It was as if they couldn't get their hands off of each other. Every private second they had together, they were either fucking or having pointless conversations. Zulema used to resent those couples that spent every living hour with each other, the ones that got matching outfits and posted selfies every little while. She then understood why. Although Harry and Zulema weren't that extreme, she knew what it was like to be head over heels for someone.
She enjoyed it, but at the same time was scared of losing it. She was scared being a part of something so great, only for it to fall apart. Because she liked Harry. Really liked him. That scared the shit out of her.
Zulema got out her phone as she stood in front of Harry's house.
Zulema ❤️: hey I'm in front
Harry 💩: alright I'm coming down.
The girl sighed and then locked her phone, putting it back in her pocket. When she looked up, the door was already being opened. She almost bit her lip seeing her boyfriend in a pair of grey sweatpants and a white tee.
"No glasses I see?" He chuckled.
Zulema shook her head, "nope. I finally decided to use my contacts," then laughed.
"Cute," he stared at her for a few seconds up and down, before stepping aside to let her in. She looked really pretty.
As they walked up the steps, Zulema turned around seeing that axel was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels. Though he did make eye contact with her causing her to gasp slightly but not loud enough for Harry to hear.
She walked into Harry's bedroom, putting her backpack down on his bed and plopping onto it.
"So what do you wanna do first? Math or English?" Zulema asked.
Harry didn't respond. Instead he crossed his arms. Zulema furrowed her brows, "que?"
"You know que," he told her and gave an obvious look.
Zulema chuckled, "no...." honestly, she really didn't.
Harry rolled his eyes and then turned around to go into his night stand where he seemed to be pulling something out. When he turned around he was holding a piece of red fabric. Lace to be exact.
"Ohh," Zulema said, totally forgetting she even did that.
"Yeah, ohhh," Harry dragged out.
Zulema stood up, "I forgot to tell you to check your drawer," she smiled cheekily with an innocent voice as she walked closer to him.
"Zulema, my mom was two seconds away from finding these. She was in here looking for something and these were almost sticking out," he complained making Zulema bite the inside of her cheek.
"Oh... sorry?" She shrugged her shoulders. She thought it would be cute but she supposed it wouldn't have been so cute if his mom actually found them.
"You know... I still have the other ones from that one time we fucked," he told her suddenly.
Zulema raised a brow, "out of the 50?" Also came out as a chuckle.
"That day you left while I was sleeping. See I hide those where I know my mom won't look," he explained and she could tell he was just going to start arguing again, "I think about what I'm doing."
Zulema stared at him blankly.
Harry talked again, "you can't just go doing that, my parents are already upset with me because I quit soccer. I can't let them hate me even more," he rambled.
But Zulema watched his lips move as he talked, how his arms were crossed and flexed every time he took a huff of air. How his eyes became darker since the room was dim.
"And I just need to be on their good side right now but I can't if they find my girlfriends underwear in my fucking drawer," he said.
Zulema bit her lip, looking down quickly just to see if his dick print was visible. Oh shit it is, she thought to herself. How hot.
"Zulema are you listening to me? Did you hear anything I just said?" He asked, crouching his head down, to her height and she shook her head before looking up.
"You weren't even listening," he sighed in irritation.
"I'm sorry it's just, you're so... I can't talk to you properly when you're looking all..." she couldn't muster up the words.
"All what?" He asked impatiently.
"Daddy-ish," she blushed.
Harry scoffed, "what are you even talking about?" He knew what she was talking about to be honest but he didn't want to encourage her to continue turning him on, or else he'd probably bend her over his desk again.
"Nothing, I'm sorry," she flushed, "but you need to stop caring about what your parents think-" she walked towards him but he cut her off.
"What do you mean, care about what my parents think? I-I don't care about what they think."
"Yes you do, Harry. For now you still do. And that's okay, because you're young and your parents are these successful people who made it big- even in a whole 'nother country," she told him.
