H.

With only a week, now, before we would return again to Manchester for my mum's wedding, we didn't have much time to make graduation plans - but fuck, her wedding. That was something I certainly hadn't expected, nor had I been too chuffed about it, either.. I'd yet to wrap my head around it. Don't get me wrong, seeing Mum so happy with somebody after Ken was miraculous, and that made me happy - I was happy for her, finding somebody who kept her so content; but I wasn't so keen on the man himself.

Ben seemed like a bit of a dick to me. I wasn't sure what I'd done to piss him off, other than have his little girl swear repeatedly at him, but-? Who cares about that type of thing? Not me. Idiot.

I hadn't dared to even think about the night Ken had shown up - those words didn't seem literal, that my supposed father, after almost a decade decided to show up, and I'd yet to know what for. Money, I'd presumed - but the mere sight of his face had flicked a switch within me, struck a match and lit a fuse that I'd tried to keep under wraps for bloody years - he'd shown up. And I'd beaten the shit right out of him. 'No regrets, though.

I also knew there was something wrong with Ana. She'd been acting off since Sunday morning, and though she continued to blatantly deny it to my face - I knew when she was hiding something. I wasn't sure what, but she'd left my bed on Sunday morning with a smile on her face, and returned on Sunday afternoon with a frown deeper than I could've expected. She kept refusing to tell me why, and so I dropped the matter, and I didn't bring it up with her any further. But I wouldn't forget it - it lingered in the back of my mind, and it surprised me that my girlfriend didn't think I would easily uncover the fact she was hiding something; but she didn't suspect a thing. Ana thought I'd moved on and forgotten about it, but a day didn't pass where my concern didn't cloud my mind.

I hadn't seen Ana for a few days now; her irritating mother and slightly more tolerable father had kept her restricted to the house after she'd been allowed to come away with me for a few days, which I sort of understood. But I missed her, and I was now stuck with Liam.

"Liam!" I called, scowling at the ground as I dropped some kitchen towel onto it, pressing it into the soaking tiles with my bare foot, "Why the fuck is there water all over the goddamn floor?"

Liam walked into the kitchen, audibly huffing in my direction, "I turned on the tap earlier, and it splashed all over the tiles, duh." He sat down at the kitchen table in his mother's kitchen, resting his chin in his hand. "And will you stop being so loud? Dad's asleep."

"Your dad would go ballistic if he saw this," I retorted, rolling my eyes while scooping up the wet paper on my foot and shoving it into the bin, "Why couldn't you just mop it up?"

"I tried," he whined, while all I did was shake my head.

"How is your dad, anyways?" I asked, and he shrugged sadly.

"Better, I think - I dunno. He doesn't want to talk much, but chemo is definitely helping. Definitely."

"Well, that's good," I nodded, not sure what else to say, "Y'want tea?"

"Yeah," he responded simply, as I flicked the switch on the kettle.

"You look wrecked," I told him, observing his tired eyes and messy hair, a grin tugging on my lips, "Is Niall here?"

"Do I really look wrecked?" Liam asked with wide eyes all of a sudden, "Fuck, I knew it would show when I ran out of my eye cream last week, and-"

"Is Niall here?" I repeated, not paying any mind to his stupid skincare obsession as I placed two mugs on the table and filled them with tea.

"Uh, maybe," he trailed off, shifting his eyes to the side as he did whenever he lied.

"So, you look like death because you're a bottom, and you got fucked too hard," I teased, setting a mug down in front of him.

"I'm not a bottom!" he argued, eyes narrowing at me while all I did was grin.

"You totally are, I can see it in your eyes."

"Oh, so you can just tell who a bottom is now by their eyes?" Liam scoffed, standing up from the table, mug-in-hand as I wandered over.

"Definitely can," I shot him another grin, as he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, I'm going back to bed," he padded out of the kitchen.

I called after him, "To get fucked?"

"To sleep, you son of a bitch!" he called back annoyedly, "Go back to Ana and stop fucking with me!"

"My pleasure!" I responded sarcastically, reaching for Dave Levin's copy of 'Persuasion' that he'd let me borrow, and tugging my boots onto my feet. I pushed the thick, slightly-rounded frame of my glasses further up my nose, not bothering to put my contact lenses in, running a hand through my hair, already getting long far too long again. Even if her parents wanted Ana to themselves for a little while - it had been a few days, and dropping the book off would be an excuse to see her, just for a minute.

It wasn't as cold in Seattle as it was in Manchester, and so I didn't bother with a coat as I headed out onto the street with the book clutched tightly in my hands. The walk wasn't far, but I still placed a cigarette between my lips and lit it, blowing smoke into the clear air ahead.

"Harry Styles, is that you?"

I frowned, blowing another puff of smoke from my mouth as I turned around to meet the sound of the voice - coming face to face with the nasally blonde I'd tried to push out of my mind months ago.

"Do I know you?" I narrowed my eyes, hoping that would be enough for her to stay quiet and retreat back to wherever she came from.

"Oh, come on," she smirked at me, twirling a piece of dirty blonde hair around her manicured finger before reaching out in attempts to touch my stomach, where you could make out the butterfly inked onto it through my white t-shirt, "I could never forget a tat like that."

I grimaced, immediately shifting backwards from her touch, the idea of her fingers on me making me want to throw up all over her ridiculous heels, "What do you want?"

"I want to see you again," she bit her lip in attempts to be seductive, reaching out to touch me again and pouting when I backed away from her claws, "don't be like that."

"In case throwing up my guts on your bathroom floor wasn't enough of a hint," I said coldly, taking another drag from my cigarette and exhaling into the air between us, "I'm not interested."

