KEEP DRIVING - H.S

Chapter 56

December 9 2022, Rio de Janeiro

"THANK YOU FOR THE ABSOLUTE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE!" Alliah exclaimed to the crowd around her. "You were the perfect last show for Superache tour and I can't wait to come back soon."

Tears were already falling down her face, looking around at the sold out stadium, the two girls holding each other with a rainbow flag draped over their shoulders and most important of all, Harry, there for her first and final show.

"I want to start Superache how we began it. This is Jigsaw, a song I will never have to relate to again because you guys love every single piece of me, no matter what and you always make me feel whole."

"Sing it with me!"

If changing my clothes would make you like me more-

Alliah ran the towel over her damp hair, before slinging the wet towel over her chair. She looked in the mirror one last time, makeup removed, leaving her skin bare.

Alliah had always been relatively healthy (with exception of her eating disorder), and she worked out regularly, but in between rehearsals and performing, she'd actually gotten in shape.

It was the most fit she'd been in her entire life. It made her happy to know she was healthy. Not to mention, it'd been six months since her last relapse with her eating disorder, and a year clean of self-harm.

She even looked healthier. The permanent dark circles under her eyes had faded for the most part, and you could even see in her face how she looked so much more alive, so much brighter.

Alliah had done it. She'd made it through to the other side. Mental health was everlasting war, and all you could do was win the battles, but she'd gone from relapsing constantly to lasting six months and a year, and her panic attacks had lessened.

It had been a year now since she'd been in the hospital for a panic attack. Alliah didn't even realize in what a dark place in her life she was until that moment came, and that was her last push to dig herself out of the hole she was in.

Not in her wildest dreams could Alliah ever envision having a panic attack so severe she was hospitalized, but that hadn't been such a crazy idea back then. Now, she had a panic attack once a month at most, and they weren't nearly as bad as they used to be.

Alliah was happy now. She had her friends, she had family, she had a career and her incredible fans, and she had her Harry.

Her constant and her forever.

And maybe, just maybe, despite her saying they needed to live together at least a year before getting engaged, Alliah might or might not have an engagement ring hidden in the back of her drawer.

It wasn't Alliah's fault. She had every intention to follow through on the one-year plan, but... she'd been exploring São Paulo when she'd come across this jewelry story, and there was this ring on display that just screamed Harry.

And maybe Alliah wandered in. Maybe she bought the ring. And maybe she was already planning how to propose.

But it was a ridiculous idea, a fantasy for the future. One year. They had to live together for a year, no matter what, they had to understand what it was like to spend every single day together, good and bad.