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

Chapter Twenty-Three: If You Ever Want To Be In Love.

With this talk we can stitch it up. Don't rule it out.

*****

As I leave behind the bar and a very upset Candice with it, all I can think about is how in the bloody hell did I let Jasper intimidate me like that.

Sure, there was something so adamant in the way he spoke to me and kept me rooted in my place with his entire body weight that let me know he wasn't bluffing. If I were to take a single step further or even open my mouth to say something, his fist would have definitely kept it shut.

But even though I've always hated petty confrontations and I always did my best to avoid them, never in my entire life have I ever hesitated on standing my ground if I thought it right.

And I still don't know why did I allow for this night to be any different.

"Where are you going, Harry!" She shouts from a fair distance.

My long legs carry me away from her faster than her high-heels bound feet can handle, and I don't even try to slow down my pace as I turn around the corner.

Thankfully, due to the cold weather and the fact that it is a week night, the streets are almost deserted and no one is here to witness this scene. Otherwise, it would be all over the news in a matter of seconds and another article about how careless I am about women's hearts would be flooding the internet.

I cringe at the thought of that, but considering how truly upset I used to get about those things; it is safe to say that I don't really care for that right now.

All I care about is getting to where I'm going before I lose the courage. The courage to what, you may wonder? I don't know exactly. But I hope I figure it out soon.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?" Candice catches up to me when I have to stop at the next street light. The clicking of her shoes against the concrete comes to an abrupt halt as she appears on my side, grasping for my arm.

"Candice, I'm sorry. This... Today... It shouldn't have happened." I say in a low voice, gently unhooking her fingers from me.

"Yes, you kept saying that all afternoon and then you asked me to come along!" She says, and I can see it in her eyes how truly tired she is about all of this. "What are you doing?"

I look at her, trying to remember that I once loved her. Or at least I thought I did. Once, not too long ago, she used to drive me crazy in a really good, exciting way and in the name of that I have to stop doing what I'm doing to her. And to myself.

Because jumping into her bed today and bringing her to this party was foolish, and downright selfish. Not to mention cruel. And this is not me, at all. For the most part, anyway.

"I'm a dick, Candice." I simply say. And she sighs.

"That, you are. And I'm idiot." Her arms wrap around her chest, making her seem so helpless, I want to punch my own face. "Who is she?"

She doesn't sound jealous or even mad anymore. This time, as she asks me that simple, yet impossibly difficult question, all I can see in her eyes is curiosity. As if she needs to know, if this fight has been lost to her, who is the person that brought her down.

"She's..." Is all I manage to say. I can't answer her question; I don't know how to describe Lea to her.

Who is she? She's the mystery flower girl I met almost two years ago. She's the one who, for some strange reason, got stuck in mind for months on end and never really left; so much as I trained myself not to think about her. That is, of course, until I saw her again; and all that training has been rendered useless ever since.