well jeez. I seriously deserve every cruel and horrible insult you can think of...honestly. This is so embarrassing. How have I taken THIS long?!!
I am so so so so so so sorry that I have made you wait this long, and it isn't even a very interesting chapter.
Honestly I can't spologise enough. So instead of droning on, I'm just gonna shush and let you read.
enjoy?
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Chapter 25
Emily’s P.O.V
Time stood still. My heart stopped, my breathing stopped, the people around me stopped, the whole world just stopped. My vision was gone and all I could see was a curtain of black, staining my view. It felt like the sky had fallen, pushing down onto my shoulders, crushing me to the ground. A tight band was wrapping itself around my chest, constricting around me, pushing all the breath up out of me, causing my head to feel numb and heavy. A thousand snakes were wrapping themselves around my head and body, curling tighter and tighter around me.
And then, just when I thought my body was about to be cut in half, it was gone. Just like that. I felt nothing, I saw nothing, I heard nothing. The black curtain reached out and curled itself tight around me, dragging me down into its depths.
Harry’s P.O.V
I didn’t realise how much of an effect six simple words could have on me. As soon as they left Keiras mouth, my hands automatically reached out to Emily so that I could hold her, protect her, grab her and run away with her so that nothing could ever harm her. As soon as my hands came into contact with her, I felt her body go heavy, and she collapsed backwards against my chest. The only thing that was holding her up was my body pressed against hers with my hands grasped firmly around her upper arms.
“Shit!” Keira exclaimed, reaching out to try and catch Emily as she fell.
“It’s alright, I’ve got her,” I huffed, moving myself around to take her weight in a more comfortable position. I wasted no time in scooping her up into my arms, taking off at a fast walk down the pavement, back in the direction of our complex.
I was trying to look calm, for the sake of the people around me, but inside my heart was beating at a million miles per hour. Only one thing was playing through my mind, over and over again: ‘Your dad knows you’re in London’. He found out. I was such an idiot. She told me this would happen. She told me he would find out. And what did I do? Ignore it and tell her everything would be alright. But it wasn’t alright. He knew where she was, and I didn’t know what this man was capable of doing. I had to get Emily back home, inside where she was safe, away from all the watching eyes.
I wasn’t in the right mind to try and work something out. I was too focused on the immediate safety of the unconscious girl in my arms.
As I turned the corner, and the complex came into view, I broke into a run, leaping up the steps two at a time, the weight of Emily seemingly non-existent from the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
It was just before I burst through the front door to the complex that I heard her voice, reminding me that I wasn’t alone.
“Harry!”
I turned to seeing Keira running down the road after me, cheeks red from the exertion. “What do I do?” She panted, as she reached the top of the steps next to me.
“Just follow me.” I grunted, before spinning on my heel and running into the complex, calling to Mark, “She’s with me” as I passed, hoping he would allow Keira through. I could hear a second pair of feet as I pounded up the stairs, so I guessed he had let her pass. I burst through our door, ignoring the startled cries of Niall and Louis, who were standing in the kitchen. I made a bee-line straight for the sofa, carefully lying Emily down onto it.
“What the hell? What’s happened to her? Who’s she?!” Questions were streaming from Louis’ lips as I stood up and turned to face them, both him and Niall now standing by me, with Keira standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“Niall, wet a flannel and bring it to me please. Louis, get me a glass of water please. Keira, come in and sit down.” I ran a hand roughly though my curls, my muscles clenching tight as I moved. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to think.
The boys sprang into action; whilst Keira hesitantly sidled into the apartment, leaving the door wide open behind her. I didn’t think before striding forward and slamming it shut with such force, it sent vibrations through the walls. A small squeak escaped out of Keiras lips, and I sent her an apologetic smile, before going back to Emily and kneeling down next to her head.
Louis appeared by my side, a glass of water held out in front of him. I thanked him as I took it from him, taking a small sip before placing it down next to the sofa, ready for when Emily arose. I heard Niall come scampering back into the living room, a damp flannel soon being held in front of me. I took it gratefully, smoothing back Em’s hair from her face, before carefully placing the damp cloth across her forehead.
I sensed rather than saw the boys take seats behind me, my eyes trained on Emily’s face as I waited for her to emerge out of her mind. I took her hand in both of my own, my thumb rubbing circles slowly on the soft skin. I could see her eyes moving underneath those soft lids, and then her fingers were tightening around my own.
