Runner didn't have a problem with it. In fact, during lunch times, he'd still invite Harry over and he'd just laugh it off. Of course, I was never able to talk to Harry for the whole week. It's mostly because, we really haven't got anything to talk about. To be honest, we're actually the most unlikely friends in the group.
Monday was awful for me but I don't really want to go through too much details as mostly it was just the whispers and the endless nonsense talk behind my back. As it didn't really give as much of an impact like it does before.
What puts me to wonder, however was how Harry was taking it. I mean, with my rumor record, he probably would hate to be the other side of the story. . . my rumor story. If there were no problems with Runner, I had expected it from Harry but even with him, everything is blank.
On the other hand, bright side, it had been known that the ones who spread the pictures and posted it on Facebook had a number of unfortunate little thing called requital of their ways. Tuesday, every single picture and video, including the most awfully explicit ones had shown up all over the net.
It wasn't my fault, they did it first and of course, Micha was a genius in those sorts of stuff, Madz has a lot of sources wherein Isabelli is the mastermind.
So the week wasn't all me.
One Thursday evening, as classes ended, I put my usual coat on and make my way through the old bleachers. I have a few homeworks to do and I have plenty of time to do it.
It makes me wonder a little why even though I have my mom to go to every time I come home, I still don't look forward to it before nine PM. I don't know, maybe I've just gotten used to it.
The moment I put my coat on, I tie my hair back in a ponytail but letting my bangs loose as it's comfortable that way.
It's starting to get awfully cold these days so I tend to choose the thicker coats. Yet, the boy in the field still wears the normal shirts and shorts which either meant he's used to the cold or he's just enduring the chilly weather.
I wonder why he never gets tired of practicing on his own but then again, I never get tired of reading the three same books over and over again everyday.
Dad calls me up just to check up on us for a moment. He's a bit disappointed with the fact that I'm still not home but he eventually shrugs it off. So the moment the call ends, I continue with my homeworks.
After I'm finished with the homeworks, I watch Harry practice. He glances up every once in a while to my direction but then again, he usually doesn't make the first move. . . and never say the first word.
I scratch my left hand, feeling a little uneasy as I haven't talked to him in a while now. In fact, I'm not even sure if that little photo issue bothered him because it sure did bother me.
Also, not to mention the fact that none of us knew why he was distracted during game three. . . I'm still hoping it isn't me.
"So Louis told me you got your game back," I say and it probably wasn't the best thing to start the conversation with but too late.
Harry stops playing and looks at me with a smile, "I do hope so, the last game was sort of a mess."
"Hmm." I bite my lower lip and nod. "May I ask why?" I ask.
He raises an eyebrow.
"I don't mean it in a prying sort of way, I'm just curious," I say.
He scratches the back of his head, "It's nothing. I was just a little distracted, that's all."
"By what?" I ask, just curious. . . curious to know if I wasn't the reason.
"Nothing, you really don't want to know."
I purse my lips, "I really don't want to know?"
"Trust me, you don't," he replies so I let it go.
I look down to where I am standing and then take a seat on the ground, "You were great though," I say proudly as, well, indirectly, I could be his coach sometimes.
"Thanks," he replies a bit too shyly, looking down at me and it's slightly bothering me as the lights are right behind him, a little movement would hurt my eyes.
"Sit down with me," I say. Again, he's got the most confused face on, furrowing eyebrows and pink lips into a thin line. I laugh, "Come on, I don't bite."
Harry sits in front of me and smiles a little bit. I don't really look at him afterwards, I just want someone to sit with me. Instead I look at the streetlights and the goalpost.
"How are you and Lindsey?" I ask, seeing as his girlfriend is also the main topic of the week. . . she's been spotted going inside a bedroom with a boy named David Park. . . in a party so that sums it up just a little bit.
I wonder if he knows about that, or he doesn't. . . or maybe he's just like Runner who doesn't give a damn about the rumors about his girlfriend.
"W-We're fine," Harry replies, although I don't know the expression that was on his face.
It takes me a while to say something again because I really don't have anything else to ask him. . . or say to him. In fact, I just walked in here for no reason.
"It's really strange," I say with a sigh as I face him.
"What's strange?"
"Apparently, you and I have nothing to talk about," I say. "We barely have things to talk about so we're just here in the same field but distanced on a scale of twenty meters and once every few days."
He chuckles a little, "I suppose so."
Random questions start spurting out of my mind, "What's your favorite movie?"
Harry seems a little surprised by the question but he replies, "I don't really watch a lot of movies."
"Well, same through with me but you should probably like at least one," I say.
Almost without hesitation, he answers, "The Titanic."
I raise an eyebrow and hold back a snicker, "Th-The Titanic? S-Seriously?" The number one in romance. . . seriously?! Harry's favorite is the number one in romance.
