Harry Styles Imagines and Preferences book 2

Better Off

Yes, the title is inspired by, once again, Ariana Grande!

Requested, enjoy!

Y/N lays in the bed miserably, stuffy nose, puffy eyes and flushed cheeks. She muffled down a raspy cough, weakly smiling as Shawn, and yes Shawn Mendes, as he enters the contagious room. He returns the smile as he walks over to her with a tray that was accompanied by a hot bowl of chicken soup. He places it over her legs, bending down to press a small kiss to her head. Her eyes widen and she nervously looks up at him. "Sorry...that was forward, huh?", he slightly chuckles.

"A little bit", Y/N agrees, getting more comfortable in the warm sheets before digging into her soup.

"You two have a nice place, really", he comments, sitting down on the end of the bed.

"Thank you", she smiles. "Once Harry saw the place he went nuts over it and was like 'we have to get it'", she recalls the memory.

Shawn nods his head slowly, eyes diverting to the ground before him. "So uh...when did you two become a thing?"

Y/N bites her lip, fiddling around with the spoon in the bowl. "Well after you and I broke up, I uh...met him at a gathering. He asked for my number and it only took a few months until we became a thing", she awkwardly speaks before shrugging. "I don't know. I love him a lot." She notices how Shawn's interaction falls short and she can't help but feel guilty though she knows she's done nothing wrong at all. She wanted to say something, she just wasn't sure what exactly to say. She didn't want to ruin anything between them; After all, he is the only ex she's friends with. "Um", she coughs suddenly. "I really appreciate you coming and taking care of me, you know, while Harry's on tour and all."

"Does he know your sick?"

"Yes, he-"

"Pathetic", he huffs.

Y/N squints her eyes and cocks her head at him in confusion. "I'm sorry?"

"Well, I just know that if you were my girl and I was on tour and you were sick, I'd leave in an instant to take care of you", he stated.

Y/N pursed her lips and cleared her groggy throat. "Well I mean, it's only a little fever. I'll get over it in like two days. I couldn't ask him to put his tour on pause just to come take care of me for two days."

"Look at it this way", he starts, leaning in closer to her, provoking her heart to flutter from nerves. "You're not even my girl, yet I'm still here."

Her eyes are glued to his glossy ones and she shakes her head slowly. "You're also not on tour."

Shawn licks his lips with a grin of defeat. "Good point", he softly says. "You always were the right one in our relationship."

"Well I am a co-producer and writer...we're usually always right", she chuckled.

Shawn hums in agreement, lifting his pale hand to brush her forehead before sighing deeply. "You're warm again. I'm going to get the thermometer. Where is it again?"

"First upper cabinet to the left." Shawn nodded before leaving the room, Y/N's phone suddenly ringing shortly afterwards. She smiled at the caller ID before answering quickly. "Hey you."

"Hey, petal. How's my sick baby, hmm?", Harry cooed through the phone making Y/N smile widely.

"I'm alright, just eating some soup. What are you doing?"

"Just finished off a performance actually", she could picture his bright smile through the phone and it makes her beam, knowing that he's doing something he loves so much.

"Really? How was it?"

"Absolutely Incredible. Houston, Texas was a great crowd. I kept teasing them with cowboy jokes and stuff", he chuckled.

She giggled with him cheerfully. "Sounds like you-"

"Okay, let's take your temperature", Shawn spoke abruptly as he entered the room causing Y/N to jump at his sudden voice and presence.

Harry's laughter sufficed and he clutched the phone tightly in his hands. "Who the fuck is that?", he questioned knowingly.

Y/N sighed and closed her eyes in immediate frustration. "Babe, he's just here to help take care of me and give me company that's all."

"Y/N, you have a girl best friend for that shit. Why couldn't you call Y/B/F/N?"

"She's out with her boyfriend-"

"Yeah, that's a fucking excuse isn't it", he scoffs.

"Harry", Y/N groaned. "Relax."

"No, I'm not going to relax. You've been needing Shawn's 'help' and 'company' quite a lot lately. What? Am I not enough for you?"

Y/N's eyes widened and Shawn gave her a worried expression. "Harry, how could you even say that? You know you're more than enough for me-"

"Yeah, I was hoping I was. That's why I bought us that fucking house that he's roaming around in right now. And that's also why I surprised yeh with yeh favorite car that yeh immediately gave him a ride in. Is there something you're not telling me, Y/N? Do yeh want to fucking be with him?"

"No!", she quickly yells, stunned by her own tone of voice that she didn't know she could belt due to her groggy throat. She coughed harshly and shook her head. "You know I only want to be with yo-"

"Save it", he interrupts. "Once or twice with your ex, I can take, but when he's constantly calling and texting yeh....I can't deal with that Y/N and I know yeh would be the exact same way if I was calling or always with another girl. Look, I told yeh a million times how much I love yeh-"

"Harry", she cries, having a uneasy feeling of where this was all going. She knew this was going to happen, soon. She just didn't know how far he'd take it. He was becoming fed up with all of the times Shawn would interrupt with a call while her and Harry were on a date or snuggled up in bed watching a movie. He didn't like to control her life or tell her who she can and can't be friends with. He wasn't that type of guy or boyfriend, but he definitely lost it when there were rumors and speculations going around about a cheating scandal going on between them and Shawn.

"And I told yeh a million times how much you're it for me and how I want to spend the rest of my life with yeh, but I can't do that when you're constantly wrapped up in your ex."

"What are you saying?", she choked out.

"I think m'better off without it", he murmurs. It kills him to say it, but he can't live loving someone so much when they only seem to be caught up in another person. "M'better off without yeh."

"Please, stop", she pleads desperately with a sniff and tears brimming at her eyelashes.

"I have to go-"

"Harry wait-"

Before she can say much more, the line goes dead with a ringing silence.