I Hate Everything About You

Monday morning came much too quickly after my day with Hannah. We spent the rest of the time she was there at the mall, gossiping and taking too long in every store.

I was dreading school as soon as I woke up – having no idea what it’d be like to actually speak civilly to Harry, and maybe a bit more than just civilly, was nerve-wracking for me.

I got to school pretty early that morning so I made my way to my locker to grab my books for my first few classes since I had some extra time. ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ blared through my headphones, Taylor wailing about the newest guy that messed with her emotions.

“Hey,” there was a tap on my shoulder and I whipped my head around, pulling the headphones out of my ear.

“Oh, hey.” I laughed, meeting Gage’s bright blue eyes. I mentally scolded myself for feeling a bit disappointed that it wasn’t Harry tapping my shoulder.

“Good morning!” He pulled me in for a big bear hug, and I giggled a little into his strong chest. He smelled good, like old spice and axe.

“Good morning,” I replied when he released me. “Want to come to my locker with me?”

“Sure,” He smiled, swinging an arm easily around my shoulder. We walked contently to my locker and I opened it quickly, having had the same locker for three years.

He leaned against the locker next to mine with his forearm, smirking down at me as I pulled out the books and binders I’d need for my class.

“What?” I caught his eye, and his smirk deepened.

“Nothing,” He looked dramatically off into the distance and I rolled my eyes.

“You’re annoying.” I sighed as I shut my locker, laughing at the way he was still staring off into space like a model posing for a photo shoot.

“I know, but it’s fun.” He chuckled, letting his pose go and throwing his arm around me once more.
“What are you gonna do now?”

I looked at my phone and realized we still had fifteen minutes until the first bell rang. “I hate being here early.”

“Me too, sugahplum” He used a fake New York accent that made me giggle as we walked towards the picnic benches. His eyes got tiny and his smile grew wide as he laughed, little crinkles forming by his eyes as he laughed at himself.

I realized I was staring at him as he laughed and I quickly looked away, just to have my eyes land on a pair of glaring green ones. Harry had rounded the corner with a couple books in his grasp, and he was walking towards us with an angry look on his face. I recognized that look all too well and shrunk into Gage’s grasp a little more than necessary. Gage looked down at me with his eyebrows smushed together and a confused look on his face before he noticed Harry glaring at the pair of us.

“What’s up, man?” He asked Harry. Harry just glared, his beautiful emerald eyes narrowing at Gage. Harry’s gaze met mine, and he was shooting daggers. Like he was warning me silently. Later.

“Okay,” Gage shrugged, watching as Harry almost stomped past us with a grimace on his lips.

“Come on,” I tapped his chest and started walking, taking a deep breath and thanking the heavens that Gage was with me.

My brain was working overtime as I sat across from Gage on the picnic bench, not paying any attention to the story he was telling me about him wanting to go deep sea fishing this upcoming weekend. Normally I’d be all for listening to him, but I couldn’t get Harry’s glare out of my head.

Just when I thought things were better, when I thought they were more than better, they went back to how it was in middle school. And now I had to deal with the fact that I thought I had a dumb crush on him. What was I thinking that he could get better somehow? That we would end up at this school together and the few years I hadn’t seen him would have cured him from wanting to torture me?

I needed someone like Gage. He was beautiful, obviously. He was extremely nice. He was smart. He could protect me, like he had just done not ten minutes ago. He was everything that a girl could want in a guy.

Except I couldn’t stop picturing Harry’s smiling face hovering over mine from the other morning. How his lips met mine at the party, his big hands roaming all over my body and his eyes bright with delight and lust.

“So you think you want to come?” Gage asked, breaking me from my thoughts. I nodded enthusiastically, but he knew I wasn’t really paying attention. His eyebrows narrowed again, confusion splaying across his features.

“Are you alright?” He asked, leaning across the table to grasp my hand in his. I smiled a small smile, nodding my head slightly.

“No you’re not.” He looked sad, and his thumb moved soothingly back and forth over the top of my hand. “It’s Harry, isn’t it?”

My eyes widened slightly – he was a lot more observant than I’d thought.

“You can tell me, you know. I’m here to listen.” He promised, a small smile gracing his lips. I summoned up the courage to tell him everything that had happened between Harry and me, and right as I opened my mouth to explain the bell interrupted me.

“Seriously?” I sighed.

“You can tell me later. I’ll walk you to class,” He got up, offering me his hand. I took it, more than grateful for the gesture.

If things between Gage and I kept like this, it would be more than easy for me to fall for him.



The day was long, and Harry continued to glare at me every chance he got. I never let myself be alone – I needed to use the bathroom, Lacey came along. I needed to get a drink, someone was next to me. Most of the time it was Gage. At the end of the day he walked me to my brother’s jeep, the two of us being the first ones to arrive there. He kissed me on the cheek after hugging me tightly, giving me an encouraging smile.

“If you need to talk, I’m here, okay?” He smiled helpfully. I nodded, hugging him again. In such a short time this boy had become a best friend. Maybe more.
I was at home, busy googling mermaid costumes when my phone rang shrilly next to me.

“Hello?” I asked, confused. The number calling wasn’t saved in my phone.

