“Is this okay?”

Lux didn't have to look far, though, because when she turned around, she could hear his voice and then she saw he was coming up the stairs. But he wasn't alone.Lux recognized the curvy brunette attached to Harry's hip as Casey, one of the girls in the groups category. Her and two other girls made up a pop-country trio named The Darlings, and they sang songs about rainbows and puppies that made Lux feel pukey. But the tween girls and boys compared them to Taylor Swift and automatically liked them.

Apparently, so does Harry.

Casey is beautiful, Lux noticed immediately, something she didn't bother noticing before. Her skin's the color of cinnamon and her hair is short but shiny and healthy and dark. She looked soft, curvy hips and big boobs, something Lux wasn't fortunate enough to have. They were polar opposites.

Lux watched them trail up the stairs slowly, noticed the way Harry was helping her up the stairs with a smile, the way Casey was giggling and touching him every chance she got. She was drunk. She decided that she had a few options, again: 1. Go back into her bedroom and hide; 2. Step out and tell the bitch to back up OFF her man; 3. Ask Harry if they can talk.

Okay, option 2 wasn't really even an option, just a thought in the back of Lux's evil mind. Option 1 wasn't an ideal option either because Lux doesn't like to hide from things. They always come back to haunt you, no matter how long you hide.

So with a deep, cleansing breath, she moved out in front of the stairs just as they were reaching the top. Harry's eyes trailed up over her bare legs, over his hoodie on her torso, and up to her eyes. They locked, and it was game over for Lux. She forgave him already.

“Oh! LUX! Oh, honey! Oh my god. Honey..... how are you?” Casey said, her voice perky and loud as she leaped up the last two stairs to grab onto Lux's arms tightly.

“I'm fine, Casey. How are you?” Lux asked slowly, smiling lightly at the drunk girl.

“I'm great. You know... you got really lucky with a mentor like Harry. He's so lovely. So nice.”

Casey smirked, moving back to Harry, wrapping herself around his waist.

“Yeah.” Lux nodded, trying to keep smiling. “Harry, when you get a chance, can we talk?”

“Oh.” Casey murmured, looking up at Harry with a pout. “Aren't you coming with me?”

Harry looked down at Casey for a second but his eyes found Lux's immediately after, staring at her and making her feel small. She couldn't read the look on his face, she didn't know if he wanted to go with Casey or talk to her. Usually she can read him better than this, and that she couldn't freaked her out.

“Right then. Let's go, shall we?” Harry turned to Casey, completely ignoring Lux's question.

Lux couldn't help the shocked look on her face, and she watched Casey smile at her before Harry led her away without another look to Lux. She felt her chest tighten the further he got from her. She hated feeling this way, feeling weak and sad and like things will never get better. She knew that heartbreak fades and if she waits long enough, Harry will soon be just a memory in the back of her head.

But does she go down without a fight? Does she just give up on him? On them?



No. No.



“Harry, please!” She shouted down the hall, not particularly caring that it was nearly 1AM and that a lot of people were asleep. She only cares about Harry.

She doesn't care if she has to beg and plead for him to speak to her again. She doesn't care if she has to apologize first, because that's what respecting someone is – it's apologizing even if you're not wrong, because you care more about that other person than you do about your ego. And she did, she cared about Harry more than anything.

He stopped at the sound of her voice again, and she watched him say something to Casey before turning to walk back to Lux. Casey grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back to her, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on him.

Lux didn't know she could feel such intense pain.

He let her kiss him, kissing her back, and judging from the way his arm wrapped around her waist, Lux guessed that he was enjoying it. Or enjoying her watching him enjoy it.

Harry pulled back after a long moment, saying something to her again, to which she smiled and nodded, shooting another smile in Lux's direction before stumbling into her room.

The sad thing is that Casey probably wasn't even trying to be mean or hurt Lux. She was so drunk she probably didn't pick up the weird vibes between Harry and Lux. The bad thing is that Lux still didn't like her, because as strong as she is, she's still a girl, and even the strongest girls break sometimes.

He didn't have a cocky smirk on his face like she thought he would, and he didn't gloat about the kiss like she expected. He walked over to her, his face emotionless, and stared into her eyes. Into her soul. “What do you want, Gallagher?”

Her eyebrows slowly raised at the last name thing.

“Look, despite everything that just happened between us.. we have to work together still. If I stay in this competition... I just think we need to be on better terms than this, Harry.” She said softly, trying to stay as calm as possible and also trying not to cry and beg him back.

“That's all? That's what you pulled me away from possible sex for? Are you serious?” He asked, his eyes widening slightly as he stared at her, dumbfounded.

Her jaw clenched when he said the word sex, and the thought of him fucking Casey gave her the heebie-jeebies. She visibly shuddered, shaking her head at the images that popped into her head. Throwing sex with Casey into Lux's face wasn't something that shocked her, she knew Harry liked to play dirty, but that just wasn't Lux's style. She wanted to start over, she wanted to be better, and she needed to be honest to do that.

“No.. that's not all.” Lux sighed, looking back into his eyes. “I have to tell you something.”

He stared at her, waiting for her to continue. “Alright... let's hear it, then.”

What do I say? Do I just...say it? Would that be best? Rip it off like a band-aid? Yeah. Okay.