He looked down at her, "but it's not fair that I keep doing things that make them mad. And I know what I'm doing but it sucks that I can't help that I'm happy and they aren't-"
Zulema grabbed his hands, "they are happy. They have two healthy children who are talented. They're just confused because their plan for you isn't going exactly the way they wanted," she told him, gabbing his jaw in her hand.
Harry grabbed her wrist in his and then sighed, "sorry I keep complaining to you."
Zulema rolled her eyes, "I would slap you but you're holding my arm," she then laughed. They both did. Harry let go and went to sit down as did Zulema.
As they sat down, she felt a more serious shift within the atmosphere. She looked over at her boyfriend who seemed to be in deep thought and she wondered what it was like to care about your parents perception.
She never had parents that she needed to satisfy. It was why it was easier for her to slack off. However, not having parents to impress did not necessarily mean it would make someone less successful, it just meant their path was less clear.
"You know, you never talk about your feelings to me... your life...." he told her quietly. Zulema almost froze. At that exact moment he said that she wanted to sit down with him on his bed and tell him everything about her life and how sad she got when she was at home.
She wanted to cry in his lap and tell him about all the times anyone in her life used her for their own purposes. How her father made her work at the age of 10 to pay for his own desires. How Ricky constantly made her feel like shit. How she felt like she was a burden to everyone and she was only good for sex. How she wanted to go to college and study art but couldn't because the system had failed to help her. How, sometimes, she cried at night because the strain in her eyes guided her to a more peaceful sleep.
"There's nothing much to say," she smiled.
"I don't care. Tell me anything," he told her, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear. Zulema felt her eyes getting slightly glossy but soon controlled herself.
No ever cared enough to ask about her well-being. It was why she suddenly felt an overbearing emotion deep within her chest. It felt so foreign to have someone genuinely care about what she was thinking.
She didn't know why, but she wanted to cry- at this very moment. Maybe it was because someone cared. Or because she didn't know what to say.
The girl sighed, rubbed her thighs, "well... I mean-" she opened her mouth then closed it. Suddenly, she lost control of herself. Because she felt a stray tear fall down her cheek, but quickly she wiped it away. You're so fucking embarrassing, She thought.
"Hey, don't cry," he told her, wiping away another tear.
Zulema couldn't tell, but Harry was panicking inside. He didn't know what she was feeling inside and that kind of frustrated him because her thoughts were something he was very interested in. To him, she mastered the art of externally settling herself whereas deep down she had this whole other part about her that no one knew.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, wiping her eyes but it was no use.
Harry looked at the girl sympathetically wondering what he said to make her cry. He didn't know why she was crying but she was. Girls never really cried in front of him before. The last time she cried in front of him, he knew why in a way. This time he didn't.
"Zulema," he grabbed her hand, "was it something I said?"
Zulema sniffled then threw her head back trying to move back the newly forming tears. She brought it back down, shook her head.
"You have to tell me why you're crying, I guarantee you that you aren't leaving this house until you tell me," he told her seriously.
The girl suddenly choked up a sob, covering half her face as she continued to cry. Harry's eyes widened but he pulled her towards him, allowing her to rest her head on his lap. He didn't say anything else except let her cry. At this point, he didn't know why she was crying, just knew that she needed to.
"It feels nice to cry sometimes, I get that," he told her quietly, playing with her hair. He wasn't sure why he said that, he was just trying to make her not feel uncomfortable.
She continued to cry. What was first classified as embarrassing quickly became reassuring as she wasn't ashamed of crying in front of him anymore because he did understand. That's why she was so scared of being with him, not just for the sake of possibly losing him but because he was accepting of human emotion, an idea that seemed to be exonerated within her generation of fast paced individuals. It was easier to be around people who minded things like crying than people who didn't. He didn't mind at all.
After about a few more minutes, Zulema sat up. She was light headed but nonetheless was ready to stop crying.
"I'm so sorry," she croaked as Harry grabbed napkins from his bedside and handed them to her.
