{Chapter 28}
"Want some?" Niall asked with his mouth full, shoving the bag of Cheetos towards Katie. She chuckled at the orange rim of cheese around his lips as she smiled up at him and shook her head.
"No thanks, Nialler." She said he shrugged. Liam chuckled beside her as they walked down the stretch of the hallway towards the pool. Liam had a towel wrapped around his neck as their shoes clacked against the marble floor of the hotel hallway.
Katie was grateful for the perks of being with the band. If she wanted to swim an hour after the hotel pool had closer? Not a problem. Just leave it up to Niall to give the hotel receptionist a flirty wink and a smile and Liam hand over an autograph or two.
After the concert, everyone had broken off to go and do their own thing. Katie had watched as Ashley and Harry hopped into a taxi to go to a local pub downtown. Katie knew it was the right thing to do, letting Harry go with Ashley, but she still felt a pang of jealously knowing that Ashley was currently sitting in a bar somewhere drinking with her boyfriend.
Andrea and Zayn had decided to go out on their own and Lou had a Skype date with Eleanor and decided to call it a night by going back to his room.
"So tell me about this Ashley girl." Katie asked, watching her feet as they padded down the hall. Beside her, Niall laughed.
"Oh, Kat. You don't have to worry about, Ash." He said, reaching over and ruffling her hair. "He's just Harry's best friend. They've been best friends since they were like 6."
Katie nodded, still not totally comfortable with the whole situation.
"Don't worry Katie." Liam spoke gently. She turned to find his reassuring smile and puppy dog eyes looking down at her. It had worked though, her nerves began to settle as Liam continued. "She's harmless. Everyone loves her and I'm sure you will too. I think Nialler has a small crush on her."
Katie laughed at turned to Niall, who walked beside her glaring over her head at Liam, who shrugged playfully. Niall's face turned a crimson red as he narrowed his eyes at Liam. "No I don't!" He huffed.
Liam and Katie both laughed as Niall grunted beside them.
Katie pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking the time and finding no new text messages from Harry. It was just after eleven as they rounded the corner of the hallway and walked through the doors into the Pool Room.
"Yeah Buddy!" Niall laughed as he kicked off his shoes as he entered the humid room. It was just the three of them and Katie watched as Niall padded across to the chairs and pulled his shirt over his head, already in his swim shorts.
"Hurry up, wankers. Let's do this!" Niall said in a weird voice that only made Katie laugh as she followed Liam towards the chairs.
The boy pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his extremely toned rack of abs. Katie ogled them secretly as Liam threw the shirt down onto the chair.
"Payne, you're going in first." Niall bellowed from the other side of the pool. Liam laughed as he took a deep breath and jumped in.
Katie laughed as she pulled up the bottom of her t-shirt and shimmied out of her shorts. She was rocking the same bikini she had worn at the Beach House.
"Whoa, check out this Bird, oi Liam?" Niall laughed as Katie stood at the side of the pool, putting her hands on her hips and giving them a smirk as they ogled her exposed body.
"Close your eyes, Nialler. Harry will beat your ass." Liam laughed, pushing his wet hair back as he treaded water in the pool.
Katie couldn't contain her smile as she pouted her lips at her friends. "I hate you guys!"
The boys burst into laughter as Niall smirked back at her. A smile that any girl would die to see.
"No, you don't." He smiled, before reaching for her hand and pushing her into the water.
-
Andrea wobbled on her stilettos as she followed behind the waiter, who lead them to a small, secluded table near the back of the restaurant. The place was pretty empty, besides a few business men who sat in suits around the bar and discussed politics. Other than that, they were the only two who was siting in the dining room, about to order dinner.
"You didn't have to, you know." Andrea said once the waiter left. Zayn shrugged and opened the menu that had been placed before him. A part of Andrea didn't even want to open it to see the prices. This had to be one of the most exclusive restaurants in Boston. She self consciously pulled at the hem of her navy blue blouse, terrified that she was under dressed for the restaurant.
"Would you stop?" She looked up to find Zayn smiling knowingly across the table from her. She flushed and laughed it off. "You look absolutely beautiful. Stop worrying."