I did not see that coming.
"Not exactly the love story, but mostly it's because of Leo DiCaprio's character, the way he lives his life," Harry says.
I think, he's heading to something. I nod, "Okay, you have my undivided attention. Continue."
"What was his name, again? Erm, J-Jack Dawson? He uh, the way he lives off, life's a gift, I don't want to waste it."
The line is actually, I figure life's a gift, I don't intend on wasting it.
Yet, it's his favorite movie so I don't really want to correct him.
"Inspired me when I was a kid," he continues. "That's why I travel a lot."
"Okay, but don't travel a lot to the extent that you win a ticket to a ship. Should be a lesson, whatever you do, don't board a ship they say is unsinkable," I say and he laughs.
"I'll keep that in mind." He sighs afterwards and silence fills the atmosphere.
I don't mind, it's nice anyways.
"Where are your parents?" He asks.
"I'm sorry?"
"Where are your parents?" He asks again.
"My life is a fan fiction, my parents don't exist," I say. He probably doesn't get the joke because he raises an eyebrow and looks perplexed so I sigh, "I meant, they travel a lot. Of course my mom is home nowadays but my dad is always, always on the go."
"Oh."
"You?"
"It's just my dad, and my older brother. Mom is probably in England with her new family," he answers with a smile.
"Sorry to hear that."
"Well, it isn't your fault so it's alright."
Sometimes, Harry's just plain weird. Sometimes, he won't even look at me directly when he talks to me. Okay, I'm not the best person to be around with and I make some people uncomfortable in some ways but I have no idea why he just acts like that in front of me.
"Are you uncomfortable with me?" I ask.
"Wh-Why would you ask that?"
"I don't know, maybe it's a little weird that you kind of don't look at me when we talk."
He looks directly at me with a menacing smile, "Trust me, you'll be the one handling discomfort."
My nose wrinkles a bit and I imitate his smile. I partly push the ground so I could be on my knees, a little closer to him. "Discomfort, Styles?"
My hair slightly brushes at his face as I lift his chin up, "Trust me, I won't feel uncomfortable."
He smirks a little, lifting himself up so our noses touch. "Do you really think you're making me uncomfortable, right now?"
There is this look in his green eyes that's something else, that's something I haven't seen before. All along he'd been a false person and I've been seeing him incorrectly for a time now.
I'm just glad I've seen through it.
I imitate his smirk as I gently push him away. I stand up and smile at him, "You're not such a dork after all."
In fact, he isn't a soft person like I thought. Maybe his confusion was a shield, a wall for hiding himself and I gotta say he was good at it.
I laugh. "Micha was actually right, you're not a softie."
"A what?"
"Just an all normal, nerdy whatever dorky person. No wonder she's really curious about you," I say. "And I just hope no one saw that closeness thing or we're both burnt toast."
Harry looks around, "There's no one."
"Obviously, but, it's not a wrong thing to hope for it," I say. "What was the first thing that rung in your head when you met me?"
Just curious.
"Cosa?"
I roll my eyes, Italian word for what, obviously. "Um, your first impression of me."
"Ah." He chuckles a little, "We won't get along."
I almost laugh because accurately, I didn't really like him.
"Well, you're not wrong," I mumble.
"You didn't really like me," he says.
And I nod. "Yeah, I didn't. But don't worry, things change. I like you a lot better now."
"You do?"
"I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't and —" my phone rings, and it's Robbie. I look at my watch and see that it's still eight.
I answer it anyways.
"Robbie, it's still eight." I am a little annoyed but I don't show it. Still, specific instructions, he knows that everyday, it's nine PM, nothing more and nothing less!
"I know, Miss Swift but I'm under your mom's orders." Mom's orders?! No way. She can't just do that!
I groan, "No freaking way." I don't like this. I don't like where this is headed. Now they're back I'm controlling my life.
"I'm sorry, Miss Swift but we have to go home, now."
I end the call and put it in my pocket , grumbling a heap load of nonsense under my breath. Sometimes I really like it when my parents are around but sometimes, I don't. They're too controlling! I'm not even doing anything wrong. In fact, nothing went wrong before they decided to step in.
"God," I mutter and storm off away from the field. I really hate it when they do this. I don't really care that I'm leaving a conversation hanging or I'm actually being a brat right now but it was a clear talk, nine PM. Nothing every happened to me during that arrangement and even though I didn't like it, Robbie picks me up to assure my safety. That's already a nice deal!
As soon as I enter the car, I say, "Don't ask me how my day is."
And gladly, Robbie doesn't and he drives home quietly. When I get home, I march straight to my bedroom, making sure mom didn't know about my existence in the house. . . she'll just have to talk to me in the morning.
Morning comes around and during breakfast, mom was there so I prepare myself for a little argument.
