He's Not Worth It
{Four - Emergency}
February 2018
Maggie grew up in Sacramento, where her parents still lived. She moved to Los Angeles for college when she was just barely eighteen. And for the past four years, she made LA her home in the very same condo she still lived in. She saw plenty of neighbors come and go – but she never got attached to them like she did with Harry and his adorable English bulldog, Hemingway.
Her love for that dog was unconditional and her love for his human – well, she just called that pathetic. She probably would have done anything for either one of them at the drop of a dime. They had her heart. And one day, her love was tested.
She heard a frantic pounding on her front door that scared her half to death.
“MAGS!” She heard Harry’s panicked voice.
She practically threw her Environmental Law book across the floor as she dashed for the door. She threw it open to find Harry standing in front of her, looking frightened.
“Harry, what’s the matter?” She asked, her brows furrowing together out of concern.
“It’s Hemingway,” he said quickly and her heart plummeted.
“Harry, what?” Maggie asked impatiently.
“Come on,” he said with a huff, waving her to come to his condo.
“Harry, seriously – tell me what is going on,” she insisted as she instinctively followed him toward his place – hopping straight over the flower bushes that divided his sidewalk from hers.
“He… I don’t know. I think he ate something and he just won’t stop vomiting,” Harry said with concern and panic laced in his voice.
We took his stairs two by two to get up to his kitchen and living room area. Hemingway was lying underneath the kitchen table looking absolutely miserable. The entire house reeked of puppy bile.
“I think you should take him to the vet,” Maggie told Harry as she got down to Hemmy’s level, petting his head.
“Will you come with me?” Harry asked immediately.
“Of course. Just uh, get him in the car. Maybe put a blanket under him. Oh, and bring his favorite toy! I’ll go grab my purse and lock up my house,” Maggie told him as she stood up in an instant.
“Okay, okay,” Harry said, looking like he might be panicking a little bit. Maggie grabbed Harry by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Harry, he’s going to be okay,” she assured him.
“But, I’ve only had him a few months. What if…” Harry started worrying.
“He’s going to be okay,” Maggie said again, squeezing his shoulders in her hands and Harry nodded, though he still didn’t look completely convinced.
“Thanks, Mags,” he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out hard as his hand ran through his hair, flipping it to the right.
“Anytime,” she told him and picked up the pace as she scooted around him to run out of his house.
She ran all the way back to her house and grabbed her purse, keys and jacket – then she was out the door locking it behind her. Harry was walking out of his house with Hemmy wrapped up in his arms in a blanket.
“Can you grab my keys? They’re in my front pocket of my trousers,” Harry said, jutting out his right hip at her.
“Wha—” Maggie said, looking at him wide-eyed.
“My keys,” Harry said again, jutting out his hip even more.
Her heart raced. Oh, yeah. She wasn’t about to die or anything. She was just about to dig in the pocket of Harry’s incredibly tight, incredibly sexy jeans. They’d both see how long she lasted after that. She literally had to mentally scold herself as she looked down at the sick puppy in Harry’s arms.
Maggie swallowed hard as she tried to reach in his pocket and grab the keys, but her hand kept getting stuck and Harry kept falling backward. She ended up having to use her other hand to grasp his hip so she could steady him. Dear, Lord. She was touching skin – skin she should not be touching. Focus, focus, focus.
She looked at Hemmy again and her heart broke all over for the baby puppy. Her hand successfully retrieved the keys, but also successfully felt the amazingly hard sinew muscle of Harry’s upper thigh. Oh, good god. She pulled her hand out quickly, trying but failing to not look like an idiot.
“I-I got ‘em,” she said, fumbling with them in her hands, trying to find the key that looked similar to her own apartment key.
“It’s round and big…” Harry said. Holy Shit. What did he just say? Was he just talking about…?
“The key,” he elaborated. Maggie realized she stopped searching for the key and was just staring at him like an idiot.
“Oh, yeah!” She exclaimed, continuing to fumble through the keys, mentally scolding herself again. Jesus, Maggie. Get your mind out of the gutter.
She located the correct key and shoved it in the keyhole, locking the door. The pair of them walked quickly to Harry’s car and Maggie used his clicker to unlock the doors of his Range Rover so he could get Hemmy inside.
“Can you drive?” He asked her quickly.
“Your… your Range Rover?” She stammered, feeling uneasy about it. That car was worth about as much as she owed in student loans. It was a scary thought.
“Yeah. It’s just a car, Maggie,” he said evenly, realizing she was sort of freaking out.
“Um, if you’re sure,” she said, walking to the driver side.
“I’m sure,” she heard him say.
Harry gave her directions to the vet, but she already knew the area, so she knew where it was. On the way, he called Kendall to tell her about Hemingway’s situation. It was quite awkward when they got into a fight on the phone.
“She’s… she’s out to dinner with a friend and isn’t coming to the vet,” Harry said as he pet his sick dog’s head.
Maggie found his eyes in the rear view mirror and she could see all sorts of emotion in them – the leading one being disappointment. She felt bad for him.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, not knowing what else to say.
“At least I have you,” Harry said, giving her a small smile. Yeah, he had his cake and he was eating it too, she thought.
As they were getting out of the car at the vet a few paparazzi’s walked over from the nearby restaurant and Harry groaned inwardly.
“I don’t want to deal with this shit right now,” Harry grumbled as he pulled his sick dog out of the car.
Maggie felt out of place. She planned on studying all night, so she was in sweats with her hair pulled up in a messy bun. She looked like a scrub. The cameramen immediately started asking Harry who she was and why she was with him instead of Kendall. Harry just told them his dog was sick and to give them space. The paparazzi didn’t stop filming them, but they did back off a bit. Luckily, they got into the building without a scuffle.
