Teenage Dirtbag

7. Too Familiar

Harry’s POV

When I heard those words come out of Niall’s mouth, my heart instantly dropped.

I knew I shouldn’t have come back here with her, but I couldn’t resist her. I almost felt like her servant, because anything she wanted I was more than willing to do for her.

I didn’t know what it was about her, but I felt as if I had fallen in love.

I wanted to be with her constantly, and I felt as if we had been best friends for forever though we had only just started getting to know each other a few days before.

And more than anything, I just wanted to see her happy.

“He’s just here for support, Niall. It’s okay.” Taylor calmly said, walking over to her boyfriend’s bedside and carefully taking his hand.

“Shit, Taylor, that hurts!” he yelled, pulling his hand back.

“Shh, I’m sorry babe.” She replied, trying to get him to quiet down.

“Get out of here, Styles! I don’t wanna see you, I want some alone time with my girlfriend.” Niall harshly spoke.

I knew I needed to listen to him, he was already upset enough.

“I, uh, I’ll be in the waiting room if you need me.” I said, nervously looking to Taylor, then to Niall.

“To hell you won’t. Go home.” Niall replied.

“Niall! Stop it! Thank you, Harry.” Taylor responded, smiling at me.

I didn’t say anything else, instead I walked slowly to the lobby.

Niall’s words were drilling into my head, and I could already feel a headache coming on.

Honestly, what did Taylor see in him? He was a douche bag to everyone except her.

And it wasn’t like he was nice to everyone when she was around and horrible to us when she wasn’t. He was cruel to everyone all the time.

Taylor was a lovely girl, and she deserved MUCH better than Niall. He was a total dick.

I found an empty seat in the lobby and sat down, pulling my cell phone out of my back pocket.

I had several texts from Louis, mostly because he wanted to know what Taylor and I were doing. I laughed at his questions, which included “Are you hard yet?” and “Are you sitting on her bed?”

He was something else, but I loved him anyway. He was my best friend and we were almost inseperable.

Since I had no idea when Taylor would be out again, I decided that now would be a good time to make my way to the cafeteria and get a little something to eat since I hadn’t eaten dinner.

I walked down the familiar halls and realized I knew them more than I should. I didn’t need directions to the cafeteria like most other visitors did.

When I reached the entry way to the cafeteria, I noticed all familiar faces, and they all knew me.

I looked around, noticing that everyone looked at me from behind their stands all around the same time. And they all had similar looks on their faces. Looks of sympathy. I knew why they looked this way, but I didn’t want to remember it, or think about it.

But it was way too hard not to think about it when I had the bland hospital walls everywhere I turned here to remind me.

I walked over to the stand that sold Italian food and Cami, the girl who worked there, didn’t even have to ask what I wanted. She knew.

She told the baker, then turned to me.

“How ya holding up, bud?” she asked, quietly and nervously.

“I, uh, I’m good.” I replied, lying straight through my teeth.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

I knew she wasn’t asking me that offensively. She was asking because I had no one left to visit here.

“A friend of mine. Her boyfriend was in a car accident, and she needed a support system.” I replied.

She sighed. “I’m sorry about what happened, man. The minute I heard your mom had passed I knew you were hurting. I wanted to reach out to you, but you never showed up here again. Did you ever find a place to stay?”

I was shocked at what she asked, but answered anyway. “No.”

Cami bit her lip nervously. “I’m sorry, man. Listen, if you need a place to stay, my boyfriend and I just bought an apartment and we have a guest room. It’s all yours.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do that, Cami. I’m sorry.”

She turned around, grabbing my now ready batch of baked ziti. Before handing it to me, she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote her phone number down, placing it on top of the closed container.

“Yes, you can. You can’t live out on the streets, Harry.” she replied, strictly.

Without saying anything else, I grabbed my meal and her phone number and walked over to grab a bottle of water, then headed to the check out.

When I saw who was working, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Harry!” the girl squealed, a huge smile on her face as well.

“Hello, Cassandra. It’s nice to see you again.” I replied.

She was just as beautiful as I had remembered.

“What are you doing here…?” she asked nervously, her smile fading a little bit.

“A friend of mine. Her boyfriend was in an accident and I’m here as a support system.” I replied.

She started to ring me up, scanning my water first, then typing in that I ordered ziti.

“I’m sorry, Harry. I hope you’re not here long.” She said, handing me my food and water.

“I hope so too, Cassandra.” I smiled, then walked away to find a table.

The empty seats reminded me of the first night I had come here with my mom.

After her accident, I was the only one here for her. And anytime I wasn’t at school or doing homework, I was here with her all the way up until the day she died.

That’s why I knew this place so well. That’s why I knew all the employees here.  And that’s why I wanted nothing more than to get out of here.