You + Me + Him

Fall 2015

Alyssa woke up to hear the sound of some obnoxious girls laugh echoing through the condo. It only meant one of two things… Zayn was entertaining a stupid bimbo that he more than likely spent the night plowing, or for some reason he decided to hire a new maid. Something told her immediately it wasn’t the latter.

Alyssa looked over at the clock to see it was only eight a.m. She was already so thoroughly annoyed. It was her one day that week to sleep in and she was being woken up way too early. She rolled out of bed, not bothering to care what she looked like and made her way to the kitchen.

Zayn was standing in front of the stove cooking, while some blonde chick was sitting on the kitchen counter wearing Zayn’s boxers and a t-shirt – her slutty little nipples protruding out through the thin fabric. Alyssa rolled her eyes at the sight of the two of them.

“Lyssy, hey. Morning,” Zayn said cheerfully, catching a glimpse back at her quickly before turning back to the stove. She let out a grunt, just an inkling of a response.

“Lyss, I want you to meet Amber. Amber, this is my best friend, Alyssa,” Zayn said, introducing the two of them as he slid two egg white omelets out of the frying pan onto a plate. Alyssa scoffed as she made her way across the kitchen to grab a mug for coffee. She was in no mood for Zayn to call her ‘Lyssy’ or to meet his latest conquest.

“Please get your ass off of my kitchen counter. We prepare food on it,” Alyssa shot at the girl, sending a glare in her direction. Amber’s smile faded instantaneously as she slunk down from the counter moving closer to Zayn.

“Forgive her. She can be a bitch when she wakes up,” Zayn said, emphasizing the word ‘bitch’.

“Yeah and you can be an asshole pretty much every second of your life,” Alyssa shot at him. She really did not feel like dealing with any of his bullshit. She had enough for a lifetime.

“Fucking moody,” Zayn said under his breath.

“You know Zayn, this is exactly the reason I didn’t want to move in with you,” Alyssa snapped as she spun toward him dramatically.

“And what’s that, Alyssa?” He asked, giving her attitude, narrowing his eyes as he looked back at her.

“Because you’re a slut that brings sluts here. Don’t expect to be invited back,” Alyssa snarled before directing her foul mood on the girl again.

“Alyssa! What the fuck is your problem!?” Zayn yelled, his voice booming.

“You!” She shouted, slamming her coffee cup on the counter before storming out of the kitchen.

Zayn didn’t come after her and she didn’t really give a shit. Something inside of her snapped. Zayn could go fuck himself for all she cared.

It wasn’t until nearly noon when she found Zayn leaning against her bedroom door frame, arms crossed, tight lipped.

“Jesus Christ! Why would you sneak up on me like that!?” Alyssa yelped, holding her hand over her heart.

“Uh, I just want to remind you about the charity thing tonight,” he said evenly. His voice was detached, withdrawn and she knew he was mad at her.

“Yeah, how could I forget?” Alyssa sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Look, if you don’t want to go…” He started, his voice taking on annoyance.

“Don’t fuck with me, Zayn. I already got a dress and I’m supposed to be at your parent’s house by three to get my hair and makeup done with your mom and your sisters,” Alyssa snapped, sending an incredulous look at him.

“What the hell is your problem today? Are you on your period or something?” He asked, cocking his head as he looked at her.

“Fucking shit,” Alyssa mumbled under her breath.

Why was that the go-to reason when a girl was in a pissy mood? Girls get angry for other reasons besides their periods, okay. Mainly being the men in their lives fucking them over.

“What?” He shot at her.

“No! I am not on my period, Zayn,” Alyssa yelled back.

“What is with you?” He asked frustrated, throwing his hands up in the air.

“I am just realizing how bad of an idea this all was,” she told him, shaking her head, wishing she never took the step to move in with him.

“What? Moving in with me?” He asked.

“Yes!” She said exasperated.

“Just because I had one girl over!? What makes you think I’m just going to sleep her and leave her?” Zayn asked.

“Because that’s what you do!” Alyssa yelled at him.

“I like her,” he said quietly.

“Pfffft. Sure,” Alyssa scoffed.

“You know what? Fuck you, Alyssa,” Zayn snapped, leaving her doorway.

“No, fuck you,” she said as she took two long strides to her door and slammed it shut. Asshole.

Alyssa decided to grab the things she needed for the night to head over to the Malik/Styles house earlier than expect. She could hang out with Doniya or Waliyha. And if they weren’t there, she could hang out with Trisha. Either way, she wouldn’t be under the same roof as Zayn biggest-asshole-in-the-world Malik.

