Several days later; four to be exact.
Elliotte;
I try to warm myself up as the cold morning breeze glides in through my open window, but when i fail, i just groan and glare at the window with my tired eyes. My fingers catch my phone on the bedside table to check the time before i stuff my face in my pillow and softly groan to myself. It is only eight in the morning and I am already wide-awake.
After contemplating what to do with my day before i have to go to work, i settle with just figuring it out after my morning routine.
Lazily, i push myself up from my bed and rub my eyes. My arms go above my head as a yawn escapes my lips, my feet carrying me to my little closet to pull on my pyjama shorts to accompany my pyjama top. I don't think Dan would be happy to see his older sister walking the kitchen with only panties covering her bottom. I'm not entirely convinced he would be awake at this hour but i still wouldn't risk it.
My first stop is the bathroom; i brush my teeth, rinse my face, tie my hair up after brushing it and finish the little business bothering me since last night before washing my hands and going to the kitchen.
When i notice that I'm the only one awake, I decide on making myself a ham sandwich and some coffee before making my way back to my room. Bambi jumps up on my bed and curls up on my lap when i turn on my laptop. I take a sip of the steaming coffee and use my free hand to scratch the top of Bambi's head before putting the mug on my bedside table and logging into my twitter account.
My fingers are still petting the soft fur on my pug's head as i scroll through my timeline. A smile covers my lips when i see something funny, before i retweet it and carry on with my scrolling. When I'm at the end of the new posts, i scroll back to the top to check out the trends. Since i enabled the around-the-world setting, i see alot of foreign languages before a certain hashtag catches my attention.
#6YearsOfOneDirection stood at the very top of the chart, encouraging me to check it out.
I'm not a fan of One Direction, but i do find a few songs nice. There was this one nice song that was all over the radio last November. Was the title The Night Will Change? Yeah, something like that.
When I click on the hashtag, endless tweets and pictures of the band members swarm me as i catch a few pictures of girls crying. What's going on? Is the band breaking up? Why are there girls crying?
I scroll down deeper into the tweets and soon discover that it's just the band's six-year-anniversary. Wow. Have they really been six years into the fame? With the amount of fans they have, i would have thought they just started. I wouldn't think girls would stick to one band for 6 years. I guess that's dedication.
As i stop at a picture of them as teens, i focus on the five boys standing on a big stage. Huh? I thought they were only four members.
I squint as i look closer at the teenagers. When i scroll up to look at a picture of them taken recently, i conclude that the fifth boy probably was one of the crew of the show, or maybe another competitor. Plus, i don't mean to offend anyone but i honestly don't care. I'm not really a fan so i don't find the need to look into the mystery of the fifth boy with a mop of crazy curls on top of his head.
After i post a congratulation tweet to the band under that hashtag, i log out of my account and check my emails while taking bites of my sandwich.
In a few minutes, i stand up to put my now empty mug in the kitchen, unfortunately waking up Bambi in the process. She stares up at me with her big round eyes before snuggling up beside my pillow and continuing her nap. While I'm rinsing my mug, a sleepy Dan shuffles into the kitchen and plops down on one of the chairs.
"Good morning," I announce, loud enough for him to hear. "G'mornin." His low voice mumbles before i find him yawning and rubbing his eyes. "How was your sleep?" I ask as i heat up some milk for his cereal. Dan mumbles something incoherent before groaning and laying his head on the kitchen table. I chuckle and pour the hot milk into a bowl before taking out his favourite cereal and pouring it into the bowl as well. I push the bowl to his half-asleep figure and sit down on the chair beside him.
At the smell of cereal, he sits up straight and rubs his eyes once more before digging into his breakfast.
"You know," Dan starts, his mouth full, a little bit of milk dribbling from the corner of his lips. I laugh at his red cheeks before taking a napkin and wiping it away. He continues after swallowing. "I had this really weird dream last night, where Bambi was fighting this really big poodle, and-"
I listen to my little brother intently as he tells me about his dream while taking slurps of the warm milk, with his brown eyes wide and his fingers pushing his curly hair away from his eyes. My chin rests on the heel of my palm as i lean my elbow on the table and concentrate on the crazy tale Dan is still telling me about.
In a matter of minutes, Dan is done with his food and we're both getting ready; I'll be going to work and he convinced me to drive him to his friend's house.
