wanted to be.

He turned to face me with a stunned expression, and suddenly my anger had reached boiling point. His lips parted to speak, but I cut him off before he even had the chance. "You can't just show up here after six months of nothing. Not even a fucking birthday card, or a phone-call. I haven't seen you since the day mum and I left, and then you show up, drunk, and think you can tell me that I can't see my own boyfriend? Who the hell do you think you are? Harry made a mistake tonight," I whimpered, suddenly reliving the memory of his angry and unforgiving face. "Actually, he's mad a lot of mistakes, but he owns them, you make mistakes, too, dad. We all do."

"I'm just that, Scarlet, your dad. And he is nothing but a little, good-for-nothing toerag." He hissed coldly, like the though of me being with Harry disgusted him deeply.

I clenched my fists by my sides, wincing gently when I felt my sharp fingernails dig into my already broken skin. I could feel a dribble of blood make it's way across my palm, and it strangely felt good to bleed; it reminded me that I, for now, was still alive and breathing. "You're no dad to me." I breathed, feeling nothing.

"Scarlet!" My mum warned, only now brave enough to step into the room.

"It's true." I screamed, throwing my hands in the air, my anger shaking me to the core. "He never has been. He's a lying, cheating, drunk and his carelessness killed my little brother! You killed him. You. You were drunk and you got behind that wheel, you killed him, you killed me. You took away the one person that I loved, and I wont let you take me away from Harry."

I heard a faint knock on the front door, but I ignored it and stared my dad down while Becky ran down the stairs. My mum stepped in front of my dad, pushing him backwards as his eyes filled with rage. He knew what I said was true, but he still couldn't admit it. Maybe the way I said it was harsh, but someone had to tell him the truth. He deserved to feel guilt. I wanted him to feel guilt.

"Get out!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and when he refused, I began to throw my belongings on the floor: The bedside lamp, the smiling family photos, and the laptop he bought me out of shame, hoping an expensive gift would make up for lost time.

"Scarlet, are you ok?" A familiar voice filled my ears, and when I looked up, I saw Liam and Jennifer standing in the hallway. Liam looked concerned, but Jennifer looked like she had just witnessed a bloody and brutal murder.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, my voice strangled and sore as I desperately tried to compose myself.

"Zayn sent us, he said you weren't answering your phone." Jennifer mumbled, her eyes desperately searching mine.

"What? Why is Zayn calling me? What's wrong?" I panicked, rushing forward.

Liam looked to the ground, and Jennifer swayed nervously on the spot. "It's Harry. He was upset about your fight, and then he got a phone-call form..." She shivered, trembling in what seemed to be fear.

"From who?" I asked, my tone high and demanding.

"Archie." She stated. "From prison, saying that he's getting out tomorrow, and that he's coming..."

"To get revenge for what happened to Dylan?" I whispered, finishing her sentence as she nodded, nibbling nervously on her lower lip. I charged forward. "Where is he?"

"At his house. Zayn is with him, apparently he's gone mad, lashing out and drinking himself senseless...praying." Liam added, smiling at me in attempt to put me at ease.

"Praying?" I gasped, why would Harry be praying? He wasn't at all religious.

"That you would come back to him." Jennifer whispered painfully, as though she could feel the pain I felt as she said the words.

"I never left him. We just had a silly little fight, I - He - Does he really think that I would just walk away?" I mumbled to myself, heartbroken at the thought. Didn't he trust me with his heart?

My dad reached his hand out, blocking my path. I looked up at him in disgust and tore his arm away, shoving past him before I hurried down the stairs, unable to be stopped.

Jennifer and Liam followed, trying to calm me with kind words, but it was no use. I was sad and I was angry and I was confused and I was broken. I was loosing my once strong mind. But I guess I lost it a long time ago, and only now had I truly realized how weak and needy I had become. It was sad really, tragic in a way.



