Learning to Love Again

Chapter 14

Chapter 14~

Cathie's POV~

"One new voicemail" the robotic voice of my phone was the first thing I heard as I woke up.

I sat up in my bed and stretched out my arms with a yawn. I looked around and tried to locate my phone. I reached under my pillow, not there.

I crawled to the foot of the bed and picked up my purse, took out my phone and checked the lock screen.

I had ten missed calls, mostly from my parents. I had one voicemail so I clicked on it. It was from my mom.

"Catherine Marie! You better pick up this phone, right now! Your father and I have been worried sick about you! Answer the-"

The message was cut short there and I was glad. She couldn't have been screaming any louder, could she? I should probably call her back now...

As if on cue, I was getting a call from her. I picked up in the third ring and said "Hey, mom. Listen I-"

"Catherine Marie! it's about time you answered your phone! what's the point of having that thing if you don't even use it!..."

I held the device away from my ear as she ranted about what a bad child I was.

When I felt a pause I decided to cut in "Mom, I'm fine. The airports canceled all the flights, so I stayed in St.Louis. I was just going to get the first flight back to New York when the weather cleared up. Okay?"

"Alright. Call me when you have a flight. Bye sweetie."

"Byee." I rolled my eyes as I ended the call.

I put my phone next to me on the bed and decided to go to the kitchen and get something to eat.

I hopped off the bed and opened the bedroom door. I walked down the hall, towards the stairs. As I came down the stairs I heard voices. I turned the corner and saw that all five of the guys were sitting down at the table, having a conversation and eating their breakfast. When they saw me, they began smirking and looking at each other. Niall elbowed Louis in the arm and looked over at me.

Harry stood up from his seat and offered it to me. "For the lady." he grinned mischievously as I looked from him to the rest of the guys. What the hell is going on?

Despite the fact that I was getting uncomfortable with the situation, I sat down in the chair. Louis looked across the table at me with a look of slight embarrassment. Niall sat to the right of Louis, with a plateful of pancakes. Zayn was next to Niall, with a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Liam was to the left of Louis and had a plate of scrambled eggs. Harry was just returning with a stool from the other room which he put right next to me.

It was awkwardly quiet at the moment and I was unsure of what to do. I had my hands in my lap and I was leaning slightly into the back of my chair.

I busied myself by looking at the clock- which was above the sink. It was 9:35. I watched as the second hand tick by each second, listening to the quiet breathing of everyone in the room and the scraping of utensils against plates.

I jumped at the sound of a phone going off. When I looked back at the guys I saw that it was Niall's. he quickly reached into his sweatpants pocket. He smiled as he responded to what I'm guessing was a text. I wasn't the only one staring at him, though. When Niall looked back up and saw five pairs of eyes on him he questioned "What?"

I looked around the table. The guys were all grinning smugly at each other, but I didn't get why. I looked back at Niall to see him sink low in his seat and cover his face in his hands in embarrassment.

His phone was still on the table so I saw the screen light up. I leaned in slightly to see who this person was, and saw none other than a text from Mae. I leaned back and observed the scene around me. The guys started to calm back down, and Niall was reaching for his phone.

"So" Harry began," Louis, how was yesterday?" He leaned in, against me so he could place his elbows on the table. His ribcage was touching my arm and I felt it move with every breath he took.

I looked over at Louis. He glanced at me before answering, plainly, "It was fine." Then I realized yesterday was the day we spent together. Fine? That's it? I understand the whole 'I'm leaving forever' part probably put a damper on it, and the nearly getting killed... but fine?? I tried not showing anything, but it genuinely bothered me.

Harry continued, "Oh, come on. It must have been better, you had this amazing girl with you and all you can say is fine?" he wrapped an arm around my midsection and pulled me closer to himself- he smelled like cologne.

I looked over at Louis to see his jaw tense and him give Harry a warning look. He looked like he was about to say something, but Harry beat him to it. " And why didn't you tell us she was coming over? We could've planned the best sleepover, ever!" I suppressed my laugh, but stilled smiled. The rest of the guys joined in. They jokingly agreed with Harry. As I suspected they were just joking around, but Louis looked less than amused. He stood up and walked out of the kitchen.

I tried getting up and following him, but Harry's arm held me in my seat. "Harry, I need to go"
He nodded and released me from his grip. I stood up, but before I could walk away Harry grabbed my hand and turned me back to face him. He was standing now. Harry came closer to me until there were only a few inches of space between us. I could smell his cologne, and hear his lungs full with air each breath he took.

He kept a hold of my hand as he reached for a piece of my hair and began twirling it around his fingers.
The he said, in a low voice, so only I could really hear "What do you say we go out later?" I felt his hand touch my neck as he twirled that piece of my hair. I suppressed a shiver that went throughout my body.

I wasn't able to think straight, but I managed to shake my head. I couldn't form the words no mater how hard I tried.

Harry let go of my hair hand moved the now free hand up to my chin, which he tilted up so we were looking into each other's eyes. I could see that he was confident like usual, but there was a hint of something else. He was grinning. "Not even for a little bit?"

I tried shaking my head again, but his hand still held my chin. Then I saw Harry's eyes slowly begin to close, and realized he was leaning towards me.

I kept my eyes open wide in fear as I tried thinking of a way out. I couldn't just turn my face away, so I needed to get distance between us.

I took a step backwards, and hoped it was enough. Our hands were still entwined so I couldn't get much farther.

Harry stood back up straight and dropped the hand that had held my chin. He released his hold on my hand, which I placed firmly on my side.

He looked at me incredulously and I finally found words to speak. " Um, I-I..." I trailed off and walked past Harry up to the bedroom Louis and I shared.

When I closed the door I leaned my back against it and slid down to a sitting position. I duck my head behind my legs and wrapped my arms around my knees.

--------------------A/N-------------------

Hey!

Well I had it updated and everything, then POOF it deleted itself! So yeah I'm pretty upset about that.

I'm really exhausted right now so I just hope it turned out as good as it was originally. If not I'm sorry, because it really was awesome. I remembered most of it but still.

-Mckenzie ❤❤