Breaking All The Rules (Larry Stylinson)
Chapter four
*Harry’s POV*
I watched Louis skate away down the sidewalk and scolded myself for not saying something. I had so much courage with him yesterday, hitting him so maybe he’d respect me, but today I blew it. I didn’t say a word and now he knows he can do whatever he wants to me and get away with it. He could hold a gun to my head and I wouldn’t be able to stop him.
The reason I was so shy was that I hadn’t seen him up close when he’s not angry before. Yesterday when I talked to him after hitting him he looked pissed off and that gave me the adrenaline rush I needed to stand up to him. Today, though, he looked almost happy and that threw me way off guard. When Tomlinson is happy, he’s adorable.
Jason hits me on the back of the head. “What the hell, Styles? You were supposed to say something! Intimidate him! You let him think you’re useless! If you’re going to be my right hand man you have to learn to stick up for yourself more than once.”
“Sorry,” I mumble, trying to shake the thoughts of Louis out of my mind.
“You better be. And you better try harder next time.”
Jason isn’t very happy with me but I know it’ll blow over soon. Maybe I’ll be able to do something on my own and he’ll forgive me.
We walked back to our apartment building and found everyone sitting on the couch watching some movie I’ve never heard of.
“Guys, we’re going to the park, turn that shit off,” Jason commands.
Wait, what? We were just at the park last night and everyone but me got nearly killed, why does he want to go back today?
“Why are we going back to the park?” I ask. “ We were just there yesterday, what do we need to go back for?”
“We need to go back so you can prove your worth to the Kings,” he says and pats me on the back. “You were probably just tired this morning or something, I know that’s not the real you.”
Jason has mood swings all the time and this is definitely one of those times. Just a few minutes ago he was yelling at me for being shy and now he’s telling me that I’m not.
“Let’s go,” Marcus says and turns the TV off.
Everyone else groans and gets up off the couch. I can tell they’re all sore from the fight yesterday and don’t want to do anything but stay in but Jason’s not having it.
“Get your lazy asses up so we can go get Styles here some street cred,” he says pointing at me.
I shiver at the words “street cred.” How would my mother feel if she knew I was in a gang, let alone trying to get “street cred?” If you would have told me a year ago that I’d be in a gang in San Francisco I would have called you nuts.
We walk out the door and leave Jason’s poor girlfriend in the apartment by herself. She’s never allowed to leave and I feel bad for her. I know she knows I feel bad for her and I know she appreciates it but she couldn’t tell me even if she wanted to because she’s not allowed to even talk to the other gang members either.
I follow everyone outside and down to the park. It only takes about 10 minutes to get there and when we arrive, none of the Kings are there yet.
“They must be meeting later,” Jason tells us and takes a seat against a tree. “When they get here we’ll show em what you’ve got, right, Styles?”
I nod and look around the park hoping to see the other gang somewhere so I can get this over with but they’re nowhere in sight.
I sit down on the ground and pull some grass up and rub it between my fingers. I can tell everyone is staring at me but I don’t care, they can stare all they want. No one else in the gang besides Jason really has any faith in me; they only let me in because Jason wanted to. Really I didn’t even want to be in a gang; Jason just found me on the street and thought I’d be a good addition. Of course I agreed, I was insanely scared of Jason, but now I’m wishing I would have stuck with my gut and just walked away.
We’re there for nearly an hour before the Kings show up. My heart skips a beat when I see Louis walking towards us. His hair is messy and it looks as if he’d just woken up. He has his skateboard tucked under his arm and other hand in his pocket. His pants hang low on his hips so the top of his underwear is visible. I have to remind myself that there are other people here and I can’t just go up and kiss him. Besides, I can tell he doesn’t know he’s gay yet.
Yeah, I can tell when someone is gay, even if they don’t know it yet. Jason told me about Louis’ fuck buddy girlfriend, Brittany, before we even came here last night. He said he doesn’t really like her that he just uses her for sex, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that. No matter how much shit gangs have against each other, you never fuck with someone’s girl.
I had no idea I’d be falling for this guy until I had that dream last night. I know it’s against the rules even if no one ever told me. It’s kind of an unwritten rule: No dating guys from the rival gang. I shouldn’t even be thinking about him in any way besides bad but I can’t help myself.
“What the fuck are you guys doing here?” Louis snarls when he gets close enough for us to hear him. “I told you to stay out of here.”
“We just wanted to show you that Styles has more potential than you think,” Jason says, getting up from the ground. “You got the wrong idea when you met him this morning.”
