With All My Heart

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

"Guys, look at him.. Just look at him." Zayn begins motioning to where Harry stood gazing from afar. "He looks happy."

"Yeah mate, I guess he sorta does. But why, when less than two minutes ago he wasn't talking to us, to the fans, to anyone? He was just staring at the far wall hiding anything he might be feeling.. again." Niall sympathizes.

"He was looking at the wall wasn't he? What's he staring at now?" Louis questions as all four boys traced the path Harry's eyes followed with their own, directing their attention on me. I was unaware.

"Oh no." they whisper simultaneously.

"That must be her.. The one he's.. he's.. infatuated with." Liam spoke up.

"Infatuated's right. There's no way he could be in love as he says. He's never even met the girl. Trust me, we would've known if he had." Niall observed, as Harry was still clueless to what the rest of his band was discussing.

"He might be infatuated, but just look at his face! That's the happiest we've seen Harry in over five months, and all this poor girl did was walk into the room." Louis states the obvious as my wall continued to build.

"How are we going to stop him? The second she walks over here we know he's gonna do or say something he'll regret in the long run. What if she denies him? What if she's not available? What if she doesn't want Harry? He'll be worse off than before. We might have to call the cops again just to find him before he really does something he'll regret." Niall pleads with his mates in a hushed whisper. They're voices were audible to no one but themselves, even Harry was out of the loop.

"That's exactly it Nialler! If she does deny him, or doesn't want whatever Harry wants he'll turn into a fit of rage. Probably driving to the nearest nightclub and start drinking again. But more. What if we could persuade her to come to dinner with us. Just as friends, before he gets to her. We could all hang out, keep an eye on Harry, and then possibly talk some sense in him before tomorrow morning. You know, let him down easy. Yeah he might be furious tomorrow morning, but what bar is opened at ten in the morning anyway, and if he starts drinking while he's with us, we can control it." Louis persists trying to help his best mate recover from all that had traumatized and broken him within the last year.

"I don't know Lou.. It all seems so extreme." Zayn was worried. Worried for Harry and worried for me.

"I know it's extreme... but see how happy he looks.. And she hasn't even spoken to him. Besides maybe by morning he'll realize she's just something he dreamt up. Maybe he'll finally let it go and accept the fact he can't change the past."

The other three shrug.

"It's worth a shot I guess." Niall agrees, silently praying it doesn't blow up in their faces.

"Yeah, besides we've tried everything since Harry first picked up that bottle. Gosh, he was so different then, so full of life. I kinda miss the old Harry." Liam relays his emotions about Harry's past life, before the alcohol.

"Me too." Zayn sighs in agreement to Liam. "That night changed him for the worse."

"I wish he would have stayed away like we warned him. Then he would have stayed away from the alcohol, and we wouldn't be in this dilemma." Niall recalls the prior events. Events that the media, the fans, me didn't know existed.

Within ten minutes there was only one group ahead of us. Stopping us from getting this meeting over with. In ten more, this whole ordeal would be over and I could go back to moping over Tyler again, undisturbed. I avoided anymore eye contact with that green eyed Tyler and resorted to playing with my hair to keep myself occupied. I tried putting the painstaking memories of Ty and I away, just for the next ten minutes, in order to maintain the wall I was slowly building around my heart. For some reason I knew that without this wall I would be lost for words. Silently dying inside over talking to someone who appeared to be the only love of my life up until a couple of months ago. I wasn't ready to move on but I had to at least try. This wall was the only thing that was holding me up right now.

"Goodbye ladies!" One Direction told the group in front of us as they exited the large room.

It was our turn. I could sense the huge grins forming on both Melissa and Kennedy's face. I was both relieved and petrified. Relieved that we were finally getting this over with, Petrified that I had to face someone I knew would remind me too much of.. Him. As we slowly approached them Harry's eyes were glued to me. The girls went straight for Niall and Liam leaving me to fend for myself. Great. I slowly walked up to Zayn noticing he had a warm smile.

"Hey, Im Kendall.. Kendall Blake! Y'all did great tonight!" I complimented shaking his hand, returning the warm smile.

"Y'all? You're American? You and you're friends travelled a long way, didn't you?" He joked trying to spark a conversation.

"Yeah we're American! Well my sister, Kennedy, and I are. Melissa's British. And we didn't travel that far, we live here." I laughed.

"I see! So how are you enjoying the UK?" His accent was thick.

"I love it! The town we live in is so small and quaint, right outside of London. It beats home that's for sure." I spilled.

"Where is home? In the states of course, but where?"

"South Carolina, Charlestown to be exact!" I explain and he smiles.

"We've been there before! Last summer we performed there at the local arena! Such a lovely city." Zayn and I hit it off immediately. He's so genuine and sweet. No wonder the girls always talk about the band. We keep up small talk until Louis comes over and joins us.

"Hey I'm Louis.. The cute one." He jokes bringing me in for a hug.

I return the favor "Hi it's nice meeting you Louis. I'm Kendall Blake." I gush "Like I was telling Zayn.. Right? It's Zayn?" Zayn nods. "Y'all rocked it tonight!"

"Thanks Kendall. We really appreciate you're compliment. The fans are the ones we do it for!" Louis smiles releasing me from his warm embrace.

I blush. I wouldn't have considered myself a fan exactly. Just someone who tags along to a concert. I simply smile and nod in agreement, attempting to mask my thoughts.

"Well, it was really nice meeting you. Zayn and I were actually wondering if you and you're friends wanted to go grab a bite to eat with us and the rest of the crew."

I quickly glance at the others and then back to Louis. They were still engaged in a conversation with Niall, Liam, and Harry.. or so I thought.

"It sounds great and all, but we need to be headed..." I begin to decline the offer before being interrupted.

"We'd love to go!" Kennedy chimes in. I could hear the joy in her voice from the mere invitation.

"Lovely! I'll go tell Paul to get the limo. We should be ready to leave in fifteen minutes or so." Lou informs us before setting out to find their bodyguard, leaving me alone with Zayn.

Harry soon approaches us. Uh oh. The moment I had been dreading since the second I laid eyes on Tyler's twin. My stalling was over as Harry began to introduce himself.

"Hello love! I'm Harry Styles."

He brought me in for a hug. His strong, muscular arms wrapped around my waist. Since the breakup, it was the warmest hug I had been given. It was the first time I felt safe and secure within the bind of someone else's arms, other than Tyler Carson's. It was hardly love, but the embrace gave me butterflies. Something I had never experienced in all of my nineteen years... Even with Ty. It was what I had been fearing since I laid eyes on him. Falling. Falling slowly. Falling for someone I would never be able to have. Someone who was untouchable. Harry Styles.

He slowly pulled away, looking at me as his arms slid away from my now tingling body.

"Uh.. I.. I'm K-Kendall" I stutter pulling my hand out for him to shake. Cheeks flushed.

Harry glances at my hand, awkwardly hanging in the space between us. Unsure of his movements, he hesitantly shakes it.

"It's really nice to meet you, sweetheart."

Not now. Oh gosh, please not now. My eyes began to burn, filling with tears. Slowly but surely they were building in the corners of my eyes as I desperately tried to hold them back. That one simple word held so much meaning, so much significance to me. Back then, it had the power to make my awful days. However, in this case, it was breaking it. Tyler always called me sweetheart. It was his way of endearment... and I couldn't handle it anymore.