Lessons Learned (Sequel to Love At War) Harry Styles

Chapter 28

Five days. Five days of nothing. It was horrible. I'd stayed at home, jumping every time the phone rang, nearly breaking down every time the doorbell rang and it wasn't them. Harry had been out all the time, doing more press conferences, reaching out to all of his contacts but nothing seemed to be working. I wanted to find them, but I couldn't bring myself to go out and search. Them being missing was my fault, the whole situation with Lucas was my fault, and I just couldn't handle it. I was becoming weaker and weaker by the day, and nothing was helping. Well, almost nothing.

I slammed the bottle of vodka down on the table, the contents glimmering as it caught with the slit of light that was peeking through the kitchen curtains. I couldn't bear to open them, my head was pounding and the light from the street lamps were far to bright for me to handle. I picked up the glass that was now over halfway full with the substance and bought it too my lips, wincing at the sharp taste as I slugged it down my throat. It felt strange, drinking heavily after staying away from it for so long, but I was the only thing that could numb the pain right now.

I rolled the glass around it my hands, watching with intent as the last dregs fell across the bottom of it. It soothed me, just watching them float across the curve of the glass, moving backwards and forwards with every motion that my wrist was making. I repeated my previous action, and poured the remainder of the vodka that was in the bottle into the glass. The past five days had been hard, and I'd polished off the bottle of vodka in three. It's safe to say my blood to alcohol level was pretty much ruined. Harry hadn't noticed I'd been drinking. I'd usually sneak down in the middle of the night and drown my sorrows. But here I was, 8.21 at night, and I really couldn't care less.

I stood from the table, made my way over to the drinks cabinet, one hand on the counter as I walked. I pulled it open and scanned the labels in front of me, the letters jumbling into one long line of nothingness. I noticed the familiar red bottle top and clear liquid, and carried it gingerly back to the table, just as the front door opened.

Oops.

I tried to hide the bottle. I stood up from the table, and put the glass in the sink, returning for the bottle within a couple of seconds. My head span just at the wrong moment, and I slipped, my hip banging into the table with a loud thump. Mixed curses and profanities fell from my lips as I rubbed the spot that now felt like it had its own pulse. Harry couldn't see me like this, what was I thinking? But sure enough, he was now stood by the door frame, a dark look crossing his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, a smirk forming. "Maybe you should move that bloody table, the amount of times you've walked into it is unreal!"

"Yeah, maybe," I replied, trying not to talk to loudly. If I did, he would know straight away that I'd been drinking. "Any news?"

"Nothing yet baby," he sighed. "There was a reported sighting over in Bristol but they've put it down to a hoax."

"How do they know it's a hoax?" I snapped. Hello alcohol. "They need to examine every single lead, they're fucking us about."

He sighed again, scratching the back of his head.

"No they're not Liss, they know what they're doing. You, on the other hand, don't."

He paced towards the table and picked up the large bottle that I had put back down when I'd hit the table. He twisted the top, and when he saw that it could be opened with ease, he set it back down and growled.

"Why are you falling apart? On Tuesday you were fine, you said that we were going to find them, that we were going to get married straight away...and now, it's like you couldn't care less. Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"That was five days ago Harry," I reminded him. "Five days since I've seen my babies. Kind of gets harder to hold out hope, don't you think?"

"I didn't see them for six and a half years, just you remember that," he sneered, not really meaning his harsh tone. But I'd pissed him off, and that's fair enough. "I know that we can find them, but that's fine Liss, you just stay here, wallow in your own self pity, and don't even try to help me find them."