Her Neverland [ Louis Tomlinson]

Chapter 23 : "Striking Resemblance"

Sᴏɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ sɪᴅᴇ - Tᴇssᴇʟʟᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ Aʟᴛ-J





Chapter 23




LOUIS' POV





I looked into her green eyes. She may have been smiling a smile that could pass for happy but her eyes, oh her eyes. They looked terrified. Like she had seen something or heard something that completely messed with her head.



"Louis, you've missed the first half of the movie already." Harmony said with a small yawn as she looked away from the flat screen TV before us. Yeah, I had missed half of the movie but I could care less. The movie could be easily re-watched but looking at Harmony couldn't seem to be done enough. Especially considering there are only so many moments like this one, normal.



I made a small grunt of noise as if in agreement, Harmony sent me a playful glare. "Why are you staring at me like that?" She inquired as she snuggled closer to me on the bed. We had gotten cozy in bed as soon as we returned from our misadventure. She complained about being too tired to talk about what had happened. It had been bothering me ever since but laying beside her, close and warm, was making me forget about the pressing issue.



I leaned forward and left a short peck on her forehead before replying. "Just memorizing every detail." My voice was quiet and sincere in the hush of the hotel room with the silent buzz of the TV following suit.



From what I could tell in the dim of the room, Harmony's cheek tinted a deep pink and I couldn't help but smirk. Unable to keep the distance between us, I leaned forward to leave a kiss on her sweet lips. The strange static that happens every time our lips touch, sparked and sent a pleasurable chill running up my back. My hand smoothed from her small hands to her neck, eliciting goose bumps to rise along her skin.



I could feel my heart beat like the wings of hummingbirds as Harmony leaned even more into the kiss, deepening it as she slipped her hands behind my head, fisting my hair in her hands. Moving my hands down to her waist, I began to pull Harmony towards me so that she was now straddling my waist.



Our lips continued to move in sync and I could feel Harmony skimming one of her hands lightly over my neck causing me to shiver. The single touch made me ache for more as I slipped my tongue along her bottom lip asking for entrance.



Harmony and I had kissed many times but nothing quite this intimate and heated. We tended to not push things, not feeling the need to go any further. But with today, and its odd events behind us, we lost each other in this blissful kiss.



She opened her mouth and I took advantage of the moment, taking the kiss further. Our breathing picking up and intermingling, I brushed my hand through her thick curls keeping a grasp on the back of her neck. My other hand was rested under her thigh feeling her warmed skin.



We continued like this for god knows how long, tightly entangled in each other's grasp. Harmony's lips surprisingly left mine but quickly moved down to my neck leaving a light trail of kisses. Taking this time to catch my breath I could feel my heart beating a million miles per hour. I knew that Harmony's heart was beating as swiftly as mine too.



Leaving one last kiss, Harmony lifted her head up to meet my eyes. Her cheeks were flushed a brilliant pink and I reached my hand out to cup her face, brushing my thumb over her colored cheeks. She grinned and it seemed any sort of trouble that was hidden in her green eyes had disappeared. A small sigh of relief left my lips and I could feel my heart swell. Harmony was amazing and that's all I could think.



"I love you." I told her in a whisper as if it was a secret that no one else could hear. I leant forward again, kissing her tenderly not waiting for her to say it back. She had only said it once before and I didn't want to force her into saying it all the time. Nothing between us is ever forced and I liked that about us.



Harmony pulled back to my disappointment and gave me a strange look. "I love you too, Louis." She whispered probably quieter than I had. Honestly, I didn't mind so much that she had pulled away now knowing that she was going to say that. I grinned widely at her and nuzzled my face into the crook of her neck beyond happy with the ending of our peculiar day. An almost silent giggle left Harmony as she rested her head on my chest and we cuddled for the longest time.



We fell asleep to the sound of each other's even breaths and comforting closeness.











I had been awake for a while just gazing at Harmony's relaxed features as she slept soundly only occasionally wrinkling her nose or fluttering her eyes in her sleep. She would sometimes say things ever so quietly in her sleep, things that she was subconsciously worrying about. Thing she probably didn't even bother to think about when she was awake. But one thing she had mumbled did catch my attention.



"He was there." She murmured almost soundlessly. "I saw him."



I moved onto my stomach resting my head on the palms of my hands and listened intently to the rest of the jumbled up words, trying desperately to decipher what she was saying. Who had she seen?



"Who did you see, Harmony?" I urged her to tell me in her unconscious state to see if she would tell me whom she saw.



Her eyes fluttered some behind her closed eyelids and her eyebrows pulled together, I thought that I had woken her up but surprisingly she spoke. "Ben."



I felt myself tense and my face scrunched up in confusion. Trying to comfort myself that she was only dreaming, I took a deep breath and moved my hand to move a strand of her curly red hair away from her face. "Where did you see Ben?" I inquired continuing with her subconscious confessions.



"T-town." She stuttered and I felt a shiver run up my spine. If that was true then that would explain her bewildered expression when I found her in town earlier.



"Harmony." I hummed trying to gently wake her. I knew that I should probably let her sleep but ever since the strange events of yesterday I had been dying to know what happened.



Whispering her name one more time before her eyelids slowly fluttered open, I pecked her cheek gently easing her awake. Harmony's brilliant green eyes were promptly shown but they were distant and sleep ridden.



