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River Molina's eyes slipped open slowly, adjusting to the powerful sunlight flowing in through her bedroom window. Her head pounded and her heart ached and she strained to try and remember what she'd done the night before. She knew she'd had some shots... a lot of shots, and she knew she'd texted someone, although she couldn't quite remember who.
She climbed out of bed, making her way to the bathroom and almost startling herself with her appearance. Her makeup from the day before ran down her cheeks in tear stains and her eyes had deep dark circles carved out underneath them. The messy bun she'd thrown her hair into sometime the night before was in absolute disarray, with pieces of hair sticking out every which way. She looked and felt like a mess.
She scrubbed at the makeup on her face until her skin finally showed and replaced the bun with another slightly less ridiculous one and made her way back into the bedroom to see who had been the subject of her late night text.
As soon as she touched the home button and the screen of her phone glowed to life, a small gasp escaped her lips. She had a notification from Instagram... a notification that she had a direct message from Harry Styles.
Seeing his name on the screen made the memories flood back in and she knew at once who she'd sent her message to and exactly what she'd said. She couldn't believe she'd actually sent the message. She remembered distinctly thinking she was going to type it to get the emotion out but not send it because there wasn't much point. There was no way someone with as big of a following as him would message her back... right?
She unlocked the phone and opened the app at once, going straight to her messages. Sure enough, there was an unread one from none other than Harry Styles himself. She took a deep breath, opening it.
harrystyles: Hi, River. To be completely honest with you, I don't usually respond to my messages. I read most of them, when I can, but responding to them all would be such a huge undertaking that I'm not sure I could manage it. I do, however, run my own account. It would feel much too weird and impersonal to me to have someone else running it.
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that I'm so sorry. I know you didn't say what happened to your sister and I won't ask if you don't want me to, but I could almost feel your pain through your words and I'm sorry. I'm glad I was able to help her in whatever way I could, though. If she was even half as good of a person as you describe her, I'm proud to have had her in my family.
All the love, H
As she watched the screen, eyes full of tears, another message appeared.
harrystyles: Hello again. I'm going to be honest, I can't stop thinking about your message. My heart aches for you and your sister. You said you needed someone to talk to and I'd like to be that, if you want. I don't ever do this and I'm going to be pissed if you sell it on the internet or something but here's my number if you'd like to talk: 456-724-4758.
x H
River stared at the screen in disbelief, wondering if maybe she'd sent a message to a fake account or something. A quick look at the profile revealed that little blue 'verified' check mark and it definitely seemed to be his legit account just judging by the posts and the comments on those posts.
She went back to the message and stared at it a few moments longer before typing a quick reply.
riverelaine: Are you... sure?
His response came almost immediately.
harrystyles: Of course I am. I'm here if you want me to be.
Her mouth dropped before she could stop it. She hasn't expected a response from him at all. She hadn't even intended on actually sending the message, let alone having him see it and respond and... seemingly send her his personal phone number?
Even though she'd never been anywhere near as big of a fan as her sister had, she knew how huge Harry Styles was - it was hard not to. The boy band he'd been in had essentially taken over the world and he was still working towards that goal solo.
She was absolutely gobsmacked that her message had summoned some sort of feelings in him, that they'd been enough for him to respond and actually want to converse with her. Tears rose in her eyes again as she thought of Jasmine. Jasmine would've been absolutely ecstatic that River had gotten a reply, and would've been furious had she not at least sent him a text.
With that in mind, she typed his number into her contacts, filling in the name line with 'Harry Styles' making her feel like she was living in some sort of dream world.
River: Hi. It's River... from Instagram. To be completely honest I'm not sure what to say other than thank you for responding and thank you for giving a shit. I hope you don't mind my awkwardness, but I just know my sister would've been absolutely livid had I not at least sent you a text.
Harry: Hi, River. I'm glad you texted! Would you... like to tell me about your sister?
River: Yeah, but just in case... how do I know this is actually you? Not that I don't believe you it's just that I have a hard time letting people in as it is and I just want to be completely sure I'm not speaking to like an assistant or something.