“Emily?” I asked, extracting one of my hands from her grasp and bringing it up to cup her cheek. “Emily can you hear me?” Eyelids fluttered slightly, and then she was gazing up at me, this cute, disorientated look sitting on her face.
“H-Harry?” She muttered, her eyes now fully open.
“I’m here love. How are you feeling?”
“Confused…” She answered, her eyebrows puckering slightly to form a small dent just above her nose. I resisted the urge to reach out and smooth it over with the tip of my finger. She started to push herself up, trying to get into a sitting position, so I hooked my hands under her arms and pulled her up so that she was sitting up straight. It was then that her eyes zeroed in on Keira.
“Oh.” Her mouth popped open, and she carried on staring wide eyed at Keira. Keira squirmed slightly under the intense gaze she was receiving from her best friend, and I turned to see both Niall and Louis looking quite confused.
“Umm, boys, do you mind giving us a minute? Go to Nialls or something? I’ll come find you soon.” I asked, looking at them apologetically. I didn’t like to not include them, but this conversation was going to be serious, and I knew that it wasn’t my place to tell the boys about Em’s past.
They both nodded, before silently leaving the flat. I knew they would be confused, maybe slightly hurt, and there would be plenty of questions later, but that wasn’t what was important right now. What was important, was the fact that Emily’s best friend had just appeared out of the blue telling us that Em’s dad knew she was in London.
Em still hadn’t spoken, and so I got up from my kneeling position on the floor and sat down on the sofa next to her, taking both her hands in mine and giving them a gentle squeeze.
“Is it true?” Emily’s small voice broke the resounding silence that had been filling the room. My eyes turned to Keira to see her gulp, before nodding her head slowly. Emily’s mouth formed a grim line before speaking just one word. “How?”
I wasn’t focused fully on Keira as she spilled out the story as to how Em’s dad had found out. My eyes were only on Emily’s face, gauging her reactions to each detail she heard. As Keira told us about how the day after Emily had disappeared, her dad had come storming to their house, almost banging the door down and demanding to know Em’s whereabouts, her face was blank. She showed no emotion to this whatsoever. It was like she was cut off, not caring about the fact that her dad wanted to know where she was. I suppose if my dad had treated me the way hers had, I wouldn’t feel anything towards him either.
Her mouth formed a thin line as Keira told us that that was the last they saw of him until yesterday. Keira’s family had insisted that they knew nothing about Emily’s location, and once he was convinced of this he went storming back to his own house, and they had never seen him surface again. Not for work, not to put the rubbish out, not even to get some food. It was like a ghost house. Emily continued to show no real emotion. Her expression was hard and cold, and she scoffed slightly when Keira said that it seemed as though Em’s dad had shut down following the disappearance of her. Emily exclaimed that he couldn’t have given two shits that she was gone, but she shut herself up to let Keira continue with the story.
Emily’s wide popped wide open when Keira said that she had recognised Emily from the article of us out shopping with Lou. Her hand flew over her mouth, and I gently rubbed circles into her skin with my thumb to try and reassure her. We quickly skipped over that topic, needing to get to what was important.
I couldn’t help it. As soon as I heard Keira say, ‘So yesterday morning’, my eyes tore away from Emily’s face, and I shifted my body round so that I could face Keira properly, needing to hear all of it.
“So yesterday morning started just like all the rest. Life was going on as normal. I knew you were here because I recognised you from that first article, but I hadn’t told anyone. Mum was still going crazy about the whole thing, but I tried to calm her as much as I could without giving anything away. So anyway, we were just sat at the table eating breakfast when suddenly this massive thumping starts on our front door.”
I heard Emily catch her breath at this.
“Mum went to answer it, and suddenly there was loud shouting and your dad came storming into the dining room, slamming a magazine down in front of me…”
“Shit.” Emily muttered, her hands pulling out of mine to rub down her face. “I knew it. I bloody knew it.” She mumbled quietly to herself. Keira threw me a questioning look, and I nodded to her, signalling her to carry on with the story.
“It had you two on the front page, and as soon as I saw it my blood ran cold. He kept questioning me, demanding to know what I knew, and if I was in contact with you...things like that. I insisted that I didn’t know anything, I hadn’t heard anything from you since you left, but he wouldn’t have it. He was seriously going mental! I don’t think I’d ever seen some one go purple, but boy I have now!”
