Stumbling (H.S. / A.U.)

Chapter 18*

Continued... It's a long one... and it's smutty. Be prepared.

Saturday, August 26th

Harry's POV

"We need to talk." She said the moment I opened the door.

I knew there are so many layers to what we need to talk about, but seeing an angry Riley show up right now was not what I was expecting. For some reason since she gave in so easily into coming over I kinda' figured she was not so mad anymore.

Dumb thought process Harry.

"Yeah.... I figured. The guys are in the living room. Do you wanna stay here or?" I ask her.

"Are you ashamed I'm here or something?" She asks defensively.

"No. It's not that. I just didn't think you'd want the guys thinking badly of you... cause like... you're coming over late at night and shit.. I don't know. Nevermind." I knew what I said would make her think it over.

She brings her hand up to fumble with the braid in her hair and says a small 'oh'.

"Just follow me and be quiet okay?" I tell her.

I grab hold of Riley's hand as we move through the house quietly and try to walk straight past the guys before they even get a chance to notice we are there. It works until we get all the way upstairs in front of my door.

"Hey?" I hear from down the hallway to see a confused looking Louis standing near the bathroom.

"Shh please?" Riley asks him with pleading eyes.

Louis looks confused as his eyes shift back and forth between Riley and I holding hands. He gives a nod and just turns around to head back to his room before pretending like the moment never occurred.

Thank God one thing went right tonight.

The moment Riley is in my room I shut and lock the door while she slowly makes her way over to my bed. I still remember the last time she was here and she stayed the night, she offered to sleep on the chair.

Tonight she had her long hair in one of her braids, while bare faced, she had on skin tight leggings that accentuated her ass times at least ten. Matched with a barely there black crop top with long sleeves. She only had about two inches of her stomach showing, yet somehow she looked so sexy that it was driving me wild. Riley did that.

She sits down on the edge of the bed with her hands clasped together in her lap.

"I'm surprised you came tonight." I start to tell her, before she pulls one of her hands apart and holds up her index finger to me signaling to wait.

I freeze in my walk towards her and in my speech.

"I'm pissed Harry. Like really pissed. You made me mad. And you continue to upset me." She pauses to think what she is going to say next. It looks like she has a million things on her mind, but she is trying her best to stay calm and sort them out before speaking. "I understand that I overreacted during the party. For my part in that, I am sorry. I don't have any claim over you, you are not my boyfriend, we are not anything more than a hook up, and I get that." Ouch that hurt to hear. "But you know how special Autumn is to me, so that felt like a personal attack kinda'. And I am sure it wasn't, but that is how it felt to me. There are a ton of other people you could have ended up next to, and yet I came into the room just to find you two in a lip locked moment, which bothered me."

"I understand and that wasn't my intention." I begin to explain.

"Harry." She says my name as a sigh more than a word. "I am not done please. That hurt obviously. I also did not like how you handled things with Niall. He assured me that things were okay, but it still scared me. I don't like violence and that made me very... scared I guess. I don't know if it was you that scared me, or the situation, or what, but I was not okay with it. I've dealt with violent men in the past, and I refuse to repeat any of that." As she says the end of her sentence she trails off slightly while refusing to look at me. "Now I have a question for you. And I want your honesty please, Harry." -Riley