Ignite.

The next morning Bri could not shut up about how worried she was that Harry had his sights on me. Y’know, sometimes I really wish I had gotten my license sooner. Not that I didn’t love carpooling with Bri, but it was times like these that made me want to find a ‘mute’ button for her.

“Seriously, Jude, why aren’t you freaking out?” she asked incredulously, her eyes leaving the road briefly to give me a stern look.

“Because, he’s just some guy. It’s not even a big deal,” I scoffed as I adjusted my sunglasses, wishing to whatever god that this conversation would end.

“Not even a big deal? Do you know anything about Harry Styles? The boy doesn’t just give up because a girl says no once or twice. He-”

“Bri, please, I really feel like you’re overreacting. There are tons of girls who would love to fuck him and I’m sure he’ll be quick to move onto one of them. I’m clearly not interested.”

“You don’t get it, he doesn’t want them. He likes the chase. You’ve got to be super careful, okay? Like super careful.”

“Sure, Bri. Super careful, got it.” Thankfully we’d pulled up to school and I was quick to hop out of the car and head for the building. I knew she was looking out for me, but c’mon. He was just a boy.

The school day went by quickly, without any strange encounters or creepy texts from random numbers. I’m sure Harry Styles had forgotten all about me by now. So, after definitely failing my Calc test, Bri and I climbed back into her little VW Bug and headed for my house.

I lived in one of those big communities where the streets were lined with huge houses, the properties were way too big and spread out, and everybody was totally Stepford all the time. Cute, right? My parents were both doctors, making huge bank to take care of me and my older brother, Henry. He was off at Drexel in the city, learning about screenwriting -- you can imagine how appalled my parents were when he told them -- and I was finishing up high school, still not quite certain if I was happy with the college applications I’d sent out. But honestly, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Perhaps something in fashion? Who knew? My parents obviously wanted me to go to medical school, which is why a majority of my applications went to prestigious schools in that field. But hey, I didn’t necessarily have to go to any of them, right?

So anyway, as soon as we pulled up to my annoyingly large house, Bri placed a quick kiss on my cheek, made me promise to lock my front door, and sped away. Apparently she needed to go see Alex to make up for not spending the night. Whatever. My parents were both at work and the housekeeper, Margot, had the afternoon off for once. My parents seriously worked her silly sometimes. So I made myself a cup of tea and placed myself at the island in the kitchen to work on some Chemistry homework. I’d always sucked at science -- there goes that medical degree, eh? -- and I absolutely dreaded Chem, which is why I was easily distracted by my phone and I was soon looking Harry up on Facebook. He had tons of friends and was tagged in thousands of pictures. The guy really got around. Most of the pictures were from parties and shows, but there were a few that looked like they could’ve been with family. There were also hundreds with miscellaneous girls, only a handful making more than one appearance. Guess the rumors were true, then. But I was suddenly pulled from my super sleuthing by the loud chime of the doorbell. Hm. Perhaps it was UPS. I hopped up from the plush chair and padded into the foyer, unlocking the deadbolt and pulling the front door open.

“Good afternoon, Judith.”

There was that nausea again.

“How did you-?”

“I told you I’d find you, babe. You shouldn’t underestimate me.” He barely glanced at me before stepping around me and entering the house.

“Sorry, I didn’t invite you in,” I spat icily as I spun to face him. A smirk was on his lips as he held my gaze for a few seconds.

“I’m aware.” And then he paced off into the kitchen. My feet were rooted to the spot as I felt all the color drain from my face. How in the hell had he found me? And he couldn’t just waltz right into my house! After far too many wasted seconds, I managed to pull myself together and rushed to the kitchen, where he stood by the island, my phone cradled in his large hands.

“What are you doing? Give me that!” I cried as I went to reach for the device. But he quickly sidestepped me.

“Looking me up, are we? I have to say, I’m flattered.” A large grin was on display as he showed me the phone briefly, right before he clicked ‘Add Friend’.

“I can just block you, you know.”

“But you won’t.” His voice was hard and cold and final and chills immediately ran down my spine.

“Just- just give me my phone back.” I tried to sound intimidating, but we both knew it wasn’t working.

