Lifeline (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 23

{Chapter 23}



What's your name?

Who are you?

Harry who is she?

Are you one of the boys' new girlfriends?

Miss, can I have a word?

Katie's brain buzzed and her vision was blinded from the bright lights that shot directly in her eyes as the parade of strangers pushed and shoved around her, yelling at her from all directions.



The only thing that was getting Katie through the crowd was Harry's hand that held tight in hers.



"Come on, Kat. Almost there." Lou whispered from behind her as someone pushed and shoved her from the side. She took in a deep breath and held it until Harry was hopping the steps of the tour bus in front of her and she hurried up behind him.

Lou, Liam, Zayn, Andrea and Niall all piled in after her, followed by a frusterated looking Paul who slammed the bus door shut, drowning out the hectic screams from outside.



Everything was suddenly painfully silent besides the ringing in Katie's ears.

She collapsed on the couch, huffing and puffing. It had only been their second day on the tour bus and she hadn't yet gotten used to the lifestyle of the boys.



Katie had lost track of time and direction on the bus. She knew that they were now in America, after a long-ass flight from London and a 10 hour bus ride that followed. They stopped occasionally for food, and outside every stop were fans or paparazzi, reading to snap pictures or ask the boys for locks of their hair.



Living with them for three weeks had been completely different, and two days ago when Katie and Andrea had first stepped-foot on the huge tour bus, she was naive enough to believe that the next 3 months would pass just like the last 3 weeks had.



Two days later and she had realized, she was completely wrong.



"Not used to dealing with the pap, huh Kat?" Niall laughed, falling into the seat beside her on the couch.



There were two couches that lined both sides of the bus. The back of the bus contained the 8 bunks. There were 4 bunks on either side, which weren't as terrible to sleep in as she thought they might be.



She smiled at the boy and shook her head.

"Guess I just forget how famous you guys actually are." She shrugged playfully and hit Niall on the shoulder.



The blonde laughed back and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into an uncomfortable head lock. He held her as she wriggled around, in a fit of laughter.



"Niall, you loser, let me go!" She huffed.



Harry smiled and hopped down in the seat across from where Niall and Katie were sitting.



"I guess I should help, huh?" Harry smirked, looking at Katie with a grin on his face as she glared up at him, still locked in Niall's arms.

"Uh yessss!" She screeched, but Harry kicked his feet up on the couch and put his hands behind his head, the smirk on his face could be seen from space.

"Nahhh."



Katie huffed and elbowed Niall in the ribs, causing the boy to let go.

"Ouch, Kat." Niall whined, jokingly rubbing his ribs as Zayn and Andrea sat down beside Harry and Liam grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. Louis had disappeared into his bunk, probably trying to get a hold of Eleanor.

Katie laughed as she pulled away, her hair was now a mess and her cheeks were flushed. "You deserved it, Horan."

Niall laughed and turned to Harry, who had somehow found a bag of chips that he was now shoving into his mouth.



"Oi Haz, you got a feisty one here." Niall laughed, gabbing a finger towards the brunette who sat beside him.

Katie crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at Harry. The curly haired boy's smirk grew wider across his face with his mouth full of salty chips.



"Oh yes I do." He cooed after swallowing, looking right at Katie and licking his fingers from the salt. She wanted to whip the damn smirk right off of his face.



His eyes shined at her as he snickered. "You should see how she is when she's about to-"

"Harry." Katie gasped, wide-eyed at the boy.

Everyone burst out into laughter, even Zayn and Andrea who sat beside the boy. Katie face went into a playful scowl as Harry smiled apologetically from the couch across from her.

"You guys suck." She laughed, standing up and walking past everyone. "I'm going to find my favorite member of One Direction."



Behind her, all the boys 'boo-ed' as she snickered and walked towards the bunks, peering into Louis' to find him typing away maliciously on his phone.



He looked up once he saw her, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He was laying on his back with his phone balanced on his chest.

"Hey, babes." He smiled at her.



"Hey Lou." Katie said, sitting down on the mattress. Lou's bunk was the closest to the ground, which made it easy to crawl in and out of it. "What ya' doing?"

He sighed and toyed with his white iPhone that rested on his chest.



"Just waiting for some strange girl named Eleanor to text me back." He smiled lightly.



Katie chuckled as Louis cocked his head to the side and watched her intently.

"How you feeling, love?"

Katie looked up to find Louis' eyes deep and full of a gentle concern. A faint smile touched his lips.



