Quit (Narry/Heleanor)

[6] Midnight laugh.

2013

Eleanor smokes. Her friends know that, the crew knows that and her mother does too. She smokes excessively and every so often without a break. At fifteen it played a huge part in her rebellion, against her sheltered upbringing in Islington and now it just lives with her silently.
She wonders if Harry is ever going to utter a word about her habit; probably not.

"Fancy forcing a window open, Harry?"

He pushes himself from the wall he was leaning against and does just that, putting his weight against the handle. If she would shut her eyes right about now, she could imagine his muscles straining a bit under his shirt, but she refrains from trailing off in the middle of a venue hallway. Instead she plucks the cigarette from behind her ears and gracefully moves it inbetween her lips. They're chapped, to the point of getting uncomfortable. She's not used to being in this climate for a long time and she feels like she has brought all of her make up for nothing. It all melts off anyway.
As a result, she leaves her room bare- faced, admitting that she's flesh and blood, not stone.
She can be vulnerable.
She can be hurt.
She can be destroyed.
This thought process is repulsive.

The further down the the map they travel, the more she misses London and it's miserable weather, the more she cries when she's alone. The weekly face time session with her mother encourages her to stay put. For Louis, her mother explains. You must understand, he's done so much for us already. Don't you love him?

So will it be then.

"Are you going to be in the pit tonight?"

Harry's question takes her by surprise, for he's been rather distant for the past couple of weeks. He's always had his nose down his phone when she entered the room. She also recalls him leaving Lou's chair, at the sight of her, with wet hair and a quietly muttered emergency. The stylist told her he's been a tad bit off lately.
Maybe her slurred warnings at the award show finally knocked some sense into him.
Its memories making her feel giddy like she's influenced by some forbidden spell.

She let him intertwine their fingers that night, usher her against a lonely wall that hour and kiss her breathless that second.

He allowed her to leave her worries that night, chug too much wine that hour and finish a poem about his eyes that second. The clock churned midnight and it's as if everyone around them dropped dead.

His presence followed her in form of physical touches in her dreams throughout some nights. She always woke in Louis arms in the morning, her heart skipping several beats at once.

Sometimes she regrets telling him to leave her and sometimes she likes to pretend she doesn't remember any of it.

"Maybe I will.", she answers. "It's quite entertaining to watch you lot make fools of yourself, you know."

Eleanor doesn't dare to miss the way his eyes follow her every move, as she lights her cigarette. His harmless grin doesn't match the emotion his eyes portray.

"Oh come off it, Eleanor. I saw you flip out to a handful of our songs before. The front row's got absolutely nothing on you then."

"Flip out, yeah? I guess you see what you wish to see. Do you watch me that closely though?"

He probably sees her flashing her tits too, amidst sweaty and delirious girls who'd take a bullet for him, as if no mountain or sea keeps them apart.
(This is not their world, he is.)

"Yes, with my emerald green eyes."
His voice mirrors pure mirth right about now, which doesn't sit well with her at all; she stops her movement midways, frozen in place.

She will scream if he remembers the details.

"What are you on about?"

His grin broadens into a proper smile at her response and it's as if they were catapulted back to the award show night. A familiar type of tickle creeps down her spine. The cigarette between her fingers will burn out.

The clock churns five in the afternoon and it's as if everyone around them dropped dead.

—
Authors note:
So I tried to write more. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Are you on team #narry or on team #heleanor? ( nobodys gonna answer that anyway. It's like im talking into the void.)
Anyway, pls comment and vote to show your support.