My feet moved at an unusual rapid pace as my heart raced with urgency. I came to a halt and gasped, looking up to see Harry's house in darkness. Liam bumped into me, and apologized repeatedly as he place his gentle hands on my shoulders. Jennifer was silent, and she had been since we left my house; she was keeping something from me, but I didn't have the energy to ask her what it was. I breathed in deeply and focused my eyes when I saw the front door swing open. Zayn stood at the door, sighing in defeat as blood poured from his nose. I felt like I was living in a soap-opera, there was no way my life could really be this tragic. I walked up the pathway, holding back a strangled sob as I remembered one of my earliest memories of Harry. I was laying down on his driveway, looking up at the sky, and I remember the one star that stood out to me--the dark one, the one that reminded me of Harry. It was the darkest, but it was still the most beautiful. It was the one that made my heart swell with indescribably feelings, feelings that I only ever felt around Harry. I knew what the feeling was, it was love. Unconditional, unhealthy, and dangerous love. The kind that takes over and slowly drives you insane.

I looked up at the sky, hoping that maybe the star would still be in it's rightful place; but it was not. Instead it was hidden by the thick layer of winter snow that now fell from the dark blue sky. I reached out my hand, closing my eyes over as the snow slipped through my fragile fingers, much like my life was. And I was powerless to stop it. Charlie controlled everyone and everything, we were just to frightened to admit it, because admitting it would be like admitting defeat. And I'm not quite ready for my life to end, just yet.

I shook the thoughts from my head and hurried up the small amount of stairs that lead to the front door. I came to a stop, sighing heavily as I looked at Zayn's bloody face. "He hit you?" I mumbled.

He shrugged effortlessly, seeming unaffected. "I deserved it."

"I doubt that," I whispered, "Is he ok?"

"No, Scarlet. He's not ok. None of this is ok. We're all just pieces in Charlie's' sick game, and now the added stress of Archie, and he thought you had left him for good...he may act strong, but he's not. He-"

"He didn't kill Dylan. I know he didn't do it. And as for me leaving him, I wouldn't," I trembled, shuddering at the thought of him broken and alone. "I couldn't." I whispered, slowly pushing past him.

"He's in his bedroom." Zayn whispered, closing the front door over once Jennifer and Liam stepped inside. I smiled weakly, watching on as they made their way into the living area.

My hand gripped the banister tightly, but my body felt heavy and strength-less. I pulled myself up the stairs slowly, one by one, wincing when I heard the sound of faint and pain filled sobs. Knowing he was hurting killed me, perhaps a little more than it should have. I came to a stop outside his bedroom, but burst inside when I heard the sound of shattering glass. The bottle of vodka landed on the floor, bits of glass flying around the room effortlessly as the clear liquid stained his bedroom wall. He was sat at the end of his bed, the bed we had spent many beautiful nights in. He was curled into a ball, knees to his chest; rocking back and forth like a small and frightened child.

"Harry." I whispered, approaching him slowly and with caution.

"Get out of my head." He pleaded, looking up and out of his window; his back to me. "If you won't bring her back to me, please, just keep her out of my head."

"Harry," I croaked, swallowing down the lump in my throat as I took a large step closer, my feet now one step away from him. "I'm not in your head, I'm here. I'm right here."

I reached my hand down and wrapped my fingers around his soft curls. He slowly turned to face me, his eyes wide and glazed and tear filled as his arms swung around my legs. He held me close, so tightly I thought he would never let go. He sobbed lowly. "Sorry. I'm so sorry. I won't tell anyone about Lana and Louis. Please, just don't leave me. Don't leave me." He repeated his words over and over and over again.

"I was never going to leave you, Harry. And it make me sad to think that you think that I could walk away from you so easily. Don't you trust me?" I asked, crouching down to his level as he released me from his tight and needy grip.

"I don't trust myself. I'm a fuck up and I always have been, but I can't loose you." He breathed, his jaw tensing as he reached out his bloody hand, wiping his bloody knuckles across my cheek.

