Okay, so Harry is hella bipolar in this and also it goes back and forth between 1st and 3rd person okay, try to bear with it lol. Also this is long. (And unedited...)
Chapter 8
After Harry's demand I went to sleep with a slight case of anxiety, but my slumber wasn't too heavily affected. When I woke up I scrunched my face up as my eyes didn't want to open. I reached up one hand to wipe at them and pushed my hair from my face. I then realized my head wasn't on a pillow.
I looked up and saw Harry's green eyes and his eyebrows rose questioningly.
Despite this being similar to a position I knew we'd assumed previously, it was weird this time since he was awake to find me cuddled against him like a baby. I yelped and practically jumped away from him.
"How did you get there?" I demanded.
His eyes narrowed at me after his eyebrow twitched. "Funny. I was more wondering how this," my stomach dropped as he revealed a ripped condom packet between his fingers for me to view, "got here." I was guessing he was referencing to the bed? I was just glad he didn't point to my chest.
I gulped and then said, "You don't know for a fact that that is mine," I defended quietly.
He chuckled. "Oh, I know it's not." He sat up, causing the level of intimidation to heighten.
He was so tall.
He leaned towards me. "But I haven't had sex in this bedroom for months, Lanaura. And I can add two and two after your..." I blushed as I remembered how stupidly I had acted the previous night came to mind. His eyes went down for the briefest moment to my chest and he said, "behavior last night." He practically glared at me. "I know it was you. But I don't know your motive."
I bit my lip and then looked down to watch my fingers play with themselves. "I was just curious," I mumbled. I peeked up at him and watched an amused smirk spread out.
He snickered. "About?"
I chose to mess with my hair next. "Well... I wanted to see it," I admitted. I was watching my hair spitefully. I had forgotten to put it up last night, I remembered. Again.
"Hmm," he hummed in response.
I looked up again hesitantly and met his eyes squarely. Then he -with holding eye contact- brought the packet to his mouth where the tiny tear was and bit the corner, ripping it open all the way with his teeth. I was shyly observing as his fingers pulled out the rubber object. Not once did he look away from me and he held it up, causing me to gladly look away from his suggestive gaze.
"Excited?" he teased.
I finally looked back at him and his closed grin. I rolled my eyes. "No," I pouted.
"Do you need a demonstration on how it works?" he cooed mockingly.
I gaped and then shoved him with the little strength I had. He swayed slightly, but not much damage was caused as his laugh resonated around the room.
"No!" I answered, my face slightly flustered at how inappropriate he was behaving this morning.
He shook his head and then got off the bed, taking the condom with him. "You're too cute, love," he said with his back turned to me on his way to the bathroom. This small compliment made my stomach feel funny as I smiled in the slightest way, looking down, tilting my head so my hair covered it. "Laney." I looked back up and once again just like that he looked more mature. "You don't need to be using condoms, okay?"
I frowned at him. "Shouldn't you be supporting using protection?" I retorted, cocking my head to the side and lifting an eyebrow inquiringly.
He scoffed. "I'm supporting celibacy," he said.
I rolled my eyes. "How ironic," I muttered, shaking my head.
"Hey."
I looked back at him again, but this time it was in the typical "I'm bored, so I'm just going to drag my head and my eyes to look at you" teenage way. His expression was one hundred percent stern and he spoke again. "I'm serious, Laney. Sex," he said the word pointedly, probably intending to make me blush, "isn't anything you're ready for." He turned and tossed the condom at what I'm guessing was a garbage bin. "So don't participate, okay?"
He had lost my attention and so I was now playing with the comforter's plush edges; therefore what happened next was uncalled for. The comforter was snatched off me, leaving me cold, and Harry grabbed my wrists. He pulled me up to my feet and I squealed in shock as anxiety once again crept up on me. I looked up at him incredulously and was smart enough to actually stabilize myself on my legs instead of letting myself hang. He held my wrists and then stared directly into my eyes.
"You are to listen to me when I speak to you, Lanaura," he said lowly.
I nodded hurriedly and bit my lip feeling tears spring to my eyes. I felt the more inferior side of me come forward as I said, "I-I didn't mean to upset you, Harry."