“I kissed Zayn.” She paused for a moment, looking down at her feet. “His girlfriend cheated on him, so um, they broke up, and we were talking about it... and it happened. A few times. I just, um.. thought you should know. It wasn't his fault at all. It was all me. Okay..?”

It was silent, the only sound between them was their breathing. Lux waited another heartbeat and then looked up at him, searching for his eyes, but they were cast downwards like hers were a second ago. She knew what he looked like when he was angry, so her eyes automatically looked for signs. Clenched jaw, hands in fists, a vein popping out of his neck, pulsing with the beat of his heart. Oh yeah. He was fuming.

"Okay." He said softly, turning to walk away. Lux's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, but before she could grab him back or say anything else, he had already turned back around to face her. He was pacing. That's not good.

He shook his head slowly, poking his tongue out and pressing it against his upper lip. If they weren't awkward and fighting, she would have thought it was really sexy.

“How was that for him? Hmm, was it worth it? Was one fucking kiss with him worth it? Do you feel good knowing you just made me think about punching my best mate in the face?”

Well, that sounds more like the Harry she's used to.

“No!” Her eyes widened, “No, you can't hit him!!”

Their eyes met again, both wide, his angry and hers scared. “Don't you dare protect him!”

“I kissed him! Did you skip over that part?? It was me, okay? If you're going to hate anyone or punch anyone, it's going to be me, not him!” She clenched her fists at her sides, wanting so badly to reach out and grab him by the arms and shake some sense into him.

This is his best friend he's talking about. 'Oh god, I kissed his best friend.'

She felt like the biggest bitch in the world.

“I don't care, Lux.” He snapped, “I told him to stay away from you.”

"You just kissed that country slut right in front of me and you don't see me chasing her down and trying to pummel her! I don't want you to go fuck her but what can I do about it?”

“Fucking fight!” He shouted, his eyes blazing now, making her stumble back.

“Fighting for you is all I've been doing since I got here. Just because I don't chase down every potential threat to me and punch her in the face doesn't mean I haven't been fighting for you. I kissed Zayn, Harry. I did it. Why are you refusing to give blame where blame is deserved? Why are you refusing to be mad at me for this?” Tears were shining in her eyes, but her voice was low and calm. She was sick and tired of yelling and fighting.

“Because I don't want to believe that you would hurt me like this!” His voice broke, and she tilted her head to try and get a better look at his face, his emotions. “Zayn is a guy.... guy's think with their dicks, not with their minds. But you.... you think everything through. You wouldn't kiss him without knowing what it would do to me. You knew and you still did it anyways. That's why its easier to blame Zayn, because at least then I would know that he didn't plan it out to hurt me intentionally like you did.”

“Harry..” She whispered, reaching out to him, but he fell back slowly, not letting her.

“I'm.. sorry. Look, we both messed up a lot today.. you hurt me, too. But do you know how hard it is for me to stay angry at you? The minute I saw you, I forgave you for all those nasty things you said to me. I can't help it. You make me weak.” Lux said slowly, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. She looked up again, trying to meet his eyes once more, and when she did, she caught a glimpse of Casey standing a few feet behind the two of them, obviously waiting for Harry. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Harry saw her eyes were staring past him and he turned around, sighing when he saw Casey waiting for him. As he was looking back at her, Lux brushed past him and began to walk toward her. His eyebrows pulled down as he watched the two girls approach for a second, and then he began to walk forward to get a glimpse of what Lux was saying to her.

“I know you're drunk right now, so I'm going to make this easy for you. Harry is off-limits. To you and every other girl in this competition. You can pass that around to your friends. He belongs with me.” His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he heard the tone Lux was using, a dark and possessive tone that he never imagined he would hear from her. She sounds like... well, like him.
“He's a person, not a dog. He doesn't belong to anybody.” Casey snapped back, and Harry briefly wondered if it would be bad for him to shout out, 'GIRL FIGHT' like he wanted to.

Probably.

“I didn't say he belongs to me. I said he belongs with me, which he does. Do you know how long I've been fighting his walls down? Do you have any clue what I've been through with this guy?” Lux stepped back slightly when Casey got in her face, and Harry moved in closer in case he had to step in front of Lux to protect her.

He swallowed harshly when he realized his first instinct was to protect Lux, nothing else.

“Oh my god,” Casey's eyes widened at Lux, but she smiled as she shoved Lux's shoulder. Harry pressed his hand to Lux's back. “do you really think he could ever love you back?”

Lux swiped her hand out quicker than either of them could process. Harry grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back, but not quick enough apparently, because when he looked back at Casey, he saw bleeding scratches down her left cheekbone.

He smiled lightly, tightening his grip around Lux's waist. “Calm down, fight club.”

She allowed him to yank her down the hallway and toward her bedroom.

"Fucking cunt!" Casey grumbled, but it was loud enough to him to hear.

Harry released Lux instantly, turning around and quickly moving back over to Casey. She looked happy for a second, like she thought he was returning to whisk her off to a magical land of ponies and unicorns, but then she must have seen the look on his face.

"Don't you ever come near her again. Do you understand me?"

Casey's mouth dropped, her eyes widened and she stared up at him in silence.

"Nod that you understand me." He demanded, watching her slowly nod instantly.

And then without another word to her, he turned and walked back to Lux, who he knew would be standing there waiting for him like she always is, like she always will be.

Notes

I guess I lied..... I did another update tinight because I really dont wanna clean my room, ugh why don't I have a personal robot that cleans up my messes?