Bittersweet - Larry

1

I woke up to unknown surroundings and a pounding headache. I groaned into the pillow under me, the smell of it reminding me I still wasn't home, and when I looked to the side, it took me a moment to recall who the messy hair belonged to. Dark hair wasn't unusual, so in reality, it could've been anyone, but it suddenly occurred to me it was Harry Styles who was sprawled across the bed, his bare ass making me sigh while I tried to recall what happened last night. It was a blur, but the soreness in my ass convinced me Harry was bigger than what I was used to.

I took a moment to breathe before I decided it was best if I left before he woke up, the wooden floor cold under my feet when I got out of his bed. I looked for my boxers, the first pair I picked up turning out to be his and not mine. I found them eventually, taking them on before I found my jeans and hoodie, looking at the condoms on the floor while I closed my jeans, almost all of them having fallen out of the box.

"Are you leaving?" 

I flinched slightly, looking at Harry while he sat up and wrapped his duvet around him. He was pretty. The kind of pretty that turned heads, his appearance making most of us wish for what I had gotten last night. I wasn't any different, having wanted him for as long as I could remember, but unlike everyone else, I hadn't given into him because of his appearance, but rather his charming personality. He was dangerous in the way of luring in whoever he wanted, but he was a mystery all at the same time and not a lot of people could talk about him and get it right. No one knew him, but anyone who bothered to pay attention could tell he was keeping secrets he wasn't gonna spill to whoever wanted to listen. He wasn't necessarily into small-talk, but he'd go with it if it kept people from asking personal questions, and I knew this because I was the same. I wasn't keen on oversharing like Liam was and as far as I knew, Harry wasn't either.

"Yes," I said as I pulled my hoodie on.

"You okay?"

"My ass hurts."

"Right," he chuckled, another moment passing where we simply looked at each other. We had obviously been flirting last night as that was probably what had gotten us into this situation in the first place, but this was still the only conversation I could remember having with him. "I'm serious though. Are you okay?"

"We don't have to do this." 

I already knew he wasn't into the-morning-after talks, and I wasn't particularly keen on it either. I surely didn't have sex as often as he did, but it happened occasionally, and while I was simply one of his many, he was one of my not-so-many.

"Do what?"

"Pretend we care."

"How do you know I don't?"

"What's my name?"

"It's..." he trailed off, making me chuckle before I took my shoes on and found my phone on the floor next to the bottle of lube. "You gonna tell me or not?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not." 

I looked at him for another moment before I turned around to leave, unlocking his door before I went outside. I called Liam while I went down the stairs, stopping when I heard a phone ringing from the living room. I made my way in there, seeing him lying on the floor halfway on top of what I could only assume was Zayn, their heavy flirting from last night having left them here now.

"Liam," I said, crouching down next to him before I ran a hand through his hair. 

He groaned in response, blinking his eyes open, and I could tell he was just as confused as I had been. He moved away from Zayn who was too far gone to wake up, and I looked towards Harry when he came walking in, his duvet still wrapped around him.

"I thought you left," he said, not sounding anything but confused.

"I want Liam with me." 

He didn't respond but walked closer to us before he poked Zayn with his foot, doing it a few times before he started waking up. Liam looked at him, but Zayn kept quiet and a painfully slow moment passed where Liam was waiting for something that wasn't gonna happen. Zayn had no intentions of talking to him. Liam and I were nothing but gay, but Zayn and Harry weren't really anything. Harry didn't like the idea of labels and fucked around with whoever he wanted to, not caring about genders while Zayn acted straight during school, but was very much into guys when he was drinking.

"Are you mad because I can't remember your name?" Harry asked.

"Do I seem mad?"

"A little."

"I'm not." 

He hummed in response, not seeming to believe me, but I had no intentions of messing around with him again, so whether or not he knew my name wasn't important.

"I told you he was a fuckboy," Liam said.

"Sex is sex."

"I'm not a fuckboy," Harry said, making me snort while I helped Liam up on his feet, letting him take a moment to stand still so he didn't get dizzy from his obvious hangover.

"You don't even remember his name," Zayn chuckled. 

Harry looked guilty, and I suppose it was understandable. He didn't want to come off as someone who fucked around, but he also didn't want people to think he was into relationships when he so obviously wasn't. He needed to find a balance between being a good guy and someone who didn't want more than sex, and he did that by convincing people he wasn't a fuckboy. You didn't need to be a stalker to see he had commitment issues, but people were mostly too oblivious because Harry acted as though he cared. I wasn't different because he asked me if I was okay. I was different because I could see right through him and therefore knew he was only asking me to come off less careless than he was.

"He doesn't seem to care," Harry said.

"Because I don't," I said, turning to face Liam again. "Let's go."

"I can't find my shoes."

"You can walk home without them."

"My house is twenty minutes away."

"Mine isn't."

"Do you think your mom will make pancakes for us?"

"She'll make you whatever you want, you know that." 

He smiled and gave up on his shoes, hesitating before he looked at Zayn again. But he continued to ignore him, so Liam sighed and gave up on him too, slipping his fingers in between mine as we made our way outside. The fresh air was good for both of us, but my thoughts were all over the place, and I couldn't explain it. I was uncomfortable with being unable to remember, having no memory of what happened with Harry whatsoever. Harry Styles was also the kind of trouble I shouldn't get into, yet unlike the rest of his conquests, I wasn't gonna chase after him and act like I could change his mind about wanting a relationship. Even if I had wanted more, I was smart enough to know he wasn't gonna let anyone in just because they begged for his attention, not to talk about how I wasn't particularly keen on commitment myself.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter despite the shortness of it.