a/n: i'm having a rihanna moment rn because i'm not really sure how to feel about this chapter. read very carefully in the beginning—it's crucial to do so! anyway, this is dedicated to @BellaKramer because she always leaves such wonderful comments on this story and is super nice :) thank you so much to all of you for giving such awesome feedback! anyhow, if you like this chapter, please vote & comment!
* * * * *
CHAPTER FOUR
Lily sat comfortably in the very back of the eight-seater car Louis was driving. She, along with five impeccably groomed boys known to be in a band involving a direction, were on their way to their flat—more specifically, Harry and Niall’s, but the boys spent so much time together in the flat that it’d become “the flat.”
Harry wanted to sit in the passenger seat so that he’d be next to Louis, but Zayn had taken the spot. The curly-headed boy hadn’t minded sitting next to Lily though—at least by the way he wasn’t complaining, Lily didn’t think he minded.
“Hey, Lil,” Harry spoke.
She turned her head. “Yeah?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to say something because I was bored.” He grinned, letting out a round of chuckles as Lily rolled her eyes at him,
She shook her head at the boy. “You’re so stupid.”
Lily looked into his green eyes and decided Harry was simply a bunch of lines. His eyebrows were sloppy curt lines that formed two arches over the diamond arranged lines that were his eyes. His hair was an array of swirls that somehow managed to look completely enchanting despite their unorganized simplicity. Harry’s nose consisted of sharp lines and his lips were lines that Lily wanted to disarray.
As she stared at Harry and his diamond eyes she lost realization that he had started to say something; something about a time when she did something really stupid.
“You have really nice eyes, Harry,” she told him suddenly.
That was when, very slowly, Harry towered over Lily, the mass of curls on his head almost reaching the ceiling of the car as his head bent down position. He scooted over to Lily, gradually coming impossibly close to her. He looked in her big brown eyes as his large hand found her smaller one.
“Lily,” he whispered, inching more and more towards the brunette.
“Lily . . . Lily . . . Lily!”
Snap.
“H-Huh, what?” Lily stuttered. Harry snapped his fingers in front of her face, his eyes brows bunch together as one of them rose up to form an image of confusion.
That was when she realized what had happened: she’d been daydreaming about Harry. Embarrassingly enough, it often happened when she was alone or truly looked at Harry.
“You were staring into my eyes and telling me how nice they were like you always do and then, you kind of looked . . . away . . . from Earth,” Harry told the dimpled girl, sounding a bit worried. His green eyes were streaked with a darker shade of green, something that often happened as a side effect of worrying for the boy.
Lily smiled weakly and shook her head. “I was just, uh, thinking about this show I was watching before on TV.”
“Oh, what show?” Harry asked casually, leaning slightly towards Lily. She shifted nervously as she tried to think of a show she watched other than Friends in London—it was really not an exaggeration to say Lily watched Friends every day in London. Any other show she watched was just a pastime for any commercials that played during an episode.
“Um, I don’t quite remember the name, but it sure was good,” Lily told Harry, and inwardly cursing at herself for saying it was good. Harry would ask her what it was about now.
“What was it about?” There it was.
“Um . . . well, it . . . it’s hard to put into words. It’s kind of about a girl . . . ” Lily trailed off as she stared at Harry and tried to think of ideas. “Um, it’s about a girl who loves a boy—”
Harry laughed humorlessly. “Typical.”
“Well, the thing is that the boy doesn’t love her. He loves someone else and he’s completely oblivious to the fact that the girl likes him and that the person he loves will never love him—at least not the way the girl does. The girl is always spending her time with him but he doesn’t always spend his time with her,” Lily explained. It actually gave her physical pain that Harry looked so interested in the story that he unknowingly was in.
“Wow, this guy sounds like a dick.” A smile formed on Lily’s face as she tried not to laugh. Harry, however, had a serious expression. “I mean, how could he not realize the girl loves him?” In a lower voice he said, “It’s just like Louis and me.”
Lily’s smile dropped and the amusement in her eyes vanished. “Yeah . . . ”
“So does he ever realize the girl loves him?” he asked earnestly, true curiosity present in his pupils.
“Well, it was only the first episode so I don’t know yet,” said Lily. “I’m really hoping he realizes the girl loves him—and that he loves her back, too.”
