Last and probably the longest chapter! Enjoy!
-------
Breathe, Issy, breathe, I tell myself. Okay, maybe not that much – I don’t want to hyperventilate. My chest is heaving and I’m getting a headache. Perhaps if I stopped looking at Harry, I’d calm down.
But I can’t seem to do that. The last time I saw him I was barely conscious, and now he’s stood right in front of me. I can’t help but gawp at every part of him, hungrily taking in the sight. I dare not look at his face again, and focus instead on his slightly slumped posture and worn-out tour clothes.
It looks like Harry was doing the same – not looking at my face but darting from my shoes to my sleeves to my knees to the top of my hair.
Our eyes lock suddenly, and before I know it Harry has wrapped his arms tightly around my body and I’m burying my head into his chest.
I’m overcome by an amazing sense of warmth, and I grasp the back of his jacket harder, as if making sure I never lose him again. I let the tears fall, too; tears of joy, of happiness, and in hope that I won’t soon be weeping tears of sorrow.
Harry is crying too. Not as much as me, however, but all the same I can hear his shuddering breaths and feel the tears drop onto my hair. He’s cradling me like I’m the one who’s been breaking apart, when we both know I should be comforting him and apologising for everything.
I take my chance.
I slowly loosen my grip on Harry’s jacket, not letting go entirely, and raise my head to look at him properly. He sniffs hard and awkwardly wipes his face on the shoulder of his jacket, his arms still clamped around my back.
“Harry I’m so sorry!” I sob. He just shakes his head.
“No, Harry, let me finish,” I instruct, sighing firstly, “I regret not replying to you after I heard about you and Darcy. I wish I had, and part of me knows if I had, this whole thing would have been sorted weeks ago. All that rubbish I said about one mistakes...it means nothing! Even the best of people make mistakes. I know I'm not one of those great people, but I do know I made a huge mistake running away from you that day.
“At one point I thought I'd wasted my time worrying over you and Darcy! No. Once I woke up in hospital I realised I'd wasted time not making it up with you. I hated that I'd missed our chance to speak to each other again.” Somehow, I had managed not to cry at all. I sigh before finishing my speech, “Now it's my turn to say 'I want you back', and I'm giving you the chance to turn me down as I did you. I expect nothing less.”
I finish with a loud sigh, looking away from Harry and expecting him to push me away and begin shouting.
…
Nothing.
Looking back, I see he’s smiling.
“Harry? Are you OK?”
“Of course I’m OK!” he laughs, “You’re here, you’re safe,” he smiles. Then his grin turns to a frown, “You know, I once told myself that when you said you'd be my girlfriend it was the second best thing I'd ever heard - the first, obviously, being told I was in the band - but I was wrong. Hearing that you want me back, actually beats them both.”
I smile now, and my eyes begin to water once more.
Harry panics then, “Issy, are YOU alright?”
I don’t reply. I pull Harry closer and kiss him, something I’ve been longing to do for weeks. It seems as if we’re like this for ages, but all too soon we pull apart. Both of us are smiling now.
“C’mon, I have to perform in a bit. Can’t have you wandering around these dark corridors, can I?” Harry tells me as he pulls me to the door. He’s perfect, I think as I lock an arm around him and let him lead me safely down the corridor.
Within minutes we arrive at the boys’ dressing room, the door opening as Niall walks out. He’s typing away on his phone so doesn’t notice us immediately, but when he does he couldn’t be more confused.
“Harry…Issy…what…?” Niall stammers as we glide past him.
“I’ll explain later,” Harry tells him as we reach the door. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Harry says now addressing me – I guess he noticed how nervous I looked when I realised who’s behind that door.
Harry enters first and I see that Louis is on the far end of the room and Liam and Zayn are stood just next to the door. I run straight to hug Liam, whispering “thank you,” into his shoulder.
“Louis,” I hear Harry say cautiously. As I step away from Liam, I see the anger in Louis’ eyes.
“All sorted, is it?” Louis answers mockingly. I slide behind Liam and Zayn and cowardly let Harry talk with Louis alone.
Harry sighs in preparation, clearly knowing how to deal with his best friend, “You guys always cheered me up – I couldn’t have asked for better friends. You, Louis, have been there through it all. You know everything, so tell me right now: have you ever seen me happier throughout all this, than how I am now?” as he says it, Harry grabs me and pulls me into the light, smiling down on me as if he’s the happiest guy on the planet.
