“How can you give your sister sympathy like that? She killed your mum!” Dad bellows, and Adrian backs up until he’s pressing the wall. He probably regrets trying to comfort me. I don't blame him.
“I wasn’t! She’s crying, dad, that’s mean…” Adrian seems hesitant to speak. He doesn’t want dad to know he’s usually the one who makes me feel better when I’m upset.
“Really? It looked a lot like sympathy. She killed your mother! Killed her, do you hear me?!”
He raises his fist, and I realise, with a start, that he’s going to hit Adrian. No. I rush over, jumping up and grabbing dad’s elbow. It takes effort, because I’m bloody short, but once I’ve latched onto his elbow I don’t let go.
“What the--”
Dad turns around detaching me from his elbow. He turns back to Adrian, and I grab onto his elbow again. This time, he brings it up and back. It hits me bang in the eye. The impact makes me fly back, landing onto the floor. There’s a sick thud as my head hits the cold ground. Then everything goes black.
I woke up with a start, my body jolting. I sat up, trying to calm my heart rate down. I winced at the memories of last night. I got up and brushed my teeth, trying to calm my nerves. I remember that day clearly. After both I and he got beaten, he was never nice to me again. Ever. I picked up my phone, shaking the thoughts out of my head. I saw I had a text from Dan.
Had to go to work, sorry sweetheart. Have a rest, I called in sick for you. ps he sucks. x
I threw my phone onto my bed, opting to text him back when his shift was over. I got back in bed, squeezing my eyes shut. I wouldn't be able to sleep, I knew that. Maybe if I tried hard enough... I hadn’t closed my eyes for a minute when there was a knock on the door. I stiffened slightly, choosing to ignore it. It didn’t stop. If anything, it got louder. I groaned, praying it wasn’t Autumn. We’d been having a rough patch.
I opened it to see Harry standing by my door. He looked shit. The bags under his eyes were especially prominent, and his hair was as messy as it had ever been. As soon as I laid eyes on him, I closed my door. Or, tried to close it. He stuck his foot out, preventing me from closing the door.
“Can’t get rid of me that easily, sweetheart.” His voice was raspier, almost sleep deprived.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Take. Your. Foot. Away.”
“No.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Well, too bad, I want to talk to you.”
I allowed the door to open, and Harry looked at me, an amused glimmer in his eyes. It was gone quicker than he allowed it to be seen.
“Why do you want to talk to me? Go talk to Gemma.”
“Jesus Christ, B, Gemma is my sister.”
Oh. Oh my. I felt extremely embarrassed. If the ground opened up right now, I would happily allow it to swallow me. Now, I really wanted to close the door. I had bitched about Harry and Gemma to Dan for an hour yesterday. Fuck. Kill me now.
“Brenna?” Harry asked cautiously, and I stepped away from the door.
He stepped in, closing the door behind him. “You look red.”
“I feel stupid.”
“I tried to tell you yesterday, and so did Leo, but you wouldn’t listen.”
I winced at the memory of me yelling at Harry yesterday.
“I…” I shook my head, my hair flying everywhere. He reached out to brush a piece of hair out of my face, and I cowered away. It wasn’t intentional, but the nightmare I’d just had was still fresh in my mind. I knew Harry wasn’t my dad, but I couldn’t help but cower away. Harry drew his hand back quickly, resting it by his side. He didn’t flinch; he kept his eyes on me, his face unreadable.
“This is why I asked you to stay in the car,” he said eventually, his voice low. “Because I knew if you saw me, you’d be afraid of me. I didn’t mean to hit you, I swear,” he raked a hand through his hair. “I thought you’d stay in the car -- you promised you would -- so I assumed it was Leo, or Trent. Not you. I would never hurt you. Or any innocent person.” He looked like he was in pain.
“I’m not afraid of you.” I said quickly. Deep inside, I wasn’t. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Oh, yeah?” He asked. I nodded, and he stepped closer to me.