“I think he will—at least, he should.”
“That’s what a lot of people say about it . . . ”
* * * * * *
The rest of the car ride was spent listening to the radio or Liam and Niall’s conversations, trying not to laugh too loudly when one of them said something funny, and yelling at Louis whenever he decided to unexpectedly use the brakes and send everyone plummeting forward.
When they arrived at the flat, Zayn immediately went into the kitchen and returned with multiple bags of chips, which as always, would be forgotten by everyone except Niall, who’d at least finish one bag off; he had a knack for junk food.
“If you want a drink, just go into the fridge and grab whatever you want. Just don’t finish off all the beers—that’s directed towards you two,” Zayn said, pointing to Harry and Niall at the last part.
Lily laughed as Harry and Niall pouted in unison. The two boys loved to drink—but at times, it wasn’t a good thing. For a person like Harry—a person who didn’t know how to deal with emotions that he didn’t want at certain moments—alcohol was the easiest thing to turn to.
The brunette-headed girl made her way into the kitchen. Her bare feet made soft padding noises against the grey stone floor as she headed towards the refrigerator. She opened it, hands making light finger-prints on the stainless steel. She grabbed a Coca-Cola can, the cool water wrapped around it melting onto her small hand. Turning around and moving away, she allowed everyone else who had entered the kitchen to grab a drink as well.
Lily walked back into the living room, plopping down onto a brown-colored couch that was nestled in front of a black coffee table. Her moment alone was short-lived as Liam sauntered into the room. A glass of water was held inside his hand. He sent Lily a smile and sat down on a loveseat diagonal to the couch.
“What’s up, Lily?” he asked, casually sipping his drink.
“Nothin’ much. What about you?” she asked, smiling at Liam. He was a nice guy, easy to talk to and definitely not bad to look at—and always one to know how to calm down his band-mates.
“Nothin’ much for me as well—which is good because I’m absolutely tired. We’ve been recording The Best Song Ever all day at the studio, just perfecting it till it sounded like heaven,” Liam replied, chuckling.
Lily laughed along with him. “Well, it did so good job.”
At that moment, everyone else entered the room. Zayn had settled on a Coca-Cola like Lily had. Louis, Niall, and Harry had all grabbed a beer. Laughter filled the room as one of the boys said something Lily and Liam hadn’t heard, the two sharing a playfully confused look.
“Alright,” Niall began, “we’re here today to celebrate our new song—and to celebrate some news Louis has for us.”
“Shh, Niall! I can’t say it yet,” Louis told him, a smile playing on his lips. Next to Louis, Harry’s smile dropped just the slightest.
“Alright, then! Well, then we’re only here to celebrate our new song right now,” Niall laughed, swinging his arm over Louis’ shoulder.
Louis smirked as he punched Niall’s shoulder playfully. “I’ll tell you guys soon. I’m just waiting for her to get here.”
As if someone had planned it, the doorbell sounded at that exact moment. Louis smiled and Niall ran for the door, opening it to reveal a girl with shoulder-length wavy brown hair and bright brown eyes: Eleanor.
She ambled in with a black, rhine-stone studded purse slung over her shoulder. Bright blue jeans were paired with a white blouse to put together an outfit that screamed “I’m too expensive for you!” which made Lily feel self-conscious in her outfit.
Quite honestly, although Lily loved Eleanor’s outfits but thought they were just a tad overpriced at certain times—but when a girl like her has got the amount of money she has, it’s understandable that she’d splurge on her clothes.
“Hey, lads!” She smiled at them, revealing a set of straight white teeth before turning to Lily. “Hey, Lily!”
“Hey, El. Great to see you.” Lily offered Eleanor a smile, who returned it as she skipped over to Louis. He wrapped his arms around her, setting his head on her shoulder.
Green eyes watched the scene, pain lacing itself into them. Harry looked down at the floor as Louis and El shared a kiss, taking a swig of his beer. He took another swig of his beer. And then another. And then, his beer was finished.
He started walked towards the kitchen but Louis stopped him. “Harry, wait! I want you to be here for the news.”
“What news?” Eleanor inquired nonchalantly, her trimmed eyebrows bunching together.
