Loved You First ∿ h.s. & l.t. love Δ ✔ [editing]

33.

Closing my eyes, I looked down, not believing what just blurted out of my mouth.

"So you like Harry now?" Louis scoffs, laughing afterwards. "I should've known. Always going for second best. And my best mate? That's low."

"Sounds like someone's the jealous one now." I opened my eyes, looking up at him through my eyelashes. He shook his head, smirking before looking over at Eleanor, who he just noticed has returned back to the room.

"Why hello there, lovely." He spoke, walking over to her. I winced, remembering all the times he used that name for me.

Spinning on my heel again, I stormed upstairs, racing into my bedroom and slamming the door behind me. There was no way in hell I was going to sit there and watch or hear their little love fest.

There's been a few minor details I've left out over the course of the past six months. Harry and I had been constantly texting, always checking up on each other to see how we've been. Louis had tried texting me, trying to convince me to come back with them on tour. Or to get back together, to give him another chance. But, those texts and calls were always ignored. I was still trying to move on with my life, but now it seems like Louis is doing just fine.

I heard a soft knock on my bedroom door, causing me to groan into my pillow while I was laying on the bed. "I want to be alone." I mumbled into the pillow, hopefully loud enough for the person behind the door to hear me.

"Avery, it's Harry." I heard Harry say from the other side of the door. "Please let me in."

I sighed, looking up from the pillow for a second, and colliding my face back into the soft pillow. "Come in." I murmured reluctantly.

The door pushed open, and Harry shut it behind him, walking over to my bed. I felt the bed sink in beside me. "He's changed a lot." Harry said quietly with a sigh.

I turned my body around so I was laying on my back. "I've noticed." I replied, looking up at the ceiling. "He's definitely not the Louis I remember when we dated."

"He was miserable for quite some time, y'know. Always moping around on the tour bus. We were all worried about him. There would be times he would go out for a night, and not come back until the next day late afternoon." Harry explained, and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Doesn't he realize that he cheated on me?" I inquired, shaking my head to myself. "It takes more than and 'I'm sorry' to fix things. And by the looks of it, I don't think he wants to fix anything. At least not anymore."

"Did you mean it?" Harry suddenly asked, changing the subject. I gave him a confused look, wondering what he was talking about. "About.." he coughed, "About your feelings for me?"

Oh, that subject. The one that I wanted to avoid. I looked down at my lap, fiddling with my fingers. "I mean- I guess so. I don't.. I don't know. I'm almost certain I have feelings for you, but then there's Louis."

"Almost certain?" Harry questioned, and I nodded, lifting my head up to meet his gaze with mine. I could've sworn I saw a shimmer of hope and happiness in his eyes. "Well, love, just know that my feelings for you never went away."

"Why?" I asked in a whisper, feeling my eyes start to water up. "I'm obviously not worth anything. Especially if I'm useless enough to be cheated on."

"Hey, hey," Harry spoke, scooting closer to me, turning his body to completely face me. "That prick doesn't deserve you. Anybody who cheats on a girl doesn't deserve them. You, Avery Payne, deserve so much better than him. You shouldn't have to go through this because he decided to have drunken sex. You don't deserve any of the pain he caused you."

By now, a tear slipped right down my cheek, and Harry immediately reached his hand up, wiping it away gently with his thumb.

"I'm always going to be here for you, love." Harry said in a gentle and calm voice, keeping his hand on my face. I looked at him, my eyes still watery from crying.

"Could I ask you something?" I asked softly, biting down on my lip. He nodded, urging me to continue with my question.

I took a deep breath, my breathing shaky, "Do you think.. that there could ever be an us?"

Harry gave me a confused look at first. "You and I?"

I chuckled a bit at his unintended song reference, but nodded, a small smile on my lips still. "Well, I wouldn't see why not." He answered, smiling along, as well.

"Good, good." I whispered, smiling and blushing as I looked down at my lap. "So I guess you wouldn't care if I did this." I added, and before Harry got to say anything, I lifted my head back up, leaning forward and placing my lips on his carefully.

He tensed up, completely taken back by surprise. But once he realized what was happening, his hand went down to my waist, and then to the small of my back, kissing me back.

In the midst of a soon to be passionate kiss, the door suddenly swung open, revealing a familiar blonde Irish lad on the other side. Harry and I quickly sprung apart, trying to pull off the situation as if nothing was seen, but it was too late by now. 

Niall stood there with his eyes widened. "O-Oh. Uhm. Yeah. Okay. Sorry." He awkwardly mumbled quickly, shutting the bedroom door again as he walked out. I looked up at the ceiling, out of breath, and I started laughing. Niall always seemed to walk in on an intimate moment.

"Every time." I let out a laugh. Harry nodded in agreement, laughing and coming over to kneel down in front of me, cupping my face in his hands. He leaned forward again, placing his lips on mine once more.

"I've waited so long to do that." Harry whispered against my lips, pulling away, keeping his face several inches from mine.

I smiled, feeling my cheeks heat up. "Maybe if I got with you in the first place, I would've saved myself all the heartbreak and regret." I admitted, placing my hands on his shoulders.

He smiled softly, nodding a bit. "It's okay now, though. Everything is falling into place again."

"I completely agree." I whispered quietly, and he was right.

Everything was falling back into place. Slowly, but surely.

I hope.

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