The Weeks Between • HS

August 2022 • Harry *

*** A/N: Thank you to prachizzle for noticing that I didn't do my math correctly! I missed a WHOLE YEAR when I calculated how long it had been since Nola had *been with someone* So, add 12 months to that original 8, and it has been 20 MONTHS!! It makes that whole scene so much more monumental.

>>>>>>>>>> Flashback to the day after the Paris show.

I just left Nola's house. I walked right out the front door with Paddy, giving her and the girls a hug on our way out. I couldn't care less about who knows that I was there. The combination of last night and this morning has given me one very important realization. I don't want to live my life without her any longer.

Yes, I know that things are complication on so many fronts. I know she cheated. I know she has a child that was born out of that indiscretion, but seeing her walk into Mitch and Sarah's dressing room yesterday left me feeling nothing but longing for her. I don't have an ounce of anger left. The feeling of sheer adoration I had when she sat down across from me in the dressing room was stronger than all the moments I've had with Olivia combined. It was in that moment that I realized I never stopped loving her.

We talked a little about what happened, but I still have some unanswered questions. The difference is that now I want to ask them because I want to move past it not because I want to punish her.

When I get back to the hotel, I barely get in my hotel room when Sarah and Mitch show up at my door. "Where were you?" Sarah asks as she walks past me, letting herself into my room with her husband mindlessly following behind.

"I went to Nola's" I say and she turns to Mitch, smacking his shoulder.

"HA! You owe me £20!" Clearly they had a bet going as to where I was and Sarah knows me better than my best friend does.

"Your girlfriend is looking for you," Mitch adds and I roll my eyes.

"Please stop calling her that."

"Please stop fucking her and I will."

"That ends now," I tell him and his eyebrows raise.

"What happened with Nola this morning?" he asks and I shake my head.

"Nothing like that, but I know that I can't be with Olivia in that way anymore. Not when... not when I feel what I do for Nola." Sarah and Mitch share a pointed stare and turn their gaze back to me before lecturing me on the disaster that is brewing in my love life right now. I know the situation is far from ideal. I wish, more than anything, that the pandemic hadn't allowed me to be available to film Don't Worry Darling, but it happened. I did film it, and I made a commitment to Olivia and Jeff to not detonate our 'relationship' until after it premiers.

"You think Nola is going to understand that shit?"

"No. I know that I can't start anything with her until I am free and clear from Olivia."

"Can't you? Things like having a girlfriend haven't always stopped you in the past," Mitch says rather coldly. I give him a death glare and Sarah clarifies for him that those actions were ones that younger Harry took and I am trying to not be a complete ass anymore.

"I know it's a mess," I say as I sit down on the end of the bed and Sarah sits down next to me.

"There is nothing messy about knowing what you want." I think she was going to continue to share words of wisdom with me, but we are interrupted by a knock at the door. When I get up to answer it, Olivia is standing there, unimpressed with the fact that I am back and. Didn't bother to tell her.