“The news that we’re going to get married.” That was when Louis bent down on one knee, pulled a rather large diamond ring out of his plaid pocket shorts, and took Eleanor’s hand. “Eleanor Jane Calder, will you marry me?”
Harry looked as if he wanted to be sick, his eyes looking distant and mouth ajar; Lily thought there was a chance he would be.
“Oh my God! Yes, Lou!” With that, Louis slipped the ring onto her finger, carried her up, and kissed her. Nothing else could be heard other than the cheers and chants—and the deafening sound of Harry’s heart shattering. That, however, was a sound only heard by the ones who acknowledged Harry at that moment.
Eleanor backed out of her and Louis’ hug. “Lily, this may be quick but we’ve known each other for so long now and I would absolutely love for you to be my best-maid!”
Lily being the best-maid at the man Harry loves’ wedding—she could only wonder what Harry was feeling right now.
As much as she wanted to say no, “Of course” escaped her lips and she smiled at her fellow brunette.
“How about that, Lily? You’ve got a lot of dress shopping to do,” Niall joked, but Lily didn’t laugh. She didn’t understand what Niall meant by “a lot of dress shopping.” All she needed was one for Eleanor’s wedding—though she didn’t assume it’d even happen this year.
“What do you mean, Niall?” she asked.
Harry’s eyes suddenly widened, and then a guilty expression formed on his tan face, overriding the distressed and angry one that was on his face just a moment ago.
“Harry didn’t tell you about the ball? I guessed you knew—and that you were going with him. Some really rich guy is throwing this ball and Simon’s told us that he's really important so we have to go and make a good impression,” Niall answered, raising a blonde eyebrow at Harry.
Lily frowned, feeling hurt.“Why didn’t you tell me, Harry?”
“I-I completely forgot! I’m so sorry,” Harry apologized, but it didn’t make Lily feel better. Was she merely just a side-thought in Harry’s head; a friend he could just neglect and apologize to?
“Well, you should make it up to her by taking her!” Eleanor suggested, smiling brightly. Harry bent his head down and for a second. Lily wanted to laugh, knowing he did that when he was rolling his eyes and didn’t want anyone to see.
“I wouldn’t do that to make it up to her, I’d do that because I want to take her—that is, if she’ll go with me . . . ” Harry looked into Lily’s eyes. In that moment, he resembled a small child with the way his green eyes looked so sincere and hopeful and his plump lips were in a soft pout.
Once again, as much as she wanted to say no—show Harry that she wouldn’t always forgive him—she didn’t. “Of course, Harry.”
If she’d said no, she would’ve broken the dimple-faced boy’s heart—and she wouldn’t make him feel what he made her feel.
A smile fell on Harry’s face as he nodded over to the kitchen. “I’m so glad, Lily. Would you come with me over to the kitchen?”
“Sure, Harry,” she replied with a nod.
The two walked over to the kitchen, ignoring the multiple inappropriate jokes about what would happen once they got there. When they did, however, none of it happened. Harry’s smile dropped almost immediately and he gripped the refrigerator handle tightly. Tears found their way in his eyes and after a moment, down his face. He immediately walked over to Lily and wrapped his arms around her, sobbing into her shoulder.
“Lily, everything hurts; everything. My heart is ready to burst, I just want to scream. He asked her to marry him right in front of me. You, one of my best friends, are going to be the bridesmaid at the wedding that I have to attend—that I have to sit through and pretend that I’m happy at. I will never be happy for them, Lily, never. I’m too sad to be happy about anything right now. God damn it! I wish I never introduced Eleanor to Louis—or even met him. I just wish I wasn’t so hurt right now. No one understands me right now. No one knows how it feels to love someone with all your heart and watch them love someone else.”
No words Lily could say would soothe Harry and she knew that. She simply rubbed circles into the boy’s back, her other hand massaging his hair. Harry’s sobs soon faded into little hiccups, the only sound heard being Harry’s heavy breathing.
Slowly, Lily pulled away from the hug and wiped any remaining tears on Harry’s face away. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
Harry’s reply was a weak smile. He opened the fridge up, took another beer, took a swig of it, and looked Lily in the eyes as he said, “If only I wasn’t in love with him—then, that’d actually matter to me.”