Nothing Good Gets Away

Chapter 38

HARRY STYLES

It's been three days since I've seen or heard from Rowan, and I can't say that I'm necessarily surprised. We were supposed to hang out on Tuesday after she went to talk to Sienna, but I'm assuming that her lack of communication with me is because she went and talked to Sienna. I saw it coming; I was just hoping she'd at least come talk to me to let me first explain what really happened. I can't even imagine how Sienna must have spun it for her, just to make me look worse.

The worst part is that I'm sure she's been cooped up with her boyfriend, and I'm sure he was probably happy to confirm that I'm not a good friend and that she's better off without me. Maybe, if I think about it long enough, that might actually be true. It's hard to be good enough to be friends with Rowan Bass. I've learned that over the last year.

"Hey, Harry?" Zayn yanks me out of my thoughts.

I look up from my tattoo bed. "What?"

He crosses his arms over his chest, gesturing to the bed with a nod. "I think it's clean."

"Right," I crumple up the damp paper towel to toss in the trash.

"You haven't seen her yet?"

I shake my head and take my sweet time gathering my things, not quite ready to go home yet. "She hasn't been home, or at least her car hasn't been in the garage."

Zayn presses his lips together. His station is already clean, and he has his keys in hand like he's just been waiting for me to snap out of my thoughts. "I'm sure she'll understand if you're able to just talk to her about it."

My hand is aching from all my appointments today as I use the muscles in it to pinch my closed eyelids and rub them. "It was such a fucking stupid thing to do. I don't even know why I let her in, and I don't know why I let her kiss me."

"You were high, weren't you?"

I scoff a pathetic laugh as we head out of the shop through the back door. "Somehow, I don't think that's going to help my case much."

"Mm," he nods like that's probably true, and both stop to linger in the middle of the gravel lot. "I guess there's some good news in this though, isn't there?"

I blink at him. "How is there possibly good news in this?"

He shrugs and says, "If she didn't care about you like that, why would she be so upset?"

Of course, there's the slightest chance that that's true, but regardless of how she feels for me, we're best friends first and foremost. I think she'd be upset even if she found out that I was just hanging out with Sienna for innocent fun, and I wouldn't begin to blame her for that.

"I don't know," I push my fingers through my hair. "I just wanna talk to her and explain, but I already texted her twice and she's just ignoring me."

"Well, I can't really imagine her just never speaking to you again," he says, and I'll admit that it feels good to hear even if he's completely wrong. "Just give her some more time, and I'm sure she'll come around."

"Mhm," I nod and take a step back toward my car, not really wanting to have the conversation anymore. I've been thinking about it enough in my own head, and talking about it doesn't seem to help. "I'll see you later, drive safe."

"Alright," he moves slower to get to his own car like he still feels bad and wants to keep talking about it, but I'm already falling into the driver's seat and igniting the engine as I close the door in one swift motion.

I haven't had time to go to the grocery store in the last few days, nor am I keen on having another bowl of stale cereal for dinner, so I make a stop on the way home to get a burger that I know I'll most likely regret eating by tomorrow morning. American fast food is shit.