“What are you doing?” Harry’s deep sultry voice sang. I almost dropped my phone from shock. How the hell did he have my number?

“ Looking for Halloween costumes….” I somewhat asked, hoping that was the correct answer.

“Meet me at the park on Ivy Street in fifteen minutes.” He commanded. My eyebrows furrowed and I gave him a death look through the phone.

“Harry, why would I meet you?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“I want to talk to you, just be there.” He sounded frustrated. A few seconds later his voice was lighter.“Please.”

“Alright.” I sighed. I was unable to tell him no, even though I was terrified of being alone with him after today. At the park there would be no Gage to come running to my rescue, no Lacey to distract me, no Hannah to tell him off like she used to do.

I checked my face in the mirror and adjusted my hair, pulling it into a low ponytail before I slipped my vans on. I bounded down the stairs and grabbed a vitamin water from the fridge.

“Where are you going?” Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“To the park. Come find me if I’m not back in an hour.” I said as I walked by. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion but he agreed.

“Oh-kay.” He went back to chewing the cereal in his bowl and I walked out the front door, checking my pocket for my phone and wallet. Check and check.

The park was only about ten minutes away walking distance, and it was nice out tonight - cool air and a bright moon. Cars drove by, heads lingering by the window wondering where I was walking at almost nine at night. I shrugged them off as I reached the park, noticing Harry wasn’t here yet. I climbed up the slide and sat at the top, letting my legs stretch down the slide. I was at the very top of the park so I’d be able to see when Harry was coming, so I took a deep breath and pulled out my phone.

I checked instagram and twitter, composing a tweet - @natalayyy: RIP me if this ends badly ~

I chuckled to myself, although I knew it really wasn’t funny at all. I wish I had the courage to tell Harry no, I wish that I wasn’t fully hoping he would come here with the intention of telling me he wanted to date me. I laughed to myself at the thought. Fat chance.

“What are you laughing at?” Harry’s voice came as a drawl from my left. My head snapped to the sound and my smile turned to a worried scowl.

“Why did you want me to come here?” I asked, locking my phone and placing on my lap. He smirked, coming to stand next to the slide I was still sitting on.

“I need to talk to you.” Like that was obvious and I should’ve known. Okay.

“About what?” I crossed my arms as I glared down at him.

“What happened at the party.” He reached up to the monkey bars above his head and pulled himself up, settling on top of them and leaving his long legs to dangle over the side.

I didn’t look at him, I was sure he would mention the obvious blush in my cheeks. “What about it?”

“It was nice.” I could picture him shrugging, even though he was out of my line of sight.

“Yeah,” I agreed, rubbing my eyes. Where was this going?

“So what’s going on with you and Gage?”

What?

“Are you serious?” I whipped my head around to look up at him on the monkey bars. “You looked like you wanted to rip my throat out today and you’re just gonna sit here and ask me about that kiss first and then ask me about Gage? You make no sense.” I slapped my hands on my legs, frustrated.
“If you want to go back to the way things used to be, just let me know so I can start avoiding you again.”

He stared at me, his green eyes wide in shock. “I told you, Natalie, things will never go back to the way they used to be.”

“Then what the hell was that all earlier?” I groaned. He dropped down from the monkey bars and climbed up the slide in one quick movement, covering my body with his own. He pushed me back so I was laying and held himself up with his arms on either side of my head, hovering over me. His eyes bore into mine before his lips crashed onto mine, and I tangled my fingers into his curls.

His legs straddled mine as he kissed down my neck, his hands roaming over my stomach like they had at the party. I pulled his lips back to mine and his tongue slipped into my mouth, fighting with mine for dominance. Eventually he won and he deepened the kiss, slipping his hand up my shirt and grasping my breast through my bra.

“Harry,” I grumbled, pushing him away slightly.

“Hmmm,” He responded, continuing to kiss down my neck. He ignored my pushes to his chest, and I almost gave in and kept kissing him.

“Harry, stop.” I pushed his chest harder and his hands immediately slipped back, his lips away from mine. He was at the bottom of the slide in less than a second and he flipped his hair nervously. He reached his arm up to scratch the back of his neck as he looked at me with confusion etched over his features.

“Alright,” He said, and he was gone.

The walk home was confusing. I couldn't stop thinking about him, about what he did to me. It took all my self-control and more to push him away, but I needed to figure out what was going on. If we were going to have some sort of thing going on, we needed to talk about it and figure out what exactly that thing was.

And now there was Gage. I just couldn't go make out with Harry and feel guiltless about it.
But he just walked away. I was going to talk to him; I was going to figure everything out. I was going to ask him what he was trying to accomplish, glaring at me one second and then attacking my lips the next.

“What’s that look for?” My mom asked when I almost stomped into the kitchen, a rather disgruntled look still covering my features.

“Nothing,” I grunted. I grabbed an apple from the fridge and chomped into it angrily, making my way into the living room where I plopped down on the couch.

“Alright well I’ll be in my room if you need me,” She called, still in the kitchen. I thanked her just loud enough for her to hear before I turned on Netflix and found where I last left off on my Teen Wolf marathon.