The Way Things Work

Chapter Ten

“WHAT THE HELL!?” Harry turned toward Rob.

“What? It’s like I said before, she doesn’t matter!” He rebutted.

“SHE DOES TOO-“ Harry dropped off at the fear of a leakage of his true feelings. 

“Look Harry, in retrospect, she doesn’t. She is a tool we are using simply to fix up your reputation. It sounds harsh, but I do not really care what happens to her. For all I care, after we are done with this, she could kill herself and it won’t matter-“

“YOU HEARTLESS SON OF A BITCH!” All turned to stare eye to eye with Simon. “YES, HARRY’S IMAGE IS IMPORTANT BUT THAT IS A HUMAN BEING!” 

“A HUMAN THAT DOESN’T EVEN VALUE HER OWN LIFE! SO WHY SHOULD I?” Rob stepped closer to Simon as the rage devoured his eyes.

“Because you’re the adult, and-“ What would happen next would prove to be a huge mistake, “You’re fired.” 

With the shot of those words Rod stepped back and lunged forward. Harry intercepted him, feeling partially responsible, and took a blow to the face. Harry hollered in pure pain as Rob kicked his sides inward. Harry refused to fight back though; he just laid at the mercy of Robs muscular limbs. Paul had finally pulled Rob off of Harry, it was too late, the damage was done. There were no serious injuries: a black eye, a bruised cheek and rampant discoloration and pain in his torso. 

“Harry!” Louis leaned over and held his head up gently. This was a major moment seen as Louis and Harry have barley talked for three months, since Harry punched him in the face over a spilt drink. Harry simply groaned at the severe, yet harmless, pain that radiated from his new wounds. “Are you alright mate?” Harry shook his head ever so softly to the side and began to let out the tears that had been pent up for a year. “Give us a minute guys?” Paul, Simon, Liam, Niall and Zayn made their way to the opposing side of the arena. Louis could do nothing but hug his lost friend and missing memories.

“How did this all happen?” Harry murmured to Louis who released his, but still supported his by the arms.

“What do you mean?” Louis looked at him, slightly confused.

“We used to be best friends, I was never such an asshole and I used to be okay with letting the girl I love know how I feel.”

“Whether you want to believe it or not, that relationship with Angel wasn’t just toxic, it was plain abusive. You were hurt Harry, we know that.”

“Then why did you leave me to suffer alone?!”

“We tried not to at first, but soon enough you took everything as an offence and then the drinking started: which is still a problem-“

“No it’s not!”

“See what I mean?” Harry sat, shocked at his epiphany.

“Sorry.”

“Harry, I want to believe that all of this is over, but it’s not. This fix is temporary. In the Americas, you don’t see the British tabloid and you can’t get your hand on alcohol; when we get back to London it’s going to be-Hell it’s going to be hard. We can work at it.”

“Thanks, it’s nice to have my best mate back.” Harry smiled as Louis as he helped him up.

“LARRY STYLINSON!” Niall screamed from across the arena as he saw the two pull a ‘manly’ hug.

They walked over and soon met up in the centre.

“Look, we are going to be heading back to London in three days or so.” Simon dropped his head.

“I thought we had two weeks left?” Liam raised a brow. 

“We did, but before I could get in touch with everyone to spread the news about Rob he cancelled the meet and greets and talk shows.”

“What?! That’s not fair!” Zayn protested. 

“I know boys, but hey maybe it’s time for a break. We can try to get everything in order.” Paul said trying, and failing, not to eyes Harry on those last few words. “Let’s get ready for the show, one left after tonight boys!” 

You walked off of the plane drained of everything, especially mentally. You couldn’t figure out what was going in any of the aspects of your life right now. You walked off of the plane and stared at the clock. It was 8:30 in the morning. 

“That was a long flight.” You exaggerated to Sarah.

“I know babe! I am wiped but I won’t sleep, if I do I’ll never get any tonight.”

“Yeah same.”

“What time is it at home-I mean New York?” She tumbled yet laughed at her minced words.

“Around 3:30 am.” 

“This will take some time to get used to.”

“I know, right?” You giggled. “Oh hey, our phones.”

“Right!” You both removed them from airplane mode; within a second of turning back your reception your phone went off. “What’s up?”

“I got a missed call, or three, from Harry. Should I call him?”

“Go for it, must have been important.”

You dialed his number, fearing something has gone wrong.

“Hello?” A groggy voice on the end answered.

“Harry?”

“S-Sam?” He seemed to awaken as if he had smelt coffee brewing in the kitchen.

“I-I’m sorry, did I wake you? Let me call back-“

“No, no. I only fell asleep like an hour ago, I was-I was waiting for you to call.”

“Really?” You said in utter shock.

“Yeah, I wanted to apologize for before.”

“It’s fine, thank you for supporting me-“

“Yeah well look, don’t expect that anymore okay? I took a lot of shit when I got back for that!” His tone darkened and his voice lowered.

“Oh I-I’m sorry, I w-won’t.”

“Good, now anyway, Rob got fired.”

“What?” 

“Yeah, it’s too long to explain now so I’ll explain it in two days.”

“Why two days?”

“Well, we have a concert today and tomorrow and we are leaving tomorrow night-“

“I thought you had like two weeks left-“

“Would you shut up and listen?” There was no joking in his tone, he was serious. “Thank you.” You could practically see his sarcastic smirk. “Anyway, I’ll explain it all in two days.”

“O-Okay. Sorry to bother you.”

“You should be.” And with that the line went dead. To actually think that he cared. 

“What did he say?”

“Not much, they’ll be back in two days though.”

“Why?”

“He wouldn’t say.” You bowed your head as a single tear rimmed your eye.

“Babe, what happened?”

“You know, more of Harry.” You sighed a laugh.

“I’m sorry.” She took you into a hug and with that you met Eleanor out side of the bathroom and headed to your knew home.