Andrea chuckled and looked down at her menu, flipping it open to the first page to find already expensive looking apatizers.
"How do you know I was worrying?"
Now, she looked up at Zayn, whose hazel orbs held hers under the dim lights of the restaurant. He gave her half a smile as she melted under his stare.
"Because I know you, Andrea."
Pulling herself from her hazy mind, she looked back down at the menu as the waiter returned with two champagne glasses full of sparkling water.
The waiter took the order, as Andrea picked the first thing she could find off the menu before the waiter walked away.
"Will you stay in my room tonight?" Zayn asked quietly. Andrea looked up at find his lips curled in a soft smile. She was convinced she could never say 'No' to the boy.
"Of course." She smiled back. "I bet you I'm a better room mate than Niall."
Zayn laughed. A full, stomach laugh, as he leaned back in the chair. Something in her insides melted just at the sight of the silliness and laughter on his face.
"You are." He smiled at her from across the table. "You don't snore, or talk in your sleep and I don't think you've ever slept walked out of the hotel room before..."
Andrea's eyes went wide as she laughed. Her bell-like laugh echo-ed throughout the empty restaurant.
"Niall has done that?" She asked.
Zayn nodded and picked up his glass of sparkling water to take a sip. When he dropped it back down onto the table the corners of his lips curled.
"And you're much nicer to curl up in bed with."
Andrea smiled at the boy, who laughed and reached down into his pocket to pull out his buzzing phone.
Andrea watched as he leaned his elbows onto the table and began clacking away on his Blackberry.
When he looked back up at her from his phone, his eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at her. Something was different though, in the way he stared at her from across the table. His eyes were suddenly serious and his smile had faltered on his face.
"So, you never did finish telling me what's been bugging you these last few days." Zayn spoke huskily.
Andrea's eyebrows raised at his words as a pit of anxiety formed in her stomach. This was what she wanted to avoid talking about, especially with Zayn.
She remembered when she was younger, her mother telling her that it was never good to keep secrets. When she failed a math test and never bothered telling her parents- the guilt seemed to sit on her chest painfully. It was always better to let it all out in the open, her mother used to say, it was good to share a burden with someone else rather than let it eat you alive inside.
She wondered if that still applied, even if this wasn't about some godamned math test.
"It's nothing." Andrea mumbled, staring down at her fingers that fidgeted with the fork on the table. She saw from the corner of her eye, Zayn shake his head in frustration.
"No, I know you. I know something is wrong." He said gently. She looked up to meet his eyes that searched hers. "Please tell me, whatever it is I can help."
The thought made her stomach drop to her feet. When was the last time someone had gone out of their way to carry the burden with Andrea? Help had never been something that she was used to. After learning how to cope with a best friend with Leukemia, living alone at the age of 16 and having to take on the responsibility of everything, 'Help' wasn't something that was so easily handed out.
It was foreign to her.
"I don't want to-" She stuttered, looking everywhere but into Zayn's eyes. "It's not your problem and it will be a burden and it's not up to you to-"
"Andrea." He cut her off mid sentence.
To her surprise, she looked back at him now. His eyes were softer than she had ever seen them and he wore a faint, but nervous smile. He reached across the table to put a warm hand gently onto of hers that still fiddled with the utensils.
"-I want to help you. Please let me help you." He begged her. He took a breath as the next three words tumbled softly from his lips. "Please, I love you."
And then, the world seemed to freeze.
Did she know the love of another person? Yes. Katie. It was an inevitable, irrevocable love that ran deeper than blood. She was her sister, her best friend, her wingman. Did her family love her? She wasn't sure anymore. She had always known the feeling of unconditional love, but never the love of someone who just decided you were, for some reason, worth it.
Zayn had decided, somewhere down the road, Andrea was worth falling in love with and nothing made her head spin, her heart beat or her palms sweat a little more.
"Let me help you." He whispered again as she stared at him.
And then she remembered how much of an impact the help of others had made during the last few months. From Cam to Marissa, all had helped seemed to save her in some way or another.