Emily’s hands dropped from her face and latched themselves onto my own. I intertwined my fingers with hers and gave them a reassuring squeeze. Keiras eyes followed this small interaction, and I noticed her eyes widen slightly, but she carried on talking.
“My mum tried to get him to calm down. She tried to get him to sit down so that we could talk about it, but he wouldn’t have it. He just carried on shouting how he was going to hunt you down and make you sorry you ever existed. He knew where you were now and nothing would stop him.”
I think my heart stopped beating when I heard those words. Images of Emily broken and crushed in a dark alley way flashed through my mind, and it felt as though my chest was being squeezed to the point where I couldn’t breathe. I could feel Emily’s shaking, and when I sneaked a look at her, I noticed tears falling silently down her smooth skin.
My heart shattered at that point. I had to protect this girl. Whatever it took I would protect the girl I love.
I pulled my hands away, only to wrap my arms around her, pulling her close to me so that her head was resting on my chest. Her small fingers latched onto my shirt, clawing at the material whilst her body shook slightly with silent sobs. My hand aimlessly rubbed up and down her back, soothing her and comforting her. I looked back to Keira to see her fiddling with her hands uncomfortably in her lap. I felt sorry for her. Here she was, seeing her best friend for the first time in almost two months, and this is the news she had to bring her. It must have been difficult for her…beyond difficult really.
“What happened after that?” I whispered, my voice choked from all the emotion swirling through me.
Keira bit her lip for a moment before continuing on. “He wouldn’t listen to us, and eventually he stormed out, promising us that he would find Emily. I was so scared. I’m still scared. I never realised he could get like that. Mum and I talked about it, and I told her everything I could. She was angry at first for me not telling her about the first time I recognised Em, but she soon got over it, as there was something much more important at hand. We decided that the best thing we could do was to come and find Emily and tell her…warn her, so here I am.”
The room was silent. The only sound that could be heard was our breathing. My gaze turned to floor as I tried to get my head around all the information Keira had given us.
Management. They were the ones I had to go to. They would think of something; they always do.
“Em, I need to get up please.” I told her, trying to pry her fingers off me. I didn’t want to leave her, but I knew Keira would look after her, and I needed to get this sorted.
“No.” She cried, clutching onto me tighter. “No, he’ll find you. He’ll get you. No, I’m not letting you leave!”
“Emily, please. Come on, I need to sort this out! I have bodyguards Em. No one is going to hurt me, I promise.” She looked up at me with wary, tearful eyes, and I gave her the best encouraging smile I could. “I promise.”
Reluctantly, her fingers slid off my body and hung limply at her sides.
“Thank you.” I whispered, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before standing up, stretching out all my limbs. I heard a thump, and turned to see Emily had collapsed down onto the sofa, hugging a pillow to herself whilst more tears continued to fall. I watched her painfully. I wanted nothing more than to stay her with her, to hold her and never let her go. But I knew this needed to be sorted. We couldn’t keep management or the boys in the dark any longer. I tore my eyes away, knowing that if I looked at her for any longer I wouldn’t be able to pull myself away.
“Keira, can you…” I asked, gesturing towards Emily. She nodded, before getting up and going to Emily, kneeling by her head. Her hand reached up and she began to stroke Emily’s hair, whispering soothing words to her. I knew they would be fine. Keira would look after her.
“I’ll try not to be too long!” I told the girls as I made my way to the front door. I took one last look at her beautiful face before walking out the door and closing it softly behind me.
Shock was all I remember seeing on the boys faces when I told them. Complete and utter shock. Questions were thrown at me from left right and centre. Why hadn’t I told them sooner? How could I keep something as big as that hidden? Why hadn’t I done anything about it? My answer was always the same. Because Emily asked me not to. I would always do what she asked me, as long as it was what made her happy. Always.
The boys accepted this easily. They understood how head over heels for her I was. Management, however, were not as complying. They couldn’t understand why I hadn’t told them. No matter how many times I told them the reason, they just didn’t get it. They were angry. Real angry. If they had known they could have avoided this whole situation.
But of course, due to how involved with us Emily was, they were concerned for her safety, and willing to do whatever they could to keep her safe, and for that I will always be grateful.
