Unbreakable

from Arabella Sykes
Remember when you and the guys were on iCarly?

from Arabella Sykes
"Heh. Handguns." "I feel cold. And thirsty. Will somebodeh hold meh?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU'RE ALL SO BAD I WANT TO STAB MYSELF

Harry bit down on his bottom lip, trying so hard to keep himself from either groaning or laughing, even he didn't know it himself. Honestly, the episode of iCarly that they were on was something that all of them were basically regretting the moment it aired because, well, they were singers for a reason. They couldn't act for shit.

Maybe except for Louis. He was someone who was actually really interested in Drama in school, after all.

But the rest of them? Yeah... They were terrible. Cringed every time someone mentioned the episode.

He's already visibly cringing and he didn't even notice it. The only reason was because Zayn had tapped him on the shoulder, eyes showing concern. They were at a meeting with management and it was mostly to discuss the details and things for the next tour they were doing.

Honestly, their management team wasn't as terrible as each of the fans assume. They were just two men and one woman – one bloke in his mid-fifties, and the other two in their late forties – who wanted the boys to get known for their talents, and that was literally all they did. They didn't hold any 'fake girlfriends' or threaten them with cutting their contracts if they refused to something.

Their personal lives were exactly that – their personal lives. Hell, if their team knew anything about their personal lives, it was only because the boys had told them themselves. Like, whilst waiting for one other member to show up before a meeting or something, they'd just make casual conversation and Louis could be complaining about not knowing what to get Eleanor for their anniversary or her birthday, then Zayn could be telling all of them about how he doesn't know shit about planning a wedding, and Harry's going on about how Arabella had pissed him off and that he was really frustrated with her – which would ultimately lead to all the other occupants of the room bursting out into uncontrollable laughter.

Even management – people who'd never actually met Arabella in person – knew how the two were practically inseparable and each other's halves. Without the other, they'd be incomplete. Which was why whenever Arabella supposed 'pissed him off' which led to him 'ignoring her', they all knew that they'd be okay again before midnight that same day.

Harry never admits to them being right about that, but if they had a meeting the next day, one of them would just casually ask about how he and her were doing and he'd very reluctantly tell them that yes, they were right because they'd resolved their 'fight' before midnight. And then they would exchange glances, mumbling something under their breaths. Something that sounded suspiciously like "young love."

"Harry?" Mrs. Dawson, one of the three, spoke and broke him out of his thoughts. She was frowning as he looked up, blinking a couple times, phone still in his hands. "You alright?"

"Uh, oh, yeah. I'm fine," Harry grinned in response with a nod. Then his eyes dart down and he catches sight of the texts again before he's grimacing again, shutting his eyes and shaking his head a bit.

"You sure, mate?" Liam asked next, eyeing the younger with concern.

"My best friend's being an annoying twat," Harry replied easily, waving the phone in their direction before bringing it back down.

"Who?" Niall asked.

Only, before Harry could answer, basically everyone else spoke: "Arabella."

Harry eyed them all, eyebrows furrowing together and it looked as though he didn't know whether to be offended or flattered or confused or all of the above, really. He'd just opened his mouth to say something about it but then Mr. Jonah is cutting him off, "Message her later, yeah, Harry? We've got to get this done." He said, referring to their incomplete plans, and though he's coming off as strict, there's a tiny, knowing smirk playing along his lips.

"Please stop," Harry said instead as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

"Stop what?"

"I know what you're all trying to insinuate. Please stop."

"We're not insinuating anything."

"She's my best friend. Nothing more, nothing less." He said, rolling his eyes as his phone vibrated in his pocket once more. He pulled it out mindlessly, unlocking it because he'd gotten a new text message. "And she's also a massive pain in the arse."

from Arabella Sykes
"Did she say butter sock?" "Is that a sock –" "– full of butter?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOURSELVES

+

Arabella leaned back, taking a drag of the cigarette balanced between her fingers. She offered it to Finn, who took a drag out of it, before handing it back to her. Then he was offering her a beer bottle, to which she gladly accepted.

