Day 18 - 8:34 pm
Charlotte gazed into the now foreign green eyes in front of her as her throat twisted into knots, making it harder for her to breathe. His usual curly, long hair was cut short and slicked back away from his piercing eyes. She could see it in his face that he meant no harm and that he only wanted her safety. Although her brain told her not to trust him, she did it anyways.
She reached out and grabbed his hands, making him stare at her quizzically for a short moment. Her hands gripped tighter as her breaths became rigid and they became desperate gasps of air. Harry knew what to do, something that she had not even told Cole about in fright of scaring him off. He looked into her eyes as he gave her a small nod.
"Okay, you need to relax. I don't know what got you all riled up, but whatever it is does not matter right now. You have to inhale and exhale for about five seconds each." His words did little help though, for she could not get the negative images of Cole and Becky out of her brain long enough to focus. Harry's brows furrowed together as he stood up and walked behind her, kneeling down just as he had before. He wrapped one arm around to her chest where her heart was, and he let the other snake around to cup her stomach.
Charlotte squirmed slightly, tears rushing down her cheeks from not being able to calm down before she heard his deep voice. "I'm sorry, but if you can't do it by yourself, then I'll have to help you through this. I don't need you passing out tonight." He muttered softly, taking in a deep breath. "Listen to my words, follow my instructions, and your heart rate will go down." She wanted to scream at him, but she just couldn't. If he could help her now, then that's all that really mattered. "Inhale." Her chest rose along with his words as she took in a winded, yet long breath. "Exhale." She puffed all of the air out of her lungs.
It took her a minute to get her composure to follow his words exactly, but soon enough she was able to follow her breaths along with the rhythmic pattern of inhales and exhales he spoke of. Once Charlotte had calmed down enough that her heart rate dropped, he removed his hands from her chest and stomach. Harry made his way around until he knelt in front of her again, looking up into her newly red eyes.
"See, you're all better." He offered her a small smile, which she weakly returned. Her body still shook slightly as she recovered from her previous panic attack, but now she knew that she was safe. Then, Charlotte did the one thing that she never in a million years would've thought that she would ever do again. She slunk down to ground level with Harry and embodied him in a big hug. He was so shocked by her actions that it took him a moment to wrap his own arms around her in return.
Charlotte would have never thought that her ex boyfriend, out of all the people she knew, would be the one to bring her back down to earth from her attack. Her face buried into the white undershirt of his tux, lightly staining the white material with her smeared mascara. His large hand ran down her back soothingly, hoping to further calm her down. She thought that he was only obsessed, but it turns out that he actually still cared about her. It made her heart ache at the thought. Especially with Becky's dying presence in the back of her mind still.
Meanwhile, back in the crowd, Dylan pushed his way through the sweaty young adults dancing to some generic pop song to reach Cole and Becky. The two of them were still catfighting, and he was sick of watching it. He caught hints of their conversation before he even reached them.
"What do you mean that I'm being childish? You're the one who brought the virgin here in the first place after you kissed me last night." Becky had her award winning smirk upon her lips, and Cole's red face was fuming with anger.
"You're the slût who started it." He growled as he ran a frustrated hand down his face. Cole was still unaware of Charlotte's absence from the dance floor. "If you sabotage this bet, you will regret it." He threatened her, although it was an open-ended threat. There really was no punishment stated within the rules, but it was on their oath that they wouldn't mess with her until there was solid proof that Cole was in love with her. He sure as hell knew that Becky had no proof besides her own jealousy towards the beautiful brunette.
"Yeah, we'll see pretty boy." She twirled a piece of her blonde hair around her fingertip. He rolled his eyes at her in disgust, turning his back to her to see Dylan approaching them. Becky huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms across her chest, making her boobs press in even further than they already were. "You liked it though, no denying that." She hissed before storming off to go find Kylie.
Dylan walked straight up to Cole and placed a rough hand on his shoulder. "Just to let you know, your date just ran off that way." He pointed his other hand off towards the hall where Charlotte took off to. "She looked really upset, and you didn't even notice her absence." Dylan shook his head and removed his hand from his shoulder. "I suggest going after her and making sure she's okay." He looked at Cole in annoyance. Of course he knew why Charlotte was upset, it was because he spilled that Becky was one of her boyfriend's past hookups. Cole, on the other hand, had no idea why his love was upset.
