'But you are quite possibly the worst singer I have ever heard,' Niall laughed as he finished the pint he had in his hand and placed the empty glass down on the table with such unintentional force Alice winced slightly. She was watching her two friends from the opposite side of the table, amused at their conversation as she sipped on her own drink.
'Hey! I'm just as good as Beyoncé and you know it,' Hayley smirked as Niall wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a squeeze, kissing the top of her head. Alice laughed at them, the busy bar loud behind her as she finished her own glass of wine and placing it down much more gently than Niall had.
'Shall we have another?' she said as she reached into her bag and pulled out her purse.
'Absolutely!' announced Hayley. The three of them had met at lunchtime, Alice coming straight here after saying goodbye to Harry that afternoon. She knew she would miss him terribly and had asked Hayley and Niall if they fancied a boozy Christmas eve lunch to take her mind off Harry being so far away for the holiday season.
However, that lunch had now turned into a few more drinks at the pub where people were celebrating the festive by getting drunk and indulging in seasonal Karaoke - it was perfect. Outside the sky had grown dark quickly, the sun setting at around half four on these wintery Scottish nights and the cold outside becoming too much for everyone's noses - most deciding to retreat to their houses or like everyone in here, to a cozy bar where all the fun was happening.
As Alice approached the bar she pulled out her phone, not admitting to herself what she was doing but once again checking if Harry had been in touch. It was later in the evening now, his plane had been due to take off at three and she remembered he said he probably wouldn't get to his mums until around seven between the snow and the busy holiday traffic.
Pulling up a new message she typed; Hope you're okay, Miss you being here with us. Niall & Hayley say hi x
Once it had sent she pushed her phone back into the pocket of her jeans and tried to catch the attention of the lady behind the bar. Another wine would help her relax, her heart a little sad at the thought of Harry being so far away for the holidays and maybe a little worried that he hadn't yet been in touch.
'What can I get you Alice?' the kind woman behind the bar asked her, she looked a little frazzled at how busy the bar was.
'Two glasses of rose and a pint of this one please,' she said, pointing at the beer Niall had been drinking tonight.
'Small or large rose?' she then asked Alice. Alice thought for a second, knowing she wanted to fog her mind a little of the worry she felt silly for having.
'Large please, and maybe a couple of those shots.'
*
'Feed the world!' the two of them screamed into the microphones as Alice held on to Hayley's waist, swaying in time to the music. Several wine's and shots down they had decided to join in the Karaoke night, even Niall had joined in on a few numbers - surprising both Alice and Hayley at how good a singer he was. His Summer of 69 rendition had many of the older ladies in the pub swooning over him, much to Hayley's dismay. Niall was the loveliest and chatted away to the group unaware of how much they wanted to devour him. Alice and Hayley had to save him at one point as they noticed a much more mature lady trying to write her number on his arm.
Alice was having the best time, spending time with some of her favorite people was just what she needed to take her mind off missing Harry. Although it was her favourite holiday, Christmas did come with its tough parts for her. She didn't enjoy spending it at her Dads house anymore and usually preferred to spend it with Hayley. Hayley's family were scattered in different parts of Scotland now so spending Christmas with Alice was their thing now and as a tradition, Christmas Eve was always a hoot at the local pub - she so wished Harry was here though.
Once they had finished their performance Alice decided to pop outside for some fresh air. She knew she needed a breather if she was to survive the rest of the evening - especially at the rate they were inhaling their drinks.
She stepped outside, the loud music and voices suddenly dimmed in the cold of the night. Snow was still falling heavily now, would it ever stop snowing this year? Upon checking her phone she realized it was after 8pm and the worried feeling she had felt earlier suddenly returned. Harry had said he would be there by now. Alice tried to look on the not so morbid side of things as she usually did - perhaps his flight had been delayed, maybe there had been delays once he had landed at his mums, maybe he was so happy to see his family he had simply forgotten to drop her a message. However, with the snow still falling heavily - she couldn't help but start to feel uneasy.
Alice clicked on 'H', deciding to phone him to put her mind at ease, just hearing his voice would settle her building nerves. However, without even a ring, the line cut off. She checked her signal, moving further out into the open and tried again - same thing. The muffled voices from the pub became louder for a second, someone else coming outside.
'Hey,' she heard from behind her as Hayley burst through the door. 'Niall's on drinks duty, pretty sure he might come back with three Guinness though cause he wasn't listening to a word I was saying,' she chuckled, her blonde ponytail swaying as she wrapped her arms around Alice. 'You okay? Any word from Harry?'.
'No not yet, it's getting quite late. It just beeps out when I call,' Alice said, nerves floating through her voice. She couldn't help it, she was officially worried about him now, it wasn't like Harry to not be in touch.
'Maybe he just got so excited to see his family, maybe he forgot to charge his phone or something, I'm sure he's fine honey. Come inside it's freezing out here,'. Hayley began to walk back inside.
