Fix You

Chapter 4

January 15, 2016

[Mandi]

I am tossing and turning in my bed right now. It is 3 am. For some reason I'm having nightmares tonight. Everytime I close my eyes I am back in the car and see the headlights or the night that Ethan came home after cheating on me and him hitting me before I finally left. I also can't stop thinking about what Jessie said. Could I really like Harry already? I don't know, I mean he's got the looks, not that that really matters but it's a plus. He's really sweet and seems caring. His beautiful green eyes, the dimple that shows when he smiles. Oh that perfect smile and his voice. His voice is so soothing and sexy. I grab my phone and go onto iTunes. I download all of One Direction's songs. I fell in love with the song Night Changes. I play that and listen to a few others before I finally fall back to sleep.

I wake up and I don't have to work today. I don't know what I'm going to do though. I might call Harry since he said he was there if I needed to talk and it would be kind of nice to talk about the nightmares I had last night. It's 9 am. I think he would be up by now but I don't know. It won't hurt to try. I grab my phone and find the paper he gave me. I create his contact and call him. He picks up after 3 rings? "Hello?" He says and his voice is so deep and raspy like he just woke up. "Hey it's Mandi. I'm sorry if I woke yo-" "No I was awake." He says cutting me off. "Okay well I just need someone to talk to. You said that I could call you so I did." I say and he says, "Yea of course. Do you want to get coffee or something and talk instead of over the phone?" "Sure, What time and where?"I ask and he answers, "How about Cecilia's at 10:30?" "Sounds good see you then." I say and we hang up. This is not a date. I shower and throw on leggings and a t-shirt. I blow dry my hair and put it in a messy bun. I put on mascara and highlight. I see that it is 10:20. Crap I'm going to be late. I put my keys in my purse, grab my phone and walk downstairs. "Where are you going?" Maci says scaring the crap out of me since I didn't know anyone else was up. "No where." I say and Jessie walks down and asks the same question. "I'm not telling you guys." I say and Maci asks, "Why?" "Well for one, I'm going to be late, I don't have time and two you will both freak out." I answer and Jessie says, "You are going to tell us but I don't want you to be late for whatever you're doing." "Thank you." I say and walk out the door. I get to Cecilia's a little after 10:30 and see Harry inside. I walk over to him and say, "Sorry I'm late my roommates which are my sister and my best friend were giving me 20 questions about where I was going." "Oh it's fine. Why were they bugging you about where you were going? You have your own freedom." He says and I say, "You have a good point. They know that I met you and they are fans of One Direction's so they were subtly asking if I was going to be with you." "I see. So are you a fan? Should I be concerned for my safety?" He asks being sarcastic. I laugh and say, "Well actually I just became a fan. I never followed you guys like they did. It's nothing against you or the other guys, I just didn't listen to music too much." "Okay cool. It's honestly nice meeting a girl who isn't completely obsessed with me and or the other guys." He says letting out a small chuckle at the end. "Yea. They freaked out when they heard about your guys' break." I say and he says, "Yea a lot of our fans did. Anyway enough about that, what did you need to talk about?" I wonder why he changed the subject so fast when I mentioned their break? Oh well. "Oh yea. I didn't sleep good at all last night. I kept having these bad dreams. It was either being in the car again that night or a situation involving my last relationship. My ex boyfriend, Ethan, took advantage of me, then started abusing me in more than one way. I didn't leave because I trusted him and I was scared to. He cheated on me one night and I tried to leave. That earned me a huge slap across the face which left a mark for a couple days. He is in jail now, but anyway that's the other dream I was having."

[Harry]

What has this girl not gone through? "Oh my god. I'm so sorry that happened to you. It makes me so mad when women get abused in their homes. It's not right. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that." I say and she says, "I'm not going to say it's okay because it isn't but I'm fine now. Other than the fact that I haven't had a relationship since that happened two years ago." "That's understandable. I don't blame you." I say and she says, "Yea but now my friends are pushing me to get back out there. I told them that I would try but I wasn't making any promises." "Do you know why they are pushing you?" I ask and she says, "I'm not sure honestly." "Okay. How long have you worked here?" I ask and she answers, "3 years. I've worked here since I started college. That's also when I moved here." "Oh okay. Yea I grew up here and left in 2010 for the X Factor." I say and she asks, "Was it hard to leave your family for so long?" "Yea it was, but it made it better knowing that they supported me. It was all worth it though I had the best time in One Direction and I made the best friends I've ever had." I say and she responds, "That's really cool. How close you guys seem to be. That's how I was with my two sisters, we were really close. When Megan died, it was hard but if feel like it brought me and Maci closer. But I'm really close with her and my best friend Jessie." "That's nice. I'm really close with my sister too." I say. "That's really cool. Are you younger?" She asks and I answer, "Yea Gemma's 24 and I'll be 22 on February 1st." "I'm the oldest out of my sisters. I'll be 22 on March 18th, Maci is 20 and Megan was 18." She says and I say, "Nice. So what other talents do you have?" "Well I sing, play a little guitar, dance, and draw." She answers and I say, "So mainly the things involving the arts?" "Yea pretty much. Do you miss being on the road and on tour?" She asks and I answer, "Yea I do miss it, it was a lot of fun. But I am also enjoying this time off, finally being able to relax a little." "Yea I bet it's nice to be able to relax. I mean I could never imagine what it was like being on tour but I'm sure it was very busy." She says and I say, "Yes it definitely was busy." "So where are you staying do you have your own house here?" She asks and I say, "Well my parents have a guest house that they never used so it's pretty much mine. I stay there when I'm here." We both get refills and talk more. "Well I should probably get going, but this was really nice Harry. I'm glad I got to know a little more about you." She says and I look at my watch. Wow we've been talking for longer than I thought. It is almost 12:30, we've been here for almost two hours. "Yea, I didn't realize how long we've been here." We both stand up. I am caught off guard when I feel her arms wrap around me. "Thank you for being here for me. Sometimes it's just nice to talk to someone who doesn't already know everything." I wrap my arms around her and say, "Of course. I'm always here just call me. Okay?" "I will." She pulls away and says, "Bye Harry." "Bye Mandi." I say and we leave. She is so amazing. She's not like the other girls out there. I think I'm starting to like her.