A throbbing pain emerged deep down in my skull and slowly crept along my bones until it hit the bottom of my stomach.
I just told Lisa I was fine but I sure as hell didn't feel good.
Not even once in my life have I felt this fearful. I have felt threatened before, yes. Zayn had his share in that memory but not once have I felt like my life was at stake.
This Liam guy was trouble, one look at him was enough to see the dangerous vibe that encased his body. That other bloke was just like him. Double trouble. What has Harry gotten himself into?
My subconscious felt the need to remind me that Harry may be a part in all of this. For all I knew, he could be in some kind of gang that dealt with drugs – or worse. His nice behavior could be fake, only held up to keep me out of his business.
I was torn between trying to really avoid him from now on and confronting him about it. For the time being, I would pretend nothing happened.
"Zoey? This is possibly the worst timing ever but I need to tell you something," Lisa spoke up, biting her lip in a nervous manner.
This couldn't mean anything good.
"Can't it wait?" I softly asked, too exhausted to fight whatever battle was about to come now.
"I don't think so. I don't wanna keep it from you and you really need to know," Lisa insisted, her voice softening a bit.
"Okay, go ahead." I hadn't it in me to fight her.
"About Zayn," Lisa started and I immediately groaned. This can't be happening right now.
Lisa paused and threw a worried glance my way. I nodded for her to continue.
"He moved back," Lisa dropped the bomb.
Only, it didn't explode. I figured as much when I saw him at the go-kart track.
"And he-he contacted me to see if there was any chance you would talk to him," Lisa cleared the air.
"Never," I answered. How dare he?
"I know. I told him as much. I can't really tell what he will do now but I knew you wouldn't want to talk to him. I just wanted to let you know, Z," she told me. I sighed in relief. I shouldn't even have doubted her.
Lisa stopped at a red light and I watched a granny cross the street with a walking frame. She looked so fragile with her thin legs that were barely able to hold her up anymore. She was walking at a slow pace and a teenage girl behind her looked at her with pitiful eyes. The girl's longer legs helped her cross the street within seconds but the granny was left behind, still on the street when the pedestrian's light was on red again.
Life was an erratic thing. You never knew what to expect. People spent their time making future plans, wasted even more time on the wrong people – and on school – and sometimes all it took was one heedless driver that didn't see the kid chasing a ball on the street to stop a person to waste any more time on all the wrong things.
That didn't mean we should stop wasting our time on wrong things. People made mistakes and things certainly went wrong all the time but we learned from mistakes. We had to.
"Zoey, whatever you're thinking of, stop it or else those crinkles won't go away," Lisa grumbled.
I threw her my sweetest smile. The way she shrank back told me it wasn't a sweet but scary smile.
"We're there," Lisa unnecessarily informed me while she parked in the mall's parking lot.
We aimlessly walked around the mall for what seemed like an eternity. My feet started to hurt, my headache got worse and I just wanted to sleep until my alarm clock woke me up to go back to college.
Lisa soon noticed my change of mood and called it a day.
"Let's get you home, you could audition for The Walking Dead," she joked. I stuck my tongue out in a childish gesture. Lisa laughed in return, punching me lightly on the arm.
However, before we got to her car, we bought ice cream to calm our nerves. Well, I calmed my nerves and Lisa just joined me in eating ice cream for no reason.
"I need to babysit Leo tomorrow," Lisa sighed. She pulled off that I-am-so-annoyed attitude pretty well but I knew that deep down inside she enjoyed it more than throwing around random facts in class. "Do you want to come along and pick him up from prep school?"
"Sure," I answered out of habit. Then I remembered who worked at Leo's prep school. "Actually, no, I-I need to... Like, Phoebe wants to..." I stuttered.
"You mean you don't want to run into Harry?" She just knew me too well which was a good thing half the time. I didn't need many words with her, one look was enough to tell her how I felt. But sometimes it could be a curse as well.
I confirmed her assumption and nodded.
"That's okay, I'll make sure to come over later," Lisa smiled.
"Yey," I fake-cheered which brought me another punch in return.
"Get in the car, butthead," she instructed.
"Ay ay capt'n," I saluted before I got in the car and met the safety arrangements.
We drove in silence for a bit, the radio softly playing in the background, filling the car with some new pop song.
"Actually, could you take me to the library?" I asked Lisa.
She raised an eyebrow but nodded, not questioning anything. She knew I sometimes went to the library to read some books. It was the only place where no one bothered me.
"Here ya go," Lisa said, parking in front of the library only minutes later. "See you tomorrow, Z."
"Bye Lissie," I bid farewell.
It was still early, not even near dinner time yet. I texted Phoebe and let her know I probably won't be home any time soon.
"Hello," I greeted the woman at the front desk before I went upstairs, entering the 'young adults' section.
I shifted through the bookshelves for a few minutes until I took out a book called 'Vampire Academy'. I have seen the movie trailer a few times now and it seemed pretty good. I still had to drag Lisa to the cinema to watch it but I've always forgotten about it.
The blurb pulled me in and I made myself comfortable on the big blue armchair near the window that was separated from the other seats. I was all alone in this corner and silently thanked the universe for the peace that was given.
The first chapter confused me more than anything but the author somehow had to start her story. Before long, I reached chapter 18 and had to change my position due to my numb butt cheeks.
My eyes flickered to the window and I noticed that the sun that had rayed me has long disappeared. I got back up on my feet and walked over to the bookcase I had snatched the book off before. A near clock hanging from the ceiling told me it was 8:39pm.
Debating whether to call my mom to pick me up or to catch a bus, I exited the library. I could catch a bus and walk the little distance from the bus stop, clearing my head. I didn't have my earphones with me which meant I had a silent bus ride ahead of me, not able to enjoy the soothing sound of the engine while I leaned my head against the window, watching the world around me pass by with music playing softly in my ears.
