Song For This Chapter:
Carolina-Harry Styles
"How would I tell her that she's all I think about?
Well I guess she just found out"
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A/N: Before we get started I just wanted to say hi! I hope you enjoy the story. I am not a writer by any means this is just for fun, but I publishing it here in case there's someone out there who would enjoy it. I don't have a face claim for Darlene atm but I picture her as a brunette if that helps at all! I also picture Frat Boy Harry, because they are college age!
Also give it a couple chapters, it gets a lot more interesting later on I PROMISE. I'm writing this message after I've already written the first 15!
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The sun beating down on me was deathening. I swear I'm going to eventually die from heat exhaustion from this job.
You would think working as a lifeguard would mean I could easily cool down but we're rarely in the water. I've been working here for almost two months and I've only had to jump in the water twice. So much for all that training.
But I needed a job while on summer break from college and they were hiring. I figured it was simple enough, I've always been a good swimmer anyways.
It's only 9am and the heat is already unbearable, which means the pool is going to be packed today, and that is going to make my day in general, unbearable. At least I'm working with my favorite co-worker today. Niall and I met through work and he makes a shift less torturous.
I finish uncovering the pool, trying to set up as fast as possible so I can sit in a shade for a bit before we open.
Now I just have to open up all the umbrellas, which there are a lot of. It's annoying to do, because it's extremely tedious.
"Hey darling" I jump at the voice, snapping my head towards it. Once I see who it is my eyes immediately roll, I cannot do this right now.
I cannot pair heat exhaustion with the mental exhaustion this man will cause me.
"Stop calling me that, If I have to tell you again- wait why are you even here?" I huff before furrowing my eyebrows. Did he come here just to annoy me? I wouldn't be surprised.
The curly haired boy smirks at my response.
"Covering for Niall, why? Not happy to see me?"
I throw my head back and groan, as if my day couldn't get anymore unbearable. The least Niall could've done was given me a heads up.
"Harry?" I ask in an annoyed tone, really not having the patience right now. This shift would've been torture already and having to work with him is the icing on the cake.
"What?" He asks with a satisfied look on his face.
"Shut the hell up" I smile at him before turning back around and continuing to open up the umbrellas.
The shift hasn't even technically started yet and I already cannot wait for it to end. Out of everyone that Niall could have asked to cover him he asked Harry.
He knows how much I can't stand him. Wait-now thinking about it Niall may have done this on purpose...that little asshole.
Probably why he didn't tell me he was sick.
I am going to go off on his ass later, I swear to god. He better actually be sick or so help me-
"Oh come on, cheer up" Harry says sarcastically, as he begins to open the umbrellas near him.
Don't engage. Don't engage.
"This day is going to be unbearable as it is, so let's keep the conversation minimal" I sigh walking over and opening the last umbrella.
I cannot put up with his sexual comments, teasing, and invasive questions right now. He hasn't stopped trying to get me to sleep with him all summer.
"Aw but where's the fun in that" He tsks, pouting dramatically.
I roll my eyes walking away to unlock the locker rooms. Responding most of the time will just egg him on.
God, help me get through this shift.
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"Niall Horan" I yell into the phone the second I hear the dial tone end.
"Jesus fu- what?"
"Out of all the goddamn people you asked him to cover you" I shout, I wish he could see my glare through the phone right now.
He had the choice of who to pick and he chose Harry. That's fucked up. There's plenty of other people he could've asked, like I don't know...Maya!
After 7 excruciating hours, I was finally free to leave. I'm currently sitting in my parked car, fuming. I called Niall the second I got in to make sure my anger was still at its peak.
It's hard to stay mad at him, the longer I waited the more my anger would dwindle.
There's silence on the other end until I hear Niall take in a sharp breath,
"Are you laughing?" I say back in disbelief now even more anger.
He's really silently laughing on the other end of this phone right now. So he did do it on purpose.
"Oh come on, it's kinda funny" He speaks through his now audible chuckles.
But that just makes my anger level rise even more. The 7 hours I just went through were not funny. I was miserable.
30 seconds Darlene. Give yourself 30 seconds.
"Niall," I say with a calm voice, trying to control the anger that's only going to grow the longer this conversation continues, "I'm going to hang up the phone now before I say something I regret"
"Wait-shit, Darlene Im sorry-" Niall says frantically, his voice immediately becoming serious, I think he just realized how pissed I actually am.