I pull on my jean shorts and find a black t-shirt, peeking out the window of my room to check the weather before deciding to throw a flannel over my shirt since i could see the trees slightly swaying. I pull on whatever socks i found first and jog out of my room with my phone and keys. "Dan! I'm leaving!"
"Wait!" I sigh and tie the laces on my Vans, patiently waiting for my brother to finish. When he comes running to put on his shoes, i notice that his usually curly fringe is tamed into a slick straightened one and his usual black shirt is replaced by a purple band-t-shirt. I squint at him for a second before i get a whiff of cologne.
"Dan?"
"Yes?"
We maintain eye contact for a few seconds before his eyes shift away to his shirt and his fingers fix his fringe. "Why are you wearing cologne? You're just going to Joel's house. Why would you fix your hair and go all out?"
"I just wanted to change my attire, or somethin'. I don't know, I'm just tired of what i look like. Why? Do i look too fancy?"
"Fancy?" i chuckle, "A band t-shirt and a fringe is not fancy." He shrugs before i frown at the tone of my voice. I sound so judgemental. "Danny, you look fine."
His insecure eyes turn back to their cold, awkward self as he nods and gestures to the door. "So, we leaving or what?" Dan beats me to the exit, opening the front door and just walking down the hall to the staircase. I shrug to myself and lock the door, following after.
When i find my car, i spot Dan grinning wildly while his cheeks smear with pink, his eyes focused on his phone. I ruffle his hair on my way to the driver's side of the car, making him groan and hide the screen of his phone from my curious eyes. Hm.
I unlock the car and Dan jumps in, tearing his eyes off his phone to fix his seatbelt before going back to tapping his fingers on the glass rapidly while that grin still stretches his lips. I smirk a little to myself while i start the car and roll out of the building's parking lot, my mind clouded with the funny images of Dan and a girl.
The ride to Dan's friend's house is a bit long due to me getting lost once, but soon enough, I am tying my apron around my neck and waist and getting ready to help costumers.
...
The soft patter of the rain fills the little space of the café before the low rumble of thunder echoes across the city. Since there are no customers in sight, i grab a mug of hot chocolate and my book after checking the clock. I finish in about half an hour. Awesome.
I slowly walk to the nearest booth by the glass and slide in, pulling my sweater's sleeves over my hands and pulling my knees to my chest, looking out the window at the small droplets sliding down the glass. The soft music playing from the radio on the cashier's desk makes me feel very sleepy and soon enough I am almost snoozing off. I quickly take a sip of the steaming drink in my mug and rub my forehead, extending my arm to catch hold of my book; A Walk to Remember.
My eyes skim the printed words as i smile at some sentences and frown at others, occasionally taking sips of my hot chocolate. It thunders every once in a while, the sky darker than its usual at this hour, adding up to the cosy feeling. At one point Emmi came over and sat by my side, her eyes on her phone instead as we just sat in silence. I was not surprised that by the time it was time my shift was over, no customer was to be seen. The weather outside is crazy.
I bid good-bye to Emmi and give her a short hug, having to jog from the café to my car because of the heavy rain in hopes that i would not be too soaked.
However, i could not escape the rain enough, because when i jump into my car, my Vans are drenched and my hair is a flat, wet mess on top of my head. Therefore, with a frown, i start my car and drive away from the café. When I am almost home, i get a text from Dan. I quickly check the text while I am stopped at a red light.
Hey, my lovely, lovely sis. Did you forget to pick me up or are you just half an hour late? :))))
"Are you serious? Crap," I groan, chucking my phone to the passenger seat before making a turn and trying to find where his friend lives again. Damn, this boy lives in the deepest of the outskirts. It's always so hard to drive to his house. Just as i finally park out of his building, i shoot a text to Dan telling him that I am here. In a few minutes, my 14-year-old brother hops into my car and shakes the water out of his brown hair, that now turned curly because of the humidity.
On my way back to our home, i can't help but get lost again. I somehow end up driving along the clubbing-part of the city, alot of drunks stumbling out of the clubs before laughing and stumbling back in because of the rain. Dan laughs at the grownups as i try not to run over the ones who are freely roaming the roads.
I breathe out in relief when i start recognising the area, a few drunks still wandering the sidewalks but not as many as before.
