Eyes Wide Open

Chapter 19

On the flight home Harry explains to Jacqueline he wasn't flirting, he was trying to be nice. She told him it was fine, hoping he'd drop the whole episode. The rest of the trip was uneventful, Harry stays by her side, making sure she has everything she wants or needs. Then everything falls apart when they get home. She tells him she'll put their things away if he the others want to take care of deciding what to order for dinner. Once she's done she heads toward the kitchen, stopping before entering when she hears her name.

"So what about Jacqueline?" Niall asks, sounding pissed.

Harry shrugs. "What about her, she has nothing to do with this."

"She's your girlfriend, don't you think you need to talk to her about this?" Liam asks.

"Would you guys stop, it's not like we're married. Beside, I need space, room without her hanging on my arm every second." Harry says.

"Why? You want to find some slut that will give you what she's not?" Louis sneers.

Harry smirks, unaware Jacqueline could see and hear everything. "Maybe, I have needs she's not taking care of right now. What she doesn't know about won't hurt her now will it."

Not wanting to hear another word, Jacqueline slips back up the stairs, avoiding the noisy ones. She grabs one of her smaller bags and packs it as quickly as she can. She then walks to the gate and asks the attendant there to call her a taxi. She has the driver take her back to the airport, leaving him a healthy tip, then with luck on her side, five minutes later is boarding a plane to Brisbane.

"Whatever, Mr. I'll never cheat again." Niall says sarcastically. "Food is here, maybe you should go find "girlfriend", tell her it's time to eat."

"No, I'll go." Louis says, heading for the steps. "I think I need some space." He says throwing Harry's words back at him. Louis taps on the bedroom door then opens it, when he doesn't see Jacqueline he frowns. Walking further into the room he looks around, seeing a white sheet of paper on the nightstand, he picks it up. "Son of bitch." He mutters, running back down stairs, he then walks up to Harry and hits him. "I do believe I could hate you right now." He growls, throwing Jacqueline's letter at him.

Niall reaches down, grabbing it before Harry could.
"Harry, you said you need space, well I'm going to give you plenty. Don't try to find me, I guarantee you won't. Go fuck whoever you want, I'm giving you your freedom. Kendall was so right. You're not ready for a committed relationship.
Oh, another thing, you're the one who assumed I wasn't ready for us to have sex. Well genius, you never asked or tried. Now you'll never know.
Jack Tay.

Harry's eyes widen when Niall reads how she signed her name, if she had signed it Jacqueline or any other way he knew he might have a chance of winning her back. But her using her pen name, he knew he'd lost her for good, all because of his mouth, and damn insecurities.

"Wow, really fucked the pooch with this one." Niall says as he opens the food cartons. "Using her business name? Don't know what to say about that."

"Nothing else to say, it's over, done." Liam says, not feeling sorry for his friend, he deserves it.

Harry stands up. "I'm not hungry." He mumbles, ignoring the pain in his jaw where Louis hit him.

"Were we to hard on him?" Liam asks, taking a bite of his food.

"I don't think so." Louis says. "Something is wrong with him, I'm just not sure what. I heard him say something the other day to Jeff about us taking a break for a few years."

Niall's head jerks up. "Us, the band? Why? We're at the top, the best in the world right now. Why would he want to do that?" He asks.

Louis shrugs. "Maybe he needs space from us too." He whispers, causing tears to enter Niall and Liam's eyes.

The next few months for the boys were difficult, but they finally got the album done. As they sit in Jeff's office discussing the launch date another argument erupts.

Niall has had enough. "Stop, this is all we've been doing for months. We never fight like this." He yells, which he never does. "Harry, do you want to quit the band? Go solo?"

"No, hell no, never." Harry says quickly. "But I do think we all need a break, do our own things for a few years, then come back together bigger and better, stronger than before." He says, tears in his eyes. "Guys I'm dying here, I need to find her, I can barely function without her. Please give me the time to at least try." He begs.

Jacqueline starts to change the radio station when the next words have her hand freezing. "The next song is the newest single from One Direction, it was announced today that they will be splitting, going their separate ways to pursue their own careers, we wish them all the best of luck. This is Drag Me Down."