No Regrets

*LIZZIE’S POV*

“Liz, babe, wakeup,” I felt Harry gently shake my arm as I squinted my eyes open. I didn’t remember coming back to our bed. “You fell asleep on the couch last night, so I carried you home. You just looked so cute sleeping; I didn’t want to wake you up,” he said with a sheepish grin.

“Are you leaving already?” I asked, pouting as I sat up.

“Sadly. You still going to stay here with Eleanor?”

“Yeah, I think it’ll be best for her to just rest today. Last night, me and Dani came up with a list of a bunch of old movies for us to watch today… you know, just to keep her mind off of it.”

“Okay, sounds good. I’ll call you when we’re leaving the studio.” He bent down, pecking me on the lips.

“Love you!” I called out as he turned to the bedroom door.

“Love you, too!”

~~~~~~

We were sat in Eleanor and Louis’ bed, watching Clueless, when my phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered as Danielle shhh’ed me.

“Hi, this is Clarice Thurne; I’m a journalist for the London Gazette. Is this Elizabeth Braddison?” A woman’s voice rang from the other end of the phone.

“Um, speaking. What do you want..?” I asked hesitantly as I picked up the remote to pause the movie.

“Well, we’re running a story this week on you and a Mr. Ben Stenson; we have a statement from him regarding your relationship with Harry Styles as well as your whereabouts and actions in Texas on one of the nights that One Direction was touring there. We were wondering if you could comment?” She asked, as my pulse raced and tears formed in my eyes.

“How did he get to you? He lives in Texas..” I asked half-heartedly and very confused.

“He’s recently moved to London as well as started an internship with our company.” She informed me after a moment. Upon hearing that, I had no other way to respond aside from turning my phone off and throwing it across the room.

“Lizzie? What’s wrong?” Danielle asked as she turned to me, reaching her arm around my back.

“It’s Ben..” I said after a moment. It seemed like my breath was caught in my chest, or just not there at all; I couldn’t decide.

“That guy from Texas? I thought the guys beat the shit out of him?” Eleanor asked from the other side of Danielle.

“Well obviously not enough, because he’s here now. And he’s helping some paper write a story about me and Harry and him.” I spit out as tears finally escaped from my eyes. “I thought this was all fucking over. I can’t deal with this right now.” I got up from the bed and left the room, running down the hall until I made it back to me and Harry’s room before I locked the door behind me, sank down to the floor, and cried.

~~~~~~

*HARRY’S POV*

When I finally got out of the interview and was permitted to check my phone, I had an astoundingly scary number of texts and calls from Danielle and Eleanor. Without hesitating, I immediately slid across my screen to call them back.

“Hello?” Danielle’s voice chirped as she picked up her phone.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” I asked frantically.

“Oh Harry, it’s Liz. She got a call from some reporter. Apparently, Ben’s here, and he’s running a story about her and you and him.” She said all without taking a breath. This made me get physically hot. How the fuck could he think he could come here and do this? Me and Zayn had messed him up pretty bad back in Texas. Obviously not bad enough though.

“Where’s Liz now?” I asked, trying to remain calm as I caught the attention of Liam standing next to me.

“She’s at home, but the door’s locked and she won’t answer her phone or when we knock. We’re scared Harry.” She said, her voice elevating at the end. Without another second to think, I grabbed my keys and ran out- the boys right behind me.

*LIZZIE’S POV*

“Lizzie?” I heard Harry’s voice ring out through the apartment as the door opened. Not feeling like moving, I stayed where I was- hidden under pillows and blankets in bed. I didn’t want him to see me. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want Ben to exist. “LIZZIE???” Harry’s call got more frantic as I heard him make his way down the hall to our room.

“I’m right here,” I called out reluctantly, trying to compose myself.

“Oh, thank god you’re okay,” he sighed as he crawled across the bed to where I was still laying with my back to him. I heard his shoes fall to the floor as he kicked them off before sliding under the covers and moving some pillows so that he became the big spoon around my body- resting his forearm on my upper arm as his hand gently played with my hair.

“Harry,” I finally said, the guilt overwhelming me. “I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He said quietly, trying to calm me.

“No, I do. I caused all of this. I told him everything.” I choked out- my breath getting stuck again.

“Don’t you dare let that ASSHOLE make you think this is your fault.” He said, his grip moving from my hair and down to around my waist where he pulled me in tight. “We’ll take care of him, love. Don’t worry.” He said, his tone changing. Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door, making me jump.