She was taken back by the question. Did she look sick today? She knew that some days she didn't look very healthy, but she didn't consider today to be one of those days. She looked down at the boy, who's eyes were still full of concern as he patiently waited her response.



She thought over the question. 'How she was feeling' could mean many things. Of course she was feeling anxious, but that was a feeling that never seemed to go away. Her head was kind of sore and she was tired, and the night before they had left to go on tour she spent the majority of the night by the toilet.



She looked down at her hands that sat in her lap. Would she ever feel something other then that goddamned pit in her stomach? How did it feel knowing that in 4 or 5 months, she wouldn't be around anymore?



"Katie?" Lou asked, she looked back down at his patiently waiting eyes. He placed a gentle hand on her back as she pulled herself from her revery.

"Sorry, what was that?"

He gave her half a smile. "I asked you how you were feeling?"

Maybe she would never be able to exactly describe the feeling of the cancer spreading through her veins or how her life was ending each day, slowly but surely.

Katie's eyes travelled to the front of the bus, where the rest of the boys and Andrea sat around laughing and tossing chips at each other. Typical teenage boys, she smiled.



Her eyes landed on the curly haired boy who was in mid-laugh. His eyes glistened and a genuine smile of pure happiness crossed his face. The sight of him tugged a smile onto her own lips.



"Good." She said absently, still watching the boy who's smile never faltered, or green eyes never stopped shining. Whenever she saw that goddamned smile on that boy's lips, that pit in her stomach filled with something else. Something good.



It's a funny thing, she thought. How the simple things a person can do, can so greatly effect another.



She smiled lazily back down at Louis, suddenly sure of her answer.



Sure of the butterflies that swarmed in her stomach, or the thought of all the amazing friends that surrounded her and how alive she suddenly felt, remembering all of this.



"I feel good."



Katie was pulled from her revery when Paul, who still stood near the front of the bus, called to Harry.

"Harry, Tyler's on the phone and wishes to speak to you!" Paul said, holding out his Blackberry for Harry to take.

Katie stood up, her face draining of color at the sound of Tyler's name. Her heart starting to beat faster as she walked back up towards the front of the bus and took a seat beside the curly haired boy who groaned and sunk further into the leather couch beside her.

Harry took the phone from Paul and put it to his ear, throwing on a excited, boy-ish facade.

"Tyler, man! What's up?" Harry asked into the phone.

Katie's heart stammered in her chest as she looked across the bus to eye Andrea anxiously.



She knew it was somewhat stupid, Tyler was one of the head's of their management team, there was a million reasons why he could be calling.



But Katie could only imagine him calling to say something about herself and Andrea, and this made her nervous.



Harry listened intently to Tyler's words as the whole bus went quiet, trying to listen in on the conversation.

"Yeah, thats understandable." Harry said calmly.



Katie's anxiety got to her and she began tearing away at her fingernails with her teeth again. Beside her, Harry furrowed his eyebrows and frowned at her, reaching up to pull her hand away from her mouth.



On the other side of the bus, Zayn and Andrea chuckled.



Katie tried to protest and bring her fingers back up to her teeth, but Harry held her hand tightly to his side.

She sighed as Harry continued talking.

"Mhm." He murmured occasionally.

"Yes." He agreed occasionally.

And after a few minutes, he was nodding and agreeing some more with Tyler before saying their goodbyes and hanging up.

The whole bus waited in suspense as Harry handed the phone back to Paul.

"So!?" Katie was the first to ask.



Harry chuckled and looked around the room. Andrea's eyes were just as wide and the boys' all had uneasy looks on their face. This reassured Katie that this call wasn't just a 'Hey how are you doing?' kind of call from Tyler.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"Well, he didn't say much except that he's glad you girls are on the tour but told me to warn you about being in the public-eye."

Katie let out a sigh, feeling some kind of relief washing over her. She was convinced Tyler had been calling to tell Harry that he regretted his decision to let them come and that they needed to go home immediately.

"And that's it?" Katie said, relief clear in her voice.

Harry winced at her words. "Not exactly...."

The anxious thud in her chest return as she stared blankly at the boy in front of her.

"What is it Harry?" Andrea asked, leaning on the edge of her seat across from him.



"Well..." He started guilty. "He has kind of arranged an interview tomorrow on the Today Show in New York to introduce you guys to the world...He said we can't be hiding secrets from the fans. The media is already wondering about the 2 unknown girls who have jumped ship with One Direction."

