"And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had and what was left after that too.
Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back,
Struck from a great height by someone
Who should know better than that.
The dog days are over. The dog days are done.
Can you hear the horses? 'Cause here they come."
Song: The Dog Days Are Over — Florence + The Machine
++++++
𝓢𝓮𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟏
Andie's mind was in shambles during the rest of her classes and completely unable to pay even an inkling of attention to her teachers. All she could think about was Harry and Zayn, and how utterly complicated her life just got with Zayn resurfacing in it.
Just before the final bell of the day, Andie's anxiety reached a fever pitch when she realized that at some point she needed to face Harry after all of this. She hadn't talked to him all day and it killed her. But she figured that five minutes of passing time between classes wasn't enough time to explain to Harry what the hell was going on.
But as soon as she made it to her locker at the end of the day, Harry was right there with questions.
"What was that?" Harry asked immediately, causing her cheeks to heat up and her chest to tighten with panic.
"What?" She choked out, feeling caught off guard as she stared back at him wide-eyed. She knew exactly what he was referring to, but she didn't know how to respond.
"Zayn. You and Zayn? You know each other? How?" Harry asked in a quick succession of questions that made her head spin. She knew this conversation was inevitable, but it didn't make it any easier to process.
"It's complicated," she said quietly, her eyes dropping away from his.
"What does that mean?" He asked with a questioning look. He wasn't angry, just curious and she fully understood why.
Andie let out a sigh, feeling the tightness in her chest and the confession stuck in her throat. She had no idea how to form the words in the correct sequence to make it make sense— to make him understand any better than she did.
She supposed maybe it was simpler to explain than she was giving it credit for— she lost her virginity to Zayn at camp two years ago. But the amount of anxiety that was built up inside of her because of the topic was nearly crippling.
"I didn't see you all morning and when I finally do, you blow my mind by somehow knowing one of my best friends, who's been away all summer— someone that you couldn't possibly know," Harry went on to explain.
"Best friend?" Andie squeaked, feeling so completely nauseated. God, she knew it. Fuck.
"Yeah. He's one of my best friends. I've known him since we were kids. He lives right down the road from me," Harry explained.
"Oh my god," Andie sighed, pulling her attention away from him to close her locker. She could feel the panic rising inside of her.
"Andie," Harry said as she spun on her heels and began walking down the hallway.
"Andie, what they hell is going on?" Harry asked impatiently as he raced to catch up with her.
"Fuck, Harry. Fuck," she groaned as she pushed open a door to exit the building.
"What?" He asked, sounding exasperated.
"Who is he to you?" He asked a moment later.
"Not here," she shot at him in a hushed tone.
"Well, then... can I come over?"
"Yeah. Uh, yeah. Just... yeah," she said, feeling flustered as they made their way out to the student parking lot.
"Alright. I'll see you in a little bit, okay?" He told her as she found her car and unlocked it with the key fob.
"Okay," she said before he took off in a jog through the parking lot to get to his Jeep.
Why was this so hard? Honestly, she knew exactly why. She'd been walking on a tight-rope with Harry all summer, hoping she wouldn't fall off. She knew he wasn't ready for another relationship, but she was the closest thing he had to a girlfriend. And the egg shells she walked on to keep everything on an even keel with him made her feet bleed. She didn't want to lose him, but Zayn's sudden presence was sure to make her delicate relationship with Harry topple like a house of cards.
Harry pulled into her driveway right behind her and the two of them walked silently up the porch into the house and up the stairs. It was only when they reached her bedroom that Harry's insistence for an explanation started again.
"Are you going to talk to me now?" He asked once she turned toward him.
Andie took a deep breath and let it out hard as she sat down on her bed.
"What?" Harry demanded as he sat down too.
"Do you remember me telling you how I spent a summer here... two years ago?" She began.
"Yeah," he said carefully, the expression on his face turning from questioning to anxious in a matter of moments.
"Um, I spent that summer at camp," she continued, watching as the expression on his face changed once again.
"Zayn was there," Harry said in realization.
"Zayn was there," she confirmed, nodding her head.
"I remember that summer. He was gone for like a month, but then came home early because he got kicked out," he explained.
"He did. And I'm one of the reasons he did," she said quietly, hanging her head.
"What?" Harry choked out.
"Well, I mean... not really, but yeah. I was with him the night before he got kicked out. He... he stole a bottle of vodka out of the head counselor's office so the two of us could drink it," she went on.
"Oh, wow. So you two like, knew each other?" Harry asked, looking flustered.
