Hello all!! :) Chapter 30 is here!! Do enjoy and comment! :) And of course vote too :P
As always, I hope you're liking the story and the direction is going.
I'm sending my love to you all for reading this and if you took the time to click on that little star and comment, you're absolutely ACE and I love you!
Hugs XX
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Harry drove towards Anna’s house following Zayn’s directions and feeling anxious about the conversation he was about to have with Anna because he knew she was stubborn as hell and he was going to have a hard time convincing her. The traffic was heavy and it was taking him longer than he expected to get there, so on top of anxious he was getting really annoyed. At some point he couldn’t move the car for a good fifteen minutes and he was really tempted to walk out of the car and go to the nearest tube station until he remembered he was driving Niall’s car and he would seriously kill him if he left it abandoned in the middle of the road.
When he finally got to Anna’s house it was sometime around 6:00 pm so he took a few deep breaths and braced himself for what he was about to do. He got out of the car, walked over to the door and rang the doorbell. He heard footsteps and when the door opened he was met by Anna’s brother, George.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Asked George angrily
“I’m here to talk to your sister” Said Harry
“She’s not here so go back the way you came” Said George and tried to close the door on his face
“No! I’m here to talk to her” Said Harry pushing the door open again “Tell your sister that I’m here”
“She’s not here!” Yelled George
“I know she is! I need to talk to her!” Said Harry
“Get the hell away from here…I’m warning you!” Said George in an actual warning tone
“What are you gonna do? Look…Just please let me see her” Said Harry in a more calm tone hoping George would see reason and let him in
“I don’t like you Styles…Get the fuck out of my house before I throw you out” Said George
“I’m not leaving until I talk to Anna” Said Harry determined to stay until he actually talked to Anna
“George? Who is it?” Asked a voice that Harry recognized as Anna’ mom
“I told you to leave” Said George, but before Harry could even respond or protest he felt George’s fist collide with his face, making him stumble back a few steps and hold his right cheek in an effort to stop the pain
“George!” Yelled Anna’s mom who was now at the doorway
“What the…Fuck that hurt!” Complained Harry
“You deserved it” Said George giving Harry a look he could only describe as pure hate and then walked back into the house leaving him and his mom standing in the doorway
“OH dear! Harry…I’m so sorry” Said Elizabeth “Are you ok?”
She looked at him with concern on her face and tried to examine his face closer but he refused to move his hand away from his cheek
“Harry I need to see your face but if you don’t move your hand I won’t be able to help you” Said Elizabeth
Harry removed his hand carefully and realized that once he removed the pressure of his hand, the throbbing pain on the right side of his face became one with the headache that was attacking him earlier.
“Oww…That really hurts” Complained Harry
“Come on…let me see” Said Anna’s mom taking Harry’s hand in hers and moving it away from his face so she could see him clearly “That’s going to leave a nasty bruise”
“Since when did George become so strong?” Asked Harry rubbing his cheek carefully
“He practices a bit of boxing from time to time” Explained Elizabeth
“He does have nice right hook” Said Harry wincing as Elizabeth touched his cheek lightly judging if it was broken or not
“Well I don’t think it’s broken…Otherwise you’d have yelled in pain” She said
“I can still yell in pain if you’d like” Said Harry wincing as he noticed how when he spoke, his face hurt as well
“Come with me….You’re going to need some ice” Said Elizabeth taking Harry’s hand and leading him inside the house.
They walked through the living room towards the kitchen where she made him sit in one of the chairs at the dining table while she made an icepack for him. A few minutes later she handed him a Ziploc bag with ice in it wrapped in a small white towel.
“Put it on your face now before it starts swelling real bad” She said
“Thank you” Said Harry taking the bag and putting it carefully against his cheek, wincing again to the cold but then relaxing as the cold temperature started to feel better on his skin
“So…you’re here to talk to Anna” Said Elizabeth
“Yes…” Said Harry “George said she wasn’t home, which I believe now…Otherwise she would have seen our little incident outside”
“Yes…She’s not home” Said Elizabeth
“Is she going to be back soon?” Asked Harry watching carefully as Anna’s mom took a deep breath before speaking again
“No…Harry, she’s gone…She’s moved back to America” Said Elizabeth
Harry heard her and could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a moment. What?