Since it's almost eight o'clock now, it's starting to get dark, and it's pretty hard to see in the rain but I'm trying my best. I can't help but squint into the slightly dark sidewalk as i almost think i saw Harry. No. No way. That couldn't be Harry.
I try to slow down by the slumped, slightly limping figure. When the figure runs their hands through their soaking wet shoulder-length hair, my heart drops and i roll down Dan's window; the side the sidewalk was on. "Lottie, what are you doing? It's raining on me, close the goddamn wind-"
"Harry?"
The figure turns and instead of seeing the beautiful olive colour i am used to seeing, i meet eyes with a dull and glossy green. My heart breaks at the little glimpse of injuries i could see on the man's face with the limited light. When he sends me a broken smile, and winces afterwards, i park the car and jump out, ignoring Dan's protests.
"Harry? What are you doing? Have you gone mental?" I yell through the rain, grasping his biceps and shaking him slightly. Harry clumsily moves along with my shakes, and it takes me one look into his eyes to figure out that he's drunk off his mind. He says nothing; he just lazily smiles and bends down to my level. I start panicking before realising that he's just enveloping me in a tight hug. His cold body presses against mine while the rain still pelts onto our heads and while Dan is still yelling at me to get into the car.
"C'mon, come with me," I groan, pulling Harry towards my car. His body is freezing and he's soaking wet and wasted, i cannot leave him here. I don't know what I'll do with him, but my goal for now is to get him under a roof and away from the rain. My car sounds good enough.
"Come on, Harry. Come on. Just come with me, please." His arms are still tied around my body as i yank the door to the backseats open. Every time i try to escape his embrace, he only frowns and hugs me again. "Fuck. Just sit down with him, whoever he is. It'll be faster, come on." Dan groans from the car, and i try to do as he said.
I slowly lower myself into the backseats, thankfully making Harry follow me. Once we're both in the safety of my warm car, i see Dan twist around to shut the door. Harry is still clinging to me, his head on my chest and his arms around my waist. I breathe heavily and stare down at the brown, flat hair matted on top of his head. "Harry," I say quietly, shrugging to Dan when he doesn't answer. Has he fallen asleep?
"Harry." I repeat, a little louder, earning a little mumble of my name in return. My arms leave his shoulders as i try to lift his head up from my chest. I grasp either sides of his skull and gently guide his head up. His beautiful green eyes are half shut and a lazy smile rests on his bluish lips. "Harry, oh my God. What were you doing out there, under the cold rain? Are you okay?"
My hands slip from either side of his head to his pink cheeks, my fingers moving the wet hairs away from his beautiful face. His beautiful face that had a cut on the cheek, swollen eyes and a busted lower lip.
I see Dan press the emergency-stop signal button and i mentally thank him as i stare back at Harry's eyes. "Harry?" I gently call out again, my thumb running under his red eyes.
Upon seeing the frown on my face, his brows knit together and his lips go down into a frown too. He lays his head on my shoulder and pulls me closer to his cold body. My heart breaks at his state. Did someone do anything to him? Why is he beaten up and drunk?
Instead of questioning him anymore, i just stay quiet and return his hug. One of my hands lay on his wide back, my fingers rubbing circles, while my other hand sifts through his wet ringlets. I hear him sigh before his raspy voice finally speaks, "I miss them. Oh, Elliotte. I miss them so much."
He tightens his arms around me after saying those words and i can feel his shaky breaths on my neck.
I stay quiet for a few seconds before Dan sends me a questioning look. I just send him a reassuring glance before lowering down my face to whisper, "Harry, let me get you to my house. I'll help you with your injuries. Okay? We need you to change out of those clothes too. You'll get sick."
After a minute of silence, i feel Harry nod and he pulls away. His sad eyes lock with mine and i lean up to press a soft kiss onto his forehead. He sighs.
I jump out of the car to sit in the driver's seat and start the car again, driving back to my house. I steal glances at Harry from the rear-view mirror every once in a while, only to find him lying down across the seats when we're halfway there.
"You have alot to explain, Lottie." Dan mumbles beside me.
I sigh, briefly glancing at the two males in my car. "I know. I'll explain later, just let me get him somewhere safe and dry."
~~
(a/n): hm, i tried to make the bit where she sees harry exciting. Probably failed.
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