"Uh, I wouldn't really say that. I mean, I barely knew him," she admitted quietly.
"What?" Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowing in question.
"I mean, we'd talked, like, in passing and on a few of our camp excursions. But like, we weren't friends," she told him honestly.
"Then what were you doing drinking with him? Was it just the two of you?" He asked, looking so incredibly confused.
"Yeah," she said quietly.
"So, some guy you didn't even know and you weren't friends with, steals a bottle of vodka for you and you just go with him without question?" Harry asked, completely baffled by their situation.
"I mean... it wasn't exactly like that," she breathed.
"What was it like?" He asked, his voice even. And in that moment, she really appreciated that he wasn't biting off her head for answers. He wasn't angry, just confused.
"I don't know. Ugh. I-I... I kind of had a crush on him. Like, it was stupid. He was just like... this cute, mysterious guy at camp. And I wanted to get to know him. So when he snuck into my cabin and asked me to hang out with him, I didn't question it," Andie confessed.
"Some random guy sneaks into your cabin and your first instinct is to follow him?" Harry asked with a laugh.
"I was fifteen! And it wasn't like he was some perverted adult. We're the same age," Andie said, laughing too as she shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Actually Zayn is a year older than all of us," Harry told her.
"Oh," she said, feeling confused on how that could be.
"He started school a year late," he informed her.
"Oh," she said again with a nod.
There were a few silent moments between them before Harry spoke again.
"So, you guys drank together and he got kicked out of camp? That's it?" Harry questioned.
Andie was still silent, wondering how she was going to explain it and knowing she needed to tell him everything before he heard it from someone else.
"That wasn't it?" Harry asked, looking like he was really trying to read her expression. She shook her head 'no'.
"What happened?" He asked carefully, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed.
"I, uh... he was... uh, he was..." She stammered.
"Andie," Harry said impatiently.
"I lost my virginity to him," she said finally, feeling her stomach turn with regret, even though she knew she actually didn't regret her time with Zayn.
"Oh," Harry said, his eyebrows heightened and his mouth fell open into the shape of the word.
"Ugh. This is so messed up," she growled as her hands came up to cover her face.
"Wow. So he's the guy you had sex with once and then didn't have sex again until me?" Harry asked quietly.
"Yeah. I never thought I'd see him again. And never in a million years did I think he'd end up being best friends with the guy I've been hanging out with all summer," Andie yammered before taking another deep breath, this time holding it in as she watched Harry.
"This is crazy," he said, scantily shaking his head.
Andie let out a heavy breath before she replied with "I know."
"I-I saw him this morning... standing with you guys at your lockers. I-I couldn't face him... or you. I just... I hoped that maybe he was just Louis' friend because he was like, only talking to Louis. But... but never in a million years did I think he would be one of your best friends," she explained, repeating words she'd just said, because she didn't know what else to say. Her mind was still in shock and only thinking in fragments.
"I don't know what to think," he said quietly, causing her heart to squeeze tightly.
"I... I don't want things to change with us," she breathed, hoping like hell they wouldn't. He just stared back at her, unable to utter a word.
"Harry," she said quietly.
"I'm just trying to process this," he told her.
"I just hope you know that I didn't orchestrate any of this. I had no idea he'd be here and I sure as hell didn't know any of you were friends with him," Andie explained, hoping that Harry wasn't going to be upset with her for this sick little twist of fate.
"Of course I know that," he told her, looking up into her eyes, his own eyes softening as he watched her.
"I just... I'm sorry," she sighed, dropping her vision down to her hands that hadn't stopped fidgeting.
"Why are you apologizing?" He asked, sounding confused.
"I don't know," she said quietly, looking up into his eyes.
"You shouldn't apologize for something that's not your fault," he told her and it made her feel hopeful.
"Okay," she said with a nod as silence fell over the two of them.
She couldn't stop thinking about how big of a mess this all was. She finally felt like she was getting everything she wanted with Harry and the universe came along and hit her like a goddamn semi-truck.
"Um... I need to, uh... get home. I was supposed to be home right after school, but I-I had to talk to you," Harry said, finally breaking the silence.
"Oh. Okay," she said quietly, feeling her anxiety skyrocket. She couldn't help but think that there was so much left to say between them.
"I'll call you later," he told her as he leaned in and left a chaste kiss on her lips before getting up and leaving her bedroom.
He didn't call that night and it left the pit of anxiety in her belly festering, making her absolutely sick.