"Why are you apologizing?" He asked quietly. Zulema shrugged, wiping the tears from underneath her eyes.
"Because I just made this day depressing," she said in a still trembly voice.
"Life is depressing, but we get over it," Harry insisted.
Zulema chuckled, knowing that only he could make her laugh at a moment like this, while continuing to wipe her eyes.
"I would ask you if you're okay, but obviously you're not," he grabbed her arm, gesturing her to sit down next to him. He grabbed her chin, "what's wrong?" Harry asked.
Zulema was about to speak when the door opened. Axel was standing there holding the doorknob, "oh I'm sorry I was just going to come and tell you that moms bringing pizza but it looks like you're in the middle of a doctor phil episode."
Harry snapped his gaze to his brother, "Axel, get the fuck out."
"I get you're dumping her and all but don't talk to me like I'm the younger brother here," Axel said coldly.
"I'm not dumping her, get out-"
"I mean I get if you are. Just make sure you give her my number," axel looked the girl up and down, causing her to look down. Her heart sank because she didn't even know the guy and he always made her feel so bad about herself that she didn't even bother to stand up for herself anymore.
"Don't you see we're in the middle of something?" Harry snapped loudly at his brother, cheeks turning red.
The last thing he wanted to do was fight with his brother all the while his girlfriend was finally opening up to him.
"What, about to shag like last time? Are you gonna fuck her like last time just so I can hear? She'd like that I bet-"
Harry stood up, "what the fuck did you just say?" Zulema blinked several times and panicked when she saw him stepping towards his brother.
"Harry, stop," she told him and grabbed his arm.
"All I'm saying is that she comes around here dressed all flashy like she's asking for it, like she doesn't like the fact that I'd fuck her," axel chuckled and the girl let go of Harry's arm because she was so embarrassed and emotional and she wanted to go to the corner and die.
"That's why she's always so uncomfortable around you," Harry muttered in realization, "you made her think she's some fucking whore didn't you?!" Harry suddenly pushed axel against the opposite wall of the hallway causing Zulema to flinch.
"She is, she knows it-" axel was cut off when his little brother sucker punched him across the face.
"Stop!" Zulema got up from her seat. They were fighting because of her. Again, she managed to ruin something.
But they didn't even flinch as she spoke because the two were already going at it. Axel flipped his brother around up against the wall, getting every punch he could and Zulema yelped at the blood dripping from Harry's nose.
But before Axel got another punch, he was blocked by Harry who grabbed his wrist with one hand and punched him with the other. Then Axel was shoved to the ground, causing him to groan as he hit his head quite roughly.
Harry sat on top of him, punching him her after hit. It was almost like years worth of teasing and jealously was all coming out into this one fight. And he couldn't stop the anger he was letting out on his own brother.
"Stop it!" Zulema cried, reaching out to grab Harry's arm but he wouldn't even budge.
She then heard the front door open and Zulema was finally able to take some sort of relieved breath and she ran downstairs to their mom.
Lydia who was setting the box of pizza down looked at Zulema worriedly, "what's wrong?" She gasped.
"T-they're fighting, I-I can't stop them," she tried to say but it came out almost incoherently.
Lydia looked at her in shock before following the girl back up the stairs where Axel was punching Harry from beneath him. The woman's eyes couldn't have been wider, "what are you two doing?!" She practically screamed.
Neither budged, it was like two lions fighting because there was simply no stopping until one was dead. The two had blood over each other's shirts, especially Harry's who's was white.
"I'm calling your father!" Lydia shouted over the two as she gave up on prying them off of each other.
Zulema decided to try again by grabbing Harry by his shirt, "p-please, stop," she urged by pulling his shirt. But it didn't work out as planned when Harry accidentally reflexed and shoved her with his elbow so that she fell back and hit the wall quite roughly.
She didn't say anything, not even cry as she held the back of her head that was throbbing from the impact.
