No Regrets

*LIZZIE’S POV*

As Harry carried me out of the party, I could barely register what was going on. Everything was spinning. I tried to focus on Harry, who kept talking to me, but I just couldn’t.

“Lizzie, love, I need you to say something to me.” Harry called to me as I realized we were in the car.

“I’m really dumb,” I said, admitting what I was thinking. This warranted a laugh from the guys.

“No, you’re not dumb. You just made some really dumb choices tonight, love.” Harry said as he bent down to plant a kiss on my forehead. I was laying in the backseat with my head in his lap.

“You should’ve seen that guy after we were done with him, Liz,” Louis said from the front seat with a big smile.

“He deserved it,” I said as I closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the spinning.

“What’d he even do, Lizzie?” Liam asked from the way back seat where I realized he must be sitting with Niall and Zayn.

“Really bad things,” I started to say before I started crying again, “I just don’t want to tell y’all. You’d hate me if you knew. I think it’s partially my fault, but I don’t know. I should’ve stopped him sooner, but he was so strong, and I just-”

“Lizzie, how about you talk about it in the morning; we all need to wind down a bit.” Louis said, cutting me off as I realized I had no filter. Harry looked as if he was made of stone. He tensed up completely.

“Turn the car around; I want to tear his fucking head off.” He finally said, his voice ice cold.

“Harry, calm down, we can’t focus on that right now,” Zayn said from the back seat as he rested both hands on Harry’s shoulders. “We need to focus on getting Liz back to the hotel to a warm, safe bed.” That seemed to reason with Harry’s thoughts, because he immediately turned his attention back to me.

“Liz, are-”

“I’m going to throw up.” I said, cutting him off. Shit that made them all jump. The driver immediately pulled over as Louis jumped out and opened the door, helping me out of the car as Harry followed. As I bent over, Harry held my hair back with one hand and held me up with the other hand by holding onto my arm.

“You’retoogoodforme,” I slurred when I had finished as Harry gave me a bottle of water from somewhere inside the car.

“I’m not, Liz; please don’t think that,” he said quietly before he helped me get back in, and we rode back to the hotel in silence.

*HARRY’S POV*

As we pulled up in front of the hotel, it was like a scene from one of my worst nightmares. Someone must have tipped off the paparazzi because there were dozens waiting outside the hotel. Unsure of how else to handle this, Louis helped Liz get out and I followed, I put one of her arms around my shoulders and Louis took the other before we walked through the crowd.

Once inside the lobby with the others, I picked her up bridal-style once again. She kept on drifting in and out of consciousness which scared me.

“Lizzie, love, I need you to tell me something.” I said, desperate for a response.

“Mmhm?” she murmured, relief washed over me.

“Tell me about yourself. Tell me everything about you.” I said, once again desperate just to keep her conscious.

“Well, I have a boyfriend.” She said with a drunken, eyes-closed smile. We all piled into the elevator as the rest of the boys listened to Lizzie’s comments.

“I know, love, I’m your boyfriend.” I said with a chuckle. “Tell me about something else,” I said, wanting to avoid the topic of our relationship at the moment.

“Likewhat?” she slurred with a sigh as her head lolled back in my arms.

“Okay, uhm, tell me about your favorite song!” I said as we walked out of the elevator to the room.

“Myfavoritesongis They Don’t Know About Us by One Direction- hey that’s y’all!” she said with a laugh as we all laughed with her.

“Why is that your favorite?” I asked absentmindedly as Liam pulled out the key to the penthouse doors.

“Because that’s the song that you sang to me at your concert, silly,” she said with an adorable grin as she opened her eyes for the first time in the hotel. I could feel my heart practically skip a beat. Before I could ask her any other questions, we entered the suite and were bombarded by Danielle and Eleanor.

“Harry! What happened?” Eleanor asked as she and Danielle ignored the squeals and other calls from Liz as she recognized the other two girls.

“I have no idea; all I know is that she’s tremendously drunk. I’m going to take her upstairs and try to get her to bed.” I said quietly as she closed her eyes again.

