Cause I Can Love You More Than This

Chapter 18: I wanna save you, save you, save you tonight

~February 2013~

“This whole trip is ruined, I don’t even know why I bothered inviting you if you were going to just be like this!” Harry yelled as Taylor rolled her eyes in their hotel room in the Bahamas.

“You told me you wanted to work on us!”

“I tried to but you’ve done nothing to help plead your case as to why I should even bother!” Taylor stood up and glared at him.

“What effort?! You put no effort into this Harry! You were fine in the beginning, and then you started drifting away! It’s Grace’s fault!”

Harry felt his anger really rush through his veins at that point. No one bad mouthed Grace Mara Potter, not ever, and especially not in front of Harry.

“She has nothing to do with this Taylor! This is a matter between you and I!”

“Not when you’re still in love with her! How do you think that makes me feel? Huh?! Do you even love me?!” Harry blinked in surprise.

What gave her the idea that he had ever loved her in the first place?

“Taylor…look, I don’t know what I did to give you the idea that I might have felt that way about you, but I haven’t ever felt that way. I like you, but I don’t love you.”

“Because you still love her!” Taylor screamed. Harry ran a hand through his hair.

“She was a big part of my life Taylor, she’ll always be a part of it.” Taylor shook her head.

“You were together for a total of six months! How could she had affected you so much?!”

Harry looked down at his feet. Grace may have only been in his life for a year at this point, but it’s been the best year of his life simply for the fact that he knows her. She made him a better person, and she loved him.

“She affected me in ways you will never understand Taylor.” Harry whispered.

“Then what’s the point?” Harry sighed.

“You’re right, there is no point. Look, Taylor, you’re a nice girl, you are, but I think I rushed into this. I’m sorry, I really am, I never meant to hurt you or do this to you. But it’s over. I’m sorry, you honestly will find someone else who can give you what I can’t.” Harry stated.

Taylor pursed her lips before nodding.

“Good luck with life Harry.”

And then she grabbed her luggage and left. Harry sighed. He definitely knew there would be a song about him soon enough. He was dreading that, and all in all, he wished he had just listened to Elise. Harry didn’t want to waste his time here in the Bahamas, even though he felt miserable unlike his last birthday, and went to a bar to get hammered.

He was feeling sorry for himself, and it wasn’t even in his birthday until tomorrow. He downed drink after drink, thoughts of his last birthday bubbling up to the surface as he thought about how perfect it had been. It had all started with Grace showing up on his doorstep and just going from there until they finally told each other how they felt.

Harry must have been hammered if he ended up making out with a couple of different girls and stopping by a strip club. But he couldn’t take being here, so he called Elise, drunk and disoriented and crying over how nobody wanted him or loved him.

“Oh Harry, sweetheart you need to come home.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I’ll get Paul to send the private plane there right away.”

“I’m really drunk Lisey and I really fucked up.”

“Oh God what did you do?”

“Broke up with Taylor after a screaming match, hooked up with two girls, went to a strip club…I’m a mess…”

“You sure sound like it, okay, let me call Paul and I’ll call you right back. Are you at least at the hotel?”

“Preston is with me.”

“Thank God, I’ll call you right back Harry, I love you.”

“I love you too Lisey.” And then he hung up.

Harry groaned and dodged for a bathroom, Preston following him as Harry threw up in a urinal. Preston winced but pulled his hair out of his face for him.

“Sorry mate.”

“Don’t be, I get it, rough night.”

“I want Gracie.”

“She’s not here right now Harry—“

“I want Gracie! She’s the only person who gets me.”

Harry rinsed his mouth out after he stopped throwing up, splashing cold water on his face and his phone started ringing. Preston grabbed it out of his pocket and put it on speaker.

“Paul couldn’t get the plane but he got you a flight right away so go to the airport, they’re putting you in First Class.” Elise stated.

“Harry got sick.”

“Oh Harry…”

“Lisey I want Gracie.”

“Sweetheart, she’s home in London right now.”

“I know I just want her, she gets me. She loves me.” Elise sighed on the other end.

“You’ll see her soon, I promise.”

“Promise, promise? Like tell her promise?”

“Yes Harry, I’ll call her and tell her you want to see her.”

“Okay…just make sure she’s there.”

“Mhm.”

Harry was led out of the bathroom by Preston and they got his luggage from the room before hailing a cab for the airport. Elise stayed on the phone with a drunken Harry the whole time before he had to hang up as he checked in for his flight.

Preston helped Harry with his carryon and then a stewardess helped him to his seat before getting him some ginger ale and crackers. He thanked her and munched lightly as the airplane put on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.

This movie always reminded him of Grace, well actually, all the movies reminded him of her considering she loved the books and had read them all at least a dozen times each.

He fell asleep with his head lolling over onto Preston’s shoulder and he didn’t wake up until the early hours of his birthday as they landed in London. Preston slid sunglasses onto Harry’s face and pulled his hood up in the English Winter and they managed to get through the airport seemingly unscathed.

Preston made sure Harry got home safely, Harry thanking him for everything before Preston headed home. Harry jumped into a hot shower, trying to scrub away all the negativity and sadness he had, trying to get rid of the smell of alcohol on him.

He stayed in the hot shower for a good twenty minutes before climbing out, shivering as he adjusted the thermostat to get more heat inside his home and then he slipped on a pair of boxers, one of his famous white v-necks and a pair of baggy sweats. He brushed his teeth, scrubbing them intently as well as his tongue, before he heard the doorbell.

Maybe it was Elise checking on him. Harry remembered calling her, as he so usually does when drunk.

He flicked a light on in his living room before flicking the porch light on as well. He knew it had to have been someone he knew since they had to know the passcode to his gate to even reach the front door.

He unlocked the latch and then the actual lock before slowly opening the door, his jaw dropping as he looked down at the love of his life.

“G-Gracie?”

She smiled even though her body trembled from the cold. She held a paper bag, a white box, a wrapped present, and another box.

“Happy birthday Hazza.”