Across the Pond

Chapter 22

I wait a few days before going to the bakery to let myself cool off a bit from the other night.  I came to realize I overreacted a bit and I felt bad, so I find myself driving to the bakery to apologize. 

During the drive, I call my mom because I haven't talked to her in a few days.  I still haven't told her about Harry and I don't plan on it anytime soon either.  Maybe at Easter when my family comes.  Maybe.  Right now, I'm just really excited because mom said they're coming to England.  Waster is early this year, so they'll be here at the end of next month.

I skip inside, happily and eager to tell Harry about my family.  He is standing in the corner behind the counter and I slow to a creeping walk as I get closer to him and realize he's on the phone.  He's not facing me, but I can still here what he's saying.

"I know, I'm trying.... No, she's not.... No!  Oh no, I'm not doing that."  His voice is plagued with anger and my face twists in confusion.  "Yea she did last week... I think so."  He continues and my mind instantly races back to what Robby told me the other day about him wanting to hide me.  My face falls when he says, "I don't know.  I can't do this anymore.  We'll talk later."  He grunts and kicks the wall before he turns around. 

"Hey, Tori--- TORI!"  I clear my throat and look down at my nails and pretend to pick at them.  "No, no, no!  Gah!  Tori--" he rushes, but I cut him off.

"This is just a game to you, isn't it?  You used me," I choke.

"No, that's not it--" he tries again, but yet again I cut him off.

"You introduced me to your family as what?  Some kind of a joke?  You made me remember what it's like to have somebody care about again and I was part of a game so you can get publicity?" I spit.  Everything I was going to say when I walked in has completely gone out the window.  I don't know if I can do this anymore.

"No, Tori.  Let me explain." he reaches for my arm but I jerk it away.

"Don't touch me.  You're still that guy from the magazines.  You disgust me" I seethe and turn on my heel quickly to stalk out of the shop.

Everyone in the bakery starts to stare at us during our exchange, but I really don't care.  They should know Harry is the same old Harry and he's not this poor little popstar who can never find anyone real anymore like he tried to make me believe.

"So I guess that means I can go out with Harry again?" Ali smirks as I cross the room.  I basically growl at her as I storm out and run to my car.  I slam my car door behind me and bang on the steering wheel angrily.  I'm really stupid... and gullible.  I actually believed his little pitty party.  I should have known it was too good to be true. 

Robby was right after all I guess; he usually is.

Harry runs after me, but when I see him rushing to my car, I turn the car on and speed away as fast as possible.  I take one last look in the rear view mirror and see me yank at his har.

He's just mad that his secret's out.

When I get back to the hotel, I run inside to the counter and call for Robby.  He must've noticed the urgency in my voice because he comes running from the break room. 

"Victoria?!  What's wrong?" he rushes.

I swipe my thumb across the corner of my eye and shake my head, "I'll explain later.  I need a new room for just me.  Anywhere.  But now" I instruct.

"I can't exactly just do that.  It'd be great if you could tell me what's going on so I can help you better."  He moves to the computer to search the room availability and I look nervously out the front door to make sure Harry isn't here yet.  Knowing him-- well I guess I don't really know him as well as I thought-- knowing the Harry I thought I knew, he'll be bursting through the door any second.

"You were right... about Harry" I confess as he continues searching.

"I only have one room on the first floor." Robby informs me. 

"I'll take it, but hurry because he probably followed me." I rush him.

"Okay, okay.  Here" he hands me the envelope with the key from under the counter.  "You can't have it for too long though" he calls after me, but I'm already racing towards the door to the hall.  "I'll come by to check on you soon" he adds and the door shuts behind me.

I end up going to the opposite side of the hall at first and sprint to the other side.  I don't know why I'm rushing so much at this point.  If he's not here yet, he's probably not coming.  I slow to a walk halfway to the other side and enter the new room slowly.  I throw my purse on the bed, defeated.  I just want to scream and cry; I settle on the second option.

It's really all my fault.  I let myself get too invested in Harry even though I warned myself of this in the beginning.  He actyally seemes genuine; like he went back to  being his old self before he was famous.  I trusted him... and he played me like a toy.  All the times he touched me and kissed me, it was just an act and just that thought makes my blood boil.

He never changed back to his old self after the fame. 

I flop onto the bed and burry my face in the comforter.  After a few minutes of having my own pitty party, I pull myself together and sit up.  I have to call Liz.

I curl against the backboard of the bed and facetime her.  I look like hell warmed over right now; my hair is a disaster from rolling around on the bed and my makeup is streaming down my face. 

"Tori!" she exclaims as she picks up the call.  Her face instantly falls when she sees what I look like.  "Woah, what the hell happened to you?" she blurts.

"Nice to see you too" I chuckle and instantly feel a little better.  Liz can always help cheer me up, even when I'm feeling my most down.

I take a deep breath before I start to answer her.   "Remeber what I told you the other day about Harry?" I start slowly.

She nods quickly, "What did he do?  Do I need to catch the next flight over there to beat him up?" she asks, annoyed. 

"It was a game" I shrug and her eyebrows furrow in confusion so I continue, "The whole thing, it was a publicity stunt.  He lied to me."  God, it sounds even worse when I say it out loud. 

"How do you know that for sure?"

"I heard him talking about it; he didn't know I was right behind him.  You know how int he past he would be seen with girls just so the media could have a story to write... yea, well that was what just happened... this time with me.  I thought he was past that, but I guess not." I bite my lip and roll my head to the side. 

"Are you sure?  I mean, I bet he's differnt now.  Did you talk to him?

"Whose side are you on, Elizabeth?" I bite.

"Yours obviouslyly.  I'm just trying to understand what just happened.  Just the other day, everything was all good and now this?  There must be something more.  So I just asked if you had talked to him yet." she explains but I shake my head.

"I just told you."

"But he's so hooottt" she jokes and I chuckle again. 

"Yea, well." I sigh. 

"So are you going to talk to him?" she asks.

"Hopefully not."

"Why?  I thought that's how relationships work.  You have a disagreement or a bump in the road, and you talk about it.  Kiss and makeup and move on."

"I don't wanna" I whine and just then, there is a knock at the door.  I glance over at the door skeptically, but get up to check anyways.  I peek through the peep hole and see a guy standing there with brown hair.  "Liz, I have to go.  I'll call you back later."  Before she can answer, I hang up the call and slowly creek the door open.

A/N:

Sorry this chapter is kinda short.  The one yesterday was super long, so I figured I give it a break today.  Only 44 more chapters to publish ahaha.  Hope you all are having a fantastic summer!