Chapter 23: A Chance to Make It Right
5 MONTHS LATER...
"Ugh."
"Harry? You okay?" Jade asks sweetly, rubbing his back when he takes a seat beside her.
"No. Gemma still hasn't called me. It's been five months, Jade. Her boyfriend still hasn't found Liam," he complains, lying down with his head on Zayn's lap.
"I'm sure he's trying his best. Liam really doesn't want to be found, I guess."
"Then how am I supposed to tell him how I feel? Why does he have to be so complicated? Why can't he just let me love him?"
Louis snorts at that, still keeping his eyes on the television as he's playing FIFA with Niall. "He's not a puppy, Harold. And he's probably busy and doesn't want to be bothered. He thought he was doing this to make you happy, right? But anyway, I told you he was trouble, yet you still fell for him."
"Hush, Lou. You already accepted his feelings for Liam," Eleanor scolds him.
"I'm still trying to 'accept' it. It's hard to fully accept that when he wants nothing to do with Harry and his 'love'."
"You're mean. It's been five months since you've been saying that," Harry whines, covering his eyes by putting his arm over his face. "Why can't Liam love me anymore? Why did he have to leave me? Am I not lovable? Am I not worth it? That's probably it. Who am I kidding? I don't deserve Liam loving me back. I'm so unworthy. Why me?!"
"F***ing hell, Harry!" Louis complains when Harry's whining makes him miss the goal in the game.
"I just wanna be loved!"
"Oh my god - Harry, get a hold of yourself!" Niall exclaims, pausing the game and glaring at the curly-haired lad with Louis. "Do you think Liam will 'love' you if you're being like this?"
"Niall!" Jade scolds him, petting Harry's arm.
Harry sniffles and pouts before he gets up from the couch to go upstairs to his bedroom. They hear the door slam shut and sigh as they give Niall a disapproving look. He puts his hands up in defense and decides to blame the other blue-eyed lad beside him.
"Louis started it!"
"You're the one who said that! It clearly hurt his feelings!"
"But you started yelling at him first!"
"Enough! Someone needs to go check on Harry before he does something he regrets," Zayn interrupts.
Eleanor gets up from the floor and heads towards the stairs. "I'll go talk to him then. Louis, Niall - think about what you've done to Harry. You should be trying to make him happy; not even more upset."
"She's right, you know. We need to keep being positive for Harry's sake," Jade adds.
"But what if Gemma's boyfriend really can't find Liam?"
"All the more reason to be positive and help Harry," Perrie says to Louis, who huffs back. "We just need to be there for him. We're his friends."
"Fine. But if he keeps whining like that, I'll set him up with someone new and better," Louis declares.
"No, you won't, because Harry only wants Liam. We need to support that. And you really need to get over your hatred of Liam. I'm sure Harry knows you still hate his potential boyfriend."
Scoffing at that, Louis looks at Jade as he says, "Jade, darling, if Liam started off on a better foot and wasn't all creepy and a stalker of all things, then we wouldn't have to worry so much about me approving their relationship. This one's all Liam's fault, and we know it."
"You should still give him a chance. He left to make Harry happy. He gave him up for that," she reasons.
"And if he hurts Harry again?"
"Louis, you will never understand why Liam did what he did to Harry and the rest of you. Liam didn't understand that he was actually in love with Harry from the beginning. He just acted on what he thought would work to get someone like Harry to notice and fall for him in return. He didn't know any better, 'cause he's never felt like that before. That's why he's never gone that far with the other people he's 'stalked'," explains Jade. "Do you really think that since he's left he would still hurt Harry?"
There's a moment of silence that falls between them, the others not wanting to interrupt and keep Louis from really understanding all of this. They all want the best for Harry, and they hope Louis will finally accept the way things are.
"Fine. I get what you mean. I get that I was wrong to still be this mad at Liam. But like Harry said, how is Liam supposed to know how he feels when Harry can't contact him?" Louis asks.
"We just have to trust that Gemma's boyfriend will find him. It's the only way we'll get through this."
~~~
Eleanor is outside of Harry's bedroom, knocking on the door and waiting for Harry to let her in. She's getting really anxious because Harry hasn't answered her and hasn't made a step closer to the door. She can only hope that he hasn't gone and hurt himself from how depressed he is.
"Harry? Please open the door. Let's talk, yeah?"
When she still doesn't get an answer, she starts panicking and pounding on the door with both hands.
"Open this door right now, Harry! I mean it! I only wanna help you get through this! Please!" she begs loudly. "Don't you dare give up on us!"
"Just leave me alone, El. I don't wanna talk to anyone."
"Oh, just open the door! I'm panicking here!"
"I'm not doing anything stupid. Just go. I'm not opening the door," Harry counters, then sniffles and wipes his eyes.
"You know what, Harry? I've already had enough of this! You're acting like a child by not letting me in and avoiding talking about this. I'm offering my help to you, and you better damn well take it and appreciate me! Don't make me kick this door down."
Harry rolls his eyes, then just decides to let her in. Eleanor really can get scary. No wonder Louis sometimes looks so scared of her, he wonders as he unlocks the door.
He heads back to his bed and buries himself under the covers, squeezing his eyes shut. With a sigh of relief, Eleanor enters the room and takes a seat on the bed beside Harry. She reaches out and puts an arm around this lump of a boy under the covers. She really is relieved that he's okay and not hurting himself like they were all worried about.
