Soft Side

Chapter seventeen

My spoon was stirring my coffee, round and round as I stare into the cup, my eyes sad as I stand in the kitchen of the tour bus. Niall came behind me, sliding his arm over my shoulder as I smile slightly, feeling his lips press against my head. "Morning" I say softly, finally putting the spoon down and sipping my coffee as I turn around to look at him. I hand him a second mug, coffee wobbling in it as my hand shook slightly.

"Thank you for last night" I say softly, sitting down on the sofa as my eyes stay focused on him, smiling softly while my eyes still hold a little bit of pain. "It's nice to know I have someone to make me happy through all of this" I say softly, sipping my drink as he sits beside me, his hand on my knee. He nods, sipping his own tea with a sigh.

"You need to speak to him" he says softly, "she is his friend from home" he nods. His eyes on his cup of tea as he speaks, telling me what had happened. "I knew her, and I had fallen out with her. I didn't tell you because I wanted to make her feel jealous on some level" he says softly.

I sigh, nodding gently as my lift my phone into my hands. I unlocked it, opening up my messages and hovering over the conversation with Harry, no messages for weeks having appeared in the chat.

I sigh, locking it back up and walking to get changed. I slid on my black skinny jeans and my striped shirt. I did my makeup and fixed my hair, biting my lip as I hold my phone in my hand again. I bit the bullet, texting Harry before I could change my mind. A simple "we need to talk" being sent as I run my hand through my newly straightened hair.

My phone buzzes instantly, my eyes locking on the screen. Harry's name flashing with a short text telling me; "the pasta restaurant down the street, half an hour, lunch on me".

I rub my head gently, walking into the living room, slipping on my brogue flats. "I'm going out" I say softly to Niall, telling him where I was going. He nods, giving me a small wave before continuing to play on his PlayStation.

~~~~~~~

I arrive at the restaurant, walking in and being guided to Harry's table where he already sat. I hung my coat over the back of the chair, ordering myself a glass of wine to calm my nerves. "So" I say softly, my eyes looking at the wine glass in front of me. The air between us was thick with tension, neither of us letting the explosive argument leave our minds as we sat opposite each other.

"Is this the moment I'm allowed to explain?" He says softly, his eyes watching me as I nod gently, urging him to continue his words. "She's my best friend from home. I brought her here to show her what we've been doing and how it was all going. I've never dated her or slept with her. I was going to take you to meet her when we went to mine but she was working away from home. We met at school and became best friends when nobody else would talk to us" he says softly. His eyes never leaving my face as I keep looking at my wine. "I swear to you soph, nothing happened. Kira for example, she was trying to get into my head. She wanted nothing more than to rip us apart and she won. Do we want her to win still?" He says softly, tears filling his eyes.

"I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for everything I said to you the other day. I meant none of it, I was just so angry" Harry sighs. His fingers running through his hair as his face shows regret.

Neither of us noticed that the food had arrived and was now sat before us. My eyes not moving but my ears taking in every word he was saying. Something in his tone sounded overwhelmingly genuine and like he really did mean this.

"You really mean that?" I whisper, my eyes staying low before taking a deep breath.

"Soph I love you. I love you more than I've loved anyone before and the fact this has all ended had broken me. I miss you. I need you back" he says gently, his hand gently touching mine across the table.

I couldn't stop the words coming out of my mouth. It was like verbal diarrhea. "You broke me, you really hurt me" I breath out, not moving my hand from his. "But I miss you. I miss you more than ever" I say softly, slowly lifting my eyes to meet his, the green orbs I had missed seeing and had missed spending time looking into.

~~~~~~~

"Liam you had the thought to tell him so you can do it" Louis huffs.

"No chance, you found out first so you can" Liam retorts.

"Why don't we just not tell him?" Zayn shrugs, Louis shaking his head.

"I think you should tell him" Louis says to Zayn, Zayn shakes his head quickly.

"No chance, no way am I dealing with his fights" Zayn shakes his head, "you tell him" he says to Liam.

The door opened revealing Harry and myself. "Tell me what?" Harry says raising his eyebrows.

"Uh- noth-" Liam starts.

"Soph and Niall slept together" Louis blurts, receiving a slap to the back of the head by Zayn.

A loud laugh left Harry's lips as he looked at me, a laugh leaving mine also. "I know" he says still laughing, "have you been under a rock the last few days?" He says trying to catch his breath. "We've sorted it all now, we're taking it slow-ish and building up that bond again" he nods.

"But we have just slept together" I shrug, whispering to him quietly, squeezing his ass in my right hand, my lips smiling as I walk away from them all, and back to find Molly. I hadn't seen her all day and again so much had happened in a short time.

It was true. We had slept together. We were both vulnerable while it was happening, but that seemed to make something click, and make us realise that something kept bringing us back together. Something was tempting fate and keeping us trying at making it work. I just hoped that this time it did work out, but for now it was being kept quiet. Just until we made it further.

~~~~~~~

I stood beside Becky, the tension filling the air as I sigh. She had no idea what was happening with me and Harry now. I groan, turning to face her. "I'm sorry" I state, looking at my hands. "I'm sorry for everything I've put you through" I say gently, keeping my eyes on her to find a reaction.

She nods, keeping her eyes on the stage. "It's okay, I mean I kind of get it. If my boyfriend was seen with another girl, I'd probably have reacted the same" she shrugs, eventually turning her head to look at me as I look at Harry and smiling softly.

"Truce?" I laugh, making eye contact with her. "I know how much you mean to Barry and I can't stop you two being friends... I just hope you can support us if we decide to move forward" I continue gently. I could tell she would be an amazing friend, and I couldn't deal with this awkwardness anymore. I felt like I wanted to get to know her more and find out how they met, what their story was.

She nods, "truce" she repeats as she pulls me into a tight hug. I see Harry smile softly at the sight of the love of his life and his best friend making friends. "Let's go and get a drink, get to know each other properly, I need to find out what Harry likes so much about you" she laughs, linking arms with me happily.

I nod, following her into the bar at the front of the arena. I knew a lot of people wouldn't recognise us as the fans would be inside of the arena, seeing the boys performing. We ordered a cocktail each, sitting down on a stool near the back of the bar. I place my bag down beside me, my phone on the table to see if Harry had text us. I knew I wanted to find my love with Harry again, and I was sure he wanted the same thing.

"So," she starts, sipping her drink "tell me the entire story" she continues, looking at me intently.