~Cassidy~

A week had passed by, and I hadn’t spoken to Curly since our little fight.

It was good. It was great, actually, because it wasn’t like I wanted to see him anyways.

Unfortunately, I had to see him today, for our fucking swim lesson. God, could I ever catch a break? For a moment, I even considered just not showing up, before realising that he was probably already going to give me a bad review anyways, so I’d better not push it and make things worse.

Damn me and my common sense.

Three more days. Three more fucking days until Matt came back. I could not wait. I was so tired of being alone, so tired of not having him here, because he was really the only person I could rant to, who wouldn’t yell at me and wouldn’t judge me.

All in all, I just missed him a whole fucking lot.

I took a sip of my coffee, bringing my thermos up to my lips, careful not to burn my tongue. I wore my red bathing suit, a green spaghetti-strap tank top adorning my torso, black jean shorts, and my white flip flops. My swim bag was slung across my body, containing all of my essentials, like my bathing cap, my goggles, a towel, and my brush.

Eventually I reached the community center and pushed through the doors, immediately turning down the hall, navigating my way to the change rooms.

I passed along the library of the building, dozens of bulletin boards with dozens of flyers stapled to them, and the gym.

And then I stopped. I heard low, grunting sounds coming from inside the gym. Peeking through the doors, I found none other than Curly himself.

Shit.

He wore an outfit very similar to the one he’d been wearing last time I’d seen him in here.

Black runners covered his feet; he wore black basketball shorts, and a navy blue headband pushing his hair away from his face. He was also shirtless; I gritted my teeth quietly.

Instead of standing and punching the bag in the corner, like last time, he was on the floor. At first, I thought he was just simply lying down, but then I noticed that he was pushing himself up and down.

He was doing push-ups.

He was pretty good too. He went quickly, his technique and his figure flawless. I watched the muscles in his back contract and expand with every set, and the way his biceps and triceps flexed as he lowered himself down to the ground.

After a set of ten push-ups, he lowered himself, hovering above the ground, his nose a centimeter from the floor, and let out low grunting sounds. It gave me an opportunity to finally study the tattoos on his arm without any interruption or fear of being caught.

Finally, he pushed himself back up with a low groaning noise, sitting back and reaching for a bottle of water, taking a hearty swig. A thin, sheen layer of sweat covered his entire body, making me hope that he’d be taking a shower before he’d be entering the pool.

He turned towards the mirror, and for a moment, I thought I was home-free, but then his eye caught mine in the reflection.

As he turned back towards me, I couldn’t help but to mumble, “Fuck.”

I whipped around, walking at a steady pace back down the hall, my chin high in the air, heading to the change rooms.

“Kane!” someone yelled at me, the sound echoing off the deserted hallway’s walls. I groaned and turned around, crossing my arms over my body as Harry jogged towards me.

Fuck, he didn’t know when to stop, did he?

“What?” I snapped, not having the patience for this. It was bad enough that I had to see him at the pool; could I at least refrain from seeing him everywhere else I went outside of it?

“Well, it’s nice to see you too,” he smirked at me, finally slowing and standing in front of me. I glared at him, resisting the odd urge to study his torso.

I sighed, “I have to change, Styles. What is it?”

I saw him stiffen when I called him by his last name, and smirked. So he didn’t like being addressed like that, huh? Well then, now I had a new pet name for him.

“Stop that,” he told me, frowning, which only made my smirk grow.

He exhaled, running a hand through his hair, “I don’t suppose you’re going to ask me what I was doing there so early?”

“It hadn’t really crossed my mind, no,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. He smiled a real, genuine smile. Every single time he did that, I was thrown off guard. Here I was, being a bitch to him, and he was smiling. What the fuck? Was he partially retarded?

“Well,” he smiled bashfully, looking down, “You said you liked to work out after each lesson. So, as not to bother you, I’ll now be working out before each lesson.”

That shocked me just a bit. He actually cared about me being bothered? I almost thanked him, but then remembered who I was talking to.

“Whatever,” I grumbled, turning back on my heel and walking away.

