Always(Trilogy)

Chapter 24

~Allison's POV~

"Harry, you're such an idiot." I laugh. He smiles and wraps his arms around me from behind. 

"Yes, but I'm your idiot." he replies and kisses my cheek. I'm hyper-aware of his hands on my waist, of how close his lips are to my ear.

"You're distracting me." I tell him. 

"Am I now?" the way he says it tells me that he knows perfectly well what he's doing.

"Harry, come on. We're supposed to be setting up for Christmas," I say. "We've been saying that we were going to do this for the past three weeks."

"Allison, honey you know what ends up happening every time we say we're going to decorate the house." he says suggestively. My neck and cheeks immediately turn red remembering last week, and the week before...

"You'd try to put garland on the fireplace and we'd just end up in the bedroom." he whispers. "Then you tried putting decorations on the tree, and we'd end up in the bedroom..." his hands slowly wander underneath my shirt. "And then just last week, you were trying to put up decorations in the kitchen. Except, that time we didn't even make it to the room." the kiss he leaves right behind my ear drives me close to crazy.

"I'm serious this time." I say, trying to sound stern.

"Mmhmm." he hums against my neck, making me laugh. I turn around to face him.

"I mean it." he smiles down at me.

"You're not being very convincing, babe." he points out. 

"Maybe I could be if-"

"If what? If I weren't so...handsome, good-looking," he pauses. "Persuasive." he wiggles his eyebrows. I playfully hit his arm.

"You're pure evil." 

"I love you too." he bends down and presses an innocent kiss to my lips.

I slowly open my eyes, my mind hazy and confused, my eyes feeling puffy and slightly swollen. It takes me a minute to take in my surroundings. I'm no longer on the couch, Harry's not beside me. Instead, I'm in a bed I don't recognize, and in a room that seems slightly familiar. 

I turn my head and spot a closed envelope sitting on the nightstand. I carefully pick it up, my name scrawled in what I recognize to be Harry's handwriting on the outside. My heart drops and then quickens. Something doesn't feel right. Everything is telling me not to open this envelope, that after I do, I'll wish I could take it back. 

I open it anyway.

Allison,

There will never be enough times that I can say I'm sorry, and there won't be enough time to tell you how truly sorry I am and how I regret everything that I've done. 

When we were at the photo shoot the other day, Carol came into my room. She asked me how much I love you. I told her that there was no way to measure how much I love you. She asked me if I would do anything to not hurt you anymore, if I love you enough to let you go. At the time, my answer was selfish. As much as I love you, I couldn't stand the thought of letting you go, of letting you be happy with someone other than me, even though you and I both know you deserve so much better. 

After last night, after I heard the sobs rocking through your body, the tears streaming down your face, I broke down. Eventually you went to sleep and I just held you. As I held you, I thought of everything I had done and I hated myself for a good hour before putting you to bed. When I laid you down, you shifted slightly and a crease appeared between your brows. I kissed it away, and your features went back to being peaceful, despite the tear stains on both of your cheeks. I just stood there, watching you sleep for a while before knowing what I had to do. It literally brought pain to my chest once I thought it, but I knew it was the right thing to do.