little bit of a short one! but you'll like it :)
Elaina Basset
Dreamboat, I swear I could've strangled you right there.
Harry has pushed the limits, doing the opposite of what he said he'd do. He's purposely overstepped a boundary that I set, and he's enjoying every god damned minute of it too.
Sitting at the table now, Isaac sits next to me while Zayn and Harry sit across the way—with Harry directly in front of me.
I know he's about to pull some antics, and he wants to be able to see my face while he does it.
I need this dinner to go by as quickly as possible.
For the first few minutes of eating, it went rather normally. Harry held back. But that only lasted until Isaac looked at me, extended his arm around the back of my chair as I ate my food nervously, and then placed a soft kiss on my cheek.
And then, I knew it was game over.
My eyes flick to Harry, who leans back in his chair as he chews his food. He saw the whole thing.
He clears his throat and leans forward.
"Elaina." he says, "Could you pass me the salt?"
My jaw tightens as I look from him to the salt that stood on the table closer to my plate. I inhale, trying to cover up any reaction.
Without saying anything, I grab the salt bottle and lift it off the table to pass over to him.
As he receives it, his fingers brush over mine. His index finger rubs over my knuckles before he takes the salt shaker in his hand. It was a very subtle movement, but if my jealous fiancé is watching, then it's really not subtle at all.
The corner of his mouth lifts. "Thanks, Picasso."
I clear my throat and nod. "Mhm."
I didn't have to question if Isaac had noticed, because his hand that was around my chair comes down to my opposite shoulder, making sure that I'm close and that Harry can see it.
Harry salts his food, sniffing and fluffing his nose as he peers at my hand which is holding my fork.
His eyes remain there before he puts the salt shaker down.
He's gonna make a fucking comment about—
"You know, when people get engaged, there's usually a ring involved, no?"
Yup. There it is.
My eyes widen toward him. If I could scream at him to shut the fuck up, I would.
I open my mouth to change the subject but before I know it, Isaac is speaking as he squeezes my shoulder.
"There is a ring." he states, then looks at me. "She just doesn't want to misplace it...she's a little clumsy. Would be easy for her to lose something small."
I fake a chuckle, then glance up at Harry.
He's squinting, eyes narrowed—but he lets his lips lift into a very small grin. Not an amused one. A fake one.
"Small, I'm sure." he remarks, and my brows raise yet again.
In need for him to shut up, I shove at his leg under the table with my foot and give him a look. He doesn't react to this with anything but a small smirk.
I peer at Zayn, who's trying to hide his reactions by eating his dinner and using his finger to cover his lips while he chews, but I can tell that he's amused.
At this point, I'll do anything to get out of this dinner. Maybe fake sick. Maybe stab myself with my fork. Who knows.
Then there's a knock at the door.
Isaac looks over his shoulder toward the noise and I look at Harry and Zayn, furrowing my brows.
"Who's that?" I question.
Harry perks up and whacks Zayn on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "Oh! That's our guests, right?"
No.
"Oh you're right." Zayn grins, then looks at Isaac and I.
"Guests?" Isaac furrows.
No. No. No.
"Be right back." Zayn gets up from the table, and I immediately know where this is going—and this is going to get so much worse in a moment.
I look to Harry, and see him lean back in his chair with his arms crossed, a smile on his face. I glare back.
It's like, in the time that I went to get Isaac from the airport, the guys crafted a plan to piss me off—to see how far they could push my limits.
"I heard we're feasting." I hear Niall's voice come into the kitchen, confirming everything I already knew.
I look behind me to see Zayn returning with Niall and Liam now accompanying him. My eyes then flick to Isaac, who holds a confused expression and doesn't try to hide it. Can't even blame him, honestly. He doesn't even know these guys yet here they are bombarding our dinner.
"What are you guys doing here—" I say, gritting my teeth as I try to sound nonchalant while they come and sit down.
"You guys thinks you can have dinner and not invite us? C'mon now, that's on you." Liam snidely remarks as he sits next to Isaac.
"Yeah, we're all friends here." Niall adds from his seat next to me and then he looks at Isaac. "And you must be the guy in Red's phone lock screen."
Isaac fakes a short smile and nods towards Niall. "I'm Isaac."
Niall annoyingly extends his arm out in front of me to reach over to shake Isaac's hand. "Name's Niall. That's Liam." he points.
Isaac nods slowly. "So, you're all friends with Elaina?"
"Oh yeah." Niall says, then proceeds to wrap his hand around my chin and shake my face gently. "We take good care of her."
