wedding buddies ↠ harry styles ✓

SEVENTY TWO

Carrington Hill

I significantly seemed to calm down once I was sitting in the car next to Harry. It was cool in the car because of the AC which I didn't mind as it seemed to help me stay put. Darkness surrounded us when the lamps were nowhere to be seen around us on the motorway, though I was okay with it. I was okay with a lot of things as we were nearing to my home – more so to the hospital where my brother was.

That seemed crazy to me. Mostly because I had spoken to him just hours before I left to go home to Harry. And then the next thing I knew, he was in a car crash.

That was one of the things I was not okay with.

It felt strange that my brother ended up in that situation. He was never into mad things, he never really did activities that were forced onto him or seemed dangerous. Although, dangerous kind of goes under the 'mad things'.

"Carrie," I heard Harry softly call my name and I looked at him from the window next to me. His hand gently rested on my leg that was closest to him, the car ran smoothly and no one was on the road.

"Yes?" I asked, my eyes looked up and down on his side profile. He was so handsome even if I knew he was stressed.

"Don't let me lose you, okay?"

"What do you mean?" my eyebrows furrowed at his question. It made no sense, either because I was knackered from today or because my mind was too busy wondering about what will welcome us at the hospital.

"You haven't said a word to me since you gave me the phone," he replied. The car slowed down until it came to a stop at the red light and that's when he looked at me. His eyes searched for mine, clearly worried and slightly stressed. "I'm here for you. With you. I need you here with me, too. I know it's hard, I'm really worried, too. So, stay with me, please."

I nodded a little, at loss for words. The fact that he was so invested in what was happening in the moment and that he needed me as much as I needed him but would have never actually admitted that to anyone, meant a lot to me. I never actually had anyone to rely on other than Alex and Mia, excluding my family.

"I'm just so speechless, you know," I inhaled slowly, the oxygen filled my lungs then escaped just as quickly with a sigh.

"I know, I've noticed," he smiled a little as he tried to lighten the mood. "I get it, though. This was very... out of nowhere. I definitely didn't expect to be doing this, this afternoon."

"Especially because I was on the phone to him today. He sounded happy and well, and then this happens," my eyes teared up at the terrible reminder of my little brother being at the hospital. I looked up and my mouth opened a little as I fought the tears back from rolling down my cheeks. "I'm so weak as well, I feel like shit. I can't handle anything these days."

"You're not weak, please don't say that. Just because you're reacting like any other human being would, doesn't necessarily always mean you are weak. You're just hurt and this is your way of dealing with what you're feeling. It's okay, baby. It's okay to cry when things like this happen," he said so comfortingly and softly, it calmed me down. He had his way with words, he just knew what to say and how.

"I guess," I mumbled. He had a point but it didn't change the fact that I really disliked crying. Especially in front of others. Although, thinking about it now, this wouldn't have been the first time I broke down in tears in Harry's presence.

"What did you mean by you not being able to handle anything these days?" he asked me another question. To which I had no particular answer. "Is everything okay at work?"

"I'm not sure and yes. Everything's okay at work."

"There must be something else then," he pushed it more. It was something that no one ever did to me, they just let me be if they noticed that I was trying to stop a conversation on a topic I wasn't very fond of. "You know you can talk to me, right? I'm literally here to support you when you need it and even when you don't."