Direction Dreamer

Chapter Nineteen

Our first real evening back together, we spent doing what we did when we first began dating: watching movies snuggled up on the couch. I was twenty now, so Lou couldn’t keep me from Harry. He couldn’t pry us apart and he certainly couldn’t tell me that I couldn’t spend my forever with him. He was my fiancé, after all. I wanted to go out, make the complete announcement via the paparazzi to everybody everywhere that I was back, Harry was mine for the keeping, and that every girl out there needed to get the fantasies out of their heads that he’d ever be theirs. Especially that brunette from last night, that was still really bugging me. “Hazza, who was that girl last night?” I asked, looking up at his adorable face glued to the screen. “What, who?” he asked, looking down at me, glowing with happiness that I was back in his arms and not gallivanting around the States. “The one that was all over you last night at the party. She was a brunette, red dress, tall and thin?” I said, hoping he’d remember. “OH. Alicia. She’s an old friend.” he said. “An old friend who kisses your cheek and wraps herself around you like she owns you?” I asked. “She used to like me…” he said. “I swear, Harry Styles… if you did anything with her, I’m going to throw this engagement ring at your face and leave! I stayed faithful for nearly two damn years and I’m not about to lose you to some good for nothing trashy whore that’s probably slept with half of London and the States! What is she a stripper or some-” he muffled my accusations with a deep kiss that diminished my irrational ranting in a second. He released. “No baby. She wanted to be a part of my life, but I told her that I was searching for my perfect girl, you.” he smiled sweetly. “Ugh, how can I be mad at you at all when you say the sweetest things… you jerk!” I hit him lightly in the arm, and he dragged me onto his lap, placing his hands on my sides, and began tickling me. I squirmed and escaped, but he jumped after me, chasing me around the parlor. “Mikaela Rae! Get back here!” he yelled, his arms extended with wiggling fingers. “NO! You’ll never get me Styles! Dream on!” I yelled back, “STOP RUNNING!” he yelled, laughing his head off, falling to the floor and panting. I walked over to him, looming above, and arms quickly grabbed me, pulling me down like a concrete block in a pond. “GOTCHA!” he yelled, tickling my sides and my belly, pinning me down while doing so. “No… Hazza….stop…. I… surrender… you…. win!” I said between giggles. He was laughing so hard at my struggle to get him off of me, that he hadn’t even realized that all of the guys - minus Louis - had walked in. “Look at the love birds back at it!” Liam smiled, and Harry just stared up while I was still pinned. He gave them a quick smile and raised his eyebrows before resuming. “Could one of you get her feet?” he asked, and all of them attacked, tickling me until my laughing caused my cheeks and chest to hurt. I struggled getting up after that, and when I finally stood, they all looked quite pleased with themselves. “Oh come on Mik, you know that was fun!” Zayn said, grinning. “What are you lads here for anyways?” Harry asked, looking puzzled. “Lou’s off his rocker mate, he’s rambling on about leaving the band. Simon’s really concerned.” Niall mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn. “What in the bloody hell is wrong with him lately?” Harry asked, rolling his eyes. “Can you come with us?” Liam asked. “Of course, we’ll just go get changed. Give us a few?” Haz said, grabbing my hand and leading me up the stairs to his bedroom - our bedroom. I found a cute shirt from Victoria’s secret among my belongings scattered across the floor - I still needed to unpack - a peach colored angel lace tank, with black skinny jeans and black strapped heels. I left my wavy hair down, threw on a nice pair of earrings by Lia Sophia and my Alex and Ani anchor that I never took off. I ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth, and apply a tiny bit of makeup in case the paps spotted us. I wasn’t craving any Media attention, but God forbid if I’m seen with no make-up on they’ll go Photoshop crazy and add a ton of acne to my bare face so I they’ll have something to actually write about. The paps were like that, they can take anything that any celebrity says or does and twist it around to make or break them. It’s such a disgusting way to live, weaseling around like that. I guess some people do what they need to do to put food on the table at the end of the day though. I walked out of the bathroom to find Haz buttoning up a cute flannel to go with his jeans, beanie and converse. Boy did he look adorable. He turned around to look at me and whistled. “Damn.” he said, in that accent that made me melt. “You look really sexy in that top…” he drooled. “Thanks.” I winked, I loved teasing him like this. It was all too easy and oh-so-enjoyable. We walked down the stairs back down to the parlor where the other guys were sitting, Liam lecturing Niall on overeating, and Zayn was looking at himself in the television screen. “Ready boys!” I sang, and all heads turned, and all of them had looks to give me. “Going out somewhere special, Mrs. Styles?” Liam asked. “Harry, it looks like she’s going out searching for a replacement!” Zayn grinned. “You look beautiful Mikaela, really… hot.” Niall said. I laughed at him, “You have Jailyne Niall. Remember Jai? Blonde, likes cooking for you?” I said, patting his head. He snapped out of it. “Of course, I love her!” he said, and I rolled my eyes. Time to go find my jerk of a brother. My favorite thing to do when he’s hating on me!

