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

Chapter 12:

Bear wakes me up the next morning, later than we’ve been getting up for the past few days. She’s already dressed when she sits back down onto my stomach. She leans down to speak softly to me as I get up and the tips of her hair brushes against my chest. In the little bit of sunlight shining through the curtains, I see that Bear’s eyes are red. There’s an unusual hotness coming from her skin and before I even say anything back to her, I reach my hand up to touch her forehead.

“You have a fever.” I say disapprovingly. Bear’s smile disappears and she pulls her head away from my hand.

“It’s just sunburn. I’m fine.” She says sternly, starting to get off of me. I grab onto her hands, keeping her on top of me.

“No, you’re not. You’re breathing even sounds sick. And don’t say it’s fine, because it’s not.” I say as I sit up, keeping Bear on my lap. She keeps her eyes away from mine and she stands up after a few seconds of silence.

“I’ll go get some pills from Paul if you go get ready.” She offers dully. Without further discussion, I leave her room and go into my room to get ready. Bear is always so stubborn and determined that she’s fine all the time.

We spend the day in a village in Ghana for filming. We meet tons of amazing people and when Bear shows us some of the footage she recorded, it looked amazing. With heavy hearts, we say goodbye to the people of the village and head back to the hotel. We all take quick showers and pack up and when we leave the hotel, it’s late afternoon. We say hello to some fans outside the hotel quickly before getting back into our van and driving to the airport. Bear decides not to sit next to me in the car but she sits next to Niall. When she falls asleep against the window, he taps me on the shoulder to talk to me.

“Bear’s sick, right?” Niall asks, as if clarifying his own suspicions.

“Yeah, she is. She got mad at me when I told her she is, which is why she’s probably not sitting next to me.”  I say with a glance over at Bear.

“I could believe it. I’ll make sure she sits with you on the plane though.” Niall smiles as he leans back in his seat.

I roll my eyes with a smile and when we get to the airport, Niall keeps to word. As soon as we get out of the car, Niall gets on Bear’s other side and hip checks her so that she stumbles into me. And it seems to work because we sit near each other on the plane. For the full day trip, the seats have been modified to these pods of sorts where you can talk to the person through a cut in the plastic wall between you. I’m on one side with Louis sitting beside me and Bear is on the other side, and  the way that the pods are set up, we face each other.

Even though she’s laughing and joking with me and Louis, I can tell that she’s struggling to stay awake. After we eat dinner on the plane, I practically force Bear to take more pills from Paul and get some sleep. She silently agrees and falls asleep before another word can be exchanged.

“She looks so small when she sleeps.” Louis comments quietly from beside me.

“So gentle too, but we both know that’s not how she really is.” I smile without moving my eyes away from Bear.

“God, Harry. Stop being so blind! You like her-” Louis starts while punching my arm lightly but I interrupt him.

“Well, yes, I like her. She’s my best friend-”

“Shut up, Harry! You know what I mean. You like her. And she acts like she likes you back. I’m with Lou on this, you guys guys should just date.” Louis says simply, like he’s made up his mind on the subject. I bring my eyes from Bear finally and see him smiling at me.

“Do you really think she likes me?” I whisper but Louis just bursts into laughter.

“Think? Think? Harry, I know. Trust me.” Louis smiles.