Chapter 22: Voices of Reason

I climbed back onto the bus just wanting to collapse into bed again. There were a few more people awake than before, none of which were Lacey. I still hadn’t gotten her take on the whole situation the previous night. I thought it would probably be a good idea to talk to her before talking to Harry. She always gave great advice. I walked straight by the few morning people towards my bunk.

I grabbed my phone and noticed I had a new text and a missed phone call, from my mom. My heart sank. I had been doing a rather shit job of keeping in contact with them like I had promised. I had maybe called a couple times since joining the tour in the first place, each time only being a few minutes long debriefing them on minor details of everything.

I opened the message, it read.

Maddie,
Your father and I have been feeling really concerned about you lately. You haven’t called, and we have been seeing all this stuff about you on the tv?! Please call as soon as you get this. We are so worried about you!
Love,
Mom

The thoughts of speaking with Harry were temporarily out the window and all I could think was, “Shit!”

I quickly and rather unconsciously went to my contacts and clicked, “Home,” and the phone began to ring.

“Hello?” My mom answered.

“Hi, it’s me.” I stated

I heard the phone muffle and the echoes of my mom yelling for my dad, “Come here! Maddie is on the phone!”

There was a distant sound of hard footsteps running towards the phone before my mom spoke, “Maddie, what has been going on? We keep seeing all this stuff about you? How did this happen? Is it all true?”

I had to cut her off, or I think that the questioning would have gone on for centuries longer. “Mom, stop! Everything is fine. I promise.”

“Is it all true though? The new has been showing such horrible things people have been saying about you.” She sounded the most concerned I have ever heard her before.

I couldn’t hold it from her. “Yes, I guess it’s true…”

The line was silent for a few seconds until I heard the phone being muffled again. This time it was my dad speaking, “Madeline, I don’t care if this Harry Styles is some super famous guy, if he hurt you I need to speak to him.”

My voice intensified, “Dad! No, you don’t get it. It’s really hard to explain! It’s not even really him!”

“Well start explaining Maddie!” He sounded really pissed off.

I heard my mom say something to my dad like, “Calm down. Just let me just talk to her. I think this is more of a… girl thing.” Then when I believe she was alone on the phone again she spoke to me, “Alright, please let me know what’s going on.”

For what felt like the millionth time at the moment, I explained the whole situation between Harry and me. I started with the truth about the party after the first concert, finishing with the stunt he had pulled at the last concert and how Liam told me that Harry still wants to talk to me about something.

She responded with remorse in her voice, “Aww, Maddie. I am so sorry. Heart break is always hard to deal with. I can’t imagine being in that sort of situation. I have read some of the awful things those people have written about you, it’s enough to break your mother’s heart, let me clue you.”

I spoke softly trying not cry. There was something about telling my mom everything that made the terrible emotions from the past few days come flooding back with new vengeance. “I know… I think it has gotten a little better though since last night. Maybe?”

“Maybe. I hope so. It just isn’t right. I would like to give each and everyone one of those people a piece of my mind.” She was going into mama bear mode which made me laugh a little bit. “How is everything there? Do you want to just come home?”

I pondered the thought for a few moments before saying, “Umm… I don’t think so. Aside from everything that has happened, I have made quite a bit of money and made some pretty amazing friends here.”

In her concerned voice again she said, “I don’t know Maddie. Is it all worth it? I just can’t stand to sit here while you get all of this harsh criticism for doing absolutely nothing wrong.”

I began to argue slightly, “Mom, I think I just need to ride out the summer. The people I am with are very sweet. I’m sure everything will die down soon. Like I said, I think it already has after what happened last night. I don’t think the fans have much a leg to stand on after that.”

She had more agreeableness in voice, “Alright. If it’s what you want. Just remember to be true to yourself, and everything will work out in the end. I think if you are going to stay there, then you really do need to talk with that Harry. Maybe the two of you can work something out? Or maybe get some closure?”

“Maybe.” I stated while wiping the remains of a tear trickle from my face.

“I think it would be good for the two of you. Especially since he isn’t too bad to look at, huh Maddie?” she said with a humorous tone.

“Oh jeez, mom. Come on!” I groaned.

“Sorry! It’s true though. He does seem rather sweet with the things he has said and done for you.”

I smirked a bit, “Yeah I suppose so.”

She grew a bit more serious again, “Just make sure you are giving him a chance to explain everything. You never know. Even though I can’ stand all the terrible words people are saying, doesn’t mean he is such a bad guy. To me, it sounds like he was just trying to protect you maybe.”

“Yeah? I don’t know. Who’s side are you on here, mom?” I said a bit sarcastically.

