Anna

The Final Show

"Hope you won't be too upset when you lose, Styles." I teased, nudging him with my elbow.

He laughed and flashed his quirky smile. "Oh come on, Anna, you know One Direction is gonna win. We have an army of teenage girls." He crossed his arms over his chest.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah I know. I'm one of them."

He grinned his cheeky grin again.

"One Direction! You're up in one minute," a girl with a headset said, running past us.

"Well," He said, shaking his arms out. "Wish me luck!"

I gave him a small smile. "Knock 'em dead, Haz."

He winked, and then ran over to the rest of the boys. They all huddled in a circle and had a mini meeting before fist bumping and running out on stage. I heard the screams echo through backstage.

They did amazing, as usual, and then it got to my turn.

"You've got this, Anna."

"How do I look?" I asked, biting my lip, extending my arms out to make sure I looked presentable.

He stopped, looking me up and down and then into my eyes, sending a chill down my spine. "Amazing, as always. You're gonna do fantastic."

I didn't make it through.

"I'm sorry, Annalise. But we're sending you home tonight."

The words echoed through my head as I walked off stage, tears pooling up in my brown eyes and threatening to spill over.

I looked up from my feet and saw Harry, and I lost it, the tears finally escaped, and I quickly covered my face with my hands.

I felt his long, warm arms wrap around me, holding me against him. His hand stroked my hair soothingly as he let me cry into his shirt.

Next thing I knew I felt four more pairs of arms wrap around me. I let out a small laugh as my five best friends group hugged me.

Later that day I was waiting for the bus and Liam had come to sit with me.

"I'm mostly just sad to leave you guys, I'm really gonna miss you all."

He laughed. "You mean Harry?"

I gave him a confused look. "Yes I'll miss Harry. I'll miss all of you."

"Yes, but especially Harry."

I shook my head. "What? Why would I miss him more?" I was hiding my feelings well, at least I had thought I was.

"Oh please. I see the way you look at him, Ann. You're in love with Harry Styles."

"What on earth made you believe such a thing?"

"Mate, you're the only one able to get him on that stage! You care about him more than anyone here."

"Eh I don't know about that. I have some pretty thick competition with Louis–"

"Ann stop denying it. Just admit it, I already know it's true."

"I–" I was at a loss for words. I didn't know what to say anymore. I sighed. "What made it so obvious?"

He grinned from ear to ear.

I rolled my eyes, laughing at his grin. My laughter stopped as someone behind Liam caught my eye. I stood up. "Harry?" I called.

He was walking away, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets.

I made eye contact with Liam. "You don't think he heard our conversation right?!" My heart started to pound as I ran after him. "Harry!"

I grabbed his arm, making him turn around. He looked upset. "Harry what's wrong?" His eyebrows were all furrowed together in frustration and I felt my heart sink.

"Nothing. I'm just..." he looked at his feet, and then back up at me, forcing a small smile. "I'm just sad to see you go, that's all. I was just coming to see you off. But I didn't know you'd already had company."

My heart raced faster. "Well you can join us. I would appreciate it. You're my best friend after all," I added, lowering my voice so Liam couldn't hear and giving him a playful smile.

That got a small chuckle. He followed me over to the bench where Liam was, standing.

"This is actually perfect timing, Harry. I have to go inside to make sure the other boys are behaving, but I didn't want to leave Annalise out here in the cold by herself. So I'll catch you two later. Bye Ann." He gave me a quick hug, winking at me before running inside.

I hid my eye roll from Harry as we sat down.

I hit my heels on the sidewalk as we sat in an awkward silence.

"So..." I started. "How's life?" I cringed at the stupid question.

He chuckled. "Pretty terrible, now that you're not going to be in it."

I looked into my lap, letting my hair fall around my face to hide my blush.

"Anna, I just wanted to say..."

I looked up at him, and he laughed, my hair had all fallen in my face. I shook my head, trying to flip my hair out of my face, I succeeded, except for a small section of hair.

He removed his hand from his pocket and used it to brush the loose strands out of my face and behind my ear. His fingers lingered on my hair a tad longer than he probably intended.

I felt like everything around me disappeared except for me and him, I couldn't even feel the freezing breeze anymore. Harry's face was inching closer and closer to mine, and I didn't realize it but mine was as well. We were only a foot apart when the bus came to a loud stop next to us, causing me to jump and for Harry's hand to fall shamefully back into his lap.

I tried to hide the blush creeping into my face, although I'm sure it was still bright red. "Well, this is me." I said, standing up and giving him a half smile.

He stood up and wrapped his arms around me in the tightest, warmest hug I'd ever had. I wrapped mine around his neck and held him tightly, too. I never wanted to leave his embrace. It felt safe, and happy, which was better than my home was. I felt tears spring to my eyes. I didn't want to leave him. I'd found a safe place to be when I was with him and the other boys. And now I'd be leaving that safety for what I had before, and I didn't want to. A sob escaped my throat, and my body shook, which only made his grip tighten.

I never told Harry about my dad, but I'm pretty sure he had an idea of what was going on.

"I don't want you to go back there." He mumbled into my shoulder.

I let out another sob.

"He's abusive, isn't he?"

I didn't answer.

"Annalise." One of the only times I'd ever heard him use my full name.

I could only nod.

He finally let go of me, and linked his arm through mine. "I'm coming with you."

"W-what?" I spluttered out, trying to wipe the tears from my eyes.

"You heard me."

"Harry, no. He'd freak I can't do that!"

He pulled me into the bus behind him, carrying my things for me. He sat me down and sat right next to me. The bus started to drive.

"Harry!" I exclaimed, my voice firm. "You cannot do this."

"Someone has to make sure you're safe."

I looked up at the ceiling, blinking back the tears. My mind raced. What was he doing? He was going to make it worse. I didn't know what to do, or what to say. "Harry...you'll make it worse." My voice finally came out, lower than a whisper.

"How?" He asked, giving me a look like I was crazy.

I shook my head. "You've never dealt with someone abusive before, have you?"

He shook his head, slowly.

"I don't know how to explain it to you, Harry. I just need you to know that this will make it much harder for me. I need to go alone."

He nodded. Once the bus stopped again he stood up. "I'm sorry." He said, before turning and walking towards the door. When was I going to be able to see him again? What if I never had the chance to see him again? My mind started to reel with all of these thoughts and my heart pounded as the realization crashed down on me that this could be the last time I ever saw him, and my last chance to tell him how I really felt.

"Harold!" I called, exasperated. He stopped and looked back at me. There were still people shuffling on and off so I knew I had time.

I don't know what took over me, but I ran up to him, letting the words tumble out. "I have to tell you before I lose my chance. But l... like you. A lot. I have since the day we met at auditions. But I was always too afraid to say anything. That's all."

He stood there, speechless.

The driver started to close the doors. "Hey kid! You getting out?"

His words shook Harry out of his frozen state. "Yes." And with that he was gone.

I slowly made my way back to my seat and sat down, letting my face fall into my hands, dreading the rest of the ride.

******

I closed the front door, slowly, trying not to make too much noise.

"Annalise?" He wandered into the room, seeing me and laughing. "About time you're home. I was starting to think you were actually doing well on that show. They finally realized you're no good, eh?"

I stared at my feet and started for the stairs.

"Wow not even gonna give a hello?"

I froze on the first step for a moment, before continuing up the stairs to my bedroom. I dropped all of my things on the floor and took off my shoes and coat, tossing them at my closet.

I walked over to my bed and laid down, fully intending to never move again from that spot.