Another smirk touched his lips before he tossed the phone to me and headed out of the kitchen. I quickly scurried behind him as he made his way back to the door.

“I’ll pick you up at seven on Saturday,” he told me as he opened the door.

“What?” He turned back to me, his eyes hard before saying,

“I will pick you up at seven on Saturday. I don’t like to repeat myself, Judith.”

“It’s Jude,” I challenged foolishly.

“Whatever.”

And with that, he turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

--

“He showed up at your house?” I literally thought Bri’s head was going to explode as I finally told her at lunch the next day. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows were high on her forehead as she gaped at me.

“Mhm,” I answered quietly before taking a sip of my Dr. Pepper.

“Well did you call the cops?”

“No, of course not!”

“What do you mean, of course not? The guy is stalking you!”

“He’s not- I just- look, I can handle this, Bri.” Who was I really trying to convince though? Her or myself?

“Well what did he want?”

“To gloat, obviously. And then tell me he’s picking me up at seven on Saturday.”

“Well you’re not going out with him,” she huffed, her eyes hard.

“Bri, I don’t really think I have a choice. You should’ve seen him.”

“And that is exactly why I am not letting you go out with him! No, I’ll just pick you up in the afternoon and we’ll do something.”

“But-”

“Jude, please. I really don’t like this. I’m really worried, honestly.”

And that did nothing to help me feel better.

--

Saturday came and went, and I spent the entire evening at Bri’s house. We watched movies and made brownies and did other random shit to pass the time, but I was terrified the entire night that Harry would suddenly just show up there and raise hell. But we survived the night and I made it home just fine on Sunday afternoon. In fact, I was even happily surprised to find that Harry wasn’t sitting outside my house. Because I really would not put that past him.

So I was feeling comfortable, and when my mother asked me to run to the grocery store with her, I was okay with it. She was off looking for whatever she’d needed and told me I could pick up anything I wanted. Naturally, I headed for the ice cream aisle. I was torn between all the different flavors Ben & Jerry’s had to offer, and I stood in front of the freezer for a good three minutes, just staring all those cartons down.

“It’s really rude to stand people up.” My body jumped erratically as the voice shook me and my hand was pressed tightly to my chest as I spun to face the tall boy.

“Jesus Christ, what are you doing here?” I cried, still trying to regulate my breathing.

“Shopping. Where were you last night?” He asked coldly as he stepped closer to me.

“I- I was out.”

“Yes, thank you, I gathered that. We had plans, though.”

“No, you barked orders at me, Harry. Those are not plans.” With a huff, I turned back to the freezer, glancing over my options again.

“Right, well let’s try this again, shall we? I want to take you out tonight.”

“How’s it feel to want?” I asked nonchalantly, sparing him a glance. His eyes shut tightly as he took a huge breath, his hands starting to close into fists at his side. He roughly grabbed my shoulder, spinning me to face him before getting close to my face.

“Damnit, Jude. I am taking you out tonight,” he growled, his breath hitting my lips from our close proximity. I quickly pulled away from him, my arms crossing over my chest.

“Why? What do you want?” I nearly cried, but I was trying not to draw attention.

“I told you, I want to get to know you. So, tonight. I’ll pick you up at seven thirty. And I swear to god, if you dodge me again-” His heated words caught in his throat as he saw how terrified I was becoming. I’d never been spoken to like this before and I was honestly scared for my safety. “Just be home.” His voice was softer, but it still held a cold edge. I guess my hands were kind of tied. I nodded silently, and he pulled me close to place a soft kiss on my cheek before fleeing the aisle, leaving me hopelessly confused. What was I getting myself into? I definitely couldn’t tell Bri about this one.

--

As seven thirty neared, I found myself pacing my room. Having been ready for almost forty minutes, I had nothing to do but stress. Where was he taking me? Some fancy restaurant? A bar? Was I overdressed? Underdressed? Did he think I would sleep with him? Was he going to try to get me to sleep with him? Because I certainly didn’t want to. At seven thirty on the dot, there was a swift knocking on my front door. Thankfully my parents were out of the house, because they would probably have heart attacks upon meeting Harry. Margot was home, however, and she was quickly calling me downstairs. So after a quick puff of perfume, I took the stairs two at a time and moved into the foyer.