“You are.” He said, and I shook my head.
“I’m not.”
I breathed. Calm down, Brenna. Calm. His hand rose and cupped my cheek softly, his finger tracing patterns on my cheek. Neither of us broke eye contact. See, this isn’t so bad. He won’t hurt you. He isn’t your dad. His hand slipped to my chin, and he tilted my head up. Is he going to kiss me? He did. He leant down and kissed me. I hesitated at first, but I reminded myself that it wasn’t really Harry who had done anything, it was my fault. I was the one who had assumed Gemma was some girlfriend of his. I responded eventually. He wasn’t pushing me to do anything.
When he pulled away and dropped his hands, I raised my eyebrows. “See? Not afraid of you.”
He closed his eyes, as if having a mental argument with himself. “Why? Why don’t I scare you?”
“You’re not as tough as your exterior shows, Harry.”
“I almost put the guy in a coma, yesterday. Why don’t you hate me?”
“We all have demons. And we all have different ways to cope with those demons.”
“What’s your way?” He asked me.
“It was harming myself.”
He tensed at that. “What is it now?”
“I... I don’t know. You, I guess?” I said truthfully. It sounded cheesy, but it was true.
Something in his eyes flickered. He looked down at me cautiously. “So, you’re not mad at me for completely screwing things up? Again?”
“No. I do… I want you to stop getting into those violent fights, though.”
He winced. “I haven’t -- hadn’t -- fought since that day with Nicholas. Like, proper fought. It’s just… He was a friend of Nicholas’s, and he had been threatening my sister. He said he'd rape her. She doesn't know what I do, Bren, and if she found out I'd hate myself. I’m really overprotective of her, even though I’m younger. She’s… I got angry. And fucked everything up. I didn’t want you to see.”
“Well I did. And it ruined our date.”
He winced, lowering his head. “Did… Was it Dan who walked out of here this morning?” He asked, ignoring my rude comment.
I frowned. “Well, yeah… Who else could it be? Wait, how do you know about him walking out?”
He tensed. “Don’t worry about it. Now, get dressed.”
“No. How did you know? Did you see him?”
He chewed his lip. “Yeah. I, erm, couldn’t see him. It's dark. Now, get dressed.”
He was lying. I bit my lip. “You’re lying to me. What’s happened?”
He didn’t have to answer. My phone buzzed, and we both turned to look at it. I picked it up, looking at the text.
Who was the hot guy seen coming out of you dorm, then?
I stared at the text from Autumn.
How do you know about that?
“Who is it?” Harry asked.
I ignored him, staring intently at my phone. He tried to swipe it out of my hands. I kept a tight grip on it. “Stop it, Harry!”
Naomi saw him walk out. You got over Harry quite quickly. I didn't think you'd be one to act like a skank.
What on earth are you talking about? Whose Naomi?!
I grew incredibly tense, waiting for her to reply. Harry noticed. “Brenna, who are you texting?”
There was a guy walking out of you room in the morning, still half asleep. You’re still being talked about because of you and harry being together repeatedly, so everyone’s talking about how quick you moved on. Don’t act oblivious! Youre not telling me anything, brenna!
My blood was boiling. What?! THE GUY WHO WALKED OUT IS MY FRIEND DAN – HE’S GAY!, AUTUMN. maybe if you spent less time worrying about me and harry and more time talking to me, you would've met him. You know what, fuck you. You’re assuming me and him are together without you asking me, so
I didn’t finish the text because Harry swiped the phone out my hand. He glanced at it, and his jaw tensed.
“This is why you knew, isn’t it?” I asked Harry.
He nodded, his face grim. “I… Jen cornered me and demanded to know if me and you were going out. When I said yes--”
“You said yes?” I squeaked.
“Yes. If I don’t confirm it, they’ll never stop saying these things about you.”
So he cared about my wellbeing. I nodded. “Okay… What happened when you told her we’re dating?”
