MY GIRL // Harry Styles

Birthday Blues

After Harry had left Holmes Chapel, every spark of joy in Thea's life slowly died out with the part of him inside of her. The day she turned fifteen was also the first time she'd spent a birthday alone. Celine was abroad for a three-month exchange program. Her grandma, who lived in Brighton had just passed away, so both of her parents had to go there for the funeral. Since she refused to come along, they left her home with her mother's little sister, aunt Lynn, who was only twenty-two at the time and didn't even bother to remember her name.

"Sweet baby, do not tell your parents that I invite some friends over, okay? Your mum would be so mad," the young woman said, holding Thea by the shoulders and the teenage girl could only pay attention to the sound of her aunt chewing bubble gum. For some reasons, Lynn always had something in her mouth. If she wasn't chewing gum, she had to make sure her mouth was kept busy by eating something, or someone. Thea had met her three times before but each time she was snogging a different guy. Sadly, she was the only option for a 'babysitter', just because Bradford and Tam didn't believe their fifteen-year-old daughter could stay home alone.

"But today is—"

"Shit!" The woman exclaimed, holding her head. "You're right! It's Friday night, I should throw a party. Play with your dolls, baby. Your aunt has adult stuff to take care of."

"My dolls?" Thea muttered under her breath as the bedroom door was slammed shut in front of her eyes. Putting on her favorite song and turning off all the lights, she lied down, staring at the spinning fan above her head.

All the kids her age probably spent their fifteenth getting drunk and making out with their crushes, or losing their virginity without their parents knowing. But there she was, locked in her room while her aunt was having all the fun she was supposed to have. For the first time in her life, she found herself alone. She'd always been a loner, yet she had never actually felt it until that night. She stayed utter still in silence, holding Thumper close to her chest. The stuffed animal could probably hear every sound of her heart cracking open. Her mother wasn't there to tell her what a woman she'd become, nor was Harry to sing her the birthday song. It was just her, alone in the dark, with a purple bunny that still smelt just like him.

.

.

.

Celine always said that working in the library was the worst decision Thea had ever made, because there was no job more boring than organizing dusty old books. But the thing was, Thea loved her boring job. She mainly got paid for sorting and shelving books according to their categorization, which wasn't really hard work; not to mention that the librarian was really easy-going. Thea got to spend most of her time in the fiction section, avoiding her responsibilities to read and write as much as she wanted. Besides, she really liked her co-worker, whose name was Alice.

Alice was a year younger than Thea. She liked to talk and Thea liked to listen, so they were pretty compatible. Finding a drinking buddy in university was easy, Thea had plenty of them; the hard part was finding a buddy you could trust. So even though Alice wasn't what Thea would consider a close friend, she could be someone to count on.

"Why is it that every time I see you, you're reading something?"

Alice's voice pulled Thea's attention away from the novel on her lap, as she looked up and found the tiny brunette smiling at her. Thea leaned back against the bookshelf, crossing her legs so there was room on the floor for Alice to sit down as well.

"I have a surprise for you, big sis!" Alice said, making Thea roll her eyes and chuckle.

"You've found another porn book, haven't ya?"