The Hurting Game (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter Four: We all make a choice

Chapter Four: We all make a choice

[Chloe's POV]

I stood on the side of the road desperately looking around in sight of Harry's car. I was scared that  Tom would just appear out of nowhere. Hurry up Harry! Where are you? I panicked to myself and then almost instantly Harry’s black land rover came speeding around the corner. He stopped on the side of the road and rushed out of the car. “Are you okay?” He said upset as his removed my sun glasses and held up my chin in his fingertips. I saw an angry expression crawl across his face as he saw the reddish purple bruise that covered my eye. “I’m fine Harry” I said shaking off his soft grip as I snatched my sunglasses out of his hand and put them back on.

 “What did he do to you Chloe?” Harry said getting angry now. But I ignored his question

“Can we please just get out of here?” I said trying to hide the sadness that I was feeling as I walked around to the other side of the car and got in. Harry followed my lead and before I knew it we were driving off down the street. My guess was that Harry was taking me back to his house, but I didn’t really care. Right now I couldn’t even think, I couldn’t even move. I was so shocked at what had just happened it was almost like I was frozen. I hated when Tom did this to me. The whole car ride was in silence and every now and then I would stop staring out the window and glance at Harry who expression was mixed with anger and pain. We arrived at his house a short while later and I decided to make myself comfortable on the lounge. Harry rushed upstairs and came back down with a bag of ice in his hand.

“How is your eye feeling?” He asked affectionately as he joined me on the lounge and pressed the bag of ice to the spot that was bruised. I winced a little at first but the pain soon became bearable. “It’s alright…” I said dully not really paying much attention. Almost instantly my phone rung, it was Tom. Not knowing what to do I glance up at my best friend whose eyes burned with fury.

“Let me deal with this…” He quickly stated.

“No Harry” I objected. “You don’t always need to deal with my problems” I said in a scarred voice.

“Please…you've gotta trust me, i know it's hard for you to do that but just trust me!” He whispered as his eyes saddened a little now. “Let me help you!”

I paused for a minute to think about it but shook my head in response as I answered the call and mimed a ‘no’ to Harry.

“Hello?” I asked as I got up off of the lounge and made my way outside.

“Babe! Finally you've answered” Tom replied.

“What do you want Tom?” I asked in a stern tone. I tried to be as strict with myself as i could, i kept telling myself that this time things would be different, i wouldn't crack under pressure and i wouldn't go crawling back to him.

“I want to apologise…” He began, but I really wasn’t in the mood for an apology.

“Yeah well, I’m a little busy icing my eye at the moment…” I said trying to contain myself.

“Baby-“ Tom pleaded.

“No don’t ‘baby’ me Tom!” I said annoyed now. “You’ve done it… AGAIN!” I said as I let a tear slide down my cheek. “You promised me… YOU PROMISED! Why? Why would you raise your hand to me AGAIN! Tell me, what now Tom? What now…” I cried even more but covered my mouth to try and stop Harry hearing the sound.

“I’m so sorry! I let myself get out of control! It was wrong of me! I love you babe, I LOVE YOU! Do you understand that? I... LOVE... YOU! Only you! Remember that okay! It’s just gonna be you and me okay, just you and me babe? I'll look after you, i'll always be there, Harry... he's gonna leave your side soon i just know it-" He tried to fight against me but i stopped him.

"TOM STOP! HARRY IS GOING NO WHERE! He is my best friend and i love him okay! I slapped my hands up to cover eyes as realisation kicked in. Did i just admit i loved Harry? I know i said as a best friend but what i just told Tom was a lie. I loved Harry more than a friend and i knew it. But what i also knew is that telling him how i felt could wreck our friendship and i wasn't going to destroy that one thing that meant so so much to me, not even if it meant being more than friends with Harry. Even though i know its time to let go of Tom i know that i'm just not going to be able to. I suddenly felt guilty. Tom did have a reason to be mad, he was right about my feelings for Harry, all of those times he bugged me about 'looking at Harry a certain way', he was right i just never saw it. Maybe this whole absusive thing was my fault! Maybe just maybe, Tom was right! Tom was only ever mad at me when he was jealous of Harry's and my relationship, what if i was the one who caused all of this non stop fighting? I wanted Tom gone and out of my life, but a part of me just didn't want to lose him. So i  agreed.

"Fine Tom..." I began. "I'll stay..." I added literally forcing the words out of my mouth.

 “…Just…” I let out a sigh. “DON’T do it again” I said still feeling a little tense.

“I love you baby! You’re the best!” He cried out happily.

“I know Tom, I know…” I said in a dull tone as I wiped away my final tears and turned around to look inside the window at Harry who was waiting for me.

“Look, I have to go okay?” I said as I waited for his response.

“Okay, I’ll call you in the morning, love you.” He said quickly and then the line went dead.

“Yeah… love you too” I mumbled silently under my breath. I hung up my phone and put it back into my pocket as I walked back inside and re-joined Harry on the lounge.

“Should we be needing to have a party right now!?” Harry asked happily, but I just sighed and shook my head. He shot me a questioning look.

“Wait… you DID tell him it was over right?” He asked cautiously now.

I slowly shook my head in response telling him ‘no’.  I heard him sigh as he shook his head at me.

“I don’t understand Chloe… Why? Why do you do this to yourself?” He began but I really didn’t need to be fighting with my best friend at a time like this. I needed to be comforted, and most of all I needed him to accept the decisions that I made.

“I don’t know Harry, I don’t know…” I said looking into his eyes pleading him not to fight. And then he let out a reluctant sigh and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“You know I don’t like him. You know I don’t like what he’s doing to you. It’s not good Chloe, one day you’re going to end up seriously hurt… and I’m scared! I’m scared for my best friend. I don’t want to lose you okay? As much as I want to stop all of this, I can’t. You won’t let me! So If he ever try’s any of this shit again you call me straight away! And let me deal with it, Okay?”

“Okay Harry…” I said as I closed my eyes trying to push all of the memories of today to the back of my head. I knew what I was doing wasn’t right. But i really do love Tom, even though we may fight and i say i hate him, we've been together for over 3 years and he never used to be this bad, he used to love me and care for me and look after me, and i guess thats changed. But once you love someone, you never do stop loving them no matter what even if its the old them or the person that they used to be, im still in love with the same person, just a different Tom. The pain, the tears, and the unhappiness. It all doesn’t matter to you. You sometimes lose all self-respect, just to see and make sure that the one person you love is Happy.