Until Now (Harry Styles)

Chapter 27

I came back to my apartment with a fixed door and new locks. It made me feel a little bit safer knowing that the locks were there to keep the bad guys out, but I was still anxious about Marcus being out there. Liam had called not long after his time at the police station informing me that he hadn’t seen him there either, which definitely meant that he was still out there. I hoped that he caught the hint that the police were out there searching for him and that he left town. That would the best for everyone. No matter how much I wanted that guy in jail, I also wanted him as far away from me as possible.

I walked into my apartment after getting the new set of keys from my landlord. He apologized over and over about what had happened and promised to have a security system put in for the whole complex. I thanked him quickly before leaving and now I was standing in front of my apartment. This would be the first time I would be back inside by myself since the attack. I breathed in deeply and opened the door. It was quiet inside and stuffy. I walked around and opened all my windows to air out the musty smell.

“Alright, Ashleigh. Clean up and get your life back on track.” I told myself as I set my bag down on the counter. I sifted through my mail and organized my bills. I searched around for my laptop and found it sitting on my coffee table. I silently thanked whatever god was out there that they hadn’t gotten away with my baby. I needed it for everything, as much as I needed my phone.

Speaking of my phone… I rummaged through my bag and checked my messages. I had several text messages blinking on my screen. A few were from my mother asking me if I had gotten back all right. I replied quickly and checked the rest of the missing texts. I was shocked to see that Jake had texted me. I didn’t eve think that he still had my phone number.

From Jake: Are you okay? I heard about the break in.

Great. More and more people were finding out about it. I guess keeping it a secret was pointless. I responded with a short text telling him that I was okay and that I had help from friends. My phone buzzed with another text from Jake.

From Jake: That’s good to hear. If you need anything you know how to reach me.

I was happy that he was willing to be there for me and a part of me thought about before when we had been dating and how great of a guy he was. I shook my head free of those thoughts because I was so over him and I didn’t want to think I wasn’t. I didn’t respond to his message and continued down the list of people who I had missed a text from. Nicks was next, asking me how my trip to the police station went. I decided that I would call her later and let her know all the details. I wasn’t up to talking to her right then. I wanted silence and my apartment was the perfect place for it. Well, until I heard a thump upstairs. I rolled my eyes and couldn’t help but smile because Harry was home.

He never gave me a definitive time for our “date,” or rather a time for us to “hang out.” I was just going to let is decide when and where. I had nothing to do. I was taking the rest of the week off and relaxing. I plopped down on my couch and sighed loudly as I kicked my shoes off.

The rest of the messages on my phone were from Will who had gotten back to asking me to hang out with him all the time. I wondered what had happened to his girlfriend, so I asked him.

From Will: She went on a trip with a class.

He responded quickly and I could tell how desperate he was for human contact. I rolled my eyes and decided to leave my phone alone for the next couple hours. Netflix. My apartment was still in a mess even thought Liam did his best to help clean up. I pulled myself from the comforts of my couch and over to my kitchen. I leaned down to grab the cleaning supplies from under the sink and went to town.