"Okay-" She said, steadying herself cautiously before continuing. "Well, something terrible has happened-"
-
Katie was lying on her stomach, flipping through her Cosmo magazine in her's and Harry's hotel room. It was just a little after 12 when someone shook the door handle outside before pushing through the door.
"There's my baby girl." Harry smiled from the doorway.
Katie turned her head to find him standing with his arms above his head as his dimples pierced his cheeks. She couldn't control her laughter.
"Well, hi there." She smiled as she watched him run at her on the bed and jump onto of her.
"Harry!" Katie laughed. His body landed across her back. He snuggled into her and rested his chin on her shoulder. He smelt strongly of his cologne, sweat and alcohol.
"Hi Katie." He cooed into her ear as he placed sloppy kisses on her bare shoulder, just beside the strap of her tank top. She chuckled as his nose brushed along her skin. Even though she knew he was drunk and sloppy, it didn't stop the goosebumps it left of her skin.
"You're wasted." She stated. He rolled off of her now, landing beside her but turning to lay on his back. His head hung off the side of the bed as he looked up at her with a wolfish smile on his face.
"Nope." He said, popping the 'p'. "I'm just happy to see you."
She rolled her eyes at the silly boy in her bed. His clothes looked disheveled. His plaid shirt was worn over top of a navy blue sleeveless shirt he had recently bought. His jeans had spill stains all over them and she couldn't help but chuckle at his mop of messy curls the fell into his eyes.
"Where's Ashley?" Katie asked, genuinely curious. She wondered how long the blonde would be around for or where she was staying. Harry closed his eyes and exhaled deeply through his nose as she watched him.
"I 'uno." He shrugged, not bothering to open his eyes.
She assumed he would eventually fall asleep in the position he lied in. Katie closed her magazine and jumped out of the bed, dropping it on the night stand beside the bed before making her way towards her suitcase. She was still in the clothes she was in when she had left the pool.
She unzipped the suitcase and bent down to pull out an old soccer t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. She was ready to go to bed, her eyes could barely stay open as she reached for the hem of her tank top and pulled it over her head. She shimmied out of her jean shorts, leaving her standing at the far end of the room in nothing but her black lace underwear and matching bra.
Suddenly, she felt a pair of blazing green eyes on her skin.
"You can't just do that."
Katie turned her attention back to the boy whose eyes were now open and staring right at her from across the room. There was only a hint of a smile on his lips but his eyes, his eyes spoke differently.
They were ablaze as they stared at her in the dim light of the hotel room, and for some reason she felt the urge to cover up or apologize. His eyes didn't stop burning into her skin before she swallowed the lump in her throat and responded.
"Oh, uh, what?" She asked nervously. Now the smirk on his face made her cringe as his eyes trailed down her body lazily.
Her face turned bright red. "You can't just look like that. You can't just wear that and expect me to be a gentleman."
Katie's heart beat raced as she began putting on the ratty old t-shirt she held in her hand.
In what seemed like a spur of a second, warm strong hands were grabbing her wrists. She gasped in surprise at Harry, who stood in front of her now with the same dark expression written on his face. His hands stopped her from putting her shirt on.
"No." He whispered huskily. Suddenly she was hyperaware of how close he was standing to her. His nose was inches away from hers and his breath stirred the loose strands of hair around her face. She could feel his breath on her lips.
"Please, don't." He finished whispering.
She didn't know what to say. The room was infinitely quiet as the tension rose in the small hotel room, but for some reason, she didn't mind.
The world seemed to stop around them, just like it always did when Harry was near.
Katie didn't know what to say, but she knew what she wanted.
Without hesitation, she lifted her hand to grip the back of his head, her fingers knotting in his curls and pulling his face to hers where she crashed her lips aggressively against his.
He tasted just like he smelt. His lips were familiar, rough but soft at the same time. He always kissed her as though he didn't want to lose the moment, as if it could be their last and final kiss.
He knew he had to make each one worth it.
He didn't hesitate as his warm hands trailed up her stomach, causing her to open her mouth into the kiss. Brushing past the nerves, she found herself doing the same thing.
Her fingernails dug into the skin of his abs as he pulled away from his lips and began kissing the sensitive skin of her jawline.
