Afraid (Harry Styles)

Chapter 8

"What are you so pissed off about?" Harry asks when I walk back into the bar.

Everything

"Nothing," I say, deciding not to vent to Harry. He'll just laugh at my misery.

Before I came in, I debated on whether I should call Zayn or not, but I decided not to. He's done so much for me, the last thing I could do was ask him to take me home with him. My plan is to have Sandra drop me off at a motel for the night, I have enough money for a cheap room.

"C'mon guys, my car's parked in the back," Sandra says, gesturing to the back door.

I can barely contain my laughter when Harry tries to walk. He's wobbling back and forth like a penguin.

"Need some help?" I ask with a laugh. As much as I hate Harry, I hate to see him struggling like this.

"No. I'm fine," Harry retorts before stumbling over a chair.

"Right..." I say, grabbing one of his arms before he falls. Since he doesn't protest, I carefully lead him through the back door.

Sandra and I sit in the front of the small car leaving Harry alone in the back. Sandra doesn't try to make conversation so I plug in my headphones, hoping to distract myself from the situation I'm in.

"Who should I drop off first?" Sandra asks after a couple minutes.

"You should drop Harry off first, I'm still searching for motels close by.." I say pointing at my shit phone.

"Woah..what?" Sandra says turning her head to me,"You are not staying at a motel by yourself. You're a young girl, you could get fucking raped, and it would be my fault!"

"I'll be fine! My parents are at...an overnight buisness trip.It's just one night, nothing will happen!" I say confidently. With my bad luck, anything could happen.

"Bella, you don't know that. I could try to bring you to my place but-"

"She's going to stay with me,"Harry abruptly interrupts from the back.

"That's hilarious..." I say with a fake laugh, "Sandra, just please drop me off at a motel. I can handle it."

"No. Why don't you just take Harry's offer? He goes to your school doesn't he?"Sandra asks. If only she knew.

"Drop us off in the driveway." Harry orders, pointing to a long driveway to the left of us.

"Wait-" I say quickly. Who does he think he is, telling me where I should stay? I can't spend the night with Harry.

"Bella, please be reasonable," Sandra says parking in a large driveway.

Why is this happening? How did I get stuck spending the night with Harry? I shouldn't have gone out tonight. Harry's probably planning on torturing me the whole night. Or he'll realize his mistake when he's sober and kick me out.

"Thanks Sandra!" I wave with a tight smile, at her departing car. It's only Harry and I now.

Large would be an understatement to describe Harry's house. It's about ten times larger than our house and the pavement steps leading to the house have a beautiful silver lining around them. I can only imagine the inside is as big as the outside.

"C'mon," Harry say, pulling me through the front door.

The first thing I notice as I walk through the door are the chandeliers shining on the ceiling and crystal showcases everywhere, almost like something from a fairytale. The living room has a bunch of expensive couches and a plasma television on the wall. Next to the living room, I can see a bit of the kitchen. There's baking appliances all over the counter and whisks and spoons scattered over the countertop. His mom must like to bake.

"Is anyone home?" I ask curiously. The only thing I can hear is our breathing and the house looks beyond empty.

"No," Harry says shortly,"Let's go upstairs."

Harry's voice seems a bit more calm and collected which means he's slowly sobering up.

The stairs leading to the second floor are just as fancy as the rest of the house. By the time I've reached the second floor, I'm out of breath. I really need to get in shape.

"Uh, should I go to the guest room?" I ask nervously. It's not everyday that I sleepover at my enemy's house. Or anyone's house for that matter.

"You're staying in my room." Harry flushes when he sees my shocked expression and quickly adds,"Just for now, because the room needs to warm up. It's freezing in there."

"Oh..um okay," I say awkwardly. Who would have thought Harry would have a single kind bone in his body?

I follow Harry across the long hallway until we reach a door at the end. When I walk in, I expect pictures of girls in bikinis and short dresses. Instead, the room is filled with picture frames. The pictures are mainly of a middle aged woman with brown hair and green eyes, just like Harry's.

I walk closer to a specific picture next to Harry's bed. It's a picture of a small boy wrapping his arms around the same woman from the other pictures. I can tell by the eyes and dimples that this little boy is Harry.

The woman with Harry looks so precious and beautiful, she reminds me of mom. The look in her eyes, her silky brown hair, everything about her is so similar to mom. It's almost painful to look at her.

"Ahem," Harry clears his throat, interrupting my thoughts,"You can sit down...if you want."

"Okay." I say sitting on the side of his bed.

I focus on another picture on the other side of the room. The woman is laughing at something behind the camera and the sunlight is shining on her hair. The picture is so perfect, it reminds me of the day my mom brought me to the park with my father and my brother. It was before he became an addict. Everything was perfect back then, we were all happy.

Before I can make it stop, a few tears spill across my cheeks. I quickly wipe them off with the sleeve of my shirt but not before Harry sees.

"Are you crying?" Harry asks in disbelief.

"N-no,"I stutter. My focus is still on the picture. I can't seem to look away.

"Do you know her?" Harry says in a shaky voice, following my stare towards the happy woman. I've never seen Harry this nervous and uncollected.

"No, she just reminds me of someone I knew..." I say quickly. I don't feel comfortable telling Harry about my mom.

"Who?" Harry asks curiously.

"Someone very close to me..." I say briefly.

"Oh." Harry says quietly. Harry's still drunk right now which is why he isn't being an impatient bitch for once.

"Who is this woman?" I ask, pointing to the woman in the picture frame.

"Someone I was very close too," Harry says, copying my words.

"You should be a little less blunt about that.." I say calmly even though I known i'm being a hypocrite.

"Leave it alone." Harry says abruptly. He gets up from his side of the bed and leaves the room in one quick movement.

I have officially concluded that Harry Styles is bipolar. I haven't done anything wrong and he still gets pissed at me. Can I ever do anything right?

I sit in his room in silence for a couple of minutes before I get up. If I've done something wrong, I want to know what it was.

A/N

I wanted this chapter to be way more intense and much longer but track season started and my math teacher has given us so much homwork to prepare us for our regent's test.