Carrots With Ketchup

Part 9

As I predicted, the vacation was short. Harry had to go back to work and I had classes. He promised me that on his next break he’d come and see me. When he kissed me goodbye at the airport I knew we’d make the front page, but I didn’t care. I was with Harry now, and with any luck Louis was back with Eleanor. I could handle the media attention, but I had to make sure Louis wasn’t mad at me.

The flight couldn’t go by fast enough. As soon as I was off the plane, I was attacked by Melissa. Niall had left for London that morning, back to work. Melissa had waited for me since then, and I felt kind of bad that she had, but at the moment I had to call Louis.

The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Then it went to voicemail. “Lou?” I said, “It’s Josée. Please call me back. I really think we need to talk. Please call me.”

It went on like that for several weeks. I called; he was always too busy to answer. That’s what I told myself, at least. It became evident all too soon that he was ignoring me, declining my video calls and going so far as to block my Facebook and Twitter.

The news said he’d gone back to Eleanor, but I knew the truth. He’d only gone back to her because I’d told him to. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, although it definitely hurt me.

I loved Harry a lot, but I loved Louis more. It was like there was a big hole in my heart that Harry filled mostly, though it was never fully filled. It was like my broken heart was bandaged with Harry, but only Lou’s forgiveness could stitch it up and make it better.

However, both of us were very faithful people. I stayed with Harry, having devoted myself to him, and Louis stayed with Eleanor. I began to believe that he was falling for her again. This was good, I told myself. As he drew back to Eleanor, I could devote my heart more fully to Harry. He was mine and I loved him.

I was glad to hear that Louis wasn’t taking our fight out on Harry. He seemed to understand that Harry had done nothing wrong and remained friends with him. The fault was entirely mine.

As months went by, I still hadn’t heard from Louis and I was seeing Harry less than I wished I could. He helped keep my mind off of things. It had been just over a year since I’d met them when the accident happened.