Rewind {Sequel to Heartbreaker In Manhattan} (H.S)

Chapter 5

Liv's POV

We sat out there, in the cold London weather wrapped in each other's arms for God knows how long. It took a while but I finally stopped crying. "You okay now?" Harry asked, when he realised I'd stopped crying
"I will be," I told him, giving him a small smile. He smiled back, and unwrapped his arms from my body. The loss of contact made me shiver
"I'll be back in a minute," he said, "I'll just bring your coat out," I gave him a nod and a small smile. It was all I could manage.
True to his word he returned a few minutes later, with my coat in hand. He handed it to me and turned to go back inside, "where are you going?" I asked, hoping that he hadn't changed his mind about what he'd said before
"I'm giving you some space," he said, opening the door, "I'll just be inside," he closed the door once he was inside.

I was now left alone to my thoughts and right now my mind was a dangerous place to be. All the thoughts running through my head were along the same lines, would everything be the same if I didn't sign the contract? Would I be here with him in London? Would Jess and Liam be together? Would Harry and I have even met? The answer to one of those questions was yes. I knew that even if I didn't sign the contract, we would have met. Jess and I were invited to 1Oak that night by The Collective, who had opened for One Direction. We would have gone regardless if there was the contract involved or not. But would I have done anything different that night if I hadn't signed the contract? Probably not. It was no lie that I found Harry attractive, even more so now with his longer hair. But would I have let it get as far as it had gotten before that stupid bitch Elizabeth ruined everything? Probably not, because they would have hired someone else, and she probably would have found a way to meddle with mine and Harry's relationship regardless of the circumstances.
You know what would be great right now? A fucking time machine or the Click remote; that way I could rewind back to the day I signed the contract, not sign it and see what would have happened. And then if I didn't like the outcome, I could always rewind back and do things the way I did, but given that chance, I would tell Harry about the contract.

I lit up another smoke and slowly dragged on it, taking in the nicotine and tobacco, the minty taste of the menthol cigarette was refreshing. Soon after I finished that and then lit up another, soon enough the sky was going dark, and I realised I'd been out here for quite some time. But I didn't mind. I needed the space, and I was grateful that Harry gave it to me.

I wasn't aware of how much time had passed until I heard the back door open, and I saw Harry walk out, "still out here?" He questioned, taking a seat
"Yeah," I shrugged
"You should probably come inside soon," he told me, "you'll freeze to death,"
"It's alright," I lied, "I've got my coat,"
"Liv, you've been out here for like six hours," okay, so I knew I'd been out here for a while, but I didn't realise it was like ten at night. He was right though, I did need to come inside
"Alright," I gave in and got up out of my seat, well attempted too; my limbs were stiff from sitting down for so long and because of the cold. I could hardly move. And yes I'm well aware that this is my fault and that I should have gone inside sooner
"You okay?" I heard Harry ask, I just shook my head, "alright, I'm gonna carry you inside,"
"Okay," and he lifted me up and walked inside.