I heard him chuckle lightly but just rolled my eyes, turning the corner and coming face to face with the change room doors. Without hesitation I pushed through, setting my shit down in my locker and pulling off my tank, balling it up before letting it follow.

I slid off my flip flops and unbuttoned and unzipped my shorts, sliding them down my legs with force. Being around Curly just made me angry for some reason. I don’t know whether it was because his entire being just radiated annoyance, or if it was the fact that he knew exactly how to get under my skin, but whatever it was, I wished that it would just die in a hole. Every single time I saw him, I would grit my teeth, because I knew—I knew—that our conversations always ended in yelling.

I pulled my goggles out of my bag and hung them around my neck, pushing through the door leading to the pool deck. The powerful smell of chlorine jumped my nostrils, and I wrinkled my nose lightly, even though I should’ve been used to it by now.

I sighed and walked over to the edge of the pool, sitting down and crossing my legs beside it. I dipped my hand in the water; it was a bit chillier than usual. Sitting there, I let my hand drift back and forth, watching it move through the clear substance.

I couldn’t help but to let my mind wander, which was a habit I had seemed to develop whenever I was alone now. I really couldn’t wait until Matt got back. I needed someone who understood me right now; I needed someone who didn’t piss me off, someone that I actually loved and cared about, even if it was a brother-sister relationship.

I didn’t think I could stand another day without him. Why the hell had I let him go without putting up a fight again?

Oh, right, because of Harry. Everything in my life now seemed to revolve around Harry, and it fucking sucked. It was like he’d taken over every single component of my daily routine, leaving no time for me to be away from him.

Man, he was annoying. I couldn’t even explain it in words. He always purposely tried to push my buttons, and then when I tried to stand up for myself, he’d give me a laugh, or a chuckle, or a smile that made it somewhat hard for me to stare at his face. It was really fucking aggravating.

Couldn’t he just stop being such a laid-back, free-spirited asshole for once?

Speak of the fucking devil. I heard the changeroom door squeak and peered over my shoulder. There he was.

He wore navy blue swim trunks, and his feet were bare. Adorning his head was that same navy bandanna, and a silver chain with a cross pendant hung from his neck, falling down to meet the tattoos on his upper pectorals.His body was shining and littered with little dewdrops, so I was guessing that he’d taken a quick shower, thank the Lord.

He came over to the side of the pool and was about to dive in, but I stopped him, “You going to take that off?”

I pointed to his head and he chuckled, smiling sheepishly at me. He pulled the headband from his hair and threw it backwards, where it landed on the pool deck. He then repositioned himself in a diving stance.

“And that?” I pressed, referring to his necklace. He stood back up straight, looking down, and slowly, his hand came up to fiddle with the cross pendant.

He smiled at me, shaking his head, making my stomach lurch, “Oh no. I never take this off.”

I found myself wondering why, but then realised that I didn’t care. It was a fucking necklace sitting on the neck of fucking Harry Styles.

So really, nothing in that situation really was supposed to intrigue me, yet it did for some odd reason.

“Whatever,” I simply said, and I turned back towards the pool. I could sense tension in the air, as there always was, but this time, it felt like something was going to go wrong. I knew it would.

He looked like he wanted to say something more, but then closed his mouth, evidently thinking better of it, and backed up away from the side of the pool. At first, I thought he was leaving, and I turned, about to tell him to get back here, but I was met with him jogging back up lightly and diving into the water cleanly and pristinely. He made barely any ripples.

I rolled my eyes, knowing that he was so arrogant, and he emerged from the water, taking a short breath and shaking out his hair. A few flying drops of water went my way and hit my arms and I grumbled.

He simply smiled cockily and swam back over to me, putting his forearms out of the water and looking up to meet my annoyed expression.

“I think I’m getting better at my dives,” he said innocently, but I knew that he was just showing off.

Deciding not to let him get under my skin, I said, “Next time, bend your knees a bit more.”

I expected him to scowl at the fact that I still made critiques on his posture, but he just smiled widely and pushed his hair back from his face, his muscles flexing lightly as he did so, “Alright. I’ll keep that in mind for the next time.”

