I’d been lying in bed with Malley for the last three hours, not even making an effort to get up. Every year on this day, April 1st, I moped around my house all day, not bothering to do anything, not even opening the tattoo shop. What significance does this day hold you ask? It was Bre’s birthday and she would have been 23 years old, but her life was ripped away from her at the young age of thirteen, and the way she died I don’t want to disclose. Nobody, but my brother, knew why I closed myself off on this day and the day she died, and the way I am is partly due to how Bre’s life ending affected me. I was going to live my life recklessly just to give it back to Bre who took life by the horns.

“I miss her, Malley,” I said as I scratched behind my cat’s ear and listened as he purred. I let out a sigh before getting out of bed and doing a very cat-like stretch. “Come on, Mals. Let’s go eat and then come back and mope some more.”

I pulled my door open and padded across the hardwood floors of the hallway and made my way to kitchen area.

“Guys, I just don’t think she’s up to do anything today,” I heard Lyla say, and I was confused as to who she was speaking to, but my questions were answered as soon as I stepped foot in the living room. All of One Direction was seated in different spots of my living room, and as soon as I entered the rooms, all eyes were on me. I used the back of my hands to rub the sleep from my eyes, and as I brought my hands back down I saw they all had widened their eyes. I gave them a confused looked and then realized why they were looking at me that way, I wasn’t wearing pants.

“Why are you guys here?” I asked as I tried to cover my bare thighs, thankful that the shirt I did have on was long enough to cover my ass and crotch. I stood there, awkwardly, for about three minutes of silence. “You know what, I’m going to go put pants on.” I scurried to my room and pulled on the first pair of pajama pants I could find before going back into the living room.

“Better?” I asked them and they nodded their heads. “Now why are you guys sitting in my living room?”

“We all wanted to hang out with you,” Niall said, with a wide grin on his face.

“Yeah, so get dressed and let’s go explore!” Louis said with a positive attitude.

“I don’t know guys, I’m not really up to doing anything today,” I told them as I went to make a cup of coffee and prepare my morning bagel.

“But you haven’t done anything today, so how do you know you don’t want to do anything?” Niall, innocently, asked me.

“I just know, Niall,” I said, giving him a weak smile before retreating back to my room and closing the door, softly, behind me. I sat on my bed, and Malley quickly curled into my lap, and I turned my TV on to some random reality show. I had just finished my breakfast and as I sat my plate onto my bedside table I heard two soft knocks on my bedroom.

“Come in,” I quietly said, expecting it to be Lyla, but when Harry opened the door and took a step in, you could say I was a bit surprised. “Can I help you?” I, rudely, asked him.

“Can I come in?” He asked as he took another step further into my room.

“Well you’re already two steps into my room, so why not,” I told him, frustratingly throwing a hand in the air. Harry crossed the room and took a seat on the edge of my bed, and just stared at me like he was trying to piece together a puzzle. “Why are you staring at me? If that’s all you came in here to do then you can leave.”

“When did she die?” Harry, bluntly, asked. I scrunched my eyebrows together and just looked at him. Was it that obvious?

“Who?”

“Don’t play dumb. Your friend from the picture,” Harry said, looking at me with sympathy written on his face.

“How do you know?” I asked him, completely surprised that he could figure it out in the matter of days.

“I saw the picture yesterday, you said it was an old best friend and Lyla also mentioned that there are two days of every year that you do absolutely nothing besides stay cooped up in your room all day. And today is one of those days,” Harry explained to me and I looked down at my hands that were resting in my lap.

“She died when she was thirteen, and she would have been twenty-three today,” I told him, staring at Malley as he chased his tail. Why was I telling him these things? Not even Lyla knew about Bre.

“It sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. Instead of moping around your room all day on her birthday, you should be out celebrating her life for her. I never met her or heard about her, but if I were you I’d be celebrating my best friend’s life in the best way possible,” Harry said and when I looked up, he had a small encouraging smile on his face.

“For me, Harry, it is the end of the world. Bre has been my best friend since birth, our parents met in the doctor’s office when they were both getting checkups to see how Bre and I were doing in their stomachs. I came a month before her and we were inseparable up until she passed away. We were supposed to be living together by now and attending graduate school. Now I’m alone, not even Lyla, whom I love to death, can fill the space that Bre has in my heart. I would have taken a bullet for her,” I told him, tears streaming down my face as I talked about my best friend.

“I get that, I do. But sitting here thinking back on all the things you two could have done together, isn’t going to get you anywhere. Instead you need to go do those things, and do them for her. She’s still with you, maybe not physically but mentally and emotionally she’s with you,” Harry said as he wiped the tears away using his thumb.

