Toxic (Harry Styles)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Just be smart enough to know when to give up.


I wipe off the extra condensation that's gathered on my forehead. The grey bathroom is hot and steamy from the shower I just finished. My head feel much better, my whole body really, and I can think more clearly now. Wrapping my long, damp hair in a towel, I step outside of the room, into the bedroom.

I start for my bag that rest atop the oak dresser. I pull out my only hoodie that I brought, and shrug it on. I take a final look in the mirror, checking my busted lip that eventually stopped bleeding on the way over here on the bus. However, the bruise on my cheek is so big that it expands down to my jaw; and it's only just forming so I know that it'll look worse tomorrow.

I try to add foundation and powder to the mark, covering it up the best I could, but it still wasn't enough. With a somber expression, I move away from the vanity and to the door. I can hear the light voices of the TV playing in the living room. I walk down the hallway that I've paced many times, passing many closed doors, but I don't stop until I reach the den.

"You're running out of conditioner, just a heads up," I say, plopping down on the sofa.

"Damn," Jess cusses. "How much did you use? I got that bottle last week!"

I shrug, turning to the TV that's playing the show 'Friends', where everyone is in the café and laughing. Jess sighs, settling even more into the cushions, laying her head back with eyes shut. I'm so lucky, I think to myself, to have a friend like her.

This was the only place that I could think of as a reliable get away for a short time. Of course there is Harry's flat, but that's not so dependable, seeing as I haven't known him as long as I have Jess. I wouldn't feel comfortable there, with a guy who is outwardly unstable. But once I showed up on her doorstep with a bloody, she took me in. Surely if I went to Harry's, it would've been completely different. He already hates when guys talk to me, but if he ever knew that someone hit me, even if it was my father, he'd beat the hell out of him. I could only trust Jess truly and completely.

"You're sure it's fine for me to stay here?" I break the silence. "Your parents will be fine with it?"

"Hey, don't worry. You know you're like family around here," she reassures me. "Besides, Mum and Dad are gone for the week on business."

I nod, aware that she can't see me. "So what do you want to do now?" She adds, opening her eyes to me.

"I don't know," I shrug. "It's your place, what─"

A sharp noise cuts through the air, silencing me in mid-sentence. It's Jess's phone lying on the coffee table. She picks it up with a confused expression, and says, "It's an unknown number. Odd." But she still hits the answer button. "Hel─"

There's a buzzing coming through the phone that even I can hear and I'm sitting a foot away from her. She looks to me with her mouth agape and eyebrows raised. "No!" She said. "First of all, how the hell did you get my number? And second, it doesn't matter."

Her way of words causes on uproar of active from the other end to the point she has to take it away from the ear. When it dies down she listens again. "Okay, okay, geez don't get so hung up."

She holds the phone out to me, and I confusedly take it but cover the speaker before answering. "Who is it?" I whisper, though I have a feeling of who it is before she has to say the name.

"Harry."

I huff a breath, sinking into the sofa, and hold the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Why the hell haven't you answered your phone whenever I call?" He queries, straight to the point.

I roll my eyes, "Because it's broken right now, Harry." It's true. I found it like that when I first arrived here at Jess's house. Apparently when I was knocked down at my home, my phone was in my back pocket and was smashed, the screen and everything.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Shay," he growl. I can almost see the curl in his lip now.

"Good thing it isn't bullshit then, is it?" Suddenly, Harry swears as a bang of some sort comes from his side along with shouts of different people. "What in god's name is all that racket?"

"Don't worry about that. Listen to me Shay," he orders with a tight voice that gives me no choice but to listen. "I'm coming to get you soon. Just stay there─"

The line goes dead.

Every muscle in my body goes slack but the hand that holds the mobile to my ear. The only sound in the whole house is the dial tone, even my breathing has stopped. Jess has scooted over to my side, shaking my shoulder rough enough to make the phone drop from my grasp.

"Shay? Shay, what's wrong?"

"Something's not right," I state. The tone in Harry's cold voice has made goose bumps appear on my arms, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

Jess scoffs, "You think."