His breathing slowed and then the frown in his brow seemed to fade away as his expression became more sympathetic. "Hey," he said softly. He let go of my hands and said, "Don't cry." I wiped my face and he pulled me into him for a surprising hug, sitting down so I was set in his lap. "I'm sorry," he told me. I would've shook my head, but I didn't know exactly what activated these apparent mood swings. He pressed his chin on top of mine so my forehead was to his chin and said, "I'm sorry, Lanaura, I really am. I didn't mean to upset you, either," he apologized genuinely. "I really am sorry," he kept repeating and I was left to confuse myself over how exactly Harry's mind works. "I just- I have a bad temper at times over certain sensitive subjects," he murmured into my hair. I remembered the morning before when he had thrown Sasha out of the room she tried to do Lord only knows to me and nearly shuddered at the memory, glad that he has yet to show that amount of anger towards me.
I sniffled. "So is sex a sensitive subject for you?" I asked, laughing a little.
He chuckled quietly and then said. "No." his hands continued to play with my hair and I think I heard him say in a hushed and thoughtful murmur, "I think it's just you are."
-
Once again Harry was sat in the car driving on the way to the mall with Laney and the other girls. Laney once again was quiet and just in her own world, but he began to notice something he hadn't paid much mind to before. Laney was usually at constant movement. In addition to that there was something very shy about her that was maybe just how she was.
"Laney?" he said to her, keeping his eyes on the road once again. He had to allow his peripheral vision to monitor her.
At the sound of his voice speaking her name she straightened her back. "Huh?" she answered intelligently.
Harry bit back a laugh. "You... You for some reason always look like..." He shrugged. "I don't know." I glanced at her. "Nervous."
Laney's eyebrows rose, but she knew exactly what he was talking about. She looked down at her lap and awkwardly chuckled. She stuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I, uh, sort of have social anxiety?" The statement was more or less stated like a question and Harry's interest was piqued along with confusion.
"Sort of?"
Laney pushed her hair out of her face. "My psychiatrist said it wasn't strong enough that I should look into medication, but I had to do counseling and they put me in these stupid social classes." The last part was spoken quietly so Harry didn't hear. "Or whatever the fuck they were called."
"So it's not bad?" he continued interrogating.
She shook her head. "Not really. I still can get anxious and my nervous habits I guess are still here, but I can talk to people and I try not to let it affect me." She shrugged and played with the ends of her hair, looking down.
Her mind thought to a few bullies she'd known at her school, but she kept quiet as Harry murmured, "Well that's good."
-
I had been guided and chaperoned by adults my entire life. I'd had to deal with "no, you're not ready... no, it's not right yet... no, it's not time yet... wait until you're older," just as I'm sure all kids and teenagers had heard before.
But for someone only five years older than me, Harry sure knew how to criticize and rip apart anything I wanted.
He analyzed a pair of jeans I gave him and said, "Too ripped."
I grit my teeth together. "Hypocrite," I spat as I folded it back up, weakly.
His expression was incredulous. "Hypocrite?"
"Yeah, hypocrite." I looked through the T-shirts. "I've seen your wardrobe, you..." I trailed off, trying to profile him based off his style. "You indie, overpriced, European, Mick Jagger wannabe." His expression was hilariously baffled. "And who the hell wears animal print and has a penis, too?"
His eyebrows rose. "I don't see how my biological make up has anything to do with my choice in clothing."
I glanced at him pointedly. "And ironically your last name is Style."
"Styles. Plural," he corrected.
I felt a smirk slip onto my face. "Okay then." I couldn't help my teasing in a soft and awful impersonating voice of Harry's. "I'm Harry Styles; I have an afro and I kidnap teenage girls," I snickered. I had to cover my mouth as I laughed.
Harry sounded completely offended when he said, "First of all I do not have an afro," he denied, "second of all I do not talk like that and third how do you even know about-?" He stopped as his phone interrupted him. "American Idiot" played quietly and he made a face. "Oh, god," he muttered. "Give me a moment. Dress appropriately." He held a finger up as though he were my parent and I almost rolled my eyes at him.
In fact once his back was turned that is just what I did.
Even though he'd been disappeared for about two minutes I'd found my arms heavy with holding clothes, quickly, now that I no longer had Harry breathing down my neck. I was struggling to lift the clothes up due to their weight, but I was thankfully approached by a guy I'd witnessed giving others bags.
Just my luck he offered me one too.
"You need one of these?" He shook one of the bags in my sight and my eyes brightened.
"Oh! Thank you, thanks," I laughed. He held it open for me and I smiled gratefully as I put everything I'd chosen into the bag.
After a moment he asked, "So what's your major?"
I slowed down a little bit as I processed his question. "My major?" I frowned. I immediately thought of what my elective was. "I'm in Spanish 2?" I phrased.
He chuckled. "No, like your major," he repeated. As I continued to blankly try to figure out what he meant he stared at me. "You're in college, right?"