He didn't say a word to Dylan as he began to make his way through the roaring crowd. A piece of his previously slicked back hair fell in his eyes, and it refused to go back into place even as he pushed it back. As he began to walk down the hall, he could hear muffled cries coming from one of the jutted out hallways. He took the corner slowly, looking around to see the one person he wanted to see more than anything in the world, and the one person he wanted to hit with an eighteen-wheeler.
Charlotte was pressed up against that âsshole's chest, her body shaking slightly under his touch. His strong arms were loosely wrapped around her, and his chin rested just on top of her head. Cole's hands clenched into fists as he saw that man touching her, and in such an innocent way too. He marched right over to them and physically separated them before he shoved Harry back against the wall.
"Who the fûck do you think you are?" Cole yelled at the curly haired man as he gently moved Charlotte behind him. He clenched his jaw as he moved over towards the equally as tall Harry. "Answer the fûcking question before I punch your head into the dâmn wall." He stood in front of him as he grasped the collar of his undershirt. Harry didn't answer him, and he didn't even raise a fist to him. He just stayed silent, and it made Cole feel an everlasting rage as he raised his fist in the air.
Charlotte quickly processed what was happening and knew she had to do something. If she just allowed Harry to be punched by her current boyfriend after he had just helped her through her panic attack, then she would feel guilty. She stepped between the two men, and the spot was so tight that her back was pressed against Harry as she put her hand's on Cole's chest to try and stop him.
"Cole, don't." She pleaded quietly, her big blue eyes staring up at the angered man in front of her with his fist raised. Cole's gaze moved down to meet Charlotte's, and time seemed to stand still. His heart was beating fast from the adrenaline within him and the weak tone of her voice. He could tell that she had been crying, for her makeup was slightly smudged and her eyes were bloodshot. He wasn't sure why, he just knew that it had happened. "Please." Her last words came out as a weak whisper.
Cole was considering listening to her until he saw that dâmn devilish smirk come on that curly haired freak's lips. That sly little move caused the last straw to snap as he brought his fist right over Charlotte's head and right square onto Harry's nose. He punched him so hard that Charlotte could physically hear the bones and cartilage cracking in his nose. Some blood began to trickle out of his nose, landing on Charlotte's bare shoulder.
Her jaw tightened in anger as her little balled up fists shook in anger. She roughly shoved Cole away from her as she yelled at him. "That's it. You speak with your fists, not your words." Charlotte grabbed Harry's free hand that was covering his nose and started leading him towards the bathroom hall. It wasn't until she got to the bathrooms that she realized Cole was stalking close behind them. "No, you stay right fûcking there." Charlotte hissed as she pointed to his current spot on the ground. After he stopped walking, she led Harry into the men's restroom.
Cole just stood outside the men's bathroom dumbfounded about what just happened. First of all, he thought Charlotte hated his guys, and that dâmn smirk on his face was asking for him to deck it dead center. Second, he was in extreme shock at not only her harsh tone with him, but also her use of language. He's only ever heard Charlotte utter that curse word a couple times before, but they were never in such a stern and enraged context. Honestly, he wanted to follow them into the men's restroom since he didn't trust that bâstard in the first place, but he was honestly scared of what Charlotte would do or say if he disobeyed her.
Inside the bathroom, Charlotte was frantically pulling out paper towels and wetting half of them to hand to Harry. He had them pressed to his nose as much as he could without causing unbearable pain from being broken. His eyes landed on the tiny pool of blood on her shoulder, and he wet his thumb under the faucet before dragging it across her bare skin. A small sigh escaped her lips as she handed him another paper towel.
"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault." She muttered under her breath as she looked down at her feet. Harry assured her that it wasn't her fault, but she shook off his gesture. "It is. I got all worked up over something and now you have a broken nose." She could see the light purple bruises beginning to form under his eyes, a true sign of a broken nose. It made her shiver just to look at him like this. The last time he was punched by her boyfriend she didn't stick around long enough to see the damage that was done.
"I'll be alright, I promise. This is just a small price that I have to pay considering everything that I have done to you." He shrugged his shoulders as he switched the bloodied paper towels out for fresh ones. The swelling around his nose and eye areas was sickening to look at. "You'll probably never want me back, but I miss you. I miss us, the real us." Another man stepped into the bathroom, causing Charlotte's cheeks to heat up intensely. Harry chuckled lightly as he told her that it was only his friend.
"You need me to take you to the hospital? You look like shît." His friend joked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. The male was tan and covered with tattoos, and his brown hair was slicked back away from his eyes just as Harry's was.
