Midnight

Chapter 24:

Harrys POV:

Belle and Adam drag me around the mall for what feels like ever. I am currently sitting in a dressing room waiting for them to finish trying stuff on. Belle pops her head out of her dressing room door and looks around.

"Are you-"

"Shh!" She hushes me and scurries over. "Doesn't Adam seem a little gay to you?"

"What?"

"My gaydar is going off and I want to know if yours is too."

"I don't even think I have a gaydar."

"Well does he seem gay to you?"

"I don't know. He did just break up with his girlfriend." I emphasize the word 'girlfriend'.

"Ya I know. I think the reason he is having such a hard time with it is because he is beginning to come out of the closet."

"Remind me again why this is relevant?"

"I dunno. I was just thinking about it." She shrugs. Well actually now that I think about it, it wasn't a shrug, it was more of a shake, she looks paler then usual.

"Are you okay?"

"Just a little jittery."

"You want some water? Are you hungry?" I take her hands and pull her down next to me.

"I suppose you should eat."

"When was the last time you ate?"

She pauses to think. "I think in had an apple yesterday morning."

"Belle! That's horrible! Come on we are going to get you food. It's been 24 hours!" I lecture her the entire way to the food court. I sit her and Adam at a table and go get in line at a burger place for her.

I wing it and get her a normal burger with fries and water.

Once the food is done I bring it to the table where Belle now sits alone.

"Where did Adam go?" I set the tray on front of her. She scrunches her nose at it. "You are eating it and that's final." I slide it closer to her.

"Ok ok," She picks up the burger and takes a bite. "Adam went and got a sandwich to answer your question." She says after finishing chewing.

"Whatever," I snack off her fries. "I was just trying to be polite. I didn't actually give a fuck."

"Of course." she rolls her eyes at me. She attempts to open her water bottle but can't. I take it from her and open it for her.

"So you can flip a man twice your size over but you can't open a water bottle." I hand the open bottle to her.

"Shut up." She glares and drinks some of the water.

After lunch we drop off Adam back at the ranch and I drive Belle back to the townhouse.



Izzy's POV:

I shouldn't have eaten anything. Harry was lecturing me like a child so I did it just to shut him up. But now I can't get comfortable cause I am bloated and it's pissing me off.

I continuously shift in my seat as we near the townhouse.

"You alright?" Harry asks, not taking his eyes off the road.

"I would be if someone hadn't made me eat." I grumble.

"Belle you were gonna pass out!"

"I have lasted longer." I move my right leg so it is tucked under me.

"Should I be worried?"

"Worried about what?" I take my leg back out from under me.

"You not eating."

"If you are implying that I am anorexic you are incorrect. I love food and am fine with my weight. I just don't like to eat while on my period cause it makes me uncomfortable." I bring my knees to my chest.

"Okay good. I like your weight too."

That would usually cause butterfly's in my stomach but I'm so behind pissed that I can't get comfortable I'm about to kill someone.

"Ugh dammit!" I hit the dashboard I put my face in my hands, taking deep breaths.

The more I move around the more completely infuriated I become. This is a slow torture. I need to get out of these fucking jeans.

"Do you wanna squeeze my hand or something?" Harry offers me his right hand.

"That's not a good idea. Last time I did that I broke my friend Rachel's hand. But to be fair she is really tiny and fragile. Plus I'm not in pain I just can't get comfortable. I wanna punch something." I tug on my hair. Harry just nods and puts his hand back on the wheel.

We soon pull up to the townhouse and Harry parks along the curb outside of it. I am out of that metal torture chamber before he even turned the car off. I sort of hunch over as another side effect from the bloating.

"Go on in I'll grab your bags." Harry flicks his wrists at me.

"You're the best." I say before walking as fast as I possibly can up to my room. The other girls are in the kitchen but I walk past them without so much as a word. I still vaguely know my roommates, besides Kelly, Perrie and unfortunately Jackie.

Once I make it to my room I grab some clothes and head into the bathroom.

I peel off my jeans and replace them with sweat pants. I change into a sports bra and Harrys shirt, cause it's not to loose but also not to tight. I take some pain killers, even though I'm not in pain they still help.

When I come back out Harry is sitting on my bed with his back against the headboard and my bags are on the ground at the foot of my bed.

"Hey, come here." He holds out his hands. I drop my clothes in my dirty laundry basked and walk over to him, taking his hands. He pulls me so I am straddling his lap. "You feeling any better?" He plays with the tips of my hair as I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Give me an hour."

"Alright." He kisses the top of my head and falls silent.

After I while I begin to slowly slide to the right. So now my left leg is still over his waist along with my left arm across his chest, I am laying on my right. He has his arm underneath me and is diagonally wrapped from my shoulder to my ribcage and my head rests on his chest.

"So are we just gonna lay here all day?" Harry asks after a while.

"I was planning on getting up and going to watch TV if you care to join." It's definitely been more than an hour cause the pain meds are beginning to work and I feel better.

"I would love to." He slide from under me, stands up and offers a hand. He helps me up and we walk downstairs, where we find the usual; Perrie and Kelly with the addition on Louis, Zayn and Hannah.

"You!" Hannah tries to lung at me but Louis grabs her.