“I’m just saying that you should give the guy a chance. You don’t want to be regretting something further down the line.” She said.

“Alright mom.”

“Alright darling. Keep in contact, yeah?”

“Will do. Thanks for all the advice. Talk to you soon.”

“Yes, I will inform your father on everything. If everything does work out, I think he won’t be too hard to convince that Harry is a fine boy.”

“Let me just get this talk over with first before you start planning for such things mother. Goodness.” I chuckled a little.

“Alright dear. I love you.”

“I love you too mom. Bye.”

“Bye.” Then the phone clicked.

I was suddenly feeling a bit better about having a talk with Harry. How did moms always have a way of making everything sound better? I was still a bit uneasy as to how it would all turn out, but at least I actually wanted to sit down and talk to Harry now.

I rolled out of the bunk with the ambition of possibly going to find Harry, with a slight feeling of apprehension about it. Instead I found Lacey sitting on the edge of her bunk looking doe-eyed straight at me. I knew she was waiting for me to debrief her on everything. I did want to know her take on last night’s events still, but damn I was getting sick of explaining everything to people all the time.

Lacey spoke first, “So… tell me… how are you doing?”

“Well, I suppose you encountered what happened at the concert last night…” I softly spoke.

Her face went blank momentarily before quickly looking at the ground. “Umm… Yeah, Maddie. That’s something I’ve needed to talk to you about.”

I was really confused. I mean, yeah, I was extremely hurt by what Harry did, but I didn’t expect her to be that sympathetic about it. “Why? Is there something even more that I don’t know about?” My mind started to race. Not sure what to expect.

She looked to be trying to gather the correct words before speaking. “Maddie, I’m so sorry, but I think… it’s my fault.”

I gave her a sideways face and asked, “The concert? How on earth could his actions be your fault at all, Lace?”

Her face scrunched up a bit, and I could tell she was quite upset. “Well, a little while before the concert Harry came up to me and was trying to ask about you, giving me some sort of sob story. He seemed like he may have been really upset, but I was so pissed at him for what he did to you, and—”

I cut her off because I didn’t want her to start crying or something, “How does any of that make you to blame?”

“Maddie, that’s not all. Before I stormed away from him, I told him if he really wanted people to leave you alone, then… then… he was going to have to do something… drastic. I guess… well… you know what happened after that.”

I stared at her a bit mind boggled. My head became all jumbled. Had I completely misjudged the whole situation? Maybe what Harry did wasn’t meant to be hurtful? Or was Lacey wrong, and she really had nothing to do with it? One thing was for sure, there was no way I could be mad at Lacey. She was just being a fantastic friend trying to stick up for me.

I crawled off of my bunk to sit next to Lacey on hers and flung my arms around her. She started to sob and quietly stated, “I’m so sorry Maddie. He seemed pretty troubled about it. I think you two should work it out. I just hope I didn’t ruin everything.”

I couldn’t believe how upset she was. I probably would have been crying too, but I was so sick of it and my head was in far too many directions to even make my eyes the least bit watery. “Lacey. It’s not your fault that he did that. His actions come from his own mind.”

She put her hands over her eyes. “I just really think you need to talk to him. I am just going to feel awful about everything until you do.”

I removed my arms from around her, but continued to sit. “I plan to. I think I just need to get to the bottom of what is going on exactly. I’ve talked to my parents too, and my mom convinced me that working it out or getting closure would be the best to get through the rest of this tour.”

She cracked a short smirk, “Your mother is a wise woman.”

I giggled and shook my head agreeing.

We both were silent for a moment before she asked, “So, when are you going to talk to him?”

I wasn’t sure. I was about to before talking to Lacey, but I suddenly didn’t feel quite ready. “Well, I bumped into Liam a little while ago when I was on a walk. He said he would tell Harry to find me after the show. So, I guess I’ll just wait.”

The normal Lacey I was accustomed to was slowly coming back, always getting overly enthusiastic whenever I was about to spend any sort of time with Harry. “I could talk to him tonight when they are in wardrobe for you!”

I laughed a bit, but I couldn’t get as excited as her. He still had quite a bit of explaining to do. I was uncertain as to what would come out of a conversation with Harry. “Sure. Umm… just tell him I will meet him back stage or something?”

She beamed, “Surely I can do that!”

“Great, thanks!” I smiled, trying to make her feel better. I didn’t want her feeling upset anymore. The most prominent thought in my head at the moment was, however, “It’s going to be a long day.”

Notes

I'm sooo sorry guys! This chapter is not what you were hoping for yet, but I felt as though it really needed to be there.

Next one will have Harry and Maddie together! I pinky promise with a cherry on top!

Thanks so much for reading!

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