“I don’t know what to think of him,” Louis says. “He hit me last night and pussied away this morning.”
“This morning?” Max says from behind Louis.
Louis nods and holds his hand up to shut him up. “I think he’s had his 15 seconds of fame already and he’s no use to you,” he says. My heart breaks at his hurtful words but I know he’s only saying that to make us mad. At least, I hope that’s why he’s saying it.
“He was just tired,” Jason argues. “You’ll be afraid of him when you see what he can do.”
Now Jason’s just talking to talk. He knows I can’t do anything special, the whole gang knows. I’m nothing more than a new guy who threw a lucky punch.
“What can he do?” Louis challenges, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Uh,” Jason says, not expecting that question. “He can, um, he can-“
Before he can think of anything, Louis punches me in the jaw. I didn’t see it coming and neither did anyone else. Tears threaten to spill out of my eyes but I know I can’t let them. That’s another rule: No crying in a fight. Or ever.
“What the hell, Tomlinson?” Jason yells.
“No,” I say, pushing Jason back. “I got it.”
I’m not quite sure why I said that but, the next thing I know, I’m on top of Louis on the ground. I’m punching his face and I can’t stop no matter how badly I want to.
“Get off!” Louis yells and tries to throw me off. He succeeds in rolling us over so he has the upper hand. He throws punches back at me and I can feel my nose start bleeding. There’s blood coming out of his nose, too, and a cut on his cheek.
I gather up all the strength I’ve got and shove him off of me so he lands on his back. I’m pissed off now and I’m ready to jump back on him when Jason pulls me back.
“I think you’ve proved enough for one day,” he says. I’m breathing heavily now and I wipe the blood off my face.
Louis gets up and holds his hand out. I flinch away before I realize what he’s doing. He wants a handshake. I take his hand in mine and shake it.
“You’re not as bad as I thought,” he says.
“Thanks,” I manage.
“Now get the fuck out of our park,” he says, dropping my hand.
The calm I saw in his eyes a few seconds before is replaced by anger. Jason leads us out of the park and back to the apartment building.
I clean myself up in the bathroom and join the rest of the guys on the couch to finish the movie they were watching earlier. I can’t pay attention, though, with all the thoughts of what happened today.
As we were walking away from the park I remember I felt something; a change in electricity.
Louis knows something weird is going on. He’s beginning to question his sexuality.
I watched Louis skate away down the sidewalk and scolded myself for not saying something. I had so much courage with him yesterday, hitting him so maybe he’d respect me, but today I blew it. I didn’t say a word and now he knows he can do whatever he wants to me and get away with it. He could hold a gun to my head and I wouldn’t be able to stop him.
The reason I was so shy was that I hadn’t seen him up close when he’s not angry before. Yesterday when I talked to him after hitting him he looked pissed off and that gave me the adrenaline rush I needed to stand up to him. Today, though, he looked almost happy and that threw me way off guard. When Tomlinson is happy, he’s adorable.
Jason hits me on the back of the head. “What the hell, Styles? You were supposed to say something! Intimidate him! You let him think you’re useless! If you’re going to be my right hand man you have to learn to stick up for yourself more than once.”
“Sorry,” I mumble, trying to shake the thoughts of Louis out of my mind.
“You better be. And you better try harder next time.”
Jason isn’t very happy with me but I know it’ll blow over soon. Maybe I’ll be able to do something on my own and he’ll forgive me.
We walked back to our apartment building and found everyone sitting on the couch watching some movie I’ve never heard of.
“Guys, we’re going to the park, turn that shit off,” Jason commands.
Wait, what? We were just at the park last night and everyone but me got nearly killed, why does he want to go back today?
“Why are we going back to the park?” I ask. “ We were just there yesterday, what do we need to go back for?”
“We need to go back so you can prove your worth to the Kings,” he says and pats me on the back. “You were probably just tired this morning or something, I know that’s not the real you.”
Jason has mood swings all the time and this is definitely one of those times. Just a few minutes ago he was yelling at me for being shy and now he’s telling me that I’m not.
“Let’s go,” Marcus says and turns the TV off.
Everyone else groans and gets up off the couch. I can tell they’re all sore from the fight yesterday and don’t want to do anything but stay in but Jason’s not having it.
“Get your lazy asses up so we can go get Styles here some street cred,” he says pointing at me.
I shiver at the words “street cred.” How would my mother feel if she knew I was in a gang, let alone trying to get “street cred?” If you would have told me a year ago that I’d be in a gang in San Francisco I would have called you nuts.