'Yeah I hope-' as Alice was talking her phone suddenly lit up, an unknown number which was strange. She lifted the phone to her ear quicker than lightning, 'Hello?' she said hurriedly.
'Hey,' she heard Harry's deep voice reply from the other end of the line. He sounded tired, a bit drowsey even but relief flooded through her body at the sound of his voice - just knowing that he was there was enough to make her heart return to a normal pace.
'Oh thank god, I was getting worried you hadn't called, you made it there okay?'. She heard Harry start to chuckle on the other end of the line and her brow furrowed in confusion.
'Not exactly, I'm actually currently on my way back home,' he said slowly.
'What?' said Alice, excited for a moment before it dawned on her that something might be wrong.
'Well, the snow was a bit wild, I - I kinda wrote off my car,' he said, 'But I'm totally okay don't worry,' he added as Alice gasped down the line.
'Harry! Are you hurt - wait, how are you getting home?' she said quickly, Hayley turning on her heels and heading inside to get Niall, she knew something was up.
'A few bumps and bruises, maybe a concussion but I'm grand, I promise.' his voice was dipping in and out of signal, perhaps he was traveling.
'Shit, where are you?' Alice heard Harry laugh again, she rarely used curse words and knew Harry found it funny when she did.
'One of the police officers - Andy, he's running me home from the hospital, let me borrow his phone too, mines a wreck,' he said sadly, almost seeming more sad about his phone than the car.
'I'll meet you at yours okay? I'll head now, we all will,' she said, the alcohol she'd had seemed to disappear from her system, the fog lifting from her brain and red alert setting in.
'It's okay, I know you guys are out, I'm totally fine, I-,'
Alice cut him off before he could finish, 'I'll be there Harry, I want to be - see you soon.' and at that she hung up the phone. Just as she did Niall and Hayley came back out with all their coats and bags in hand, ready to set out on the walk to Harry's - it would only take them about ten minutes.
'What happened, is he alright?' said Niall, he seemed more panicked than Alice.
'He says he's fine, wrote his car off on the way to the airport - he's on his way home now though,' she said as Niall held her coat up for her to slip into. 'Thank you,'.
Her heart had started racing again, needing to see him in person to fully believe he was okay and not hurt from the accident. Niall then handed Alice her bag before he started striding off into the night.
'Lets go,' he replied.
*
Harry's house wasn't far from the pub, but trudging through snow in Alice and Niall's semi sensible but not quite waterproof boots made it take slightly longer. Hayley's five inch heels made it near impossible for her and Niall ended up giving her a piggyback for the majority of the walk. It was freezing and Alice could feel her hands and feet becoming more and more numb the further they walked - she didn't care though.
As they approached Harry's house Alice saw that a light was already on. It made her breathe a little easier knowing that he was at least home and somewhere safe now. She didn't realize she had increased speed and was now power walking towards the cottage, leaving Niall and Hayley behind. She missed several steps as she jumped up towards the house and burst in through the front door.
'Harry?!' she called out and slipped her wet boots off quickly, throwing her coat and bag to the floor.
'Hey, through in the kitchen,' she heard him call out.
She power walked through the living room and into the kitchen where Harry stood with a freshly made slice of toast in the hand that wasn't up in a sling. His hair was a bit more disheveled than usual and a few scratches were littered across his usually clear skin. His clothes were slightly damp around the edges and at his knees, his shoes looked soaked to the bone and she could see some scratches on his hand that held the toast.
'Harry,' Alice gasped, she was so relieved to see him standing in front of her. Although he looked a bit worse for wear - he was there. 'I was so worried about you driving anyway and then you do this,' she moved round the kitchen island and threw her arms around him, being careful to not touch what she assumed was a sprained wrist.
Harry dropped his slice of toast on the counter and put his good arm around her, dropping his head on top of hers and sighing heavily.
'I'm sorry I worried you, I'm okay, just a bit battered and bruised,'
'Thank god,' she buried her nose into his chest, taking in his scent. Although he smelt a little damp with hints of that old hospital smell, he still had his hint of vanilla and florals, just like always - it seemed to ground her still. He rubbed his hand over her shoulder as if to comfort her, she felt silly, she should be comforting him.
They stood for a few seconds before Niall and Hayley came waltzing through the door, Hayley now in her bare feet and Niall taking no notice of the snow he was leaving trailed on the floor. He looked like he was about to cry when Alice turned to look at the two of them.
'Never do that to me again man, fuck I thought you were really hurt,' he said as he marched up towards Harry. Alice moved to the side and let Niall wrap Harry in his arms. Harry laughed and hugged him back as best he could with one arm. She noticed him wince slightly as Niall hugged him, he was obviously a bit more bruised than he was letting on.
'So what happened?' Niall then said as he let go.