"Yeah, just a second Louis." Harry waved him off. His friend, who's name she now learned was Louis, took the hint and left the bathroom. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, and I know that you're with someone else. Just don't forget this warning." Harry took in a deep breath as he looked down at the little, innocent doe in front of him. "Guys like him will drive you insane with love and lust. They'll love you, and you'll love them back. Just don't let him leave you in pieces if he turns out to be someone different than you once thought." Charlotte looked at Harry as if she was questioning his rational. "He dated me best friend."
Charlotte remembered Harry's best friend, a gorgeous girl named Sarah. She had only met the girl once before he said that she snapped. He didn't mention any names at the time, but told her that a man really messed with Sarah's emotional state. He told her that some nights she was so bad that she even threatened suicide over losing the one she thought loved her. That girl was a mess after her boyfriend up and left, and she one day disappeared. Towards the end of her and Harry's relationship, she remembered him mentioning that Sarah was to study at a local university and she was reaching out to amend their friendship. To her knowledge, the two are still best friends to this day.
"I have to go get my nose checked out." Harry broke the silence as he began to walk out of the men's bathroom. "Take care Charlotte, and I'm only a phone call away if you ever need me." He told her as he dismissed himself from the restroom with a wave. She stood there in shock for a moment before she followed him outside of the bathroom, but he was out of sight once she reached the other side.
Cole was exactly where she told him to stand, surprisingly enough, and she was beyond furious with him. Charlotte walked straight past him and towards the exit, expecting him to follow behind her. That's when the red lights started going off in his head telling him that he did something extremely wrong. He reached out to touch her arm, but she was quick to slap his hand away from her sleeve. "Don't fûcking touch me." She stated before she continued towards his car.
The car ride was absolutely silent besides the phone call between Charlotte and Kristie. She had apologized and told her that they had to leave the dance early and that she'd tell her about it later. Kristie was fine with it, and even reassured her by saying that Cierra offered them a ride back to their dorm. That made her sigh in relief knowing that they had another ride, and she ended the phone call. Cole started to pull up towards his dorm building, but Charlotte was quick to tell him that she wanted to go back to her own dorm. That made his heart sink lower than the Titanic.
He pulled up at her dorm hall and she wasted no time getting out of his car. She took off in a fast walk ahead of Cole, hoping that he would get the hint to not follow her. Of course, him being the stubborn man that he is, he had to follow her up the stairs to her dorm. Even when she slammed the door in his face, he still opened her door and made his way into the room. It might be considered intrusion, but at this point he really didn't care.
Charlotte knew he followed her into her dorm when she heard the door reopen and close again. She pulled her comfy clothes out of her drawer before she tried to reach behind her to pull the zipper down. Alas, she couldn't reach it. She gazed at Cole, the usual light that was held in her eyes obviously drained as she looked at him. "Can you please unzip this." She mumbled, turning her back to him as she held the top of her dress up with one arm.
Cole nodded his head as he walked over to her and gently placed one hand on the back of her shoulder. His other hand held the zipper and gently glided it down to the bottom of the dress. She didn't even wait for him to step back before she pushed the material off of her shoulders and let it bundle into a pile on the floor. Even though she had a sour mood with him, she was too drained to even convince him to leave before she got dressed.
He didn't want to look, but it was hard not to. Especially when the dress had passed her chest and there was no bra strap wrapped around her. The only thing she had on was a cute, white seamless thong hugged to her pelvic area. His view of her backside didn't last long as she slipped a peach colored tank top over her head to cover her top half. Cole groaned in complaint and she shot him a dirty look. He didn't care though as he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest.
"I'm sorry." Cole whispered in her ear as he pressed a soft kiss to the back of her shoulder blade. His statement was left unanswered as she turned her head away from him, looking at the ground instead. A frown spread over his features as he moved his one hand up higher to cup her breast, but she took his hand in hers before it even reached her chest. Her eyes studied over the bruises forming on Cole's knuckles from the punch he committed earlier, and a disappointed sigh left her lips.
"What if you had hit me?" She barely uttered out as she turned around. Cole's arms were no longer around her as she looked at his beat up knuckles on his dominant hand. "I know I wasn't your target, but in the moment it felt like anything could happen." She gave him a lousy shoulder shrug as she gently tugged his arm, signaling him to follow her. They reached her bathroom and she hopped up on the sink, grabbing a first aid kit from the top shelf. Once she got that, she sat down on the sink and got gauze out of the kit.