“You should shower her too, she smells terrible.” Danielle said with a sympathetic smile, “we’ll come help you.” She said- indicating to her and Eleanor. I followed the girls upstairs while the rest of the lads passed around a few more beers in the kitchen in an attempt to unwind.

“Harry, when you’re done come back. We need to have a band meeting,” Louis called up to me, knowing I heard without me needing to acknowledge the comment. Reaching the bathroom, Danielle and Eleanor had already started the shower. Slowly standing Liz up while I held her steady, they pulled her dress off over her head before they slid off her underwear and removed her bra. We all gasped as we revealed the bruises that had already formed on her hip bones and various other parts of her body.

“Okay lovie,” Eleanor began in a soft voice as she got Lizzie’s attention and distracted me from the bruises, “you’re going to get in the shower now because you’re all dirty from…” her voice trailed off as she looked at me with questioning eyes.

“We found her at a flat party.” I answered.

“Yes, you’re all dirty from the flat party.” Eleanor said as they got Liz to step up and into the bathtub while they removed the detachable shower head and began to wash her off. I continued to just hold her steady and upright.

“Harrryyyyyy,” Liz slurred, “are you getting in the shower with me?” she asked with a flirty smile.

“Not tonight, babe.” I said with a chuckle as Dani and El laughed.

“Why? Are you still mad at me?” She asked, her eyes immediately getting cloudy.

“We can talk about everything in the morning.” I said, not wanting to further upset her after everything that had happened.

“Harry?” She asked looking up at me again as Dani shut off the shower and Eleanor grabbed a towel.

“Yes?” I asked, continuing to just hold her steady.

“Do you really love me?” she asked quietly as tears formed in her eyes. “Because Ben said you didn’t. And I believed him.” At this point, I could feel tears forming in my eyes too. Eleanor silently handed me a towel before she and Danielle both left the room, softly closing the door behind them.

“Lizzie, why would you even ask that? Of course I love you.” I said as I wrapped her in a towel and sat on top of the closed toilet. Gently, I pulled her into my lap and held her as she cried again.

“It just scares me sometimes,” she said quietly as her tears began to stop.

“What does, love?” I asked.

“The thought that I love you more than you love me.” She finally whispered, followed by a sniffle.

“That’s not true.” I said as I picked her up and carried her into our room. “I’ll always love you more,” I whispered just so she could hear before I sat her down on the bed where Danielle and Eleanor were waiting with clothes for her so they could put her to sleep. Uncertain, but eventually shooed off, I walked downstairs to the band meeting.

“How is she?” Louis asked as I descended down the final steps.

“In bed; Danielle and Eleanor are watching her until she falls asleep,” I said as I collapsed onto a chair in the living room.

“Did she say anything else about what happened?” Zayn asked as he passed me a beer.

“No, and quite frankly, the thought of what happened to her scares me shitless. You all didn’t see her when she opened that bathroom door for me. She- it- I-” I struggled trying to remain composed.

“It’s okay, Haz, we don’t have to talk about it now. No more questions.” Liam said reassuringly.

“What we do have to talk about, though, is you and Niall.” Louis said. I turned to face him.

“Look, there’s nothing to really talk about; it’s oka-” I started to say, but Niall cut me off.

“No there is something I need to say,” he began before he took a deep breath, “I’m sorry. I was out of line. There’s no other explaining it. There's nothing between me and Lizzie but unreturned feelings, and I'm working on those.”

“It’s okay.” I said as we both stood up and hugged. “Now, next time we go out we’ll find you a girl!” I called out, and the rest of the lads responded by cheering and joining our group hug.

After the hug broke up, I went upstairs to check on Lizzie and the other girls. As I slowly peaked my head into the room, I noticed that Dani and El had gotten her to fall asleep on her side near the edge of the bed. They both looked up as they heard the door creak open.

“She’s out,” Eleanor whispered as they stood up.

“Thank you so much,” I said quietly as I hugged them both. After I closed the door behind them, I quickly stripped down to my briefs and gratefully snuggled up in bed next to Liz. It had been a long night.

Notes