aesthete | 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 [EN]

02 | 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠

𝑎𝑒𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑒
02 | ᴍɪʀᴀᴄʟᴇs

As in slow motion, our eyes crossed and his mouth was drawn to a smile. To the same goddamn smile that he already had back then. With the dimples on his cheeks and the sparkle in his eyes. I didn't know what I had been thinking, trying to convince myself that he wouldn't be the same anyway. That everything would go well today.

"Harry!"

He was calling to me from a few yards away. I absorbed every single letter and let the sound of his voice play over and over again in my head.

The sound of his voice when he says my name.

I could not bring myself to hug him. Not like we used to do, patting each other on the back and then on the shoulder with one arm. Instead, I took a deep breath and nodded towards him with a posed smile, and came to a halt in front of him. The rain seeped more and more into my clothes.

"You look different", he said. I heard him crush his cigarette on the asphalt. A little lost, I shrugged my shoulders. Apart from my haircut and a couple of new clothes, I hadn't changed much since then. "Really?", I asked, and Louis squinted his eyes together with a grin.

"What a lovely greeting, Harry. Nice to have you back, too." Even though I knew he had nothing bad in mind, I looked away from him towards the ground. "I'm sorry. You know, I'm not quite sure how to handle this. To see you all again. Even if it sounds incredibly stupid," I tried to talk my way out of it.

It's not even a lie.

From the corner of my eye I could see Louis nodding understandingly. "That's not stupid at all, I feel the same way and I'm sure the others do too. Although I was a little disappointed to hear that I was the only one who was confident about the reunion, to be honest."

I turned to him again. In confusion, I pulled my eyebrows together. "Really?", I asked Louis once more. "Yes. I was the last person the management called that day. They were on the verge of dropping the project, but thank goodness I was able to change their minds. I don't know how you do it, but I can't just erase 5 years of my life from my memory just like that". While he was telling me this, he stared straight past me. I turned my head to follow his gaze, but apart from the rain and a few cars that were driving too fast, there wasn't really anything to see.

I startled a bit when I felt Louis' hand resting on my shoulder. Reflexively I turned my head back to him, he nodded towards the entrance door to the studio. "You are completely soaked. It's best to freshen up a little before the other three show up."

Three?

"Zayn?", I asked him in disbelief, while he gently put his hand on my back and passed the front door with me. I felt his fingers getting lost in the fabric of my linen shirt. Behind my ribs, where my heart was pounding so fast that I couldn't even feel the individual beats.

"I couldn't believe it at first either, but yes, Zayn actually got in touch after he heard that we had something planned for the anniversary." - "Oh, wow. It's not too late to believe in miracles after all."

The hell am I talking now?

In the distance I could already see the first studio lights. Cameras pointed at the scenery at all possible angles and countless staff members were rushing past us without even noticing us. I let my gaze wander through the room as if I had never seen a studio from the inside before.

Meanwhile, I felt Louis' hand gently stroking my back up and down. It was probably impossible not to notice how nervous I was. I turned my attention away from the props and looked him straight in the eye, only to realize that he had been staring at me the whole entire time.

"Miracles happen every day, Harry."