Loved You First

When we pulled up to our flat, Cynthia climbed out of the car and thanked Harry for dinner and the ride. She walked around to my window, raising her eyebrows when she saw I wasn’t moving out of my seat. She knocked and I rolled it down.
“Are you trying to apparate or teleport or something?” She rolled her eyes. “Get out of the car.”
“I’m staying with Harry,” I said simply. I hadn’t even asked Harry but I was sure he’d say yes. And I was way too focused on how much I didn’t want to go inside and have my sister yell at me about university.
“No, you’re not. You haven’t asked me and you haven’t asked Harry and you and I need to talk,” Cynthia sighed, frustrated.
“She can stay at mine,” Harry spoke up. “I was gonna invite her over anyway. It’s been ages.”
“See? Harry says yes,” I said.
“Yeah? Well, I say no. Get out of the car. We need to talk,” Cynthia said, her voice turning cold and stern.
“No. I haven’t seen my best friend in months and I’m not gonna miss hanging out with him just so you can yell about me about what you think I should be doing with my life!” I raised my voice.
“Fine!” Cynthia was yelling now, too. “Go. Whatever. But don’t think we’re done talking about uni!”
“I’M done talking about uni!” I called after her as she walked to the door. She flipped me the bird over her shoulder as she closed it behind her.
“You alright, Ela?” Harry asked hesitantly.
“Just take me to yours. Please.”
“Your wish is my command.”

I walked straight into Harry’s bathroom when we pulled up to his house. He busied himself with carrying in his suitcases from tour while I opened his cabinets to find the makeup remover I knew I’d left there before tour.
Ah-ha! There you are! Wait, does makeup remover expire? I searched the little bottle and found no expiration date, so I shrugged and poured some onto a cotton ball. Eh. It probably won’t kill me.
Harry came in while I was dabbing at my face, desperately rubbing at the stubborn waterproof eyeliner that Lou had bought for me. He raised his eyebrows at me but said nothing, just dropping a bundle of clothes on the closed toilet seat and leaving me alone again. I kept clothes here, of course, but I liked sleeping in his better.
When I’d finally gotten rid of the persistent makeup, I closed the door and changed into the clothes Harry had left me. I found myself wearing a pair of his gray sweatpants and his black ‘HIPSTA PLEASE’ tee that I loved. I walked out to the living room and found Harry on the floor in front of the couch, sitting in his One Direction sleeping bag, my matching one set up on the floor next to him. We’d bought them as a joke a few years ago when we’d seen them at a store, and it became one of our traditions to use them every time I was over.
Cynthia hated that I slept at Harry’s so much when he was home, but she’d given up fighting me on it long ago. It was a Hispanic culture thing: no boys. Ever.It would never have even been considered when my mom was alive. But Cynthia trusted me, mostly, and I had my own bed.
Harry had three guest rooms and one of them had become mine. It had a big canopy bed, posters of mine on the walls, a record player in the corner. He bought me new vinyl records from my favorite bands whenever he found them and he kept them here for me. I had a key to his place so I could take a bus here if I needed to get away for a while, even if he was away.
I crawled into my sleeping bag next to Harry and he started a movie. The movie served as mostly background noise as my best friend and I caught up. We’d texted, called, and face timed a lot when he was on tour, but the time differences and crazy schedules made our conversations less frequent than we liked. Nothing was the same as it was in person, anyway. He moved to lay his head in my lap as I leaned my back against the couch. I combed my fingers through his curls, their length a sign of how long he’d been gone. He told me about tour and the new album they’d be releasing soon and how well This Is Us had done in theaters. I told him about school and my teachers and my friends and the people in my classes that I hated for dumb reasons.
“What about that one girl you and your lot all call ‘Satan’? What’s she up to?” Harry asked, his usual slow drawl even slower due his drowsiness.
“Ugh, don’t even get me started!” I warned. Harry chuckled, a soft, sleepy sound that made me smile. “The other day she was-” I was interrupted by my phone buzzing on the couch behind me. I grabbed it and pressed talk without looking at the caller ID, assuming it’d be Cynthia.
“Hey,” an American voice greeted me, but it was much too male to be my sister’s.
“Abe? Hi,” I said, whispering now as I noticed Harry’s eyes drooping shut. I stopped moving my fingers through his hair and he whimpered sleepily at the loss of contact. I laughed lightly and continued massaging his scalp.
“You said you’d call when you got home,” Abe reminded me.
“I know. I’m not home, though,” I explained.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at H’s.”
“Let me guess, you’re spending the night?” His voice held barely restrained anger.
“Yes, I am,” I said, trying to keep the anger out of my own voice. Every fucking time.
“And I’m sure you didn’t stop to consider how your boyfriend would feel about you spending the night with another guy?”
“No, actually, I didn’t. All I considered was the fact that my best fucking friend who I haven’t seen in months-” I began.
“Months? You saw him in August!”
“Yeah, for like two days for the movie! He had to go back on tour right after! And don’t interrupt me!” I whisper-yelled.
“You know I don’t like you spending the nights over there, Ariela!” Abe yelled.
“Why don’t you trust me!?” I hissed quietly, not wanting to wake the now deeply sleeping boy in my lap.
“I do trust you, baby. I just don’t trust Harry,” Abe sighed.
“Well, I do. That should be enough for you,” I insisted, still whispering.
“Why are you whispering?” Abe asked suddenly.
“Harry’s asleep,” I said without thinking about the implications of the statement.
“I thought you said he didn’t sleep with you!” Abe was yelling again.
“He doesn’t! He fell asleep during the movie we were watching,” I defended.
“And let me guess, he’s all cuddled up to you, isn’t he?” I didn’t answer. “That’s a yes. You know what, Ari? Call me when you’re done fucking the popstar.”
“Don’t talk to me like that! And do yourself a favor, Abe. Don’t try and make me choose between you and Haz,” I spat. “Because, trust me, darling, you won’t like my answer.” I hung up and threw my phone at the floor. It bounced once then hit the floor with a satisfying thud. Thank God for life proof cases…
I sighed, picking it up again and scrolling through instagram. The majority of notifications came from Directioners on Harry’s photo of me. I opened my camera roll and posted the picture of Gemma and I at the graduation.

