Rescue Me [H.S.]

10. Escaping

“Miss, can I get you anything?” almost screams the bartender to be heard over the deafening volume of the music.

 I nod and smile gratefully at him, as he hands me a drink. Open bar is my saviour, I think, as I empty the glass in seconds. Me and alcohol have never been a good match, but the movie is over, and now is the part that I’ve dreaded the most – the party. Out of the corner of my eyes I see Niall slowly coming towards me, body swaying, with a drink in his hand.

“Damn,” I murmur under my breath.

After Harry and I returned to the red carpet, we didn’t seek our “dates”; we just stood at the red carpet talking. We didn’t think about the fact that we probably looked couple-ish. Simultaneously, Niall & Taylor joined us and somehow they discretely dragged us away from each other, but that didn’t stop Harry & me from exchanging looks through the whole movie.

“So, wanna dance?” says Niall and grabs my wrist.

His unfocused eyes are on me and it’s clear that he has had a bit too much to drink.

“No thanks,” I answer and shake my head.

“You do want to, you just don’t know it yet.” His grip on my wrist gets firmer, and all his sweetness is gone.

“Niall, leave me alone, you’re drunk.”

The bartender is keeping a close watch with us, and slowly Niall releases my wrist. I see Harry through the crowd coming towards me, finally coming out from the bathroom so we can go home like he promised me a few minutes ago.

“So, you’re in love with Harry,” says Niall matter-of-factly.

I don’t know what surprises me the most; the fact that I don’t deny it, or the fact that Niall suddenly gets serious and leans all close to me, before he whispers into my ear:

“Let me tell you a thing; Harry only cares about one thing: and that’s sex. Remember the day we went to Paris? When you waited for Harry at the airport? He had sex with some random girl just before he picked you up. When he sees a good-looking girl, the hunt begins. As soon as they’ve had sex, he forgets everything about her. That’s gonna happen to you, too. The hunt for you just took a lot longer than he expected, I guess. But he does like a challenge. All you girls are exactly the same. You fall in love, and you think you can change him. But you can’t.”

Niall takes a step back, shakes his head, before saying: “I really thought you were different. But you’re not.” 

Harry is finally at my side, normally his presence calms me down, but not this time. He must have noticed my glittering eyes, because he says; “Is something wrong?” I shake my head, staring at the floor; I do not wanna look into Harry’s eyes.

“Well.. I was just telling her about your normal behaviour. And apparently that made her cry. No wonder her family wants her to go on a vacation with a total stranger.”

And the tears come flooding down my cheeks, ruining my perfect make-up. There are no words for the way Harry looks at Niall – with disgust and clenched teeth.

“You don’t know anything about her,” he hisses before taking my hand and leading me away from the bar, the party, Niall and his echoeing words. 

We take the backdoor to avoid reporters. The tears are still streaming down my face, while Harry tries to comfort me by giving me a big hug.

“It’s true,” I mumble, but my sobs drown out the few words. My family, which only consists of my mum, didn’t want me around. She’s just glad that I’m gone, I think, which only causes me to sob more uncontrollably.

“Look, cheer up, Niall gets rude when he’s drunk... Let’s just forget about this whole night and go home. Okay?” 

Harry’s smiling at me and nudging me on, and I desperately just wanna nod and let him take me home to the hotel, but Niall has given me something to think about. Some questions I would like to get answered, so I stop walking.

“Why me? Like, you could get any girl in the world... Why do you wanna hang out with me?” I ask when my sobs are under control.

“Because... You’re interesting.”

“That’s great.” I hope my sarcasm is obivous.

“Give me a chance here, and don't worry, I wasn't done … Some girls would rather be called interesting than beautiful, because lots of girls are beautiful, but to capture ones attention for a longer period of only a few seconds... That really takes a wonderful person, a person like you. And I guess I didn’t want to let you know how wonderful I really think you are, because I did not wanna loose what we have. But it is hard to stay just friends and not be jealous and that sort of thing, especially when…” Harry stops and holds my gaze and though he normally speaks rather slowly, I’m not sure he’s gonna continue.

“When what?”

He takes a deep breath and says in a teasing tone after rolling his eyes: “be patient. You’re so demanding. And impatient.”

I open my mouth, ready with a comeback, when he sighs again, takes a step closer to me, and says, in his deep, raspy voice, while he is holding my gaze: “Especially when I’m in love with you.”

Time stands still, but my heart is beating faster than ever, and like a five year old, insecure girl, I must ask: 

“You are?”

“Yeah, I am in love with you. And not just because you’re beautiful,” Harry says, in a non-sarcastic way, even though my eyes are swollen and my make-up is completely ruined.

With those words I momentarily forget the bullying, the neglect, the scars; both the mentally and pshycially that have haunted me for years, for a short moment I've escaped them. 

In what feels like slow motion, Harry takes a step closer to me, slowly removing a strand of hair from my face, his lips coming closer to mine until they are only inches apart. He places his hands on my waist, pulling me towards him, and then his lips are finally on mine.