Pain: Her (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 54

Harry's breath is warm against my neck and his lips are soft as he kisses it. He refuses to let me go, and when I try and pull away he pulls me right back in. 

"Oh," he says pulling away after a few minutes, "I got this too." he reaches into his pocket and takes out a small package.

"What's that?" I ask looking at the strange thing.

"I went to the pharmacy and the pharmacist said this helps best with bruising and swelling." he tells me and still his voice holds sadness. He rips it open and squeezes some onto the finger of his injured wrist, and with his other hand he lifts my chin, "I don't know if it will sting but let me know." he instructs. He carefully and cautiously applies the thick yet cold gel onto my cheek and rubs circles all around the bruise. It feels good; it doesn't sting at all and the coldness of it over powers the pain. He attentively spreads it and wipes the excess gel on his jeans and turns my face to kiss my other cheek. 

 "Does it hurt?" his tone is full of sweetness and concern as he puts my hair behind my ear and cups my unbruised cheek. 

"A little, not much."

"I promise it won't happen again." he looks into my eyes exposing the unfamiliar frown through his sadness and regret that he rarely shows, "you believe me, right?" he asked begging for my response to be what he hopes it to be.

"Of course I do." I half smile placing my hand on his thigh to lean in and kiss him. 

"You need to tell me if I make you feel uncomfortable or make you feel like I'm forcing you or something." I can tell the words came out sour by the way he looked away when he said "force." I don't feel like he's forcing me and I know I came out sounding like it did but what I meant to say was that his teasing can be a bit rough and...intense and that's where me feeling a bit, not a lot, uncomfortable comes in. 

"Okay." is all I want to say. I don't want to tell him that I don't feel the way he thinks I feel even though I know me not saying anything will hurt him more. But if I go against what I said he'll fight back with me telling me why I would say something I don't mean which will result in him getting angry and I don't like that; I don't think he does either. 

"I mean it." 

"I know, I know." 

"Aleevonne, I'm serious." he says sternly holding authority.

"Okay Harry, I will." 

"I'm not joking."

"Can you just stop?" I laugh shaking my head.

"I need to know these things, alright?" his seriousness doesn't break despite my smile and he remains firm.

"I said okay, you don't have to press it anymore." I smile even though I feel slightly irritated with his stubbornness against dropping it.

"I just need to make sure you understand me." 

"Loud and clear." 

"Alright." he whispers standing up and holding my hand to lift me from my seat, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine.." I say and he nods his head.

"Like, inside. Not your cheek." I'm confused and have no idea what he's talking about.

"What do you mean?"

"Does your chest feel...tight? Like, you know when you're scared your chest tightens; do you still feel it?" something about the way he's looking at me makes me feel like he thinks that I don't feel the same about him anymore.

"Um, no." 

"When did it go away?"

"When you hugged me."