We will meet again

Chapter 18

The next day I woke up feeling as if I got hit by a train. My head was pounding and my eyes were puffy from all the crying. I looked at myself in the mirror.

“This is bad.” There was no way I would let Soph see me like this. I quickly went back to my room, undressed and decided to take a long bath.

I must’ve fallen asleep because the knock on the door startled me.

“Aly, are you ok?” Soph. What should I tell her?

“I’m fine. Just taking a bath. I’ll be down soon.” I winced and looked at my own reflection in the faucet. My eyes weren’t as puffy as they were an hour ago.

I got out of the tub, dried myself off as slow as I could and then got dressed in baggy pants and a top.

I decided to put some concealer and mascara on. I needed to feel good today.

“Hey! Look who’s up.” Soph said while I walked past her to get myself some coffee.

“Sorry. Bed felt too good to abandon.” I lied.

“No problem. I went jogging and then I had a vanilla latte and a chewy cookie from Starbucks.” She was definitely quirky today. And she didn’t say anything about my puffy eyes. Awesome!

“I’m sure that’s not how you do it, Soph.” I joked.

I downed my coffee and went for a second one when my phone vibrated in my pocket. It could only be one person.

We should meet for coffee later today. Around 5.

What do you say? H 

I looked at the text for a minute, trying to figure out why he wanted to see me again. I decided to agree since I had nothing better to do.

Sure. :) Where do you wanna meet? A

I waited for a good 5 minutes until I got an answer. I was anxious but I couldn’t let it show. Soph was still in the room and I didn’t think I could handle any uncomfortable questions.

The airport. Our flight back to London is at 8. H

I felt tears coming on. I went outside pretending to soak up the sun. My hands were trembling while I typed in my reply.

Okay. I’ll be there. A

I had three hours left to get rid of my red, puffy eyes.

Harry was in his room, packing his stuff, when Louis walked in visibly frustrated.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked, while Louis stomped to the bathroom.

“Liam won’t talk to Zayn. I tried to convince him, he’s the only one Zayn would listen to. I hoped he would talk to Zayn, maybe even change his mind.” Louis looked down, a sad tone hanging in his voice.

“Louis, you know nobody can change Zayn’s mind. He’s stubborn. If he says he won’t tell her, he won’t tell her. You know this better that anyone else.”

“I’m not stubborn for trying to help a friend out. It’s called caring.” Louis simply said.

“I know you care. We all do. But we’ve accepted the fact that we can’t change his mind. His feelings are strong, there's no doubt about that. But the fear of being rejected is bigger. He knows him and Aly don’t have a future. Not like this anyway, with Aly here and Zayn God knows where.” Harry eventually said and the conversation was over.

Outside their room Niall has been eavesdropping on the whole conversation. He wiped away the tears. He promised right then and there to do everything he could to see his friend happy.