The meeting dragged on and on and on. Every second felt like an hour as ideas were bounced around the room, discussed, and then tossed away out the window, the words merging with the wind and blowing away out of reach. We needed a solution that would not allow her dad anywhere near her, but I still needed to be with her. I couldn’t leave her; not in a situation like this. We needed something that would keep everybody happy, and the solution just wasn’t becoming apparent.
“No Zayn, that won’t work!” Liam sighed, slumping down onto the cool glass of the table we were all sat around. Me, the rest of the boys minus Niall, and three members of our management. “Sending her back with Keira is too obvious! That’s like sending a fish into a tank full of sharks! Dead bait.”
I winced at his words. Dead bait. That was too literal, and I felt my insides crawl at how real that could actually become.
“GUYS! GUYS!” Niall suddenly came bursting into the room, a half-eaten bacon sandwich grasped in one of his hands. His shoes squeaked across the floor as he came skidding to a halt next to the table, supporting himself on the glass as he attempted to catch his breath.
Nialls entrance had startled everyone, and a snort was heard from my left as Louis was awoken from the sneaky nap he had been having. All eyes zeroed in on Niall as he spoke the words that solved it all.
“I’ve thought of a solution.”
Emily’s P.O.V
The initial shock had worn off long ago, and now it was just a constant fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach. He knew where I was, he wanted to find me, and I knew nothing would stop him.
After Harry had left, my body had gone into some sort of panic attack, my limbs vibrating whilst inhuman sounds bubbled out of my lips. Keira had held onto my hand until it had subsided, and I was just left feeling drained. A warm shower woke my limbs back up, and I admit it did leave me feeling quite refreshed, but that’s when that feeling in the pit of my stomach arrived. It was now three hours later and it was still there.
Keira and I were snuggled up on a sofa, tucked up underneath a blanket, a pot of Ben and Jerry’s between us whilst we watched the Jeremy Kyle show.
“So I’ve caught you up on all the gossip back in Bristol now,” Keira began, taking a big scoop out from the ice-cream pot. “Now tell me…how have you even ended up here?!”
I let out a big sigh. I knew this question was going to surface sooner or later. This was going to take a while… I turned slightly so I was facing Keira more than I was before, taking a big mouthful of ice-cream before telling her the story. “Well, basically…..”
“Jesus Em.” Keira breathed, slumping back in her seat, her eyes wide from taking in everything I had just told her. “Do you know just how many girls would kill to be in the position you are in?”
“I know,” I winked cheekily at her. “Well… apart from the mad, violent dad that’s after her…but the part about living with One Direction, yeah, I know!”
Keira giggled at my words, and I felt my whole body relax. I had missed this so bad. Real girl time. Sure, Danielle, Eleanor and I spent time together, but it wasn’t quite the same. Keira was my best friend. Had been for years. This was special.
“So how do you feel about Harry then? Obviously I understand the whole Jake thing, but what about now? Jake’s gone now, and you know that girl was just his sister!” Keira leant forward, her eyes bright, and her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
My eyelids fluttered closed as I thought about her question. The words slipped out before I could stop them. “I’m really, really beginning to like him.” I regretted them as soon as they left my mouth. Keira let out an excitable squeal, clapping her hands together, bopping up and down on the sofa. My hand flew up to my mouth, trying to push the words back in, but it was too late. They were already out in the open.
“Yes! I knew it! I knew it Miss Carter!” She exclaimed, a huge grin plastered on her face.
I narrowed my eyes at her, but I could feel my cheeks heating up. She’d caught me, and she knew it.
“I knew it.” She concluded, sitting still again, a smug smile sitting on her stupid face.
“Knew what?” That voice had us both swivelling in our seats at the speed of light, eyes trained on the door where a boy with a big mop of curls was standing, giving us both a very confused look. I felt my face blow up like a tomato, and I felt Keira send me a knowing look.
“N-nothing..” I stammered, hastily turning back around so Harry couldn’t see how embarrassed I was. “Keira’s just being an idiot.” I heard him mutter something, before more footsteps were heard and then the door was shut. I kept my head facing down towards the blanket until I was positive my blush had disappeared. As I looked up, Harry and Louis seated themselves down on the other sofa.
“Turn this off please babe,” Harry muttered, waving a hand lazily towards the TV. “We need to talk.” I nodded once, reaching out and grabbing the remote, pressing the red button that made the screen go black.
