You're Still The One

(Harry’s POV)

I couldn’t help but stare. She was even more stunningly beautiful than ever before and I couldn’t keep my hands off of her. Her sapphire eyes stared back at mine with all the love she could muster. The mere thought of being able to finally call her mine felt surreal. Those sweet, soft lips of hers were drawn to me, moving slowly and gently against mine. My hands were met at her waist as she took the initiative to linger above me.



I think Charlie and I both were taken back, when the door was yanked open and in walked Louis, Niall, Zayn and Liam. Out of the four, Louis looked the angriest.



“I’m sorry, are we interrupting?” He asked rhetorically. Charlie and I both stared at him blankly, clueless to what either of us could have done to get on his bad side. Niall took a seat on the other side of Charlie and turned on the game. She wasn’t paying much attention to him as her eyes stayed glued on Louis as he continued on his angry rant. “Where the fuck were you?!”



I shook my head still not comprehending what was happening. “What’s wrong?”



“You only missed a very important meeting with some executive producers, no biggie!” Louis shouted sarcastically, his voice quivering furiously.



“No, no, no. I set an alarm on my phone. It should have gone off.”



I would never miss a meeting with management. Especially one this important we were supposed to discuss tour dates and our next single. I refused to believe this was happening.



“Oh? And where is your phone because I reckon I texted you thirty dozen times.” Louis said. “Do you know how stupid we looked with you not there? I would have expected something like this from Zayn, but not you.” He added still shaking his head. I felt Charlie’s body tense up next to mine as Louis’ vicious attacks kept coming.



I did the only thing that I could do. I apologized, “I’m sorry.”



“You’re sorry? Great.”



Louis ran his fingers through his hair. Charlie’s eyes stalked Louis as he paced around still sullen.



“Calm down, mate. I’m sure Harry has a good reason for missing the meeting, right?” Zayn defended.



I glanced at Charlie who looked like she was being attacked right along with me. She lightly squeezed my arm her eyes wandering to the floor. Everyone’s glares were driving me to speak but I couldn’t think of a valid excuse for missing that meeting other than the truth.



“I was with my girlfriend.”



Louis hid his face in his hands and didn’t bother to bring his head up again.



Louis bit back the tip of his top lip. He squinted his eyes at me, looking at me like I was the dumbest person in the world. It was bad enough that I felt horrible for missing the meeting but Louis shouting at me doesn’t fix anything. I can’t change the fact that I hadn’t gone to the meeting and I already feel bad enough so his affronted arguments weren’t necessary.



“You missed one of our most important meetings to hang out with Nikki?” Zayn asked, also, looking at me like I was an idiot.



“No, Charlie.”



Lou raised an eyebrow and there was a long pause before he disapprovingly spat the words, “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”



Louis hadn’t really acknowledged her presence until that exact moment. He, as well as the others, stared at Charlie. Niall shook his head in disbelief, Zayn let out an audible huff and even Liam bit his lip looking a bit disapproving. I felt horrible for giving her the unwanted attention. She covered her face in her hands desperately trying to avoid the awkward eye contact, especially with Louis. His stare was threatening and I’m sure that put a fright upon her.



Quickly and silently, Charlie rose to her feet and disappeared in the confines of the room. She couldn’t endure Louis’ harsh tones any longer.



“I know I messed up. My bad, but you don’t need to be a dick about it. I said I was sorry,” I pressed.



“You let us all down so you could be with Charlie? Do you know that we may not get our new single out because of your absence? What the hell were you thinking?”



Question after question, after question. I was unable to think properly with every question that was hammered out. I couldn’t seem to put any of this into perspective. It was one meeting I missed. How could I have missed so much? I didn’t understand.



“You’re really throwing everything away for her…”



The way he talked about Charlie angered me, like she was an unnecessary thing that I could do without.



“What are you talking about? I’m not throwing anything away!” I shouted making an effort to drown out his harsh criticism and to stand up for Charlie.



“Haz listen, we’ve all worked so hard to get where we are now. Let’s not get distracted and forget what’s really important.” And there he goes again, implying that Charlie isn’t important but I didn’t want to talk about this any longer so I put on a brave face and told Louis what he wanted to hear.



“Of course. You’re absolutely right.” I said with just a hint of sarcasm in my voice but he didn’t notice as a satisfied look played on his face.



“So you’ll be at Zayn’s tonight at 7 for the party?”



“Party?”




Louis face palmed.



“For God’s sake, where is your head? How could you forget the party you planned?” Now it was clear. About a month ago the lads and I were gathered at Louis’ house when we were chatting about what we’d do over our break. We all agreed that we’d spend most of the time with our families and I suggested that on our last day of break that we throw a huge party the night before we leave for tour.