My eyes widened in shock for a moment but then I laughed in discomfort as I shook my head. "Uh, no. I-I'm sixteen?" I told him.
It was quite obvious how uncomfortable he got after that, too, when he laughed awkwardly. "Oh! Sorry, I thought you were like twenty two or something."
I had trouble believing that since I honestly wasn't really "womanly" looking as I would imagine, but instead of me having to endure any more of this I was grabbed by Eleanor.
"We found the perfect dress for you, Laney, come on and try it!"
I groaned as I was dragged along.
-
"Hello, Michael," Harry greeted on the phone after parting with Lanaura. His vibrantly hair colored friend was excitedly speaking on the other hand.
"Hazza! How's it going my impeccably English friend?"
Harry couldn't help smiling. "I assume you're calling because you want something."
"Now, why on earth can't there just be a possibility of me calling to check in on a friend?" he retorted.
Harry shook his head. "Because, Michael, I've heard about your party plans and your arrival to London."
There was a pause, but then Michael sighed. "Okay, fine, you got me there. Let me pitch my case?" he pleaded.
Harry shrugged and then said, "Go for it."
"Okay. So as I'm sure you know, back in October I wanted a Halloween costume party. Well, I still want a costume party, so what if we had a, like, costume party, but it was Christmas instead?" he proposed.
Harry loved Michael. He had his own group of lads who ran a house much like that of which he owned and when they'd had to handle some business on the road together they'd gotten on quite well, but he was blatantly honest. "That sounds kind of terrible, if I'm honest."
Michael sighed in disappointment. "I guess. I actually kind of predicted that reaction. But at least the Christmas party?"
"Sure, sure, but we never got to how I was related to this," Harry prodded. He sometimes beat around the bush himself, but it was annoying when you're on the other end of it all.
"Well you've kind of got quite the large space, don't you?"
Harry closed his eyes. "You want to hold the party at mine?" he questioned, standing off by a section full of jeans. He picked up a pair and admired them.
"Yeah, basically. Besides, I thought that the ladies would be great party starters. You know how charming they are," Michael chuckled. "Also, we heard about your new addition."
Harry froze in his browsing. "Excuse me, new addition?"
Michael wasn't sure if he'd hit something, but he nodded. "Yes. A new girl at your house."
Harry had no clue how the hell that sort of information had gotten around and even to Michael and the term speak of the devil appeared in his mind as he saw Lanaura being pushed into the changing rooms. He shook his head and then pressed his fingers to it. "I guess you could say it, but she doesn't work for us. She's sort of like a, uh, guest, if you may. And she's sixteen, too," he excused.
"Oh. Okay, then, but still. I was thinking that if I held the party all you'd need to really do is let me do my thing and I guess supervise it all..."
Harry's attention was stolen from Michael as he saw Lanaura emerge from the dressing rooms. There was a slightly irritated expression on her petite face and the shadow of a repressed scowl, too as she stood before the quartet of girls that at times can be pushy it'd seem. Her hair had a pale golden glow and the white of the lace dress she wore looked like heavenly contrast to the peach color of her skin. The dress was very simple and in all honesty quite modest compared to what he'd seen before. It was pretty tight around her upper half, but past her waist it was pretty simply gorgeous. The neckline was round and the ends of her sleeves that nearly reached her elbows were scalloped. Harry couldn't help but compare her almost pure beauty within that moment to an angel. She shyly played with her fingers while the girls were fawning over her and Laney's aquamarine eyes looked around her. Those eyes that held such a lovely blue green hue to them widened just barely as her pink lips parted and she looked away shyly.
Harry himself felt a little flustered afterwards from his own timidity and embarrassment. It wasn't like he was checking her out; he was just admiring her outfit and everything, but he was sure it looked like it.
Right, Harry, you were only praising her and calling her an angel, because that's normal and not at all like checking her out, he thought sarcastically.
"...Are you still there?"
Harry was taken out of his daze and listened to the phone. "Excuse me?"
"Answer: no. in summary, I'll handle the details you just need to okay them, how about that?"
Harry nodded. "Deal."
"Okay, then, Harold," Michael said. "This is going to be one hell of a party."
-
Escape. I needed to escape I was thinking as we made our way to Macy's, a store that happened to be fairly large. I couldn't just walk around obediently and pretend that I wasn't being held against my will. No, I had to try to get out of the mall or call the police or something. I didn't want to just involve anyone. There were so many complications.
