Prove It (H.S)

Chapter Fifty One

Claire's POV~

I fold the last shirt neatly into my suitcase and slowly zip it closed. Jasmine throws her arms around me and rests her chin on my shoulder. "I wish you could stay another week,"she pouts. I give her arms a squeeze and pull away from her to turn around. Her brown eyes are staring at me and she gives me a half smile. "You have to promise to text me, I want to stay in touch." Jasmine nods and her smile grows.

She pulls up the handle on my suitcase for me and I walk over to her to give her one last hug before the taxi takes me to the airport. "If you're ever in LA, you know who to call," I whisper into her ear. Her embrace is warm and I find myself struggling to let go. I feel her arms unwrapping around me and I sigh. "Here I go." Jasmine's eyes are watering as she walks with me to the door and gives me one last wave goodbye.

The Mexican sun shines on my back as I pull my luggage behind me to the taxi. I look up at the baby-blue sky and think about how badly I'm going to miss this place. The taxi driver smiles at me through the window and quickly hops out of his seat to help me with my suitcase. "Gracias," I say. I open the door and buckle my seat belt. When I turn my head, I see Jasmine standing in the doorway of our dormitory, smiling. I blow a kiss as the taxi pulls away.

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Harry's POV~

"Mr.Styles? Mr.Styles? Earth to Harry!" 

I snap my head up to see Professor Grant standing in front of the table I'm sitting at. "Class is dismissed." I look around to see I'm the only student left in the room. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry," I say as I quickly gather my things and stand up. "Where's your head been lately, Harry? You're usually much more involved in class discussion." My heels rock back and forth. "I'm sorry, I'll try to be more focused." Grant nods. "Good, you're a smart young man, Harry. It would be a shame not to take advantage of that due to some distractions." I give him a small smile, nod and walk out of the classroom. 

I am distracted. I'm always distracted. I've been distracted since my first day at UCLA. Back home, none of my secondary school friends would describe me as the type to get stuck on a girl. Now, not am I only stuck, I'm lost. I've been lost since Claire broke it off, and I just haven't found my way back yet. 

When I think about how Claire is scheduled to arrive back on campus late tonight, my heart skips a beat. I haven't seen her flawless face in so long. I've hardly even heard her voice. 

I look up as I'm walking and see Aubrey. She smiles as we near each other. "Hey, Harry." I sigh. "Hey, Aubrey. What are you doing here?" She opens the purse in her hand and pulls out a piece of orange printer paper. "I'm passing out flyers for a beach party tonight. You should totally come," she says and hands me the flyer. I shake my head. "I have other plans." Aubrey looks at me with a pitiful expression. "Don't tell me you're going to spend your entire night waiting for Claire to come back." I can feel a blush creep up my neck and I stay silent. "Harry, come on." 

"I gotta go, thanks for the invite, but like I said, I have plans." I walk past her and suddenly, I'm in a slightly bad mood. Behind me, Aubrey hollers,"Okay, suit yourself!"

I start to walk to my dorm with my eyebrows furrowed. I realize the only reason I'm upset is because someone has finally pointed out how pathetic I am. Aubrey is right. I'm going to pass up a party on the beach to wait up for a girl who isn't even my girlfriend? Hell no. I quickly turn around. "Aubrey, wait!" She looks behind her and walks over to me. "Can I have one of those?" I say, pointing to the flyer in her hand. She smirks and hands it over. "Of course."

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Claire's POV~

We're driving along the highway to the airport when my phone lights up with a text. I see Andres' name and a smile spreads across my face. His text reads: Hello beautiful. Last night was magical. I miss you already. Text me when you're safe on the ground.

I text him back with a heart emoji and say that I'm almost to the airport. As I push send, my mind begins to reminisce on the past few weeks. The way that Andres and I left things was somewhat open-ended, but not in a bad way. We sort of decided that we were together, when we were together. We didn't end our short lived relationship but we didn't make plans to continue it either, and to my own surprise, I'm okay with that. Driving past the sunny scenery, all I can think about is how different my experience here has been from life back in LA. I think about how Andres and Jasmine helped make it so wonderful, and that it's okay for those two great people whom I'll never forget, to just be apart of this experience. Leaving them behind doesn't make them or the memories we made any less special and it doesn't mean that I won't miss them everyday.

I notice that I've been smiling to myself for most of the car ride when I catch my reflection in the window. I also notice that we've arrived to the airport. The taxi swings to the drop-off area and the driver and I get out of the car. He opens the trunk and wheels my suitcase over to me. "Gracias," I say and hand him his fare with a tip. He smiles kindly, holding up the pesos with two fingers and nods before getting back in the taxi and pulling away. 

I walk through the automatic doors into the airport with my passport in my hand. I take a deep breath and remind myself that no matter what awaits back at UCLA, I'm ready.