Fade {Harry Styles}

chapter 20

Harry stood at the center of the large stage. His eyes ran over the thousands of seats cocooning the platform with a small smile peaking out of his lips. He turned full circle, taking in every sight as his body shifted around to see every crevice of the arena. He ran a hand through his curly hair and stretched his arms out, expanding the black v-neck that was positioned on his torso. 

No wool sweater, no slicked hair, no fake glasses.

He was home.

"Harry!" Liam called from back stage. Harry turned, his eyes sliding over to where the voice sounded from. He found Liam leaning up against a jumbo-sized speaker, arms crossed and a studying gaze on his face.

"We’re doing a mic-check. Let’s hear it." He said, gesturing with a jut of his chin to the mic clutched in Harry’s hands.

He looked down at the device curled between his fingers. It was so natural, yet so foreign. He was so excited that the palms of his hands had begun to sweat and he wiped them of on his skinny jeans before holding the microphone to his lips.

The room around him seemed to fade, everything was turned off in Harry’s mind. The air seemed to freeze in his lungs and it made it hard for him to take a starting breath. Everything just…stopped.

“Little black dress just walked into the room.” He sang. His voice sounded as if it were coming from someone else’s vocal chords. Despite the fact he hadn’t really sang in quite some time, he hadn’t lost a single strand of talent. “Making heads turn, can’t stop looking at you.”

His lips tilted upward, causing him to have to sing through a heartily smile. His eyes scanned the arena again. He imagined the seats filled with thousands upon thousands of screaming girls, all so loud that he could barely hear himself think. So loud that his heart rattled in his chest as if it were threatening to bust out of his rib cage. So loud that he couldn’t stop the smile on his face.

“It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, you know.”

Then something flashed right before his eyes. So sudden that he almost missed the memory. Kelsey, on the threshold of her apartment just before Will’s wedding. Her smile reaching her eyes as a laugh danced its way out of her lungs. It must have been something Harry had said. While she hadn’t been looking, Harry’s gaze had traveled quickly down her body, eyeing the black dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. How happy she had seemed in that moment, and how spectacular Harry had felt.

Harry’s hand dropped to his side, pulling the microphone away from his lips. Harry could feel his heartbeat in his ears and the crimson rising to his cheeks. 

"I think it works."

*    *   *    *    *    *    *    *

Kelsey, halfway across the world, was sitting at her kitchen table across from her brother. Yet she wasn’t talking to him. Instead, she had her phone pressed thoroughly to her ear as the all too familiar voice on the other end babbled endlessly.

"So you didn’t tell him yourself?" Mr. Lynch asked, boredom evident in his voice. Kelsey knew that he really didn’t give a damn about the conversation at hand. All he cared about was the fact that Harry was back in the U.K., ready as ever to pick up the life he was born to live.

"No, sir. I decided against it." Kelsey bit at the little stubs of nails she had left, eyeing Will with a nervous flick of her gray eyes. 

"Good. I think it’s best that he doesn’t know." Mr. Lynch responded.

"That I knew? Why?"

"He has shown that he already has little respect for Modest! as it is. With the situation at hand, it would not be the best thing to inform him that you, someone he seemed to have grown attached to, was instructed to do so because she worked for Modest!."

Kelsey’s heart clenched when Mr. Lynch spoke the word ‘attached’. It had only been 2 days since Marcel had left her standing alone in the hallway of her apartment building, and not one second of those 48 hours had she been able to stop thinking about it.

"It would be best if he didn’t find out that it was all an act." Mr. Lynch added.

Kelsey fought the prick that threatened the back of her eyes. It wasn’t an act, at least not for her. Not anymore. She would never admit that to Mr. Lynch however. She didn’t want him to know anything personal about what went on between her and Harry Styles.

"Sir?" Kelsey asked. Her voice came out stronger than what she had suspected. She felt as if she were about to crack into a thousand tiny pieces, not able to bear with herself at the moment. But she looked up and found Will’s eyes. Filled with so much hope, and drive. He had gone through so much and yet he was the one being strong for her. He nodded once at her, encouraging the words she was about to speak next.

"What is it?" He answered, clearly bored with the discussion.

Kelsey took a staggered breath. She felt it in her expanding rib cage. The weight on her shoulders was just about too much to bear.

"I quit." She breathed.

That obviously got Mr. Lynch’s attention. He sat bolt upright in his desk and Kesley could hear his sudden intake of breath through her phone speaker. “What?” He asked in disbelief, too shocked to sound harsh.

"Kelsey, you are one of the best—"

"I quit." She repeated.

She was all too aware of how good she was at her job. Too good getting in other’s business, tricking and also manipulating people. She was so good at her job that she tricked herself. She was so good that she allowed it to get personal.

Will smiled at her from across the table, glad that she finally had said it. He knew she would follow through with it too. He watched as she hung up for the last time, proud of his baby sister.

"That was fun." He beamed at her.

"Yeah." Kelsey smiled. "I’ve always wanted to hang up on him."

She felt as if a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders, leaving her breathing easier and smiling wider.

"Now," Will said, wheeling himself around the table to grab Kelsey’s wrist. He pulled her with one hand as the other slid along the wheel of his wheelchair as he lead them both to the door.

"Let’s get you a real job.”