Chapter 25

20.7K 597 688
                                    

"Hey," I breathed into the phone, putting on a fake happy voice as to not cause any kind of suspicion. Not that someone like Liam ever gets suspicious at all anyway, but I was nervous.

"Hey Jess! You okay?"

"I'm... yeah. I'm good. You?" As hard as I tried to sound happy to be talking to him, I know my voice came out as sounding distracted, which I guess I was because I was glancing over to Harry who was still perching on the edge of my mattress with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, long hair covering his face from me.

"Are you sure? You sound a bit... I don't know, off? But yeah, I'm good thanks."

"No, no, I'm good. Promise." I forced an awkward smile even though he couldn't see me. Thank god he couldn't, by the way.

"Okay, if you're sure. I just thought I'd ring and say hi whilst I had a moment. What you doing?"

"I umm- not much. Just with Niall and... his friend."

Harry chuckled breathily on the other side of the room, still hiding behind his hands and all that curly hair. I glared at him, despite the fact he wasn't looking at me. This was an incredibly awkward situation for me.

"Oh you are? Cool. Which friend?" he sounded cheery and actually interested and it made me feel a bit sick.

"Harry."

"Ah nice one, cool."

"Yeah. What are you doing? Having fun with your family?" I quickly changed the subject, trying to prevent my voice from shaking.

"Yeah, loads. We've been fishing today; me and my cousin caught a whopper!" Liam sounded so excited and I genuinely chuckled.

"Well done."

"I'm being boring, sorry. You're with people and I'm rabbiting on about fish," he apologised with a light chuckle, bringing a tidal wave of guilt over me in the process, "You're busy... I'll let you get going."

"No it's okay, you're not- I'm not."

"Don't worry about it, Jess," he reassured me, not sounding at all upset or annoyed or anything along those lines, just polite and genuine as always, "Give me a ring later on tonight when you're free, yeah? I shouldn't be too busy for the rest of the evening."

"Uh... yeah. Okay, yeah."

"Okay." he laughed, "Talk to you in a bit. I love you."

My heart lurched and started to pound against the confines of my chest, but not in the usual way it did when he told me he loved me. Sure, it was uncomfortable on my behalf that he'd even said it, but I'd certainly find it easier to say it back if Harry wasn't sitting across the room listening to everything I was saying. I was a horrible person, definitely, but I just couldn't bring myself to just hang up the way a tiny part of my brain was begging me to.

"I love you, too," my voice came out slightly robotic, but it was better than nothing. I immediately hung up afterwards, holding my breath as I awaited a comment from Harry, and of course I got one straight away.

"I love you," he mocked me, putting on a whiny, dramatic voice and snickering. This whole thing was just a joke to him.

"Don't," I warned him, as usual.

"How can you lie that easily? You really are brutal."

I scoffed profoundly, "I feel like that's possibly a bit rich coming from you."

He grinned evilly, opening his mouth to speak but being interrupted by my mum's voice calling from downstairs, "Jess! Harry! Dinner!"

"Dinner?" I gawked at him. Since when was he having dinner here?

Illicit [Harry Styles]Where stories live. Discover now