Katie's jaw nearly fell to the floor as the whole bus remained quiet. Even Paul's eyebrows had shot up at Harry's words.

"Wait...we have to be on TV? In front of the whole world?" Katie asked blankly.

Harry bit his lip and gave her a guilty smile.



"Oh, fuck."

-



The past two days on the bus seemed to work in the exact same routine that Katie was beginning to grow familiar with. In the morning, they'd wake up, eat, stop somewhere to do something for the band, eat, stop somewhere again, eat and then eventually go to bed.



Apparently they were already somewhere outside of New York. She remembered traveling to New York City with her school in the eighth grade, and she had fallen in love with it. Katie loved the idea of the big city, the huge buildings and the busy streets.



The bus drove under the street lights on the now deserted highway. She imagined it must have been just after 3 am. Everyone had gone to bed hours ago, and now Katie was laying in her bunk in a pair of cotton shorts and Harry's hoodie, gazing out the window.



She found that she couldn't sleep, maybe it was the nerves for tomorrow or just the anxiety from the leap of faith she had taken ever since she had walked on the bus. It had been 2 days already and the feeling still hadn't gone away.



"Katie?" A husky voice mumbled. She turned to find the curtain to her bunk being ruffled until a familiar set of curls poked through.

A smile immediately crept onto her face as she watch Harry, trying to find her in the dark bunk. His eyes were half shut and his smile was lazy. He had probably just woken up.



Katie chuckled as Harry reached his hands out to find hers and collapsed beside her on her bed, face first into her pillow.

She laughed at the body that was now sprawled out beside her.



"Harry, what are you doing?" She whispered. He didn't bother lifting his face from her pillow as he mumbled into it with closed eyes.

"I got lost."

She chuckled some more and laid back down, resting her head right beside his.



He smelt of Harry. The smell of his familiar laundry detergent, his faded cologne and just him. Nothing in the world could compare to how he smelt, and she wondered if she was turning into one of those weird fan girls who would have paid hundreds of dollars just to smell his t-shirt.

She turned so that she was facing him, their faces only inches apart.

"Harry-" She whispered into the silence. "-I'm going to fuck up tomorrow."

He didn't respond for a second and she wondered if he was already asleep. He wore nothing but his favorite pair of navy blue pajama pants that hung dangerously low on his hips. The light from the window casted the orangey glow of the streetlights over both of them as they laid there in silence.

"You're not." He mumbled into her pillow. His hair was messy across his forehead. She could have sat there for hours and just watched him, she cherished how young and naive he looked when he was half-asleep.



"You won't fuck up because you're perfect." He whispered.

She stared at him for a moment, wondering if he'd open his eyes, but he never did.



She had so many things she could have said right at that moment, like how he was wrong or how she would end up stuttering or choking on live television the next day but instead, she caught her tongue and just smiled at him.

She knew he couldn't see her smile, but she smiled anyways.



She was ready to fall asleep, with Harry's warm body pressed next to her in bed, but just as she was about to close her eyes, he whispered something back.

"I think I love you."

Her eyes opened at his words.



His were still closed, and for a second she wondered if he was sleep talking. The words had left his lips so softly that she wondered if she had made them up in her own imagination.

"You-you do?" She whispered back. Her lips were so close to his that they nearly brushed over his as she mouthed her words. Her heart hung in her chest as she searched his face, patiently waiting his response.



"Yes." He said after a moment.



To her surprise, his eyes opened suddenly and she was taken aback by the deep, forest green orbs that stared back at her. He looked at her as though he had never been so sure of anything in his life.

"And tomorrow, when you're kicking ass in that interview, I want to introduce you to the world as my beautiful girlfriend."



Her breath caught in her throat.



He didn't smile at her, instead he held her gaze so serenely that she wondered if she was dreaming.



How had her average, ordinary life change so drastically within only a month?



She found herself nodding into her pillow and giving Harry a small smile, one she couldn't contain. She could only begin to imagine how much difference 3 months was about to make on her life, and suddenly she couldn't feel that pit in her stomach anymore, or that constant dreadful feeling of anxiety.



All she felt was some kind of warm happiness that tingled her toes and made her smile grow painful on her cheeks.

Her eyes lit up as she stared back at him and in the silence of the tour bus, where everyone was already fast asleep, she wondered somewhere at the back of her mind if anybody else had been up to hear her whisper back,

"I love you too."