500 Days of Styles (1D FanFic)

Day 226

Day 226

It was a Tuesday morning when I received a call from Louis requesting my presence at a local coffee shop. I agreed, wanting to see him and the promised company of the other boys.

Luckily I didn't have any modeling shoots or shows or gigs or anything, so I was totally free to meet up with them at 10 promptly.

It had been a day since I saw the news broadcast about Marcus and I, and I'd had a lot of time to let a lot of thoughts brew around in my head. I still wasn't totally sure where they were going, but it was starting to scare me and I didn't really like to think about it. Or admit it to myself.

I also hadn't spoken or even texted Marcus in a few days. He had apparently dropped off the face of the planet, and I was still oblivious as to why.

I walked into the coffee shop, enjoying the warm, spring air. It was a rare sunny day, so I had embraced it by walking to the coffee shop which was only a few blocks away. It was between our flat and the boy's flats.

I quickly spotted all four boys huddled in the corner and waltzed over, sliding into the large table.

"Hey guys," I smiled.

They all greeted me with large grins and perky hello's.

Liam took all of our orders before getting up to go place them.

After he was gone I turned my attention to Louis who was seated at the head of the table. "So what exactly was the purpose of this little meeting?" I asked, getting right to the point.

"Well, you see," Louis began, trailing around with his words. "We wanted to talk to you about Harry," he finally finished in an unusually high-pitched voice.

I considered the option of getting up and just leaving right then and there, but I decided it was probably well past time I faced this conversation.

"What about him?" I asked defensively, not trusting myself to say his name out loud.

"Arden, he really misses you," Niall said, his tone pleading. I made the unfortunate decision of looking at him, and his eyes were the size of coffee cups that Liam had just brought back as he slid into his seat silently. "We saw you and that Marcus guy on the telly and Harry saw you guys, and it- it wasn't pretty, Arden."

I let his words wash over me. So Harry had seen Marcus and I. And he cared? "If he misses me so much, then why doesn't he try to talk to me?" I mumbled, already losing my edge. I sounded defeated already, and that was never a good sign.

"You know how Harry is, Ar. He's- stubborn," Liam tried to defend.

"He's an arse, Arden. And he's being difficult, we know," Zayn cut in bluntly. "But the other thing we know is that there's no way out of this unless you take the first step."

"Me?" I squeaked. "No, no, no, he started this, this isn't my mess to clean up."

"We know, but I think we can all agree that Harry's just going to continue sulking for all of eternity before he mans up enough to apologize. It's just not who he is, Arden," Zayn explained with a pitiful frown directed towards me. A frown that I immediately hated and didn't want.

"So I have to apologize?"

"Not apologize- but just give him the opportunity to apologize. Like reach out to him. I'm pretty sure he would crack pretty easily. He really misses you," Louis said, that same frown threatening to make an appearance on his face. I didn't want their pity. I didn't need it.

"I'll- I'll think about it," I sighed, defeated.

----------

I rubbed my eyes, already exhausted from having done absolutely nothing today. Once I'd gotten home from the coffee shop, I'd pretty much spent the day in various positions strew across my bed, reevaluating my entire life and trying to figure out what to do.

And I think I finally knew what I had to do.

I picked up my cell phone and scrolled through my contacts. I hit dial and waited for him to pick up. It took four rings before he finally answered.

"Hello?" he answered steadily.

"Hey Marcus, it's Arden," I replied cheerfully. I was still a little concerned that he hadn't been responding to any of my texts or anything, but I figured he's have a good reason, right? Like maybe his texting broke. Or he got all of his fingers cut off yesterday in a freak Underground accident.

"Oh, Arden, hey," he said, sounding somewhat uneasy. "Hey- about your texts, I wasn't, uh, ignoring you or anything."

I let out a nervous laugh, but wasn't sure where this was going.

"I just- ok, I'm going to be honest. My friend showed me a like news report with pictures of us, and I don't know Arden- I kind of freaked out. I'm sorry, I should have talked to you- I'm just- I'm sorry," he said sounding so disappointed in himself, it almost made my heart break.

"Oh, Marcus, it's fine! I understand, like really, I completely understand."

I could hear him audibly sigh. It was like I could sense the release of tension from his end of the telephone line. "Thank you, Arden."

I smiled before remembering what I was about to do. "Um, but actually, that's not why I called."

"Oh yeah? What's up?"

"Well, Marcus- I don't know how to say this. But you were honest with me, so I'll be honest with you. Obviously you know Harry?"

He hummed into the phone in confirmation.

"Well, um, I think I may still be in love with him," I said, the words sounding like acidic vomit in my mouth. They didn't sound as freeing as I was hoping they would, but I'd get there again.

Marcus was silent for a minute before speaking. "I was worried about this. I mean, I honestly should have known."

I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how. I couldn't. "We- we can still be friends, right?"

"It would be my extreme honor and pleasure to be your friend, Arden Resnell," he said in a very dignified voice, only made even better by his British accent.

I couldn't help but giggle. "But I'm being serious, Marcus. None of that 'we're friends, but we never actually talk' shit."

"Absolutely not. We will most definitely remain friends. Trust me, I'll hold you to it, Arden."

I smiled warmly, clutching the phone to my face. "Thank you, Marcus," I said sincerely.

"And thank you."

And without any goodbyes we hung up. I collapsed back onto my bed, feeling physically and emotionally drained. I was done with today.

Plus, I could really use all the energy I could get for what I had to do tomorrow.

(A/N): YOU GUYS. YOU CAN'T HATE ME BECAUSE LOOK. LOOK AT WHAT I WROTE YOU AND GUESS WHAT THE NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE. SO HA- THIS WAS MY SNEAKY METHOD TO GET YOU ALL TO LOVE ME AND NOT HATE ME. Unless you all like loved Marcus. Then this is kind of awkward and I sincerely apologize.