That was the nice thing about her friendship with Finn. They could literally just sit and smoke, eat pizza, drink beer, whatever and it'd be enough. Reminded her a bit of her friendship with Harry, really, but Harry was the type who couldn't really stand silences so he'd end up talking even if she was content in the silence.

It's not like she found him annoying when he talked – oh God, no; he always had the best stories from tour – but sometimes sitting in silence with the company of someone else was all she really wanted and needed. Finn, though they weren't exactly a set of best friends, they were close enough friends to be able to tell each other things, trusting that the other wouldn't go babbling about it to someone else the next chance they got. They'd bonded over three a.m. conversations whilst she was pulling an all-nighter for school and he was hiding away from his flavour of the night that he'd just "ravished" – as he put it.

Another drag of the cigarette, then she's blowing out the smoke in the form of a ring before she's dropping the fag to the ground and using the hell of her sneakers to put it out.

"You okay?" Finn asked, reaching forward to get a piece of pizza from the box they had sat on the table in front of them.

"I... Don't know," Arabella answered honestly for the first time that she even shocked herself. Her answers to a question like that was always, always, 'I'm fine' so her saying that she didn't know if she was okay was something different.

She leaned towards him, resting her head on his shoulder and tugging her coat closer to her body. Only the two of them would go out onto the bloody roof of their complex just for a chat at half two in the morning. Also, not forgetting that Arabella had school the next day, as did Finn have to go to work. Finn, using the hand that wasn't holding onto the pizza, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and cuddled her closer.

"What's up?"

"It just kind of... Hit me today. Like... I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I'm such a bloody failure," she mumbled, thumb going into her mouth – a bad habit; sucking on her the tip of her thumb when she's feeling like how she felt in the current moment.

"A failure?" Finn laughed lightly. "Babe, you're majoring in some kind of Engineering. I don't remember what, but I do know it's some kind of Engineering. And you're minoring in English Literature. How does that make you a failure?"

Arabella angled her head up, looking at him. "My best mate's an internationally known pop star, Finny. We're the same age and he's already been around the world and he could damn well retire right now and have enough money to last him till he dies. I... I can't do that. I'm going to end up in a dead-end-go-nowhere job that I hate and I'll hate it till the day that I die."

"Ellie..." Finn trailed off with a sigh. "You can't compare yourself to him. I mean, I get it, he's Harry Styles and he's your best mate, but you're different people. You've got to just go after what you want. Fuck what anyone else wants you to do, and fuck what anyone else says about what you're passionate about."

"You're the only person who calls me Ellie," Arabella said instead, cracking a small smile.

Finn rolled his eyes, though his lips curled up at the corners. "And you're the only person I'm not sleeping with that I let call me Finny," he responded easily with a grin that made her roll her eyes. "But don't change the subject. Come on. What do you want to do?"

"That's the problem I've got. I don't know. I just don't want to get stuck in a job where I know I'll waste away at, and it's stupid because I've got no aspirations or dreams and – " she cut herself off with a sigh. Arabella leaned her head back so that it was resting on Finn's bicep, since his arm was still wrapped snugly around her shoulder. "I don't know what I'm doing with my life," she groaned.

"You'll figure it out. Eventually. You're nineteen. Still young."

"My little brother's a midfielder for fuckin' Man United. Emphasis on little in the words little brother."

Finn laughed, "Well your little brother is a talented fucker who's also not really that little. Doesn't change the fact that he's him and you're you. You're not the same."

"Makes me feel more – what's the word?"

"Pressured?"

"Incompetent."

Finn sighed softly, tightening his arm around her so that her body collided with his and her head took it's spot on his collarbone, tip of her cold nose pressed against his neck. "Why do you keep putting yourself down like that? I mean, you're clever and you're creative. I've seen your drawings, I've read your writing. You're also really pretty, so why do you keep thinking that you're so incompetent?"

"My best friend is an internationally known superstar, my younger brother is a professional football player. S'like everyone is moving forward and I'm... left behind."