My heartbeat has picked up, thoughts start to jumble together, and I begin action on impulse. I can see that Jess is trying to tell me something, but it doesn't resonate in my mind. Instead, I shrug her off my shoulder, standing to my feet. Something's wrong, I think, I can feel it in the lowest part of my stomach that he's in trouble.

I stumble to the front of the house, pulling on my Vans, when Jess races after me.

"What are you doing? You just got here!"

I whirl to face her, "He's in trouble. He was cut off, and the line went dead." I could hardly recognize my own voice as I spoke.

"Maybe he's just pissed that you came here and not to him," she offers mockingly. I overlook her jab seeing that isn't time to fight with her on this. I have to go, go find Harry.

With this in the forefront of my brain, I turn the doorknob at and jog out onto the deck. Even through my hoodie, I'm able to feel the cold as if I didn't have it on. I automatically wrap my arms around me, trying to preserve my body heat. I was on the last step when my name was called from behind.

"You know, Shay," Jess says, "I'm not sure what's going on with you and Harry, and I'm not sure I want to know, but I do know one thing. This relationship you guys have is toxic," she seethes with loathing in her tone. "And it will not end well." Before she shuts the door she mutters something that sounded like come back when you get things straightened out.

I watch as she disappears into the house, the low click of the deadbolt telling me I should go now. And I do.

The first place I could think of that Harry could possibly be now, is his house. I make my mind up to start there, then maybe the bar that he took me to last night. Was that only last night? I ask myself. It couldn't be. That felt like ages ago, not twelve hours.

Bypassing the bus stop, I figure that I could get to Harry's faster on foot. The wind is whipping around me with a howl, and I notice that the streets are oddly deserted. People must be in school or at work, where I should be, but instead I'm going after a man that honest frightens me at times.

My fast pace gets to Harry's flat faster than I thought it would take. I rapidly press the doorbell once, then twice, and once more but no one answers. I look at my surroundings. The windows on the upper floor are opened but no lights shine out of them. I don't see Harry's Range Rover park anywhere near the flat either.

I heave a sigh, hopping down to a lower step, and sit with my shoulder against the rusty, iron wrought railing. I ask myself: If I were Harry, where would I be? I've given up hope in going to the bar. It's too far downtown, and I doubt that Harry would be there in the early afternoon. I've never seen him anywhere else but the dance studio, though I can't imagine why he's be there when I'm not.

I hear a rustling from the gap between Harry's flat and his neighbor's. It's not wide enough to be considered a street, but it's also not narrow for an alleyway- if it was, I wouldn't move from the stoop. But it's not; it looks more like a space for bicyclist and such to shortcut to a different road.

I slowly rise off the steps to my feet. The heavy footsteps have come closer now, and voices that sound like they're yelling have made their way to my hearing range. There are many of them, possibly six. The Voices echo off the damp, blackened brick walls as I approach the mouth of the passageway. It's not well lit; the sun is hidden behind ominous clouds in a way that it may rain later.

There's a dim, flickering light a few feet from where they stand, casting shadows over their facial features so I can't tell who they are.

As I stand there, gaping at the scene playing out, everything happens so fast, my mind breaks it down step by step.

One of the men push another back against the wall with so much force that I can plainly tell they aren't allies─ in fact, they all seem opposed to this man. I squint, struggling to make out their exact actions; my ears strain to hear the occasional shout.

The five other built men corner the one further back into the gap. I don't see why the man isn't running, there's no stopping him at the other end of the path since it opens to another road. From what I can see, he's just as big as the others even if he is outnumbered.

One of the men, I can see, who's back is to me like all of theirs are, reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out something. It reflexes the light off its surface as it moves, but when he holds it just right I can make out what it is.

A gun.

My breathing catches in the back of my throat. They haven't seen me yet since I've stayed in the same place, frozen. I rise on the tips of my toes to try to catch a glimpse of the man's face that was facing me. It was proven difficult because the men that are now shoving the other are covering him with their broad shoulders.

Against my will, I shuffle forward into the way. The man is directly under the light now, his whole body outlined. Even though it's not there, I gasp, recognizing his curly hair.

Harry.

+++++

OH MY :0

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Kisses -A xx