Harry Styles: Real Person [BOOK ONE]

Chapter Fourteen: The Truth

Mary's phone was vibrating on the nightstand. She opened her eyes and was suddenly very confused. This was definitely not her room.

After another minute of blinking away sleep she registered that she was in Harry's room, in Harry's bed. She remembered coming to Harry's house, telling him her secret, kissing him, more than kissing him, and laying with him in bed but she didn't remember falling asleep at all. She looked at the clock, 8:56. She was sleeping for hours.

Her phone stopped ringing and she sighed at the sudden quiet. Too quiet, Mary realized. She rolled over to find that Harry wasn't there, his side of the bed was empty and the sheets were thrown back. She touched a hand to his pillow, it was cold. He must've left a while ago. Weird she thought, I didn't think I snored that much.

She was fully awake now. She grabbed her phone and looked at the screen. One missed call from Harry, crap. She quickly typed in his number and called him back, curiosity consuming her as it rang and rang. He finally picked up on the 6th ring, it sounded like he was in the car.

"Hey babe, did you have a nice nap?" was the first thing he said to her.

"Yea I did...where'd you go?"

"I uh...I had to stop by management. Louis drove me. There were some things I needed to tell them."

Some things?? What could he possibly have told them? Not that she was sick, right. He wouldn't reveal that to them without her permission, would he??

He must've sensed her hesitation because he spoke up, "No no hun, nothing about you. I needed to confirm and interview in the morning. I'll be back in a few and I'll tell you all about it, OK?"

Mary nodded but then realized Harry couldn't see her. "OK, see you soon" she responded before hanging up. So Harry didn't tell them about her, that was a relief. But what was possibly so important that he had to leave her to schedule an interview at 8PM? Mary sighed, Harry was a confusing boy. She threw back her own covers and got out of bed, searching the floor until she found Harry's T-shirt and her sweatpants. She threw them both on and decided to make Harry's bed for him, the messiness was driving her half insane.

She was finishing making hospital corners on the bed when Harry came in behind her, chuckling. "You didn't have to make my bed, you know" he said teasingly.

"Oh, but I did. It was a wreck" she responded, turning around to face him and meeting a half-naked, very disheveled looking boy. He was wearing just his own sweats and a beanie and socks, no shoes or shirt. "Did you go out like that?"

He looked down at himself, as if just realizing he was barely wearing clothes. "Yea. I was in a hurry" he stated like this was normal and put his arms around her waist, kissing her. She smiled into the kiss.

"So are you going to tell me why you left me...?" she asked as his hands slid dangerously far down her back.

Harry sighed. "OK, sit" he told her, pushing her down on to the bed. She leaned against the pillow and he crawled over to the other side of her and leaned back too, wrapping their fingers together. He looked adorable and she smiled a little. "Well...I scheduled an interview for Nick Grimshaw's breakfast show on the radio tomorrow...I know it's last minute but I made something up about wanting to confirm rumors that you and I are together..."

"You made it up? But don't you want to confirm them?" she asked, confused.

"Yes of course, and I'm going to, but that's not why I'm going tomorrow." He sighed again and she squeezed his hand to comfort him. "I'm going because...because I think I'm ready to tell the fans about, you know, this" he gestured to the inside of his wrist and forearm, which was zigzagged with somewhat fading scars.

Mary's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure Harry? That's a big thing you know."

He smiled at her, just a little. "Yea, I'm sure. And I'm not doing it anymore, anyway. Not since I met you..." her heart leapt a little when he said that. "And if you can be so confident and tell me about your cancer then I can tell the fans about this. I know the true ones will support me."

She grinned, "I'm really proud of you Harry."

"Then will you come tomorrow? And support me too?"

"Um...duh? Of course I will be there" she squeezed his hand again and moved over a bit, kissing his cheek.

He grinned this time, showing his dimples. Mary's heart melted. He was about to tell the world his biggest secret because she gave him the confidence to do that, but she wasn't confident enough to tell him that she was sick. She should be looking up to him. Not the other way around.

"So management really won't let you do it? You had to lie?" she asked him.

"If they found out why I was really doing the interview, they would kill me. They'd probably put me on house arrest and tell the paparazzi not to believe a word I said until they could get me in some legal contract saying I wouldn't tell anyone" he rolled his eyes. "Which is why I'm glad you're going. It'll look better if you're there, since I'm supposed to be doing a whole interview about you."

She nodded, her brain spinning. "What are they going to say when you tell everyone?"

He looked up at the ceiling. "I'll probably be in trouble for a while, but once they see some of the positive fan reactions then they'll probably find some way to spin it to make it into a big press story..."

"And what if they figure out that you did it because of me?" she asked, trying not to sound too worried. "Will they still let us be together?"

Harry looked her in the eyes now, surprise written all over his face. "Mar, they can't stop us from being together. Whether they like it or not, I'm going to be with you and you're going to be with me. And if they try to say anything to you, just ignore it, OK?"

She nodded and leaned against his shoulder. Her mind was racing a mile a minute.

She knew what she had to do. If Harry was going to go down, then she was going to go down with him.

No more lying, it was time the truth came out once and for all.