"Oh, thank god you didn't hurt yourself!"
"Why would I? I'm not that depressed," he responds in a mumble.
"Right. It's not like you're lying on your bed and have wrapped yourself up like you're hiding from the world," she says sarcastically, trying to pull the covers back. "Come on, Harry."
"No. Not until I find Liam and he lets me love him."
"Harry, you know Ian's trying his best to find him. I'm sure he'll find him soon enough. In the meantime, you can't just stay here and be like - like this."
"But I want to. You can leave me alone now. I'll survive," he insists.
Sighing heavily, Eleanor decides to pull the covers off of Harry hard enough. He whines and tries to pull them back over himself, but Eleanor is clearly stronger than him at the moment. Just now, because he's too emotional. Yeah, that's why she wins this time.
"Seriously, Harry. Let go of the blanket and get up. You can't keep doing to yourself. Do you think Liam wants to see you like this?"
"Not you too," he complains, burying his face in his pillow.
"I'm just saying," she reasons, tugging him until he sits up on his bed and leans back against the headboard. "He left because he thought he'd make you happier, right?"
"But clearly I'm not."
"Yeah, you're really not. But that doesn't mean you have to be like this."
"Well, I'm sorry for not knowing what else to do while the love of my life has moved on from me. And it's all my fault! If I just loved him back, then he'd still be here! What's wrong with me?! Why couldn't I just love him?"
"Oh, mothertrucker. You're doing it again," she mutters with a roll of her eyes.
Harry only huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. "I want Liam, El. Unless you can get him to me, then you can just leave."
"You're so stubborn, you know that?"
"Liam used to love that about me. He used to love me, El. Why doesn't he love me anymore?"
"Can you please stop beating yourself up over this? At least you realized that you do love him. You need to stay positive and keep hoping that you'll be able to have Liam ba- "
Just then, Harry's phone rings from his nightstand. He stares at Eleanor with wide eyes, and she sighs before she grabs his phone and throws it at him. He blinks at it, then struggles yet still manages to answer it. Eleanor smiles encouragingly at him, leaning back on her hands behind her as she stays seated across from him.
"Hello?"
"Harry! Oh my gosh! I have such good news!" Gemma greets him happily.
"Did you - You found him?" he asks, looking at Eleanor as she sits up from his words. She gestures for him to put it on speakerphone, which he does with a wide smile.
"Yeah! Like, Ian literally just found him a minute ago. I'm so proud of him!"
"So am I! Tell him 'thank you' for me!"
Eleanor hugs Harry in their excitement, just about ready to squeal with him. But Harry shushes her and continued letting Gemma speak.
"Do you have paper or something? I can give you his address so you can buy a ticket to Italy right now and go get your man!" his sister states from the other line. "Sorry it took so long, by the way. Liam really was hiding, you know? But now you can kick his arse for us. He didn't have to be hiding that good."
"Okay, whatever. What's his address?"
"Here's some paper," Eleanor tells him as she hands him a piece of paper she obviously ripped from one of his unused notebooks on his desk.
"Hi, El!"
"Hey, Gemma! Tell Ian thank you so much for doing this! Like, you have no idea what I've been through thanks to your brother losing it. But now he's all happy and can't stop smiling! If only you could see him now. His dimples are back!"
Gemma laughs as she tells Harry what Liam's address is in Italy. "Well, I'm glad he's not upset anymore. Harry, you better get to him right now and kiss his face off."
"That's actually what I had in mind, Gem. Thanks again!" Harry replies.
"Sure. Now go to Italy already!"
"Right," he says before jumping off the bed and running to his closet. He grabs a hand bag and stuffs in some random clothes, making Eleanor giggle and shake her head at his eagerness.
He only ignores her, heading to his dresser to grab some underwear and socks. Eleanor and Gemma chat a little more as she grabs his laptop and turns it on. He gives Eleanor a grateful smile when she buys him a ticket to Italy and tells him to just continue packing up.
"El, really. You didn't have to buy it for m- "
"I don't mind, okay? I just want to see you happy again. Now hurry up so you can get there already."
"Harry, don't forget to bring some lube!"
"Gemma!"
"Well, I don't want you to get hurt when you - Well, we all know what you're actually gonna do there," his sister says dismissively. "You're not just gonna kiss him, that's for sure."
"That's right! This will be like a reunion of long lost lovers!" Eleanor exclaims as she claps.
"You're both so embarrassing," he mutters with a blush on his cheeks.
That only makes Eleanor coo at him and pinch his cheeks. Gemma laughs, then tells Harry to 'have fun' and call her when he gets the chance after letting Liam 'have his way with him'. Harry scolds her, but she already hung up and Eleanor laughs from seeing him blushing even more.
"Liam is such a lucky guy. No wonder he loves you," she declares with a smile.
"Let's hope he still loves me."
"Of course he does. There's no way he'll get over you that easily. Now, come on. Let's go tell everyone you're leaving to get Liam back. They'll totally flip."
*YAY! Harry finally has a chance to see Liam again!
What do you think will happen when Harry gets to Liam? Will Liam accept him with open arms? Or is it too late and Liam has moved on and pushes him away?
Will Lirry finally be together? Is this really happening right now?!
2 MORE CHAPTERS!!! - So close, people!
What will happen next?* x