Hollow (Harry Styles) #Wattys2016

Chapter 51

Songs: 

Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Queen

You Really Got A Hold Of Me: Percy sedge

What Do You Mean?: Justin Bieber

A.J.'s POV

The nausea I had felt from the night before had subsided the moment I had laid down close enough to Harry, his large, warm hands rubbing small circles on my bare stomach. I surprisingly felt better, even though we were practically drenched in sweat. I got up from the bed, opening the windows even further, trying to get some air circulating.

"How do you feel?" A deep voice asked from behind me as I put my hair up in a bun away from my face and neck.

I walked back to the bed, laying on top of the sheets. "I feel better."

He rolled over onto his side, "you looked pretty bad last night, I was actually pretty scared," he said softly.

"It was probably all the junk we ate yesterday," I tried to find an explanation for him and myself. I've never really had stomach aches growing up so this was pretty weird for me.

He seemed to accept my explanation without a second thought, laying next to me in complete silence. I watched him for a while, the way his eyes danced around, avoiding me. I had the sinking feeling that we were on the verge of another argument. I felt it in the pit of my stomach as well as in my chest. The way my heart was beating at the sight of him, I just knew something bad was coming. I just didn't want to believe it. 

"Are you okay?" I brushed the loose hair away from his face

He moved his head back, as though my touch bothered him. "I'm fine," his voice was empty, his eyes still not meeting mine.

I ignored the pang in my chest from his ignoring me, giving him a small kiss on his forehead before grabbing some clothes and heading to the bathroom. I locked the door behind me, stripping down and stepping into a cold shower. There were knocks on the door and Harry's voice asking me to come in, but I ignored them. Something was clearly wrong with him, I had noticed it last night, but I figured it was because of the supposed sudden headache he had complained about. Either way, I wanted to avoid the pending argument. I wanted to not have to deal with that side of Harry today, or any day that we were here for that matter. I had enough with Sarah and Maria Elena, not to mention the vultures I had for cousins. 

When I made my way back to the room, Harry was grabbing some of his clothes, moving passed me to take his turn in the shower. By the time I finished getting ready, he was back, fully clothed, odd, he usually enjoyed parading in minimal clothing. I went around the room and bathroom, cleaning up our mess while he finished getting ready. Despite our current tiff, neither of us were willing to step out of the room and face my family without the other.

I desperately wanted to ask him, well, demand that he tell me what was bothering him, I hated these situations. But, I knew if I pressed him, given our history, things would only get worse and I felt like we were still treading on thin ice.

Unfortunately, I hadn't woken up early enough to go riding with my grandpa. Instead I had the joy of dealing with my mom's comments about how my punching Emilio was so unladylike and very uncalled for. She took advantage of the fact that I wasn't really listening to come up with a good comeback. I heard Odie say something, but I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to pay much attention.

Though we were at the table having breakfast for some time, I had barely picked at my food and the nauseating feeling from the night before had returned. I excused myself from the table in the middle of Maria Elena's speech about how a woman should know her place and blah, blah, blah, I'd listen to one of those speeches again when they decided to be a proper mother and grandmother, until then they can just shove it. I ignored Odie and Harry's questions about where I was going and just left.