Frames That Used to Greet Me

I didn’t think Cora and Mickey finally meeting was that big of a deal. I mean, no, it wasn’t under the most ideal situation and I would have liked it to happen on my own time. But it happened, and I’d deal with it. It wasn’t the end of the world.

That being said, I hadn’t heard from Mickey in a few days. And this time, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

I would call her and it’d go to voicemail. I’d leave messages but they’d go unanswered. I’d send her text messages and she wouldn’t respond. I was starting to get a bit irritated, if I’m being honest.

Mickey didn’t have anything to be upset about, aside from the fact that I hadn’t told her about Cora yet, but even that was a bit of a stretch. There was nothing for me to tell her! Cora and I were friends. I didn’t have to share every new friendship I had with Mickey. That was just ridiculous.

I knew I had to see her soon, though, because I was going to invite her to the wedding. If Cora couldn’t go, then my only other option was Michaela. We would go as friends, get a bit pissed, and if we ended up in the same bed at the end of the night, what was the harm?

I just wasn’t entirely sure how to go about asking her.

I waited until the end of the week before giving up on trying to contact her. She obviously wasn’t going to answer her bloody phone, so I’d have to try a bit harder.

I was going to pay her a little visit.

“Where are you headed?” Lou asked me that night when I decided to drive over to Mick’s place.

Liv was lounging on the couch with him, her legs tangled in his while she laid down on the couch. “Booty call, probably,” she muttered. She’d been in a mood lately, and it was tiresome, but I wasn’t about to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

“To see Mickey, actually. She’s been...” I trailed off. I hadn’t said anything about Mick ignoring me, and I wasn’t sure I should either. I didn’t need to give Liv something else to go on about like I knew she would. “She’s been a bit busy and I haven’t seen her.”

Liv rolled her eyes. “Make sure you ask her about the damn wedding, Harry. If you don’t ask soon, she won’t have time to get a dress. It’s next week.”

I hadn’t realized the wedding was so soon, actually, so I made another mental note to make sure I asked her tonight and then I left.

When I got to Michaela’s building, I dialed her number. I knew it was pointless, but I did it anyway. When it, not surprisingly, went to voicemail, I sighed and got out of my car before I headed inside.

I was in front of her door in no time, wrapping my knuckles against the wood.

I wasn’t entirely sure what was going to happen. Was she going to answer? Would she ignore me now as well? It was a bit hard to tell because the ball was essentially in Mickey’s court, as they say, and if she didn’t want to speak to me then there wasn’t much say I had in the matter.

The door swung open, revealing Mickey’s scowl. “May I help you?”

My fist was still raised from knocking, so I pulled it down and stuffed my hands in my jeans. “You’re ignoring me,” I said.

She crossed her arms tightly in front of her chest, but didn’t move an inch. “Yes.”

I shook my head and sighed. “Can I come in?”

“No.”

I chuckled, but when I looked at Mickey’s face, I knew she was serious. “Mickey, come on. I haven’t seen you--”

“Since you got caught with your blonde bimbo at the coffee shop. Yeah, I’m well aware of that fact Haz. For good reason. Go home.”

She started to close the door, but I shoved my foot out to stop her. “Don’t be stubborn, Michaela. You have no reason to be--”

“I’m curious, Haz. Has she gotten checked? Because I don’t need any secondhand STD’s.” Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were dark and slightly wild. Clearly, Mickey had some built up anger and as much as I knew she wanted me gone, she wasn’t letting me leave without a fight.

I rolled my eyes and watched as she stomped away from the door, further into her flat. I followed, shutting the door behind me. Didn’t think we needed to give her whole building a show. “Don’t be ridiculous, Mick. Cora is--”

“The perfect stripper name,” she spat. I followed her through the flat and around the corner, watching as she stomped over to the fridge and threw it open, snatching a bottle of water out and taking a big gulp before she turned back to face me.

“You’re being ridiculous,” I muttered, pulling my hands out of my pockets and shaking my curls off of my face. “Cora, I was going to say, is my friend. We met a few weeks ago. We’ve been having coffee. I have not slept with her, so get that out of your head right now.”

Mickey rolled her eyes, grabbing the cap off her bottle and launching it at me. “You’re a bloody twat, Harry. Get out of my flat.”

