One Plus One

Chapter Sixty-Seven

LILY'S POV

Everyone had been gone for far too long. There was no sign of Marlie, Harry or Brody and I was beginning to get bored on my own. It was Brody's party for gods sake and he was nowhere in sight.

I had a quick look around but upon seeing nothing I began to ask around. I didn't have to ask much, I heard them. A loud racket from the bottom of the stairs. I raced down them to pull the two battling males apart.

"Harry, Harry, lay off!" I screamed.

Blood was pouring from my brothers nose. I didn't pry for an explanation. I dragged the pair away from each other and pulled Brody into the downstairs bathroom to clean him up. I heard the front door slam and guessed that Harry had left.

Brody was breathing deeply, calming himself down. I ran a towel underneath the cold water. He flinched at first as I tried to clean him up but then he let me do it.

"Brody what happened?" I asked quietly, not wanting to anger him.

"I invited an old flame of Harry's here, hoping for her to work her magic. It worked but she spilled, told him everything."

"You mean, after me asking you not to, after you promised me you wouldn't, you tried breaking Harry and Marlie up?!"

All I received was a nod.

"Brody, you absolute arsehole! You selfish bastard! That poor girl will be crushed! She loved him!"

I launched the towel at him and made a run for it. I had to find Marlie before she did something stupid. I knew she wouldn't go back to her house, that would be the first place Harry went. The hotel. The hotel they were supposed to be staying at. I had gotten a good look at the hotel key when she showed me it, so that was where I'd head.

*****

I literally threw the money at the taxi driver before diving into the hotel reception. 

"Hello, hi, excuse me, have you seen a girl in a white dress, blue ribbon come in here?" I gushed at the receptionist.

"Yes, about 45 minutes ago. She was in quite a state."

"The reservation will be under Styles, what room is she in please?"

"325."

"Thank you so much."

I was running once again. Too impatient to wait for the lift, I took the stairs, two at a time. Anything to get to her quicker.

I ran along the corridors following the signs until I came to her room. I was about to knock but noticed that the room key was on the floor. In her state she must have dropped it. I swiped in to the room and called her name. I didn't get an answer but stopped myself from fearing the worst.

I walked further into the room, the sound of the shower running catching my attention. As I pushed on the ensuite door, I could hear her whimpers. I slowly and carefully pulled back the curtain. Marlie was sat in the bath, knees pulled up to her chest, head on her knees, crying. She was still fully dressed.

"Marlie, Marlie, honey, its me, Lily."

Her head slowly rose from her knees. Her make up had run down her face, her eyes were blood shot. She was a mess.

"Come on, lets get you out."

I reached out for her and she practically latched onto me, uncontrollable sobs leaping from her body. I helped her out of the tub and out of her dress. I covered her up in the bathrobe and rubbed her arms, helping to dry her.

She was finally calm, sitting on the bed whilst I brushed through her long, wet hair.

"I'm so sorry, Marlie."

"It wasn't your fault." she muttered in the small voice she could manage.

"There's something you should know."

"Please don't try and justify his actions to me."

"But, Marlie. Brody invited that girl there. Her and Harry had something, years ago, and Brody was using her to split you two up."

"What?"

"Brody planned for all of this to happen."

Marlie seemed to think for a second, but didn't seem any more comforted by the new revelation.

"You didn't see him though, Lily. He didn't even make an attempt to push her off him. Not even whilst I was standing there in the room."

I couldn't think of anything to say to her. I had no idea how to respond to that.

"I gave him everything, Lily." she said, turning to me.

"I know you did. You loved him."

"No, Lily, I gave him everything." she repeated.

I then got what she was getting at and my heart sank. I knew how hard that was for her.

"Oh, Marlie, you mean you-"

"Yeah."

She then broke down again. I held her tight, letting her cry into my chest. I felt so sorry for her. She trusted him so much and now it just seemed like he'd thrown it back in her face. But I wasn't going to hate him. It wasn't his fault. I knew it would all have been Laura and it had a massive amount to do with my brother.

"What am I going to do?" she cried.

"First you need some time. I'm not staying in that house knowing what my brother did, so I'll move in with you, ok?"

She nodded against my chest.

"I love him, Lily. I really do. But I broke up with him."

"That was in the heat of the moment. He knows you just need to calm down. Everything is always better once you've slept."

Almost as quickly as I'd said it, she was nodding off in my arms. I laid her down on the pillow and pulled the covers over her, kissing her forehead before getting up to leave.

I opened the door to see a bedraggled curly haired boy ready to swipe the card to get into the room.

"No, Harry. She's just fallen asleep, give her some space."

"I need to talk to her."

His green eyes were red and puffy. He'd been in as much of a state as Marlie had.

"I explained everything to her. But, she said that you didn't even try to push the girl off."

I closed over the door and pushed him into the hallway. 

"Anything I would have done would have looked like encouragement. So I didn't do anything, which was just as big a mistake."

"She's heartbroken."

"And it's all my fault."

"No, Harry it's not. It's all my brother's fault. She regrets breaking up with you, she knows it happened too fast. But she needs time."

"She's not going to trust me again."

"She will. Eventually."

I didn't bother to stop him this time when he swiped the card to go in. They did need to talk, and I knew Marlie enough to know that she wouldn't be asleep for long when something was happening like this.