It's just an article {h.s}

Chapter 13

Just as I'm about to fall asleep I'm shocked awake by a loud ringing noise coming from the side of my bed, the incessant, annoying noise ringing throughout the apartment. Groggily I roll over in bed and groan, pissed off at being woken in the middle of the night, before turning to face the clock by my bed. Twelve fucking thirty in the morning! This better be a fucking emergency, I swear to god.

I don't even check the caller id before picking up, too tired to even think straight at this point and maybe a bit frustrated that this could easily be some asshole scammer wasting my time.

"Hello?" I say, frustration ebbing into my voice along with the effects of my still half asleep state.

"...Alanah?" I hear a croaked voice on the other line stutter out. The voice takes me by surprise because, despite the deeper tone, I recognise it instantly. For some reason, Harry is calling me in the middle of the night. I'm unsure if his croaky voice is due to the late hour or if something is wrong, however, I have a bad feeling it's the latter. Something just doesn't feel right. A late night call and a cracking voice, there's no way this can be good. I just hope that whatever it is isn't too bad.

"Harry?" I ask.

"Um...yeah it's ah..it's me. I'm sorry for calling, I...um I know it's late." Harry says, somehow sounding worse than before, his voice sounding even more gravelly. In all honesty, he sounds like he's been crying which does nothing to ease my worries.

"No, no it's fine, I was awake anyway. Are you okay? " I say.

I don't know why I lied to Harry and told him that I was awake, in all honesty, it came out before I could even think about it, but that's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm starting to get seriously worried that something is wrong and I know that if he called me off all people then it must be bad. After all, you're not willing to call someone you barely know over a small inconvenience, even if you're friends with said person.

"...I'm...I'm not sure. Zayn....um Zayn he..um he left the band."

"...He left?" I say, completely and utterly confused.

How could he just leave the band, and in the middle of a tour no less? Surely there are contracts in place to prevent that? If I'm feeling this confused I can only imagine what Harry must be feeling. To me, it seems like this has come out of nowhere. I mean I know that rumours have been going around that he might be leaving, Kayla was very upset when she first heard those, but as far as I was aware they held no merit. In fact, I'm pretty sure Kayla even mentioned that Zayn flat out denied those rumours not too long ago.

But... the Zayn I saw at the concert last week didn't exactly seem like the poster child for someone who was having a good time. He was on his phone basically the whole time before the show, not really talking to me or any of the other boys, and I don't even remember seeing him at the after party. Looking back on it now he almost looked like he didn't want to be there at all. Maybe there really was something going on all along. Maybe this has been building for a long time and it's not really as sudden as it appears.

"Yeah...he's...um...gone. I'm not sure if he's coming back...I just...I don't know."

"Oh god Harry, I'm so sorry," Harry sounds awful over the phone and I can only imagine how hard this is hitting him. All the boys are so close that having one of them leave must feel like losing a limb. "I know this might be overstepping, so feel free to tell me to shut up but do you want me to come over? Of course, you can say no I just...I know I wouldn't want to be alone after something like this."

After everything he's done for me I want to do this one thing for him despite the late hour. I just want to be there for him like he's been there for me. Like Harry said to me last week, no one should have to be alone when they feel upset, and if that applies to me, well that should apply to him as well. Just because he's a famous pop star doesn't mean he has to deal with stuff like this alone. I know I'm probably not who he wants to support him, he would probably rather have someone he's closer to come over....but he called me and that has to mean something. I know he probably won't accept my offer but I thought I'd ask just in case he needed someone. After everything he's done for me since we've met, comforting me after my fight with Kayla, helping me with the whole Patrick situation, the least I can do is be there for him, even if it means I look like an idiot.