“I didn’t forget. Yeah, we’ll be there.”



“Cool. I’m going home to see if I can fix this mess you’ve caused with the exec.” Louis said grudgingly before quickly leaving out. Liam went right behind Lou, looking even more upset than usual. I wasn’t sure if he was upset with me or if it still had something to do with the fight he had with Sophie, but I didn’t press him on the matter. I just let him go. I’m sure that’s what he would have wanted.



I left Zayn and Niall in the living room. They’d seemed pretty occupied to me; Zayn was smiling wide at the phone he clasped and Niall was very into the game that was on the television so I joined Charlie in my room where she had run off to several minutes ago. She was lying on her stomach, her face hidden in a pillow and I plopped down next to her.



“I liked Louis a lot, before I met him. He was my favorite.” She said lifting her head, her hair cloaked over one of her shoulders as she glanced at me. “Well, certainly not anymore.”



“He’s actually not bad. I think today is just an off day for everyone.” I said particularly raising my eyebrows at a certain girl who was fearless in her first physical altercation this morning. She rolled her eyes catching on to what I was hinting at.



“C’mon, we’re not going to talk about this again, are we?” She rolled over to her back and moved in closer to me. I nuzzled my face in the crook of her neck allowing her lovely scent to fill my senses. Her fingers began to casually brush through my hair as I lost myself in her touch.



“Again? We never talked about it the first time.”



“Fine. Let’s talk about you first.” She declared. Suddenly, I felt like we were no longer teasing each other. I could tell she was about to bring something up that was a bit more serious than what happened earlier. “If Louis hadn’t told me about Nikki, would you have? And be honest.”



I blinked. I really wanted to lie. The reason for my wanting to lie is the same as anyone else who dispels lies; to make them look better in the eyes of another person. I wanted to tell her I would’ve told her about Nikki. Just so she wouldn’t be disappointed, when actually I wouldn’t have. But, with Charlie, I knew no matter how mad she got, she would appreciate the truth more.



So, I told her the truth. Afterwards, it was quiet. Her chest stopped elevating for a moment. I lifted my head to take in her expression which was blank and a bit stony. Her fingers continuously raked through my hair so she couldn’t have been too upset. “I wouldn’t have continued to see Nikki though. I would have ended it as soon as possible.”



A small smile spread across her lips.



“I know Harry and I appreciate your honesty.”



I never imagined that I could love someone as fiercely as I loved her. And there was no doubt in my mind that she loved me back. I’m not too sure that there is another girl who would be as appreciative or accepting as she. This girl found joy in the simplest things such as honesty.



“Now, can we discuss what I saw this morning, please?”



She rolled her eyes, playfully shoving me to the side. “Honestly, I don’t remember all that happened.” She spoke, her small hands now joined with mine as she played with my fingers. “I just remember that I wanted to hurt her really, really bad.”



I laughed, definitely relating to the familiar feeling. When I’m really pushed to the point of anger, it’s like I lose all self-control. I’m not typically an angry person. I guess it all depends because if someone were to lift a finger to harm Charlie, I’d lose it. That’s probably because I’m the one she’d always call, when she needed someone. Even at the age of eleven, Charlie would attract the wrong kind of attention but she’d always call me to help her out of those sticky situations.



Seeing her fighting today worried me. It scared me that she took matters into her own hands instead of waiting for me to fix things like I always do. I guess I just needed her to need me.



“I don’t want you fighting anymore.”



“She attacked me!” She argued. “I was defending myself.”



“Why didn’t you just wait for me to get there? I would have dealt with it.” I don’t know how, but I’m sure I would have figured something out.



“I can handle some things on my own, you know. ”


She’s absolutely right. I just wanted to keep her safe and out of harm’s way. That’s all I was trying to do but I didn’t press the matter any further. Besides, watching Charlie pound at Nikki was without a doubt the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen but I wouldn’t tell her that or she might do crazy things like that more often.




“I just don’t want you doing crazy things, when I’m not here to protect you.”



Her face scrunched in confusion. She sat up, flipping her long bronze hair over her shoulder in one swift motion. I was afraid at how she’d react to this set of news.



“I’m leaving…” The words came out a bit too fast as I didn’t have much time to put together what I would actually say. I shook my head and started over. “The lads and I are leaving tomorrow morning…to continue the tour.”



She froze.



“How long will it last?”




“It won’t be long, we could meet up between shows and if you’re willing, you could visit me sometime.” I offered meekly.



“How long, Harry?” She questioned impatiently. Her eyes intently staring at me awaiting an answer.



“Three months.”

Notes

Three months is a long time...