Rain | Harry Styles

6.1

"Ana, where's Harry?" Livi asked, a doll clutched to her chest as Ben placed down a large suitcase which I assumed him and Celia would share, and a small pink trunk clearly belonging to Livi.

Liam stepped up from behind me, "Harry's having a little holiday, Liv. He'll be back soon."

I watched Celia's eyebrow raise, as she shot me a skeptical look, nodding towards the kitchen. I exhaled, following her towards it as she stepped through.

"Where is my son?" she asked rather frantically.

"I don't know, Celia. He walked out yesterday, which you saw, and I haven't seen him since. He told Liam he wanted to be left alone."

"He hasn't called you?" she pursed her lips, and I shook my head, "son of a bitch."

I laughed at the irony of her insult, "He's just being Harry, I guess. He won't miss graduation, I'm sure."

"I'm sorry, Ana," her face fell a little, "I should never have asked you to lie for me."

"Don't be silly," I sighed, a little defeated, "I chose to lie to him about it - it was my choice."

"So you haven't heard from him?" Celia chewed on her lip, and I shook my head, "only Liam has?"

"Only Liam has.." I trailed off, silencing myself with my own thoughts. Harry wouldn't talk to me - I was expected to wait around for him, until he decided he wanted to speak to me and move on. All I wanted was to talk to him, apologise, and then move past this. I knew I'd betrayed his trust, and I knew I'd hurt him. I wanted more than anything for him to know how sorry I was, and I didn't expect him to move on overnight - but we had a time limit, and I failed to see the rationality, or even the fairness in him pushing me out and ignoring me until he could be bothered to have a conversation.

I narrowed my eyes as the thought crossed my mind, dragging my teeth over my bottom lip as I contemplated what I was going to do. I broke myself off from my train of thought, shooting Celia a look before walking back into the hallway.

"Right, Gemma and James will meet us at the airport, so," Liam began, "we have a couple of hours or so until the flight, so we should think about leaving in the next fifteen minutes, since-"

"I have to go, Liam," I walked past him into Harry's bedroom, grabbing my bag and swinging it over my shoulder.

"Huh? What are you on about? Like I said, we're gonna go to the airport in a few minutes," Liam frowned as I resurfaced from the bedroom, Celia, Ben and Livi all watching in equal disbelief.

"Ana, what's happening?" Livi ran her hand through the hair of her small doll, sending me a puzzled look, "Are we still going to Sea Beatle?"

I smiled softly at her mispronunciation before crouching down to her level, "Yes, darling - you're still going to Seattle. And I will meet you there tomorrow, with Harry. How does that sound?"

"Yes!" she squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly as I stood up to my full height, glancing back over to Liam.

"Ana," Liam sighed, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Liam, in all honesty - I don't give a shit if it's a good idea at this point," I sighed exhaustedly, heading towards the front door, "safe flight, you guys."

And with that I headed off down the hall of the apartment building, choosing to act on my instincts before I even had time to process the thoughts. I was going to find him, and that was that. He couldn't just cut me out - and though I felt selfish for cutting his time short, I already couldn't bear it. Anger I could deal with, silence I couldn't.

It was only when I stepped foot on the street outside that I realised I had no clue of where to go. I knew nothing about Manchester, nor did I know a single person here other than Harry and his family - I had no clue of where to go - hell, I didn't even know what I would say to Harry if I found him.

I wandered down the street, aimlessly heading towards the town centre. A melancholy twist settled in the pit of my stomach as I continued further into town, officially coming to terms with the fact that I was lost. Unfamiliar swarms of faces passed by, a snobby group of teenage girls, as well as a couple every so often - elderly groups of women and men, too.

"Oioiiii!" a man called from in front of me, shockingly drunk for this time of the morning. I kept my head down in hopes of shifting the attention from myself, but to no avail. I stood face to face with a group of men surely not older than twenty, all possessing hungry eyes and at least two packs of cigarettes in each hand.

"Excuse me," I said quietly, hoping to fend off the group of them with the bluntness of my words, but again - to no avail.

"Whoaaaa," another man jeered, his hair ginger and eyes a wicked grey, "she's an Americaaaaaaan!" he dragged out the word in a singsong voice as his friends started cheering, and I groaned internally, trying to shift past them.

"Aye, aye," the man spoke up again, blocking my exit, "where 'yer off to, love?"

I frowned, opening my mouth to speak before he interrupted me, "why don't ya' just come with my mates 'n I, eh? 'av a bit 'a fun, yeah, babe?" he reached for my arm, which I quickly withdrew from his reach.

"Don't touch me," I huffed, and he raised his eyebrows, earning a loud array of jeers from his mates behind him. He was embarrassed now, I could see it, but he didn't seem to be backing down.

"Oi," he hissed, now gripping my wrist in his hand so tightly it was guaranteed to leave marks, and I almost winced. "Come with me."

"Fuck off," a thick accent to match the rest of the men in front of me sounded from behind me, and I didn't dare turn around, "when will blokes like you lot ever take no for an answer?"

Several men of the group scoffed, while their 'front-man' spoke up, "Mind your own business, yeah, mate? No one asked ya'."

"She doesn't want you," the other man spoke up again, stepping up to my side as I now finally brought myself to look at him. An unruly set of dark curls and a pair of piercing green eyes - I'd have labelled him my boyfriend if I hadn't known any better. The facial structure differed in the slightest, as well as the overall face - but it was easy to recognise him.

Mason.

I hadn't noticed the group of men leaving until they were actually gone, my eyes fixated on the man beside me. I blinked awkwardly as he turned to face me.

"Thank you," I said weakly, my voice quieter than I intended - maybe just shocked by the spitting image of my boyfriend who stood in front of me.

"S'alright. Ana, isn't it?" he clutched a plastic carrier bag in his hand, clearly having just emerged from a store, "I don't think we've officially met.. I'm Mason Styles." Well that's certainly a tough pill to swallow.

"Ana," I took the hand he'd extended before trailing off, "but I guess you knew that already.."

"You're Harry's girl, eh?" he said, "I saw you at the wedding."

"Oh, you did?" I felt my cheeks flush a little. It's likely the only time he saw me was when I was chasing after my boyfriend who still wouldn't talk to me. "Some first impression, right?"

"Yeah, Harry storming away from you was quite a memorable one," he chuckled light-heartedly, and I tried to find the humour in it, laughing along with him.

"Speaking of Harry.. have you seen him, by any chance?" I asked stupidly. Why would Harry have gone to the brother I kept from him? "We have a flight to catch today, and apparently he's not coming home, and-"

"Oh, I know," Mason nodded, much to my surprise, "he crashed at mine last night, actually - I came to pick up a pack of cigs for him," he held up his plastic bag, while my face undoubtedly held a look of pure disbelief.

"He's with you?" I asked surprisedly, "he went with you from choice?" And though the question sounded idiotic and rude - it was a rational one. Harry getting to know someone from choice was extremely unlike him. 

"Mhm," Mason hummed in response with a chuckle, "and though I've known him about five minutes, and he might kill me in my sleep for this.. I'm guessing this is the part where I take you to him."