Unhealthy Love

Chapter 17

“Hello, Harry,” Mrs. Horan smiled jovially at the young curly-haired boy as she gave him space to enter the house. Harry returned the smile as Mrs. Horan closed the door behind him.

“Hi Mrs. Horan, you look so beautiful today!” Harry smiled cheekily. “Not that you don’t look beautiful every time I see you.”

“Harry, you’re such a charmer!” Mrs. Horan laughed heartily and smacked Harry gently on the arm. “How is your mother, darling?” She said as they walked further into the house.

“She’s fine, and she told me to say hi,” Harry said as he glanced up at the second floor towards Niall room. Mrs. Horan saw his gaze and smiled.

“Niall is in his room,” She said as she walked into the kitchen. “Will you be staying for dinner?”

“Maybe!” Harry called over his shoulder as he was half-way up the stairs. He walked down the hall until he reached Niall’s room and without knocking – not like he ever knocked – he swung open the door.

“Harry!” Niall looked up from his desk that looked like a notebook had exploded on it; papers were scattered on it and a ‘few’ balled up ones were lying randomly around the trashcan; the blonde had seemingly missed it, which really wasn’t a surprise since Niall had poor aim.

“I thought you’d never come!” Niall smiled that brilliant smile of his, and Harry’s heart thudded in his chest. He hadn’t expected for the blonde to abandon his work and come over, engulfing him in a tight hug. Harry more or less melted in the blonde’s arms as his familiar scent wafted under his nose, and he instinctively closed his arms around him, burying his nose in his golden locks. He sighed deeply; he’d missed the warmth and the feeling of Niall’s body so close to his. He tried very hard not to think about 3 nights ago, but his brain didn’t really cooperate.

“Wait to you see what I have!” Niall said with an excited grin as he pulled away, and Harry reluctantly released him. His green eyes followed him curiously as the blonde more or less bounced to the side of his bed. He kneeled down and began digging through the bag. He finally got whatever he needed, and before Harry could even get a glimpse, the blonde had hid it behind his back. He walked up in front of him with an ear-splitting grin.

“Guess what I have,” Niall said in a sing-song voice, and Harry couldn’t help the smile tugging on his lips. It was just the way Niall’s eyes were sparkling and the way his smile seemed to brighten up the whole room; cliché but that’s what Harry felt.

“I give up already,” He said and chuckled when Niall pouted childishly. However, his next words made his face fall.

“Okay, so, I was over at Zayn’s place, and I was looking at his game collection when my eyes fell on this!”

Niall held up the game excitedly, completely missing the pain flashing in Harry’s eyes as he continued to rant about how excited he was to play it. “Let’s play it on the flat screen in the…” Niall had finally torn his eyes from the game to look properly at Harry, and the look the younger boy was sending him made the rest of the sentence die in his throat.

“H-Harry?” He stuttered out as his hand dropped to his side and he stared wide-eyed at the boy before him. Harry’s jaw was clenching and unclenching in that way it did when he was trying really hard not to cry, and his pretty green eyes were red with the effort of holding the tears glistening in his eyes from falling; Niall’s heart twisted, and he dropped the game to the floor, moving forward without thinking.

“I-I am so, so sorry Harry,” He touched his arm cautiously, and the younger boy just stared at him impassively. Niall wasn’t even sure if he was apologizing for the hook-up anymore, but the way Harry was looking at him made him want to shoot himself; had he said something wrong?