Finer Things // h.s.

The Day I Signed My Name Away

"We're always together anyways so I don't see why it changes anything." He mumbles, slumping himself into the chair.

"Except the fact we no longer have control over the articles about us, the fake Instagram posts about one another we'll have to make, the fake dinner dates and nights out purely for paparazzi keep up with us and the ability to love anyone else!" I say back, not looking at anyone.

"Did we ever really have control over the articles?" James says back and I look at him, feeling nothing but anger towards him. This isn't the boy I met a year ago, this is someone different.

"Why do you wanna do this?" I ask him softly, feeling the anger conjure confusion within me.

*Play song now: You're Somebody Else by Flora Cash*

"We do all that shit anyways, Tilly. How is it any different if there's a contract involved?" He spits at me sarcastically and I hear Melody whisper something to Mary as she shows her a phone who passes the phone onto Donna who then looks up at me.

"What?" I snap at them, remaining slumped in my seat with my hand curled into a fist holding my head up at the temple.

"Have you seen this?" Donna says as she passes me Melody's phone and my eyes feast upon an article about Harry, about my Harry... pictured with a girl with blonde hair, her arm wrapped around his waist as his own is around her shoulder, his lips pressed to her temple and I lose my breath. I feel something in my stomach drop and I choke on my words as I fumble to make a sentence. The sadness begins to run through me as I regain my breath, tears fill my eyes and I blink away at them as I scroll through the multiple photos of Harry and some girl kissing, holding hands, in a café laughing and at the beach.

"No... No, this isn't, um, n-no... No, that can't be... That isn't um..." I can't find the words; I feel a lump rise in my throat and at any moment I could throw up. I shake my head as Melody slowly makes her way to me, resting a hand on my shoulder and I shrug it off, my body running cold as if the temperature inside this room has dropped ten degrees. My eyes fixate on the screen as my hands hold the phone, Melody takes it from me with a sigh and my hands remain held above my chest, slowly curling into a ball as they begin to shake.

It can't be. This isn't happening, right?

"Tilly, when will you realise he doesn't love you?" James mumbles from across the desk and I shake my head in disbelief, my eyes squeeze shut, and I shake my head, placing my hands over my face to cover the tears that roll over my cheeks.

"I'm sorry." Mary says gently as she sits next to me and I move my hands away from my face, holding them in my lap as I stare into the ground, my lips slightly parted.

"I don't... u-understand... When were these taken?" I whimper through sobs.

"They surfaced around a week ago." Donna says and I feel a pain in my chest, I feel my heart breaking and I suppose this is why they call it 'heartbreak' because this feeling of ache shatters me to my core. The feeling of someone ripping into my chest with gritty nails, robbing me of my heart is how I would describe it.

"I'll sign it." I say sternly as I look out the window and out of the corner of my eye I see Melody slide the paper over with her freshly manicured nails, her other hand holding out the pen.

"Whenever you're ready." She says and I turn to her, taking the pen slowly, looking at it in awe, the ink from this pen will be the end of me for a little while... but if Harry doesn't want me, what do I have to lose?

I flip through the paper, not being able to focus on the words written on each page and I hear Melody begin to vent out the rules and regulations for the next year and a half.