“You have guest, Miss Judith,” Margot spoke in a hushed voice as she came to my side.

“Thank you, Margot. I’ll be out for a while, so you’ve got the night off.” I gave her a warm smile, which she returned, before I turned to face Harry. I was a little shocked honestly. I was expecting a dumb band tee, but I was pleasantly surprised to see him in a blue button up and black denim. Hm. He cleaned up alright.

“You look lovely,” he spoke sweetly as he placed a quick kiss on my cheek before ushering me out of the house.

“Uhm, thanks,” I mumbled, not quite sure what to make of him. He quickly grabbed my hand -- startling me, definitely -- as he led me to his pristine black Range Rover in the driveway. Like a total gentleman, he opened my door for me and waited until I was settled to gently close it. My brow furrowed as he moved around the car to the driver’s side. Since when was he so nice?

“You really do look lovely,” he said again as he turned to look at me. I’m not sure exactly sure why, but I was quick to snap,

“I tried so hard just for you.” And hell, I even threw in a faux sweet smile. His eyes squinted slightly as he gave an offhanded “yeah, sure”, which in turn caused me to let out a scoff. “I don’t quite like your lack of faith in me!”

“And I don’t quite like your attitude,” he huffed, his eyes still trained on me.

“I can go, you know!” My hand shot out to reach the handle, but Harry beat me in locking the doors. And you know what? The bastard had some sort of child lock on the door, preventing me from opening it from the inside.

“That’s alright, babe. Stay a while.” There was a triumphant smirk on his face as he shifted the car into reverse and left my driveway. Damn him.

We drove for about twenty minutes into Philadelphia before pulling to a stop in front of a block of decent sized townhouses. Pardon?

“What are we doing here?” I asked, my eyebrows scrunched up on my forehead as I looked over at Harry.

“Going to a party of sorts.”

“You said you were taking me to dinner!” I cried indignantly, wanting him to turn the car around and take me home. The last thing I wanted to do was go to a “party of sorts” with Harry and his friends. Who the hell even had parties this early?

“I said I was taking you out. I never said anything about dinner. You should listen more carefully, love.” Ugh. Just the way he said ‘love’ made my skin crawl. I’m sure most girls would swoon at his deep accent, but I was not fooled. Accent or not, he was still a prick. My stomach writhed in knots as Harry quickly came to let me out of the car, offering a hand to me. Without thinking, I grabbed it, letting him help me onto the curb. Even if I wanted to pull away at that point, his fingers had already intertwined themselves with mine. His large hand engulfed mine, and even though I hated his guts, it was slightly soothing given the current situation. Jesus, now I was definitely overdressed. He couldn’t have given me some notice?

He didn’t bother knocking once we got to the door, simply opening it and pulling me into the home before shutting it behind him. The place was surprisingly nicely furnished, and that was when I recalled that Harry clearly had money, therefore it made sense that his friends did as well. Perhaps I wouldn’t be too out of place.

“Where is everybody?” I whispered, my hand squeezing his slightly. But I was honestly confused. From our current spot in the living room, the house seemed empty. Harry chuckled lightly at my hesitance, squeezing my hand back reassuringly.

“They’re downstairs. You can’t hear anything from down there, so we don’t have to worry about noise complaints.” I sort of nodded in reply as he led me down a narrow hallway, and he was right. It wasn’t until we were practically in front of the door that I could very muffled music and voices. “You ready?” His voice was sort of soft as he looked down at me, a small smile playing at his lips.

“Not at all,” I muttered, letting out a huge puff of air. He let out a loud laugh before pulling open the door anyway and pulling me down the stairs. Heads turned to see who had arrived and most of the people who saw us threw nods or waves at Harry, which he happily returned. There was a pretty diverse group of people in that basement. There were your indies/hipsters, the pop punk people, the “hardcore” people, and everything in between. Suddenly I felt a little less out of place, but the nerves were still bundled up in my stomach.