Suddenly Harry stopped. Axel was just groaning with his eyes shut, not bothering to fight back anymore as he knew this fight was coming eventually.
But Harry turned around slowly, to look at the girl who tried not to make herself so obvious.
"Zulema," he muttered, getting off of his brother. Her vision became blurry and mouth dry.
"What have I done," he whispered to himself.
"I-I'm fine," she told him.
He crouched down toward the girl who was holding her head and replaced her hand with his, "I-I.. can't believe I just.. I just hit you," he looked around, not sure what to say.
"Mark get home now," Lydia said before hanging up the phone.
"It's okay," Zulema told him, grabbing his arm. She wasn't significantly hurt and there were clearly more concerns with the bruises on birth Harry and Axel.
"Ah fuck," Axel groaned as he began to get up. Lydia looked down at him, kicking him lightly with her foot, "get the hell downstairs now," she scolded him quietly.
She looked at Zulema, "I'm going to bring you an ice pack," was said sincerely. She nodded.
Harry was still lost at words. He couldn't. Believe what he had just done. What he did to the one girl that put up with his bullshit, the one person who'd listen to him and what he thought. Not once did he consider how much she was affected by everything.
"I hit you," he said again, "I just... " he pulled at his hair.
"Y-you know that I didn't mean it.. oh my god, you know I would never ever even think of hurting you in that way- in any way," he grabbed her shoulders.
"I know, it's f-fine," Zulema told him. But she didn't know that. She didn't know that it wasn't fine for a man to hit a woman or even for a woman to hit a man. She was so accustomed to it already.
"No, it's not fine, it's never fine. I hit you and all you say is "it's fine?" He said in an unbelievable expression.
"It was an accident-"
Truly, she was unsure of how to react to anything. Was she supposed to be upset with him? At times, she felt uncomfortable to have conversations like this with him because she grew up with very different lifestyles and that's what made them so different from each other.
"Here's your ice pack, are.. are you okay? That's a stupid question," Lydia muttered to herself. Everyone had been asking her that lately, she wondered if maybe it was time to say that she wasn't.
"Yes, I'm alright, I promise," the girl muttered taking the ice pack from his mom.
"Harry go down stairs," Lydia told him.
"But-" he panicked.
"I said go. You've done enough," she turned around to face Zulema who looked down at her hands. Never had Lydia been that serious before.
Harry looked at Zulema then his mom, a hurt expression flashed across his face. He nodded, though. It was best to give her space, but he wanted to apologize over and over again. Never would he ever want to hit a woman especially her. She'd done nothing wrong, she was only trying to stop a situation that harry had started in the first place. He should have just brushed Axel off and listened to her vent like she was going to, but he had to ruin it with his own selfish desires to hurt his sibling.
"I'm really sorry, Lydia," Zulema told the kind woman quietly. Her vision began to blur again.
"Don't you dare apologize. They can't control themselves, shame on them," she shook her head, adjusting the ice pack on the girl. Zulema didn't respond, she just closed her eyes slightly.
"I don't know why they fought.. but somehow I always felt that one day they just were going to," Lydia sighed and waved her head.
She managed to take in her words. Even when Zulema first saw Harry and Axel in a room together she felt the tension between them, she knew she couldn't just blame herself. It was bound to happen.
"Do you mind if I use the rest room?" Zulema asked, not even realizing she was still sitting down.
"No, of course, go ahead," she was eager and stood up. She was trying hard not to go downstairs and beat her two sons senseless if they hadn't already beat each other to a pulp.
"Thank you," Zulema mumbled before standing up. She walked towards the bathroom. She didn't have to go but she looked at herself in the mirror. While attempting to make herself look more presentable she gave up because it didn't even matter.
When she opened the door, she saw Harry standing across the other side of the hallway. He stood straight but only looked at her, not quite saying anything.
"If you apologize again I will scream," she told him quietly, eyes closing and opening slowly. She was already exhausted as it was and hearing anything else apologetic would make her even more upset.
