Hey, Love (One Direction)

Sixteen: Humans, I Hope

Sixteen

Tearing off the tag to my brand new pajamas, which were blue and covered in black and white polka dots with a matching blue tank top, I stepped into them after my shower. This time I’d made extra sure to bring a towel with me into the bathroom. If I hadn’t… well… let’s just say the results would have been bad. I wrapped a towel around my dark, wet hair, slipped on a pair of my new fuzzy socks, and walked out into Harry’s bedroom, where thankfully, Harry had just finished pulling his pants up over his backside.

“Oh hey,” he said with a smile as his gaze landed on me. “Nice pajamas.”

“Thank you,” I say, giving a twirl. “I think they’re pretty snazzy.”

“The socks especially,” he nods with a small laugh.

I shed the towel from my hair, which has slowly been falling out anyway, and quickly hang it up on the chair beside the bed. Clapping my hands together, I turn to Harry. “So, I’ll be on the couch.”

“No,” he says, standing in front of me and stopping me in my tracks. “I’ll be on the couch.”

“Harry,” I sigh. “Are we going to have this argument again? I’ll sleep on the couch. You’re letting me stay here, it’s the least I can do.”

“Actually, as the guest you’re supposed to take my bed,” he says with a shrug.

“Please, just take the bed?”

“No, it’s all yours.”

“Why is this such a big deal to you anyway?” I frown.

“Because…” Harry starts, his gaze shifting to the floor. It’s odd seeing him like this, and I know that something must be eating him up inside.

“What’s wrong?”

He sighs, giving in. “It’s mainly my fault that your apartment caught fire.” I open my mouth to object, to tell him how incredibly stupid that is, but he keeps going, so I shut up. “We forgot to pop the toast in the toaster. Which what burnt down your apartment. Before you say anything, the fire department told me when they were at your place. Apparently because we didn’t pop the toast, the crumbs lit up and the flame spread.”

I’m silent as I take this all in. Could it really have been his fault? And if it actually is… should I be pointing the finger? I mean, technically I was the one who took him and Louis away from the toaster, because I said I was ready to leave, then that way I’d be the one actually responsible. Or… well, I could go back for a while, trying to figure out who’s responsible, but I decided against it.

As upset as I was losing everything to that fire, I decided that it would be stupid to blame anyone. And pointless. Did I mention stupid? I didn’t want to get all mad at Harry for no reason- what happened has happened. And getting mad at him or anyone else wouldn’t undo what’s been done. I didn’t want to destroy the relationship that Harry and I had, whatever that was, over something so small.

‘

“Oh Harry,” I say, shaking my head. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. Maybe you did burn that piece of toast, and maybe I’m never going to let you near a toaster again, but what’s happened has happened. And no one can go back to that time and reverse what’s happened, so we just have to get over it and move on.”

“But, shit, Jaz, I did burn that toast,” he says, frowning. “What if the whole complex had gone down?”

“But it didn’t.”

“It could have.”

“Could have, would have, should have, didn’t,” I say, referring to a quote that Alex always uses. I can’t help but respect her more for that one. Legend. “Don’t worry about it.”