39~Headlines
Everest's POV 8/31/14
The car is nothing but silent and I absolutely hate it. I force myself to look out the window, too afraid to even look at him. I'm leaned completely against the car door, only hearing the sound of the engine roaring and tires flying across the gravel at high speed.
I don't know what to think. I don't know what to feel. One part of me is completely furious with him. If he hadn't drank so much, he probably would've taken that whole situation a lot better. Another part of me is drowned with guilt. If I had stayed with him, I could've stopped him from drinking, more or less, that whole incident. And another part of me is scared, frightened of this new Harry that appeared tonight. The worse he's ever done when drunk was smash a few bottles and say hurtful things he didn't mean. This is a whole new drunk Harry I never knew existed.
We could've had more fun, stayed out a little longer. But no, all this had to happen. And I feel like it's all my fault.
I finally turn my gaze in his direction, the look in his eyes so dangerously focused on the road. His fingers are locked around the steering wheel as if his life depended on it, causing his knuckles to turn white. His jaw is clenched. His breathing is heavy. His whole body is stiff.
I sigh, pulling my hair out from my ponytail, ruffle my long strands back with my fingers, then slowly drag them down my face.
Okay, I cannot take this silence any longer! And so I burst.
"God, we can't just pretend like nothing happened !" I blurt out loudly, having no affect on Harry whatsoever. He ignores me but I continue anyway. "We have to talk about this now, Harry! This is bad."
"And you don't think I already know that," He spits back at me through gritted teeth, turning his head towards me for a split second then back on the road.
I bite my lip, flickering my eyes away then back at him, not knowing what to say next. I sigh as I rest my elbows on my knees, burying my face in my hands.
"By the way, a 'thank you' would be nice," he scoffs, annoyance thick in his tone.
I look up from my hands, my mouth parted and eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" I say baffled. "'Thank you'?-"
"Yes, Everest!" he says with more annoyance and arrogance. "I mean, I did stand up for you back there."
I wanted to interject, argue back, ask him why the hell should I after all that had happened. However, he did stand up for me, even if what he did was wrong. No one has ever gone that far to defend me. But they weren't drunk either.
So, I put my pride aside and muster the two simple words as calm as possible, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he says just as calm as I did.
I lean my head back against the headrest, using my cold fingers to rub my eyes in little circles, not caring about my makeup at this point. Do you ever feel like crying from being so overwhelmed and yet you can't?
I then find my head turning back in Harry's direction, eyes glued on him once more. His eyes are narrowed, jaw locked again, and his grip on the steering wheel has tightened. As I stare more intently at his face, can hardly make out his features, I notice the pigment in his cheek has become darker, much darker. And then I begin to wonder...
"Harry, your cheek," I say curiously, leaning in closer for a better look. I furrow my eyebrows together, softly gracing my thumb over his cheek, feeling a slight lump, and he flinches his head slightly. "He punched you?"
"Stop-"
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask worriedly, then notice dry blood has stained my thumb. "There's a small cut and it's a bit swollen."
He swipes my hand away. "It's fine," he states firmly.
I roll my eyes and ruffle my hair back again before speaking, however, another things catches my attention. Harry's driving, while drunk, and the speedometer is well over the speed limit. My eyes widen a bit, noticing just how fast he's going in a fifty-miles-per-hour speed-zone.
"Harry, pull over," I simply order, a small hint of worry laced in my tone. "Please."
He chuckles lightly without humor, shaking his head with a sly smirk. "Okay, Everest" He says sarcastically. "Why should I?"
I cut my eyes at him, knitting my eyebrows together. "Hm, well for one, you're drunk, and two, you're speeding and almost hit two cars," I explain to him in pure annoyance. "Pull. Over!"
"Fuck, Everest, I'm fi-"
"Harry Styles, pull over this car right now, damn it!" I yell over him, cutting him off completely. "I'm not gonna die 'cause my fucking drunk boyfriend decided it was okay to drive while intoxicated. Now, put your little boy-pride aside and pull over!"
