Until Now (Harry Styles)

Chapter 25

To say that my parents freaked out would be the understatement of the century. They really freaked out. My dad sat there, silently devising a plan to catch the guy who got away. My mother had wandered off, crying, and trying to find that damned dog. All the while, I sat there and silently wished that I hadn’t told them anything. I could have just stayed in Harry’s warm bed and forgot about all of my problems.

“What did the police have to say?” My dad finally asked. I shrugged and tried to think back to what happened that night.

“Basically that they would call me with any leads and that I should stay with someone in the meanwhile in case the guy came back.” I grabbed the edge of the seat I was sitting on and sighed. “So I cam home. I didn’t want to be at that apartment.”

“Who did you stay with in the first place?” My dad asked.

“Nicks.” I lied quickly. I didn’t want to tell my father that I had been sleeping over at my incredibly attractive, upstairs neighbor’s place. He wouldn’t like that at all. Plus, I didn’t want to drop another bomb on the poor man after dropping an atomic one.

“Well, I’m glad you came home.” He said, standing up from his seat at the kitchen counter. He came over to be and clutched a hand down on my shoulder. I looked up at him and felt my lips twitch into a smile. “Come here.” He said, pulling me from his seat and embracing me. “It’ll be okay sooner or later.” I snuggled into his broad chest and smelled his familiar cologne that he wore basically every day of his life.

“Thanks, dad.” I sighed when he let me go.

“Now go find your mother.” He patted me on the shoulder and gave me a nudge towards the living room. My mother was sitting on the couch, arms hooked tightly around that little dog. When I approached her she stood up, letting Bernie onto the couch. She swooped her long, tan arms around me.

“Baby, why didn’t you call?”

“I had it handled.”  I softly answered, pulling away.

“Still, you could have called.” My mother gave me a stern look and I pouted in response. She was right. Nicks said the same thing. I could have called the closest people to me and let them know what had happened, but instead I ran to Harry. Unpredictable Harry. After more chiding from my mother and more silence from my dad, I found my way up the stairs of our little, barn planned home. My room was the first on the right, next to Mitch’s. When I walked in, I was taken back to times before college, where all I had to worry about was where the next bonfire was.

I fell onto my bed face first. Some dust fluffed up from my pillow and made me cough, but everything else was fine and comfortable, even my pink floral print sheets with matching curtains. Yeah, I was that type of girl.

I sat with my back against my headboard for a while. I silently picked at my cuticles and went through my old school albums for a while. I basically just relaxed and it felt great. I downed the entire plate of food my mother had cooked up, asking for more. I hadn’t had much of an appetite until I came home. I was finally at ease being home, but when it came down to it. I was bored. I was out of my mind, bored.

I picked up my phone and stared at the screen. I had been playing my music playlist with an absent mind. I couldn’t figure out what to do next with my time, so I rummaged through the bathroom cabinets and found a decent looking nail polish. When I returned to my room I found my phone buzzing on my bedside table. I picked it up and saw that I had three missed text messages. It looked like I had become very popular within the few seconds I was gone in the bathroom.

From Nicks: Hey, you never called me.

I rolled my eyes, checking the next two messages. There was another one from Nicks.