We walk out the door and leave Jason’s poor girlfriend in the apartment by herself. She’s never allowed to leave and I feel bad for her. I know she knows I feel bad for her and I know she appreciates it but she couldn’t tell me even if she wanted to because she’s not allowed to even talk to the other gang members either.
I follow everyone outside and down to the park. It only takes about 10 minutes to get there and when we arrive, none of the Kings are there yet.
“They must be meeting later,” Jason tells us and takes a seat against a tree. “When they get here we’ll show em what you’ve got, right, Styles?”
I nod and look around the park hoping to see the other gang somewhere so I can get this over with but they’re nowhere in sight.
I sit down on the ground and pull some grass up and rub it between my fingers. I can tell everyone is staring at me but I don’t care, they can stare all they want. No one else in the gang besides Jason really has any faith in me; they only let me in because Jason wanted to. Really I didn’t even want to be in a gang; Jason just found me on the street and thought I’d be a good addition. Of course I agreed, I was insanely scared of Jason, but now I’m wishing I would have stuck with my gut and just walked away.
We’re there for nearly an hour before the Kings show up. My heart skips a beat when I see Louis walking towards us. His hair is messy and it looks as if he’d just woken up. He has his skateboard tucked under his arm and other hand in his pocket. His pants hang low on his hips so the top of his underwear is visible. I have to remind myself that there are other people here and I can’t just go up and kiss him. Besides, I can tell he doesn’t know he’s gay yet.
Yeah, I can tell when someone is gay, even if they don’t know it yet. Jason told me about Louis’ fuck buddy girlfriend, Brittany, before we even came here last night. He said he doesn’t really like her that he just uses her for sex, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that. No matter how much shit gangs have against each other, you never fuck with someone’s girl.
I had no idea I’d be falling for this guy until I had that dream last night. I know it’s against the rules even if no one ever told me. It’s kind of an unwritten rule: No dating guys from the rival gang. I shouldn’t even be thinking about him in any way besides bad but I can’t help myself.
“What the fuck are you guys doing here?” Louis snarls when he gets close enough for us to hear him. “I told you to stay out of here.”
“We just wanted to show you that Styles has more potential than you think,” Jason says, getting up from the ground. “You got the wrong idea when you met him this morning.”
“I don’t know what to think of him,” Louis says. “He hit me last night and pussied away this morning.”
“This morning?” Max says from behind Louis.
Louis nods and holds his hand up to shut him up. “I think he’s had his 15 seconds of fame already and he’s no use to you,” he says. My heart breaks at his hurtful words but I know he’s only saying that to make us mad. At least, I hope that’s why he’s saying it.
“He was just tired,” Jason argues. “You’ll be afraid of him when you see what he can do.”
Now Jason’s just talking to talk. He knows I can’t do anything special, the whole gang knows. I’m nothing more than a new guy who threw a lucky punch.
“What can he do?” Louis challenges, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Uh,” Jason says, not expecting that question. “He can, um, he can-“
Before he can think of anything, Louis punches me in the jaw. I didn’t see it coming and neither did anyone else. Tears threaten to spill out of my eyes but I know I can’t let them. That’s another rule: No crying in a fight. Or ever.
“What the hell, Tomlinson?” Jason yells.
“No,” I say, pushing Jason back. “I got it.”
I’m not quite sure why I said that but, the next thing I know, I’m on top of Louis on the ground. I’m punching his face and I can’t stop no matter how badly I want to.
“Get off!” Louis yells and tries to throw me off. He succeeds in rolling us over so he has the upper hand. He throws punches back at me and I can feel my nose start bleeding. There’s blood coming out of his nose, too, and a cut on his cheek.
I gather up all the strength I’ve got and shove him off of me so he lands on his back. I’m pissed off now and I’m ready to jump back on him when Jason pulls me back.
“I think you’ve proved enough for one day,” he says. I’m breathing heavily now and I wipe the blood off my face.
Louis gets up and holds his hand out. I flinch away before I realize what he’s doing. He wants a handshake. I take his hand in mine and shake it.
“You’re not as bad as I thought,” he says.
“Thanks,” I manage.
“Now get the fuck out of our park,” he says, dropping my hand.
The calm I saw in his eyes a few seconds before is replaced by anger. Jason leads us out of the park and back to the apartment building.
I clean myself up in the bathroom and join the rest of the guys on the couch to finish the movie they were watching earlier. I can’t pay attention, though, with all the thoughts of what happened today.
As we were walking away from the park I remember I felt something; a change in electricity.
Louis knows something weird is going on. He’s beginning to question his sexuality.
Please update
1/17/14