loveless // haylor au

chapter two

"you ain't good at reading signals,
when they come straight from the heart."

~

chapter two
the erection problem

June 22nd

Wedding season was beginning to fully kick my arse.
It was the first time I'd been popular as a free lance, and it was like the calls never stopped coming. I was rolling in cash, sure, but I also had a shit load of work to do. I was completely and utterly in need of a night out near the end. So when my close friend, Sammy's, birthday rolled around, I insisted on us getting completely shit-faced.

'I don't know, man,' Sammy sighed when I called him the week before, 'Em and I were just gonna spend the night at home, you know, with Ernie? Maybe order some take out—'

I groaned loudly, flicking my cigarette butt against the metal of the fire escape, 'When did everyone get so boring? Just because you have a missus now doesn't mean you can't spend your birthday doing what you actually want to do. Come on, man. Don't let the first vagina you get a taste of hold you back.'

'Harry!' Sammy scolded, 'Don't say stuff like that. Who said I even wanted to go drinking? I'm not nineteen anymore.'

'No. You're nearly twenty-two. Which is still too young to be not abusing alcohol. Come on! It's perfect. Wes isn't working that night, Al and I aren't. I bet Ed can even make it. Don't be a shit.'

Sammy was silent for a few more moments. Then he sighed. Elation filled my veins, I knew I'd gotten my way.

'I'll see you at Lord's at nine,' was all Sammy said, and I replied by hanging up my phone, a huge grin on my face.

I took the last inhale of my cigarette, blowing out the smoke and then crushing the stick onto the fire escape. I didn't always smoke, I only went through a pack a month. Honestly. But still, it was a bad habit I had been meaning to kick since I was seventeen.

I was watching the streets of Manchester and trying to ignore the chills I was getting over my shirtless body when I saw a figure ghosting through the flat. I peered in through the window and saw Taylor holding a book, a mug of tea and only wearing a grey shirt of Wes'. It was nearly nine at night, and I'd only been home for an hour. This was my first time seeing her in nearly two weeks.

I watched her put her mug in the sink, washing it clean then heading back towards Wes' room, eyes still on the pages in the middle of her book. She glanced up for a moment and caught my eye, catching me staring.

My heart leapt in my chest and I immediately turned away, my gaze falling back onto the streets. When I looked back up, after a reasonable amount of time, she was gone.
I let a deep sigh emit from the bottom of my chest, and I climbed back through the window, closing it shut.

They were talking softly in Wes' room, and when I gazed in; I saw Wes grab her book and throw it onto the bed, proceeding to then pull Taylor down onto his bare chest, kissing her forcefully. Taylor was moaning in reply, straddling him, with her hands on either side of his face.
It reminded me of a wedding picture that I could of taken, except with a lot less clothes.

I hadn't been meaning to stare so intently, but Wes caught my stare and her broke into a chuckle, 'You right there, mate?'

My eyes narrowed as I watched Taylor lift her head and smirk at me, the look in her eyes pestering.

'Keep it down, will ya's? I've got an early start tomorrow,' was what I came up with.

Taylor had climbed off Wes' lap at that, heading towards the door and gripping the side of it, a smug smile on her face, 'Nighty, night, Styles,' she cooed, and she shut the door, softly. But it felt like she had slapped me in the face.