“No…That’s not true…She couldn’t” Said Harry shaking his head as he got up from the chair
“I’m sorry Harry…She did” Said Elizabeth
“What? No…Why…I don’t…” Asked Harry confused “Please tell me this is not true”
“It’s true…her plane leaves in half an hour…She’s probably boarding as we speak”
“Half an hour?” asked Harry running a hand through his hair as he pondered whether he could make it to the airport or not. But it was a stupid thing to think about as they were quite far away from the airport. It would take him at least an hour in regular traffic to get there and probably about three during rush hour.
“Why did she leave?” Asked Harry as he sat back on the chair defeated
“She was too sad and confused about how things turned out with you and with Zayn…I think she felt that going back to America was a way of leaving the pain behind again and starting over” Said Elizabeth
“Why didn’t she say any of this to me?” Asked Harry
“She said that if she told you anything about it, you wouldn’t let her leave” Explained Elizabeth
“Of course I wouldn’t! I love her! I want her here with me!” Said Harry
“I’m sorry…” Said Anna’s mom stretching a hand to take the ice pack and putting it gently against his cheek again
“I just…I can’t believe she did this…Because all of this sounds like a really lousy joke” Said Harry
“You can go upstairs and see for yourself if you want…” Said Elizabeth
Harry got up from his chair and walked out of the kitchen to find the stairs. Once upstairs it wasn’t hard to spot her room. The door was open and he could see the bed with a striped, bright colored comforter. He walked in and saw exactly what Elizabeth meant when she said Anna was really gone. Her closet was empty and only a couple of thick winter coats remained hanging there alone.
Harry sat down in bed and looked around the room taking in the space. The room was nicely decorated and you could tell Anna had chosen the decorations because you could see how the color of the walls made perfect contrast with the furniture and here and there you could see a splash of bright color, which Harry knew she loved to have in her bedroom because she used to say it was a way to put some life into that dreadful English weather. There were a couple of pictures on her bedside table of her and her family so he took the photo of her in New York with the statue of liberty in the background and took a closer look. She was smiling brightly at the camera while the wind blew her hair away from her face, making her look as beautiful as ever.
Without even noticing, Elizabeth came into the room and sat down next to him.
“She’s really gone” Said Harry
“Yes…I’m sorry” Said Elizabeth putting an arm around Harry
“She’s gone back to Philadelphia?” Asked Harry and Elizabeth nodded
“I need to go after her….I need to talk to her” Said Harry
“Harry…you know how parents always want the best for their children?” Asked Elizabeth
Harry looked at her and nodded
“Well…I want the best for Anna, and I think she needs some space to clear her head and sort out her feelings…Alone” Said Elizabeth
“You’re not going to give me her address, are you?” Asked Harry looking down as he felt all of his emotions crashing down on him
How will I ever see her again if no one would tell me where she is? Thought Harry feeling that lump in his throat that told him he was about to cry. But how could he not to? He had come to talk to Anna hoping she could forgive him at last, only to found out that she had moved back to America.
I just can’t lose her again like that. Thought Harry as he felt the tears that flooded his eyes run down his cheeks.
“Harry…Anna felt really sad about leaving, you know? She had a lot of expectations when she moved back. She wanted to reconnect with Mollie again…Find her old friends…Start on her first job after uni…but I think leaving was the only way she felt she could start to see things clearly and sort out her feelings….And she’s not going to stay there forever…She’ll come back when she feels better”
“But what if she decides she doesn’t want to come back?” Asked Harry drying his face against his shirt
“I doubt that…She already came back once” Said Elizabeth rubbing his back in an effort to comfort him “And because…Well, after all this time, she still loves you…you just need to give her some time to process things”
“You think so?” Asked Harry
“I know so…Things will be alright for you two…you’ll see” Said Elizabeth reassuringly
Harry nodded while he pictured himself and Anna holding hands, laughing together, kissing, making love and all the things they used to do in the past and that he hoped they could do all over again.
He let out a sigh and stood up from the bed
“I think I should go” He said looking at Elizabeth who got up from the bed as well
“It’s been really nice seeing you…you know…despite the circumstances” Said Elizabeth hugging him
“Yes...I wish this would have been at least a little different” Said Harry
“Just do me a favor, will you?” Said Elizabeth
“Yeah?” Asked Harry
“Put this on your cheek for as long as you can” Said Elizabeth picking up the ice pack he had forgotten on the bed and handing it back to him “You’re going to have an awful bruise there but at least the ice will help with the swelling”
Harry took the ice pack and pressed it against his cheek again before giving Elizabeth a half smile
“Thank you” he said as he walked out of Anna’s room and down the stairs towards the front door.
