Fists and Knives (A Harry Styles Fanfiction)

Chapter 15

No one mentioned the fight the next morning.  I made omelets for Harry, Maria, Louis, and myself, and we all stood against the counter or sat at the bar in the kitchen, just listening to each other chew and swallow.  Arnold came into the house and I immediately made him an omelet, despite him not having asked.  He ate the omelet and then reached into his briefcase to retrieve a few of the magazines and papers that had already been published with pictures from the night before.  Harry’s face was plastered all over them with bold letters across the top of each picture, either more about why he’s been missing for the last few weeks or how horrible his fight was last night. 

I tilted my head to get a better look at one particular picture that caught my eye.  Louis was looking at the same picture. “I didn’t realize you were holding hands when you left,” he said to me and Harry, pointing at the picture.  It was funny to see myself like that in a magazine.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I actually didn’t look horrific.  The picture was obviously chosen for the way it showed Harry’s and my interlocked fingers. But what about Maria??? the bold letters across the top of the picture read.

“Well yeah, we held hands,” Harry snapped. “Look at that fucking crowd.”  He pointed to the people all around us, pulling at our clothes and shouting at us.  They looked malicious.

“Stop,” Arnold said as Louis opened his mouth again. “What’s done is done and we just need to look forward.  Harry, you and Maria have a date today.  You’re going to tell the paps that your chef came to the fight, you helped her get home.  Just tell the truth.”

Harry chuckled once. “That’s something new.”

“Hey!” Arnold barked.  “I tell you to say what I do to protect you, do you get that?”

Harry scooped his last bite of egg off his plate and glared across the room at Arnold.

Arnold glanced from Harry to me. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two but it’s not something that can happen in public.  Really, it’s not something that should be happening at all.”

Harry choked on his food and dropped his plate into the sink as he tried to recover.  “Nothing is going on between us,” He finally breathed. “She’s got a date with Niall this afternoon anyway.”

Arnold raised his eyebrows for a moment as he processed the new information.  Finally, he smiled.  “Horan… good.  Yes… very good.  It’ll be good publicity for you, showing Harry's and Niall's friendship and stuff…”

For as much as I tried not to let it, my face began to harden and I shook my head. “My relationships aren’t going to be publicity for Harry.”

Arnold rolled his eyes.  “You don’t have much of a choice anymore.”

I scowled.  “I’m not going to let you throw my relationships out there for the paparazzi to dissect.  Niall and I have nothing to do with Harry.”

“K…” Harry muttered warningly.

Arnold raised his eyebrows even more.  “Miss Davenport, I was not the one who threw your relationship into the world for everyone to see.  You did that to yourself the minute you grabbed Harry’s hand last night and decided to go on a public date with a different famous boxer today.”

“Hey,” Harry growled at him.  “I grabbed her hand to help her through the crowd.  She didn’t do-“

“Shut up, Harold.”

Harry’s mouth snapped shut, but his body tensed like he was about to attack.

Arnold returned his attention to me.  “Miss Davenport, you’re in this for the long haul whether you like it or not.  If you think that quitting us at this point is going to save you, it’s not.”