"I want you." She whispered. She had never been so upfront or foreword with moments like this. When her and Harry usually kissed, it wasn't like this.
Ever since he had found out about the cancer, his hands were always soft and careful. Handling her like something fragile and breakable. Now his fingers dug into her hips as he pressed her against the wall of the hotel room, pressing his hips roughly against her own.
"I want you more." He murmured into her skin as he sucked and nipped her neck now. She ran her hands through his hair, pulling on strands as he grinded his hips hard into hers.
She could feel everything. The friction between them was too much, but she wanted more. She wanted to feel him, all of him. She wanted to press herself so hard against him that it bruised them.
She wanted all of him.
-
Andrea and Zayn stood in silence in the elevator. She had been biting the inside of her cheek so hard, she had tasted blood for the majority of the night. Zayn stood beside her, his hands dug deep into his pockets as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
Not much had been said since they had left the restaurant. Andrea's nerves and anxiety got the best of her and she somewhat regretted telling him in the first place. Maybe it had been a terrible idea, maybe it wasn't his burden to bare. Maybe telling him was selfish and unjust.
Either way, they hadn't spoke much since they had left the resturant. She couldn't decipher what he was feeling or what he thought about it, and she couldn't find it in her to ask.
"You're staying in mine tonight, right?" He asked as they started walking down the quiet hotel hallway. She had taken off her high stilettos in lobby and were now carrying them in her hands as her bare feet brushed along the carpet lazily.
She looked up at him, only to find him staring forward with his jaw set. "If you still want me to."
His eyebrows furrowed. "Why wouldn't I?"
She sighed and dropped her eyes to her feet as she walked. "Because, well. I don't know-"
Zayn shook his head and turned to look down at her now. They had reached his hotel room door and he reached out a hand to grab hers with. The hotel was so quiet she could hear his soft breathing as she turned to him with big doe-like eyes.
"Andrea, it's not the end of the world." He smiled faintly. It was strange that a simple sentence from the right person could make someone feel completely better, and it did.
She felt her phone buzz in her pocket as she reached down and pulled it out. She hadn't checked her phone all night and when she looked at the screen, she was shocked to have found 3 missed calls, 2 text messages and 50+ twitter notifications.
"What the hell?" She mumbled, narrowing her eyebrows as she clicked on her text messages.
"What?" Zayn asked, looking at her in curiosity. Her text messages popped up, one was from Eleanor and the other from Danielle.
Both of the read the exact same thing.
Andrea's eyes widened as the world around her seemed to spin. She read over both messages 3 times, taking in the words, the sad face emoticons, making sure they were real and not just Andrea's imagination running amuck.
A hand covered Andrea's mouth in surprise as Zayn began to panic.
"Andrea?" He asked again, searching her shocked eyes in concern. "What is it? Andrea?!"
But she wasn't listening to him.
She was scrolling through her mentions on twitter. She knew she had gotten many followers ever since she began being associated with One Direction, but now her mentions were twice as much as she normally had. She didn't need to scroll through more then two pages to know what the rest were about. She knew they all asked the same questions, or said the exact same thing.
@Ally7653 OMG plz tell me it isn't true :( I cried when I heard the news.
@1DXARIANAGRANDE - I'm so sorry :( All my thoughts and prayers! x
@carrotsandstripesandcats - This can't be happening :(
@ccchesca - All my prayers to you guys! :( xxx
Andrea felt the back of her eyes burn with tears as a shaky finger clicked on Worldwide trends.
"Oh My God." She choked as she stared at it.
-
Harry's body pressed Katie hard against the bed. His fingers toyed with the hem of her black lace underwear as his other hand messaged her bra-claded breast.
She tugged at the elastic band of his boxers. His breathing was jagged as he kissed the sensitive curve between her breasts.
His hips bucked against hers. Her mind was clouded and the only thing she was making sense of at the moment was the feeling of Harrys hot, sweaty skin pressed hard against her own.
Suddenly, there was a sound of fists banging against the door. Katie ignored the sound as Harry continued peppering her skin with kisses but then the sound got louder as she pulled herself away from Harry and back into the haziness of reality.
"Harry, someone's at the door." She said, ignoring the tingle up and down her body as his fingers trailed the hem of her underware.
