I'll Fight My Corner

I don't quite know how it happened, but after the basketball game, we ended up at another party.

And this time, I didn't ask Harry to promise me not to drink. So he drank. A lot.

"Garrett!"

"Styles!"

He held onto my hand rather sloppily so I tightened my grip, just in case we accidentally let go of each other. I tried to lead him away as I remembered Garrett as the boy who tried to set Harry up with the girl named Ashley, but Harry resisted.

"What's up dude!" Garrett said and Harry just nodded his head at him, taking another sip out of his red Solo cup.

Garrett looked at me and his smile faltered. All he said was, "Hey, tutor girl."

I just smiled, uncomfortable. As they talked, I stared at my shoes and thought about how I should've asked Harry to take me home before he came here, but he had just experienced a victory with his team and he said he wanted to celebrate it with me.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Stacy. I let go of Harry's hand to face her properly and smiled. Even though I was still a little wary of her, it was easier to face her than Garrett, who didn't seem to like me much at all.

"Hi, Emmalee! How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

Her smile became wider. "I'm great! Did you go to the game? It was incredible!"

I nodded, trying to put enthusiasm into my actions. "It really was."

She leaned her head to the side in order to get a better view of Harry, who was still standing behind me and talking to Garrett.

"I'm glad to see you and Harry are still hanging out."

This time, my smile was genuine. "Me too. He's a great guy."

She nodded. "Oh yeah, the best. And you seem like a great girl for him."

I blushed. "Thank you very much."

I could feel Harry's hand reconnecting with mine, or rather, it was attempting to, so I closed off the space between us and grabbed his hand. He turned around and stood next to me, stumbling a little.

"Stacy!"

"Harry!"

I raised my eyebrows, assessing the situation as they hugged. This was a very different scenario than the one I saw when I first met Stacy. He stepped back next to me but once he did, Tyler came by and grabbed Harry by the shoulder, exclaiming, "Let's go play some beer pong!"

I just turned back to Stacy, who was chuckling. "Seems like the party animal is a little distracted tonight. Not nearly as protective of you as he was before."

"Yeah," I agreed, "but I don't want to ruin his victory party by being needy. It's not fair to him. He said he hasn't been to a party to drink since we started hanging out and I know he didn't mean it in a bad way, but I still felt bad, you know?"

She nodded. "Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Come on, we'll have fun without him. Let's go."

She turned and walked away, expecting me to follow her. I did, but I wished that Harry hadn't gone off with Tyler. She led me outside to the backyard and I recognized the fire pit from the last time Harry and I were here. She sat down in one of the chairs and I sat in the seat next to her.

"Hey guys, this is Emmalee!"

All of the people around the fire looked at me and I blushed. They said their hellos and introduced themselves. I didn't recognize any one, but I waved regardless.

They were all passing around what looked like a cigarette, but it didn't have the brown tip like cigarettes do. Soon enough, it came to Stacy and she put it to her mouth, breathing in, and then blowing out smoke. She handed it to me, but I was hesitant to take it.

"Weed helps when you're nervous," she said. And I just looked at her, taking it between my fingers. "It'll be okay. Have you ever smoked a cigarette before?"

I shook my head no, and she said, "Okay. So just put the blunt between your lips, and suck in."

I did as told. If it would help with my nerves, why not? Weed probably wouldn't make me throw up like alcohol did. At least, I hoped it wouldn't.

"Take it out, hold in your breath for just a little, and then breathe out through your mouth."

I mimicked her actions from earlier, but when I breathed out, small coughs came with the smoke. She took the blunt from me and lightly slapped her hand across my back. "You did it!"

When I was done coughing, she reached across me and passed the blunt to the next person.

"How was that? Your first hit. Amazing!"

I noticed that Stacy was a very, very enthusiastic person. I also noticed that her enthusiasm was very contagious.

"It wasn't bad," I replied and I felt my smile growing.

The blunt went around a few more times and I couldn't feel the throbbing in my head anymore. I could feel my spine relaxing and my smiles became lazy, like Harry's. I tried to remember where he was, but I couldn't quite fight through the fog in my brain.

The girl next to me, named Zara, tapped me on the shoulder. I faced her, still smiling. "Are you the girl Harry's been with lately?"