I ducked before the plastic hit me in the face. “Fucking hell, Michaela! Stop being such a mental bitch, yeah?”

That wasn’t my best word choice, because her eyes instantly darkened. I thought for sure she was going to throw the bottle of water at my head, but instead she clutched it tighter in her hand. “Mental bitch, aye?” she said, spitting out the words. “You’ve never complained when you were shagging this mental bitch like your life depended on it, you fucking prick!”

I took a few more steps so I was in the kitchen. It was dangerous, because this meant being closer to Mickey and I thought I for sure saw kitchen knives on the counter, but I took the risk anyways. “Will you calm down?” I asked, my voice calmer this time around. We weren’t going to get anywhere if we just kept screaming at each other.

I watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, loosening the grip on her water bottle so her knuckles were no longer white before she opened her eyes and looked at me. “I’m not going to be your fuck buddy while you’re involved with someone else, Haz. I’m just absolutely not going to do it. It’s one thing when we’re both single, but I’m not a slag.”

I sighed. “I know, Mick. I wouldn’t ask that of you in a million years, yeah? I’m telling the truth when I say Cora’s just a friend. We have coffee a couple times a week, that’s it.”

“So why didn’t you tell me?”

Because it doesn’t matter. Because it’s not really your business. Because it’s not important. There were a million things I could have said, but none of them would have been good enough. “Honestly? There’s no reason, Mick. I just haven’t seen you much lately. Didn’t think it was all that important, yeah?”

She sighed, setting her bottle of water on the counter. “All right, fine. I’m sorry. It’s been bugging me for the past week, so I just kind of... exploded.”

I smirked. “Yeah, a bit.”

She laughed lightly, raking her fingers through her hair while her eyes went to the floor. “Piss off. I’ve thought of about a hundred different ways to castrate you in the past few days, so don’t test me.”

I smiled. Mickey was back. Now was the perfect time...

“Look, Mick, I came over for a couple reasons. First to figure out why you were ignoring me, which we did, but also to ask you a favor.”

She looked up then, her eyes narrowing. “What do you want, Styles?”

“There’s this wedding, and it’s next week. I know it’s short notice, but I sort of forgot about it. I’d love for you to be my date.”

She sighed heavily, obviously contemplating her options. She looked like she was going to say no, so I kept going.

“Lou and Liv are going, and Nialler too. It’ll be the five of us, and it’s sort of a big deal I suppose, so there will be security everywhere and we can just have fun. We’ll go as friends, have some drinks, have a good time. It’ll be great. Please, Mick? If you don’t go, I’ll get stuck with some rando and I’d much rather have you beside me yeah?”

She sighed again. “When is it?”

“Next week.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Christ, Haz. Talk about last minute.”

“I know, I’m sorry. But you haven’t exactly been talking to me much this week,” I added, hoping that would be enough to push her over the edge.

She sighed a third time, but this time nodded as well. “Fair enough. Okay, I’ll go, as long as I can find a dress.”

I couldn’t help it--in one swift move I was in front of her and kissing her cheek. “Thank you! You’re a lifesaver, Mickey, really. It’ll be fun, too, I promise.”

She rolled her eyes. “Save it, Harry. I’m going, no need to sell it now.”

I laughed. We were still close. “Do you work tomorrow?” I asked, my voice much lower than it had been. I was fully prepared for her to reject me, tell me to go home because she was tired or something of the sort. I wasn’t expecting her to reach out and cup her hand behind my neck, gently dragging her manicured nails over my skin to elicit a reaction. My eyes almost rolled back in my head, it felt so good. I leaned down, dragging my lips over her skin until I reached her ear. “I take that as a no, unless you’re just being cruel.”

She smirked before pulling me down and attaching her lips to my own. “You know what I hate about you?” she spoked, her lips only millimeters from my own.

“Didn’t realize there were things you hated, love.”

“The way you make it almost impossible for me to say no to you, Mr. Styles. I was just screaming at you for being a twat, but now I can’t help but think about how nice you’ll look shirtless in my bed.”

I pulled away, a smirk on my face that was clearly showing off my dimples. “You were thinking of me shirtless?”

She rolled her eyes before latching her hand around my wrist and dragging me towards her bedroom. “Why don’t we find out, yeah?”