Silence filled the room, tension eating away at all of us. I knew what he needed to say, and I somehow had a feeling I didn’t want to hear it.
“Wait, before you start, can someone put this away?” Keira asked, giving the boys an innocent look as she held the tub of ice-cream out towards them. Louis huffed, but got up from his seat, snatching it away from her and stomping into the kitchen away, putting the food back into the freezer.
Once everyone was seated, all eyes turned to Harry as he wearily rubbed a hand down his face. His eyes looked tired and strained, and a huge feeling of guilt filled me up. I had caused him to look like that. Harry cleared his throat twice before looking up, his green eyes meeting my blue.
“So we’re um, thought of something we can do.” He said, looking straight at me. He voice was heavy and worn to match the way he was looking. I nodded once, encouraging him to continue speaking. Everyone remained silent as Harry voiced out the idea to us.
“So our tour starts in just under a month, and we’re starting up North, and working our way down the country. We would need to head on up about a week before it started to settle down and squeeze in a few last minute practises, but Niall came up with the option of, ‘why wait?’ We can head on up there now. I’m sure there will be somewhere for us to stay for that amount of time, and there will be places where we can continue the rehearsals. You can come up with us, we will be up there, away from London where your dad thinks you are, and so he won’t be able to find you.”
A small smile was playing on Harry’s lips as he finished talking, but all I could see was a massive hole in his planning.
“But Harry,” I started, a slight frown forming between my eyebrows. “He knows I’m with you. You boys can’t go anywhere without being noticed by someone. He will see some article or something and just follow you guys wherever you go because he knows I’m with you.”
“Ahh, that’s where you’re wrong,” Harry grinned smugly. “What we are going to do, is get a well-known magazine or newspaper to print an article tomorrow saying about how we have decided to go up early, whilst the girl who has recently been uncovered as Emily Carter stays behind in London due to other commitments. But really, you will come with us. Therefore, to the outside it will look as though you are still in London, but in reality you will always be with us! He won’t figure it out!”
I turned this over and over in my brain, trying to find any gaps that I could pour my doubt into, but I found none. I looked up to see Harry eagerly awaiting my reply. I gave him a small smile and nodded.
“I think that’s the best thing we have going for us at the moment really.” I admitted with a shrug of my shoulders. Harry’s eyes lit up and he sat up straight, sighing in obvious relief.
“Good, that’s sorted then. I’ll just go and call some people.” He announced, standing up and pulling his phone from his pocket as he exited the apartment. It was silent for a few moments, each of us lost in our thoughts before Louis spoke up.
“You should probably start packing y’know.” His voice was quiet and calm, and when I looked up his expression looked downcast.
“Are you alright Lou?” His eyes snapped up and fixated with mine, and I swear I saw a drop of moisture fall from the corner.
“What? Er...yeah, yeah ‘m fine” He gave a small smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and I saw straight through it.
“Louis…I know you’re lying.” I gave him a look that just said, ‘come on, tell me’. He seemed to have an internal battle with himself, before huffing out a load of air and slumping down from his rigid position.
“I’m just…struggling. I’m finding it difficult to wrap my head around everything that I’ve heard today. I mean, I know things like that happen, but I never imagined someone…close to me would have it happen to them. I just…” He seemed to struggle with his words, but no words were needed any more. I understood.
I carefully got up from the sofa and made my way over to him. I sat down and placed my arms around his lower torso, resting my head on his shoulder. I felt his arms wrap around me in response and pull me close.
“Don’t worry about it Lou. Everything is going to be fine, I promise. You guys saved me from it, and for that I was always be grateful.” I hugged him tight, treasuring this moment. It was one in which I felt really close to Louis. We didn’t have moments like this very often, but I savoured them when we did. Louis was such a good friend, and I never wanted to lose that.
I looked up to see a small flow of silent tears trailing down his cheeks, and so I reached up with one finger to swipe them away.
“Shh, don’t cry. I’m fine.” I don’t think I’d ever seen Louis look quite so vulnerable. He suddenly looked about five years younger as he let all his emotions show through.
A door shut, and all eyes moved to see Harry standing in the doorway, looking at me and Lou with a sad expression. He strolled over and sat down on the other side of Louis. “Go with Keira and start packing love.” I nodded silent, then got up and made my way to my room, Keira following close behind. Just before entering my room I took one last look at the boys. They were locked in a tight embrace, and I knew then that there would never be another friendship like theirs.
