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mia
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"I'm dead. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so dead." I panicked out loud. I was currently sitting beside Harry Styles in a rental RV escaping from my forced marriage and there was no doubt in my mind that as soon as my parents found me, I'd be a dead woman.
"Relax, breathe." Harry prompted. I nodded and breathed in and out once. "See? Not dead."
Even though what he said was rather funny, I didn't laugh. I was still having an episode and a panic attack as well. What would my mother and father think when they found out that I ran away? I could just imagine the horror stricken on their faces and my stomach flopped.
We had just finished rescuing my luggage from my mother's car. It was originally supposed to be coming along with me on my exotic honeymoon in Cancun, but now it would be accompanying me on a road trip with a famous boyband member.
"I'm so insane." I laid my head in my hands. "I just ran away from my fricken wedding with Harry fricken Styles and I think I'm going to fricken puke." I felt a hand rub my back in a comforting sort of way and tried my best to compose myself.
"You could say thanks." Harry interjected. I flushed a light pink and mumbled a thank-you. There were so many unanswered questions that I had for this man but none that reached my lips. They all stayed jumbled in the back of my mind and buzzed around like little flies. Why would he do something like this for me? I had never witnessed this kindness before, it was completely foreign to me.
"I'm sorry." I apologized quickly.
"Take your time." He reassured me. "You just ran from your own wedding, you have an excuse." He pursed his lips and I could see his eyes wandering to the mud that was now on the hem of my expensive gown.
"I just ran from my own wedding." I said. "I just ran from my own wedding." My body was tingling and burning all over and I was sure that I was having a panic attack.
"If it helps, we can just say I stole you from your wedding." Harry added. "Don't worry, alright? I'm going to help you out, I promise you."
"Why?" I blurted. "I realize that we had drinks together and clicked a bit, but don't you think that this is a bit extreme? How did you find me? How did you find my dressing room? How did you even do all this?"
"Calm down." The famous curly haired stranger said. "Just answer one question for me, okay?"
In the midst of all the panicking going around in my head and the feeling of bile rising in my throat from my nerves, I managed to nod my head. He pursed his lips and stared me down, otherwise making me feel extremely intimidated if it weren't for the softness in his eyes.
"Mia, did you want to get married?" The tone of voice he used was soft, almost like velvet.
My mouth was dry. Here I was, in this giant bus with Harry Styles and a wedding dress that was caught in the passenger side door, trying to answer a question that had an obvious answer but still couldn't reach my lips. All of the events from today made me want to burst into tears, but I was too self conscious in front of this man to do so.
He raised his eyebrows. I dropped my gaze.
"Mia, please." He asked.
"No." I mumbled. "No, I didn't."
"So why were you?" He pressed on. I'd probably start to get annoyed if this weren't the man that just saved me from possibly the worst mistake of my life.
"Another time, please?" I practically begged. He sighed, giving in.
"Fine, then." Harry shrugged. I hoped that he wasn't too offended that I wasn't letting him in on things, but he was after all, still a stranger to me. Although he might not be a stranger to the world, I still barely knew anything about him besides the fact that he was in a popular boyband. I couldn't just start spilling my darkest secrets to him.
"If we sit in this parking lot any longer they'll find us." I glanced near the church- any minute now my family would start looking for me. I gave it another ten before they'd realized that I had fled the building.
Harry pursed his lips before turning the key in the ignition and roaring the trailer to life. There was still a numbness in my bones and it still hadn't registered in my mind that Harry from One Direction had just snuck into my dressing room to save me from a forced wedding. It all didn't make sense, but nothing really did lately.
"Alright," Harry spoke up. "I'll be honest, I really don't know what I'm doing." He chuckled.
"That makes two of us." I chimed in, pulling my dress out of the door and ripping it in the process. I didn't even care.
"I guess we should get on the highway, then?" He suggested. "I had originally planned on heading South, to a beach or something. That was before I had a runaway bride accompanying me." He said lightheartedly.
"Don't mind me, I guess." I said. "Do whatever you were planning, I'll just be along for the ride."
He chuckled and I noticed little crinkles by the corner of his eyes that I couldn't help but admire. But soon enough, they disappeared as his eyes bulged in their sockets and his lips parted. I frowned and turned to see that he was looking in his rear view mirror at something behind us.
When I noticed that it was my father and my now ex-fiancee pointing toward the trailer and running to the nearest car, I gasped loudly.
"Step on the gas!" I screeched. "Drive, drive, they're coming!"
"Oh shit, oh shit." He panicked as the trailer drove forward. "Can I get arrested for this?"
