Reason to be - Harry Styles ✓

44. Crystal clear

You really need to read the author’s note at the end. Trust me.

‘I will do it’, I told myself again, but when my hand started stretching out for the doorbell, I hesitated. I pressed my lips together and sighed.

‘If you don’t do it now, then when? Come on!’

Quickly, before I had the chance to change my mind, I hit the wood several times with my fist and waited. I was shifting the brown bag in my hands as I heard movement behind the door; but it didn’t open.

“Come on, Daniel, please.” I murmured, resting my hand on the door. “I miss you. Please, talk to me.”

I waited; minutes that felt like decades passed until I eventually put the bag down, in defeat.

“I brought the shirt you borrowed me when… Anyway, I’ll leave it here. Thank you.”

I hesitated one more time, before turning my back to Daniel’s house. A small smile formed on my lips when I got in the car on the passenger’s seat, but it soon faded when he put it in motion and turned around on the road.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked, a few seconds later. I looked down, smiling bitterly. “Wasn’t he home?” the curly boy continued with curiosity, but it took me a moment to notice that his words were addressed to me.

“He was, I know he was there.” I whispered, clearing my throat at the end. I started blinking quickly, trying to prevent the tears from falling.

“Then why wouldn’t he answer? April…”

I shook my head, hiding my face in my hair. How could I tell him that Daniel had feelings for me? Harry would get protective and jealous and persuade me to stay away from him. He wouldn’t stand Daniel anymore and I couldn’t let that happen; the blond, silly guy from the pool was, after all, my friend.

“What happened, April? Tell me.” Harry continued with concern, as I noticed that he was torn between the urge of looking at me and keeping his eyes glued to the road.

“Nothing.” I lied, already feeling guilty. “We simply had a recent fight, but it will be alright. Don’t worry about me.”

I hoped that my pathetic smile would be enough for him to let the conversation slide. Fortunately, his attention fully returned to driving after muttering a reassuring “okay” and I could feel my body relaxing a little in my seat. My eyes got lost in the buildings passing by us in speed and the blue sky of the morning. As I let my mind wander, the image of the earlier morning appeared in front of my eyes; Zayn and Niall were already waiting for us outside of the house, Liam was urging Louis to stop talking to Liz on the phone and leave, I was watching Harry as he was putting his shoes on and taking his jacket, while holding a bag at my chest. As we stepped out of the house, Harry entwined his hand with mine, sending chills up my spine. I looked at him and smiled, without noticing the strange bus waiting outside of the house; its colour was a metallic black and the windows were dark, but other than that nothing was special about it. I awkwardly reminded myself that it was probably a tour bus for the boys, making me realise again that I was on the verge of going for the first time to a city that included sand and ocean water with a boyband. Eventually, all the boys got in the bus until only Harry and I were left outside, but when I started following them, Harry dragged my hand and told me that we were not going with the tour bus. As the vehicle was leaving and I was getting confused, he led me to his car and opened the passenger’s door for me. I already knew that questions like ‘why?’ were useless, so I just obeyed with a playful smile on my face and a roll of eyes. Then I remembered that I was still carrying the brown bag, and before I had the chance to change my mind, I was asking Harry to make a quick stop before continuing our trip to Bournemouth. I don’t know what I was expecting when I went to Daniel’s house, but I couldn’t go on without me knowing that I had at least tried to make things better. And instead, I probably made them worse.