I pull my face away and glare at him, making it known that the comments and gestures being made are absolutely inappropriate. I want Isaac to feel comfortable, and these guys are doing a horrible job of welcoming him.
I just want to scream.
"So tell us about yourself, Isaac. Life back in Denver must be riveting for you, I'm sure." Harry says, crossing his arms on the table as he pretends to be interested.
I cant watch this.
I stab at my food and start to eat, trying to drown out whatever happens next. I'm honestly just trying to finish my meal so I can leave the table.
Isaac clears his throat and finishes his bite. "Uhm, well...I'm working on getting a degree in sports medicine. I also play for my university's soccer team."
"Hmm, wow." Harry nods.
"We should play some time. I played in school." Niall remarks, mostly teasing.
"What else?" Liam urges.
"I was born in Denver...lived there my whole life."
As Isaac speaks, I keep my eyes down on my plate. The guys are gonna interrogate him for the sole purpose of making me and him uncomfortable.
But then, I feel something brush against my leg under the table. The bare skin of my leg can comprehend the feeling of rougher denim material against it. It was Harry's leg against mine. Staying there.
And that's when I realized that my leg had been anxiously bouncing beneath the table, and now it's stopped.
I subtly lean over as Isaac speaks to peer under the table cloth. I see Harry's leg pushed up against my own.
Much like he did at Marjorie's event, he keeps it there, stopping me from jittering my leg.
My eyes move from under the table...to him.
He doesn't look at me, not fully. He knows I'm looking at him though. He knows that his gesture was meant to calm my anxiety.
And immediately, I feel conflict.
Because the anxiety that I'm feeling right now...he's contributing to it. Him, the guys, even Isaac. But at the same time, he recognized my anxiousness, and he's trying to tame it.
My own fiancé didn't even realize how uneasy I was.
I look down in thought, then I look up again, this time at Isaac's side profile. He's talking about how we met and got together, explaining little details of our relationship like how we were prom king and queen. He's telling the guys all these things about us but he can't emotionally see me.
Come to think of it, he never has.
I start to feel a lump in my throat, hiding my eyes as I look down at my dinner plate. I have a bad feeling. Not in an ominous or suspicious way...just in a sad and angry and conflicted way. I just feel bad.
And the worse I feel, the more I find my leg leaning onto Harry's.
Until eventually, his leg is just supporting the dead weight of mine.
I can feel Harry looking at me now, but I refuse to look back. I'm not giving him that satisfaction, because even if I'm using him as support right now, I'm still mad at him for what he's done tonight.
"Is there a bathroom around here I could use?" Isaac asks.
"It's under renovation, you can piss outside though—"
"He's joking." I sniff as I cut Zayn off, then I stand up. "I'll show you." I say to Isaac.
Isaac stands with me, and follows me to the stairwell. I say not a word to the guys, I don't even look at them. Words can't describe how upset I am, but I'm hiding it from Isaac because I just don't want to talk about it.
I bring Isaac up the stairs, leading him down the hallway to my bedroom. We walk in and I shut the door.
"My bathroom is just that other door over—"
"Why didn't you tell me that the 'friends' you've made here were a bunch of guys?" Isaac cuts me off, speaking those accusatory words so suddenly that it caught me off guard.
My brows furrow and I turn to look up at him. "What?"
"All of those guys down there, it seems like you've made yourself very close to them over these past few months." he says.
My eyes widen and I shake my head. "They are Zayn's friends. And I haven't known them that long."
He scoffs. "Yeah, well they're assholes. Especially that long haired one."
"His name is Harry."
Isaac scuffles under his breath and goes to walk around me. "Yeah, whatever."
As I watch him head to the bathroom, I cross my arms and frown, feeling my eyes and cheeks get hot and my throat tighten up.
"S-sorry that they made you uncomfortable."
He stops, and he looks down, then he sighs and turns to look at me.
"It's okay." he says quietly. "Let's just forget it and enjoy our first night together in so long. Yeah?"
I swallow my emotion and pull a soft smile, nodding. He nods back and heads into my bathroom.
When he's gone, my lips roll into my mouth as I try to prevent myself from crying.
God, he makes me feel so lonely sometimes.
I turn to my bedroom door and walk out. I hear the guys chatting while dishes clank, and then I remember how upset I am with them.
I storm down the stairs, needing to be isolated for a moment so I head for the back door. I knew that they all saw me because I had to walk past the kitchen.
My feet take me out into our grassy backyard, and I go to my paint shed. Like a child throwing a fit, I throw my back against the side of the blue shed and slide down so my bum is on the grass and my knees are to my chest.
