If you can't tell by the name, it's kind of like Take A Trip To Paris, instead it's Take A Trip With Him.
It's about Astrid Magnussen, who, by chance, is Harry Styles Ex Girlfriend, and she needs to get to a certain place to see her new boyfriend. The only way she's able to get there is if she travels with the boys on a roadtrip.
With Harry. her ex.
I hope you guys enjoy this introductory chapter!, it gets right into the drama.
Tell me what you think below!
the main song of the entire story: 'Please Don't Say You Love Me' by Gabrielle Aplin. It's an amazing song.
There is a picture of Astrd and her mother in the sidebar. You'll see a lot of pictures of her in each chapter. Her mother is greatly mentioned throughout the story, too. She's important.
BIG THANKYOU to @Peakaboox who made the new cover of this story!, she makes beautiful covers, you should all go and check them out, maybe ask for one to be made for you? LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE!
ENJOY!
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INTRO CHAPTER- TAKE A TRIP WITH HIM.
Someone knocks on the bathroom door “Azzy?” he asks, worry seeping into his tone.
“Don’t call me that!” i reply stubbornly “-It’s Astrid to you”
“Never used to be”
“shut up!” i yell, slamming my fist against the door. “-Just shut up Harry!”.
How did i end up crying in a Burger King bathroom?. Hiding from my problems like i always do. Because thats what you do, Astrid. You hide from the things that break you.
You hide from the things that affect you. You hide from your problems. You hide from him. Because he’s the thing that broke you, the thing that affected you.
And now you’re stuck in a shitty old drive-in bathroom, with your problem knocking on the damn door.
Three Days Earlier.
“you are not being serious, are you?” Liam’s voice echoes out of my phone, I throw another pair of jeans into my suitcase
“Listen, i’m not entirely happy about this either, I need to get to Massachusetts, you’re all passing by...”
“How do you think Harry’s going to react to this?”
“I’ll just have to find out won’t i-”
“you’re so stubborn Astrid” Liam takes a breath “-Okay okay, fine, we’ll take you with us, but for gods’ sake-”
“It’s not going to be like last time. I’m going to Massachusetts to see Rory, my boyfriend” I emphasize the ‘boyfriend’ part.
I hear Liam pause
“you know the risks, right?”
“i travelled with you boys for a year, i know everything”
he pauses again
“this is not going to go well, Astrid”
I throw a couple of pairs of underwear into the suitcase
“we won’t know that unless we try, plus, if you get sick of me, or if i screw up, just drop me off at the nearest gas station”
“Jesus christ” Liam moans in to the phone “-get your shit packed, we’ll pick you up tomorrow morning”
“thank you Liam” i smile “-You know how important this is to me”
“i hardly think seeing your boyfriend is worth a four day drive”
“I have a good reason” i lie
“you’d better hope so” is the last thing i hear Liam say, before he ends the call.
I throw my phone onto the bed, and rub my face with my palms.
you’re probably so fucking confused right now. Okay, well.
Harry Styles, one fifth of One Direction is my ex boyfriend. We broke up on bad terms. (i don’t want to talk about it, maybe later) And i got with a new guy, Rory. Things are going pretty smoothly with Rory, he’s... well, i think he’s a good guy. Others may think differently, but what does their opinion matter to me anyway?. Rory isn’t Harry. That’s all that matters.
A couple of hours later my two suitcases were packed and waiting at the front door.
traveling with the boys was fun. To be honest, it was the time of my life. Once Harry and I broke up... Well, i was sent straight home. Practically dumped onto the sidewalk.
(well, not technically dumped, they dropped me off at home). I don’t think i’ll ever forget that.
But now i have.. uh, Rory. Rory’s great, he gets angry easily, my bruises can prove that. But that really doesn’t matter, Rory loves me. He won’t ever dump me on the sidewalk.
Mum was in the kitchen, she was doing the dishes, we had noodles.
I sneak past her and open the fridge, getting out some orange juice and pouring it into a glass cup.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Astrid” she says, not turning away from the foamy mess.
I am still pouring the orange juice when she repeats herself; “-Honey, it’s really not a good idea”.
I fill my cup to the brim, then close the orange juice and place it back in the fridge.
I climb up onto the bench and cross my legs.
“You’re not un-convincing me, Liam already tried”
Mum’s hair was a long blonde-white and it reached all the way down her spine. Natural. Elegant. My mother was beautiful, i couldn’t imagine owning my mothers beauty. I wouldn’t dare. She was the woman people stopped in the market to wonder at. Not because she was strange, but just at the sheer beauty. They seemed startled she had to shop and eat like everyone else.
She sighed. Her slim shoulders rising and then falling dramatically.
“You were so heart broken”
“i’m not now”
“it’s a mans world, Astrid”
i nodded. A man’s world?, what did she mean by that? Men whistled and whispered and yelled things at you, and you had to take it. It meant that women loved them more than they loved women, and they can want something with all their hearts, and then dump it on the sidewalk. Thats what a man’s world is. You’re used, then you’re nothing.
I begin to tear up, swiping at my eyes with my sleeve.
“Don’t cry” she says, still not turning away “-we’re not like that. We’re the vikings, remember?”
“i know” i sniff, climbing down from the bench.
My mother was tall. Her white kimono gown exposed her long hair. I hated my mother.
So cold hearted, so dangerously beautiful.
“I’m going to bed” i say, pouring the orange juice down the sink
“that’s a waste” i hear her say under her breath as i close the kitchen door and head upstairs.
~
I wake up in the morning, dreary eyed and still tired.
