Used To Be • Harry Styles

Eighteen

I leave for London in two days. I have all my stuff ready for my 10 AM flight and the whole crew is on the same plane headed towards England.

I haven't been able to get Annie out of my mind. I've been ripping out pages from my small black notebook left and right, not getting anywhere with this song I was set to record. I was getting nervous.

I picked up my phone and let my thumb hover over Annie's name for what felt like an hour before finally pressing on it.

Straight to voicemail.

"Annie," I spoke and paused for five seconds. "Annie, I leave Friday morning. I know you said you'd come and see me and I don't want to sound pushy, but I'd like to see you sooner rather than later... give me a call back, please. I love you," I gently spoke before pressing the red button on my screen and ending that call that made me feel like shit.

"Tell me something I don't already know," I sing to myself, the only line I have written down that I actually like.

I put my phone down and decide to take a nap, just to escape a little.

○○○

I wake up two hours later to a missed call from Annie, and a voicemail to accompany it.

"Hello," she drags out the last bit of the greeting. "I'm, uh, sorry I missed your call. Actually, I'm not gonna lie, I let it ring and just stared at my screen, it felt like an eternity. I didn't think you'd leave a voicemail which I just got around to listening to. I just finished saying bye to the band and crew, you were the only one left. I saw the tour announcement," she paused. "I'm happy for you... I don't know what I'm doing, I can just say this to your face. Listen, why don't you come by my place later, so we can say our goodbyes. I wanna wish you luck in person, not through your voicemail," she chuckled a bit. "Text me when you're on your way, or not, that's fine too. Surprise me today. I miss you. Okay, bye."

I smile at the last bit. I couldn't tell if it took a lot out of her to not say "I love you" back.

○○○

"Who is it?" Annie asked through the buzzer.

"It's me," I simply spoke and got buzzed in after a brief pause.

I made the right turn as usual and walked to her flat. The door was left open and I walked in cautiously.

"Hey," Annie popped out the hall and greeted me. "What happened to your keys?"

"Oh," I reached into my pocket and pulled the two out. "Here you go. Didn't know if I should use them or not."

"Thank you," she nodded before taking the copies. "Good to see you," she smiled and let some of the tension in the air go before kissing me on the cheek. "You look good. Ready for the trip, I hope."

"Really ready," I smile and nod. "You look good too."

"Are those for me?" She asked pointing to the bouquet of flowers in my left arm.

"No," I  shake my head and look down at them.

"Oh," was all she said.

"I'm kidding," I laughed to myself and made her smile.

"You jerk," she took them. "Thank you, they're nice."

She walked over to the vase by her window and grabbed it. The vase had the dying flowers from the day we first said "I love you" to each other. That was a couple of days before I was told about the tour.

I followed her into the kitchen as she replaced the flowers and added new water to the vase.

"So, anything new?" I asked.