ArielaGarcia: So proud of you! @namelessgem #GemmaIsTheBetterStyles

I looked down at Harry’s sleeping face in my lap and couldn’t resist posting a picture of him as well, adding a filter to make it black and white.

ArielaGarcia: Jet lagged best friend @harrystyles #turndownforwhat

I scrolled through twitter, laughing at some of the things the Directioners were coming up with and scowling at other things.

@Arielalala: I’m so glad you’re home @Harry_Styles (Even though you passed out during a conversation and that’s a bit rude)
@Arielalala: Today I watched Gem graduate and got to see Harry again after like 1349028490 years it was a good day
@Arielalala: And yes, Directioners, that IS a 1D sleeping bag wrapped around Harry in that picture. He’s very manly, isn’t he?
@Arielalala: Harry’s gonna kill me when he wakes up and sees that oh man I am so deaaadddd
@Arielalala: really tired but H is really asleep and I feel bad about waking him??
@Arielalala: my leg fell asleep fuck fuck fuck
@Arielalala: @Harry_Styles wake the fuck up you’re fuckin heavy and my leg is asleep

“Hazza,” I whined, shaking his shoulder gently. He groaned in his sleep, curling his arms around my legs and trying to get more comfortable. “Haz, wake up! Wake up! Haaaaaz!”
“Mmm? Ela? What?” Harry rasped, blinking up at me and rubbing his eyes.
“You need to get to your bed,” I said, standing and holding my hand out to help him up. He took it and nearly pulled me back down as I struggled to pull his large frame to his feet.
I wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led him to his room, plugging in his phone for him before tucking him into bed. I kissed his forehead and walked to my room, diving into the soft sheets and snuggling into the down pillows.

@Arielalala: update: woke H up and moved him to his bed and now im safe in mine good night twitter

Despite being slept in by only me, this bed, like most things in his house, carried Harry’s scent. The smell comforted me and soon I was drifting off.

***

I woke to the sound of my cell phone buzzing incessantly on the dresser. I groaned and rolled over, reaching for it. I opened one eye and stared at it, trying to figure out the reason for the flood of notifications. I found my answer in the form of a photo on Harry’s instagram and a tweet posted by Harry a half hour ago.

