The Deal (English)

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

*Olivia Harper*

It had been a week since Harry had even looked at me, let alone talk to me. I’d mustered up the courage to call him, and the first time, he’d cut the call. But I called again, and the second time, he simply ignored my call. The third time, it went straight to voicemail.

I’d never felt so alone in my life. I went to school and spent time with Niall and the rest of the boys, but somehow, when I was with them, Harry made sure he wasn’t. He was avoiding me, and it hurt to know that he’d do anything—even stop spending time with his friends—to get away from me. I knew it was my own doing, though.

I didn’t understand why or how it was even possible for him to feel that way. What had I done, besides cry on his shoulder and show him the mess I really was to make him love me like that? What could he possibly see in me?

Well, I’d know if he’d talk to me. And he’d made it very clear that talking to me or being around me was something he was going to avoid at any cost.

I knew I shouldn’t have yelled at him. After all, he was right. How on earth were you supposed to control the way you feel? I, for sure, didn’t have the answer to that. I’d never felt like that, and I had a gut feeling I never would. I pushed people away, didn’t I? Or maybe I’d already felt that way, and I didn’t know.

In the long list of guys I’d been with, counting the ones I’d just slept with, there wasn’t even one time where I felt like I could depend on them the way I did on Harry. My relationship with Dylan had lasted longer than I’d anticipated, but it was nothing compared to what Harry had made me feel. And the strange part was that Harry and I had never been in a relationship to begin with. But within the course of a few months, Harry had made me feel better than Dylan could ever manage in the one and a half years we’d been together.

Harry drove me insane. It wasn’t just the physical things he was good at, and boy, was he good at those. The way his lips felt against mine, my skin, the way his arms wrapped tightly around me, the way his fingers dug into my skin, his hot breath washing over my ear and skin.

But it was also the way he treated me. I’d never felt used or disgusted with myself when I was with him, and before Harry came around, I’d felt like that a lot of times. I was good at hiding it, and no one had really bothered to know what was going on with me before him. They didn’t care, not even Dylan. In fact, if Dylan and I fought, which happened rarely, but it did, he’d call me out on everything I was insecure about, because somehow he knew. But Harry had never done that.

Harry cared. I didn’t think anyone would, but he did. He cared about me, and he cared if I was sad or depressed. Lexi knew about my mum and her death anniversary, but she never, not once showed up to see how I was doing. I’d get a text from her, something along the lines of “hope you’re okay”, but Harry had gone ahead and showed up and comforted me when no one really bothered. He did all of that, despite our fight and the way I’d spoken to him. I’d asked him to go, and he’d come back.

I thought back to the day when he’d come over, and when we’d kissed. Of course, the usual followed after, but the whole thing was a lot different than what we usually did. There was something gentler, something more loving about the way he’d held me, the way he’d made me feel that day. It was something I needed, and I didn’t even know it till it was happening. The urgency and desperation was still there, but there was also some sort of tenderness no one had ever showed me.

There were a lot of things Harry had said and done that no one had ever said or done to me before. And now I’d lost the only thing that was good in my life, the only one who was even worth waking up in the morning and face the day.