“I’m sorry about George” Said Elizabeth
“Don’t worry…I guess I did deserve it after all” Said Harry
“Don’t say that sweetie…No matter what happened in the past, violence doesn’t justify anything” Said Elizabeth
Harry shrugged his shoulders and waved at her as he got into Niall’s car. He started driving, trying his best to focus on the road but a few blocks away from Anna’s house he started thinking about Anna leaving again and he had to stop the car because his eyes were filling with tears again and he couldn’t really see the road.
He rested his head on the steering wheel as he wiped his tears again against his shirt.
“Ow…” He complained as he felt his shoulder touch his swelling cheek
How could you do this? You asked me to give you time but… How will I ever see you again if you don’t want me to? Why would you leave if you had so many expectations about coming back to England?
Suddenly he remembered what Elizabeth had said. She wanted to reconnect with Mollie again.
Mollie! If Anna wanted to reconnect with her so badly she wouldn’t have left without telling her about it, right? If someone can tell me where Anna is, it’s Mollie. He thought
He dug his hand into the pockets of his jeans until found his phone and scrolled through the names until he found Mollie’s number
“Hi Harry” Said Mollie
“Hey Molls, how are you?” Asked Harry itching to go into the Anna related questions right away
“Eh…you know…It’s always the same around here so yeah…fine…you?” Said Mollie
“Uh…I wish I could say fine but…Well…I think you already know Anna left, so no…I’m not fine” Said Harry
“Harry…I really did my best to convince her otherwise, you know” Said Mollie
“She probably told you a million things to prove that it was best if she left” Stated Harry
“Well…you still know her like the palm of your hand” Said Mollie
“So…Am I right to think that she wouldn’t leave without telling you where she would be?” Asked Harry
“Hmm…Harry…I understand what you want but…I just…” Said Mollie doubtfully
“Come on! Mollie…I need to go after her!” Said Harry
“I can’t tell you where she is…I want to…but I promised her I wouldn’t” Said Mollie
“Don’t do this, Mollie…I need to talk to her…you know that I love her…I don’t want to lose her like this” Pleaded Harry
He heard Mollie sigh on the phone before speaking
“Harry… Don’t ask this from me…I don’t want to let her down” Said Mollie
Harry sighed as well, as he banged his head against the steering wheel feeling defeated
“Please think about it… I’ll call you tomorrow to see if you’ve changed your mind” Said Harry
“No, Harry…” Said Mollie but Harry hung up the phone before she had another chance to protest and tell him otherwise, that way he had an excuse to call her the next day and try to convince her again.
He started the car again and drove towards his house, reminding himself every now and then that he had to return the car back to Niall before walking home to be alone for a while. He endured the traffic without complaining or feeling desperate because he had lost all hope and didn’t have the energy to be annoyed about anything else.
He pressed whatever was left of the melting icepack to his face while he got out of the car at Niall’s house and rang the doorbell.
“What the hell happened to you?” Asked Niall pointing at his face
Harry was about to answer when Louis, Liam and Zayn came walking to the front door
“Woah! What happened?” Asked Louis while all of them looked at him with frowns on their faces
“Here” Said Harry stretching out his hand to give Niall his keys back “Thank you”
“Dude! What the fuck happened?” Asked Zayn
“Anna’s brother happened” Said Harry
“He hit you? What did Anna say?” Asked Liam and Harry simply nodded
“Look…guys…I’m heading back home, yeah?” Said Harry feeling the tiredness from the day weight on him
“No you’re not” Said Louis
“You look like you need more ice and a good chat. We want to hear what happened” Said Niall
Harry looked at his friends standing in the doorway looking back at him with concerned look on their faces and decided that what he needed after all was not an evening sitting at home and feeling lonelier than ever, but perhaps, the company of his friends would cheer him up after one of the crappiest days he’d ever had.
“Well…I could use another aspirin…” He said walking into the house noticing how one by one, his friends followed him inside so he could retell the story of his failed attempt at recovering the love of his life.