"For swearing?" I asked. He shot me a blank look and I giggled. "Sorry, bad timing. Just drive and don't stop driving and maybe they'll give up eventually, I dunno."
"What if they call the police? If we get caught by the cops, please don't tell them I kidnapped you. You wouldn't do something like that, would you?" He ran one shaky hand through his locks while the other remained on the steering wheel.
"Of course not." I assured him. I looked back and sure enough- they were still on our tail as we proceeded into the unknown. Matthew, my fiancee, looked pissed. My dad almost looked worried, but I'm sure that it wasn't at my expense. He must've been thinking about all of the bad publicity this could get his company.
"Is that the groom?" Harry asked.
"Yeah." I nodded.
"Looks like a real douche." He noted.
"Yeah." I agreed.
I let out a shaky breath and closed my eyes. How did life ever get so complicated? I was currently running away from my family and future husband with a celebrity that I had just met. And something even scarier to think about- there was a possibility that they would catch us. The thought of marrying Matthew and having to have his children was horrifying.
"Don't worry, okay? You'll be alright." Harry reassured me. I just smiled.
The silence was interrupted by a low buzz. I could feel my phone vibrating through my bag and I sighed, pulling it out to look at whoever the person was. It was a text, and it was from my dad, and I was nervous as ever. What would he have to say for me?
I quickly glanced over the text as Harry tried looking back and forth from the road and me.
From: Dad
Give this up, honey. Do the right thing.
I wanted to laugh. Do the right thing? It boggled me how brainwashed he tried to make me- in what universe was being forced into marriage the right thing? I knew that he wasn't going to give up without some sort of fight, so I racked my brain with any possibility to get him to turn his car around.
In that moment, I knew that I had to deliberately lie to my dad and betray my family. That was the only way, unless we would try to outrun him by seeing who could run out of gas first.
To: Dad
if you dont stop following me i'll let everyone know that the marriage was forced lol
Before I could over think things and delete the message, I sent it out. I knew that my harsh words would threaten my father and make him retreat. In the end the only thing that mattered was his highly successful company. I would be crazy if I ever believed that I was his first priority.
"Everything okay?" Harry checked.
"Yeah, fine." I lied. "Just a text from an old friend." He nodded.
I buckled my seat belt as we took another turn, not really sure where we were headed off to. Even though my parents had put me through many rough things for their benefit, I still felt a sense of guilt saying that to my dad. I knew that I would never reveal my family secrets to the press, but I had to lie to him. It made me feel sick to my stomach.
"Hey, look." Harry said. "They've turned around."
I didn't bother looking.
"Oh." I said. "Well, good then. Although I'll definitely be in the papers tomorrow morning, but hopefully we'll be long gone by then." I rubbed my temples as I tried to think about what the article would say about me or my family.
"So you're a bit famous too, then?" Harry asked.
"Well, I'm no Harry Styles." I chuckled. "People in Pennsylvania know who I am, but that's just because my father's company logo is literally everywhere."
"I see." Harry nodded. "Well, we can get on the turnpike and head off somewhere or we can find a rest stop and discuss where to go. Opinion? You are my road trip partner, so you have to have a say in things."
"Right." I smiled. "What are my options?"
"Well," He cleared his throat. "I was thinking either a beach in Jersey or New York City. If we went into the city, I have reservations for going to the Statue of Liberty. And by reservations I mean that we're going to the top."
I gaped at him. An hour and a half ago I was preparing myself for marriage, and now I was going to be climbing up the inside of a giant green woman with Harry freaking Styles.
"So... yes then?" He chuckled.
"Of course!" I exclaimed. "I mean, heights really aren't my thing, but I can't pass something like that up. We're really going up, too? To the pointy crown thingie?"
"Absolutely. Are you ready to go?"
"Absolutely." I mimicked him.
"Well, then." He grinned. "Wecome to the S.S Styles!"
I snorted.
"The S.S Styles? What, are we on a ship now or something?"
"Absolutely." He mocked me back.
And that was it, really. Crazy to think how one event could completely change your life around, and in my life that "event" just happened to be a wildly famous singer. Now, I was never one to believe in fate and things like that, but I couldn't help but have a feeling that all of this was some sort of fate.
I was ready to run.
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a/n:
yay for continuing this story! didn't think it would happen but HEY LOOK IM BACK AND I MISSED YOU GUYS. IT HAS BEEN TWO WHOLE MONTHS, how crazy is that!?
also gif on the side of harry annointing the children with holy water God bless
PLS vote/fan/tell your friends/ COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT
- del