He Saved Me

Chapter Sixteen

Harry's POV

The next day, Lia, Jessica, and Maggie had to leave since their fall break was almost over. Zayn, Perrie, Eleanor, and Louis kind of left us alone to say goodbyes; we all sort of went off on our own about a half an hour before they left. I took Lia's hand in mine as we walked quietly on the beach. "I'm gonna miss you, ya know," I said softly, breaking the silence. Lia looked out to the ocean, looking at nothing but the beauty of it. "Yeah. I'll miss you more, though, loser." She nudged me, grinning. I laughed, "Ha. I doubt it, loser." She sighed. "It's been fun," she said sadly. But her tone surprised me; she sounded actually more sad than me. "Harry," she looked down at our feet, matching step by step, "I know that it's been fun for you, too, but I also know you'll forget me, and I wanna let you know thats fine. I'm just happy I got to live every directioner's dream this week." I stopped, forcing her to turn to look at me.

"Is that what you think!?" I demanded a little too loudly; she shrunk back a little. "Is that what you think?" I repeated, a little more sadly and gentle, "That you're, what? Just another fan? Another girl?" She looked away. "Harry--" I held up a hand to stop her. "No, Lia. Listen to me." She looked up at me with wide, twinkling, beautiful green eyes. "You are so much more to me than that. In the past week, you've managed to become my best friend. We know literally everything about one another because of our long, late night talks; which I enjoyed, by the way."

A small grin appeared on her face, showing her somewhat out-of-place dimples, which I found cute. I laughed a little at this thought, then continued: "You mean so much to me. I have never become attached to someone so quickly before, except Louis, of course." She chuckled. "Thanks, Haz. That means a lot. I feel mutual, if it wasn't obvious." I smiled. "Look, we have each other's numbers, and I trust you not to give my number to any fan or tv network, etcetera." Lia shook her head. "Oh, Harry. Of course not. Never."

"Okay. We can text and call and Facetime and Skype," I rambled, "everyday, at any free time either one of us has." She looked at me, suddenly acting shy. "So, what does that make us Harry? What are we?" I thought a moment. "Let's say, we're getting to know each other better. Not a for sure couple," I smiled, "but hopefully headed there?" I formed the last part as a question, and Lia smiled and nodded. I smiled back at her and we walked back to the car.

Liam and Maggie embraced in what seemed like an everlasting hug, till Lia had to pull Maggie away from Liam. Liam stood, motionless as tears streamed down Maggie's face as Lia and Jessica gently put her in the car, and she continued to cry silently. I could make out her silhouette through the window, unmoving, staring straight ahead. Lia gave me one more sad smile before getting into the drivers side. Jessica offered Niall a small wave before finally climbing in the car.

As I slowly walked with Niall and Liam back to our room, I wondered how my heart could ache so much for someone I never knew till this week, and then I realized how much time we'd spent together, how many talks we had, and how many moments we shared that were special to just the two of us. No amount of words could cover literally everything that had occurred the past week, nor what I felt since the first night we met, me teasing her, her chasing me around the hotel..... In that moment, I created a name for the new song we'd been working so hard on, and more lyrics to go with it.

I picked up speed, to a run, rushing to tell the boys. I knew immediately I wanted to perform it in Louisville the next week. I knew it was unheard of, but we were about to release Midnight Memories anyway, so why not go ahead and perform a single? It'd give a preview of the album, and leave the fans wanting more. But then, I also made a mental note to ask Lia to come to the concert, too; and the other girls, of course. But for me.... I was singing to her. We planned on performing one of the leaked songs, and I would sing that to Lia, too.