Another Word For Love

Backstage

As the boys closed out the concert, Paul came up to us and escorted us backstage. Andrew, of course, was nearly jumping out of his skin, he was that excited. I was dreading this. I didn't like Harry and I was dreading seeing Irish again.

We walked backstage and immediately, five heads turn to greet us. I waved awkwardly and shoved Andrew in front of me. Of course, that didn't do much, seeing as I'm nearly two feet taller than him. Niall jumped right up, came over to us and grabbed my hand to lead me away from Andrew and into the middle of the cluster of boys. "Lads, this is Emma and her brother Andrew!" he introduced us.

Harry looked me up and down and smirked. "Well hello there, gorgeous. I'm Harry, but of course you knew that already." I sneered at him and turned away from them, back to Andrew. "By the way, I didn't come to see you, pretty boy. My brother did. I'm just along for the ride." Andrew gaped at me and hissed in my ear, "Emma! You can't talk to him that way! That's Harry Styles!" I looked at him. "Do you think I care, hon? I don't really like him."

He sighed and shook his head at me, before bouncing over to greet the boys. They all fawned over him, of course. I went and sat down in the corner, pulling out my iPod and headphones and listening to music. After a couple songs, I started scratching the place where my newest tattoo was located, on my hip. Eventually, the itching got so strong that I gave up and lifted my shirt and pulled down my shorts a tiny bit so I could see the tattoo. I was really proud of this one. It was a heart with stitches, with "Never give in, never back down" inscribed around it.

"Being a tease, aren't you, love?" a familiar Irish accent asked. I rolled my eyes. "No, my tattoo is being super itchy and it's irritating me." I replied. "Hmm, let me see. I have some experience with helping Harry with his tattoos." he offered. "Yeah, well, so do I." I answered him, pulling my shirt up farther to reveal a tattoo of a heart stabbed through with a dagger on my ribs. Pushing my sleeves up, I showed him the vines swirling up my arms, which had covered up my self-harm scars from years ago. "Wow, are those all the tattoos you have?" Niall asked me. Laughing, I shook my head. "Nope, I've got a bunch more. I've got lyrics spiraling down my left leg, birds in flight on my neck, a phoenix on my back, and some kanji on my right leg." He gaped at me. "I think that's even more than Harry has. He's only got a couple on his chest and arms." "Yeah, all of mine have stories behind them." I answered. "Well, can I hear them?" he asked hesitantly. I grinned. I love sharing my tattoo stories. "Sure."

"First of all, the heart with stitches represents my struggle with depression a couple years ago. It reminds me to not give in when I'm feeling low. The birds represent my desire to fly away from my problems. The phoenix is meant to represent my rise from the darkest part of my life. The kanji represent my love of Japanese music, food, anime, and manga. The lyrics are from the song that convinced me not to give in at my lowest point. The vines cover up my scars from that low point in my life. Finally, the heart and dagger represents my heartbreak last year, from a girl that promised to love me forever, then cheated on me."

He sat there, blinking at me. Finally, taking my arm, he looked up at me for permission. I nodded. He then ran his fingers gently over the raised lines that would forever mark me as a self-harmer. As I sat, lost in thought, I felt something soft brush over my arms. Shocked, I looked down at him. He was gently pressing little kisses along all my scars, making sure to hit every one of them. I was astounded. Usually, when people found out about my dark past, they generally looked at me as if I was a freak. Not Niall, apparently. "Wha- what are you doing?" I asked, stuttering a little bit. He looked up at me, and smiled that dazzling smile that made so many girls fall for him. "I'm healing your scars, you see? See, I'm kissing them and making them all better." he replied in an adorable voice. I smiled softly at him, but inside I was melting into a puddle because of his adorableness. "Em, please promise me that you'll never do this to yourself again," he said, looking straight into my eyes, I nodded. "I promise." I said quietly. He smiled and, helping me to my feet, handed me something. Looking down, I realized it was my phone. Surprised, I looked up at him. He winked. "You should keep a better eye on your things, yeah?"