“It wouldn’t be the same without her,” I whimpered, moving my hand over to my right to stroke Malley.

“You’re right, it wouldn’t. But don’t you know how much it’d mean to her to see her best friend celebrating her life for her,” Harry pleaded, taking my hands in his. “What’s one thing she’s always wanted to do, but never got the chance?”

“Visit Mars,” I told him, in between sniffles.

“Okay, a more realistic thing?” Harry said with humor in his voice. I took a few minutes to think about all the things Bre has wanted to do, and then it hit me.

“She wanted to climb the advanced route at Enchanted Rock and fly a paper airplane off the top with a letter written in it,” I told him, a smile forming on my face as I reminisced on the time my best friend told me about doing that.

“What’s Enchanted Rock?” Harry, curiously, asked.

“A rock in which you climb, Harold. It’s beautiful, I’ve been a few times,” I told him. “It’s about an hour and a half away from here,” I told him and it looked as if he were thinking.

“Alright, well then we better get a move on,” Harry said, clapping his hands while standing up. “We’ve got a rock to climb.”

“What? We can’t go now, “ I told him, pushing his hands, that he was holding out to offer to help me up, away.

“Sure we can, it’d be perfect. Come on now, up you go,” Harry said as he pulled me up from my bed.

“Harry, Lyla doesn’t know about Bre and I’m not ready for her to find out, or anyone else. I only told you because you figured it out,” I told him as I crossed my arms over my chest, as if I were cold.

“Then we’ll have to sneak out through your window. Get dressed, I won’t look,” Harry said as he turned around to face the door and covered his eyes using his hands. I shook my head, in disbelief that this was really happening, before opening my drawer and pulling on a pair of athletic shorts and a t-shirt.

“I’ve changed,” I told him as I pulled my tennis shoes on.

“Then let’s head out! We’ve got to stop by my hotel so I can change as well. I don’t think skinny jeans are suitable for climbing a rock,” Harry said as he pulled my bedroom window open and helped me out. I was nervous to climb Enchanted Rock and do this, but there was a little part of me that was excited to be doing this, and to be doing it with Harry.

- - - -

“Harry, you’re walking too fast! My short legs can’t keep up with you!” I yelled as I jogged to try and catch up with him.

“We’re off schedule! We should be climbing up by now, not still taking the trail!” He yelled as he continued to power walk through the advanced trail.

“Harry, I just want to take in the sights, not fly by. Bre would never have sped through Enchanted Rock.” That got him to stop. He abruptly turned around to look at me, and there was an apology written on his face.

“I’m sorry. I just want you to be able to do this before it gets too late,” he said as he walked to stand in front of me.

“It’s okay. Let’s just start walking again, at a normal pace,” I teased him as I dragged him along.

“Look Kat, we can start climbing up now!” Harry said, pointing to a clearing in the rocks and the other people climbing up. “Come on!” Harry yelled as he ran over there with a child-like smile on his face. I smiled before running to catch up with him. I was about a foot away from Harry when I took a bad step and fell to the ground, pain immediately ran through my leg as I clutched my ankle. I screamed due to the pain and through my tear clouded eyes I saw Harry running over to me and kneeling in front of me.

“Where does it hurt?” He asked as he took my hand away from my ankle. I watched as he inched his fingers closer to my ankle.

“Please don’t touch it,” I whimpered to him, but instead of listening to me, he looked up at me with a smirk on his face. His dimples were so perfectly carved into his cheeks, and his teeth were so white and straight, and not to mention his fucking green eyes were gorgeous. I quickly snapped out of the trance I was in due to Harry and looked back down at my ankle, he was touching it.

“I told you not to touch it!” I said with a grimace, it only caused Harry to chuckle.

“I’m barely touching it. I think you just sprained your ankle, love,” he said as he looked at my ankle even more.

“Great, I’m never going to get to climb this stupid rock for Bre,” I said, loudly, as I picked up a rock that was lying nearby and threw it somewhere.

“Who said we aren’t going to finish climbing it?” Harry said as he gently took my lime green tennis shoe off and shoved it in the backpack we brought with us.

“In case you forgot, I just sprained my ankle. I can’t finish climbing,” I told him as I reached for a water bottle from the backpack.

“Sure you can,” Harry said as he stood up and held his hands out to me. I took them and tried my best to ignore the electric shock that went through my body.

“And how do you think we’re going to climb this when I have a sprained ankle?” I asked him, using him as my crutch to stand up. He took my hands off his shoulders before turning around, so his back was facing me, and bent down.

“Hop on,” he said as he turned his head to look at me.