"Good morning, babe," I whispered close to her ear as I snuggled into the crook of her neck sending a shiver throughout her body.



"Ya know, I really don't mind getting woken up like this." Harmony stated cheekily with a yawn following after. Her cheeks were still tinted red with sleep as she turned towards me and I pulled her closer so our foreheads touched.



I hummed in agreement, "I wouldn't mind waking up like this every morning either."



A small laugh escaped her lips and she pecked mine swiftly leaving me no time to react. We laid in silence for some time just smiling like fools. But eventually my thoughts aimlessly drifted to the reason I had woken her up.



"Will you please tell me what happened yesterday?" I asked gently with a hopeful tone. Harmony's once tired eyes began to widen in some sort of fear.



"I don't know, Louis." She replied uneasily.



"But you promised you'd tell me." I felt like this was rather unfair for her but I really had to know. "Just tell me, Harmony. Please."



She sighed deeply, looking away from my intense gaze. Her eyes moved about desperately as if in search for something but she finally looked back to me. "I think I saw Ben." She started simply.



I listened intently to everything she had to say, not wanting to miss a single thing. Everything she was saying had me worried but I didn't want to voice my opinion in the middle of her confession. I was honestly thankful that she was finally talking about it.



She had seen Ben, or so she thought, and went after him in the forest leaving me alone to worry. Harmony said she managed to get lost and while she was in the forest she heard her name being called. But that was it, only once until she had gotten out of the forest and headed out into town, following whom she thought was Ben. She kept hearing her name being called and eventually she supposedly came close to touching Ben but he promptly disappeared.



Harmony's explanation was rushed and I felt like there may have been parts missing to help justify the odd bits and ends. But it ended where it did and I was left with silence and a weary look from Harmony.



Let's see, there are a few things that can easily be explained. First, the person she heard in the woods could have undoubtedly been me. I had called out to Harmony a few times when I realized she had disappeared. Then the times she heard her name being called in town could have been a fan trying to get her attention. But for the fact that she had seen Ben, I had nothing to rationalize for that. It could have been a trick of the eye or, I don't know... But it is completely and utterly impossible that she had seen her dead brother.



With my reasoning fresh in mind, I decisively looked back up to Harmony.



"Harmony, have you ever thought that the voice calling to you in town could have been a fan trying to get your attention. Or when you were in the woods, that was just me. I called out to you." I simplified gently for her but as soon as my words started to work their way into her mind she began to shake her head.



"No, the voice sounded just like Ben." She reasoned for me but it sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself. Her eyebrows were pulled together fiercely in a desperate sort of way as she thought it over and I could see her eyes begin to get glassy. Shaking her head more viciously, she breathed out a shaky breath. "Then explain the fact that I had seen him." Harmony defended.



"A trick of the eye. Maybe you had seen someone else that bore a resemblance and you let your mind trick you into believing it was him." My voice was soothing but I could feel the bubbling agitation inside of me as Harmony continued to look slightly hurt so suddenly.



"No, Louis. I know what I saw. It was Ben." Harmony looked to me dreadfully. I could see her lip trembling and the tears welling up profusely as her eyes begged me to take back what I said. I would give everything to be able to appease her wishes but I couldn't let her live in a deluded world.



"Harmony, it's not possible." My voice was blunt and to the point. I didn't want to be emotionless towards her when she looked so hurt but I hoped to get the point across.



Shockingly, Harmony sat up from her spot beside me and I could see how her slight body trembled with each in take of breath. She moved so that she was kneeling on the bed beside me. Her jaw was clenched tight and her small fists were clasped so tightly that her knuckles were white as a ghost. Green eyes set in an unforgiving glare with tears slipping down her cheeks stared me down as I returned a less severe stare waiting anxiously for something to be said.



It's funny how quickly situations can turn. How quickly everything can seem totally fine and then the next is complete shit. Harmony is giving me whiplash from her ever-changing moods but I can't let her continue on in a dream world, some sort of Neverland.



"Take that back." She threatened, finally speaking.



I stared back at her curiously. "You need to stop living in your own little world, Harmony."



Harmony froze as I spoke that single sentence and something seemed to click inside of that frazzled head of hers. And I promptly realized what was so wrong about that sentence. It was strikingly similar to something Ben had said to her the night he had died. Remembering back to when Harmony told me about that night, I recognized that same sentence he had shouted at her before leaving her.



"H-harmony, I'm sorry." I stuttered out, just as shocked that I had said what I had.



Harmony sniffled slightly with a distant expression but before I could process what was happening, she jumped forward and began slamming her fist on my chest. Her repeated assaults continued but honestly it wasn't painful compared the strange pull in my chest that started from seeing how broken Harmony was. Shouts and cries were emitting from her contorted lips as she began to lose the power behind her offenses. I grabbed ahold of her delicate hands, holding her tightly as I brought her into my arms urgently. She thrashed about before finally going slack in my arms, feeling her tremble in my arms as she sobbed painfully.



I whispered soothing words into her mess of curls hoping to calm her down. I have seen Harmony like this a few times before but each time seemed to frighten me even more. Each time seemed worse and worse.



After some time, I heard Harmony's sobs diminish down to just sniffles every once in a while but I continued with whispering those soothing words. Her body stopped trembling and she took a deep breath, breathing me in.



"Louis?" She started. Her voice was raw from her sobs.



I hummed for her to go on.



"You're right. I do need to stop and grow up."