I looked across the room to see that his mirror was shattered into a million pieces, his blood smeared across it from where he had cut his hand, punching it with force. I shook my head and turned my gaze back to him.

"You won't. You won't loose me, so stop trying to. Stop doing things that push me away, stop being scared of this." I demanded. "Of us. You won't mess it up, Harry."

He leaned forward, and without warning pushed his swollen lips against mine. His taste and touch was so familiar. It was the place I know knew as home. "I fucking love you. So much. So, so much. You need to believe me when I say I didn't kill Dylan. Archie is going to come after me, and I don't care, as long as you believe me." He panicked, his dark green eyes desperately searching mine.

"I believe you." I insisted, wrapping my fingers around his, unfazed by the blood on his hands.

"You don't understand. I want to tell you, but I promised I wouldn't." He mumbled, unable to meet my gaze. "They had to believe I did it, they had to."

"Wait, what?" I gasped. "Promised who, what? What do you mean, Harry? TELL ME?" I screeched, catching his face in my hands.

"I know who did it. I was there." He breathed shakily, and just then, they room light flicked on.

I looked up and squinted my eyes to see Jennifer standing by the door, Harry's eyes now pleading with her, almost like they were begging for release. Liam and Zayn hurried up the stairs, now at her back with wide eyes and shocked expressions on their faces. Harry held me close, his lips firmly pressed against my neck as he whispered, "I wanted to tell you."

"Tell me what?" I choked, my eyes pleading with them all. I needed to know the truth.

"It was me." Jennifer cried out loud, guilt now apparent in her glowing eyes.

My mouth fell open, and Harry held me closer to his chest, humming a calming tune into my ear as I urged her to continue. "Why? Why would you kill Dylan? I don't--I don't under-"

"I thought he was Jack. I wanted to kill Jack, not Dylan. They looked so alike, I mixed them up and I killed him. I killed him Scarlet. Harry was coming to stop me, but it was too late, and he took the blame because he knew they would kill me if they found out." She sobbed, her knees giving way, but Liam caught her in his arms before she fell.

"Why? Why did you want to kill Jack?" I struggled to speak, I couldn't believe what they had just told me.

"Because of what he did to me." She whispered. "This." She screamed, pointing to the prominent scar on her face; just like the one on mine. "He did this to me, and he would have done worse if Harry hadn't stopped him."

"But- He- He told me it was Archie." I shook my head, remembering the brief conversation Jack and I had, had about Jennifer's Scar.

"No." She stated. "It was Jack. It was all Jack."



Hours had passed since Jennifer had told me her secret, and I still sat on the same spot I was in when she had told me. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't process what she had told me. Party of me didn't want to believe it, I didn't want to believe Jack could be so cruel. I thought that, perhaps he had just turned on me because I fell in love with his enemy, but no. He was simply cruel and heartless, and I should have known better. Harry scooped my still body in his arms and stood to his feet, the room now empty with no one in it but us. He pulled back his bed covers and slowly slid me under them, closely following behind. He switched out the light and wrapped his arms around me. Suddenly nothing mattered, and my eyes were willingly closing over for the first time in weeks.

"Sleep, princess." He whispered. "I'll keep you safe."

I nodded and buried my head into his chest, trying to forget the days events as I drifted into a light slumber.

Just before I faded into darkness I heard him say, "Please, baby, never leave me again. I thought I had lost you and it killed me." He chuckled lowly before continuing. "I even prayed to a god I don't believe in. That's how insanely mad with love you make me, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

My eyes stayed shut, too heavy and too tired to open. But as darkness set in, my lips moved to his, kissing him like it was the first time out lips had met.

It was peaceful and calm, and it was how I imagined heaven to be. And I thought then, that perhaps if heaven tasted and felt so good, dying wouldn't be as bad as I had originally thought.