How It's Going To Be [h.s.]

Chapter 24

The street in front of my building was completely empty. The car pulled to the side easily and stopped. I was in no mood to wait for the formalities of the driver or Harry opening my door. I pulled my hand from Harry's grasp and opened the door myself. Before he could object, I was already halfway to the doors of my building.

"Wait!" I could hear Harry getting out of the car. "Thanks, that will be all," he muttered to the driver as he held his hat in his hands.

The door to my building was heavy with brass accents and I struggled to open it quickly. My vision was blurred from tears and smudged mascara. I held a hand over my mouth to muffle the sobs that were threatening to obstruct the quiet lobby of the building. I breezed by the empty desk where a doorman stood during the day and ducked through the doorway to the stairs.

Taking on the flights of stairs in heels was a much more difficult task than I anticipated. Harry easily caught up to me with his long legs enabling him to take the stairs two at a time. He didn't say anything; he didn't ask why I was running. Harry simply walked with me to my flat.

I didn't even bother turning the lights on. I kicked my heels off in the doorway and climbed the set of stairs to my bedroom. Harry was right behind me. I sat on the edge of the bed and felt my shoulders move with each spasm in my breathing from all the crying.

Harry watched quietly from the doorway. He set his hat on the nearby dresser and slipped his hands in his pockets, eyeing me in my embarrassingly pathetic state. I wanted to hide from him, but I was certain that wouldn't fix things. After the silence, Harry walked into my bathroom and turned on the light. I heard running water filling the bathtub. Harry emerged from the bathroom with his sleeves rolled up.

"Come on, love," he motioned for me to stand up. Reluctantly, I got off the bed and went toward Harry. He took my hand and led me to the bathroom. The bathtub was filled with fragrant bubbles stacked on the water's surface. Harry moved behind me and slowly pulled the zipper of my dress down.

"A bath will help you relax," he said in a tone just above the volume of the running water. "I got you clothes to change into. Take as long as you need. I'll be right outside."

Harry left the bathroom and shut the door behind him. I turned around and looked at my reflection. My skin was covered in red blotches from the emotional outburst. My face had a thin gray coating from the mascara that had been carried by the salty tears. Around my eyes was particularly black. The sight of myself in such a poor state only made me cry more.

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{Harry's Point of View} 

I felt numb. At this point, I had seen Kate cry dozens of times. This was an entirely different scenario. I had never seen a person so distraught, hysterical. She had been unable to speak. Whatever pain I had ever felt in my life, nothing compared to the pain I felt seeing her so indescribably upset.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to ignore the call, but when I saw whose name was on the screen, I decided to take the call. "Hello?"

"Harry?" His voice was fighting the throbbing noise of the music back at the club. "Mate, is that you?"

"Yeah, Louis."

"Is everything all right with Kate?"

"Uh," I scratched the back of my head and listened the water continuing the fill the tub. "Not too sure."

"Do you know what's wrong?"

"No," I confessed.

"Are you at your place?" Louis asked.