"Do you think that's okay?" He tilted his head then walked towards her, "what I did, you think I shouldn't have to apologize?"
He realized through her nonchalant demeanor toward the situation that she was okay with violence. She didn't see a problem with him pushing her and that terrified him. Who else did she let treat her that way?
"It was an accident," she told him, "I know you would never hit me, you aren't that person," she told him. It was true and she didn't want him beating himself over it all the time.
"It isn't about me, it's about you. You were hurt simply because I was trying to hurt my brother," he said not coldly but surprisingly calm.
"If you want me to hate you, I don't. I just.. I can't find a reason to be mad at you. Should I yell at you for fighting him? Yes. But do I want to? I really don't. I tried to stop you because you were going to kill him and he has a future and so do you," she pointed at his chest.
Harry took the time to process her words. What on earth did he ever do to deserve someone like this? What he did was wrong on so many levels yet she still found the good in what happened.
"I don't want you to be with me thinking that one day I might lash out and hit you. I need you to know that, that would never happen."
She nodded, "Of course I know that," suddenly the front door opened then slammed, "try explaining that to your father.." Zulema trailed off.
"Shit," she heard Harry curse quietly.
"Get down here right now!" They flinched as they heard Marks voice throughout the house.
"Just sit down right here, okay?" Harry told Zulema and gestured to the top of the stair case and the girl nodded.
He walked down the stairs shakily before reaching the base where his father was standing by the couch where Axel was slumped on. He had blood tricking down his forehead and nose and several scratches as well.
"We tried to stop them," Lydia said.
"We?" Mark asked.
"Yes. Zulema and I... your son accidentally pushed her, she's upstairs in the restroom," Lydia looked at harry and raised an eyebrow.
"You what?" Mark looked at his youngest son.
"I didn't mean to," he spoke sternly, then looked at the ground when making eye contact with his father.
"But you did. Once again you're this reckless teenager who cares about no one but himself!-"
"That's not true-" Harry shook his head, becoming flushed. Zulema's heart dropped. If only they knew how untrue that was. He was only trying to be happy, but anything that made him happy seemed to make them angry. He was honestly trying.
"It is, though. You don't care that you broke your mothers framework in the hallway, or that your brother is on a soccer scholarship, or that you pushed your own damn girlfriend-"
"You think I wanted to do that? Did you seriously think that I was going to put up with him any longer? No, you don't because you don't know what it's like to grow up with him. If you only heard half the shit that comes out of his mouth then maybe for once you'd understand and I'd stop taking the blame for everything!" Harry practically shouted and Zulema even heard everything they were saying.
"How about next time instead of taking matters into your own hands you consult me once in a while, huh?" Mark said bitterly.
It was quiet for a while and Zulema was biting the inside of her cheek and shaking her knee nervously.
She then heard Harry speak, "this isn't about the fight anymore is it?" It got quiet again. At least for mark, who stood quiet. He must've left the room when she heard footsteps becoming faint.
"Go upstairs and get Zulema an Advil. I'm taking Axel to the hospital," was all Lydia said. Zulema stood up and waited for him to come back upstairs.
And when he did, she played with her fingers awkwardly and lost at words almost. However she felt harry grab her hand in his and she looked up.
"Do you need an Advil?" He asked.
Zulema stared at him and she began to look weird as she was fighting hold back an emotion. Suddenly she began laughing.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I think I've felt so many emotions today that laughter is the only thing that can save me at this point."
"How can you laugh after all this?" He breathed humorously.
Zulema shrugged, "it was kinda hot. You know... until you almost killed me." She exaggerated and began laughing. Actually laughing like all of this was a joke.
"Is this a joke to you?" Harry raised a brow.
Zulema threw her head against the wall, nodding as she laughed, "you beat the shit out of him. Of course it's funny," she continued to giggle.
Harry laughed too like really laugh, but when they heard footsteps coming up the stairs, his eyes widened, "let's go laugh in there," he gestured towards his bedroom.
-
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