The press conference

CHAPTER 2 THE SUMMERTIME AND BUTTERFLIES

"Hi Harry, this is Niall."

He went pale. This couldn't be happening. He felt his blood rushing through his body and his skin started to heat up. They both fell silent for a few seconds before he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Hello." There it was again, the silence.

"How are you?" Niall asked him shyly and his blood started to boil again.

"How are you? Are you serious? Cut the crap, Niall. What do you want? How did you even get this number?" Niall fell silent again and he started to feel like a proper twat for speaking like that with him, he was a sweetheart after all. But for now, he just needed answers.

"Look, Harry, I'm really sorry to bother you, I know that you want your space and trust me I thought about calling you for a while before I actually went through with it. But I'm so sick of this. I miss you; I really do. You were my best friend and you ditched me. I thought we were stronger than this and I, I just really miss you. It's been 5 years since I even heard your voice and it's been so long that we've been friends that I actually started to question whether it really happened." Wow, that was a lot. A bit too much for Harry's taste. He tried to collect his thoughts, but the words just wouldn't form in his head.

"Harry, are you still there?" He heard Niall's voice that sounded unfamiliarly tense and he just couldn't leave him hanging any longer.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just don't know what to say." It was true, he didn't mean to be rude, for once, he just didn't want to say anything that he would regret later.

"Okay good, look take your time, but just know that I'm always just a phone call away and this time I won't give up, I want our friendship back. You got my number now, call me when you're ready to talk." Harry nodded his head looking down.

"Yeah, alright. Uhm, thank you for calling, I guess. Bye, Niall." Harry hung up before Niall could say another word and as he did, he could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks. He was a wreck. It took him a single phone call and Niall's voice to totally break down, how could he possibly handle any more than that?

But he just couldn't deny one thing. He had missed him as well. He used to be his ride or die, he had been there for him through the highs and lows of the band, the drama that used to be his love life with Louis and just life in general. The more he thought about it the shittier he felt because he realized that he wasn't the only one that lost something the day he walked away from his life. Other people did as well. Niall for an instance. He lost his best friend and he never even thought about whether he was pissed or sad about it. He let his best friend down.

2010

"I'm so nervous, man. I don't wanna let you guys down, you're all so talented." Niall looked almost out of breath from being so excited and honestly, he felt the same way.

"Niall, why would you say that? You're just as good as the rest of us, maybe even better with these blonde hair and that cheeky grin." Harry pulled him into a crushing hug because fucking hell, he meant it.

"Thanks Harry, just sometimes I feel kinda out of place, as if I don't deserve being on the X-Factor with you. Maybe they think that they could've picked someone better." He had heard Niall say things like that a few times before and it broke his heart, he was one of the kindest people he had ever met and probably his favorite person in the X-Factor house after Louis.

"Niall, stop that, right now. They don't think that and even if they do, they're just stupid, alright? We think you rock and so do our fans, have you checked your twitter lately? It's blowing up, absolutely mad, I'm telling you." The smile was creeping back onto Niall's face and he looked at him with a satisfied grin.

"You're probably right, thank you Harry, honestly I don't know what I would do without you. I know that Louis is your best friend but you're mine." Harry felt tears in his eyes and if he wasn't hugging him tightly already, he would probably jump into his arms.

"You're getting me all emotional here, stop it, lad. But seriously, I love you."

2020

He didn't know what to do after Niall had called him. He felt paralyzed. He was sitting on his couch, phone still in his hand and he was staring at the wall. He most definitely wouldn't call him back immediately, but he seriously gave the whole thing a thought. He missed him. He decided to call his mum, calling his mum always sounded like a good idea to him and he knew that she was always the one who gave the best advice. She picked up after only a second.

"Hi munchkin, how are you?" He gulped; how was he supposed to explain to her that he just talked to his best friend for the first time in 5 years.

"Hi mum, it's me, Harry. Listen, I need to talk to you about something. Niall just called me."

She fell silent.

"Harry, darling, I know."