Distance Between Us | j.d.b ✔️ (BOOK I X II) THE FANFIC

DBU II: Chapter 1 (Leigh-Ann)

I've dedicated this chapter to @cieber for simply supporting this story and brightening my day with comments. Thank you.

Finally moving out of my best friend's space made me feel stable again. I hadn't had my own property in a long time. It was great living with him (overall anyways), but there was nothing like your own space. Plus, his space held too many vulgar memories of me torturing myself mentally due to Justin's ill games. I had moved on though. The last few months after my show at Bill's brought me the closure I never thought I'd receive. Most of that closure anyways. I couldn't bother to hear him out to get every ounce of closure I actually needed. That was okay however, I was growing and I had adapted anyways.

I was jobless with Harry. Spoken word gigs put money in my pocket here and there, but essentially I was broke. Without Harry I would've had to turn to my family who lived thousands of miles away. That wasn't an option. Harry knew how much New York meant to me. He wouldn't allow himself to see me give up the city due to some horrible break up that left me with nothing because realistically, it ruined me.

I became an author shortly after moving into my own place that hardly felt like home. I was digging clothing out of a suitcase for weeks, my kitchen (a few utensils, cups, and plates I had bought for myself while I was living with Harry) stayed in a box for a long while as well. My toiletries hardly met the cabinet in the bathroom. My bathroom was lonely, body gel and a razor along the wall of the shower and a toothbrush on the sink, it was horrid to look at. Writing became my all and that was evident. I sat in a corner in my living room with my bum pressed against the wood floorboard with bags under my eyes as I typed away sappy and depressing poems onto my MacBook. Who was going to judge me? No one other than Harry.

He checked up on me frequently and forced me to get up. He compared this to my previous situation, but this was nothing like that. I had deadlines I had to meet and different online conferences to attend. Harry being Harry, continued to say other wise. Harry also being my temporary manager pushed and encouraged me. I simply groaned at him from time to time. He ignored me though. He unpacked my kitchen and got rid of the take out that had been sitting on the marbled island for two days. He made me feel like I didn't have my life together.

I hated feeling that way, so eventually I did get my life together. I unpacked my bathroom and actually went out and bought furniture with the money I was saving up to do so. My apartment space actually felt inviting. My bathroom was a bathroom and my living room was actually presentable for guest (Harry's friends that eventually became our mutual friends). He was the reason I was actually capable of engaging in conversations with other people besides himself. He was proud of me and I was proud of me too.

As the years past I no longer knew the old me. I had poetry that reminded me of that person (one in which I never wanted to be again), but I wasn't her and for a long while I didn't understand how I let myself become that person. I was so vulnerable, so lost, so hurt, so..angry. Thinking about it made me take a break from the bright screen I had been staring at for most of the day and make some coffee.

I wasn't a heavy drinker anymore, thanks to a support group that Harry's girlfriend's friend forced me to go to. The chick wasn't really Harry's girlfriend at the time since they were on and off like a light switch, but I could tell he genuinely cared for this girl and the feeling was mutual. So I continued to tease him from time to time. She was his girlfriend in my eyes.

I know, it's not making any sense. I'm highly aware. This friend talked Harry's girl up, who eventually talked my Harry up about it, but didn't feel the need to make me go unless l felt like I needed too. That's when the girl started bring brochures home. She even tried to compare her brother's past with drinking to mine. I thought I liked her until she did that. I told Harry his girl's friend clearly wasn't trust worthy, but I was turning over a new leaf, so I'd let it slide. I let it slide momentarily anyways. Eventually that was over and canceled. She was simply not a mutual friend anymore. It was stupid at first, but all in all..it helped (I guess). I told my story to strangers, something I was already doing with my writing, but she didn't know that. This friend didn't even know I was the author of one of the books she raved about at one of Harry's little dinners. I wasn't there for long anyways as I didn't really have a true drinking problem. I still drank other fluids, ate, and functioned like any other civil citizen.

I didn't show any true issues of having a problem because like I stated before, I didn't have one.

I found it amusing after it was all said and done. It was embarrassing at first for a week or so, but then I found ways to make it humorous.

   My agent was rather delightful. He was witty and clever. He was definitely pleasing to look at as well. His looks made it somewhat easier to deal with his sarcasm. He had potential to be kind, but I was thankful I wasn't in his building fulltime. Freelancing had its perks. I even had the opportunity to host a little show in the lobby of F.O.A. It was nice to be in the same building as Styles although, he was multiple floors above me. I took note that the clerks definitely had a thing for Styles whenever he would come get me for lunch. It was amusing to see them drool over a man who was completely oblivious to their gestures. 

I got back into visual arts. Harry and I collaborated on different pieces which was nice. I hadn't touched a canvas in a long while. I hardly believed I wouldn't mess up, but Harry being the loving and motivating friend he was claimed that was impossible.

I literally just wrote this up so quick. When I tell you, I wrote 1,000 words like it was nothing because I wanted to come into 2017 with Leigh-Ann's introduction for the sequel; I mean I literally sat here and just wrote. I apologize for any spelling mistakes.

I hope you guys are as excited as I am for the second book! I stopped working on TLSM (which I definitely recommend if you want to read long chapters and get a taste of both Justin and Jason *McCann*) because those that genuinely read this and have taken the time out of their day to vote or simply comment have warmed my heart. With that being said, I hope you all are safe tonight and have fun (if you're going out). Thank you for your endless support! See you all in 2017.

Much love,

Yans