Someone take me home - One Direction reunion fanfic

11. Now we're here

"You won't believe who is at your front door!"

Harry stared at Sarah in confusion. Why was she so distraught?
"What, who?"

She shook her head, like she still couldn't believe what she'd just seen. 

"Come one, tell me, Sarah! Who is it?"

"Well, ummm... It's Liam and Niall. They want to talk to you about something. Something important apparently."

What. The. Fuck?

"You're joking, right?", Harry asked. His voice was trembling. Was this really happening? Why would they just show up at his house with no warning at all?

"Do you really think I'd joke about this?" Sarah sounded almost offended.

"Oh my God", Harry whispered.

"Then why are you still sitting on your goddamn bed, Harry? Go, go talk to them!"

"OH MY GOOOOOOD!" Harry was hit by a sudden wave of panic.

"They can't see me like that! I look horrible!"

"You kinda do man. Your hair is fucking greasy. And those sweatpants are ugly."

"Mitch!" Sarah hissed.

"No, no, no, he's right. Look, I'll take a quick shower and put on some decent clothes. Sarah, sweetheart, can you invite them into the kitchen? I think there's some cake left if Mitch hasn't eaten it all. Give me 5 minutes okay?"

"Hazz, we know you, you need at least one hour to get ready!", Sarah called, but he'd already stormed off into the bathroom.

He slammed the door behind him and felt his knees give away. He sank to the floor, shaking. His head was all over the place. So many different emotions, excitement mixed with fear and guilt.

He started to shake as the memory of a very specific meeting with Simon hit him. It was the first time that he'd brought up a hiatus.

"We. Need. A. Break. Okay?"
Harry stressed every single word and looked Simon Cowell right in the eyes.

"Are you mental?" Simon asked.

"Harry, you can't just take a break whenever you feel like it. You're going on tour soon. And we already have plans for a new album..."

Harry laughed. It sounded bitter.
"We? No Simon, I think you're the only one here who makes plans. Because we're fucking exhausted! Okay? We can't do this for much longer!"

Simon sighed. "Look, I think you're exaggerating a bit. I know You've had a tough time the past few weeks. I can arrange a vacation for you guys if..."

Harry felt the anger boiling up inside him. Their management was breaking them and they didn't even care. All they cared about was getting as much money out of them as possible.
"A though time? A THOUGH TIME?"

Simon flinched and looked at Harry with wide eyes.

"Simon, you're an asshole. Have you seen us? Have you ever stopped for a minute to think about what you're doing to us?"

He didn't get an answer.

"Zayn", Harry whispered.
"Do you have any idea what you did to him? He hasn't eaten in days. He's constantly fainting. He's so weak. Liam and I had to drive him to the hospital last week, remember? But you don' t care about us being healthy and happy, right?"

Simon slowly shook his head. "You guys are still so young. You don't get how this industry works..."

Harry didn't respond to it.
"Oh, and Liam. Do you know how often he gets drunk? Before interviews and performances, even before meetings? Because he can't deal with the stress when he's sober. Liam, the responsible, well-behaved one, the dad of the group..."

"Harry..."

"I haven't finished yet, Simon. Do you know how many times you made Niall cry? How miserable he is? How you make him feel like shit every single day? He used to be the most cheerful person I knew, but you took away his smile."

Harry felt tears burning behind his eyes, but he tried to pull himself together. He couldn't cry in front of Simon. He had to stay strong. For the boys.

„And Louis", he breathed. His voice was getting shaky.

„You took everything away from him. You made him feel ashamed of who he was. You made him feel like he wasn't enough, like he had to hide all his beautiful features. He deserves the world, but you made him think that he deserves nothing!"

He had to close his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
„Don't you get it, Simon? We all started out as a bunch of happy, naive teenage boys with only one wish. We wanted to do what we loved the most: Singing. And now we're here."

„And now we're here." Harry slowly came back to reality. How did they get here? How did they get from being a band that always stuck together, to being five solo artist? They used to be like brothers, and now they were basically strangers.

But that was going to change! He wanted it to change. He wanted his band back.

He got up from the floor, still a bit shaky, but he was able to get in the shower. He washed his hair thoroughly with his favorite strawberry shampoo and scrubbed his whole body. Then he quickly left the shower and took a look in the mirror. His beard looked a bit messy, but he reminded himself that he didn't have the time to shave.

He rushed back to his room and searched his gigantic closet. He had more clothes in other rooms of his house, but he had to decide as fast as possible. He just decided on a pair of smooth black cloth pants and a golden yellow shirt. His hair was still wet, but he didn't want to let them wait any longer.

„Okay", he mumbled to himself.
„Let's go."
He took a deep breath. Then he left his bedroom and began to walk down the stairs.

Yes, I am still alive! And I'm writing again! I promise you won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. A big thank you to all of you readers! Your feedback is amazing! You guys are always so freaking nice :')