I looked away, willing myself not to make an exasperated sound. I really couldn’t wait until Matt got back.

There was a silence as neither of us spoke, the only sound being the water lapping up on the sides of the pool. Annoyed—and not really wanting to be this close to him—I turned to him, asking, “Shouldn’t you be swimming?”

He threw his head back, laughing, allowing me to catch a glimpse of his white, straight teeth. I gritted my own teeth and waited for a response, unamused. Finally, he broke off into short, breathy chuckles, and eventually stopped altogether, ready to answer.

“What stroke?” he asked, “Butterfly?” he suggested.

“No,” I said sarcastically, “Doggy paddle.”

He laughed again, at which I rolled my eyes, but then finally readied himself against the wall, pushing off. Fuck, this guy was really stupid.

I watched him swim, trying to analyze his movements and point out any flaws that I could use against him. I tried vainly. I couldn’t find many mistakes, aside from the fact that his arms had to sweep a wider arc or that when he came up he should try to gulp in a slightly bigger breath of air, but that was it. I got more and more annoyed by the second being with this guy.

He reached the far side of the pool and somersaulted in the water, twisting his whole body and pushing off the wall, now coming back.

When he reached me, he lifted his head from the water and grinned at me arrogantly, “How did I do?”

What a fucker.

“You know what, Styles?” I asked him, suddenly seething. I was just so angry all of a sudden, so tired of him feeling like he owned everything, and I wanted to take it out on him, because he fucking deserved it, “I don’t like your attitude.”

I’m pretty sure that he just would’ve chuckled at me and passed it off as nothing, but I’d used his last name. That had completely turned the tables right now.

He clenched his jaw, his eyes turning hard, and began swimming closer to me. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” I glared at him, pushing myself up from the pool side and standing, turning on my heel and making my way back towards the change room, careful not to slip and make a fool out of myself. I heard Harry hoisting himself out of the water, and gritted my teeth, hurrying along.

“Kane!” he yelled as I disappeared through the door.

Oh, look at this, I’d awoken the giant. Wow, so scary.

He pushed through the changeroom door after me, and I mentally cursed at myself for not locking it. My bathing suit hadn’t ever gotten wet, so I wrenched open my locker and pulled out my top, sliding it on over my body, doing the same to my shorts. Harry walked in, looking furious, and I just forced myself to remain nonchalant, even though the look in his eyes was creeping me out.

“What the hell is your problem?” he asked; he was annoyed too now. Great.

I let out a dry laugh, fumbling with the button on my jean shorts, and eventually buttoning it up. I glared up at him, wishing that he would leave; I hated this man so, so much, and he never knew when to stop pushing.

“My problem?” I asked, scowling, “What’s your problem? Why do you insist on making my life a fucking living hell?”

My voice rose on the last few words.

He just shook his head, his fingers buried deep inside his hair. I just shook my head at his whole being, tearing off my goggles and whipping them into my swim bag. I slipped my flip flops on I shouldered my swim bag, ready to leave. I didn’t want to spend another minute here, talking with this ass. I made my way to the door.

“Are you fucking kidding—?” Harry caught himself, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, “You know what, Cassidy? I’m done with this.”

“Glad to know we’re on the same page,” I said sarcastically over my shoulder, before pushing through the door and leaving him there.

All alone, like he should be.

Notes

Hey guys, I'm back!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I just couldn't wait to post it! It's 1:37 in the morning here, and I couldn't sleep either, so yeah, ha-ha :p

COMMENT, VOTE, and SUBSCRIBE! Let's make it to 35 votes! I really enjoyed reading and replying to all the comments I received on the last chapter, so let's keep that up! If you guys comment and vote, I'll post the next chapter soon, and that one is really the turning point in this story, filled with lots of drama. So you know what to do ;)

Random fact: Due to precipitation, for a few weeks, the mountain K2 (the second-tallest mountain in the world) is taller than Mount Everest.

~Stay beautiful, my loves~