She motioned for him to give her his hand, and he obeyed immediately. She first began to clean the wound in case it had opened anywhere. Charlotte then gently began to wrap the thick fabric around his knuckles in a boxer wrap. "I had a panic attack, and you didn't even notice that I was gone." Charlotte wiped at her eye to fight a small tear from falling before she continued to wrap up his hand. "You were too busy talking to Becky to even notice me leave. I guess Harry saw me in a state of hysteria and followed me. After my doctor took me off of my medication that my mother could no longer afford, he went with me to my appointment and she taught us an exercise to do incase I ever had one again."
With a single snip of her scissors, she cut off the gauze as she finished Cole's bandages. She carefully tucked the loose piece of fabric under another strand as she cupped his injured hand between her own. "He reached out to me and told me that my safety was his current priority, and he did the exercise with me to calm me down." She sniffled slightly as she hopped down from the countertop and walked back to the living space of her dorm. Once she plopped down on the couch, Cole took a seat next to her as she rested her chin in her palm. "He helped me, he saved me from passing out, and you decked him in the face without a single thought."
Cole furrowed his brow, causing little creases to form as he looked at Charlotte. "He hit you. He caused you so much pain, and I can't even look at the guy without wanting to rip his head off. When Dylan told me where you ran off to, I went there only to find my girlfriend in the arms of that heathen. I can't trust him, and I don't think you should–" He couldn't even finish his sentence before Charlotte snapped back at him.
"Maybe I'm a fûcking idiot to still be with you." Her tone made Cole fall silent. "You've thrown glass at me, you punch things a lot when you're with me, and it makes me feel like I'm about to relive the past all over again." She could barely make the words out as tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes. All Cole wanted to do was reach out and wipe them away, but he didn't and stayed quiet for her sake. "I wanted tonight to be the best night to end this year. Turns out that I was wrong. Nothing went as planned. I was over there gasping for air and you were talking to fûcking Becky."
If Charlotte wasn't pissed off at him, he'd threaten her for using that kind of language with him. Had tonight happened differently, he'd have her bent over his knee and make her wish she had never used those words, or tempt her to say them more often. But, she was livid, and he probably deserved to be yelled at. "What does Becky have to do with any of this?" Cole almost stuttered, which would have been very bad for his case.
"She was one of your hookups in the past." Cole's blood ran cold as he nervously tapped his fingers against the sofa. The only thing he was semi-relieved about was the fact that she didn't know what happened last night. "You weren't going to tell me, I know you weren't."
"Because that was in the–"
"I don't care if it happened weeks or months or years ago. The point is that you weren't going to tell me that the bîtch who hates me more than anyone else is one of the girls that you hooked up with and fûcked." Charlotte practically screamed at him, her usual blue eyes cold like ice as she glared at him. "I'm sick of finding things out from other people. I feel like I'm living a lie with you, and that's not okay." Charlotte crossed her arms and said the one word that cracked Cole's hard exterior down. "Go." She pointed a shaking finger towards the door.
Cole knelt in front of Charlotte, who remained still even though she had tears streaming down her rosy cheeks. "Baby, we can't fix anything if we don't talk about it. I was impulsive and stupid and I didn't know that Becky would be an important thing to bring up. I'll tell you anything, anything." Cole was pleading on his knees as if this was his last chance in the world to keep her. He got his answer the moment she turned her head away from him to stare at the wall instead.
"Please, just leave." She whispered, sadness laced through her words. It hurt her more to say than she acted like it did. Charlotte turned her back to him, and when she heard her door open and close for the third time tonight she knew what he had done. He did exactly what he was told to do.
He left.
ANDDD MIC DROP. Those last few scenes honestly hurt to write because the more you think about the words the more it seems to relate back to something else in the story (possible crappy foreshadowing effect for Charlotte??). Idk, but it was intense.
Also, I know some people are confused as to why Harry acted like he cared for her. He never actually stopped caring for her, but his love for her turned into a dangerous obsession that was just flat out unhealthy.
After this book (WHICH ISN'T ENDING ANYTIME SOON DO NOT WORRY) I'm going to write a Harry Styles story probably because I love him. I already have the title and plot planned out, but no spoilers from me yet. (;
Anyways, THANK YOU FOR 13k reads!!! Don't forget to comment, and vote if you enjoyed. I love you all so very much! (This was my longest chapter 4,145 words.)