Another World [ON HOLD] (in editing)

Did You Know?

Annie’s POV

I skipped down the stairs and out the door followed by Claire and walked to the park. I wore jean shorts and a white t-shirt. My hair was up in a messy bun, and I had no makeup on, because I know Niall likes it when I don’t wear it. He says I don’t need makeup because I look beautiful all the time. What a sweetie! I got there with Claire and saw Liam, Louis, and Zayn. “Where’s Niall and Harry?” I asked, right as a pair of arms came from behind me and hugged me, walking me forward. “Sup, beautiful?” asked Niall. I turned around and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I saw Harry looking at us from behind Niall and he looked away, scratching his cheek in an embarrassed way. I said, “Nothing much, just that you’re totally going down!” We were getting ready for a mean game of volleyball in the hot sun.

“Ok, well it’s totally on then!” he says back. We picked teams. The captains were Louis and Zayn. Louis picked first. “Harry!” Then Zayn shouted, “Liam!”

“Annie!” shouted Louis.

“Niall!” said Zayn. Niall frowned at him. “Sorry, mate. I’m gonna have to separate you two or else you won’t even be playing.” Niall shrugged and laughed as he joined Zayn and Liam.

Louis said, “Claire, pick which team you want to be on!”

“I’ll be on... Zayn’s team!” she decided.

I gave her a joking look of disbelief and say, “How could you, Claire?”

After about ten minutes, the other team was getting discouraged because, well, we were killing them! Those guys don’t have any idea how to play volleyball! Liam hit the ball over to our side. I looked back at Harry and said, “That one’s your, Haz!” He looked up at me at the sound of his name and said, “Huh?” but failed to hear my message. The ball hit his shoulder and he jumped back and yelled, “Ah!” I laughed, but he gave me a death look. I covered my smile with my hand but continued to giggle. Everyone else was laughing too. Then Harry laughed as well. He called a timeout and asked, “Annie, can I talk to you for a minute?” I shrugged and walked away from the others with him. “What’s up?” I asked.

He looks down and continues walking, saying nothing.

I put my hand on his arm and asked, “Are you okay? You seem out of it lately.” He looked away sighing. “I’ve had a lot on my mind. And I can’t keep it to myself anymore... Annie, I really like you. Like, I know your one of my best friends, but I’ve started to like you more than that. I... want us to be more than... just... friends. And I just haven’t been able to think of anything else. I... I think I love you.” He stopped and looked at me. I had a blank expression on my face, but I felt frozen. I took a deep breath. Slowly and hesitantly I said, “Harry... Y-you know I’m with Niall. I’m just really... surprised. How long have you felt this way?”

“I don’t know. I thought you were pretty from the moment I opened the door that day we met. Then I got to know you, and we became such good friends, and I wanted to be more than that.”

“Harry, I... I don’t know what to say. I mean, Niall and I are-”

He cut in saying, “I-I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I knew this would happen.” He shook his head.

“What would happen?”

“You would reject me.” Now I felt really guilty. He seemed really hurt. How could I do this to him? He’s one of my best friends. I can’t hurt him like this.

“Harry, I’m not rejecting you. We’re friends. Best friends. I’m sorry. I really am, but you know it can’t work because...”

“Because what?”

“Because I... I think I’m in love with...” He quickly looked away with a pained expression on his face. I couldn’t even continue that sentence, he knew what I was going to say next. He knew I was saying that I’m in love with Niall. That I, Annie, have fallen in love with Niall Horan. I could see that I just shattered him. I put my hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away. That really hurt. “Harry, please. Don’t do this. I don’t want this to ruin our friendship. I really value what we have. You know we can talk about anything, even this. But I don’t want you to hate me now for not liking you like that. Please.”

“Do you hear yourself?” he suddenly exploded. “I could never, EVER hate you. No matter what you do. It doesn’t even matter that you just broke my heart, cause I could NEVER hate you.” I looked at him through teary eyes, seeing his well up with tears as well. “This was a bad idea,” he said. “Here, take it.” He shoved a piece of folded paper at me. “I need to go home.” His voice broke and he quickly walked away, leaving me standing there staring back at everyone else. He kind of made a scene, and now all eyes were on me as Harry stormed away.

I walked back in a daze on shaky legs. Louis was already following after him calling, “Boobear, wait! Come back here!” I went straight to Niall and buried my face in his shirt. He put his arms around me and said, “What’s the matter?” I shake my head and break into sobs. I can’t believe I just broke Harry’s heart. It breaks my own heart to know that I just did that. I looked up into his blue eyes. I got some control over my voice and asked, “Did you know?”

He looked confused. “Know what?”

“That Harry loves me?” I whispered.

“W-what? Harry loves you? Is that what he wanted to talk to you about?”

“Yeah, and now I broke his heart cause I said I’m in love with you!” Hot tears formed in my eyes again.

“You’re in love with me? Oh Ann, I love you too!” he beamed.

I looked at him with a concerned face. “This wasn’t exactly how I wanted to tell you. What about Harry?”

“I’ll go talk to him. Don’t worry. He just gets emotional. He’ll be fine. Come here.” He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me on the lips gently, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. He whispered once more, “I. Love. You. Annie. Brooks.”

Heat burned in my cheeks and my insides went all fluttery. I smiled with blurry eyes and felt his lips kiss my forehead before he let go of me. He followed after Louis. Zayn and Liam look at each other. Zayn said, “We should probably go check on him...” Liam nodded.

I said, “Okay. Please tell him I’m sorry. He wouldn’t listen to me. Claire, come on. I need to talk to you.” She followed me down the middle of the back road and I told her everything. I was getting all teary again as I choked on the words, telling her how horribly awful I felt about breaking Harry’s heart. I looked up with a few tears rolling down my cheeks just in time to see a small car whipping around the corner, wheels screeching to a halt and-

CLIFFHANGER, MWAHAHAHA!