"After we have your room cleared out we can start arranging furniture to be placed in it," Harry said as we entered Macy's. "But until then we should probably just stick to the other stuff."
I nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah, yeah," I agreed. I was happy to know that the girls had briefly wondered off to the jewelry section all by themselves. Harry and I passed by and although I wasn't really interested in jewelry I did pause to squint my eyes at one necklace. It was adorable and made me smile as I stared down at it.
"You want that?" Harry said, practically in my ear.
I flinched and turned to him. "Um. Not really, no," I laughed. "I actually would like to go to the bathroom; is that okay?"
And in that moment Harry made the mistake of forgetting that I'm not someone who trusts him and probably shouldn't be someone he trusts.
He shrugged casually. "Sure, go on. We'll be here. I should probably start looking at Christmas presents."
I was almost shocked by his stupidity that when I summoned a smile it was tight and almost pitiful. He was probably about to feel really stupid. And angry. With that thought I knew I shouldn't allow myself to get caught, because I've seen a glimpse of his anger and it is terrifying. I honestly had no clue where the bathroom really was, but I doubted that Harry did either so it didn't seem like too much of a conflict. I turned towards the direction of the elevator and Harry said, "Where r'you going?"
As I became nervous I tried not to stutter. "The bathroom is downstairs," I assured him.
For a moment I thought I saw wheels turning in his head, but he nodded slowly. "Oh, okay."
I wanted to praise his lack of a brain as I smiled again innocently and pressed the elevator button so I could get inside. I pressed my back against the elevator as the door began to close and I felt the freedom already. I was going to get away and I was going to call Jackson and everything would be okay.
The elevator dinged as the door opened again and someone entered.
"You really had me fooled."
I nearly screamed as I knew who it was. When I opened my eyes widely in fear I saw Harry standing in front of me, glaring harshly at me. I held my chest and I tried to lie. "Wh-What do y-you m-"
"Don't lie to me, Lanaura!" he roared.
I cringed and closed my eyes. "I want to go home!" I shouted back in tears.
He laughed darkly. "You want me to take you home?" He was laughing still. "Do you think I want you here? Do you think I enjoy knowing that I fucking-"
The elevator opened and harry looked behind himself. No one was waiting to come in, and much to my misfortune no one looked inside. I tried to run forward, but he stretched his arm out and blocked the way. I backed up as he continued to stare down at me with that same look he'd given Sasha.
"We're not finished," he snarled. And with that, the elevator was closed again. I was crying so bad that I didn't want him to see me. I turned away and cried into the wall like a baby. I felt him behind me speaking into my ear. "I didn't want for there to be an irritating sixteen year old in that car that night. I didn't want to take her home with me so I can keep my identity a secret. I didn't want any of this, but I'm sucking it up."
I shook my head. I couldn't speak, I was so paralyzed with fear and anger and sadness.
"Now you have to suck it up," he continued. "Wipe that pretty little face of yours and stop crying so we can leave. Your shopping trip is over and you're in big trouble young lady."
With that the elevator opened once more and I heard footsteps. I was scared so I stayed in place, trying to stop crying as he instructed while he explained my phobia of elevators. I
You're in big trouble, young lady.
-
Laney was shaking as Harry grabbed her out of the car. He was trying not to be too rough, but he was so angry with her. He was fuming as he continued to speak into the phone while, pulling Laney into the house.
"Harry, I can't believe you just left us here!" Perrie exclaimed.
Harry wanted to yell at her, but got ahold of himself. It wasn't her she was mad at. "Just keep shopping for the next hour or so and I'll be back before you know it," he excused, keeping his voice as calm as possible. "Our Lanaura has been a bad girl and I'm going to be putting her on time out."
Laney was confused by him using the term "timeout" and beyond her fear she was pissed off about him talking about her like she's a child.
There was a pause on the other end while Harry unlocked the front door to their house. He pushed open the door and kept pushing a terrified Laney forward. They were going directly forward towards between the pair of stairs where there was a corridor extending both ways. Harry turned her to the left and as Perrie suddenly got it she gasped.
"No, Harry!" she protested. "You can't do that. Please tell me you aren't really going to go through with it?"
Laney looked around herself as they entered a creepier darker part of the house and found that there was this one door not too far from her. She felt her heart palpitating as Harry said, "She needs to learn her lesson."
"H-H-Harry?" she stammered when he opened the door and then motioned her forward.
"Harry, don't do it!"
Harry ignored Perrie's voice as Laney ignored Harry by shaking her head and backing away with horror written all over her face. "Laney come here," he ordered.
