Love Doesn't Exist || H.S

chapter twenty-one

Emily

17 days. It's been 17 days since Christmas. 17 days since I called Harry. 17 days without a reply. No call back. Not even a message.

I want to say it doesn't bother me, but then I'd be lying. It does bother me. I was expecting at least a message back saying 'Merry Christmas'. But did I get that? No. 

I was mad. I was mad because he'd never said anything back. And as much as I tried to convince myself that I shouldn't be, I was. But not only was I mad, I was annoyed, and I was upset and I was sick of it.

"Em" Molly sighed as she paused the movie I wasn't paying attention to. "Stop thinking about Harry and just move on. I don't-"

"I'm not thinking about him" I lied with a huff.

"You're twisting your ring... again" I let my hand fall and brought my other up against the couch arm to rest my head on. "You only do that when you're deep in thought or nervous. And we both know there's nothing to be nervous over seeing as the business is running smoothly, so you're obviously thinking about Harry" Molly said, and unfortunately... she was right. 

The business had been going exceptionally well. We'd hired 12 employees, all doing an extremely good job. We'd been having customers file in one after the other. Some came because they either wanted to study and others came for a catch up with friends or family. Most of them however, came because Niall had tweeted about our new cafe, saying; 'Go and give some love to 'Molly's and Emily's'. You'll find them in the one and only Mullingar Ireland', and they all thought they would be able to get a chance of seeing Niall there.

"Why don't we go out tonight. We can go to the bar and-"

"And get drunk just so I can call Harry again. No thank you" I responded. Molly opened her mouth to say something back but the ringing of her phone stopped her.

"It's Niall!" She squealed excitedly. She answered the face time call and skipped to her bedroom.

. . .

Molly had been in her room for well over an hour. I had spent the time waiting by mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and twitter. Most of the news about Harry and I had died down now that we hadn't been seen together for a while. But that didn't stop my thoughts from dying down.

After coming to the conclusion that Molly and Niall must be having a serious conversation, I decided on turning off the movie and dispersing to my room. 

It was only 10:30 now but I had nothing better to do then sleep.

. . .

I woke up with a start from the sound of my phone ringing beside me. It was still pitch black outside meaning whoever was ringing were calling for a death wish. I let out a groan and turned over to my side, bringing my pillow to my ear. Whoever it was, could wait.

But of course as my phone continued to ring and my curiosity got the better of me. I reached over and grabbed it from my side table. My eyes had trouble adjusting to the brightness from the screen and I wasn't able to make out the name. I quickly clicked answer before it could go to voicemail and brought it up to my ear.

"Hello" I mumbled.

"Em" I knew who it was straight away. And yet I didn't find myself getting ready to throw annoyed questions at him as to why he was only calling now. Instead I was worried. I was worried because Harry didn't sound like his normal self. He sounded upset.

"Harry are you ok?" I asked him. Rather then a reply I heard silent cries on the other side of the phone. I sat up quickly, now wide awake. "Harry what's wrong?" I asked him, worry evident in my voice.

"The band. We're splitting up"  He choked. My heart began aching for him and all I wanted to do was be with him. I wanted to be with him and comfort him in person.

I realised this must of been the exact reason Molly had been cooped up in her room and talking to Niall for so long.

"We'd been talking about it for a while. We'd been talking about going on to do some solo things. But now it's happening. And- and I can't do it without them Em"  His voice broke.

"Don't say that Harry" I told him. "You can do it. All of you can. Everything's going to be ok" I said.

"But it won't Em" My stomach fluttered as he called me by my nickname for the third time. "Everything started with them. Everything I've accomplished, I've accomplished with them. They've been there for everything" His voice broke and once again I found myself wanting nothing more then to be with him.

"I know they have. And I also know that none of you could have done it without each other. But that doesn't mean you can't do this. You're starting a new chapter of your life Harry and everyone will still be there for you including the boys and your family and me Harry. You can do-"

"But what if I can't? What if people don't like what I do? What if-" 

"Harry" I sighed. "You have millions of fans that came from all around the world to hear you. You have millions of fans that you sold out arenas for. Think about all the awards you and the boys won. You won them because you're all amazing at what you do. There's no need to worry about that -"

"But that's the point. I won them with the-"

"Harry" I interrupted him. "You don't need to worry. You're talented. It's kind of impossible to not like what you do" I told him. He didn't respond and instead I heard a sniffle on the end of the phone.

"I'll let you get back to sleep" Harry said and before I could say anything he'd hung up. I could tell he didn't want to end the call. I could tell he still wanted to talk about this. I could tell he wanted me with him, just as much as I wanted to be with him.

I grabbed my phone and placed it on my side table again before retreating back under my doona cover and laying back down.

I wanted to call Harry back and just talk with him for however long he needed. Even if we talked about silly things that didn't matter. I wanted to be able to comfort him and tell him everything would be ok and that he'd work it out. But I didn't think a phone call was what he needed right now. I needed to be with Harry.

Before I could think twice about what I was doing I snatched my phone from my side table again and began booking myself a ticket for the soonest flight to London, tomorrow evening.

Another chapter down. Did you see this coming?