MAGNETIC [H.S.]

16. i still show up

"So, your brother knows."

Dread pooled in my stomach, bile rose in my throat as I stood there holding Harry's face delicately in my hands.

I guess a part of me knew it was bound to happen, but I thought I'd be the one to tell him. I thought I'd sit him down one day and tell him, probably when it was over, when Harry moved on to someone else. Or I thought he'd catch us, it's not like we're that sneaky.

I never imagined Harry showing up here all bruised and bloody, telling me that Liam knows.

If Harry looked this bad, I was scared to know how Liam looked.

I dropped my hands and started to panic. "Is he okay? Jesus, is someone taking care of him? Did you break him? What the fuck happened Harry!? How did this happen!?"

"Could you maybe not scream at me right now? I have a bit of a fucking headache and my patience is very thin."

"Sorry, but if you look this bad I'm just a little concerned for how he's looking right now."

He scoffed at me and spoke to me with venom on his tongue. "You think I'd fight him? You think I'd lay hands on your brother over this? Over you? Please."

Ouch.

"I've seen you two fight over a beer. Like an actual fistfight over a beer. So I don't think it's crazy to assume you'd hit him back over this."

"Fuck this. I don't even know why the fuck I came here." He turned to leave, but my stomach lurched me forward. My fingers reached for him and held his arm tightly.

"Stop. Please, stop. You can't go back down there like this. You're bleeding and you're hurt and you came here for a reason. I'm sorry that I jumped to a perfectly reasonable conclusion, stop being a bitch about it, and let me clean you up. If you're still mad after I fix you then you can go."

"No." He ripped his arm from my hold and stomped toward the stairs.

"God, you're such a stubborn fucking asshole! You're gonna make me chase you with no pants on!? You're gonna make me chase you down with my ass out and no shoes on, in the middle of the night!?"

I took off after him down the stairs until he came to a stop just in front of the building's door. "Go back upstairs. I don't need you to fix me, I don't know why I'm here, Just go."

"You do know why you're here. I'm glad you're here. Let me help you, please. Tell me what happened. We don't have to talk about it in the morning. It looks like it hurts, just get over yourself for two minutes. Please don't make me chase you down barefoot.

"Fine," he wasn't happy about it, but he did follow me back up the stairs and into my apartment.

"Kitchen. I'll get the aid kit, just stand there and don't break anything." I moved quickly to the bathroom and rummaged around my very messy drawers until I found a first aid kit, an ace bandage, some really old Neosporin, and hydrogen peroxide that I'm pretty sure came with the apartment.