27 (Harry Styles)

009. GREETINGS FROM THE BIG BEN

Holy shit. He's got my box opened, and even worse, he's got the old ripped pizza box pulled out. I tried to forget about that thing, mostly because it's been too long and it's pathetic to hold onto something like that. Harry smiled down as he read the words written across it. It was a contract we had made as dumb teenagers before he left for the X Factor. I don't remember exactly what it stated, but as if he was on cue, Harry quickly reminded me.

"If we aren't married by the time we're 27, we have to marry each other." He read aloud with furrowed brows. I could feel my cheeks burns a deep crimson color as I tried to focus on eating my breakfast. "Dumb little teenagers." I muttered against my glass, making Harry smile in front of me. "I don't think we've changed much." Harry added with a small laugh.

"No, you have." I spat out without even thinking. What was wrong with me? Harry raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? Care to explain?" He asked with a bit of attitude, staring me straight into the eyes. I slammed my glass down onto the table beside me with a loud clink, sighing. "It's different from just growing up Harry. We all grew up, but you've just changed. It's simple." I cleared my throat and stared at the floor below me.

"You changed too." He replied back annoyingly. "Is it a competition?" I answered quickly, staring him down. "I never said it was. Don't put words into my mouth." He stayed silent and stared at the cardboard in his hands, swirling it around. "Well yes, I'm changing. Is that what you want me to admit? Even if I wanted to I cant stop now. Even if I wanted to I wouldn't know how to." He began.

"And I've found this other version of myself, and you cant hide away forever. You cant sit in the same old place rotting in your own skin forever. People outgrow things." Harry had an angry tone to his voice. "Just admit you grew up fast and changed quickly," I yelled back a little louder. I was looking him dead in the eyes now. "Maybe it's because I didn't have a choice." He yelled back and put the cardboard back in the shoebox.

"You did have a choice, Harry!" I yelled back and slammed my hand into a pillow beside me. "You weren't there, so how the fuck would you know?!" Harry was putting on his jacket now, yelling at me directly. "I'm here now, and so are you. But still, you aren't putting in effort. So maybe, you should just go." I yelled back and pointed to the door. The last part of my sentence was spoken with a stinging pain.

It hurt him, I know it did.

Harry's eyes looked glossy as he stared over at me, then quickly jerked his head back to his back on the chair in front of him. He tugged his jacket back on and wrapped it around his torso. "Fine." He muttered under his breath and stormed out. The door slammed behind me, and as if on cue, tears began to fall from my eyes as I waited a few minutes in my standing position just to see if he'd come back.

He always did, but this time, he didn't.

I collapsed back onto the bed and simply cried, with no sound escaping my mouth. My throat was really starting to ache again, and this was the only way to relieve it. I don't know how much time passed before Bella came into my hotel room, ushering me to pack my bag. The plane back to Holmes Chapel was leaving soon. She asked why I was crying but I simply didn't answer her. Hopefully she got the hint that something was wrong because I usually never shut up around her.

So, say the word, and I'm back on the plane. Bella is nowhere to be found, pretty much like always. It's very rare that I know her whereabouts. I sifted through the little stack of post cards I had purchased in a quaint gift shop in London, deciding which one I was going to hang up on my wall when I returned home.

One in particular caught my eye, and it was a card I didn't remember picking out. I didn't think much of it, simply because I had grabbed such a thick stack and couldn't possibly remember every design. It had an image printed across it of the Big Ben, which was one thing I wanted to see so badly during my time in London but I never got to. Maybe next time.

Across the top, it read 'From London, Love. Always.'

It made me smile reading that. London was a nice place. More than nice. Even if things didn't go the way I had planned, it was nice to leave the little town for once. Leaving Holmes Chapel made me think of how much there was to life outside of the same four roads I drove on.

I flipped the card over and looked at the back. Sometimes the back had a little message pre-written already, which also never failed to make me smile.
Except, the message on there wasn't pre-written. A scribble of handwritten was written messily across the lines in a red ink, which also happened to be smudged.

I brought it up close to my eyes to actually be able to see what the words said, and my cheeks immediately flushed red as I read it to myself.

'No! With love, always. From Harry.'

I felt my face get immensely hot and I shoved the card back into the stack, then shoved the stack deep into the depths of my messy backpack. No thank you. Not right now.

"Reading my card I see?"

Fuck.

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