Fade {Harry Styles}

chapter 23

Harry sat on one of the couches in the tour bus. The boys were still inside the arena, and in all honesty Harry felt bad for ditching them. However, after the news he had just received he was in no way going back in there. He was relieved to be alone. He didn't need Liam patting him on the back to say everything was going to be fine, he didn't need Zayn nodding in agreement to everything Liam said. He didn't need Niall and Louis trying to crack jokes in order for him to cheer up a bit. All he needed was to be alone and process what he had just been told.

Harry felt sick to his stomach, not because of anything that he had eaten, but the poison in the words Kelsey had fed him. It was sickening.

He rubbed his calloused hands along his face in frustration. Like every person who had something completely unexpected flip their life upside down, Harry asked himself how he hadn't seen it before. But in all honesty, she gave him no reason to think she was nothing more than a friendly neighbor in his apartment building.

There were no tears prickling in the back of Harry's eyes. Only anger.

At first when Kelsey had told him, Harry had remained calm, collected. After all, it takes months to build up a sturdy relationship and only a few words of anger to make it come crashing down. He remained under control, which surprised even him. But as the seconds ticked on, and the moments passed, Harry could feel his anger in every bone in his body. It caused him to shudder and shake in his spot. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white in only a matter of seconds.

Don't break anything. He told himself over and over again.

A year ago Harry would have grabbed everything in his path and thrown it against the wall. It was the only way be seemed to express his anger. But he had changed, whether he was aware of it or not. He was still capable of great anger, but it wasn't freely lurking above his head, threatening to destroy anything that got too up close and personal.

His cheeks were flushed pink. Whether it was from frustration, fury or pain he wasn't sure. He couldn't believe himself. He had finally found a girl who he was willing to try for, and she ended up being just another fake. Harry had dealt with those kind of girls before. Those were the ones he had chosen for his one night stands when he was still into that sort of thing. Yes, they were fake as well, all they wanted was a chance to say they had been with Harry Styles, even if it was only for one night. But he at least knew they were fake. This one took him by so much surprise he didn't even know how to comprehend it.

He clawed at his face as he tried to wipe every memory of the girl with frizzy blonde curls and gray eyes from his mind. If only it were actually possible.

The thing that was the most upsetting was the fact she was crying. Harry had always been a sucker for girls with tears in their eyes, and Kelsey was no exception. He could see her eyes glimmering with salty droplets even in the night. Was that fake too? Was she just that good of an actress? Or did she actually mean it? Harry wasn't quite sure. He was so confused about everything to do with the girl that he couldn't even straighten out his thoughts that concerned her.

Just an hour to two ago, Harry was on the brink of exhaustion. Now however, the thought of sleep didn't even cross his mind. He couldn't keep his body from fidgeting and his brain just wouldn't stay quiet.

He decided to walk it off.

* * * * * * *

Kelsey sat on one of the benches by the light rail crying her eyes out.

She didn't think that the train would be coming any time soon, and the goosebumps on her skin were so prominent one could see them even in the little light the night provided. But she could barely feel it anymore. Perhaps she thought to cold would numb the pain, or the pain would numb the cold. Either way, the look on Harry's face was the only thing on her mind. The curls near Kelsey's temples fell in her eyes due to her face being cast down, she didn't want any strangers to see her like this, but there didn't seem to be many around anymore. Her eyes were so full of tears she had trouble seeing the tracks in front of her.