He took it a bit too far this time and I'd rather not blow up on him. But, I have a right to feel a bit upset right now.
"Bye Niall" I say with a sigh hanging up the phone, and placing it in my cupholder. I go to put the car in reverse when my phone starts ringing again.
I roll my eyes when I see Nialls name pop up on my screen, I grab my phone and put it on do not disturb. I need to use my drive home as therapeutic time to get my emotions under control.
I'll answer him later, I need to calm down before talking to him. Besides he deserves to sit in this guilt for awhile, he should feel bad.
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Niall did end up feeling kind of horrible for making me work with Harry. He showed up to my apartment with pizza and my favorite candy last night. I couldn't stay mad at him, plus I could tell he genuinely felt guilty. He just underestimated how much I can't stand the cocky asshole.
Harry is the type of guy who knows he's attractive and doesn't try and hide it. Makes me wanna punch him in his stupid pretty face to smack some sense into him. I swear someone needs to humble that man, and apparently I'm the only one who doesn't bow down to him.
My phone starts ringing and I pull my eyes from my tv screen to answer it.
"Hello"
"Hey Darlene, it's Maya, Could you cover my shift tonight? My sister, you know the pregnant one, went into labor and-" She begins frantically, I find it a bit funny that she felt the need to announce who was calling as if I don't have caller ID and as if she doesn't call me all the time.
"Maya" I cut in, "I'll cover you, don't worry about it" I say with a bit of amusement. I just wanted to save her from her panicked ramble. She sounds in a hurry.
She sighs in relief, "Oh thank god, I'm sorry it's so last minute I owe you okay?"
"Maya it's no problem, I promise. Tell your sister I said congratulations-oh! And you better send me pictures of the baby"
"I will I will, for real though drinks on me this saturday" she rushes out, leave it to Maya to need to get to the hospital for the birth of her niece but still stay on the phone with you to express how thankful she is.
I smile and roll my eyes, she's one of the other co-workers I have befriended. We rarely have shifts together for some reason but we still hang out outside of work. We've gotten close pretty fast.
She has been excitedly talking about her niece that was on the way for weeks now. I just know she would never forgive herself for not being at the hospital.
"Sure," I respond with a laugh, I knew she would insist on 'paying me back' somehow, she's always been reliable in that aspect.
She's too good for this world.
"Alright I gotta go," Maya states with a sigh, we quickly say our goodbyes and hang up the phone.
I check the time and see that it's already 4, which means I have to leave in about a half hour. I mentally groan, as the reality of having to work on my day off kicks in.
As I'm walking to my car I notice the gray clouds in the sky. I'm secretly hoping that it rains so we have to close the pool early.
Even if I'm earning money by working, it doesn't make it anymore fun.
At least I didn't have to work the morning shift, closing is not as bad and the pool is usually less busy. But hopefully the these clouds keep people from coming in the first place. Fingers crossed.
I soon as I pull into the parking lot, I notice the lack of cars, there's still a few but not nearly as much as there usually is.
I put my stuff down in the employee lounge before heading out to the pool to relieve the morning shift of their duties. I scan my eyes and I'm pleasantly surprised when I see Niall, he must notice me at the same time because his eyes lock onto mine almost immediately.
"I thought it was your day off" Niall says in confusion walking closer to me, making us meet in the middle.
"Hello to you too" I joke, letting out a single laugh.
He playfully rolls his eyes, "Wasn't Maya suppose to work tonight?"
"Yeah, but her sister is finally having that baby"
"Ahhh" Niall nods in understanding. Maya is friendly with everyone at the pool, so almost the entire staff is aware of her excitement to meet her niece.
"Are you working tonight?" I ask with a hint of hope in my voice, fingers crossed he is, maybe this shift won't be so bad after all.
"I was the morning shift, sorry D" He says in a remorseful tone. He knows how much I dread working, especially with anyone but him or Maya.
There goes all my hope for a pleasant shift.
"Okay well you and whoever else was working can go" I say trying not to show my disappointment, the last thing I want to do is make Niall feel bad for something he can't control
"It's pretty dead so I'll be fine on my own until whoever I'm working with gets here" I sigh, as I try to mentally prepare myself for the next couple hours.
Niall and the other lifeguard left, soon after. But not before he gives me a sympathetic look and promised me he'll come over for a movie night tonight. I appreciate the gesture though, it does cheer me up. It gives me something to look forward to.