I nodded, my smile growing even bigger. Was that possible? My cheekbones were starting to hurt.

"Has he fucked you yet?"

I tried to be offended but I couldn't feel the pull in my brain. Instead, I just laughed. "No, he hasn't fucked me yet." The words sounded funny coming out of my mouth, so I just laughed some more.

"You know, Harry does that a lot. He gets with one girl and gets real close to her, and then fucks her and leaves her. He holds your hand a lot, huh? And asks you to come to his games. And then he brings you to parties afterwards and then leaves you alone."

This time, I tried to laugh, but couldn't. I didn't feel anything. My smile faded and I just looked at her, trying to comprehend what she was saying. "What?"

"What I don't understand is why he's fucking around with you. You're not his usual."

I didn't have anything to say other than, "What?"

"I'm counting down the days until you wake up and he's not there."

"Harry wouldn't do that to me. He takes care of me."

"Harry has 'taken care' of almost every girl at this party, Emmalee. You're just another one. You're not special. I know you feel like it, but you're not. Just wait. It's taking a little longer with you, but just wait. Harry has never had a girlfriend before and I sure as hell doubt he'll break his streak of fucking girls over for you."

Stacy leaned over me. "Hey, Zara. What the fuck are you saying to her?"

Zara shrugged. "Just warning her."

"Don't be such a bitter bitch, Zar. What is wrong with you? We're all just having a good time. You don't need to ruin it by being an asshole."

Zara just looked at me. "You can thank me later."

Stacy raised her arm and her middle finger went up. She leaned back, standing up and taking my hand. She pulled me up and out of my seat. "Let's go, Emmalee. You don't need negative bitches ruining your high." We walked towards the house.

That's what I was. I was high. Oh, no. I wasn't supposed to be high.

Suddenly, Stacy's hand pulled away from mine and I turned to see what was wrong and I saw Harry shoving her on the shoulder. "Stacy, what the fuck!"

"Oh my gosh, Harry, what the hell? What is wrong with you?"

"Don't you fucking tell me she is high right now!" He pointed at me. "I have been looking for her all night!"

Harry was looking for me? I laughed. I laughed and I laughed. Why was he looking for me? That was such a silly concept. I was fine.

"Jesus, Harry. Let her live a little."

He ran a hand through his hair and I laughed again. "Stacy, you're stressing him out."

She snickered and Harry turned to me. "Oh God, you're fucking faded. Emma, how could you?"

Suddenly, I remembered what Zara said and I stopped laughing. "No, how could you? That girl, she said you were going to fuck me and leave me. Is that true?"

Harry's eyes went wide and he turned back to Stacy. "What?"

She shook her head. "She was sitting next to Zara."

He ran his hand through his hair again. Now I was the one stressing him out, but I didn't laugh. It seemed a lot less funny than before.

"No, no. Emma, I wasn't going to do that. Let's go. We're going home."

I pushed his hand away. "Why!"

He sighed. "You're faded. We need to go home."

"No, you're drunk. You can't drive."

"I stopped drinking when I couldn't find you. I'm fine. Don't worry, Emma. Let's go."

I rolled my eyes and he took my hand, pulling me away. I turned around, waving to Stacy. "Bye!"

She waved back. "I'll see you soon, Emmalee!"

He was shaking his head and muttering to himself. We walked through the house and people were trying to say hello to Harry, but he ignored them all. "Why are you being so rude, Harry?"

He didn't answer and once we were out the door, he stopped and stood on the lawn, pulling me to face him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"

"How many hits did you take?"

I thought for a little. "Three, I think?"

The fog was starting to lift a little. "You shouldn't have taken the blunt."

I ripped my hand out of his. "Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't have done."

"Okay, but look at you! Your eyes are bloodshot and you can't focus on a single thing! You're walking like a sloth, too! Are you hungry?"

I tried to focus on my stomach, but I couldn't. So I laughed. Laughing seemed to be the solution to everything, but I stopped when I saw that Harry was getting annoyed.

I rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Harry."

He sighed again. "It's okay, little bird. Can we go home now?"

I nodded and took my head off his shoulder, opting to lean against him instead. He put an arm around my shoulders and together, we walked towards his car.

Once he helped me inside and got in on the other side, I leaned my head against the window and fell asleep with his hand in mine.