"No!" she defied.
Harry's patience was running thin and he said again, "Lanaura, just come inside-"
She made the mistake of actually trying to run away from him and he dropped his phone when he took off after her. Harry's long legs easily brought him to her before she could even have a chance. He grabbed her from behind and picked her up as she tried to get away. She shook her head.
"Please! Please, Harry, don't put me in there," she cried out, kicking her feet wildly. "Please, I promise I won't do it again! I'm sorry!" she screamed as harry placed her in the room. He stepped back and closed the door with Lanaura trying to beat it down with her hands. "Harry!"
Perrie's voice could faintly be heard saying his name also on the phone. Harry locked the door to trap her inside while she continued to beg for him to let her go. Harry picked up the phone and said into the phone, "I'm on my way, now."
"Harry, let her-"
"I'll see you soon, Pez." He hung up while Lanaura continued to throw her hands at the door, adrenaline racing through her that prevented her from noticing the pain it caused.
"Harry!" she shrieked. "Please, don't leave me!"
He paused and part of him suddenly wanted to go back and open the door for her. He wanted to help her stop crying and his compassion made him angry at himself, but he was angry and in that moment decided to not listen to the better side of himself.
"I'll be back," he told her before leaving her alone.
Laney gave up and stepped backwards, finding herself worn out. She fell to the floor and held herself as she got back these memories.
"No, no, where are you-"
"You're going to stay in here until you learn to be a good girl, Lanaura."
Laney squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered her old babysitter. She'd always lock her in the closet and then invite her boyfriend over as if she wasn't screaming in another room of the house.
As she went through the memories again she was repeating everything she remembered saying once upon a time.
"I can't see!"
"I can't see," she mumbled.
"Please, Becca!"
"Please, Harry."
"Let me out!"
Laney laid on her side, holding her hands over her ears. "Let me out."
"Don't leave me in here!"
Laney cried. "Don't leave me in here."
-
"That poor girl, I can't believe you just tossed her in there, Harry, and left her!" Perrie continued to rave at him. He sighed, looking up from his book.
"When are you going to leave me in peace?" he grumbled.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "When you realize that what you did was wrong and you go and let her go!"
Harry sighed and shook his head. "She's learning a lesson."
"Don't tell me you've forgotten about your dad," she said in a steely tone.
Harry tensed and his grip on the book tightened as hostility found its way into him. He glared up at her, taking his reading glasses off. "What could you possibly know about my father?"
She sighed. "Harry, that's not important-"
"Zayn, I swear to God," he muttered. Zayn probably told everything he ever knew to Perrie.
"Honestly, Harry, I don't know what gave you the idea that putting her in there is okay and if me harassing you for the past half hour-"
"More an hour if you count your whining in the car," he corrected.
"-not the point. Then I guess I've done all I can, but just remember there's a terrified young girl down there trapped and if that doesn't make you think of anyone in particular, then I guess my heads in the wrong place."
Harry found it hard to read with her just mouthing off.
Especially when she was right.
"But regardless, you're being a shitty person and you're better than that, Hazza." When Harry dared to meet her gaze she saw raging disappointment in her blue eyes and he sighed heavily when she turned and finally listened to his request of her absence.
Funny how now that she's quiet he can hear his own voice in his mind saying the same things.
As Harry brought himself downstairs to where he'd left Laney a few hours ago he felt that gut wrenching feeling of guilt. Part of him regretted it because he knew he would've tried to run away too, but the truth is even though he would want her to be free he can't endanger himself. It was more than that, though.
Harry opened the door of the cell and as light crawled into the room illuminating the now empty space he could see the heartbreaking image of Laney's figure curled into a ball. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight and she was biting down on her lip while shaking her head just barely. He approached her cautiously. He did feel like a shitty person.
He sat beside her and pulled her body to him and she grabbed onto him.
"You left me in here," she said simply.
"I'm sorry, Laney, I'm sorry," he murmured as he held her against him in remorse. He pressed his face into the top of her head and said, "I promise I won't leave you again, but . . . just . . . don't leave me again."
-
Ugh I hope this wasn't terrible lol. Some like action happens next chapter. This was actually a pretty eventful one, but lol whatever. I love y'all guys and I'm hella pissed bc my phone and ipod won't line up with itunes rn. Ugh.
I've said ugh too much lmao.
ALSO OTRA STARTS TONIGHT AND I JUST- AH. (RIPTIDE? DAFT PUNK? WHAT THE HELLlfnlsngk)
- Jaxxy Bear