The packing took a good few hours. What to take? What to leave? Keira and I were always taking advantage of the fact that we were reunited for a while, and there were many giggles to be heard from my room. I hadn’t realised how much I had missed her, and we were certainly making up for all the lost time.
But it didn’t take long for the conversation to get serious.
“Definitely going to need these!” Keira exclaimed, grabbing an armful of shoes from my wardrobe and dumping them down on the bed next to my growing suitcase. We’d already filled one, and had now moved onto the second.
“God there’s so much stuff!” I cried, trying to stuff the shoes into any small nooks I could find. “I have loads more now than when I first got here!” The words hadn’t been said for any specific reason, but as soon as they left my mouth, I noticed Keiras body stiffen in the corner of my eye.
“Why…why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice was small and nervous, and I knew that she had been working her way up to asking me this.
I let out a small sigh as my movements froze. “Tell you what?”
“About leaving. About your dad. About everything.”
I shoved the suitcase across on my bed, making space for me to sit down on the soft duvet. Once I was comfortable, I looked up to see Keira sitting on the bed too, her body facing me, her eyes inquisitive.
“I…I was afraid K. You were the only person other than my mum to actually show any love towards me, and I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to risk telling you, and have you cast me aside like a speck of dirt. I couldn’t bear the thought.”
“I would never have done that. I could have helped you.”
“But what would you have done? I would have just looked weak and pathetic, and what if he found out that I told? It would have just got so much worse, and I couldn’t face that.”
“Oh honey. You know that I would have done anything I could. No one deserves to go through what you did, and it hurts me so much to know that you were suffering from it, right before my eyes and I didn’t even notice.” Her voice was thick with remorse.
“No K, no, don’t you dare go blaming yourself. I won’t let you do that.” I could feel the trails that my silent tears were leaving down my cheeks, but I didn’t bother to wipe them away. More would only take their place.
“I’m sorry I just…I just can’t get these horrible images out of my head…I just…” She broke down then, the sobs leaving her mouth and the tears cascading down her skin.
“Oh Keira...” I mumbled, shuffling forward and wrapping my arms around her slight form, holding her close to me. Her blonde curls tickled my face as I buried it into her shoulder. “Please don’t think like that. I’m here now, and nothing will change that.”
She held me tightly as I soothed her, whispering words into her ear as I gently rubbed her back. After many more tears, Keira sat back up away from me and gave me a very watery smile.
“I’m sorry. I just…I missed you.”
“Awh, I missed you too! And you’re going to have to come and visit me too!”
“Definitely!” She beamed at me. “I lost you once; I’m not doing it again.”
We both had a little giggle at this, and whilst we were laughing, the door creaked open and Harry popped his head round. “You alright in here girls?” He was smiling, but when he noticed our tear stained faces his expression dropped.
“Yeah, we’re all fine!” I reassured him. “The packing’s almost done!”
“Good, well we are leaving tonight so it better be!”
“Tonight?!” I exclaimed, shock taking over me.
“Well…yeah. We can’t wait. It’s not worth the risk.” He gave me an apologetic smile before continuing. “Someone will be able to drive you home tonight when we leave Keira. Let you mum know please.” He then slipped out the door after receiving a nod of thanks from Keira.
“Come on silly!” I said, standing up and walking over to my drawers. “We need to finish this packing!”
Keira smiled at me and nodded, getting up and joining me.
“So what about these shorts?”
We collapsed back onto my bed at about half eleven, four suitcases stuffed full standing by the door.
“Well, I think I’m set for the rest of my life then,” I joked, wiping my forehead dramatically.
“I should think so!” Keira laughed. We lay in silence for a moment, before the door opened and Niall appeared.
“It’s time to go girls.”
“Okay. Can you help with my bags please?”
Niall turned to look, and I swear his eyes almost popped out. “Jesus Em!! How much do you need?!”
“She’s a girl, what can we say?” Keira shrugged as she sat up straight. Niall scoffed at this, but picked up two of my bags and staggered out my room with them. Me and Keira turned to face each other, and gave the other an expression as if to say ‘boys’, before giggling and getting up from my bed. I grabbed my phone from my bedside counter and followed Keira out my room, pulling my last suitcases along behind me.