HarryStyles: Lioness. @ArielaGarcia
@Harry_Styles: Ariela (Spanish) meaning Lion of God

The instagram was a photo of me asleep on my side, my long black curls splayed out in a mane around me. The comments and replies were the usual endless questions about our relationship, people yelling that we must be having sex, other people yelling that I’d said I had my own bed last night, many people yelling about me and Eleanor being elaborate cover ups for ‘Larry.’

@Arielalala: rudely awoken by my notifications (morning, 1Ders) thanks to that pic @Harry_Styles posted of me. He better be making me breakfast for this
@Arielalala: PS I sleep in a guest room and it’s really fucking rude to call someone a beard
@Arielalala: Not that any of the boys’ personal relationships are any of y’all’s business. But I digress.
@Arielalala: I hear @Harry_Styles moving in the kitchen. Yaaaaaassss food
@Harry_Styles: @Arielalala then quit tweeting and come eat

I cleared all the notifications from twitter and instagram and found no messages or missed calls from Abe. So that’s how it’s gonna be. I opened Abe’s twitter and found tweets that were not-so-sly sly digs at me.

@Abesrad13: Cannot tolerate people who don’t respect other peoples’ relationships
@Abesrad13: if you’re not happy, just leave. Don’t do that sneaking around bullshit

I padded into the kitchen and found Harry at the stove, his phone on the counter next to him. I walked up behind him and placed my phone next to his. I wrapped my arms around him from behind and buried my face in his jumper. He chuckled and I felt the sound rumble through him.
“Morning,” he said, his voice raw and raspy the way it always was in the mornings.
“Hi,” I said, my voice small. He turned around at my tone, pulling me into his chest.
“What’s wrong, little bird?” He cooed. I shook my head and looked at the floor. He sighed, placing his hands on my waist and pulling me up and placing me on the counter. I still stared at the floor, until he stepped between my legs and placed his hand on my chin, forcing my eyes up to his.
“Ela,” he pleaded.
“The food is gonna burn,” I deflected; nodding toward the stove, where the fry up he was making was beginning to smoke.
“Fuck the food,” Harry responded immediately. “Are you okay?”
“We can’t fuck the food! I’m hungry and that’s unsanitary!” I pushed him away from me and jumped off the counter. I turned off the stove and moved the pan away from the hot burner.
Harry groaned and I heard his heavy footfalls behind me, and then he was putting his hands on my arms and forcing me to face him again.
“Ariela,” he said, and I looked up at him with wide eyes. He never, ever, called me by my full name unless he was being serious. “Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”
“I had a fight with Abe last night,” I divulged. “And he hasn’t called or texted or anything. And I checked his twitter and he was not so subtly sub tweeting me.”
“What’d you row about?” Harry asked, his voice soft. He tucked a stray curl behind my ear.
“He was mad because I was spending the night here. Basically the same fight we had in August when you were here that weekend for the movie and I spent the night. Something tells me it won’t be the last time we have this fight, either, now that you’re home,” I sighed, leaning against Harry’s palm on my cheek.
“I’m sorry I’m causing problems for you two. If it’s that big of a deal to him then maybe you shouldn’t-” He began, his tone apologetic.
“No,” I interrupted firmly. “No, Haz. He is not allowed to tell me who I can and can’t hang out with. Especially you! You’re my bloody best friend! I’ve known you since I was twelve; he can’t just expect me to drop you because I’m in a relationship.”
“If you’re sure,” Harry said uncertainly.
“If there’s anything I’m sure of, Hazza, it’s you.”