“Harry, you made it!” A girl with pastel blue hair and matching blue eyes bounded over to us, pulling Harry into a tight hug. He never let go of my hand though, giving the girl a firm one-armed hug back. And for that, I was grateful. As soon as she wasn’t wrapped around him, the girl’s pretty eyes fell to me.

“Hi, I’m Allie!” she chirped excitedly, not waiting for an answer as she pulled me into a quick hug. I was a little taken aback at her forwardness, but I returned the hug nonetheless.

“I’m Jude,” I answered with a small smile. Before much else could be said, a tall brunette boy in a chunky red sweater wandered over to Harry and started speaking into his ear. Harry’s gaze fell back to me a few times while the man was speaking before he finally pulled away.

“I need to go take care of something with Noah. I need you to stay put though, alright? Stick by Allie. Do you understand?” His emerald green eyes bore into mine as he squeezed my hand again. Not really knowing where else I would go, I gave him a silent nod. He pressed a kiss to my cheek and told Allie to keep an eye on me before slipping from my grasp and weaving through people with this Noah character. They’d ended up on the farthest side of the humongous basement, talking quickly with a few other guys.

“Do you want to go sit down?” Allie asked as her eyes flitted to mine again. A large grin sat on her lips as I nodded and she led me over to one of the large leather couches. A few too many people were squished onto it, though most of which were couples heatedly making out, so they only took up one space. Allie and I were wedged on the very end as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from somewhere in her top. “Do you mind?” she asked hesitantly, her eyes searching mine.

“Not at all, I’ll join you!” I pulled out a cigarette as well and lit up while she found an empty bottle for us to ash in.

“So are you Harry’s new girl?” Her eyes were bright and wide as she stared at me, clearly interested in whatever I was going to say.

“Oh, god no! This is the first time I’ve even gone out with him.” Her eyebrows crinkled slightly at my words, her head cocking to the side. That was always promising.

“Really? He normally gets to know a girl before- wait a second, you’re the girl!” she cried excitedly as she sat up a little straighter.

“Sorry?”

“The one from the show the other night! Oh god, I’ve never seen him so pissed off and turned on at the same time in my life!”

Turned on?

“Oh, uhm-”

“Guys, this is the girl that Harry was freaking out about!” Allie called to a few of the people who were sitting on and standing by the couch. Everyone’s eyes quickly flew to me, and I felt incredibly uncomfortable under their gazes. Just exactly how many people did he tell about me? People continued to gush over me and examine me for a few too many minutes before I was finally left with just Allie again. We talked for a bit and I learned that she was twenty-one and studying at UPenn to be some sort of doctor that I couldn’t remember. Apparently she had been one of Harry’s first friends when he’d moved into the area about three or so years ago. She seemed like a nice person, honestly, and I was glad she had ambushed Harry earlier.

Another guy had come over to talk to us, and he was clearly interested in Allie, but she was just as interested in him. So they soon excused themselves to find somewhere more private and I took a few moments to digest everything. I was actually sitting in some stranger’s house in Philly, surrounded by people that I didn’t know on a Sunday night. And soon the nerves returned.

I twisted in my seat a little bit as I scanned the room for Harry, but he was nowhere to be found. My heart rate quickened and my palms started to get sweaty as I suddenly felt trapped in this basement. Where was Harry? Now that Allie had disappeared, I was literally alone and I was terrified. All too suddenly, a man that looked at least twenty-five placed himself on the couch next to me.

“So you’re Harry’s girl.” It wasn’t a question, he just sort of said it. So naturally, not enjoying this title, I denied it. “Does that mean you’re single then, babe? Because you look absolutely incredible.” His hand came to rest on my thigh as he gave it a quick squeeze, causing me to jump slightly. He chuckled deeply as he leaned into me, his lips grazing my neck. My eyes snapped shut as I tried to block out what was happening. His hand was traveling farther up my thigh as he kissed and nipped at my neck. I tried shoving his hand away from me, but that just seemed to amuse him. “Oh, c’mon, doll. Don’t play hard to get,” he growled into my ear as he pushed his hand up my thigh again.