Then, the whole car goes quiet again, both of us silent, yet so intimidating to each other. Finally, he let's out an annoyed huff, and his whole body loosens a bit as I watch his foot lift from the accelerator. Thankfully, he comes to a complete stop on the side of the rode and shifts the gear into Park. He slumps back in his seat and continues to stare straight ahead.
I sigh a breath of relief, "Thank you."
He doesn't answer me back, instead just unbuckles his seatbelt and descends from the car, walking around the front to my side. I do the same and climb over in the drivers seat, shifting the gear as Harry gets in. It's silent again.
We're now about twenty minutes away from the house and it's been quiet ever since we switched sides. But quiet's good, and I'm okay with it. For now that is. I'm just glad we aren't yelling at each other anymore.
I finally break the silence with a question that's been on my mind ever since I found him drunk at the club. Softly, I begin to ask, "Harry, where-," but when I glance over at him, I see his head leaned gently against the window, arms crossed, shoulders relaxed, and breaths slow. I can't tell if his eyes are closed or open due to the dim lighting that only comes from the front headlights of the SUV. So, I quietly ask, "Are you asleep?"
He winces slightly and simply mumbles a no.
After hearing that, I proceed with my first question, "Where were you back there? I was only up there for, like, a few minutes and-"
He hums, interrupting me. I look at him and notice his eyes appear to be closed. Then he says, "More like a few hours, babe."
I was about to deny that, but sure enough he's caught me yet again. I was up there for a couple hours, but it didn't feel like it, honestly. "Okay, maybe that is true, but you still could've told me where you were going. I thought you left." I glance at him again to see his reaction, but nothing. "You know, you were really quiet when we got there."
He shrugs. "Well, I obviously didn't leave," he sasses me. I role my eyes. "And I was just tired, 's all."
I give him a look. I know him well enough that that's complete bullshit. 'Was just tired,' is probably the worst lie anyone could say, and in Harry's situation it is. "Harry don't play that. You told me you wanted to go."
He finally sits up, slowly, and ruffles his dead curls back. "And I thought we were gonna have a nice time together, but I guess you and Zayn had a better idea."
"So you're blaming this all on Zayn?"
"No! No...," he answers back right away, shaking his head.
"Okay, then are you blaming me?" I question defensively, just as I did when I asked if he was blaming Zayn. "'Cause if you are, fine, go ahead! I blame myself too." And I role my eyes, keeping one hand on the steering wheel while using the other to rub my forehead.
"No! I'm not blaming anyone!" He sharply asserts in a louder tone. "I was just saying I wanted to spend some time with you! I mean, that is where we first met after all."
Then guilt rushes over me like a harsh wave, drowning me with all its force. My lips fall into a frown, and I bite my lower lip. Now I really feel stupid. "So that's where you were?" I say quieter than expected, "The balcony?"
In the corner of my eye I see him nod, then clench and unclench his jaw. "Yeah."
I lean my head back against the headrest, letting out a heavy sigh just as when we come to a red light, the house not far from here. I feel like absolute shit. Why am I so stupid?
"Harry, I'm so, so-," and before I could finish my sentence, I notice my clutch vibrating. I quickly grab it and dig out my phone, accepting the call as soon as I saw the caller ID. "Hey-"
"Everest, where the hell are you!?" Louis' voice blares through the phone, worry filled in his tone. "I've tried calling both you and Harry since you two left! Christ, are you okay!? Is Harry okay!? Where's Harry!? Where's you!?-"
"Louis!" I holler, stopping him from speaking any further. "We're both fine. Harry's still with me and we're almost at the house. Where're you guys?"
"We just got into another van, since Harry took ours. We're on our way."
"Okay, good," I sigh, pressing on the gas when the light turns green.
"Alright, now that I know you two are alive, I'll let you go," he says more relaxed. "Be there in a few, love. And please, try not to get into anymore trouble!"
I lightly laugh and nod to myself, hanging up the phone just as I finally turn on the hill up to the house, Thank God. I sigh, resuming what I was trying to say, "As I was saying, I am-"
Before I could make out another word, he puts his hand midway in the air. Did he really just cut me off with his hand? "Save it. It's fine now," he says bitterly.
I give him another look, narrowing my eyes as I shake my head. Unbelievable. "Whatever, Harry," I sneer.