“HARRY? DID YOU FIND HER?” Zayn’s voice echoed into our room. Rolling out of bed, Harry half jogged out of our room and a moment later I heard the front door opening.

“Love, do you want to come out here? Everyone else is here! They’re worried about you.” Harry said, poking his head around the door frame back into the bedroom.

“Just give me a minute. I’ll be right there,” I said quietly, still not feeling like getting up. After I took a few deep breaths, though, I exited the bedroom and sat down on Harry’s welcoming lap.

“So what are we going to do to this prick?” Louis asked, leaning forward from where he sat on the sofa.

“Mess him up,” Zayn said, “more than we did in Texas.” He added at the end.

“Shouldn’t we at least know the whole story first?” Niall asked, looking to me.

“I.. I just,” I stammered, looking around at their expecting faces. Taking a deep breath, I started in the beginning of the story. “I was really upset by everything that was going on at the hotel, so I left. I walked until I found this diner where I sat down. That was where I met..him. He sat down across from me in the booth, and honestly, I was so emotionally and physically exhausted, and I needed to talk to someone, so I told him everything… about me and Harry, me and Niall, Harry and that fan. Everything.” I felt Harry’s grip around me tighten at each couple that I mentioned. “Then, when I finished telling him, he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere.. and I said yes.. god I was so stupid.” I said, physically cringing as I stopped the story, though it continued in my mind.

“No, you’re not,” Harry interjected, rubbing his arms up and down the sides of my arms in an attempt to comfort me.

“Go on, Liz, it’s okay.” Louis offered.

“Well, we got to the party, and he just kept giving me more and more drinks. I should’ve known then that he wasn’t just acting as my friend anymore..” I cleared my throat, trying to stay calm. “But I kept drinking and then, before I knew it, he came up from behind and started kissing all over me.” At this point, Harry had physically stiffened up beneath me. His whole body was clenched. “I told him no at first, but he pushed me against the wall and kissed me harder again before I pushed him away.” I had started crying though I didn’t know it. I only knew it when I felt a tear drop fall from where it had made its way to the bottom of my jaw. “That’s when he started to say things like ‘Harry doesn’t love you,’ and ‘if Harry cared about you, he would be here by now,’ and that’s what really made me confused. Because I believed him for some stupid reason. So I kissed him back.” By this point in my story, I had turned so that I could watch Harry’s face. His bright green eyes were darkening. “I tried to stop though, once I had come to my senses, but it was too late. He had me pinned against the wall. He pulled up my dress and stuck his hand in my underwear. I tried to stop him and clenched my legs together, but he was strong, and I was drunk… Finally, some guy pulled him off of me.” I finished in a whisper as Harry’s eyes had turned completely stormy.

“I’m going to fucking kill him.” Harry said, his husky voice had an icy edge to it.

“No, Harry, you’re not.” Liam said reasonably, though I could sense his apprehension to Harry’s dangerous mood. “We are still going to beat the shit out of him though.”

“How, though? We have no idea where he’s living or anything..” I said quietly, still watching Harry.

“Just leave that to us,” Niall finally spoke as he stood up. “I think that we should let you and Harry have some time to yourselves. We can talk about this later tonight, but don’t worry, we’ll get him.” The others, following Niall’s cue, stood up and walked out of the apartment without another word.

“Harry,” I whispered, once the apartment door closed. “Will you talk to me please?” I attempted to get up off of his lap, but he almost instantaneously pulled me back to him.

“Lizzie, why didn’t you ever tell me any of this..?” He asked quietly, looking intently into my eyes.

“I-I don’t know; I was afraid,” I whispered, getting somewhat worried. Before I could think any further, he pulled me close to him by placing his hands behind my neck and his lips crashed onto mine. Grateful for the blank mind, I wrapped my hair in his curls before I wrapped my leg around to the other side of his body, straddling him.

“Don’t ever be afraid to tell me anything,” he said breathily as he pulled away from me, his green eyes lightening as he looked into mine. “I know that all of this must have been very hard for you, and I know that dealing with this will be even harder, but I want you to know that you can talk to me about however you're feeling- whatever is going through your head. I love you.” He said, leaning his forehead forward against mine. I couldn’t help but smile as his lips met mine again as I pulled him closer to me... letting Harry’s kisses banish my thoughts into oblivion.

Notes