"They'll leave." He mumbled huskily into her skin. But for some reason, Katie knew she couldn't ignore. She pushed her hands against Harry's bare shoulders and used whatever strength she could to push him off.
He fell off of her with a grunt, totally killing the tension in the air as she broke from her revery.
Katie hopped out of bed, not bothering to grab a pair of shorts, just her ratty old t-shirt that she pulled over her head.
Harry groaned on the bed as she flicked on the light and padded towards the hotel room door, where someone was banging aggressively against the other side.
She opened the heavy door, adjusting her eyes to the light as a tearful looking Andrea and a pitiful looking Zayn stood on the other side of the door.
The look on their faces brought a pit of emptiness to her stomach as she swallowed the anxious lump in her throat.
"Andrea?" She asked looking at her best friend, who stared wide-eyed at the girl. "Andrea, what's wrong?"
"Katie-" She said, licking her lips as though her whole throat was dry. "-There's something I have to show you."
It was only then that Katie realized Andrea held her iPhone in her hand. She lifted the screen to show the brunette. The screen was on Twitter.
Katie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "-What do you want me to see? How many followers you have now?" She tried to joke, but her laugh was forced. Her insides burned in anxiety as her eyes continued to search the screen and that's when she realized.
"Andrea, Zayn." Harry walked up behind her, with sleepy eyes and stood only at his boxers. "-What's up? What's wrong?"
But nobody responded as a hand covered Katie's mouth. Whether she brought it up to keep her scream from piercing the empty hallway or whether it was just on instinct.
Her eyes pooled with tears as she stared in disbelief and horror at the screen.
She read it over and over again as the words and Worldwide Trends sank in.
#PrayForKatie
#HereForHarry
#DirectionersLoveKatie
#KatiesFightAgainstCancer
Stay Strong Katie
Harry glanced at the phone over Katie's shoulder.
She couldn't move, couldn't feel and couldn't think.
"What the fuck." She breathed finally as she pulled a shaky hand away from her mouth. She looked up at Zayn an Andrea who stared at her in pity.
Her somach clenched uncomfortably as she spun around to stare at Harry, whose eyes were now wide and in complete shock.
Katie couldn't hold back the tears that started to pour from her eyes. She could feel the sobs build in her throat. So her biggest secret had been revealed, to the whole wide world.
"Who told, Harry?" She asked with sad eyes, looking up at the boy who stared back at her in shock. Her sobs escaped her throat in hiccups as she begged him. "Harry, please." She cried. "Who told?"
But the boy didn't have an answer for her.
"I know."
Katie, Harry and Andrea all spun around to look at Zayn, whose eyes were cautious. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets as Harry's eyes blazed at his friend.
"Who the fuck was it?" He growled. Zayn didn't flinch at Harry's anger, instead answered him with sad eyes and an apologetic expression.
"Tyler had that radio interview the other day, remember?" Zayn mumbled, speaking only to Harry as Andrea and Katie stared at him in shock. "-I caught the last few minutes of it on BBC Radio 1 this afternoon, I forgot to tell you. One of the questions they asked Tyler was the inspiration for Lifeline. Tyler had to explain why Andrea and Katie came on tour." Zayn shrugged. Harry's face beat red as the vein in his neck pulsed dangerously. "-He said that Kat was your girlfriend and that you had met her at a Charity Event for Cancer patients."
Everything went silent, as everyone digested the boy's words. Andrea's mouthed dropped a bit as realization dawned on her. She turned to look at Katie urgently, who looked off into the distance with furrowed eyebrows.
Andrea knew Katie was pricing it together. All of it.
"Wait-" Katie said, in a somewhat joking tone. She was completely confused. "-Did you say a Charity Event?"
Andrea looked at Harry who stood behind Katie. His face was white, expressionless. Nothing she had ever seen on Harry before.
Katie turned to look at Harry, who wouldn't look at her in return. She forced a smile and turned to Andrea, who prepared herself mentally for what was about to come.
"A Charity Event?" Katie asked again, tasting the words on her tongue. She spoke them as though it didn't make any sense to her at all. "No, that's wrong. Right Andrea?" Katie asked. The confusion was written all over her face as the brunette turned to her best friend, waiting for an answer.
