Random Harry Styles Short Stories || Completed!

Something New, Something Old || Part 3

"WHAT THE HELL is going on?!"

Harry immediately steps a whole five feet away from you, but that didn't stop Patrick's cold glare from finding him. You have never seen your boyfriend that angry before. It certainly didn't help that Patrick was a whole foot taller than Harry.

Your ex raises his hands, fear evident in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, man, I'm not thinking straight right now. The alcohol–"

"Oh, don't blame the alcohol," Patrick snaps, squaring himself up against Harry. "From the moment you laid eyes on her, there was something up. I could see it. Don't you dare take me for a fool."

Your jaw drops in surprise. You had underestimated him. Harry clearly did too, because he's apologizing, "She's your girl. She's your girl, Pat, and it's my fault. I'll leave right now. It's my fault."

And Patrick might've let him escape unscathed. If it wasn't for your big mouth and muddled mind. You just had to say, "Harry, wait."

Harry's head snaps to look at you, and you manage to see a shake of his head no before Patrick's throwing his hands up in the air. "What the hell is going on?" He repeats, laughing up at the stars. "Am I missing something here?"

"No," Harry says, the same time that you murmur Yes. Patrick glances back at you with a hurt and confused expression. It makes your stomach twist. "Pat, it's nothing, really. Old news."

Your boyfriend is frustrated. He runs a hand through his hair before exclaiming, loudly, "WHAT is? Somebody fucking telling me what's happening right now!"

"Harry and I used to date," you blurt out. Not even sparing a second, you continue, "He proposed to me, unofficially, back in the fall. We called it off mutually about a month before you and I started dating."

Maybe what you said wasn't enough, because Harry feels the need to add, "It's over, man. Long overdue."

"Well, it clearly isn't!" Patrick's yelling now. You are thankful for the empty street. "You guys just kissed! There's obviously something still between you two!"

Harry sucks in a sudden breath and pleads with the shouting man. "That was nothing! I swear on my sister's grave! It was...it was–" Harry stammers here, and takes a moment to collect himself. You don't know why but you're weighing Harry's words with an extreme scale. "It was just me being stupid. I thought...I thought that there might be something still there. I was wrong."

Patrick's eyes cut to yours. You swallow all the immediate emotions that rise up your throat and force out, "H-He's right. There's nothing. Our love died long before our relationship ended. When he kissed me it was like a hail mary pass. Fruitless, at the end."

Out of the corner of your eye, in your peripheral vision, you spot Harry biting his bottom lip with an almost sad expression. You were holding back tears yourself. "Tell him that."

Patrick clears his throat and turns his head from you to Harry, and then back. "You can't just say that to me. You have to say it to each other. So it's really over."

You shift uncomfortably. "Pat, I really don't–"

"Unless you just can't?" Your boyfriend raises a daring eyebrow.

Harry refuses to meet your eyes until you are standing right in front of him. And he still blinks, hesitatingly, like if he looked at you long enough, it would send him bawling.

"What do we say?" Harry asks Patrick, his eyes still trained on yours.

"Say that it's over."

You take a deep breath in as Harry grits his teeth. "It's over," he squeezes out, his hands balling into fists.

"We're done."

Unable to restrain it any longer, you choke out a sob, "We're done." Harry's fingers twitch, and you know that he's aching to stroke the tears dripping down your cheeks.

"Forever."

It was just a word. One word that separated you and Patrick from your happily ever after.

And you couldn't bring yourself to say it. Neither could Harry. Patrick's presence is like a time-bomb. "Just say it."

"Say it and it's over."

"Come on. It's just one word."

"Say it–!"

"I can't!" You stomp your foot like a child and whirl around to glare at your boyfriend. "This is a sick game. My feelings for Harry are long gone, but you don't have to make me stand her and renounce them in such a public fashion! I just can't–!"

"Forever."

It takes a long moment for that word to resonate with you. Once it does, you look over your shoulder at Harry, who is already walking away. "Hey," you call out. Patrick tries to grab your arm to stop you from chasing after him, but you break free from his hold. "Hey, wait a second."

Harry acts as if he doesn't hear your footsteps thumping against the concrete. "Wait!" You raise your voice. When you are within arms reach, you stretch out your hand to grab onto his shoulder. And when he finally faces you, you realize that he's crying.

"What are you doing?" Harry cries, hands buried in the pockets of his pants. "What are you doing chasing after me like this? Go be with your boyfriend."

"What?" You breathe, panting a little from your small sprint in heels. "Harry, I–"

"It broke my heart to say that word, kitten," Harry confesses softly, rolling his head from side to side. "But I did it for you. Just a small price to pay for your happiness."

You cut him off. "Don't talk like that. I hate it when you speak like that."

Harry plays coy. "When I talk like what?"

He forces you to exclaim, "Like this is the last time we are going to see each other, so you reassure me that you would do, and did, everything you could to secure my happiness!"

Harry shrugs. "So I guess we're both on the same page, then." He makes a move to walk away from you again when he stops suddenly.

Suddenly, you realize that your hand is clutching his fingers as if your life depends on it. Harry glances back at you with war-torn eyes. You can practically hear his thoughts as he mentally begs, Please, Y/N, no. Don't say what I know you are going to say.

But you have to.

"Is it true? When you said forever. Did you mean it?"

He lets out a muffled cry. "What does it matter, kitten?"

"Did you mean it?"

Harry stares at you for the longest time; his usually green eyes a shade of turquoise bathed in the pool of his own tears. "Of course not." Your hand falls back to your side as you watch him walk away from you.

Before he disappears from hearing range, you think you heard him murmur something under his breath. And you think it sounded a lot like, "I will never stop loving you."