ego ~ h.s. [editing]

seventeen ~ the true liar

Ed stepped in, looking around as he never been in Dawn's house. She smiled at him softly and took his hand, leading him to the dining room.

First, he felt uncomfortable with her holding his hand  - but he had no clue why. Maybe it was him being tense.

For her, on the other hand, the warmth of his hand was exactly what calmed her. What gave her the feeling that everything would be okay soon. Ed's presence was it, what soothed her pain on the left side of her body. She was sore and she wanted to show everybody that she wasn't the bitch of the story.

 "Dawn, you wanna tell me what's wrong?", Ed asked carefully. Dawn turned around immediately, holding his hand in both of her hands.

"Ed, do you trust me?", she whispered and it pretty much looked like she was just about to cry.

"I do.", he responded briefly and tried to give her an encouraging smile.

"Then I'll show you what's wrong. I'll show you the reason why my life is as bad as it is now.", her voice was a very low whisper now.

Ed frowned. He didn't know what the problem was, but he was sure he would do something. Something to fix the problem. Something to fix his friend's problems. He wouldn't be like this guy who had left her after her dad died, he'd be a true friend to her and would stand by her side. When he thought about that guy and what he did, his frown grew deeper. This guy was so stupid. A friend like Dawn. He should have considered himself as a lucky boy and not let her fade away.

As both Ed and Dawn got nearer and nearer to the dining room, he heard some voices arguing.

"You are such a badly brought up person! You better watch your mouth, you! And you can start to prepare your apologise speech! You're going to apologise for what you did!", a woman's voice yelled.

Dawn flinched at her words. Anne shouldn't talk with him like that. He was responsible for his own choice of words and not she. She wanted to stop the heated quarrel, so she pulled herself and Ed into the room, as Harry was speaking his pleading.

"No, I won't apologise! The hell I will! Do you think it's easy waking up to news like that? My ex-best friend and my friend, hooking up! Spending the night together! Do you think that has not a little bit of an surprise effect, huh?!"

Eyes turned to Dawn and Ed. Everybody except Harry could see that both had entered the room. 

Ed's jaw dropped. He hadn't expect the Styles family being here, let alone that Dawn's family and Harry's family were friends!

But then something made click in his brain, he got the riddle.

The guy who had left Dawn and had cut her off just like that, that guy was standing right in front of him.

He was the cause why Dawn wanted to get wasted that night, he was the cause for everything. The silent and warm tears, the sad touch in her voice - everything, everything was just caused by Ed's friend.

He couldn't believe any of that and his facial expression told everyone in the room what he was thinking. 

Anger. Disappointment. Trust issues. It was written all over his face.

A few moments passed by with silence and Harry still hadn't turned around.

"What?", he asked. "Don't you have anything to add? Or don't you want to tell me off? Or don't you want to take Dawn's side?"

Dawn closed her eyes and tried to hold back tears. Of course she wanted revenge. She wanted to play a game with him, since he did to her. His game was different and hers was different. But in the end, Harry had hurt her. However, she didn't want to hurt him in response. She wanted to let him suffer while she took her time to forgive him.