change. (harry styles)

Chapter Seventy-Two.

stay with me // sam smith gives me the feels ok❤

Chapter 72.

Ella's POV

I had never seen him like this. Not once has Harry cried in front of me; not when he told me of his past, not when he begged for forgiveness when he had cheated on me, when he saw his sister for the first time in years, never. Harry Styles had never seemed to cry as far as I knew. And here he was, sitting so vulnerable in the bathroom, tears rolling down his cheeks as he refused to look at me. And I didn't know what to do.

"Harry..." I murmured, walking over to him and he shook his head.

"Please, don't." 

But I didn't care. I kept coming closer to him until I was in front of him, dropping to my knees so we were almost eye level, though he was still a bit taller. I rubbed my thumbs under his eyes and wiped the tears, before pressing my forehead to his as he closed his eyes.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" I askd softly, not knowing exactly what was running through his head right now, but hoping I hadn't done something to make him feel so broken.

"You," he murmured, more water falling from his eyes, "I..you." 

I waited for him to say something else, but a long silence filled the room as we sat in the bathroom floor, my forehead now pulled away from this as I sat between his legs in front of him, dropping my head and letting my hair hide my face while I waited for him to talk again, looking down at his bare torso. 

"I don't know what to do anymore, Ella."

"Me neither," I said quietly. 

"Ella...if you tell me you don't love me anymore," he took in a deep breath and I shook my head but it went unnoticed, "Then I'll leave you alone forever. I won't come around. And I, I already tried to do this for the past three days, but you just, I can't get you out of my fucking head and that's why I told you to stop calling me! I wanted to stay away, to give you the life you deserved because I thought you didn't love me. I thought-" He got too worked up and let out a sob, in which I wrapped my arms around him and he embraced me back. 

It was him who pressed our foreheads together this time. 

"I love you," he murmured and I closed my eyes, letting a tear fall from my face, butterflies still erupting in my stomach after all this time. 

"I love you too," I whispered and his breathing stopped for a second, before he nudged his nose with mine, slightly curving his lips into a smile.

"God, you have no idea how much I missed you," he said, finally settling down, and I let him stand up, pulling him up with me, then leaving our fingers intertwined. 

"I missed this, the way your hands fit through mine," he spoke raspily and I squeezed his hands, letting him put my back against the wall as he towered over me. "I miss seeing you, feeling you, I missed every thing you said in that text, I felt the exact same, Ella, I just didn't know you actually meant it." He leaned his head down, and my heart raced at our close proximity. 

I couldn't do this. I couldn't let this happen. Harry had made his decision, he didn't want to be with me. My voice shook, and I closed my eyes, knowing I'd regret what I was about to say. 

"I think I should go-"

"Don't." he warned, connecting our foreheads for the third time, "Please don't leave me."

"Harry we can't-"

"Can't what, Ella? We can't keep going back and forth like this? I fucking know that, which is why I'm trying to make you stay, and not just tonight. Forever. Can't this one time, this one goddamn time, can't love be enough? I still love you, I'm never going to stop loving you, and it was stupid of me to try to let you go, twice. I just missed you so much, and seeing you, seeing you look at me like you did in the shower, when I almost kissed you, I realized that it wasn't just me suffering. I was losing what we were, and I just fucking love you, Ella." He croaked, becoming emotional again. "Please stay."