Sweetened || HS AU (COMPLETED)

• twenty-nine •

| Jailen |

Most of the events Harry and Zayn attended were charity events, and although a significant amount of money was given to an organization that helped others, the people who were giving the money only did it to maintain their image of being perfect, when in reality, they're some of the most vile human beings to have walked the earth.

All except Zayn, and maybe Harry sometimes, but they had their moments that made me question their purpose. Sure, we all have our moments of selfishness and anger, but Harry knew how to take it overboard.

Maybe he did fall in line with those vile people.

These events never ended well for me. I felt like they were bad luck, but it was a chance to escape staring at the same four walls in my apartment again tonight. Plus, Zayn practically begged me to come with him and I always had a hard time saying no to him.

Not like he would've taken no for an answer if I had told him. He was convinced I'd agree to come, which is why he took it upon himself to get me a dress for tonight without even knowing my answer.

And fuck, he had an immaculate taste.

The sides of the dress were exposed, which meant I couldn't wear panties tonight. I didn't hate it though, the dress fell low and covered my feet so I wasn't worried about exposing anything. It was taking some time to get used to wearing something so long, I was practically tripping over my feet.

But Zayn's hold on me steadied me every time, literally and figuratively. We had only been here about ten minutes but I noticed I hadn't been nervous about being around so many people. I wasn't sure if it was because I knew that there were going to be many people here just because of how Zayn described it... or maybe it was because I've been focused on Harry and Peyton since we walked through the door.

I found it a little pathetic that I was immediately able to find him in a crowd of hundreds of people but it also didn't help that he was already staring at me as if he had been waiting for me to walk through those doors. He wasn't shy about his gaze but I managed to keep myself from giving him the reaction he wanted, especially because he was standing next to Peyton.

My insides clenched and I couldn't do anything to stop the hole from forming in my chest as I watched him slip his arm around her waist.

Zayn came up behind me, his fingers gently wrapping around the collar of my jacket and pulling it off of my shoulders, "You know he's doing this on purpose, right?" He whispered to me and I tore my eyes away from Harry and Peyton, looking over my shoulder at Zayn.

"Why? What did I do to him?" I asked, hating how my voice cracked at the end of my sentence.

He handed my jacket to the coat check attendant before mimicking Harry's actions and wrapping his arm around my waist. I had no choice but to walk with him as he pulled us towards them, "You know how childish he can be. He's acting out because I was the one to get to you first when you were in the bathroom at your dad's funeral."

I couldn't help the way my face scrunched in disgust, "What?!"

Zayn chuckled as we got closer to Harry and Peyton. He raised his voice a little louder, "He's acting his daughter's age. I tried to tell him he can express himself without being an asshole, but no," he looked at Harry as we passed by, "He doesn't know how to not be a DICK."

Harry looked as if he was going to follow after us but Peyton stopped him, starting up a conversation but keeping her eyes on me as we walked by. I frowned, turning my head forward. That was weird.

I leaned against the bar when we approached it, trying my best to keep myself from looking in their direction, but it was nearly impossible when I could feel him staring at me.