Once the vet took Hemmy back, Harry asked Maggie to come with him. She stood awkwardly in the examination room with the vet, Harry and his sick dog feeling more than a little out of place. It really should have been Kendall there.
“We need to do some x-rays, just to see what exactly he ingested. And once the cause is conclusive, surgery might be our only option to retrieve whatever it is,” the vet explained to Harry.
“Surgery?” Harry choked out, sounding frightened.
Maggie reached over instinctively and grabbed his hand. Harry took it greedily, intertwining their fingers together tightly. Maggie couldn’t help but think of how right it felt.
“Will he… will he be okay?” Harry asked the vet.
“I don’t have a definite answer for you, unfortunately. There are always risks, but this thing happens quite often. Puppies are curious by nature and get into just about everything. In just about all the cases I’ve seen in similar situations, the dog recovered just fine and went on to live a long happy life,” the vet explained.
Both Harry and Maggie breathed a large sigh of relief and looked at each other for support as the vet tech took Hemmy back for x-rays. The vet went over all the details of the potential surgery and Harry held Maggie’s hand the entire time. She had to keep her brain from going to mush because of it. All she kept thinking was how perfectly dry their intertwined hands were. Usually when she held someone’s hand, it got sweaty or clammy and it usually got really uncomfortable and gross. But not with Harry. Their hands were dry and perfect and she could only take that as another sign – another thing she loved about him. Their perfect hands, perfectly intertwined.
Once the x-rays were done they were informed that Hemmy would in fact need surgery. There seemed to be a piece of cloth of some sort stuck in his intestine. The two of them sat in the waiting room of the vet’s office while Hemmy was in surgery. The vet offered to call when they were done in case they wanted to go home and rest, but Harry refused. He wanted to stay and be there for his dog right away after surgery. He offered to pay for an Uber to take Maggie home, but she told him she’d rather stay. She knew he needed someone there for him too.
“You’re a good friend,” Harry told her.
“So are you,” Maggie retorted, smiling sweetly at him.
Harry got a call from Kendall around ten o’clock and then shortly after, she showed up at the vet – nearly three hours after Harry called her about Hemingway.
“Oh, Maggie’s here. Yay,” Kendall said with thick sarcasm in her tone.
“Maggie drove us here. She’s been awesome,” Harry snapped at her.
“Well, thank you. You can go home now, Maggie. I’ll make sure Harry gets home okay,” Kendall said in a sugary sweet voice that Maggie knew was fake.
“I-I don’t have my car,” Maggie said, looking over at Harry.
“If you want to go home, you can take mine,” Harry said, pulling his keys out of the same pocket she dug them out of earlier that night.
“Uh, okay,” Maggie said uneasily, taking the keys from him. Really? Was he really trusting his precious Range Rover to her again?
Just then, the vet came out to inform them that the surgery went well and they’d be able to see Hemingway soon. He also told them what the foreign object was – a pair of thong underwear. After seeing both Harry and Kendall’s reaction, they all knew the underwear were Kendall’s, which made Maggie feel uncomfortable even though she knew she shouldn’t. She knew he and Kendall were dating, but she also read about all the rumors about Harry being gay with his bandmate Louis and she kind of hoped it were true. Then maybe she’d be able to get over the massive crush she had on him.
The vet informed Harry that Hemmy would need to stay overnight for observations, but he could come back in the morning.
It got awkward between Harry, Kendall and Maggie when Kendall kept insisting to drive Harry back to his house and have Maggie drive his car back. Harry kept telling her it didn’t make sense – that he would just drive Maggie home. Kendall seemed a bit pissed at him when she left in a huff.
“Well, that was uncalled for,” Harry said after his dramatic girlfriend stormed out of the vet office.
The drive back to the condos was quiet. Maggie couldn’t stop thinking about how jealous Kendall got over her being there. Maggie was literally just being a friend. She didn’t mean to cause Harry any trouble.
“I’m sorry about Kendall,” Harry said just before they reached their complex. Maggie looked over at him questioningly. It was like he could read her mind or something.
“She’s not usually like that,” Harry continued.
“Yes, she is. You don’t have to apologize for her,” Maggie said, looking away from him.
“Yeah,” Harry said quietly and the car fell silent for the remainder of the ride.
Once they got home, they each walked up their respective sidewalks, but both stopped short of their doors.
“Thank you for coming with – you know, helping out,” Harry told her.
“Mm-hmm,” Maggie hummed, smiling sweetly at him.
It was nearly midnight and her eyes were so heavy and tired. Plus, she had her Environmental Law exam in the morning – an exam she was totally unprepared for now.
“It means a lot to me to have such a good friend living right next door,” Harry continued, smiling back at her.
“Mm-hmm,” she hummed and nodded. Harry chuckled at her.
“You should get to bed. You look like you’re about to pass out right here,” Harry laughed.
“I might,” she said and smirked at him.
“Goodnight, Maggie May,” Harry said and stepped over the landscaping to pull her into a hug. Oh! It woke her right up in an instant.
“’Night, Hazza,” she said as he pulled away.
“Thanks again for all your help,” he said as he stepped back onto his sidewalk.
“You’re welcome,” Maggie said, moving toward her door to unlock it.
They waved to each other one last time before they disappeared into their houses. Maggie shut her door and stood with her back against it, repeating the same mantra in her head that she always did when Harry did something really sweet or flirty: He’s not worth it. He’s not worth it. He’s not worth it.
Ah, who was she kidding?
@xXFluffy_GruXx
8/6/18