Whoever I'm working with is already late. Don't get me wrong, I love my alone time but if it was busy I'd be extremely overwhelmed right now. They're lucky there's only a few people here or that would've really sucked.
The second I see the curly haired boy walk onto the pool deck I mentally groan. Of course I have another shift with Harry because why wouldn't I? Why would it be anyone else?
I already regret being a decent human being and covering for Maya. Why couldn't the baby have been born tomorrow?
Never mind, I know how much this means to her. I'd take a bullet for the girl so enduring a shift with Harry is the least I can do. I know she'd do the same for me.
Well her and Harry are friendly but if there was a person she couldn't stand she would endure a shift with them for me without hesitation.
But now my 10 day 'no Harry' streak is ruined, I was trying to beat my record of 15 days, damn. It's fine though, I still have a chance to beat it. We're only halfway through the summer.
"What do I owe the pleasure" Harry's voice begins from behind me, he sounds way to pleased at the moment. He defiantly knows just how badly I don't want to be here and how badly I don't want him to be here. Which is why he's going to taunt me about it for the whole shift.
I turn to face him keeping my face neutral as to not show my distaste, that will just fuel his fire.
"You can thank the baby currently trying to squeezes itself out of Maya's sister's-"
"Please don't finish that sentence" Harry grimaces while I just smile back at him in satisfaction.
What? He asked and I told him the truth.
"What's the disgusted look for? It's the circle of life Harry" I say with mock enthusiasm,
"I'd assume you'd be comfortable with the idea since you practice the baby making part of it so often" I say with an over the top regretful tone.
Harry's eyebrows raise at my comment, a bit taken aback. But then that stupid smirk that rarely seems to leave his face makes an appearance.
"You say that like its an insult"
"Cause it is" I answer back in an obvious tone. He's completely and utterly proud of his 'achievements'. Each girl is just another number to him, another notch on his belt.
"Is someone jealous?" Harry says with an obnoxious pout.
He wishes, I couldn't care less about his sex life. The only reason I know anything is because he has a reputation, it's kind of hard to avoid hearing the information.
Plus it's not like Harry doesn't constantly try to get me to hook up with him. He's been at it all summer. I've turned him down everytime but I think he partly does it now just to annoy me. But he's also still completely serious, he's made that abundantly clear.
"Why would I be jealous" I answer in confusion, my patience already running thin. I wasn't mentally prepared for him to push my buttons today.
"You tell me darling, you're the one who brought it up"
He insists on calling me that as often as he can. No matter how many times I tell him not to, he'll never listen. It's frustrating, I know he does it on purpose. But I still fall right into his trap and give him the exact angry response he's always looking for.
"Fuck you" My eyes almost widen in shock, the words flew out of my mouth before I even processed it. Even subconsciously my mind is irritated by Harry.
"I wish you would darling"
30 seconds Darlene, calm yourself down. He's doing this on purpose.
But I can't focus on collecting myself with him standing right there next to me staring at me with a smug look on his face.
If the anger I felt inside was visible, smoke would be coming out of my ears. I'm about to go off on him but I'm rudely interrupted by a loud clap of thunder.
"Shit" Harry and I both say in sync.
Harry blows his whistle and alerts the few people here that the pool would be closing immediately due to an 'incoming storm'
I do have to admit him blowing the whistle was weirdly attractive. Just because he's a ass doesn't mean I can't appreciate his appearance.
The few guests scramble to get their things and make their way out, they actually clear out pretty fast.
Darker clouds fill the sky and shortly after I feel rain drops slowly hitting my skin.
The feeling snaps me back into reality and I begin going around and closing the umbrellas as quickly as I can. With how dark the clouds are, I would say the rain is about to get a lot worse any minute.
Just as I thought the more seconds that tick by the harder the rain begins pouring down.
Harry begins to close the umbrellas on the opposite side of the pool. Both of us working as fast as we can to do all the necessary tasks to close up.
Suddenly there's another clap of thunder and then it starts down pouring on us. It picked up so fast it startled me a bit, I glance over to Harry making sure he didn't see. I don't need to give another thing to try and tease me about.
I can only bite my tongue so many times.
I don't care about getting rained on right now, perks of your uniform being a bathing suit. But I won't lie and say that the rain drops hitting my skin doesn't hurt a bit. They're also cold, making goosebumps arise on my skin.
This is what I get for hoping for it to rain earlier, a whole ass thunderstorm.
I usually love them too, I wish I was back at my apartment so I could enjoy the sound of the rain and the thunder. But this is not an enjoyable way to experience a thunderstorm.
