I'm Right Here- SWM Sequel (Harry Styles)

Chapter 10:

I run off but before I can even get to my spot, the game has already started. I scan the ground and quickly find the soccer ball in play, with Bear hot on it’s tail. And she’s honest about the bear side of her coming out. She plays like one of the boys, her gentleness only showing a few odd moments. Before I can even get close to the ball, Bear has it in her possession and she kicks it a few feet in front of her as she runs to the other team’s goal.

One of the boys on the opposite team trips her though when she’s only a couple feet away and as the run off with the ball, Bear falls face first onto the ground. I start to run over to help her, but she lets out a loud growl and takes off at a run from her kneeling position on the ground. She quickly gets back to the ball and runs it back to the goal and scores the first point of the game. When she turns around to get back in her position, I see that her nose is bleeding.

“Bear, you’re bleeding!” I call out to her when I get close enough to where she can hear me. But the ball is back in play and she’s speedily after it.

“A little blood never hurt anyone!” Bear screams through a smile as she gets the ball back under her feet. She runs it over to the other team’s goal quickly and makes the second goal. I catch a glimpse of her as she runs past me and her blue eyes are still dancing, despite the trail of blood that comes from her nose.

“First to three!” Someone calls out for the opposite team. Several shouts back signify that this is a good score and the game still continues to play. Louis and Liam run up beside me and we form a plan to work together. We get in a line and push through the crowd to the ball, where Bear is struggling to win the ball from the boy she talked to before the game. We’re getting close to our team’s goal and with a quick glance over at me, Bear kicks the ball out from the boy’s feet over to Louis.

The three of us stay in our line as we turn to the other direction and we make our way over to the other team’s goal. With acknowledging glances between the two of us, me and Liam fall back as Louis runs forward to score the final goal. Bear instantly jumps onto my back and screams into my ear. Our team celebrates around us and even the other team shares our happiness. When everyone calms down a bit, the boy who spoke up for the other team before the game walks over to us and Bear slides off my back.

“Next time, you play for our team.” He smiles as he holds his hand out to Bear.

“Are you sure you want a girl on your team? I’m not sure she can play..” Bear says sarcastically as she lifts her hand up but not joining it with the boy’s.

“Yes I’m sure. And you can play with shoes.” The boy smiles, nodding his head in acknowledgement that he was wrong. Bear smiles and shakes the boy’s hand.

“Sounds good.” She smiles politely. The boy point towards her nose and she pulls her hand quickly away to cover her face. “Oh lord, I thought something on my face was tingling!” She says quietly as she turns away from the boy and starts to run over to Paul. I run after her, leaving Louis and Liam to talk with the soccer guys. When I get close to Paul and Bear, I see that Paul is looking over her nose to see if she broke anything.

“Is she okay, Paul?” Niall calls out from behind me. I turn around to see him and Zayn walking over, the kids holding onto their arms. They stand beside me and a boy puts his hand into mine, and we exchange smiles when I look down at him.

“You fell pretty hard, Bear, but surprisingly, it’s not broken. It’s swollen but nothing some ice won’t help. You’ll have a good bruise for a while though.” Paul explains as he helps Bear clean off her face.

“Ah, just a battle scar.” Bear says with a smile towards me, both of us remembering the shower we took together in Kentucky. The little boy that holds onto my hand takes hold of Bear’s hand and pulls on it slightly. She smiles again at me before kneeling down to the little boy. He lets go of my hand and gently touches Bear’s nose and then touches his own nose, as if to check if it’s still there. Bear and the little exchange smiles and when she stands back up, the little boy stands in between us and holds onto both of our hands.

“Ready to film?” Bear asks me as she looks over at Louis and Liam who are still talking to the guys. I nod my head and slip my hand out of the little boy’s. I walk over to the group again with the camera man following me and he plays the music for me and Liam to sing along to as we film the little scene with some of the guys on our team. After we finish filming, we say goodbye to the kids and get in the van to take us to the hotel. I notice that Bear is acting strangely quiet so I brush my hand against hers to get her attention, her eyes glossy when they meet mine.

“Is everything alright?” I ask her quietly. She drops her head down and leans against my shoulder as she releases a big sigh.

“I’m not sure. There’s a lot of things on my mind. One, my nose hurts like hell. Two, I’m tired. And three...this is all so sad.” Bear explains quietly and I notice that she has to take frequent breaths between her words. We pull up to the hotel and before I can press Bear, she walks into the hotel. I follow quickly after her and all of the crew squeeze into the elevator after Bear gets a plastic bag filled with ice from the front desk. Mine and Bear’s rooms are right next to each others and when she reaches her door, Bear turns around to face me.

“It’s like.. We can leave when we get hurt or get too stressed. We can come her to the hotel and take a shower and sleep in beds. But they... they have to stay there. And they wake up the next morning and nothing’s changed. Everything is exactly the same and-” Bear says quietly, quickly getting emotional.

I reach out to rub her cheek and pull her close to me as I try to soothe her. We all knew that this trip would be tough on our emotions, but I never thought Bear would be the first to break. Of course, she’d never let the other boys see her like this. I hold her tightly in my arms for a few moments as she tries to get her breathing back to normal. But the weird thing is that it never does go back to normal. Bear says she’s fine yet her chest rises slow and falls quickly, the uneven pace making me nervous. She has to push me away from her so that she can finally say goodnight. I go into my own room and quickly take a shower. I crawl into bed and fall asleep before I think of anything else besides Bear.