Events || Harry Styles

046

I struggled without the extra paycheck, so Winter and Jared offered their couch to sleep on when my lease was up on my apartment. I wouldn't let them refuse payment from me so we compromised on half of what I normally paid monthly at my old apartment. When I started to travel often for work, I was away more than I was home. And away I was when the worst week of my life happened. After that, I was certain Jared and Winter would want me far from them.

But somehow, here we were. Winter held more reservations against Harry than I did, but I really couldn't expect any less than that.

"I'm thinking he has a girlfriend and I need to stay the hell away from them and their relationship," I replied to Winter.

"But what if he doesn't want you to stay away?"

"Then he's an ass! He has a girlfriend. There's no doubts about it. He didn't deny it at all when I said it to him. If he tries anything on me, I'll seriously hit him."

"Would you actually deny him?"

"Yes! Win, I'm not a home wrecker."

"I completely understand that, but you two...I don't know." She took a generous gulp from the bottle of wine. "You two are fire, and I know some time has gone by, but I can't imagine Harry just letting you go. Especially since he wasn't the one that broke up with you."

"He has a girlfriend. A tall, beautiful, blonde, French girlfriend! He shouldn't even be glancing at me."

She sighed and muttered something about throttling me in my sleep under her breath. "Has it ever occurred to you that none of that means shit if he still loves you?"

Flashes of memories of unanswered phone calls ran through my memory. "You and I both know he doesn't."

"Okay, so I guess we'll agree to disagree. Only time will tell. On another note, what fucking bitches had the bright idea of throwing drinks at you?"

I gave an exasperated sigh and rolled my eyes. "I don't know."

"And were you actually about to hook up with a Texan security guard?"

"Maybe!"

She stared blankly.

"I could have," I added for self-reassurance.

"Definitely. But I don't know...I don't see you as a hook-up kind of gal."

"Seriously? I'd for sure hook up with someone."

We went back and forth for a little bit longer, but I wasn't about to reach the point of making a bet and then have to stick to it. We agreed to disagree.

"How's the hand doing?" She asked.

"If I pop a couple Advil and some ibuprofen a couple hours before a show, I'm good to go. How's the knee?"

"Only hurts when it's about to rain."

I laughed. "So, never."

She drank her wine with a lopsided shrug. "LA's good for something."

A pang of guilt hit me smack in the chest. I took a glance down at the small tattoo on my forearm, right below the crease of my elbow, of a single-line drawn butterfly. It was a symbol that immediately flooded my thoughts with, All is good. Everything is okay and will remain okay.

The anxiety eased.

"Anything else going on with you?"

"Uh...nope. How's work going? How's Kane?"

Kane was their one year old rescue Labrador and pit-bull mix they'd gotten a few months ago. He was a wild child and kept Winter and Jared busy, but he fit perfectly into their little family.