Sooner or Later (Feat. 1D and 5SOS)

8. Crushed

The next morning, Emma awoke with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. She hadn't yet discovered the words to this song, but that didn't stop her from humming the melody. The music flowed from her lips like she'd known it her entire life.

"What's got you so happy?" asked Heidi as she sat at her desk and brushed the tangles out of her blonde hair.

"Nothing," Emma replied, struggling to keep a straight face. "I just had a good dream is all."

"Oh? What kind of dream?"

"Just ... one about a boy I met last night."

At that, Heidi slammed the hairbrush down and spun around in her chair. "Boy? What boy? You met a boy last night? Okay, Emma, spill right now. I want all the details."

The answer got stuck in Emma's mouth. "I – I – It's nothing, really."

"No, it's definitely something," insisted Heidi as she jumped out of the chair and charged her friend at full speed. Before Emma knew what was happening, Heidi had backed her into the corner of the bedroom and resumed her vicious verbal assault:

"You have to tell me everything because that's the rule of being a best friend. Thou shall not keep secrets, remember? So who is he, Emma? A jock? A hipster? – Oh, please, tell me it's not one of those nerds. Is it Ian Sanders? Ugh, that'd be just like you! I swear, you have the weirdest taste in men. I mean, first you liked Mi—"

"No!" Emma blurted out as she clamped her hand over Heidi's blabbering mouth. "No, he's not a nerd, okay? He's funny and sweet and kind and ... perfect. He's absolutely perfect."

Heidi wrenched Emma's hand away. "Perfect? Who exactly are you talking about, Emma?"

"Well," answered Emma as she gently pushed past Heidi and threw herself onto the bed. "I don't know that much about him, to be honest. We hardly spoke. But I do know that his name is Harry, and he has the most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen."

"Harry?" Heidi spat out the name as if it carried a foul taste. "Harry Styles?"

Emma's eyes widened. "Do you know him?"

"Emma, everybody knows him. Look, I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just gonna be blunt: Harry Styles is bad news. Trust me, you're better off staying away from him. Far, far away."

"But why?" Emma asked, her smile wilting. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's got a really bad reputation. Like, really bad. I hear he's slept with over a hundred girls—even some college coeds and, worst of all, teachers. Teachers, Emma! Maliah sits next to me in English, and she said he dated her sister for like a week before breaking up with her. One day, he just stopped returning her calls. When she confronted him about it, he said he lost interest; she was too boring for him. She spent the next few weeks crying her eyes out while Harry moved on to the next girl. He's a heartbreaker, Emma."

Emma shook her head in disbelief. "Well, those are just rumors, so they're probably not true. Really, he doesn't seem like that kind of guy at all."

"But he is! I'm sorry, Emma, but he is, and I can prove it."

Heidi went to her desk then and powered on her computer. Meanwhile, Emma was trying to convince herself that the rumors she'd just heard were simply that—rumors, without any basis in truth whatsoever. She remembered all the kind words Harry had said, and the warmth in his eyes and the sincerity of his smile. No, they had to be lies. The Harry from last night was nothing like the horrible boy Heidi had described. The Harry from last night was a total gentleman.

Wasn't he?

"Come here, Emma," Heidi said, beckoning her with her hand. She'd logged onto her Twitter account and pulled up Harry's profile page.

Plastered all over the blue and white page were messages (or "Tweets" as Heidi called them) from hundreds of girls from all over the country: flirty messages, dirty comments, sexy pictures, and everything in between. The girls who weren't hitting on him were begging him for a "Follow back," whatever that was. It seemed to be a pretty big deal, though, because everyone desperately wanted one.

Still, the messages weren't even the worst of it. After torturing her with words, Heidi then showed Emma some of the pictures of him that were floating around the site. With every click of Heidi's mouse, another image popped up, and each one featured Harry with his arms around a different girl.

"We don't care about the skin-tight clothes or the makeup," Harry had told her, but clearly he wasn't including himself in that statement because the girls in the pictures were the very same girls he claimed to dislike. Clearly, he did like girls with skin-tight clothing and lots of makeup. In fact, he seemed to love them. 

The lump in Emma's throat got bigger and bigger with each passing picture. "I just don't get it," she said. "He seemed so nice last night."

Heidi frowned. "They always do, Emma. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"No, I'm glad I found out this way. Better now than later, right? At least you stopped me before I did something stupid. I could have really made a fool of myself."

Downstairs, the doorbell rang. Emma's mother had arrived to pick her up.

With a heavy sigh, Emma grabbed her backpack and walked out the door. "Thanks for inviting me over, Heidi. I'll see you on Monday."

"Bye, Emma," Heidi murmured back as she watched her friend disappear around the corner. When she heard the front door close, she turned and glared at the computer screen. "Why did you even have to talk to her?" she asked Harry's picture. "Why couldn't you have just left her alone?"

That cheeky grin gave her all the answers she needed.

"Just stay away from her, okay?" Heidi threatened, and then she signed out of Twitter and went downstairs to make breakfast.

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Emma's prince charming is actually a toad? Is that really true? Keep reading to find out! Also, 5SOS will be in the next chapter!

Thanks for reading!