Ever After (Sequel to Once)

I Want To Write You A Song

But what makes me so sure about Harry, so confident about saying yes to his proposal and yes to a new adventure, is that I know we’ll never stop looking for each other. No matter what happens, what the future has in store for us, he and I will always try to find each other. Our love may take different shapes and grow and change but it will never be lost completely, even if we decide later that it no longer comes in the form of romance. I think that’s more than anyone could ever ask for.

Yet our luck runs even further than that. Every day I get to wake up and see my best mate in the whole world, cheek tucked against the pillow with a little whistle of air released from his lips in the quite moments before he's awake. I'm no good at sentimentality, but I will say this: there's no one I'd rather spend a day with, no one I'd rather have for comfort when the world threatens to break my heart, no one I'd rather come home and talk about my day with. And as much as I'm thrilled about any new journey we take, I'm just as happy to stay in and laugh at whatever's on telly while trying not to spill Harry's latest concoction or whatever's in our takeaway cartons. Everything feels better with him around.

Sometimes it's hard to believe we've earned a love like this. And it's even harder to think about what I can give back to the universe for bringing me so much light, this second chance at happiness. What could I possibly offer in return for such a gift?

In times like that I remember to do the only thing I can, when in possession of something so massive. I, Allison Moore, promise to love him, wholly, fiercely, and most likely somewhat irrationally, forever after.

*****
A gust of wind carried us the last few steps along the sidewalk in front of my nan's flat. The canvas bag full of groceries sat slung over Harry’s arm, roses tucked in the corner and peeking out the top while the air caressed the cellophane.

Our fingers were locked together, unable to lose touch of one another completely. They had been that way since Harry and I decided to end our reunion in the produce aisle in favor of finishing the shopping, curled up against each other the whole walk home.

We had kept up our reintroduction charade the whole time, too, pretending not to know each other's favorite songs and the color of our hearts. But I turned to face him as we approached the concrete steps into the building instead of heading inside, as if it were a first date that I was unwilling to let turn promiscuous.

Harry grinned at me. “Well, are you going to let me in?”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “I think so.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, it’s just,” I shrugged, unable to place my finger quite on what was wrong. “You know, Mr. Harry-friend-of-Niall’s, I think we have met before.”

Harry pretended to be surprised. “You don’t say?”

I nodded. “I think we have, yeah. In fact, I think we know each other quite well. I think you broke my heart, once upon a time, and I think I returned the favor by pretending you meant nothing to me.”

“Well if that’s the case, I sound like a right idiot,” Harry replied. He tried to make a joke of it, but I could tell my words saddened him, the reminder of what he had done. A little bit of light left his eyes like he had discovered this was all too good to be true.

I touched his cheek with my free hand. “Hey, I didn’t mean to make you upset, sorry, that came out wrong. I just meant, I know it’s silly, since I’m the one that asked for it, but we can’t really forget everything that happened to us, can we? It's never going to be gone completely.”

He pondered my words, looking over at the structure behind me. “No, I don't suppose we can." His words came out in a defeated sigh.

I nodded. “All we can do is forgive and hope that we've learned from our mistakes. But how do we do that? I mean, you’re leaving again to go back on tour in less than 48 hours. It's not exactly a lot of time to restart."