Keep Driving [h.s]

forty-four

one year later

Harry

"I can't get this fucking thing on," I grumble, trying to fix my tie. Every time I try to put it on it looks wonky and I'm running out of time.

I wear button-ups and dress pants often but I rarely ever wear ties. None of my events required a tie before.

"Relax," Zayn steps up to me, getting ahold of my tie and begins fixing it for me. I tilt my chin up a bit to give his hand more space.

"You know you didn't need to wear a tie. Ella said there's no dress code."

"When will you learn, Z? If a woman tells you something, she means the opposite," I say, taking in a shallow breath. I'm anxious. I can feel my palms getting sweatier by the second.

What if I ruin the card I've written my speech on?

I fish it out of my pocket, checking if it's readable. Thankfully it is.

"You're a fuckin' mess, Harry. Take a deep breath and relax." Zayn tugs tightly on my tie once it's done, grasping my attention.

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to make a speech in front of everyone!"

I raise my voice a bit, looking at Zayn as he hands me my suit jacket. He is wearing a black suit just like me. He didn't have much else to do because a couple of months ago he cut his hair off completely. It's now grown back a bit but you can't do much with those couple of millimetres.

"I can hear you whining from across the hall, Styles." Johnny enters the room, wearing a white suit. He took his glasses off which is rare but I'm guessing he thought it wasn't fitting for the event.

"Sorry," I mumble, taking my jacket from Zayn and sliding it on.

"It's not even you getting married."

"Exactly. Just fuckin' relax, mate." Zayn adds to Johnny's statement.

They are right. This is not my wedding. Yet I still feel like it is.

When Johnny asked me to be his best man I immediately said yes, with no hesitation. However, later on, I learned from Ella that the best man needs to make a speech. A whole ass fucking speech.

Who would have thought?

Not me.

I tried backtracking but Ella would have kicked my ass and so would Johnny.

I sat down and rewrote the speech multiple times before today but I ended up choosing the very first version I wrote. It sounds the least cheesy but it's the most honest and raw thing I have ever written.

No matter what I say, Johnny is going to punch me in the face for being sappy. I should ask him to do it after the wedding so the pictures we take today look decent.

"Knock knock," I hear a very faint voice from the hall. The words sound a tiny bit like the word 'knock'   but my ears pick it up clearly.

This is exactly what I need right now to stop stressing.

Zayn opens the door and looks down expecting the girl to stand there.

Soleil looks up at Zayn giving him a small wave with her tiny hand and then at Johnny before she spots me at the end of the room by the window.

"Daddy!" She shouts excitedly, running towards me with a big smile on her face, her two front teeth showing.

"Hi, my little bunny!" I say just as excitedly crouching down to catch her in my arms. I lift her up and study her outfit and hair. "Oh, goodness you look so pretty! I love your dress, Sol."