Forever and Always (A Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

CHAPTER 10: Then

I realized that I had been reading the same paragraph for the last five minutes. I sighed, closing the book and handing it back to Maddie, who was sitting in the chair beside me.

“I don’t think I can concentrate right now,” I said, giving her an apologetic smile.

“Too excited for Harry to come back?” Maddie asked grinning. I laughed, knowing that she was exactly right.

Bekah, McKenli, Sarah, Maddie, and I had arrived at the airport half an hour ago to pick up the boys. They were finally coming back from their tour and they would be staying with us in the states for a while. It was late evening and a severe storm had struck our area, causing their flight to be delayed. I looked out the large windows at the raging storm outside.  Luckily, it wasn’t a thunderstorm so we weren’t in any danger of lightning.

Only southern California would get rain instead of snow in January, I thought glumly. I glanced at my phone, which lit up the screen with the numbers 9:00.

“Jenny, I need to go to the restroom. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?” Maddie told me, standing up.

“Sure,” I said and watched as she walked off. McKenli, Sarah, and Bekah had gone to the food court to get us dinner, and now that Maddie had left, I was one of the few people in the waiting area. I looked over to my left at the woman staring at the digital display on the wall in front of us, and wondered if she was just as impatient for whoever she was waiting for to arrive. A friend, a relative, a lover?

“Wanna buy a magazine?”

The coarse voice startled me and I turned around to see a man standing over me, waving a glossy magazine in his hand. There was a bag slung over his shoulder, filled with several other copies of the latest celebrity news. The man had stubble on his chin and his face was grimy with filth. His lopsided grin showed the little amount of teeth he had. I would’ve thought he was homeless if it weren’t for the cap on his head, which had a patch with the logo of the magazine company stitched on the fabric. He obviously had not been having much luck at selling these.

“No, thank you,” I said kindly. I wasn’t one to believe celebrity gossip, much less read it.

“Are you sure?” he asked me, his face sagging with disappointment. “There’re some pretty interesting stories in here.” I shook my head politely to show I wasn’t interested, but the man wasn’t giving up his sales pitch. “How about that One Direction boy?” he remarked. I looked at him inquisitively, wondering how he knew the only thing that would get my attention. The man continued, “Yeah, Harry Styles, that’s his name.”

The man knew he had caught my interest, and before I knew what was happening, he held the magazine up to my face. The headline was in large, bold letters: Harry Styles Caught Snogging a Fan! I stared at the words incomprehensibly before I felt my heart drop.

Unconsciously, I reached out and took the magazine, flipping it to the indicated page. The title seemed to be screaming at me—“Has Harry Found a New Lover?” An unfamiliar queasiness settled in my stomach and I quickly skimmed over the article, phrases like “passionate kiss” and “new girlfriend” jumping out at me. The farther I read, the more nauseous I felt.

This can’t be him. You can’t believe this gossip.

I didn’t want to believe it and almost didn’t—until my eyes finally landed on the photo. It was a side shot and poor in quality, but anyone could tell that the person the girl was locking lips with was Harry. Her lips clung as tightly onto Harry as her red dress did on her. She had her arms draped around him, her body pressed up against his. My eyes moved over their figures, mouths fastened together.