"You have to come home earlier than nine, Taylor," mom says very sternly.
"My curfew is at twelve. I'm not doing anything wrong," I say. "And Robbie always picks me up, that's the most assuring thing I can do."
"How do you suppose we'd spend time together, then?"
I cannot believe I am hearing it from her. Spending time together?! Since when are they interested in that?!
"That question should probably not be directed to me," I shoot. Because if we're talking about time, it's their fault they didn't want to spend it with me. But still, "I'm sorry."
I lick my lips, "I don't want an argument, mom, I just like it outside at night. It helps me a lot so. . . please don't take that away."
Mom stays quiet, I don't really want to prolong the conversation or my stay here in this atmosphere so I eat a little faster and head to school a little bit earlier than usual.
Then again, lunch time is the most exciting thing ever because apparently, the hours before were a mess.
"You bought. . . a happy meal?" Madz asks in disbelief as she looks at Micha.
"If it's from a different food chain, it's not a happy meal, it's a souvenir," Micha replies, playing with her toy that is supposedly an action figure.
"It's a toy," Madz says. As far as I'm concerned, she's not the most adult in us because that one would be Runner but she can get a little bit too strict sometimes.
"Lighten up, cousin," Louis finally comes around, pulling a chair with him since he went around to look for it and so did Runner. "Runner and I got you cats some souvenirs."
The term is, souvenirs instead of toys.
He places the plastic toys on the table, along with the scattered food and I see Isabelli and Madz trying to grab the one that looks like a bunny. . . it might be a bunny, in a police costume.
"Hey, Harold, take this one," Louis tosses him some sort of toy that looks like Snoopy. I think it is Snoopy.
Harry thanks him and opens it.
I just take one that has a chain on it so it could he my keychain. At least then, it'll be useful.
"Thanks, Lou," I say, unwrapping it from the plastic.
"Don't thank me, I just delivered," he says as Runner settles in his seat next to me.
I chain it in my bag, at the zipper and then face Runner.
"I sort of expected the keychain thing," he says, smiling. Well, he loves it when he predicts my actions and I can't really say it's the same for me because he's usually to predictable.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome," and then he kisses me, taking me by surprise.
I hear Louis and Madz laughing in the background with Micha complaining about PDA even though she usually does that whenever she has a boyfriend.
As soon as I pull away, I find myself facing Micha who is still complaining. "PDA, too much of it," she mutters in a disgusted way while I laugh at her.
"It's not like you don't do it," Isabelli shoots at her, making her gape.
"Well, am I doing it now?" Micha asks. "People change, Isabelli."
"Not you, apparently," Madz retorts, smiling sweetly at her. Here we go again, another arguments.
"Why does the subject always fall to me? I didn't even do anything!" Micha complains, he face getting red while Isabelli and Madz laughs at her. "We're talking about TS here. We are talking about the present tense, now. N-O-W, now."
And now, she puts the attention right back at me again.
"Yes, yes, we know how to spell," Madz says.
Micha is about to say something when. . .
I laugh, "Micha, you can give it a rest."
Micha mutters something under her breath that I couldn't hear with all the noise in this fast food chain but I do hear her saying something like, "PDA really makes us uncomfortable."
"I like making you cats uncomfortable every once in a while," I say very sweetly, my eyes dart downwards to the table where someone's hand clenches a little. . . Harry's.
For a moment, I take my time to look at him. If there's something I see in him, it's discomfort. . . yet there's something else at the same time as if some monster is chewing him from the inside.
There's a frown that's formed itself in his lips, his eyebrows meet and his eyes are gazing at the table, yet they seem to be looking at something else. I'd assume that's what I look like when I'm reminiscing an unpleasant memory from my head.
I have half a mind to ask him what was wrong but then, Isabelli takes my attention to her and from then on, my focus averts itself.
I think I recall Micha asking him the question though I wasn't really listening at anything from then on.
A few minutes after the school bell rings in dismissal, I move on to my favorite, quietest part of the day, the one in the abandoned field.
I get a little surprised that Harry is at the bleachers, still wearing his uniform which either meant he is not planning to practice for today or he has some things to do first.
But. . . he's sitting at where I usually sit.
I hesitate before going straight to my seat but I still do anyways.
Harry is sitting very quietly, just staring at the field until I approach him.
"Is there — is there something wrong?" I ask him, obviously, I don't know what it is that's going on with him and I've been refraining from asking him too much questions like why he was like that during the third game or what happened to him the week after my favor Saturday.
Harry blinks a few times, he sighs before saying, "Why do you do this to me?"
I find myself unable to move at the sudden question.
"Wh-What?"
He stands up, his figure blocking the light behind him and I take a step back as he was standing a little too close.
"Taylor, why do you do this to me?"