Gosh, that sounded depressing.
My fingers twitched for my phone but I didn't have the chance. A brawny hand packed my shoulder, requesting me to stop. Although I did stop in my tracks, it wasn't the hand that made me turn around in the first place. It was the deep voice that followed the grip. "Zoey?"
I slowly turned around and looked up into emerald green eyes. My first reaction was to smile and greet him. My second reaction was to smack him. My third reaction was to freeze and get lost into those eyes. I set for the latter option.
"Do you need a ride back home?"
I pondered my potential answers until I finally spoke up. "Yes, that would be nice." Geesh, that was awkwardly polite.
Harry smiled, his dimples showing slightly, and motioned for me to follow him to his car.
Once inside, he started speaking again. "How was your day?"
"The usual. Boring classes, annoying teachers, scary mobster awaiting me in the parking lot..." I trailed off.
"Scary what?" Harry wasn't sure whether to be amused or concerned by my statement.
"You know, your lovely friends. Liam and this other dude who wasn't polite enough to introduce himself but stopped Liam from chopping off my arm with his violent grip," I shrugged, trying to act casual as if this was something ordinary.
Harry hit the brakes with such a sudden force that my body fell forward and the seat belt had to catch me before I could hit my head on the dashboard. He turned around in his seat and looked at me with wide eyes, his jaw was dangerously close to hitting the floor.
I quickly checked our surroundings and was relieved when I saw that Harry at least seemingly parked in a parking lot. More or less.
"I think you owe me an explanation," I demanded.
"I guess I do," Harry nodded in agreement. He didn't say anything else and drove off again.
We drove in silence, Harry pondering what to say and I was simply waiting for his next move.
Maybe, just maybe I shouldn't have told him yet. I didn't know how he fit into all of this.
After a few minutes, Harry parked his car in front of a tall building and got out. Confused, I followed suit.
He quickly checked if I was following him and went up the stairs that led to the big black front door of the building. I grew anxious and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Was he leading me to his gang?
"Don't worry, it's my apartment," he assured me.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I sarcastically asked.
He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "I told you before and I'll tell you again: I won't hurt you."
That was enough to make me fall into step with him again.
Harry walked up two floors until he stopped in front of a maroon door. There was a black doorbell next to the grip with a name tag reading "Styles" underneath. A peephole decorated the door, nothing else.
A silver key fit perfectly into the lock and opened the door for us. Harry flicked on a light inside and held the door open for me. "You coming?" he asked when I didn't move.
Get a grip, Zoey, I told myself.
I followed him inside. His apartment was open and friendly. Items every now and then emanated the feeling that someone actually lived here but the apartment was clean nonetheless. There wasn't a real corridor, you immediately stepped into the living room. The kitchen was linked to it, only the floor was different, distinguishing it from the living room. To my right I saw two rooms. One door was closed, the other one was opened slightly, revealing white floor tiles. I assumed it was the bathroom.
Harry went into the kitchen, putting a pot on the stove. Was he making tea?
I took a seat on the black leather couch. It was cold but I didn't mind that much. Harry leaned against the counter, watching me. I looked around and took in some details. There were a few pictures around which shoved Harry with a man and two women. My eyes fell on one photo of them. One woman looked slightly older than the other one but they could both pass as his sisters. I guessed one was his mother. My bet was on the one with the dark brown hair that nearly looked black. She was gorgeous. The other woman had blond hair and smiled widely in the picture. The man had his eyes closed but his mouth was opened in laughter. Harry smiled with his lips pressed close, his dimples showing. His eyes beamed.
The fizzling of the pot brought me back to reality. Harry was startled and I noticed that he had been watching me. He pushed the pot off the stove and finished the tea.
With a plump, he took a seat next to me and handled me an orange cup. I sniffed at the tea. "There's honey and milk in it," Harry informed me.
I raised an eyebrow in question.
"British secret recipe," he explained, smiling shyly.
I sipped at the tea but it was still too hot.
"So... you got some explaining to do now, Styles. Don't beat around the bush," I sternly told him.
He nodded. "Okay. I don't know how to start this... Well, I already told you that I moved to America when I was little. My parents don't live far from here. And you know about my sister, Gemma. It... well, it has something to do with her." He fixed his eyes on the cup in his hands. The sad look in his eyes made me feel guilty about forcing him to tell me whatever it is he was going to tell me.
"Gemma ... ran away a year ago," he continued. His sad eyes met mine again and I gulped. She surely meant a lot to him. "I've been looking for her but she just disappeared. No one has heard of her ever since then."
I put a hand on his knee, squeezing lightly.
"I ran into Liam and Nate one late evening, looking for her. I was wasted and told them everything. They promised to help me and I made a deal with them. They have some connections..." His tone informed me that he was not going to dive into that now. "... which could be of great help. I owe them money, a lot of money. We arranged something but they're not true to their word and they're threatening me."
He paused to drink a bit of his tea. I watched his Adam's apple pop up and down.
"You were not supposed to get tangled up in this mess. I denied knowing you to keep you safe but it seems like they looked right through my lie. Those guys are unpredictable and they have powerful connections. They're not to underestimate." I shuddered at his words but kept quiet.
"I can't tell you more right now but I promise to tell you when the time is right."
I couldn't do much but nod. I drank my tea in silence, thinking about what he told me. He was in danger yet he didn't seem to be afraid. Only for me.
He hasn't given me many details, only the rough frame of the picture but that was enough. For now.
"Zoey?" Harry's voice was soft and he sounded concerned.
"Yes?" I met his emerald green eyes.
"I want you to stay tonight."
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