“He refuses to leave… “ Eleanor said, standing with her arms crossed, eyeing her bedroom door. “Lou, it’s Harry. What’s wrong?” my fiance asked. “I’m just trying to wrap my head around some things mate, go away!” Lou yelled. “I can’t. I’m your best friend, best friends help one another when they need it - and you do.” Harry said. “My head hurts!” he said. “What’s going on?” Harry said, his face full of concern for his best friend. No response. “El, do you mind?” Harry asked. “No! Make sure he’s okay!” she screamed, seemingly having a panic attack. I hurried over to comfort her as Harry broke the door down with one swift kick. Damn could that boy kick. “LOU!” Harry yelled, “CALL THE POLICE!” Harry yelled again, rushing over to aide him. I peeked in, Lou was sitting on the floor kind of rocking back and forth there, a trickle of blood cascading down his face. What the hell had he done? An ambulance arrived in a few minutes, and Harry boarded it with his best friend while the remainder of us squeezed into Zayn’s car. The car ride felt like it took hours, but I was eager and nervous to make sure that my brother was okay. We may not have been on speaking terms, but he was still family. If I had learned anything during my time away, it was that family was crucial, they were a rock. Something to never take for granted and to cherish, because not everybody is blessed with one. Family was strength and love, and all of the things that people need in life to make it far. My family, Harry included, was my heart. The saying certainly didn’t go “Home is where the heart is” for nothing. Every syllable, every letter, every word. It spelt out “Family.”

Upon the arrival at the hospital, we patiently waited to hear some results from the doctor, a rather tall, lanky fellow with thick-rimmed glasses and alfalfa hair. He was a piece of work alright. “How’s my boy?!” Mum screeched, walking in at just the right time after receiving a call from El. “Well, he’s stable now, we’ve given him a sedative, he did suffer a concussion and we stitched the head wound. He’ll be fine.” the young doctor said in a nasally voice. Must be a bit of a nerd. I imagined that as a teenager he played Yu-Gi-Ho! and Pokemon, played chess at an advanced level and swooned over girls that would never feel mutually. Poor guy. “Can we see him soon?” Mum asked. “Yes, very soon!” the doctor said and trotted off after something or other beeped in his pocket. Mum wrapped me up in a hug, no questions asked. She said that Lou had already called her to tell her that I was back. She told me how much the girls had missed me, and they were itching to see me. I missed them too. I lost my train of thought after our conversation, dozing off sitting in the chair beside Niall’s in the ER.

“Kaela, wake up love!” Harry nudged me. I toppled over and fell off of my chair on to the floor, sprawled out. The nerdy doctor returned, biting his lip nervously. “So it seems that the boy…” he started. I heard him use terms such as “psychological” and “mental” paired with words like “manic attacks” and “Bipolar Disorder” which was what they diagnosed Louis with. It explained his irrational behavior lately, the mood swings and several other behaviors that El had described to the Doc. We went in to visit and he stared at me with sad, hollow eyes. “Louis, can you please forgive me? I hate fighting. We need each other. We’re siblings.” I said with a weak smile. He shrugged his shoulders and extended his arms, embracing me in a brother-sister hug that made me smile. I took that as a yes. Everybody left to give Lou and El and Mum some time to talk. We never really pinpointed what the root cause of the disorder was, but that didn’t matter anyways. All that mattered was that Lou was okay, he and I were okay, and I had my family back - my whole family. Family was important to me, they made me strong. They molded me into the girl who I’ve become.