'Can someone butter some toast for me first, I've been trying for like a full ten minutes with one hand and I'm starving,' Harry replied, and at that Alice started to laugh - properly laugh. The worry that had built up so wildly in the past few hours leaving her body instantly. She thought she might start to cry from sheer relief.
They all laughed as Hayley waltzed up and buttered the toast and passed it back to Harry who looked eternally grateful.
'Thanks,' he said, devouring it in just a few bites. 'Snow was wild, but I really wasn't far from the airport so I thought by just taking my time I would be fine, then tracks of other cars and the road itself really just disappeared. Couldn't see anything and they think I hit black ice, it put me and the car all wrong.' Harry lifted himself up onto one of the kitchen stools and Alice moved herself to the counter next to him, leaning onto it to listen.
'Soared onto the other side of the road and hit an old fire hydrant, the car to roll over a few times then a tree a couple of hundred yards from where the hydrant was stopped me.' Harry wiped his hand on his jeans, leaning over to pick up another slice of toast Hayley had buttered for him.
'Is the car pretty smashed up?' asked Hayley.
'Yeah, total write off, every window was smashed - that explains all these little cuts and scrapes. Not sure how the wrist got sprained but, considering the state of the car, I think I'm pretty lucky,' Harry sighed, Alice noticed that he looked exhausted.
'Have you called your mum, does she know?' she asked, hoping she wasn't sitting at home panicking as to where her boy was.
'Yeah she knows, she's gutted I won't make Christmas but she's going to fly up in February for the long weekend, pretty sure she's already booked the flights,' Harry chuckled, but he seemed sad, he had been so excited to see his family after not seeing them for so long.
'Well then, another person joining us at the dinner table tomorrow,' said Hayley. At this, Alice felt her heart flutter a little, she hadn't thought of that. Harry would now be here for Christmas. She turned to look at Harry who seemed to realize this at the same time. He smiled brightly, his dimples popping and the crinkles Alice adored so much appeared by his eyes. Her handsome Harry, here by her side, safe and sound.
'Come on,' said Alice. 'You can't stay here tonight, all your heating and hot waters off - plus all you have to eat is toast,'.
'That's true,' Harry replied, looking around at his rather empty kitchen.
'Fred will be so happy you're spending Christmas with him,' she looped her hands round Harry's waist and stood on her tiptoes to place a quick gentle kiss to his lips. Harry put his arm around her shoulders and placed his forehead to hers. He seemed exhausted.
'I better not keep my boy waiting then,'.
*
It was only eleven o'clock by the time they settled for the night, but it had felt like such a long day. After Alice had helped Harry throw some things into an overnight bag and salvage a few things from his suitcase, Niall and Hayley had walked up the road with them before heading off to Niall's house for the night. They were going to come back to Alice's house around midday to start the Christmas Day celebrations.
It had been a slow walk, Harry's body had begun to get sore from the accident, tiredness almost swallowing him whole as they reached her front door. He was quiet too, shivering as they walked and Alice knew he needed warmth and a good rest. She let Harry go upstairs for a shower when they arrived, hoping it would warm and relax his body. She hated that there was nothing she could do to take his aches and pains away, but she would try and do all she could for him. She had placed his joggers and jumper on the towel rail to warm them up for him so he could put them on straight away when he finished his shower.
She pottered around downstairs for a while, feeding and playing with Fred as she listened to Christmas songs lulling out from the radio, making sure her cozy little house was tidy and ready for tomorrow. Alice adored Christmas and was even more excited now that Harry would be here too.
After fiddling with the presents under her warm lit Christmas tree she suddenly realized the shower was no longer running. She couldn't hear Harry pottering around at all. She flicked off all the lights after setting up a few more things for the morning and made her way upstairs to her room, noticing on her way past the bathroom that Harry was all finished up in there.
As she went into her room she noticed Harry curled up on the far side of her bed facing towards the middle. She chuckled quietly to herself when she saw Fred playing little spoon, sound asleep against Harry's chest. Harry didn't stir as she turned off the big light, leaving the room to glow with fairy lights. She could hear soft snores coming from Harry, rhythmically in time with the rattling purrs coming from Fred.
She noticed he had taken off his sling, perhaps he found it more comfortable to sleep without it and the cuts that were peppered across his face looked less red and angry than they had earlier. He was still so beautiful. Already in her coziest jammies she gently climbed in next to her boys, pulling the duvet up over the three of them and settling down.
Alice couldn't take her eyes off the two of them all snuggled up. Fred had a way of knowing if someone was upset or unwell, he was the perfect comforter in those situations.
'Sleep tight boys,' she whispered, more to herself than to Harry and Fred, but she could have sworn she saw Harry's face relax more at the sound of her voice, the hint of a smile on his tired lips and the deep frown that was between his eyebrows disappearing completely.