Reason to be - Harry Styles ✓

43. Promises and lies

Harry's POV

"Say it. Say it again."

A quick sigh escaped her pink lips and an amused expression set on me. But her eyes lit up.

"I've been repeating this for hours." she rolled her eyes, while throwing the shirt she was wearing when she entered the hospital doors in a bag.

“Well, say it again.” I laughed, as she started walking around me again, making sure that everything was in order before we finally left.

“We are going home. As soon as the discharge me, we’re free.” April smiled childishly, not even bothering to protest anymore. Her smile, her shining eyes, the sound of her voice, all sent shivers through my body and made me want to erupt in a laughter of happiness. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to see if there is anything I could be—“

I caught her wrist and before she knew what happened, I dragged her closer and placed myself behind her. With both her hands inside of mine, I gently wrapped her hands around the body in the process of enveloping her in my arms. I felt her body shiver in sync with me, as I was blindly letting my chin rest on her shoulder. She let out a long, shaky breath, as I heard the beat of my heart in my ears. 

“…Forgetting.” April eventually added, with a low, faded voice.

“I missed you.” I said simply, whispering into her neck. I had to fight the proud smirk that was threatening to form on my lips when she tried to stop a moan and failed miserably.

“But I didn’t go anywhere.” she mumbled, but as I turned her around to look at her face, I noticed the guilt in her eyes.

“I... I thought you left me. For real. And…” I stopped, taking a short breath. “I don’t know what I would have done if you did. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Her big, blue eyes stared at me and her lower lip trembled, but she slowly nodded. I realised that I didn’t even word what I wanted her to understand, but my heart was begging her to know. I was so overwhelmed by the tension of the past days and it felt so good to finally say at least a quarter of what I had been thinking.

“You saved me, in every possible way. And when you… when you left, I wanted to leave too. But you saved me.” I continued, even when her eyes started to glimmer in water. “Promise me that you’ll never try to slip away from me again, please.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, like she didn’t have the power to speak anymore. I knew what was happening with us was peculiar and that I had changed the tension of the subject strangely fast, but it felt like the burning feelings inside of me wanted to come out in a waterfall. I needed her to do or say something, anything – but nothing happened.

“Guys, you have to—“

I heard a voice, but unfortunately not the one I was looking forward to. I jumped back in surprise and only when my hand caught a shy tear I realised that my eyes were getting watery too. I looked back at April to watch her reaction, but she was only blinking quickly.   

"Oh," his lips turned into a mischievous smile. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"What do you want, Zayn?" I began, disappointed that he had ended that moment.

He probably had noticed the expression on my face, as I saw that Zayn's smile faded, as he started rocking back and forth nervously. His lips pressed in a thin line as his eyes slowly darted to April. 

"Liz..." he sighed, running a hand through his hair. April rolled her eyes.

"Again?"

"Apparently." Zayn nodded his head, shifting uncomfortably. "She's in the waiting room with the others. You should come though, you’ve been discharged.”