Afterwards: An "After" Fanfiction

Chapter 22: Half The World Away

A/N: Hope everyone is hanging in there! What a wild year. At least New Years can come quicker when we write about it!! Hopefully Tess and Hardin will have a good one...ANYWAYS let me know in the comments what you thought about After We Collided, and let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks so much for reading!!

Spending Christmas with Hardin was bittersweet for Tessa. Both of them knew that in a little while, they would be forced apart by distance. One Direction's European tour was pushed up a few weeks, which meant that Tessa would be hopping a flight back to America alone.

"Vance said he'd let you have as long as you needed." Hardin bargained, his fingers entwined in Tessa's hair as she lay against his chest. The house was quiet; Vance had flown home to be with Kim, and his mother was fast asleep. Although the lights were out in Hardin's childhood room, he lay wide awake with the girl he loved in his arms.

Tessa hugged him closer. "Yeah, but not an extra month off to follow you around on tour. I have to work pretty soon after New Years and the flights home will be a nightmare by then."

Frowning, Hardin racked his brain for a solution. He didn't want to be separated from his girlfriend so easily. "I thought we could at least spend New Year's Eve together. But if you have to work, I guess not. What if I pay you to follow us around? You can be our band journalist or something...write articles about our shows."

A light laugh left Tessa's lips. "As much as I'd like that...I really do want to do well at my publishing job. Even if my boss is your dad—I'll never really get used to saying that."

"Not a word to Landon or anyone else about this, okay?"

"I promise." The wall clock ticked louder and louder as the minutes slipped away. Soon, Tessa would be boarding a plane home. "I'm gonna miss you." She leaned up to place a chaste kiss on Hardin's lips, but it soon turned into something more passionate. "What are you going to do without me for so, so long?" She allowed her hand to slip beneath her boyfriend's shirt. Her fingers found his abs, then trailed lower.

"What am I going to do without you for so, so long?" Hardin repeated, flipping their positions so that he hovered over the girl's smaller form. His elbows flanked her reddening cheeks. "Better make the best of it, yea?"

She answered with a kiss, craning her neck to meet his mouth. Their clothes came off quickly and naturally, like the instinctual flow of a river. "We should take it slow for once." Tessa whispered before grabbing Hardin's dick. "I want to remember this while you're away." They had remembered the condom this time, and Tessa took it upon herself to put it on for him.

"I remember every minute I've spent with you." The other replied after nudging Tessa's thighs apart with his knees.

"That's sweet, baby." Catching Hardin off guard, she reached off the side of the bed for something else. "I do too but I thought we could make it a little easier to remember this time."

"We already have a condom what else—" His eyes grew wide as he focused on the object she held in her hand. "You want to...record us?"

Flushing, Tessa nodded. "I don't know, I just thought it might be fun. We don't have to if you don't want."

"Fuck, you're perfect." When she handed him her phone, the camera app already open, he pressed record and propped it up against the nightstand. Without wasting another second he sucked at the skin on her collar bone. "I hope that when you watch this, while we're apart, you see yourself as I see you now. You're beautiful Tess."

She nearly came apart from his words alone. "I love you."

"I love you more."

He made love to her then, alternating between tender and impassioned. One moment Hardin was fucking her from behind, holding her hands tightly behind her back—just how she liked it—and the next, he was cradling her face in his hands and placing gentle kisses across her forehead. It was the confusion burning inside both of them that sparked the disjointed session, both of them happy to be together but fearful of being apart.

Finally, as her breathy moans began to get louder and those luscious lips he loved parted to release a soft cry, Hardin grabbed Tessa's phone and focused on her gorgeous face. "That part was for me." The boy winked before tossing the device aside to finish inside of her.

"Your mom did have a lot of wine tonight but I'm just hoping it was enough to keep her sleeping through that." Tessa sighed, her chest still heaving as she caught her breath. Hardin was still collapsed on top of her, and she moved some hairs from his sweating face as they lay together.

"She's fine." Hardin mumbled, his mouth smushed up against Tessa's breast. "Did we get all that?" He asked after a while, reaching for the phone. "Imagine it was facing the wrong way this whole time or some shit like that."

Tessa giggled, checking the device herself. "No, we got it alright." A blush stained her pale face once more. "Here..." Within a second she air-dropped the sexy video to her boyfriend. "Now you can think of me while you're on tour. You better not cheat on me." She challenged, grinning a little.

He lightly shoved her phone away, pecking her temple and pulling the covers over them both after they had cleaned up. "I'll always think about you, Tessa. Only you, no matter where I am. Even if I'm half the world away."

He had drifted off to sleep then, still nestled against her bare chest. When his breathing had evened, she whispered smugly to herself. "Hopefully that won't be for as long as you think."

What Hardin didn't know, was that they would only be apart for a few days at most. Tessa and Trish had made an in-depth plan while Hardin and Christian were speaking: Tessa would fly home and work for a few days as scheduled. But then, for New Year's Eve, Trish would fly her back to the UK to see One Direction perform as a surprise for Hardin. Vance would help with the cost of the tickets. Everything was planned and scheduled down to the minute. The only challenge was keeping it a secret from Hardin until nearly midnight on New Year's Eve.

Tessa could barely contain her excitement. Hardin had spoken about wanting to see her in the crowd at his hometown show, and now it would become a reality. With a plot this air-tight, there was little room for error. Everything had to go perfectly...or so she thought.

A/N: Dun Dun Duuuuunnnn!!! See what happens next when Tessa flies back to surprise Hardin on tour! Thank you for reading my lovelies!