Illicit [Harry Styles]

Chapter 9

Luckily for me I had just enough battery left on my phone to be able to work out where I was and how to get home. It was a thirty minute walk but I'd survive, besides, I could really do with the fresh air and thinking space right now and I'd really rather not ask Harry to drive me home after everything he's already done for me.

I picked my belongings up off the pavement after I finished putting on my shoes and coat and began walking slowly, kicking at stones as I ambled along. It was still early so there was no rush to get home, plus I had to get my story straight before I got there in case anyone did ask where I was last night. I figured if I told my mum I stayed at my dad's she wouldn't call him to check since she didn't like talking to him, but it was risky and he would probably ask if I made it home okay considering I left a note telling him I was leaving last night.

A thought appeared in my head but I didn't know if I liked it; I could ask Mckenzie to cover for me. She'd bombard me with questions that I couldn't answer and probably never let it go but I know she'd cover for me nonetheless. I've covered for her so many times when she'd spent the night somewhere she wasn't allowed to be or when she'd gone over to a guy's house for the night so I guess she's owed it to me anyway. My phone had 18% now, so I adjusted everything I could think of to save battery before opening my contacts and tapping the call icon next to my friend's name.

After listening to what seemed like an endless amount of ringing, she picked up the call and I heard shuffling on her part before she grumbled, "Jess? Hello?"

"Mckenzie, hey. I need to ask a favour from you."

"Couldn't you have waited until later to ask me? It's... not even nine, oh my god. That's like the middle of the night!" she whined and I chuckled quietly.

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask you before I get home."

"Before you get home? Where have you been?" She suddenly sounds a lot more awake. Mckenzie practically thrives off gossip and hearing about any mischievous behaviour so unluckily for me I was putting her in her element with this.

"That's just it, I can't tell you. But I need you to say that I was at your house last night, okay?" I spoke slowly and hesitantly trying not to spark any kind of overreaction from her but I could hear her gasp as clear as day.

"Jessica Walsh what have you been up to! Were you out partying? You better not've been or I'll be mad I wasn't invited. Come on you're killing me! Spill!" I don't think she stopped to breathe once during her interrogation, she spoke so fast I could just make out what she was saying and her voice was so high and excited that it gave even me a headache.

I sighed loudly enough for her to hear through the speaker and glanced around me as if checking that no one could hear me before I replied. "I told you I can't say! But I swear it was nothing like that, please, just don't ask questions and say you've got my back?" I pleaded.

"Okay, okay. I've got your back. But you owe me! You're not getting away with this little secret you dirty stop-out." I could almost hear that she was wearing a huge grin at the idea of getting this out of me in the near future but there was no way she was going to find out any time soon - no one was.

"Thanks. Anyway, I gotta go my phone's about to die. See ya."

"Later," she sang cheerily as I ended the call.

I popped my phone back in my bag and continued my walk. My mind drifted back to Harry, why did we keep meeting in these strange circumstances? First at court, then at school, next at my house and finally last night. It was so strange. He was so strange. He's intimidating and ruthless and proudly sports an enormous ego, but last night as uncomfortable as it may've made him he was caring and he looked after me. Part of me wishes I'd never gone to the court room in the first place so that I never would've even known of him, but part of me wants to know more about him. I want to know why he's so guarded and what makes him act so nastily towards me yet take me back to his house and allow me to sleep in his bed.

The whole situation was very touch-and-go and I didn't really know what to make of it. I was thinking to far into this, wasn't I? He would've done that for anyone who was in trouble. He wasn't just going to leave me out in the street late at night having just been attacked just because he wasn't too fond of me as a person. I guess it was still kind of weird to me that he did have that gentlemanly side to him.

By just after nine I was walking up my path, and in comparison to the amazing house I stayed at last night our little home was practically a shed. But it was just that; a home. It's all my mum can afford now she's a single parent, and she won't allow my dad to pay for anything other than myself and Niall's keep. To me, things never mattered; we could be living in a cardboard box on the motorway and we'd still manage to keep our spirits up because when you have your family you can make do with what you have and be happy that you have anything at all.

"Hi honey, you're home early," my mum greeted me with a gentle smile from her spot on the sofa as she ate her breakfast in her dressing gown.

I dropped my bag at the door and took off my shoes, shrugging off my coat and hanging it up on the hook in the porch in the process. My mum patted the cushion beside her and I flopped down into the sofa to join her in watching some mindless Sunday morning television.

Staring blankly at the screen, I eventually felt confident enough with my lie and replied, "Yeah, I walked to Mckenzie's from dad's last night and she had to be out early."

"Oh." She nodded, believing every word that left my mouth. My mum chuckled as she added, "That's very unlike Mckenzie," to which I played along and chuckled with her.

"Whose shirt is that? That's not one of yours, is it? It's huge." My eyes went wide as my mother examined the large black tshirt belonging to Harry that still hung from my shoulders, she looked at it closely and pinched the fabric between her fingers, pulling at it carefully. "It's nice though - feels expensive, I mean."

"I umm... I think it's one of Niall's," I fibbed, shifting away from her prodding fingers and meeting her puzzled stare. "I don't know, it must've been put in my drawer by mistake and I just picked it out at random when I was looking for a top to sleep in." I tried to play it cool and I guess it worked because she just shrugged and went back to watching her show.

When I thought it wasn't suspicious to, I got up and went upstairs. I shut my bedroom door behind me and quickly pulled the mystery tshirt over my head, stuffing it into the back of one of my drawers hopefully to never be seen or spoken of again. I changed into a hoodie and sat down on my bed, pulling out my laptop and plugging my phone into it so that it could charge. Falling backwards on the mattress, I stared up at the pattern on my ceiling and tried to get my head around what happened last night.

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