“She told me you were cheating on me,” Harry admitted, his eyes not meeting mine.
Oh God. Harry, who had had his heart ripped out by the girl he thought he loved, had come to apologise to me after another fucked up date, and he found out that the girl he liked had ‘cheated’ because of a mistake he had made the previous night. That must’ve been so fucked up.
“Harry,” I breathed. “It… It was Dan, I swear. Look at my phone, check the text from him! He sent it after--”
“I know, I trust you. Stop it.” He grimaced.
“What did you say to her?”
“Told her to fuck off,” he admitted. “When I stepped into your room and saw Dan wasn’t here, I kind of assumed he was the one who had left. You have work today, right?”
“I took the day off.”
“Right. Switch off your phone,” he begged.
“Why?”
“They’re going to be saying things. Really rude things. The last thing I want is for you to relapse. You haven’t relapsed, have you?”
“No…” I switched it off, tossing it onto my bed.
“Alright, erm, you wanna get dressed?”
“Why?” I asked.
“Do you want to stay in your dorm all day?” He chuckled.
“No… But where are we going?”
“To London.”
I paused. “London?”
“Well, central London. I figured the only way I can make it up to you for what happened last night is to do something that makes you happy… So we’re fulfilling your dream and we’re going to be tourists in London.”
“Really?” I asked, my insides melting. This was so cute.
“Yes. So dress appropriately, we’re going to be walking quite a lot.”
“Can I bring my camera?” I asked, my eyes lighting up.
A lazy smile graced his lips. “’Course you can.”
“Alright, get out.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I need to get dressed,” I explained.
He shrugged, leaning forward and pocketing my phone. “Alright, I’ll wait outside.”
“Harry?” I asked, just as he reached the door. He craned his neck to look at me without actually turning his body. “Thank you.”
He winked, a smirk on his face and stepped out. As I was getting dressed, I thought back to what Autumn had said. Were people really being hateful towards me? For dating Harry? I was dating Harry. Dating him. I laughed, because if you had told me I’d be dating him when I first met him, I would’ve laughed. I got dressed and did my makeup, grabbing my camera. I looked very tourist-esque.
I opened my dorm door, and frowned. Harry wasn’t standing by my door. I pocketed my key, and stepped into the main hall. Harry was standing there, and there was a girl in front of him. I froze, watching them both. Neither had spotted me.
“But she’s cheating, Harry!” The girl exclaimed.
“And what proof do you have, huh? A guy walked out of her dorm. Loads of guys have walked out of yours, too,” he snapped, and I gasped in surprise. He was defending me. Both heads turned to me and Harry shut his eyes tight. He said something under his breath and glared at the girl, before walking to me.
“Are you ready?” He asked, acting like I hadn’t heard the conversation.
The girl narrowed her eyes at me. I nodded, avoiding her gaze. Harry stepped in front of me.
“How much did you hear?” He muttered, making sure I was the only one who heared. He kept his gaze on me.
“Not much,” I admitted.
“Sorry. She, um. That’s Jen. She wanted to know if we could hook-up. I told her we couldn’t.”
“Why are you being so honest with me?”
He shrugged. “I just want you to know about things.”
“Oh how fucking sweet,” Jen hissed. Harry ignored her.
“Let’s go.”
“You’re going to leave, just like that?” She asked in disbelief.
Harry ignored her, taking my hand and leading me away from her.
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A/N: HIII! BROKEN IS GETTING SO MANY READS LIKE I GOT SO MANY VOTES LAST CHAPTER I WAS HAPPY WOOOO
WELL DONE TO PRETTY MUCH ALL OF YOU FOR GUESSING OCORRECTLY WHO GEMMA WAS :D
Erm well here you go. Have some brenna/harry moments
J
LOVE YOU ALL SO SO MUCH I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD YEAR HAPPY 2014 HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME ONE
xoxo