Stuck With This Annoying Jerk!

(2018)

"Go ahead and don't f*ck*ng show up, ever again!" Harold shouts.

I turn around and look in his direction, to make sure he's watching and actually listening.

"F*ck off, you *ssh*l*." I say and flick him off.

Turning back around, I keep walking away, decided to walk as fast and far away from that place as I can.

"B*tch." I hear him say when I'm almost at the door and I immediately stop in my tracks, once again.

Why am I even giving in to his whims? I'm here to support my friends, on a show that I was actually invited to attend. So, if this is how he's going to treat me every time we meet, then babe, two can play this game.

I'll make sure that I'm going piss him off as much as I f*ck*ng can.

"You know what?" I say smirking, while slowly turning around.

I hear Harold groaning again.The perfect reaction, exactly what I wanted to hear.

So predictable.

"Weren't you f*ck*ng leaving?" He spats, his eyes glued on my every movement, as I walk back inside.

"I was, but then I got this huge urge to hear you guys sing." I say, exaggerating the words 'huge' and 'urge'.

I enlarge the smirk playing on my lip, keeping my eyes glued to his and sit myself back on the couch, defying him to say anything else to me. He narrows his eyes at me and I just send him the most fake smile I can manage, knowing that he'll easily tell it's fake.

"Why the f*ck do you insist on inviting her to these things?" Harold huffs, turning to the guys clearly frustrated.

"You need to get over that grudge, man." Louis tells him.

"I don't want to get over anything. What I need is to be left alone." Harold spats, following with a groan.

"It was me who invited her. Not them." Nick's girlfriend jumps in, trying to avoid any bad blood between the guys.

I'm not sure how she thinks that will help, but I stay put, I've been away for a while so I'm not familiar with their connections - maybe he'll soften for her, after all, they've been friends for years now.

"Stupid noisy girl." Harold murmurs.

Guess not.

"Watch your mouth, dude." Nick threatens, looking intently at Harold.

"Make me!" Harold dares, sharing the same look.

Nick takes a step towards Harold and I immediately get up, getting in-between them, shadowing Harold from Nick - as if I can shadow much of him since he towers over me.

I'm not sure why I'm doing this, nor what made me move, but it's like I still have this feeling, this need to protect him from everything and everyone.

In this case, Nick.

Not that I would be much help against someone with Nick's size, but then again, I highly doubt I would have to fight Nick at all, but the same way this makes no sense, neither do these feelings.

I know that what I'm really trying to do is get his attention on me and away from Nick. I don't need to have these two fighting over something I caused. I won't let that happen.

So, I send a look at Nick, silently asking him to calm down, and turn to face Harold.

"Can't little baby contain his frustrations anymore?" I make fun of Harold, using a baby voice.

I hear Nick's girlfriend talking to him to distract him from Harold. Nice, we're both in the same page here.

I take a few seconds to take in his features; he's older, but no less beautiful than before, the small bags under his eyes tell me he hasn't been getting much rest, the lines on his forehead more prominent, signaling that he's been frowning on a daily basis.

Instead of answering me, Harold just narrows his eyes and purses his lips at me. I smirk when I remember something that might help me achieve the distraction I'm searching for - I'm not even sure if he'll remember the references of what I'm about to mention, as it's been years, but it's worth the shot.

"Oh, and now little kitty ate your tongue." I say and for a moment I believe I see a bit of amusement rushing through his eyes, but it disappears as fast as it showed up.

He remembers.

And that small reaction is enougg to fuel me with confidence to carry on.

"That's what you get for chasing so much p*ssy." I shrug, smirking, now not in a malicious way.

"You wish it was yours." He tells me, still holding my stare and our close position. From here, I can feel his minty breath fan my face.

He's not smiling, but he's answering; he's playing along, so that's not bad and at least he forgot about his fuss with Nick.

"Been there, lived it and don't regret it." I choose my words carefully, then smirk even wider and wink at him.

"Shut up, b*tch." He tells me and walks off.

Something in his last insult didn't sound as mean as the others. The bitterness was still there, but something was different. And well, the fact that I can still amuse him with my stupid innuendos makes my heart rate speed up a little.

"What was that?" Louis asks me, getting me back to reality.

"Nothing." I shrug, avoiding his stare.

"Whatever it was, it calmed him down." Leonardo comments.

"It's kind of an old joke." I confess, as I sit back on the couch, for the third time today.

"You two joked about p*ssy?" Zack asks, mesmerized, but also amused.

"You see, I don't really like cats, but Harold loves them." I vaguely explain and they look at me as if I'm crazy, because they aren't understanding anything of what I'm saying.

I'm purposely being vague, just to let them frustrated. It's payback for tricking me into situations where I must put up with Harold's bad mood and insults.

"It's always good to be assured that our girlfriend isn't a lesbian."  Harold states, before turning around to leave, and I almost believe there was a twitch of his lips that resembles a start of his killer smirk.

(July 4th 2013)

"Cristina, hurry up! It's time to leave!" My mum shouts from downstairs.

I keep rummaging around my room, trying to find my Docs. I seriously need to stop leaving my things scattered around the first floor.

"I'm coming!" I shout back, while I look in the mirror, touching up my mascara, that is accentuating my light brown eyes. I give a little touch up to may already curly, dark brown, hair, just to tame a few weirdly out strands and apply clear ChapStick to my heart shaped lips.

I’m not really into overdoing my makeup – just the basics and I’m good to go.

Finding my shoes on the spare room I use as my personal gym, I quickly put them on, on my way down the stairs, almost tripping on the process.

On our way to my cousin’s, I keep myself distracted by the landscape, humming alongside the radio, while my parents chat away at the front. I enjoy their company and to tag along with them wh