The rest of the ride is silent. I drive slowly up the hill, turning into the driveway of the house on the left and shift the gear in Park. I twist the key out of the ignition and close the car door behind, heading for the front door. Still, not a word spoken.
Suddenly, I hear a loud thud and whip my head around, seeing that Harry basically fell out of the car. I try to hold back my laughter for his sake, but accidentally let out a loud snort, quickly putting pressure over my mouth with my hand.
"Fuck you."
"Right back at ya, babe," I retort back, rolling my eyes as I walk over to the boy lying helplessly on the ground. "C'mon." I lower myself down to his level and swing his right arm around my shoulders. He's lucky I love him so much.
We both struggle to stand up but eventually find our balance, Harry lazily leaning against me with his eyes half open. After he nearly tripped his way to the porch, almost taking me down with him, I dig in his pockets for a house key. Thankfully, I find one and open the door, quickly shutting it behind me as we trudge in.
"'Kay, just lay here 'till the others get here," I tell Harry in between breaths after slumping him on one of the sofas, struggling to regain my breath. "They shouldn't be long."
He nods tiredly, his body facing me as he lays comfortably on the couch in front of me, head resting on the armrest. Then for some reason he opens his arms, eyes shut, and mumbles lightly, "'M cold."
"That's unfortunate," I mutter, obviously getting the gist of what he's wanting.
"Hold meh."
I stare at the weak boy long and hard with a look of annoyance, a small pause of silence between us as he continues to lay there with his arms wide open. He's so zoned out of it, I'm pretty sure he's forgotten the fact that we were just arguing minutes ago. So, with my eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed, I answer a quick and simple, "No."
~
A little over fifteen minutes pass and Harry's drifted off to sleep, facial features relaxed and arms loosely crossed. Thank goodness because it's given me time to think.
This is bad. This is really, really bad. No matter how hard we try this will never go away, never be forgotten. No one will ever let this fade. This will be on the cover of every magazine, newspaper, tabloid, social media out there, and Management sure as hell won't let this go. I don't know what they'll do but I know it isn't going to be good. What'll happen to him? What will this do to him? How much trouble would he get in? What'll his punishment be?
What will happen to me? What will this do to my career? What will this do to my image?
What will this do to us?
Before I can make up anymore questions, the front door swings wide open and slams against the wall, causing the whole house to shutter. It's Paul. Angry. Red faced and furious.
Harry snaps wide awake when he's suddenly grabbed by the collar of his shirt and yanked to his feet, hands locking around Paul's wrists in hopes of prying them off.
"Paul, what the hell!?"
"Do you have any idea what you just did!?" Paul angrily shouts directly in his face. "How could you be such an idiot to pull a stunt like that!?"
"Paul, let go of him!" I cut in, straining to get his fists untangled from Harry's shirt. Just as I pulled him away from Harry, I see the other boys rush in the living room, expressions mixed with confusion and shock.
"Simon and Leah have been ringing me on and off all the way here, and-" Paul's interrupted by his phone vibrating, "Speaking of." He answers sharply, clearly frustrated, holding the phone to his ear and stepping away.
"You okay?" I ask Harry softly.
"Yeah," he says, sounding a bit irritated as well, smoothing out his shirt. "I'm fine." I nod, ignoring his tone.
After a few seconds of awkward silence between us, I see Liam walk up to us along with the others close behind him, concern now in his features. "So, Harry," he says, "Care to explain what happened back there?"
In response, Harry simply clenches his jaw then walks away, sitting back on the sofa with his face in his hands. So many things must be running through his mind right now.
"Okay, guess not," Louis quietly says, then looks at me. "Everest, what happened?"
I avert my eyes away from Louis' to the carpeted floors, biting my lower lip. "Um... so, that guy at the club basically grabbed my ass, and so I told Harry and then he confronted the guy and then they argued and then he just... punched him," I said hastily, summing it all up in a nutshell.
They all stare at me for a few seconds longer before looking away, and I am unable to read their expressions. There's no telling what they're thinking.
"Well, are you alright, Everest?" Louis suddenly asks me.