I'm so frustrated. I don't know how to show it other than painting. But I can't even do that, because Isaac's here and I need to give him my time.
I rest my head on my knees, my eyes pinched shut and my kneecaps pressing against my sockets so I see waves of color and shapes.
I'm so alone, yet I can't be by myself. And somehow, it's the worst paradox I've ever faced.
Then, I hear shuffling in the grass and I realize someone has joined me out here.
I feel the presence of someone come to stand in front of me, then sink down to my level.
The subtle cologne scent tells me that it's Harry.
I don't lift my head. I don't speak. I do nothing.
"If you wanna be left alone, tell me." he says quietly.
Again, I don't speak. Because I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to be left.
I hear him exhale through his nose, then hear him shift around on the ground. Only a moment later, I feel his body next to mine against the shed.
"Gotta admit, he's taller than I thought he'd be. Still my height though, but I just pictured him shorter." he speaks, trying to bring dry humour to the situation, but I don't respond to it...not in the way that he wanted.
I shake my head as I lift it from my legs and open my eyes. "I can't believe you." I mumble, resting my head against the shed.
"What?" he questions.
"I just...can't believe you." I repeat, then turn my head to look at him and I catch his puzzled expression. "You show up even though I told you not to. I specifically told you not to do this...to keep your distance."
His lips part, "I—"
"And you completely disregarded that. You didn't give a fuck." I begin to get angry, pushing myself to stand. "You went against what I said because you don't give a fuck about me or what I say or how I fuckin' feel." I start to spill, standing in front of his sitting position now.
He licks his lips and sighs. "Look, I'm—"
"No," I hold my hand up and start to walk away. "no, I don't want to hear it. Please just go the fuck home."
I go to walk but I'm pulled back, his hand around my forearm. I stumble backwards so I have to be in front of him again and I look at him angrily.
"Let me go." I mutter.
"Listen,"
"Harry, let me go!" I raise my voice a bit, pulling my arm away.
He does let me go, but not without verbally holding me back.
"Please just listen to what I have to say!" he raises his voice as well, because he knew a low volume wouldn't make me wait.
But, in all honesty, it was his 'please' that made me stop.
He was pleading for me to listen.
I look at him, crossing my arms to guard myself off.
He realizes that I haven't left so he begins to plead his case to me. "I get it, okay. You're upset because I did what I promised not to do." he says, explaining that he knew where my feelings were coming from. "But, I was doing all of it to piss him off, not you."
I exhale a disbelieving chuckle and shake my head. "But why? He did nothing to you."
Harry arches his brow and leans his head in. "Are you forgetting that he literally cheated on you?"
"On me! That has nothing to do with you!"
"But I just—"
"Let me deal with it, for fucks sake. I'm capable of my own shit and I don't need your help. Not in this case." I say sternly.
He runs silent for a moment, taking in my words. He looks to his feet, breaking our eye contact.
I don't even know if he realizes it, but him not maintaining eye contact and looking down instead...it showed a little tinge of vulnerability.
"Okay." he says, nodding to himself, and looking back up at me. "Okay, I hear you."
My jaw unclenches.
"I'm sorry." he tells me. "To you. Not him. Just so we're clear."
Hearing those apologetic words made the heat in my head and chest and fingers suddenly begin to fade away. And it was because I knew he meant it.
He apologized in the most Harry way possible, but still, an apology. And it meant a lot.
I blow out a breath. "Okay. Thank you." I nod at him, letting my arms drop.
He presses his lips into a line, nodding back.
We stand there in an awkward silence for a moment, but it was because I was contemplating a single action.
The thing is, Harry and I don't hate each other anymore. And at a loss for better words, we're at almost a friendly level.
And his tall frame in front of me...well, I hate to admit it...but it's bringing me comfort in a hard moment. And I just want to be closer. Physically.
So, just going with my gut, I go for it.
I step forward, and I hug him.
My arms wrap around his neck as I stand up on my tiptoes, my head turning to the side so my ear rests against his chest.
And oh my fuck, his heartbeat. It was quick.
He freezes for a moment, unsure of what to do—how to respond.
But, when I feel the embrace tighten, I recognize that he begins to hug me back. His arms wrap around my lower back, and his mouth and chin press to my shoulder.
We're hugging.
His heart beats against my ear drum. His scent swirls around me. This is the closest we've ever been and it wasn't even sexual. It was comfort.
It was just...it was just tender.
//
AWE
tour starts today i'm screaming