He carried me into his bed room, sat me on the bed and grabbed a pair of his sweat pants and a hoodie. He helped me change in to them, "I can do it," I told him
"It's fine, it's not like I haven't seen anything before," I just shook my head at him
Once I was changed into these warm clothes, he picked me up again and carried me to the lounge room, sat me down on the couch, turned on the heater and got me a blanket to wrap myself up in. He left straight after, only to return a few minutes later, "I made you some tea," he said
"Thanks," I gave him a small smile, "I really appreciate it,"
"It's nothing," he said, brushing it off
"No Harry, I really mean it, thank you for everything," I said, "you didn't have to do any of this for me,"
"But I did, if it was just my name and reputation at stake I wouldn't have bothered, but it's yours and the lads as well," he said, "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let anything happen,"
"You surely can't be real," I laughed
"What do you mean?" He looked at me confused
"Most people would only care about their own reputation, but you? You care about others, it's so rare to see people like that these days," I said, "especially in the circles I grew up in,"
"It's rare around here too," he said, "but seriously what were you thinking sitting out in the freezing cold for six hours?"
"I had my coat!" I defended myself,
"you also only had your tank top on underneath," he said, "and bare feet,"
"I know, in my defence I only planned on staying out there for fifteen minutes or so,"
"I know," he sighed, "and I'm sorry,"
"Why are you sorry?" I asked him
"Because, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have been out there for longer than fifteen minutes," he said, "I should've just left you alone when you said you needed space,"
"In a way I'm glad you didn't," I said honestly, "what we said and did earlier needed to happen, I guess,"
"Really?" He asked, "I kind of feel like I forced you,"
"No Harry you didn't force me," I chuckled lightly, "I've always been more than willing when it comes to you," he laughed
"I'm still sorry though," he said
"No need," I took a sip of the tea, and smiled at him from behind the cup
"I meant everything I said you know?"
"I know," I said, "I know you meant it and I really appreciate that you're willing to give it, give us another go,"
"I know," he sighed, "it might take a while for me to get there, but you're worth it, what we had before I found out is worth everything I have," he didn't need to say anymore, those words were just enough for me to keep going. I meant what I said when I told him that I didn't know if it was going to be worth it in the end. But he was willing to try again, and that was enough for me, "tell me a story," he said after about a minute of silence between the two of us
"What do you wanna know?" I asked
"Anything. About your life growing up,"
"I don't know what to say," I told him honestly, "you know pretty much everything,"
"Tell me about what it was like growing up in the circles you said you grew up in,"
"Okay, so I've always grown up in wealthy communities. And when I moved to Melbourne it just got worse. Mum sent us girls to the top private schools in the city," I began, "I didn't really understand it all, until I was in year nine, so when I was fifteen," I took a breath, "it was all about whose parents did what for their jobs, and most parents were either lawyers, doctors or CEOs. And sometimes their mums didn't work, like mine," I said, "some of them found it strange that we had all this money and dad wasn't around and my mum didn't have a job, so all these rumours started about what mum really did for a living; but they were all false. When I was sixteen mum started becoming really strict, I guess is the right word, about who we hung out with. It was all about appearance and reputation and I hated it. It was all about what someone could offer you. I couldn't even tell you the amount of guys mum tried to set me up with,"
"She tried to set you up with guys? Like what kind of guys?"
"Sons of doctors, lawyers and all that. This one time she tried to set me up with a thirty year old lawyer, I was seventeen for crying out loud," the look on his face said it all, "and shut up you can't talk," I laughed, "so when I realised what she was up to and what her intentions were, I decided to have some fun with it. I'd bring home guys from the neighbouring public schools, sons of tradies and all that. Just to annoy her. That's when for year eleven and twelve she had the grand idea of me moving to an all girls private school,"
"All girls hey?"
"Shut up," I told him, "but that was worse, the girls were worse than the ones I went to a co-ed school with. Mum didn't care about grades. She was all for us going to events with her so we could get noticed and make a name for ourselves, sound familiar?" I asked, and he nodded. I was referring to Kendall, "so basically when I turned eighteen I decided I'd had enough of being mum's perfect blonde barbie doll, I didn't want to be a model like she wanted me to," I said, "I wanted to actually do something and I was always good at singing, so when I finished school I decided to audition for X-Factor, she didn't approve, she thought those shows were kind of fake and stuff I don't know, she was very adamant about me becoming the next Elle McPherson, but I'm hardly five foot five let alone six foot! I would much rather be the next Britney Spears or Taylor Swift," I continued my story, of how I was raised and how at every opportunity I had, I went against my what my mother wanted of me
"You really didn't like the way you grew up did you?" He asked
"Not in the slightest," I said, "I have money, and quite a lot of it at that," I admitted to him, "but my money isn't what defines me as a person. I know I'd be just as equally happy with my life if I didn't have the money I inherited,"
"You mean that?"
"Granted it's helped with a lot of things," I said, "but I didn't know about the money until I was close to twenty when dad passed. And I know that if he didn't mum never would have told us about it anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered to me if I had it or not," It's the truth, I was brought up around money my whole life. I had just under forty million dollars to my name, and would be inheriting another thirty million in just under a year, and thinking about it now, I wouldn't care if I had that money or not. Mum attempting to cut us off showed me that money isn't what mattered in the world. Money can buy you material items, but money doesn't make you happy. Sure it'd be better to cry your heart out in a matte black Mercedes SUV rather than a 1993 Toyota Corolla. But it's not about that, at least not anymore. This twenty year old English kid from Cheshire showed me what really makes me happy. And that's him. Yeah I'm rich, but I'd rather be broke as fuck and still have him, than have all the money in the world and not have him in my life at all.

A/N: sorry it has taken me forever and a day to write this! I had the first half written, but struggled a bit with the next! A bit of a filler, but I thought it would be good to get a little insight to Liv's past, seeing as Harry is trying to make things work and wants to understand her more!
Please vote and comment as it literally takes no time at all!
Photo of Harry, because 😍
And I hate to do shameless self promo, but if you're a 5sos fan I've just started a new Luke Hemmings fic called Just Saying... Cliché I know, but come on, we all love the cliché!
As always much love xxx