I finally finish closing the umbrellas on my side, the rain only pouring down more intensely as time goes on. If it couldn't get any worse, now there's a huge gust of wind which sets out a domino effect as more come one after the other making the rain drops fly at my face occasionally.
But we just have to cover the pool and then, I'm free.
"Could you pick up the pace a bit there" Harry yells in annoyance over the rain. Even in a moment like this, this man still has the audacity.
I understand that neither of us want to be out here right now but he doesn't need to be make me feel bad about it. I don't control the weather. Dick.
I can't even see him clearly through all the rain but I halt my movements, flipping him off, then continuing forward now in no rush. I'll take my sweet ass time even if the rain is coming down so hard it's actually painful, and I feel like if there's any stronger of a wind gust it's gonna blow me away.
I'll do just about anything to prove a point.
The pool cover was a pain to get on, the wind made it almost impossible, which lead to Harry and I yelling at each other the whole time. We are just not a good duo, the arguing definitely just made it take longer.
God I cannot wait to go home.
We both jog towards the employee lounge doors. Harry opening it, holding the door open for me. Once I'm inside I finally let out a breath of relief.
"Shit I was definitely not expecting that" Harry lets out an amused huff running his hands through his soaking wet hair to get it out of his face.
I can't help but let out a soft laugh, nodding my head in agreement, everything went from calm to chaotic in a matter of seconds out there.
Very similar to every single interaction Harry and I have ever had.
"Well I guess I should just head home then" I say giving him a single nod as I begin turning around,
"Are you insane?" He says in disbelief grabbing my arm to halt my movements.
I just give him a confused look which urges him to continue,
"You can't drive in this, it's dangerous"
"It's not that bad" I lie with a shrug. I mean it is pretty bad but I'm sure I can handle it.
"Just wait for it to calm down at least" Harry insists, and I notice that he actually sounds genuinely concerned which is not the typical mood I receive from him. Usually he's just spewing sexual comments, calling me darling, or taunting me.
But I still feel the need to reassure him,
"I appreciate the concern Harry, truly, but I promise I'll be fine"
"Darlene." He says sternly, the fact he is using my actual name catches me off guard. He calls me darling to annoy me, which is a lot because it's what he's constantly trying to do. He rarely ever uses my name. Hearing it from his lips is something I'm not used to.
His concern for my well being is a completely new side to him. I appreciate it, don't get me wrong but I just want to go home and watch Netflix on my couch. I have a feeling Niall can't come over now for a movie night cause of the storm, which upsets me a bit. I was looking forward to it.
Anyways, it's reassuring to know that Harry cares about people other than just himself.
But I just really want to go home, especially to put on some dry clothes. The storm is probably going to get worse before it gets better and the longer he keeps me here the worse the driving conditions are going to be.
"Harry." I say back matching his stern tone. My eyes meeting his to let him know I'm not changing my mind. I begin to turn around again but his grip on my arm tightens which urges me to turn back around.
"I'm serious Darlene" He says in the same tone as before. I swear I see a hint of worry on his face.
This feels weird.
I open my mouth to respond but I'm cut off by a loud snap before all the lights inside turn off.
Harry and I both snap our heads toward the window just in time to see the giant tree branch take down the power line completely, pulling it completely to the ground.
On second thought, I should stay until the storm calms. What a good idea.
I'd rather not have a giant tree branch fly at my car while I'm driving home. I don't feel like dying today, plus that would be a horrible way to go.
When I turn to Harry he's already looking at me with a 'see what i mean' expression,
"Okay fine. You win, I'll stay" I throw my hands up in surrender rolling my eyes. A satisfied smirk appears on Harry's face.
"I told you it was dangerous"
I hate that this gives him satisfaction, but I also can't deny that he just prevented me from putting myself in a dangerous situation. But I can't help but find that a bit annoying, Harry Styles out of all people just kind of saved my life.
"Not the 'I told you so' card, what are you my Dad?" I say rolling my eyes. I mean that's exactly what Harry just, he did 'tell me so', I don't want to give him anymore satisfaction.
"I mean I usually don't let girls call me daddy but if thats what your into I can make an acception"
"Oh my god" I say disgusted, rolling my eyes in annoyance and turning towards the girls locker room. I need a towel and I need 30 seconds to calm myself down before I face him again.
This storm better pass soon or I'm going to lose it.
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A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Poor Darlene!