Bittersweet

29

Esme's POV

The halls were just how I left it; wide and buzzing until the first bell rang. The kids scattered, minus the few who had the care free attitude I once had as a senior.

"Miss. Harris?" A familiar deep voice calls. "Do my eyes deceive me, or are you truly here?"

"Mr. Daniels! It is me in the flesh." I do a little bow as I face him.

"You are one of the last people I expected to return. Where's your buddy...Zayn Malik, am I right?" He says, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, Zayn is in the city, happily married to Finley. I'm still very close with them, I actually just got off the phone with them." I explain.

"Mm, I had a feeling those two would last, give them my regards. But Miss. Harris, I must ask, why are you really here?"

"I don't know honestly, I think I need a little more closer before I finally grow up and move on with my life." I sigh, grazing my hands against the lockers.

"Grow up? Ha, you're at least, twenty-four? Twenty-two? Either number, you're still in your early twenties, and there's is no need to rush and grow up! To be honest, I was still stuck in my party haze until I hit my thirties, and even then I was immature. There's no need to rush in to adulthood just yet, you have time, Miss. Harris." Mr. Daniels says.

"But when you see your two best friends get married and move on with their lives along with West, Matt, Taylor, everyone-"

"I think you're confused, there's a difference between growing up, and moving on with life. Your old friends aren't going to be with you forever, sadly. But guess what, it's all apart of moving on." He grins.

Before I can continue arguing with my old chemistry teacher, something that was very familiar to me, my phone buzzes and Harry's name displays on the screen with a stupid looking picture he made as his contact photo.

Ok, so it wasn't so stupid, he looked pretty good in the picture seeing as though his shirt was off, as usual, and his eyes looked abnormally and beautifully green. Before I can be mesmerized by his evil picture I ignore the call, just for him to call seconds after.

"Hey! No cell phones in school!" Mr. Daniels attempts to joke as he exits the room we were standing in front of. Wow, he was really fast. "It was lovely seeing you Miss. Harris, but I do have chem tests to grade and lunch to eat, so I hope to see you again in these halls."

"Of course, nice seeing you too Mr. D." I wave him off as I turn my phone off and slide it back in to my pocket.

The bell rang once more and kids began running out of classrooms left and right. Some didn't look too far from my age, in fact, I blended in easily. Maybe I do still have time to grow up. I think it was just the constant pressure after finishing college and finding a good enough job that made me believe that I needed to stop acting, well, my actual age.

At first I had know idea why I was visiting my old high school halls, but I guess God was just forcing me to have a conversation with my old grumpy chemistry teacher so that I wouldn't consume myself with this stress.

And as I continued my way down the hallway, passing teenagers, I remembered the old "jockateers", that school musical bullshit we all went through, and everything in between.

-

It was oddly relaxing being back home, in peace. Not to mention the comforting feeling of driving from school to my old childhood home. I hadn't called my mom to tell her of my visit, hoping that this surprise would mean the world to her. She was sad that both of her kids were off on there own for a change and I knew my visit would mean the world to her.

I rang the doorbell, probably six or seven times before a middle aged man appeared at the door.

"Hello, how may I help you ma'am?" He asks ever so politely. He looked like a forty year old version of David Beckham, I concluded after a while of deciding what famous British guy he resembled.

"Ma'am?" He says again when I don't respond.

"Where's my mother and who the hell are you." I blurt out.

"Are you...Esme? You're her daughter?" He questions and I nod along slowly. "I'm Bill Gellar, your mother's boyfriend."

Mother's boyfriend? I knew she was seeing someone, but this was not the guy in the picture she had shown me.

"Honey, who is it?" I hear my mom's voice call before her little frame appears next to Bill. "Esme? Baby, what are you doing here?"

"That wasn't the expression I was expecting, but I'm here to visit my lovely mother and I guess her boyfriend, Bill too." I say as I brush my hand through my hair.

"Esme sweetie, have you not looked at your phone? I called and texted you, there's been an accident-"

"What? Who? Is it Jack?" I can feel the tears brimming my eyelids, thinking of my stupid careless brother doing something, well, stupid and careless. "Please don't say Jack."

"No, no, Jack is perfectly okay, but Niall isn't."

Her words felt like daggers in my stomach as I absorbed each one. I almost fall, but Bill catches me and sits me on the patio chair. When I find my phone and turn it on again, missed calls and messages appear in one after the other.

Ten missed calls from Harry, thirteen messages.

Twelve missed calls from Zayn, seven messages.

Six missed calls from Fin, twenty messages.

Three calls from Matt, two from Taylor and eleven from Louis.

I choose Zayn's message first, mainly because Fin's would be hard to understand knowing her emotions and I couldn't stand to here Harry's voice for known reasons, or Matt, Louis or Taylor's since it would break my heart even more.

"Esme, why aren't you answering! Fuck, you need to come to Roosevelt Hospital and now! Harry told Niall everything, he broke it off with Emma and then deciding to go run after you...he was driving they say..almost 100 MPH on the highway...and a car hit him...Esme, you need to come, fuck your feelings right now, you need to be here I don't give two fucks about what ever drama you're in, get your ass down here, and soon!"

"I'll take her there." I think Bill says but I'm so caught up in my own head I can't think straight anymore. All I knew was that Niall was hurt, and the thought of never seeing him again makes everything in my body go numb.

(A/N: Hello my lovely readers, I have read your comments about wanting a third book, and I have in fact thought on it. I still am, actually. I'm contemplating whether to do a whole entire book, or simply finish off this series with an Epilogue. And sadly, I'm leaning towards the Epilogue. Through out these two books, I've grown to love the characters as they have resembled people in my actual life, but even though, it's time to end the era of Esme Harris, her friends and her romantic companions. I'm really sorry that I may not continue on TKB and Bittersweet, but if you really understand my writing in Bittersweet, you can tell that the motif is the fear of growing up and moving on. From chapter one to now, Esme has battled with this, and has learned to overcome her fears. Hence my choice in title, Bittersweet; growing up can be hard, bitter, but is always satisfying, sweet. I fear if I continue with a third book that both you and I will loose interest in it and it would have just been a waste. I know you may think I'm crazy and probably hate me for my choices but the best books leave you thinking and questioning, which is how I want to leave my readers. It may sound like our final goodbye, but is not! There is one last chapter left, plus an Epilogue! It would actually be really cool if some of you create your own Epilogue after the last chapter before I write my own Epilogue, but if none of you want to, that's fine by me lol. Thank you all for sticking with me this far, you're all very amazing people.

Ox, Dee)