An answer that would never come.
What else could Andrea do but stare back at the girl with sad eyes.
That was when Katie began to panic. She turned to Zayn, who had a guilty but sad look on his face, knowing that what he had just said was news to both Harry and Katie. It had surprised him just as much as when he had first heard it that morning.
"Right, Andrea?" Katie yelled louder this time. The brunettes face turned a splotchy red as tears continued to trail relentlessly down her cheeks. "You won an Online Contest to win a month with the boys, right?" She begged. "This wasn't something for Charity, right?"
The boys remained silent as Andrea felt the tears pool in her own eyes. The sight of her frantic best friend did nothing but scare her as she had to shake her head slowly.
"I should have told you-" She began but was interrupted by a sob that tore from Katie's throat.
The brunette clutched her stomach and bent over as she cried into her hands, taking in the everything she was being told. Andrea had never wanted this, had never expected the lie to turn into such a burden.
Andrea covered her mouth with her hands, begging herself not to cry. She watched as Harry put a gentle hand on Katie's back, trying to comfort the girl, but the second he touched her she ripped away from him.
"Don't touch me!" She screamed.
Everyone stared in shock as Katie glared at Harry with red rimmed eyes and a scowl on her face.
Andrea watched in horror as Katie stared at the boy she loved, like he was the dirtiest, worst, most horrible thing in the world. The expression written across her face was nothing but pure hatred, and it took Andrea's breath away in surprise.
Harry and Zayn stared in the same shock at the fuming, shaky brunette who backed away from Harry.
"Katie-" He said gently, staring at her in confusion. He reached out for her again but she flinched away from his touch once more.
"I said don't touch me!" She spat. He stood before her in complete and total shock. A kind of shock that made his face turn ghost white and his eyes fly wide open, turning them lifeless. "You knew." Katie began to cry, pointing a finger at Harry. "You knew. This is all a game to you. I was just the girl with cancer. I was the inspiration."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed as he listened to her words.
"Katie-" Andrea begged but the brunette refused to look at her. Her eyes were only for Harry's as she continued to spit dirty words at him.
"-You needed a song. I was the poor cancer girl who Harry Styles decided to keep around, making him look like a fucking super hero. You needed a sob story to make yourself look like a good guy again to the media, and that's what I was, right Harry? I was a fucking Charity Case that made you look a little less heartless!" She yelled at him.
Andrea watched as Harry took in Katie's words, but the boy was too far torn to even comprehend what was happening. The expression on his face was nothing less than helplessness, desperation and infinite heartbreak and it only broke her heart more.
"Katie please-" Harry began to cry. He was going to tell her she was wrong, that he was irrevocably and totally in love with her and that he had no idea. He was going to tell her she was breaking his heart, but he never got the words out before she spun around to Andrea with serious, red rimmed eyes.
"Andrea, I want to go home."
The words caused another round of tension as Katie's demand hung in the air. Andrea blinked at her best friend, her mouth gaping open as though she was about to say something, but the words never came out.
"Harry Styles has his song, now it's time for us to go." Katie explained. Harry reached out for her again, with tears in his eyes this time, but she pulled away from him.
Beside Andrea, Zayn bit the inside of his cheek as the tension rose and Katie stared at Andrea expectingly.
"Andrea, I said I want to go home."
Tears burned in Andrea's eyes as her stomach dropped to the floor. Katie was begging now, her eyes desperate.
Andrea though, didn't have an answer for her. All she could do now was tell the truth. Andrea remembered what she had thought the first time the boys had found out about the cancer, how Andrea had lied to them about it.
She had done it to protect people. Because what had she discovered about the truth after all the years of lying she had done in her lifetime? The truth could change the way a person thought. It could make the good worse and the bad better.
Andrea took a deep breath as the tears continued to pour from her eyes. She stared back into those of her best friend, who waited for her answer.
Now was the time for the cold hard truth to determine what happened next.
"Katie-" She spoke slowly as the world seemed to go quiet for a moment. "-We don't have a 'home' anymore."