Soft Side

Chapter fifty-four

"Mind it's hot" I smile at my best friend, handing her a pink spotty mug as she smiles and blows it to attempt to cool it down. "So how are things going with Taylor?"
I smile as she nods slowly, something on her mind. They had been together for a couple of months now so we're beginning to feel serious, which I felt was a mistake after a short amount of time. Although I didn't really have a leg to stand on, I had had a baby with Harry early in the relationship.

"Yeah it's going well, I'm moving in with him so I need to start getting my things" she nods slowly "so I really need to tell Louis" she says softly.

"You still haven't told him?" I ask as Becky shakes her head. "Don't you think you should?" I question as she nods slowly.

"I just don't know how to approach it or even when the right time will be, who knows how he is going to react" she says slowly as I nod, sipping the hot drink in my hands, lifting it as Ariella pads over with a grin at me. I laugh softly, giving her a soft kiss as she moves to Becky for one.

"Wait, what do you mean how he will react? It's Louis? He won't be that bothered surely" I laugh softly as she nods with a shrug.

"You're right" she shrugs with a smile, "I'm just over thinking things I think" she smiles with a sip of her tea, "he'll probably be happy to have me out of this place" she adds.

"When are you moving out?" I ask with a raised eyebrow, lifting Ariella onto my lap, her curls forming on her head to resemble her father.

"Today..." she says quietly as my eyebrows raise.

"Oh god, do you need some help?" I question as she nods, thinking about something. "Niall can come and look after Ariella, he's had her enough, he lives that kid" I smile as she nods again.

"I think Harry's at Louis' Soph, is it a good idea for you to see him so soon? I know how broken you both were" she says slowly as I shrug.

"Becky it's been a month" I say softly as she nods her head in agreement.

"Wait, but that means he hasn't seen Ariella in so long?" She says quickly, raising her eyebrows.

I nod, smiling sadly at the toddler before me. She had grown far too quickly. "Nope, he's been too busy" I state. He was too busy to see his own daughter.

Becky rolled her eyes at his poor excuse, wondering why he would want to miss out on such an amazing little girl. "Only if you're sure" she comments, moving off of the sofa to put her mug into the kitchen sink. I nod with my phone to my ear calling Niall, knowing he would happily look after the happy little girl.

"Of course, I have things I need to give back anyway" I sigh before smiling softly as the Irish accent flooded my phone.

~~~~~~~

I stood behind Becky, a box of Harry's things in my hand as we wait outside the door. The sound of shuffling feet was heard as the wooden door suddenly swang open, revealing the man I knew all too well. Harry. His eyes widened slightly at his now ex girlfriend, his breath hitching in his throat with a slight cough as he greeted Becky, never loosing eye contact with me. Louis smiles as he saw Becky, questioning her about her appearance at the flat. Becky rolls her eyes as she grabs a glass from the cupboard, simply reminding him "I live here silly" as he nods his head simply, remembering that the statement was in fact true.

"Not for long" I mumble as I sit on the arm of the sofa, ignoring Harry's eyes wondering over my body. The way his eyes gazed over the cheetah print floaty skirt, moving up to my chest that wore an acid style band t-shirt. The same look he used to give me when I wore something he liked.

"What do you mean Soph? Beck?" Louis asks, furrowing his eyebrows and looking between myself and Becky, confusion on his face.

"I was uh- I was telling Soph that I'm going to be moving in with Taylor" She nods slowly, Louis nodded in response, looking down at his hands.

"When? I mean, yeah that's cool" He nods as Becky's breath hitches in her throat.

"Um, today" She whispers softly as Louis' eyes widen in response before clearing his throat.

"Thanks for the warning" He laughs. That was the fakest laugh I've heard, and I've heard many. "Right well, can I give you a hand?" He asks, nodding his head towards myself and Harry, the tension thick. "Wait, Soph why are you here? Where's Ariella?" Louis asks raising his eyebrows.

I look up from my phone at the Doncaster lad, smiling softly. "Niall has her, it was quite short notice as you can imagine and nobody else was around, and I knew it would end up being crazy here" I say softly, ignoring Harry's eye roll at the mention of Niall looking after his daughter. "Plus since Becky was coming over, I thought I'd bring the last of Harry's things" I nod slowly as Louis nods, walking out of the room and to Becky's soon to be old room. I stand up, grabbing Becky's keys and walking down to her car, silence was the only sound as I walked in front of Harry, unlocking the car and popping open the boot. I lean forward, grabbing a box from the back seat, turning my head a small amount to see him staring at my ass, realising a small part of it was probably visible to him. I sigh softly, grabbing the box as he takes it from my hands. I grab the second one, planning on coming back for the last couple.

We walk back upstairs, seeing Becky and Louis walk back into her old bedroom. I sigh softly, grabbing my phone and smiling at the screensaver of my-our daughter. "So, how are you doing?" Harry asks lowly as I shrug slightly.

"I'm getting there" I say softly, not wanting to have this conversation right now, but it was clear it was going to happen.

"How's Ariella doing?" He asks as I sigh softly and look at my hands in front of me, with them becoming suddenly the most interesting thing to me.

"She's wondering where her dad is" I say quietly, not letting my eyes leave my hands. Multiple times lately Ariella had been asking for her daddy, which is the hardest thing to hear when he's too busy to come and see her, even for an hour.

"Soph, I was going to come and see her, I really was, but I-" he starts as I shake my head and cut him off. I didn't shout, I didn't cry, I stated a point, letting him know that I was broken, that I was tired of this.

"But you were busy with the band, we get it, we've heard it before" I say quietly, looking at the wrinkles in my small hands, "I was silly to think that maybe if we broke up you'd try harder, or maybe even try to win me back, but I guess I was out of my mind" I say softly, his eyes lowering to his feet, taking in the details of his socks. "That's why I kept all of this crap for so long" I say softly as he nods slowly, "I was holding on thinking you'd come back and realise that there was some way we could make us work, not just for Ariella, but because we love each other, or we did at least" I say quietly as Harry's voice is quiet.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you, building you up to believe we had some sort of forever, planning our future home and having a baby so quickly and so young," he says softly, "it was a real in the moment thing but I really did believe we were forever Soph, none of our relationship was fake I promise" He finishes quietly, looking at me as stand up slowly, grabbing some scissors.

"We should really start grabbing the other boxes, Becky is going to need her car to put her things in" I sat softly as we walk back to the car again in silence. "Have you slept with anybody since?" I ask quietly.

He shook his head quickly, swallowing the saliva in his mouth as he speaks, "No, have you?" He asks as I shake my head, telling him how I couldn't for a while. We walked back up to the flat, smiling slightly at Becky and Louis who were heading out of the door, telling us they were going to grab a cup of tea to have a break from the packing. I nod to them.

"I couldn't sleep with anyone yet either" He says softly as I look at him confused, his body moving to sit on the arm of the sofa. "I just remember how we moved together and it's something I just can't get over" he says softly as I swallow the lump in my throat, my breath hitching when he looks at me.

"I don't know what to say" I say quietly, watching his tall body walk over to me, towering over me as he looks down at me.

"Please Soph, let me love you once more" He says quietly as I shake my head at him, confusion over my features. "Let me love you goodbye" he whispers.