the girls of the boys

Update.

For the first time in months, things were calm enough in the house to almost classify the atmosphere as peaceful. Harry and Zayn had laid their past grudges behind then and Zayn hadn't laid a harmful finger on any of the members of the house hold. In my personal opinion, I was pretty sure it was because Becca was showing now, not too prominently, but she had a cute little bump beneath her crop tops now and Zayn wasn't able to hold his angry begrudging demeanor when his eyes would touch on her little tummy. Becca would look at him in a way that almost instantly shifted his anger to compassion for their child. It wasn't a very healthy method to deter Zayn but it was efficient enough and kept Zayn at bay so nobody questioned the delicate ecosystem.

Harry and Kirsten were back and better than ever. They were back to having sex, much to the rest of the house's chagrin. Harry must have been healed enough that Kirsten wouldn't have to worry about pressing a soft spot or bruised area. There was often loud obscenities and screaming that the echoed through the house and made the rest of us temporarily want to move out. We would hear it all, the pounding on door, the cursing, the calling of the others name as if we weren't aware of who or what was happening.

Zayn would often over exaggeratedly cover his head with couch pillows and loudly yell in protest as a different origin of screaming emanated from the side room. Becca would take her anger out on the TV, raising the volume from it's normal 22, up to 60, sometimes higher. The whole house dispensed an assortment of sounds that I wondered if the neighbors ever questioned.

Louis and I had broken up, it was mutual but I didn't find myself regretting past decisions, we simply recognized there was a void of something and we agreed with more ease than anticipated, to simply be friends.

Kirsten and Becca, being the good friends that they were offered to kick Louis' ass, but it wasn't necessary, once they talked to their boyfriends and heard Louis' side that matched mine they decided to leave it go and progress with their lives.

Even though everything sounded resolved, there was a lot of unwanted, unacknowledged turmoil that had been shoved under the rug, starting with Harry and ending with Luke, then reopening like the scars in Ashton's arm and closing at Zayn's permanently bruised knuckles from repeatedly pounding the wall in frustration.

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Ashton stretched his legs and let a little sound escape his lips as he curled his toes and made little fists while he stretched his tall frame on the little couch. Ashton's whole body folded like a table at the impact of the blanket Becca threw landing on his elongated stomach.

"Thanks" he called as he cradled the blanket and smoothed it over his legs. Becca nodded and willed herself not to look at the boy she knew was forbidden from her. He was the forbidden fruit that was the only thing she desired, he represented temptation and she knew that Zayn had an acute 6th sense of her feelings, especially the ones that involved Ashton. He could sense them and pick them out like bolls of cotton on a ripe plant. Becca had to put herself in mental solitary, especially since Luke and Ashton were crashing at their place after Ashton accidentally charred and burned part of the kitchen at their place.

Becca wasn't the only one grappling with old flames being rekindled and thrown towards gasoline. Kirsten was having just as hard if not harder dealing with her inner demon being set in front of her at the kitchen table and staring her down while shoveling Lucky Charms into his gaping mouth.

"Hey Kirsten" Luke drawled with soggy cereal and milk dripping down his chin and returning to it's original source.

"Hi" she replied cautiously watching him and making a slight move to wipe off the milk but put herself in check in a restrained manner and instead dug her nails into table and stripping off the top layer of wood finish.

Luke acknowledged her hesitation and called her out snidely.

"You okay there?" He asked her, raising his eyes in amusement. She gritted her teeth and stared at him with half lidded eyes that she tried to make appear bored and unamused.

"Fine, thanks" she replied before shoving her chair from the table making it screech in protest before leaving the kitchen to spare herself the subjection of destruction.

Nobody had actually wanted Luke or Ashton to be temporarily housed in our accomodations. They had mentioned being homeless, and Harry being the gentleman that he was, offered them a warm place to sleep even though they had offered to put themselves up in a hotel, which was what all of the rest of us had wanted. Luke had jumped, a little too fast, on the offer which made Kirsten cringe inwardly and desire nothing but to move out and put herself up in a hotel for the time being. Ashton had remained silent and Becca noted that he had been getting skinnier, his ribs poked out prominently and his cuts were slightly less exacting as they had been stretched over less muscle and more bone. Becca worried for him yet masked her hesitation for fear of Zayn sniffing around and coming across the large portion of her heart dedicated to Ashton.

"Hey man," Harry greeted Luke at the table and offered him a flick of the head which bounced his curls off his forehead for a moment before they returned to the mess in his eyes that he had to brush back behind his ear. Luke waved with his spoon, his mouth still full of cereal and milk pooling at the sides of his mouth. Kirsten resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she dug her nails into her palm and awaited Harry's next move.

"So, Kirsten" he started, acknowledging her and saving her from the tension that only mounted as the second ticked by. "I was thinking we could carve pumpkins this afternoon"

Kirsten clapped her hands in agreement and asked him when he planned to go, he thought for a moment, tapping his long fingers against his thin lips before pointing his finger at Luke and looking like he had been struck with a revelation.

"I don't know," he mumbled quickly to Kirsten before regaining his raised eyebrow face and looking towards Luke, "why don't you come with us?" He asked with his excitement shaking her by the shoulders and leaving her shell shocked and piqued.

"Sure mate, give me 10 minutes to get ready!" He replied, giving Kirsten a subtle wink that Harry missed in his childlike excitement for pumpkins. Kirsten bit her tongue and returned Harry's hug without emotion. Harry pulled her slightly closer, sensing her hesitation, but she made no motion to embrace him, she simply kept her body like cardboard being forced into a position it was not made for as Luke finished his cereal and gave Kirsten a knowing look before exiting the kitchen to get ready to go pumpkin picking as the third wheel.