“Harry, you aren’t giving me a piggy back ride up this mountain. I’m too heavy,” I told him as I tried to step away.

“Katriona, just get on. I can handle it; we aren’t leaving until we finish what we came here to do,” Harry sternly said, and not going to lie, the way he said my name was hot.

“Fine, but I better not hear any complaining about how heavy I am, because you offered to do this,” I told him as I put the backpack on and then climbed onto Harry’s back.

“Are you serious? Kat you’re as light as a feather!” Harry said as he started walking up the mountain with ease.

“No, you’re just really strong,” I told him as I wrapped my arms around his neck so I wouldn’t fall off.

“You really aren’t heavy. But I’ll take the compliment because it’s not every day a gorgeous girl says you’re strong,” Harry said and when I peaked in front of me he was smirking. I shook my head before looking ahead of me, at the top of Enchanted Rock.

Eventually, after about 45 minutes, Harry and I reached the top of Enchanted Rock. He gently lowered me down and helped me sit on the ground, before sitting beside me and helping me take the backpack off.

“You ready to do this?” He asked as he dug through the backpack for a pad of paper and a pen.

“No, but it needs to be done,” I told him as I took the objects from him and began writing a note.

To Bre (or whoever finds this),
I miss you and I can’t believe it’s been roughly 10 years since you went away. Not a day goes by that I’m not thinking about you and what you would have done in the situations I get myself in. Today I’m sitting at the top of Enchanted Rock, on your twenty third birthday—April 1st—with a member of One Direction. It’s taken me ten years to come here and do this, but now that I am here, I feel like I’m ten times closer to you. Today I vow to always live my life and celebrate everything, and to do the things you’ve always wanted to accomplish. I’m celebrating your life from now on, Bre. Rest In Paradise, B.

Love Always,
Kat

“Okay, I’m ready,” I said as I turned to Harry, who stopped looking at the view and turned to look at me. He smiled before standing up and helping me up, as well. He helped me over to the edge of Enchanted Rock and we waited for a big gust of wind to come our way. I took a few deep breaths before holding the piece of paper, which was now a paper airplane, in the palm of my hand. About two minutes passed by when some wind came our way and picked up the paper plane and carried it far away. The wind whipped my hair around my face and neck as I continued to watch the last spot I saw the paper plane go. I felt Harry put his arm around my shoulder and pull me into his side. A few minutes passed and the sun shone a little brighter.

“She received your letter,” Harry whispered and I couldn’t help but burst into tears. I stood there and cried into Harry’s chest for a good ten minutes, until I finally composed myself. I straightened up and looked out at the land surrounding Enchanted Rock.

“Will you take my photo?” I asked as I turned to Harry, who nodded his head. He took my phone and took a few steps behind me. I threw my hands in the air and threw my head back as I closed my eyes, Harry counted down to one and took the photo before joining me by my side again. I took my phone from him and pulled up Twitter.

@SimplyKatLike: Enjoying life for Bre. #NoMoreMoping +insert link+

As soon as I posted the tweet I looked behind me to see Harry taking a panoramic picture of the view, and I noticed I was in the photo, so I quickly threw up a peace sign and smiled. After he finished taking the photo I saw him smile at his phone before walking over to me and showing it to me. My hair was whipping around my face, but I never looked happier. I saw him open up his Twitter app and go to post a tweet.

@Harry_Styles: Beautiful view. +insert link+

We stood on top of the mountain for a little while longer until we decided to walk back down, taking the beginner trail.

“She killed herself,” I said to Harry, from my position on his back. Harry was quiet for a few minutes until he finally spoke.

“One of my best friends, Will, wanted to take his life after One Direction got really popular. People at our school were trying to use him to get to me and treating him badly. I talked him off the ledge.” Somehow, that confession Harry just made, made me feel a lot closer to him than just the girl that gave him a butterfly tattoo.

“We live in a fucked up world,” I muttered and I felt Harry laugh from beneath me.

“You can say that again,” he said with amusement in his voice.

“Harry, can I ask you a question?”

“’Course you can,” he said as he walked around a pile of dog poop that was on trail.

“Why did you get a tattoo of a butterfly?” I asked him.

“Butterflies can’t see their wings, they can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are the same way. I got it to acknowledge my own beauty,” he said after clearing his throat.

“That’s beautiful,” I said to him and I looked at his face and saw he was blushing. I smiled at the fact that I made him blush, and went back to resting my head on his shoulder as we walked down the rest of the path.

Notes

Will wanting to take his life is completely false and I only used it to have Harry and Kat connect some way and some how. Don't yell at me.

Kat's Outfit