Fairytale Gone Bad √

Chapter 9

BETH'S POV

        I never knew something so wrong could feel so right.

       It was bad that he was kissing me, but it was wrong that I was kissing him back. And yet I couldn't stop. It felt natural the way Harry's right arm curled around my waist, pushing me flush against his chest, and the way his left hand raised to cup my jaw, his thumb gently brushing my cheek.

        It felt right, his lips gently pressed against mine and my hands flat on his chest.

        And of course we'd be interrupted.

        "Harold, get your ass ov-" Zayn shut up abruptly. "Oh, shit, sorry."

     Harry stepped back and I fixed my eyes on the floor, refusing to meet his. What the hell was I thinking!?

      "The meet and greet, of course." Harry cleared his throat. "Sorry, mate, I'll be there, just give me a second."

        Zayn nodded before turning around and disappearing.

        "Beth, I..."

        "No." I interrupted, still staring at my shoes. "Don't."

        "But..."

        "Please." I murmured, finally gathering up the courage to face him. "I can't do this, I'm sorry."

        Before he could stop me, I turned around and did what I always do: I ran away.

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      It was not like I was avoiding him.

     We pretty much lived together, we slept a few steps away from each other, we shared the same friends and all that, but just because I always found something to do everytime we were left alone doesn't mean that I was avoiding him. And just because I didn't talk to him everytime he tried it doesn't mean that I was avoiding him.

       I wasn't avoiding him.

       Who am I kidding, of course I was.

---------- two weeks later ----------

        I was sitting alone in my hotel room, finishing off the email to Mr. de Ville with the latest photos and videos, when someone knocked on my door. Silently praying that it wasn't Harry - even though he'd been ignoring me as much as I was him, at least since he had apparently given up -, I opened. It was Zayn.

        "I know what you're doing." Zayn said, his tone and face very, very serious. He was dressed in nothing but jeans, a beanie, flip flops and a towel hung over his shoulder. How he managed to wear a beanie in Brasil, that was a mistery.

         I put on my best poker face.

        "I don't know what you're talking about." On the inside, I was freaking out. Had he found out about me? About the betrayal, about the photos and videos, about everything?

        Zayn rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows, while shoving his hands on his pockets.

        "You do know what I'm talking about. I'll give you a hint. Harry Styles. Ring any bells?"

        I had like, two seconds of relief. And then I got worried again because I knew where he was going with this conversation.

        "Zayn, seriously, don't." 

        "No, don't you, Beth!" he snapped. I mean, Zayn was harmless most of the time, but in that exact moment he looked scary. "Damn, where are we, kindergarten?"

        I cringed.

        "It's not like that."

        "Seriously? Do you really believe that?" he didn't give me the time to answer. "Beth. You haven't spoken to him in two weeks. Two bloody weeks. It's driving him insane. It's driving us all insane. He barely talks to any of us, all he does is getting the job done, be the usual Harry in the concerts and interviews that all that, and then isolate himself. Even from us."

        "Zayn, it's complicated, okay? I can't talk to him, I can't be with him. He kissed me and that kiss was a mistake."

        Zayn snorted.

        "Didn't seem like a mistake to me and you kissed him back."

        I opened my mouth to fire back, but then I closed it again, realizing he was right.

        "Look" Zayn said. "I don't know who you are, or what you want. But I do believe that if you wanted to do something bad, you'd done it by now. Plus, I trust my instinct and it tells me that you can be trusted. Please don't prove me wrong."

        I clenched my fists tightly, and swallowed the knot on my throat. Oh, if only he knew...

     "And Harry doesn't trust people, okay? I think neither of us do, because we're always expecting to be stabbed in the back. But he has some serious trust issues. Yet he acts in a totally different way around you. And the way you look at each other, it's not like friends do, yeah?" He didn't wait for my response. "He's out in the pool. So, I'd like you to get your ass down there and talk to him."

        "But, Zayn-"

        "No 'buts'." And with that the turned on his heels and slammed the door in my face.

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        Everything is easier when you're like, 6 years old. All your doubts would be solved by puckling the petals off of a daisy while chanting "I will, I will not". I was 20, my problems weren't solved that easily.

        And yet I'd lie if I tell you that it didn't cross my mind to run and pluck all the daisies I could find.

       "Harry?" I knocked softly on his hotel room door. A moment later he opened, with a white towel hung loosely around his waist.

        "Beth?" He seemed surprised to see me. I noticed his muscles flex when he tried to wrap the towel more tightly around his hips, his cheeks slightly pink. "What are you doing here?"

        "I..." I paused, struggling to find the right words. What was I supposed to tell him? 'I'm sorry that I kissed you back, ran away and ignored you for two weeks'?

         In fact, I did exactly that.

        "I'm sorry that I kissed you back, ran away and ignored you for two weeks."

        He bit his lip, his eyes staring at his barefoot feet for a moment.

        "We need to talk." Harry murmured, looking up and stepping away so I could enter his room.

        I did.

Hiiiii!

So, first of all I'd like to apologize because there's a mistake in Chapter 8: the opening act of the concert in Colombia wasn't 5SOS (dumb me), it was a DJ called El Freaky (thank you, Youtube). So I'm sorry about that!

This was kind of a filler, I'll post again this week. Maybe tomorrow, or Wednesday, not sure yet. Enjoy the calm before the storm, there will be around 2/3 chapters more before things start to go wrong. Terribly wrong.

I am so happy that I reached 50 reads. You have no idea, I was like dancing around like a crazy person for almost half an hour when I saw. THANK YOU.

Love x