Mad World // Harry Styles

Chapter 1

“Harry, Harry!  Why are you in Charleston?” A flashbulb goes off to my left.

“Mr. Styles, is it true that you’re currently working on a solo project?” Another camera goes off. A microphone is shoved into my face.

I ignore the paps, only pausing to snap a quick picture with some fans before continuing to hustle through the crowd. I pass by an ammunition and gun shop, hesitating when I notice a petite girl exiting through the door. Her eyes are wide and she looks shaken up. I stop to watch her as she scans the crowd for an easy exit. She stumbles down the stairs, only to be swallowed and knocked to the ground the second she joins the throng of people.

“Hey!” I shout. The people around me hush their screams and chatter to a quiet murmur. I’ve surprised them. Hell, I’ve surprised myself. “Be careful, you’ve pushed someone down.” I shuffle my way towards the girl, throwing an occasional, polite, “excuse me,” over my shoulder. Once I’ve reached her I crouch down to assist her up. She’s shaking and a pained expression is plastered on her face. Her legs are banged up pretty badly. Blood has trailed down her shin and pooled into a stain on her sock. “Let’s have a look at those legs shall we?” I kneel down and remove the scarf from my head to sop up some of the blood. The crowd’s murmur has died down to silence. The only sound to be heard is the occasional pop of a flashbulb. I roll my eyes knowing that “Harry Styles Helps Injured Girl” will be on every gossip website by tomorrow morning. They’ll probably pin her as my new girlfriend or something.

She hisses when I run my scarf over the scrape. I glance up at her and furrow my eyebrows. She mumbles a small, “sorry.”

I shake my head and frown, making a quick decision. Standing up, I offer her my hand. “Come with me.” She hesitantly places her hand in mine. The mob’s chatter starts back up. I’ll probably regret this later. It’s not like I need any more rumors floating around about me. I try to set us a fast pace, wanting to get to my awaiting car as fast as possible, but when her grip on my hand tightens and she stumbles, I remember. Her legs.

Adding fuel to the fire, I haul her into my arms bridal style. Yep, this will definitely be trending on twitter by tomorrow. “W-What are you doing?” she stutters, wincing when I accidently jostle her around.

I mumble an apology before answering. “Taking you back to my car to fix your legs up properly. My driver, Jim, keeps a first aid kit in the glove compartment. I’m a tad clumsy.” My tone is gentle, and I give her a warm smile, trying to ease her nerves.

“Ohhh.” She mouths, her lips resembling the shape of a cheerio.

“I’m Harry.” I smile down at her, formally introducing myself.

She stares at her hands. “I’m Melrose.” Her eyes flick up and meet mine for a moment before they’re lowered to focus on her hands once again. Her voice is soft and raspy; a tad low for a girl’s, but it’s soothing.

“Ah. A lovely name for a lovely girl.” I turn on my charm, grinning at her cheekily. I receive a small smile in return. As we approach my car I maneuver so that I’m supporting her with one hand and digging in my pocket for my keys with the other. Setting her gently on the ground, I manage to unlock the car, open the rear door, and even say a quick hello to Jim who is currently hard at work on a Sudoku puzzle. Turning around, I place my hands on her hips and lift her into the car.

She let’s out a startled gasp, grabbing onto my forearms. I laugh and pat her knee, climbing in the car after her. “Jim?” I try to get my driver’s attention.

He hums in response.

 “Could you get the first aid kit out for me?” I prop Melrose’s legs up on my lap.

Without looking up from his puzzle, he reaches into the glove compartment and retrieves the kit. Handing it back to me he asks, “What did you do this time kid, trip over your shoelaces?” His southern accent is gruff and his laugh is hearty. He reminds me of grandpas for some reason.

I lock eyes with him in his rearview mirror and stick my tongue out. “No. If you haven’t noticed I have an injured girl with me. I’m helping her.”

He grins. “Harry Styles, ever the gentleman.”

I roll my eyes and open the first aid kit up, retrieving some antiseptic wipes. Placing my hand on the back of Melrose’s calf I warn her. “This may sting a bit. Sorry”

“It’s fine.” She murmurs, rolling her head so that it leans against the headrest.

I begin to clean her scrapes, keeping an eye on her reaction. Every once and a while her nose will scrunch up in pain and she’ll wince in displeasure. Inspecting her injuries one last time, I come to the conclusion that I’ve cleaned them well and gotten all the little bits of gravel out. I tuck the wipe back in its wrapper and place it in my pocket, making a mental note to throw it away later. Reaching back into the kit, I rummage for bandages, but find none. “Jim!” I exclaim.

He grunts.

“We’ve got no band-aids! This is unbelievable! What sort of emergency kit doesn’t have bandages?” I peek at Melrose to gage her reaction to my dramatic rant. A small smile plays on her lips.

“Well maybe if you didn’t get yourself into trouble all the time, we’d have more band-aids.” Jim mutters.

“Very funny.” I counter. My expression turns serious. “But really. I need some band-aids for Melrose.” I frown, checking once more for any bandages that might be hidden under the rest of the box’s content.

“I’ve got band-aids in my bag.” Melrose pipes up, gesturing to the bag that is currently sitting by my feet.

I pull the bag onto my lap and move to look through it before remembering that, “oh, I should probably ask for her permission.” I glance up at her and raise the bag slightly. “May I?”

She nods her consent.

I unzip the messenger bag only to come face to face with the last thing I was expecting. “A gun?” My wide eyes shoot up to hers. I gingerly pull the weapon out of the bag. “Please tell me you’re not planning on murdering someone?” I whisper.

She shakes her head forcefully, eyes filled with panic. “No. No, of course not. I shoot at the range with my grandfather sometimes and I just bought that gun today, hence it being in my bag. So no, I’m not murdering anyone.” She rambles.

I exhale in relief. “Good, because I’m too good looking to be an accomplice in murder. Remember, you are in my car.” I wink and laugh.

She sighs and runs a hand through her hair, chuckling. “Yeah, right.” Her head bobs up and down.

“I guess you could say we really dodged a bullet there?” I laugh at my own joke, continuing to look for the band-aids.

“Oh, that one was good.” She giggles. She’s starting to open up.

In my search for the band-aids I come across a folded note, only being able to make out the words, “dear mom.” A sly grin makes its way to my face as I draw the note out of the bag. “Aw, did someone write a note to their mum?” I tease. Although I’ve only known this girl for fifteen minutes, I feel like we have an established friendship. Maybe it’s because she hasn’t freaked out over the fact that I’m Harry Styles.

Her eyes widen and her hand flies out to grab for the note. Her cheeks are a dark crimson and she seems embarrassed. I hold the note over my head and cackle as I begin to read in a girly voice. “Dear Mom, I just want you to know that I love you…” At this point she’s protesting profusely, but I continue to read. “I love you more than anything and I am so sorry that I’m breaking your heart.” I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, but keep reading anyways. “Mommy, if you’re reading this I’m dead.” My heart stops.