Beneath Your Beautiful (H.S. AU)

Chapter 36

Coming home only made everything worse, as Harry's absence seemed to get the best of me. I needed him, and I needed him badly. I couldn't go to bed without knowing where he was, and therefore sleep seemed far away because there was no sign of him whatsoever.

I had tried calling him around fifty times after Liam and Sophia had assuring them that I wanted to be by myself, when honestly I didn't. I just wanted Harry to be here. Because where the hell was he? My subconscious kept telling me he didn't want me and that what we had had been a complete lie. But I couldn't believe that. I wouldn't believe it. He had been too good for that. He had remembered too much. If everything had been a lie, he wouldn't have put so much time into getting to know me. He wouldn't have caught up on the little things. He wouldn't have cared, but he did and that made me worry for his absence. He knew what the ball had meant to me. Heck he even bought me a dress so something had to be really bad for him not to be here. The thought itself sent shivers down my spine, and I rubbed my arms in an attempt of keeping myself warm, but it was pointless, and I knew only one person would be able to change that.

I grabbed my phone in a desperate attempt of calling him yet again, but just like the many times prior, it went straight to voicemail. My phone bill would be expensive, but I couldn't care less about money in that moment. I just needed to know Harry was okay. Tears fell from my eyes and I wondered how much pain one person could take in their life. How much could someone go through before it all became too much? I couldn't lose him. I simply couldn't, and when I saw him I would make sure to let him know that. 

My back was resting against the front door while I waited for him to come back, and when he did I was taken aback because the sight was horrifying. "I'm sorry," he choked out the minute I opened my door and fresh tears escaped my eyes at the poor sight in front of me.

"Don't be," I said wrapping my arms around his torso holding on for dear life afraid that it was just my imagination playing with me because I had wanted him here so badly. He buried his head in the crook of my neck while crying, and I pulled him closer having never seen him so vulnerable before.

Looking up at him I took in every part of his face as if I had never studied it before. My thumb ran over his swollen lips and all my problems seemed to disappear. All that mattered now was him and I felt bad for thinking like I had tonight. His absence hadn't been due to the fact that he was embarrassed of me or didn't love me, and I felt incredibly guilty for thinking that. My heart seemed to crack open by my unreasonable thoughts.

"What happened?" I wanted to know running my fingers over the cut on his forehead where blood had seeped through. "And don't tell me it was because you were boxing because we both know that's a lie."

"I was in a fight, " he stated simply trying to get himself together. I think his vulnerable state had taken us both by surprise.

"Clearly," I said sarcastically knowing now wasn't the time to joke. His red and swollen eye, swollen lips and several cuts on his face had me worried about him and I feared what the rest of his body looked like. Had this whole thing with his father really gotten this far? I grabbed his hand and lead him to the bathroom, and while holding it I noticed that he had fought back at whoever had done this to him. His knuckles were bloodstained too and I saw the small cuts running over them. I padded a wet cloth over the dried blood on his forehead, but he winced and pulled away from me.

"Sorry," I mumbled only imagining how much it stung.

"Don't worry about it," he said without emotion, and I was sure he was talking about something completely different than I was myself.

"Please tell me your dad didn't do this to you." My voice was only above a whisper. I was afraid of the answer, yet I was eager to know it at the same time. He shook his head and for some reason I felt a sigh of relief. However, that didn't change the fact that someone had beat him up.