After (Larry Version)

~*Chapter 96*~

THE NEXT MORNING, I wake up to Harry trying to move out from under me. I shift against the back of the couch to let him get up, and he grabs his phone off the counter before going to the bathroom. I hope he isn't too pissed about me breaking his screen. If I wouldn't have been so nosy, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. I pull myself off the couch and make a pot of coffee.
Harry's proposal of going to back England with him keeps running through my mind. We have already progressed so quickly in our relationship by moving in together at such a young age. Still, I would love to meet his mother and see England  again with Harry .

"Deep in thought?" Harry's voice interrupts me as he comes into the kitchen.
"No... well, sort of." I laugh.
"About?"
"Christmas."
"What about it? You can't figure out what to get me?"
"I think I'm going to call my mother and see if she would have even invited me for Christmas. I feel bad not at least seeing first, you know. She will be alone."
He doesn't look thrilled, but he stays calm. "I understand."
"I'm sorry about your phone."
"It's fine," he says and sits at the kitchen table.
But then I blurt out, "I read a text message from Jace." I don't want to hide things from him, no matter how embarrassing the confessions are.
"You what?"
"It vibrated and I looked at it. Why was he texting so late, anyway?"
"What did you read?" he asks, ignoring my question.
"A text from Jace," I repeat.
His jaw clenches. "What did it say?"
"Just to call him back..." Why is he getting so worked up? I knew he wouldn't exactly be happy that I looked at his text message, but this is an overreaction.
"That's it?" he snaps, which starts to get me annoyed.
"Yes, Harry —what  else would it have said?"
"Nothing..." He takes a slow sip of coffee, like it's all suddenly no big deal. "I just don't like you going through my stuff."
"Okay, well, I won't do it again."
"Good. I have a few things to do today, so can you keep yourself busy for a while?"

"What do you have to do?" I ask and instantly regret it.
"Jesus, Louis ," he says loudly. "Why are you always on my case!"
"I'm not always on your case. I just wanted to know what you were doing. We are in a relationship, Harry —a pretty serious one, at that—so why wouldn't I ask where you're going?"
He pushes his mug away and stands up. "You just don't know when to let shit go, is your problem. I don't have to tell you everything, whether we are living together or not! If I would have known you were going to start shit with me today, I would have left before you even woke up."
"Wow" is all I can say before I storm off to the bedroom.
But he's hot on my heels. "Wow what?"
"I should have known that yesterday was too good to be true."
"Excuse me?" he scoffs.
"We had such a great time; you weren't an arsehole, for once, but you wake up today and bam! You're back to being a jerk!" I scramble around the room picking up Harry's dirty clothes.
"You forgot the part where you went through my phone."
"Okay, " and I am sorry for doing that, but it's honestly not that big of a deal. If there is something on there that you don't want me to see, then there is a bigger problem here!" I yell and shove everything into the hamper.
He points an angry finger at me. "No, Louis , you're the problem. You're always making something out of nothing!"
"Why did you fight Zayn ?" I counter.

"We aren't doing this right now," he says in a cool tone.
"Then when, Harry? Why won't you tell me? How am I supposed to trust you if you are keeping things from me? Does this have to do with Jace?" I ask and his nostrils flare.
He runs his hands over his face and then up through his hair, leaving it sticking straight up. "I don't know why you can never just mind your own damn business," he grumbles and walks off.
Seconds later I hear the front door slam and I wipe the angry tears from my cheeks. Harry's reaction to me asking about Jace is gnawing at my stomach the entire time I clean the apartment. He overreacted,there is something he isn't telling me, and I don't understand why. I am fairly certain it has nothing to do with me, but it just doesn't make sense why Harry got so worked up. I have known since the moment I met Jace that he was trouble. If Harry isn't going to give me answers, I will have to go another route. I look out the window and watch as Harry's car pulls out of the parking " lot before grabbing my phone. My new source answers on the first ring.
"Zayn? It's Louis," I say.
"Yeah... I know."
"Okay... well, I was wondering if I could ask you something?" My voice comes out smaller than I intended it to.
"Um... where is Harry ?" he asks, and, given his tone, I suspect he holds a small grudge against me for blowing him off after he was so kind to me.
"He isn't here."
"I don't think this is a good idea—"
"Why did Harry fight you?" I ask before he finishes.

"I'm sorry, Louis , I gotta go," he says and the call ends.
What the hell? I hadn't been one hundred percent sure he would tell me, but that wasn't the reaction I was expecting, either. My curiosity is now piqued more than before and my annoyance is as high as ever.
I try to call Harry again, but of course he doesn't answer. Why would Zayn act that way? Like he was almost... afraid to tell me? Maybe I was wrong and this does have to do with me? I don't know what's going on, but none of this makes sense. I take a step back and reevaluate the situation. Am I overreacting? Harry's frantic expression when I asked about Jace replays in my head, and I'm sure I'm not misreading this.
I take a shower to try to calm my nerves and settle my mind, but it doesn't work, this feeling in the pit of my stomach pushes me to come up with another option. When I get out of the shower, I blow-dry my hair and get myself dressed while I decide what to do next.
I feel a little like Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, "plotting and scheming. I had never cared for her character, but suddenly I find myself relating to her. I can now see how love can make you do things that you normally wouldn't, like become obsessive and even a little crazy. Though, in reality, my plan really isn't all that crazy or nearly as dramatic as it seems in my head. All I'm going to do is find Nick and ask him if he knows why Harry and Zayn got into a fight, then see what he knows about Jace. The only thing that makes this plan crazy is that Harry will lose it when he finds out that I called Zayn and went to Nick .
Now that I think about it, Harry hasn't taken me around any of his friends since we moved in together—making it likely none of them actually know about our new living arrangement."

BY THE TIME I leave the apartment, my thoughts are jumbled and I end up leaving my phone on the counter. It begins to snow as soon as I pull onto the freeway, so it takes me over thirty minutes to get to the dorms. They look the same as I remember—of course they do. It has been only a week since I left them, even though it seems so much longer.
Marching up the hallway, I ignore the rude stare from the bleach blonde who yelled at Harry for spilling vodka outside her door. That first night that Harry stayed in my dorm with me seems so distant,time hasn't made sense since I met him. When I knock on my old door, there's no answer. Of course he isn't here, he's never here. He spends the majority of his time at Vanessa and Melanie's apartment, and I have no idea where that is. Even if I did, would I go there?
I get into my car and try to formulate a new plan while I drive around. This might have been easier if I hadn't forgotten my phone, but just as I'm about to give up on my radical decision to practically stalk my old roommate, I pass Blind Bob's, the biker bar I went to with Nick. Recognizing Melanie's car in the lot, I pull in. I take a deep breath before getting out, and when I finally do, the cold air burns my nostrils. The woman at the front smiles at me when I enter, and I'm relieved when I spot Nick's red hair from across the room.
If only I had known what was to come."

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