beside you | wroetoshaw

twenty-six

it was the day of jj's album release party, he has rented out an entire club for everyone.
i was nervous to say the least, even though i barley talked to any of them anyone i still need to support jj. especially after everything he's done for me in the past.

i started doing my makeup, not the way i wanted to do it though. i caked it on, i didn't look like myself.
then it got to my hair, i straightened it dead.
it was pin straight, no fly always. slick look.
once i realised i was done both hair and makeup i got up to change into my outfit, a dress that covered most of the top of my body. the only skin on show was my legs and a little of my neck/chest.
i sat in front of the mirror, looking at someone that i didn't recognise but somehow somewhere deep inside me it felt normal.
it makes him happy.

"babe, you ready?"

"yeah, just putting my shoes on" i cringed at the nickname, while putting my high heels.

harry lewis pov

"so bog you looking forward to tonight" cal asked me walking into my room, as i was fixing my hair

"of course, always am for a night out" i said turning around to face him

he walked over to my mirror checking his hair as well, and also what i was wearing.
we go for different looks to look 'dressed up'. cal was wearing black jeans with a tight fitting white top and a black jacket over the top - while mine is a loose top with shorts.

"feels like forever since you've been out mate" he said disregarding my outfit

"yeah i know, last time was-" i started, unsure of how i was going to finish it as i couldn't remember

"when you and emilia had that argument" cal mumbled not making eye contact

the realisation hit me, i felt a wave of sadness come over me. oh but the feeling worsened knowing that i may see her out tonight, and i don't know if i'm ready for all of it.

"i guess, shall we go. we don't want to be late" i said changing the conversation

freezy nodded his head and we started heading, knowing that the earlier we get there the earlier we will be getting drunk.

-

we arrived at the club, it looked proper fancy. the windows tinted black so you could barley see the inside, and the name of the place in gold writing at the top - this defo costed him a music video or two.

while we were in the uber we picked up tobi and ethan as well, as they live in the same place - it makes sense

we got out of the taxi and walked towards the front where a very scary looking man was standing.

"hiya mate, here for ksi" ethan said confidently

without a second look at any of us the bouncer asked for our names

"ethan payne"
"callum airey"
"tobi brown"
"h-harry lewis"
the guy nodded every time one of us said our names and he moved out the way and opened the door letting us in. flashing us a smile as we walked past, which was different considering how he acted when we first started talking to him

"this is mad" ethan said in awe at the large room that was dimly lit

there was already a few people here, not many we knew personally but we knew of.
through the small crowd we saw the one and only ksi, and he when he turned to see us he ran over.

"yooo, wassup guys" he shouted giving each of us a quick hug

"bro this is sick" cal said patting him on the back

"i know i know, i hope it is. set me back by a lot" jj said sadly but laughed it off

"anyways come to bar, get a drink don't be downers" jj said dragging us to the bar, not somewhere i would have argued to stay away from

"you alright bro" jj asked me as i ordered a pint

"of course of course, congrats on the album as well" i said making jj give me another hug.

"thanks harry, glad you made it" he said honestly

"mate i wouldn't miss it for the world" i said and we clicked our cups together and took a drink.

after an hour or two the place started getting more busy, as more unfamiliar people came in, the sidemen boys and some of our closer friends went into our own booth, to keep ourselves to ourselves

i was currently standing just outside the booth, with josh, ethan and freya.

"awh mate, there's so many fit birds here" ethan complained

"isn't that a good thing for you" freya asked him, confused of why he was moaning about it

"i can't pick one" ethan laughed, causing me and josh to shake our heads in laughter

simon snuck up behind josh, grabbed his shoulder and well tried to whisper something in his ear

"thought emilia was coming?"

i took a deep breath hearing her name.

"yeah she's meant to be, i'm sure she's jsut late" josh replied to simon, i was just eavesdropping.

"do you know anything about it harry?" josh asked me

i turned around to face him, with a confused face acting like i didn't know what he was talking about.

"about what" i asked clearly lying

"emilia? is she coming?" he asked unsure of it was appropriate of him to ask

"don't know mate" i shrugged my shoulders and went back to my drink.

i noticed my cup was almost empty so i looked around to see if i could find ethan, to see if he wanted to come to the bar with me.
but as i was just about to start talking to him everyone around us starts shouting towards the door.
us being confused we turned around only to not believe what we were looking at.

there she was.
with jamie.

"fuck" i mumbled, obviously catching ethans attention as he dragged me to the bar

"what, the, fuck" he let out jsut as we got there

"it was true" i said putting my head in my hands, realising it was her that gib saw.

"what was true" ethan asked while handing the bartender money

"gib told us he saw emilia at her old flat, jamies flat." i said finally looking at him, his mouth still wide open.

i turned around to see the girl run up to hug her, paying no attention to jamie at all.
i couldn't help but notice how different she looked; her makeup, her hair, what she was wearing and how she was acting.
it wasn't emilia

-thank you for 7k. ily all🤍