"Yeah, I'm okay," I say in appreciation, mustering a small smile.
Paul then walks back to us, exhausted and stressed. "He wants to speak with you," he announces, "Harry."
I fix my eyes back on Harry who's still in the same position, hunched over with his face still hidden in his hands, still so beautiful, yet so angry, fragile, and scared inside. It absolutely crushes me seeing him like this, at his weakest, which I've seen way too much.
It's obvious Harry's not going to get up for nothing (although, I wouldn't either), so instead, I take the phone from Paul and walk over to Harry. I sit beside him on the love seat, careful not to set him off, and gently place my left hand over his right shoulder, holding out the phone in front of him. I give his shoulder a light squeeze, and slowly he looks up at me, the green gems in his eyes long disappeared. I give him a reassuring look, perking the corner of my lip up into a softening smile. His jaw tenses and he breathes out of his nose heavily as he then takes the phone from me, walking off and answers with a stern hello.
Harry's POV
I walk off alone to a deserted area of the house, aggravated as hell. I'm hungover, my knuckles hurt, and I am beyond tired. "Hello," I spit in the receiver.
"You've really done it this time, Harry!" Simon yells so loud I flinch the phone away from my ear a bit. "The hell is the matter with you!?"
"Simon, please, just let me explain."
"Oh, I know the story," he bitterly laughs. "Trust me I've seen plenty of videos to know exactly what happened!"
"No, you obviously don't, Simon!" And the conversation only gets worse.
"Harry, you drank an ass-load of beer and punched a man in the face!" He fires back, leaving out the important details.
"Okay, so maybe I did drink a lot," I admit honestly, "But I punched that bastard for a reason! He grabbed Everest's ass and thought he could get away with it!"
"Oh, so this is all Everest's fault once again."
"Again?-"
"Yes, Harry, again!" He emphasizes. "Let's be real here, Harry, the majority of your reputation going downhill is mostly her fault, and you know it!"
I go quiet for a few moments before speaking again, "How dare you say that. That's my girlfriend you're talking about!"
"I really don't care about her at this point," he truthfully says. "I mean, she's started rumors, lies, stories; pretty much everything on the list! She's bad for you, Harry, trouble even."
"No, she's not bad for me," I say back. "Tons of people have said a lot of things about me. You're acting like this has never happened to me before. The day I was first seen on television, people were already making stories and shit about me. People write fanfictions about me for Christ-sakes!"
We both go silent, but after what seemed like forever he finally speaks, "This isn't about those people this time, Harry. She's you're girlfriend, which takes this situation to a more personal level. The press, paparazzi, everyone are going to eat you two alive for this."
I heavily sigh, dragging my face down with my hand, trying to breathe as calmly as I possibly can. I draw my fingers to my eyes and rub them, everything around me becoming a haze. "Alright," I finally say, "What do we do, Simon?"
"I want you and Everest both to come by my office in the morning," he answers, sounding just as tired and stressed as I am right now. "We'll discuss everything tomorrow. I have an idea."
I nod to myself. "Okay," I mumble, biting my lower lip before speaking again. "Simon?"
"What, Harry?"
"You do believe me, right?" I ask with hope. I absolutely hate the feeling of disappointing people who especially expect a lot out of me. Even though Simon can be a pain in the ass, son of a bitch sometimes--well, a lot of times actually--I look up to him as a fatherly figure. He expects so much of me, like any father would do, He's just someone I can't disappoint.
He sighs. "We'll discuss everything tomorrow, Harry. It's late, get some rest. Goodnight." And the line goes dead.
~*~*~
~A/N~
SURPRISE! here's a long ass chapter just for you guys! it's been ages hasn't it! damn.
anyways, a lot of shit's happened, so long story short: i got my license, school just ended, i was accepted into a pre-college animation program, me and the guy i was talking to ended things...so yeah, life's pretty swell.
i hope you guys still love me even tho i went through the worse case of writers block. it sucked. but now im back and bettah then evaaah!
so has yalls summer started? if so, then what're yall doing?? if not, then when??
well, that's it. i love you guys with all my <3, and be sure to watch out for updates on my other books! working on those as well!
x linds, love the all-