Where Your Heart Is (A Harry Styles Fanfiction) #pfcc2k16 #Wattys2016

Chapter Twenty-One: Use Somebody.

Painted faces fill the places I can't reach.

*****

March 9th, 2015

"Call off the search party, people!" Jasper shouts as soon as I close the door behind me. I roll my eyes. "She's alive!"

He runs to where I am, grabbing me by the face and searching for I don't know what. I am annoyed and amused by his behavior in equal measure so I just let him do his thing.

"Come on! Is not like you haven't seen me in weeks, Jazz. I saw you in class three days ago!" I say, making my way to my room when he finishes assessing me.

"And you really don't see how wrong that is? I miss you, girl! You haven't spent a single night here for a week."

Has it really been that long? As I take out my dirty clothes from the bag and search for clean ones to put inside, I make a mental recount of the last couple of weeks, and I realize that I can count the nights I spent in my own bed with the fingers of just one hand. And I have a few fingers to spare.

I frown, slowing down my packing until it stops completely. And I lift my eyes up to meet Jasper's.

"I'm sorry, Jazz. I miss you too." I tell my friend as I open my arms to invite him into a hug.

He accepts it and hugs me back so tightly; I actually begin to experience a serious shortness of breath. But it could also be a side effect to this growing feeling of guilt his words just gave me.

"Are you leaving again?" He asks me once our embrace breaks and he sees the bag on my bed.

That feeling only intensifies within my chest, and before I open my mouth to say yes, I shake my head in denial.

"No. I'm staying home tonight." I say, reaching for my phone on the back pocket of my jeans. "Netflix and red wine sounds good?"

The truth is that I really miss hanging out with him. But I guess I got so caught up in my new relationship, I never even let myself feel it. Along with other things I wanted to bury.

As Jasper practically squeals in excitement and I let out a laugh at the sight of him, I quickly text Andy letting him know about my change of plans.

He responds within the minute, and though he seems disappointed about it, he says he understands and that we'll see each another time.

I smile faintly, throwing my phone next to the pile of clothes and following Jasper out of my room.

"So, you're getting pretty serious! What the hell is that all about?"

He's already popping up a bottle and falling flat on the couch. I decide to ignore his question and I walk over to the kitchen to retrieve two glasses from the cabinet.

"We should order something. Indian?" I suggest.

He wrinkles his nose in disgust, but I know that's not a reaction to the food but to my obvious evasion.

"Whatever. But we are talking about it, Le." He pushes, pouring the red liquid into the glasses I just placed on the coffee table.

"Don't make me regret staying home, please." I sigh as I take a seat next to him and I lean forward in search for the remote.

The TV lights up and I begin to navigate through all the choices we have to pick from. At this point, there's only so much we haven't seen already so it takes us a good twenty minutes to decide what to watch.

We eventually agree on watching something we 've already watched and loved instead of taking the risk of going with the unknown and hating it ten minutes in.