“Please,” I whimpered out, trying to break his hold on my leg. But it seemed the more I struggled, the harder he squeezed and the more he bit at my neck. He continued to gruffly whisper obscenities before I finally had had enough. Mustering up all the courage and strength I had, I roughly shoved his hand off of me and leapt up from the couch, storming away as quickly as possible. I felt dizzy as I pushed through the hoards of people, looking for some sort of air. Suddenly I spotted a sliding glass door which led to a backyard, and I practically ran for it.

Once I was outside, I allowed myself to collapse onto a small brick wall by a fire pit. Tears immediately welled up in my eyes as I processed what had just happened. Why hadn’t anyone stopped him? Was it normal to just prey on girls like that? I furiously ran my hands through my hair as I willed myself to calm down. Here I was, clearly looking like a pathetic high schooler having a breakdown at a college party. A few people had also decided it was a good idea to come outside -- regardless of the freezing temperature -- so in order to not draw attention to myself, I moved as far away from the door as possible and kept my back to it. As the door continued to slide open and closed, an extremely recognizable voice sounded from inside the party.

“Where the fuck is Jude?” Harry bellowed before I heard what sounded like Allie scrambling to explain herself. Suddenly Harry’s voice was louder as he and Allie entered the backyard. A multitude of people were now outside though, so I was still hidden from his sight. “I asked you to do one thing, Allie! One thing! What the hell happened?”

“I- I just- Hayden showed up, and I-”

“You what? You just left her? She doesn’t know anyone here, Allison!”

“I know, I’m sorry! I didn’t think-”

“Clearly! I swear to god, if something happened to her-” But his words cut off as I assumed he found me. His hand came down on my shoulder, causing a large shock to ripple through my body as I whipped around. My eyes were wide in fright as I stared up at Harry and he almost looked sad as he took in my features. “Are you okay?” he asked hastily, his hands cupping my shoulders before I shook them off.

“I want to leave.” My face held no emotion and he was quick to nod before lacing his fingers with mine and leading me back through the crowd. Allie watched me go with the most apologetic look I’d ever seen on a person, but I couldn’t bring my gaze to meet hers. Harry’s hand squeezed mine as we headed up the stairs, but my hand only hung limp in his as my eyes stayed straight ahead of me. Wordlessly, we walked to the car and he helped me in again.

“Did you want to come back to mine?” he asked softly, his fingers reaching over the console for mine. I quickly pulled my hand away, knotting my fingers in my lap, my eyes trained on them.

“Take me home,” I muttered quietly, not wanting to speak to him. This was his fault, after all. He swallowed loudly before nodding and heading back toward my house.

--

When he finally shut the car off, Harry turned his body to face mine. I wanted so badly to just leave, but I remembered that I couldn’t open the door myself. I kept my eyes on my lap, not wanting to look at him.

“What happened?” I flinched slightly, actual noise seeming foreign at the moment.

“Nothing,” I practically whispered.

“You don’t expect me to believe that, do you? Jude, please-” Before I could stop him, he had leaned over and brushed some of the hair off my shoulder, exposing the left side of my neck. An ugly red mark painted my skin that was soon to turn into a bruise. “What happened?” His voice was no longer light and careful, but hard and possibly even enraged.

“A guy happened, Harry! Because you dragged me to that stupid fucking party and then you left me,” I finally exploded as I smacked his hand away from my body.

“Jude, I-”

“Save it. I- I don’t think we should hang out anymore.”

“Jude, wait, please. Just give me a chance.” His tone was pleading and crestfallen and I almost felt bad for being so harsh. But I couldn’t let myself feel that way. Who knows what else might have happened at that party?

“This was your chance!”

“Then give me another! Dinner, I’ll take you to dinner. Just you and me, no parties. I promise.” The car was silent for a few long moments and he probably thought I was mulling over his offer.

“Let me out of the car, Harry.” A sigh escaped his lips as he pulled himself from the car and came to open my door. He even followed me all the way up to my front door, grabbing my hand before I could disappear inside.

“Just one more chance,” he breathed out, his eyes locked onto mine. But all I could do was pull my hand from his and shut the door behind me, making sure to lock the deadbolt.