Louis takes forever to answer. The tension in the room builds up, but thankfully drops again as Louis whispers, “No.”
“Exactly,” Harry beams, “Please be OK with this?”
Surveying the pair of us, Louis walks forward slowly. I’m unbelievably terrified. What if Louis screams at me, says he’s not OK with this? They could argue…One Direction could split up…
To my relief, Louis’ face breaks into a wide smile, “It’s good to have you back, mate,” he exclaims, throwing his arms around Harry happily.
-
I’m so happy right now I don’t even care if I’m going deaf. It’s actually quite a shock that my ears are ringing when I’m so high up and there’s nobody sat in the five rows in front of me, nor is there anyone else along my row.
But I bet the noise is due to the fact that this is the final night of the X Factor tour! The fans here are all going crazy, waving their banners and screaming the names of their favourite acts. It’s definitely a much livelier atmosphere than when I saw the show.
Yes, I’m sat up here alone, on the very back row, my chin resting on my hands as I gaze at my boyfriend running through the crowd.
After Harry sorted everything out with Louis it was a shock for him to realise that he still had to perform again, but he managed to convince the bosses to let me sit in the audience, instead of being cooped up in another empty room.
“You go out there and watch,” Harry told me, “After Heroes, we’ll go catch up.” He smiled at me and guided me towards a corridor that I had to navigate to find the way to my seat.
I watch now as the boys jump onto stage, singing their hearts out.
Liam and Louis said that Harry was faking his mood on stage earlier today, but I bet there’s been a huge change there. I can see how happy he looks, bobbing around and smiling non-stop. Not even for a slower part of a song does his expression change – he’s just smiling! And it makes me smile too.
Louis runs past Harry now, grinning at him and giving him an affectionate slap on the back. I smile even more, glad that I haven’t done anything to damage their friendship. After all, these boys never can stay mad at each other.
I feel my phone buzz from within my jeans pocket. It’s got to be Raya – we’ve been texting each other like crazy since I came to sit in the audience and told her what had happened. She wanted to know each and every miniscule detail.
Did Louis look angry!?
What did Harry say?!
How did Liam help?!
I’ve told her everything at least twice already.
I lean back in my seat, listening to Matt sing on stage, and pull my phone from my pocket.
The message isn’t from Raya…and it’s not from Wendi, either…
It’s from Darcy.
Hey, Iss,
I just want to say I hope everything went well at the arena-
(I told Wendi my plan so I suppose she passed on the message)
-with Harry and that you’re happy again. Judging by Raya’s facebook, it went swimmingly.
And I’m sorry. This is all my fault. Say what you want but it is, Issy! You wouldn’t believe how glad I am that everything is fixed now and you and Harry can be happy together :)
Fancy shopping with the girls this weekend?
Xx Darce
I smile at Darcy’s message and quickly reply,
Darce, Don’t be sorry, everything’s good again now, right? Forget it ever happened! :) and I like the sound of that ;) Iss x
I press send and when I look up I see the stage is vacant, which means Matt had left and it’s time for the final performance!
The familiar tune of Heroes starts playing, and people begin appearing through the darkness every few seconds. First it’s Matt, and I wait eagerly for the five One Direction boys to be illuminated under a glowing spotlight.
Then they appear, greeted by a deafening chorus of cheers from the fans. I laugh happily, watching as the boys do the same whilst singing. Harry still looks over the moon with happiness, and I don’t think I could be any happier as I watch him.
My phone beeps again and I tear my eyes away from Harry to read it.
Forget what? ;)
Can’t wait!
Xx Darce
Forget what I said before. I can be happier than I am now – I have one of my best friends back!
Life is great right now.
-------
THAT'S THE END!
(the end few lines are random and forced so the end's not as good as it could have been)
What does everyone think of my story as a whole? :) it'd be AWESOME to get feedback from everyone who's read it!
Also whilst I'm here I've gotta tell you that I have another One Direction fic up my sleeve, and also a tiny idea to a sequel to my other 1D fic "'During The X Factor". It might not happen, but it's a possibility...but first of all I need to know if people actually like that fic! Please could you be awesome, check it out and comment? :)
Thank you for all your support on this story, it means a lot! :)