***

I spent the rest of the weekend lazing around Harry’s house, successfully avoiding my sister until Sunday night, when she texted to let me know I’d better be in school Monday morning or she’d have my head. I replied that I was going to spend another night at Harry’s but that I would be in school on time, so she was sated.
Abe had remained stubbornly silent, and I was not looking forward to facing him at school.
“Wake up, Ela,” Harry shook my shoulder and I groaned, rolling over and pulling my blanket tighter around me.
“’S too early,” I mumbled.
“Ela,” he chuckled, pulling at my blanket gently. “You’ve got to get up. We have to have time to go by your flat to get your book bag, remember?”
I groaned but sat up, rubbing my eyes and cursing under my breath in Spanish.
“You’re an odd creature, you know that?” Harry mused. I raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re American,” he explained. “But you’re also Hispanic, Mexican, specifically. And now you’re British, too.”
“I’m a diverse motherfucker,” I summed up. Harry laughed and nodded, patting my head before getting up and leaving me to get dressed.
I pushed myself off my bed, but couldn’t muster the energy to keep myself standing. I landed with a dull thud on the fuzzy carpet in front of my closet. I crawled over and opened the door, then just sort of sat there on my hands and knees trying to gather the willpower to stand up.
It was then, of course, that Harry entered, knocking on the door as he went and reminding me, “Ela, you really need to get-” He caught sight of me and laughed, pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of me as I flipped him off over my shoulder. “You really need to get ready.”

harrystyles: @arielagarcia on a school morning
@Harry_Styles: @Arielalala on a school morning instagram.com/23r0fjlzks
@Arielalala: @Harry_Styles fuck offfff it’s too early for school

Harry ended up having to physically force me to my feet and sit me on my bed. He started grabbing random hangers from the closet and throwing articles of clothing at me until I was finally awake enough to swat them away from my face and push him out of my room again so I could get dressed.
I pulled on a black floral dress from Forever 21 and my usual yellow raincoat. I put on my black Converse high tops, my jewelry from Harry, and a black ring. I rushed through my makeup, throwing on some mascara and a subtle lip color and then I was grabbing my phone and running out the door. I passed Harry, who was sat on the couch, tapping his foot impatiently, and he laughed as he jumped up and ran after me.
I stood at the passenger door of the Range Rover but Harry walked passed me toward one of the other cars in the garage.
“Harry, the Audi?” I groaned. “Must we? It’s not very inconspicuous for driving someone to Sixth Form, Haz.”
“Oh, c’mon, Ela,” Harry grinned, pulling open the door. “I haven’t driven the Audi since August! I missed her on tour. Besides, I know you like her better than the Porsche and the Capri.” I rolled my eyes but climbed into the passenger side of the car. Harry started the engine and we pulled out onto the street.
“It’s a car, Haz. Not a person,” I reminded him.
“Shh,” Harry rubbed the dashboard soothingly. “Don’t listen to her, baby. She doesn’t understand us.”

***

@CynthiaNallely: @Arielalala if you don’t come home after school today I’m filing a missing person’s report
@CynthiaNallely: brb having @Harry_Styles arrested for kidnapping a minor
@Arielalala: @CynthiaNallely jesus we’re on our way okay we stopped to get Nando’s!
@CynthiaNallely: @Arielalala I don’t see why you couldn’t take the bus like you normally do
@Harry_Styles: @CynthiaNallely it wouldn’t have been gentlemanly of me to leave the little lady to ride the bus home when I’m capable of driving her
@Arielalala: @CynthiaNallely and he wanted to drive the Porsche because he never gets to
@NiallOfficial: What’s this I hear? @Arielalala and @Harry_Styles got Nando’s without me!?
@Harry_Styles: @NiallOfficial actually I’ve just dropped her off and I’m on my way to yours with the food now
@Arielalala: @NiallOfficial honestly, Ni, did you really think we wouldn’t buy you something?? #imoffended

I giggled as I scrolled through my camera roll, looking at all the dumb pictures I’d taken of Harry driving today, in the Audi in the morning and the Porsche in the afternoon. In some of them he was making silly faces of me, in others he was belting the lyrics to a song on the radio, his smile wide and his mouth open.
I posted one of the pictures of him singing in the Audi to instagram.

arielagarcia: getting up early for school sucks but @harrystyles made my morning better :) #bestfriend

My phone buzzed and I glanced down at it, expecting to see Harry’s name and a text about how ‘bad he looked in that photo’ or something, but instead my boyfriend’s name lit up the screen. He hadn’t been in school today and he still hadn’t made any move to contact me, even when I texted to ask why he hadn’t been in school.

New Message from: Abe
Meet at the tree by the cafeteria before school tomorrow. We need to talk.