When Alyssa arrived at their home, she let herself in. She couldn’t even remember the last time she knocked. It was as normal as breathing to she walk in. After all, she was family in their eyes.

The house was eerily quiet for twelve-thirty on a Saturday. There was no hustle and bustle of their parents. No incessant talking from Doniya and Waliyha. No running around like a crazy person by Safaa. And Harry, well he usually was shut up in the music room, so he was never that loud anyway.

“Hello?” Alyssa called out. Silence.

Hmm. Alyssa immediately wondered why the door was unlocked if nobody was home? She moved toward the staircase to ascend the stairs to see if maybe someone was hiding in their room or something.

“Alyssa?” She heard Harry’s voice coming from the bottom of the basement stairs.

“Harry… holy shit. You scared me,” she said, holding her heart.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” He asked, his stutter not lost on her.

“Uh, Zayn and I got into a fight. I was supposed to meet Trisha and your sisters here at three, so I just… came early,” she told him.

“You got into a fight?” He asked with genuine worry in his voice.

“Uh, yeah,” she said, waving it off. She really had no energy to re-hash it with Harry.

“What about?” He asked, causing her to stare him down like a deer-in-headlights.

“Uh…” She stammered.

“Forget it. You don’t have to tell me,” he said, looking almost pained that he even asked. Alyssa sighed before letting herself relax.

“No, whatever. I just… I called him and his new lady friend sluts to their faces. It was stupid. They were being loud and…” Alyssa began to tell him.

“Oh,” Harry said, his eyes going wide for a moment.

“No, not like that. They weren’t—not then anyway. They were in the kitchen…” Alyssa continued, but Harry made another suggestive face, making her laugh.

“They were making breakfast, you perv!” Alyssa laughed, reaching out to swat his arm.

“I get it. They were loud,” Harry let out a little laugh, and it made her realize it had been a long time since she did that. She couldn’t even remember the last time she made Harry Styles laugh. And as she thought of it, she realized Harry made her foul mood disappear. Her smile dropped completely off her face when she realized how weird it made her feel.

“It was stupid. I just… I’m sick of Zayn and all the stupid things he does,” Alyssa said as she looked to her feet, feeling rather vulnerable.

“You should be sick of it,” Harry said quietly.

“Yeah… so… uh, is Trisha home, do you know?” Alyssa asked, changing the subject as quickly as she could.

“She’s out with Safaa and Dad,” Harry replied immediately.

“Doniya or Waliyha?” She asked, hopefulness apparent in her tone.

“Out,” he said, giving her a sympathetic look.

“Damn it,” she breathed.

“Uh, I’m just watching some TV. You could come hang,” he offered with a shrug of his shoulders.

Alyssa was surprised for two reasons: 1) Harry Styles was inviting her to hang out with him, and 2) Harry Styles was ‘just watching some TV’.

“Since when do you ever ‘just watch TV’?” Alyssa asked with a sly smirk. He shrugged his shoulders with a bashful smile on his face.

“Uh, I’m just gonna drop off my things,” she told him, nodding to the bag and dress weighing down her arms.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, moments before he disappeared back down the stairs.

Did she and Harry Styles just have a civilized conversation? Wow.

Alyssa took the stairs upward toward the bedrooms of the house. Making her way to Zayn’s old room, it felt wrong in some way. Mainly because he no longer lived there. His room was just a shell of what it once was. The posters and artwork were now all gone – being taken down to be replaced in his art room at the new condo. His closet sat empty, no longer filled with his clothes and junk. His bed still sat there, but only because he got a new one when he moved. Seeing his room like that made her heart wrench in her chest. He wasn’t the same person he once was and she missed him.

Alyssa swiftly hung her dress on the back of his door and laid her shoes and duffel bag across the end of his bed before retracing her steps back out of the room and down the hallway. She met Harry in the TV room, where he greeted her with a smile. It was the first time they’d been around each other since they had their little breakthrough at breakfast the other morning and it made Alyssa hopeful to rekindle the friendship that was lost over the years.

Early 2007

“Harry…” Alyssa said quietly as they hung out in the TV room at the Malik/Styles house.

“Yeah,” he said from his spot next to her on the couch.

“Happy Birthday,” she told him.

Zayn, Doniya and Waliyha were passed out in their sleeping bags and blankets on the floor already. It was past midnight, and technically it was now the 2nd of February. But Harry wanted to stay up late for his birthday, so Alyssa stayed up with him, even though she was extremely tired after waking up early for school that day. But now they had a long weekend and she didn’t care how tired she was.

“It’s not my birthday anymore,” he said, looking at the clock.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as we’re still awake, it’s still your birthday,” Alyssa told him, causing a wide smile to form on his lips.