Only Harry was sat on one of the sofas…no one else was in sight. “Everyone’s downstairs.” He answered my question before I even asked it, and I nodded in acknowledgment. Harry got up as we approached the door, opening it for us as we heaved the bags out the apartment. Harry closed the door behind us, locking the door and turning to smile at us.
“Here, let me take one of those.”
Keira offered up the bag she was dragging straight away, and I gave her a fake glare for getting in there too quick. It was a bit of a task getting the bags down the stairs, but we made it, even though we were out of breath and ready for a sleep.
My bags were quickly whisked away from us by these big burly looking men, taken outside to put in a car I guess. The lobby was full of loads of official looking men and women; people I had never seen before. Harry did subtly tell me all their names, and a brief description of what they did, but it basically just went in one ear and out the other.
After a lot of faffing about, order was finally called. “Right boys! Oh, and girls sorry.” The sound of small laughter was heard at the mistake, but soon died down. “We need to get going now. The van with the bags has already left, so now it’s just us. Boys and Emily, you are going with Paul, and Keira, Mark will be taking you, and then driving up to meet the rest of us tomorrow.”
The group broke apart, and I was being dragged outside into the bitter night air. I kept a tight hold onto Keira’s hand, not letting her leave me without a goodbye. We reached the cars, and all the boys turned to me and Keira.
Each boy stepped up individually to give Keira a hug, and to thank her for what she did. They all then climbed into the car, leaving just me and Keira outside. I walked with her to the car Mark was standing next to. He was leaning against the sleek black metal work, waiting for us to be done. “Could you give us a minute please?” I asked, not wanting an audience. Mark nodded once, before opening the driver’s door and climbing in.
“Good luck with him,” I smirked. “He’s quite the charmer.”
I knew Keira wanted to laugh, but I could also see that she was trying her best not to cry. Whatever battle she had been having finished, and the tears leaked from her eyes as she flew her arms around me. I squeezed her back just as tight, not wanting to let go of my best friend.
“I’ll miss you,” She whispered through her sobs.
“I’ll miss you too.”
We held on to each other for a moment, before pulling back and exchanging a smile.
“Here, I need to give you my number. I finally have a phone!”
Keiras face lit up, and she immediately whipped her phone out from her pocket. We exchanged numbers, promising to keep in touch. I walked round with her to the passenger side of her car. I leant in and pecked her on the cheek, before pulling her in for one last embrace.
“Look after yourself won’t you,” I told her as I pulled back. I couldn’t let her be hurt by my dad. I just couldn’t.
“Don’t even worry about me Em. Just keep yourself safe okay.”
“I will, I promise.” I pulled open her door, and she got into the car, pulling the seatbelt around her and clicking it into place.
“Love you babe,” I whispered once more.
“Love you too,” was the last I heard before slamming the door shut. The engine revved, and I stepped back to let the car pull away from the curb and speed down the road, rounding the corner and disappearing out of sight.
I let out a huff of breath, before turning and walking back to the awaiting van. My feet scuffed against the pavement, and my breath came out in foggy clouds. The door was open, and I clambered inside, locating the spare seat in-between Harry and Niall. Zayn was sat in the front seat next to Paul, whilst Liam and Louis sat opposite Harry, Niall and me.
“You alright babe?” Niall asked, giving me a smile.
“Yeah, ‘m fine,” I smiled back. “I’m just gonna miss her, that’s all.” All the boys gave me a sympathetic smile, and I felt an arm weave its way across my shoulders. I turned to see its owner, his green eyes boring into mine.
“Come here,” he whispered, pulling me close to him so I could rest my head on his shoulder. I rested my arm across his stomach, whilst his arm slipped down from my shoulder to wrap around my waist.
“Are we all ready then?” Paul called from the driver’s seat. A chorus of ‘yeah’ was heard, and then I could hear the engine revving up, and then I could feel the car pull away and move off down the road.
No chatter filled the car like it normally did, everyone exhausted from the day’s events. I felt my eyelids droop, and the last thing I remember was hearing Harry whisper ‘sleep baby’, and feeling his lips press against the top of my head.
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so I know it wasn't very interesting....but it's coming...i promise.
and again, I am so so so sorry for the wait being so long.
I love each and every single one of you who bare with me and still givce me lovely and encourgaing comments. If it wasn't for you guys, I probs would have given up with writing this ages ago, so thank you :)
i love you guys xxxxxxxxxx