Prove It (H.S)

Chapter Twenty One

Harry's POV~

The night came and went, and now I'm about to leave for the airport. My bag is already downstairs, and Ruth prepared me a lovely breakfast. Really, this should be a good morning, I'm finally going back to see my friends, but it's not. Claire is still upstairs in her room, silent. My car should be here soon, so I walk up the stairs to say goodbye.

The door squeaks slightly when I open it, and I find Claire, cross legged on her bed, staring at the ground. She looks slightly better this morning, not that she ever looked bad, she's always beautiful. She has brushed her hair, and changed into a different pair of pajamas.

I walk over to her, kneeling in front of her. She doesn't make eye contact even when I take her cold hands in mine. "My car will be here soon," I say quietly, desperately hoping that she'll just look at me. She doesn't.

"Harry, the car is here!" Ruth's voice sounds from the first floor. "Well, I have to go." Once again, nothing. She says nothing, and it's breaking me. "I love you," I say in one last attempt to get her to speak to me. Nope.

I kiss her on the cheek. "I love you so much, Claire." When I pull away, she turns her head slightly, closing her eyes, a single tear falling down her soft cheek.

I have to pull myself away, I have to go back to LA. I pick myself up and walk out the door. I walk down the stairs and pick up my bag. After thanking Claire's parents for their hospitality, and giving them my last condolences, I get in the car.

The whole drive to the airport, all I can think about is her. The way she turned away from me, how she wouldn't look in my eyes. She acted like she wanted nothing to do with me, she didn't even say,"I love you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The flight and drive back to school were okay, but I really don't remember them for the most part. My thoughts were consumed with other issues.

Claire.

I have to convince myself that this doesn't mean anything, that she'll come back soon and everything will go back to normal. I know she's hurt, but I was there for her. I waited on her hand and foot, showed her affection when she showed me nothing. She was blank.

Call me insensitive and selfish, but she's my girl, and that's not her.

When I walk into my dorm room, I'm pleased to see all of my friends waiting for me, and a big box of pizza. Louis stands first, slapping my hand and patting my back. "Good to have you back, lad." I smile and nod at him and move on to greet my other friends. That's when I notice someone is missing.

"Where's Zayn?" I ask, putting my duffle down on my bed. Liam rubs the back of his neck and says,"He hasn't been hanging out with us as much since, well, since he punched you. He's been with Aubrey every second of every day." I roll my eyes at this and sigh. "She doesn't even go here. Sometimes I think she skips all her classes at her college to cling to Zayn's side," Louis says with a smirk.

Then he looks at me. "Listen, Harry. I wanted to say we all believe you now and we're sorry, well, I'm sorry for not believing the Aubrey thing." I crinkle my eyebrows in confusion and fix the rings on my fingers. "What do you mean?" I ask. Louis glances at Liam and Niall. "Whenever we would see her, with or without Zayn, she would ask about you. It was constant, she wanted to know everything. And when we told her you were with Claire, she would get silent. Honestly, I think Zayn's starting to pick it up too," Naill says.

I sit down on my bed. Of course I was fucking right, it was obvious the whole time! I don't say that though. All I say is,"Wow." The boys nod.

"Speaking of Claire, where is she? Oh, I was sorry to hear about her grandmother by the way," Louis says, a sincere look on his face. Niall and Liam give their condolences as well. I thank them.

"Claire, uh, well, she didn't come back with me. She's still in Portland." All three of their heads tilt in confusion. For whatever reason, that brings anger into me. "She just wasn't ready to come back, okay?" I stand from the be and intertwine my fingers behind my head. "Is everything okay with you two?" Liam asks, and I close my eyes taking a deep breath.

"I really don't know, mate. After Grace died, she was so different." Louis stands and pats my shoulder before grabbing a Sprite from the fridge. "I'm telling you, Girlfriends? Not a good idea," he says smiling, getting him a relatively soft punch in the gut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claire's POV~

I can hear the creek of my door open, and the soft patter of footsteps. The blinds pull open and my mother's long blonde hair is revealed. What she doesn't know is that I've been awake for hours already.

Harry left yesterday. I just let him go. I might as well have opened the door for him. I let him leave without as much as a simple goodbye.

I hate myself for not speaking to him and even more for not picking myself up, putting myself together and getting on that airplane with him. I can't give you an explanation as to why I didn't say a word, because I don't know. I think I was scared, scared I'd say something I didn't mean. Turns out actions really do speak louder than words.

My mother smiles when she sees that I'm awake. She sits on the bed beside me and strokes my hair. "Good morning, sweet pea." I pull a strained smile, causing my mother's whole face to light up.

Guess I haven't done much of that lately.

I sit up and look into her eyes. "Mom?" My voice cracks, betraying me. Here we go, welcome to the water works. "Why did I just let him go?" I break, sobbing into my mom's chest. She cradles my head with one hand and slowly rubs up and down my back with the other.

"I ruined everything!" I say, pulling away and hiding my tear-stained face in my hands. "Claire, listen. I won't lie to you. You did let him go, without saying anything to him when he said all the right things and did everything he could, but I also know why you let him go. You weren't ready to leave behind what was here, and that was Grams. It felt like going with Harry was leaving Grams, and you felt like that was betraying her."

I'm amazed at how my mother's words perfectly reflect what I didn't know I was feeling until now. The mention of Grams makes my heart physically hurt and the tears fall faster. I sniffle and my mom hugs me. I let out one last sob before pulling away to speak. "Can I get on the next flight out?"