“What do you want to do?” She asked.

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” He asked.

“We should play a game or something,” she offered.

“Like what?” He asked, quirking his head.

“I don’t know. Give me your hand,” she told him. He quickly obliged, handing over his hand without question and she flipped it over so his palm was facing up.

“Try to guess what I’m writing in your hand without peeking,” Alyssa told him. He giggled, but looked away so she could write with her fingertip.

“I’ll make the first one an easy one,” she told him as she drew H-A-R-R-Y in his palm, one letter at a time.

“That’s too easy. Harry,” he said, guessing it immediately.

“Okay. I’ll do another one,” she giggled and wrote A-L-Y-S-S-A in his palm.

“Alyssa,” he whined.

“Shut up. Fine, I’ll give you a harder one and it won’t be someone’s name,” she told him. She paused for a few moments trying to find a good one.

“Ah, I’ve got it!” She said having a ‘eureka!’ moment.

Her finger began tracing S-U-P-E-R-S-T-I-T-I-O-N on his palm. Superstition by Stevie Wonder was Harry’s favorite song. He taught himself how to play it on the piano and since then Alyssa heard his rendition of it countless times. The kid really had serious musical talent.

“Jeez, could you have picked a longer word?” Harry laughed.

“You wanted a harder one,” Alyssa giggled, biting at her lip, sure she had him stumped.

“Can you do it again?” He asked, nudging his hand back into hers. She obliged, writing it out slower this time.

“Starts with an ‘S’,” he said.

“Yes,” she confirmed.

Alyssa ended up having to write it out a few more times and giving him two more hints before he came up with the answer.

“That was a good one. My turn,” Harry smiled, grabbing her hand in his, flipping it palm side up.

“Give it to me,” Alyssa giggled.

“I already have it picked out,” he said with a smile.

Alyssa was incredibly confused when he wrote it out. It was rather long and he wrote it out a little too fast.

“I have no idea,” she giggled.

“Come on. Let me do it again,” he said and went about tracing the word again.

“Starts with a ‘W’?” Alyssa asked, not entirely sure she was right.

“Uh-huh,” he smiled. Alyssa pondered what it could be, but she kept coming up short. She really had no idea.

“Think back,” he said, giving her the hint that it had to do with a memory they shared together.

“Do it again,” she told him.

He traced it one more time, and she really paid attention to every stroke of his finger across her flesh.

“I’ve got it,” she smirked at him.

“What is it?” He smiled back.

“Warriors,” she giggled.

“Yes!” He laughed, giving her a quick high five.

‘Warriors’ was the basketball team name Harry and Alyssa chose when she first met Harry and Zayn, along with Zayn’s friend Robbie. The three of them were playing b-ball on the court by the park when Alyssa walked up and asked if they could use another player to make fair teams

Zayn and Robbie, being the sneaky little bastards they were, put Harry, the scrawny twelve year old and Alyssa, the girl, on a team together, thinking it would boost their chances of winning. Little did they know, Alyssa had been playing on the girl’s basketball team since she was little and knew a thing or two about scoring on the court. She and Harry dominated against them and nicknamed themselves the ‘Warriors’ because they were so awesome.

“That was a good one. Better than mine,” Alyssa said, smiling at him as she relived the memory in her head.

“I liked yours,” Harry said, smiling back at her.

They continued playing the game for a little while longer before they retreated to their sleeping bags to go to sleep.

“Harry…” Alyssa whispered once they settled.

“Yeah?” He replied.

“Happy Birthday,” she told him again.

“Thanks, Alyssa. You’re a good friend,” he said, smiling fondly before rolling over and shutting off the TV.

“Do you remember your thirteenth birthday?” Alyssa asked Harry after she relived the memory in her head.

“Yeah. Why?” He asked, looking over at her from his perch on the couch.

“We used to have so much fun together – just you and me,” she told him, meeting his gaze.

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“We played that stupid word guessing game until we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore,” Alyssa said, smiling at the memory.

“It wasn’t stupid,” he told her, looking as serious as ever, and it caused her to wipe the smile from her face.

Seconds later he grabbed her hand, placing it palm up in his own. He traced a word on it and Alyssa couldn’t help but smile again. It actually made her want to cry.

“Warriors,” she whispered, the word almost getting lost completely due to the emotional lump in her throat. He smiled and let her hand go before returning his gaze back on the TV.

“I miss you, Harry,” she told him sincerely. His eyes met hers once again and she could see the emotion in them.

“I miss you, too,” he said evenly.

Alyssa swallowed back another emotional lump in her throat, unable to process what she was feeling or thinking. She just knew she missed her old friend and she wanted him back.

Notes