"Yes?"

"You got me thrown out of the party!"

"Oh ya," I laugh a little. "I forgot about that."

"It's not funny! I was embarrassed in front of everyone! You stupid whore!"

"Hannah." Harry warns and steps closer to me.

"Don't stick up for her Harry! We all know you are just gonna string her alone and then dump her when you get bored!"

That hit home. She just summed up my worst fear at the moment. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach.

"I will not Hannah. I grew up, something you should try." Harry clenches his fists.

"You haven't changed at all!" Tears start to roll down her cheeks.

What a wussy.

"Pull it together Hannah," I say. "No one cares."

"That's it!" She breaks from Louis's grip and lunges at me. Harry instinctively pulls me behind him. Hannah's arms go on either side of him in an attempt to get to me. Her left nails dig into my right upper arm and I take a step back, blankly staring at my new scratch marks.

Flashbacks of my childhood fill my vision; Tim getting beaten, my father yelling and swearing, things being smashed. Even more recent ones; my father hitting Harry.

"Belle?" My vision is brought back to reality with Harry in front of me waving a hand in my face. I look around and everyone is staring at me. I must look high.

"Belle it's ok we made Hannah leave." Harry says.

"What?" My eyes snap to his.

"We made Hannah leave." He repeats.

"She is emotional right now! She shouldn't be driving!" I run over to the big window and look down. She is sitting in her parked car angrily texting and crying. "Someone needs to drive her home." I turn to face everyone. No one moves. "Fine I'll do it." I make my way over to the stairs.

"No. Wait, Louie will do it." Harry says and grabs my wrist. I glance over at Louis who just looks confused. Harry gives him a look I can't see.

"Ya I'll do it." Louis says, rather unhappily, and grabs his coat and leaves.

I go back to the window and watch him talk to Hannah through her window. After what looked like much convincing Hannah crawls onto the passenger side and Louis gets behind the wheel before driving away. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

"I gotta give you props Izzy. I would have let her go." Kelly says as I turn back around.

"I take reckless driving seriously. If any of you are drunk or tired or pissed and need a ride don't hesitate on calling me. Cause if I find out you drove drunk or pissed or tired I will make your life hell." They all nod at me, even Harry a little. "Now. I just remembered that it's Sunday and I have homework so I will see you all later." I go back up to my room, Harry right behind me. I sit on my bed and put my face in my hands.

"Hey, you ok?" Harry sits next to me and rubs my back. He sure has been asking me that a lot today.

"I realized when she was attacking me that my natural instinct was to do what my father would have. So I did the opposite, which almost ended the same way my mothers fate did. They are like ghosts that make me second guess all my actions. But sometimes they don't come in till after I have done something. Like when I beat that one guy up at the party, or my dad in the ally. I should have tried talking to him."

"That guy was hurting your brother, he deserved it."

"Ya that asshat deserved it. I was talking about my father though."

"Oh." Is all he says. I swear I keep putting him in these situations that he is horrible in. I've gotta stop.

"Never mind. This is stupid. I've got homework." I slide onto the floor and pull my backpack over to me, pulling out my folders.

"Belle this isn't stupid. It's important you know you can talk to me about this type of stuff. You shouldn't keep it all inside."

"I don't like putting you in these situations as much as you don't like being put in them."

"Hey, come here," He slides down next to me and puts a pillow on his lap, pulling me so I lay with my head on the pillow. "Now tell me what's on your mind," He begins to play with my hair. I wish I could lay like this forever. It's the most comforting thing. "I mean it Belle come on, talk to me." He uses a soft tone.

"I'm afraid I am turning into my dad sometimes." I say quickly. It feels like weights just for lifted off my shoulder by saying that out loud.

"You are not turning into your father. You fight out of self defense or to protect those you love."

"Hurting people is hurting people Harry, it's all the same."

"No it's not. Don't tell yourself that."

"How is it not the same?"

"It just isn't."

"You make a horrible therapist. Your fired."

"I'm guessing you are putting your walls back up." He sighs.

"Sadly, my walls don't seem to work at full capability around you."

"See, now that wasn't so bad was it?"

"Shh don't talk about it." I sit back up and pull my books back onto my lap.

"Are you really gonna do homework?"

"Yes. It's only the third week and I am already falling behind. I need a good cram session."

"Let me help?"

"Fine. But if you start distracting me you have to leave. So we are probably gonna have to put a bag over your head and a blanket over your body."

He leans over and gives me a playful kiss. "Your gonna have to work through it love," He whispers in my ear. "But thanks for the compliment. Well, your version of a compliment anyways."

"See, my walls are down. I normally wouldn't admit how intimidatingly sexy you are," I take his chin and move his face side to side, examining it. "I hate you." I say as I admire his stupid jaw. In one movement he has me pinned on the ground and is hovering over me. I resist my natural instinct to flip him off of me.

"Well that's to bad," he whispers, his voice low. "Cause your stuck with me."

"How did I end up getting stuck with you?" I pretend to pout. He rolls his eyes and kisses me. It is soft and seems to have more meaning behind it. "Harry," I break the kiss and push him up a little. "I really gotta study."

"Fine." He huffs. He gives me one more quick kiss before crawling off and pulling me up.