I can hear mother watering the plants downstairs, humming Bon Iver and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.
I roll onto the opposite side of my bed, from warm to cold. I squint at the clock.
11:45AM.
in that moment, i burst from the bed and straight to my feet.
The cold floor boards caused a shiver to fly up my spine, but i ignored the best of it.
I tapped over to my closet and threw on a pair of jeans and a singlet, swiftly pulling my identical-to-my-mothers hair into a messy pony-tail.
I then scamper from the mirror to the hallway, my shoulder smashing into my mother.
“slow down road runner” she sings. I continue past her and down the stairs, my bags were still there. Waiting.
They did look really lonely.
“jesus how many bags do you need, love?” The boy whines, swinging one of them off the airport conveyer belt, the machine groaned under it’s sudden weight loss.
“Three” I say to the stranger. And what a beautiful stranger he was. I needed help collecting my baggage, i couldn’t grab all three at once. The boy was just standing by.
“You don’t look like the kind of girl that regularly visits New York”
“Family tradition” i lie.
It was my mothers inspirational point. Where she left me for months at a time to go and sit in Central Park for hours, just staring at the people who passed her. ‘Artistic inspiration‘ she called it. ‘Abandonment‘ i called it.
She had left me this morning. I packed my bags and decided to follow her.
“It’s a short trip, though. Only four hours”
San Diego Airport to New York, JFK Airport.
“Well” i sigh “-I have to catch my plane”
The boy smiles, exposing very noticeable dimples.
“I’m Harry, by the way.. Harry Styles” he says, holding out a hand for me to shake
i hesitated for a second. What did he say his last name was?
I take it gently.
“Astrid” i reply “-Astrid Magnussen”
i internally scream when his eyes meet mine, our hands still attached.
Harry
Styles.
One.
Direction.
“i guess i’ll see you around, Astrid Magnussen” he says
I smile softly to Harry Styles, detaching our hands and grabbing my suitcases.
“Maybe” i say. Walking off swiftly in the opposite direction.
I welcome reality back with open arms. God. No. I never want to go back there, never want to dip back into my own memories. Mum always said memories were like knifes, it’s a three bullet Russian roulette.
I actually finish my glass of orange juice this time, and even clean up my mess.
Mum walks in the room not long after, with her straight hair and white kimono.
“I hope you’re listening to your spirit” she says, walking over and tucking a stray hair behind my ear
i decide to play along in her game; “my spirit says go”
“spirits can lie”
“then why do we always listen to them?”
“We learn to trust our judgement”
“but what if it hurts us in the end?” i ask, all games aside. I wanted to hear her answer.
“nobody becomes an artist for no reason”
she was right there. All pain and hurt goes into an artists soul. Everything they learn and live for is on a canvas.
“Save every tear, every inch of pain, my flower” she hums “-because you’ll need every drop of it”.
before i could open my mouth to respond, there is a loud in-coherent beat of car horns. the boys where here.
I look back at mother, who was already turned around, pouring milk into a vase and placing a white rose into it.
“Bye, mother” i say, swiftly kissing her on the cheek and collecting my bags.
Mother doesn’t reply. She’s said all she needs to say. Now it’s just up to my spirit.
I grab my three suitcases and open the front door.
The boys‘ were in a dulled out Qwambie Van, a pale coffee colour. Very unappealing.
Liam opens the car door and helps me with my bags, once they were placed securely in the back, he pulls me into a tight hug. Motioning for the other boys to join him.
Niall and Zayn get out next, each receiving individual hugs.
Louis is out next, he was slurping on a Starbucks Iced Mocha. Once he saw me, he handed the beverage to Liam, pulling me into a hug too.
“We’ve all missed you so much” he says, kissing my cheek. “-except for Harry, but don’t mind him” he whispers into my ear.
It was then that i noticed that Harry wasn’t exiting the car for an embrace. I nod at Louis, and the rest of the boys exchange glances.
I sigh.
“Thank you, really, all of you”
“it‘s not a bother, alright?, we all know what it’s like being away from someone you love”
I nod again.
Zayn wraps his arm around my shoulder and leads me to the van, he opens the door for me and I enter.
It was bigger on the inside.
Seven seats altogether, two at the front, two in the middle, and three at the back.
There were little labels on top of each seat, the driver, obviously being Louis.
‘H‘ was in the front
‘Li‘ was in the middle with ‘Z‘
and ‘N‘ was at the back with a little ‘A‘.
They had added my initial to a seat. What cuties.
“I hate San Diego” Niall says, climbing into the back next to me. He nudges me lovingly. “-too damn hot”
“You’ve got six people in the car, it’s hotter in here than it is out there” Louis mutters
“So where are we going?” Harry interrupts the conversation, he was being blunt.
“Massachusetts” Liam says “-It’s a four day drive”
“are you kidding me?” he moans, whipping his head back against the seat.
It was then that i figured this wasn’t going to be the best four days of my life
“Harry?” i ask cautiously “-I’m not too happy about this either”
Harry doesn’t reply. He just presses on the radio.
A man’s world. A man’s world where they use you, and abuse you, and leave you on the side of the road to rot. They forget and never forgive. They cause pain, heartbreak and hallucinations.
A man’s world where nothing else matters but them. They can whistle all they want. They can whisper all they want. And we’re suppose to endure it.
A man’s world where you don’t matter.
I used to be his everything. The one he took to all his shows, was the girl backstage during interviews, in the crowd at concerts, the one who always listened, and gave, and cared.
We were both so in love. So infatuated. So utterly lost in each other that it was almost dangerous.
now i was just some girl in his back seat.