The Reunion

"But here I am five years in."

"I read this book a while back, before one direction." He was faced down looking at his palms, posture slumped, and wearing the same clothes as the night before. He sighed looking straight ahead at a wall, with picture frames of awards and certificates Dr. Riley had.

"Harry," she said, cautiously hinting for him to continue. He looked up to her, making eye contact for the first time since this appointment. Twenty minutes had passed, until he finally said something and it was about a book he'd read.

He blew out air from his lips and cleared his throat, "It was essentially the story of the side chick. The rebound, whatever people call it." Dr. Riley nodded taking this in. "This guy had broken up with an ex, the love of his life. After the breakup, he didn't try going for anyone else, wasn't up for dating again. That was until he met this girl. This girl was very hard to get and didn't fall in love easily, but she fell in love with him, and he believed he fell in love with her. They dated."

Harry shifts in his seat and looks down at the floor, "Then the guy's ex came back into the picture and they stayed on friend level. The new girlfriend had allowed them to be friends and tried to befriend the ex too, even. Later on, the girlfriend came to realize he was still in love with the ex, but the guy hadn't come to that realization himself. In fact, when she brought this up to him, he thought it was complete nonsense. All in all the girl didn't want him to settle for her because he didn't love her as much as his ex." 

Harry looks into his therapist's eyes again, "And after ten years, the man is getting married to the ex, and he invited the girl. She didn't go to the wedding because it would've been too painful for her. Why? Because she indeed was still in love with her after 10 whole fucking years. She went to the dinner party, though and was going to just drop off a gift and leave, until he stopped her and asked for a dance. They danced and she was still in love with him, but he was in love with his bride. In the authors note, they stated this was the story of the girl you usually hate or don't give much sympathy to because the story is usually told from the ex's point of view and the girl was just in the way of the real love story."

Dr. Riley stops writing in her notes, "And who do you feel you are?"

Harry a shaky sigh, "the girl."

"You feel that you're the rebound, the side—"

He shakes his head, "No. When I read that book, I told myself I would never be the girl. I would never be in a situation for unrequited love, not for that long. I told myself I would never love someone that much." He sniffles quickly looking away, "But here I am five years in." He blinked away the tears and looked back to his therapist.

They sat there in the quiet for a moment. "You did good today, Harry. A lot has come to light, if you want to take a short break or—"

"We should end here then, there's somewhere I have to be, actually." He quickly rises and walks over to the exit.

"Happy New Year, Harry."

"Right, thank you for coming in for me on this day. Happy New Year also." She nods and gives a small smile before he turns and leaves.

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A/N: I cannot believe I have over 1,000 reads, it means the world and I truthfully never thought I'd ever reach that, so thank you times 3000 ;)

Also the "book" is actually a h.s. fanfic i read when i first got on Wattpad and I literally cried.

-elle