Broken Charms

Epilogue: "Over Again"

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

― Mae West

Harry

Five Years Later

“Come on, Angel. We are going to be late.” I said hoping she would hear me from downstairs.

“I’ll be down in five.” She screamed.

“You said that five minutes ago.” I screamed back at her but she didn’t answer me this time. I looked myself in the mirror one more time. This was the first I was wearing a tux. I had no idea how Astrid managed to convince to wear something like that. Maybe it was because tonight we had to go to the Grammy Awards Ceremony.  One Direction were nominated for the first Grammy Award. I had to thank Astrid for that.

When she moved to London she brought with her about a dozen notebooks, filled with music and lyrics. Her songs. A treasure as I used to call them. So we started working on them with the rest of the band. Unfortunately, our management didn’t like that, so we left the record label and decided to found our own. It took us a while, well, three years to be exact but tonight One Direction had a pretty good chance of winning their first ever Grammy Award.

It was all because of her. Astrid. My angel, who had said no to me when I asked her out on a date as soon as she moved back to London. She had said that I needed to amaze her in order to go out with me. I did amazed her almost after a year of her moving to London and she agreed to go out with me. We took it extremely slowly but we did it right this time. In fact tonight was our one-year anniversary of us moving in together and I knew now she was ready for the ring I had bought for her five years ago. We were both ready for that.

“Hey, how do I look?” she said as she descended the stairs. She wore a long black dress that shimmered when she moved. Her arms were covered with a black lace that matched the dress and made her white skin glow. She looked like a fairy, with her hair tied up in loose bun, unearthly. But it was the revealing cleavage that made her look unbelievably sexy.

“You look…” I had no words. Her red lips curled up in a smile that touched her eyes. She looked so happy. Probably happier that I had ever seen her the last two years after her dad passed away. That was hard on her but she always said that my being by her side had helped her a lot. I smiled back at her. “You are the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I love you so much.” I said truthfully.

“I love you too, Harry. But come, we are going to be late.” She said and took my hand. We rush into the limo we had rented for tonight and we were immediately surrounded by the rest of the band and their girlfriends. Well, technically, Anne wasn’t Niall’s girlfriend anymore. She was his fiancée.  They were going to get married in the summer and Astrid was the maid of honor. She was already panicking about how to organize a wedding so big. Classic Astrid. That was why I truly loved her. It wasn’t her beauty or her talent. It was her selflessness, the way she put everyone’s need before hers, even mine. As I turned to look at her, I caught a glimpse of our future in her eyes. It wasn’t going to be easy but it was going to be worth it because she was mine and she would always be mine.

I held her hand as we stepped to the red carpet. Fans and reporters were everywhere but I knew as long as I had Astrid’s hand in mine I would get through everything.  They were shouting questions at us as we walked. I tried to answer as many as I could and Astrid did the same. She had her own groups of fans, thought they were much more sophisticated than the Directioners. She had worked as a choreographer for many shows and everybody wanted to know what her next project would be.

“Who  knows? Maybe I would choreograph a hip-hop version of Zizel. That would be something new.” She had said when I asked her about it, but now everyone was asking her about tonight and if she was nervous. She was nominated as a featuring Artist with us. She wrote the song, so it was only fitting for her to sing it with us.

“Hey, Astrid. Do you want to go inside now?” I said to her putting a hand at the small of her back. She simply nodded and I led her inside. I could tell she was nervous, but she shouldn’t. Whether we won tonight or not, I would be so proud of her. While we sat through the ceremony I tried to get her mind off of it. We joked about Anne and Niall and the rest of the band and that led to a conversation about which we should play to their wedding. As time approached for our category, she started talking less and fidgeting more. She also started obsessive-compulsively caressing my hand. It was so bad one time I thought she was going to wear away my skin.

When the announcers for the Song Of The Year went on stage, Astrid’s knee started bouncing up and down. I had never seen her so frazzled. Reaching over I stilled her leg. Eyes wide, she turned to me as I whispered: “I love you no matter what.” She smile and buried her face in my neck.

“I love you too. Honestly I didn’t know what I would have done without you. Thank you for not giving up on me when everybody else did.” The weight of her words overwhelmed me and as the pair of presenters in front of the microphone tried to lighten the mood with really bad comedy, I debated whether or not to ask her right here, right now. It would definitely take her mind off of her nerves and I already had the ring in my pocket, so what the hell? A short movie started playing clips of the nominated songs.

When I heard our voices filling the auditorium, I leaned and whispered in her ear as I placed the ring on her finger. She stared at it, her mouth wide open.

“Astrid, from the moment met you on that train you had been my heart, my light, my everything. When I see my future I see us together. I love you as I had never loved anyone before. Honestly I never thought I could love anyone that much but I do. So please will you marry me?” I asked. She turned to stare at me, her eyes filled with tears. A smile spread over her face right as the announcers spoke in unison: “And the winner of Song Of The Year is…” when they paused for dramatic effect, Astrid whispered: “Yes, I will marry you.” And leaned forwards to kiss me.

“With you by One Direction featuring Astrid Williams.” The room erupted in cheers and applause but I was sure Astrid hadn’t heard a word of it; grabbing my face she finished her descent to my lips. The other band members started standing but we were still sitting as I was plastering her face with light kisses. Cognizant of millions of viewers watching this on T.V. she urged me to stand and we followed the rest of the guys to the stage.

As we climbed the stairs holding hands and with smiles that would tear our faces in two, I felt her ring into my hand and I knew.

I knew that everything we had been through was worth it.

She was by my side and she loved me.

She was going to marry me and start a new life with me.

This was the happiest moment of my life.

As I looked at her eyes, I saw her love for me and I knew that I was going to live the happiest moments with her.

Together.

Forever.

 THE END.