"You were definitely interested when you c-"

"Learn to take no for an answer," I wrinkled my nose, dropping my cigarette to the floor and stamping it out, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

"What, you got a girlfriend or something?" she scoffed, resting her hand on my shoulder, "Look how tense you are, babe - I just want to help you out."

"I don't need your help," I shrugged her hand from my shoulder, narrowing my eyes even further at the fact she simply wouldn't take no as an answer. I felt myself becoming even more disgusted with her persistence, "I do have a girlfriend, actually - and I'm very happy."

She scoffed again, "There's no way she's as good as me, Harry - no way. There's nothing she has that I don't."

I pursed my lips, "Class, maybe?" I rolled my eyes, spinning on my heel to walk away, "Have a nice life, Rebecca."

"My name is Natalie!" she squeaked as I took off in long strides down the street, not bothering to answer her. "But, um - okay, um - I'll see you at graduation?!"

I winced inaudibly, continuing towards Ana's house without another word. Since when does she go to our high school? I really need to start paying more attention.

This was the first time I'd seen Natalie since I'd slept with her - that memory was enough to haunt me in itself. Though I didn't remember physically being with her - and thank fuck for that - but I knew I had. What haunted me was a memory I'd never be able to erase - the look on her face when she'd seen me with her. And all the hurt I had caused - the way her eyes had widened when she looked at me, and as I wiped the lipstick from my mouth, and her lips began to tremble and shake, as her hands struggled to keep still. That was a hurt I'd never be able to push from my brain, no matter how far Ana and I would come.. seeing Natalie was a mere painful reminder of what I'd done.

I stuck a piece of gum in my mouth as I made my way onto Ana's porch, pushing the thoughts from my head and determined to cleanse myself partially from the confrontation I'd just had, but mostly so that Ana's parents wouldn't smell the smoke on my breath if they answered the door - I didn't need her father smelling a pack on me and labelling me as a junkie, before banning me from seeing Ana again.

I brought my fist to the wooden frame, knocking on it thrice and waiting a few moments, chewing impatiently on the gum in my mouth. It swung open after less than a minute to reveal Dave Levin, his own gold glasses resting on his nose.

"Harry," he smiled brightly at me, "what a surprise this is, son - do you need something?"

"Um, I brought back the book you lent to me," I held out the novel in my hands, Ana's dad nodding and taking it from me.

"You liked it?" he asked hopefully, clutching the well-worn copy in one hand.

"Loved it, thank you," I nodded politely, sending him a small attempt at a smile.

"Well, uh.. did you want to come in? My wife is out for lunch with a friend of hers, and Ana's upstairs with those friends of hers.. um.. Tasha and Lucas, yes."

"Luke?" I swallowed, chewing on my lip. Though I'd never met him, all I could remember was the fear I'd previously possessed of him being with my Ana.

"Yes, you can go on upstairs," he swung the door open for me to walk past, sending him a nod as I did so, heading for the stairs and taking myself up to Ana's room.

I knocked lightly on the polished wooden door, my knuckles barely grazing the surface before I pushed it open to find Ana seated on her bed with her legs crossed, and Tasha seated across from her.

"Baby!" Ana squealed excitedly as soon as she lay her eyes on me, jumping up from her bed in the most adorable way and rushing over into my open arms as I let out a chuckle, holding her tightly, "I missed you," she mumbled into my shoulder, bringing her lips to mine briefly.

"It's only been a few days," I teased, pecking her lips once more, though I knew I'd missed her just as much, if not more.

"So I don't get a 'hello', 'Styles?" Tasha stood up from the bed, a playful grin on her lips as I rolled my eyes, pulling her into a hug.

"So needy," I joked, squeezing her tightly for a moment before releasing her.

"Whatever - I haven't seen you since you stormed out of my house like a baby," she stuck her nose up at me jokingly, and I scoffed.

"Was slightly preoccupied, y'know," I smiled a small smile, sending a wink in Ana's direction as she rolled her eyes playfully.

"H," Ana shot me a warning look, before glancing to her right towards her window seat, where I lay my eyes on a boy our age. He was noticeably tall, must've been a few inches taller than me, his eyes a bright blue and his hair a dark blonde, a black metal ring looped around the left corner of his bottom lip. "This is Luke."

He stood up, eyes watching mine carefully and cautiously as he walked over to me, immediately holding a couple inches over my head like I'd guessed he would. My eyes met his, and I couldn't help but narrow them as he outstretched his hand to fill the space between us.

"I'm Luke Hemmings," he held his hand out, and I looked down at his hand for a second, glancing between his eyes and his palm before taking hold of the latter.

"Harry Styles," I responded calmly, shaking his hand slowly, as his eyes drifted to examine my ring-clad fingers for a moment.

"Do you remember me?" he asked suddenly as I dropped his hand, and sent him a frown.

"Should I?" I squinted, certain I'd never seen him before this whole situation.

"Luke," Tasha stepped forward, curling her hand around his wrist, "Maybe you shouldn't.."

"You used to beat the shit out of me everyday in tenth grade," his eyes never left mine as he nervously toyed with his lip ring.

My frown deepened, "What?"

"Yeah," Luke said bluntly, "everyday."

"Fuck," I mumbled, running a hand through my hair, and glancing at Ana for a second. She didn't seem fazed, only a slight look of disappointment on her face, leading me to believe she already knew. "Listen, man.." I chewed on my lip, "I don't have any excuse for that.. it wasn't me, and it was wrong to do that to you. I'm sorry."

Luke looked surprised at my apology, and though it may not have been much, he slowly nodded his head, "Y-yeah.. alright."

I exhaled in relief, as Tasha wound her arms around his torso, and I turned back to Ana, her face holding a proud smile.

"Okay," she grinned, my arm winding around her waist as she rested her hand onto the back of my head at the nape of my neck, "now that's over - who wants to go and get something to eat?"