*Hannah’s POV*

After breakfast, Trish and I got dressed as she told me, rather explicitly, about her wild night with Zayn and I told her about how I damn near walked in on all of it. “So what’s the dirt on you and Harry?”

Sitting on the bed, I paused and looked up at her. “He kept all of my old stuff.”

“Girl, that’s not dirt, but wow.” She raised her eyebrows. “I thought it might be in a ditch somewhere.” Trish chuckled.

“Yeah,” I laughed, “or at least what was left after he burnt all of it.” I continued getting dressed. “But yeah, it’s all in a box in his closet. It has my name on it and everything.”

“Okay, so are there any juicy parts?” She paused and looked at me skeptically.

“We made out for awhile…”

“Okay, we’re getting closer.”

“He sang me to sleep.” A warm smile came over my face.

“And now we’re a step back.” Trish exhaled with exaggeration.

“Oh, he left these,” I pulled my hair off of my neck on both sides and exposed the hickeys that he had left on me. In a moment Trish was by my side, running her hands over them with a look of interest on her face.

“My God, this is what I’m talking about. Jesus girl! Zayn didn’t even do this to me!” She sat there gawking at them like they were some big deal. “So you’re really telling me that you guys didn’t…”

“No! We didn’t do anything! I’ve told him that I think that we need to take things slow, and even if he doesn’t completely agree with it, he’s still willing to wait.” I had my last shoe on and Trish was already ready, planning to go home in Zayn’s t-shirt and jeans and his VANS as well. She sat down next to me.

“I think you two are sweet. You’re not just in it for physical stuff. You guys actually have an emotional connection.”

“We have for a long time… I just hope that we can shed some light on it this time around.” With that, Trish and I went back down stairs and Harry announced that everyone else could hang out, but he was going to take Trish and I back to our houses. Zayn piped up and offered to take Trish home and Harry and I gladly allowed it.

Harry started the car and we pulled out of his drive way. “So, I’m off for all of the holidays.”

“That’s awesome,” I smiled at him sweetly as the car accelerated.

"And the guys are going to get some flats that are more in the middle of the city." I smiled because that would be closer to my apartment than Anne's house. As Harry drove, we talked and laughed just like we used to. No matter what was going on, he always had a way of making me smile. I loved that about him. After our conversation died down a little, he turned the radio on:
You know I’ve always got your back girl,
So let me be the one you come running to,
Running to

I say this just matter of fact girl,
You just call my name I’ll keep coming through,
Coming through. I’ll keep coming.

“Oh, sorry,” Harry reached for the dial, but I swatted his hand away playfully.

“No, I like this one!” I started jamming out. The music played on:

It’s everything about you, you, you,
Everything that you do, do, do,
From the way that we touch, Baby,
To the way that you kiss on me.

It’s everything about you, you, you,
The way you make it feel new, new, new,
Like every party is just us two,
And there’s nothing I could point to.

I kept singing and Harry stayed quiet and smiled at me. Then Zayn’s solo came up and I smacked his arm as he joined in and I fell quiet, listening to the voice of the angel:

And you have always been the only one I wanted,
And I wanted you to know without you,
I can’t face it!

All we want to have is fun, but they say that we’re too young.
Let them say what they want.
It’s everything about you.

Harry looked over at me and stopped. “Why’d you quit?”

“You stopped too.”

“Yeah, but I don’t belong to a record label.” He rolled his eyes and focused on the road.

“So we’re hanging out tomorrow, right?”

“We are?”

“Hell yes we are.” He nodded and an astonished look came over his face. “I don’t get a lot of time off, but what time I do have, I plan on spending with you.” With the hand closest to me, he intertwined our fingers and continued to sing out the rest of the song as I joined in again.

Soon, we were at my apartment, but we weren’t alone. Surrounding my building, there were news reporters and interviewers and cameras flashing everywhere. Harry motioned towards his glove box and I got out his beanie and glasses out of old habit. “Why do you still do this?”

“I don’t know. I like to think that they can’t see me.”

“But you know that they can.”

“But they can’t see ‘me’…” He dropped off and paused in his place, looking down at the wheel. “They don’t know me, but the more that they see me, the more that they can act like they do…”

“Oh…” I felt the sympathy burning in my stomach.

“And they probably don’t need to see us together yet anyways. They’d probably start jumping to conclusions.” All of my sympathy was instantly gone.

“So you’re ready for our relationship, and you expect me to be ready for our relationship, but you don’t want other people to know about it. Wow.” Before I could think, I was out of the car, instantly pressed back onto the door by the paparazzi. Pushing through the crowd, I met the building owner at the door and apologized for the corruption. I could hear Harry follow shortly behind me, but I didn’t stop to turn around.

“Babe you have to stop! You know that that’s not how I meant it.” You’ve got to be kidding me.

I spun around. “Harry, I’ve taken huge leaps of faith in the past two days. You know that I’m not that kind of girl, but I am for you. I would do anything for you and that’s been a forever thing. We’re trying to give this a shot and I put everything behind me and I’m trying to act like nothing ever happened, but I don’t know how.” My voice cracked and I started to walk away again. He grabbed my arm and I jerked away, but his hand wouldn’t budge. “Let go,” I growled. His grip held tight and then his arms fell to his sides. Turning away, I pressed the elevator button and was waiting when I heard his footsteps behind me. This was taking too long, so I changed my course and headed for the stairs.

Beginning to climb, Harry called after me, “Hannah, you have to wait.” I ignored his pleads, so he began running ahead of me and then stopped, blocking my path. “Babe, I know I’m on thin ice right now, and I wasn’t trying to burn down the town,” he took a hold of my waist and pulled us closer, “I just need to choose my words a little more wisely, and I’m still learning how.” Our faces had drawn near and his grip on my waist changed to that it was firm but not tight. He knew I couldn’t resist that. I had to stay strong, so I crossed my arms, putting a little bit of space between us and, upon his release.

I took the lead up the stairs with a stubborn look on my face. We came to my floor and I stepped into the hallway, still with the same posture I had had on the staircase. “Hannah,” he paused. He sounded like there was something going through his mind and it sounded almost sinister. “I don’t,” I paused, wondering what was about to come out of his mouth. I had my key half way into the lock when I paused to listen to the rest. “I don’t want you anymore.” What?! What was the matter with him? I could feel the sobs preparing themselves in my throat and in my eyes. His hand hit my shoulder and I was done fighting… There didn’t seem to be anything left to fight for. I turned around, teary eyed, to take my poison and attempt walking away from him one more time. “I can’t just want you because wanting you isn’t a strong enough word… I need you Hannah. You’re my world; my everything, and I’m not sure what I have to say to you that could ever make you trust me again, but I love you. I know that our love isn’t perfect. It’s a little mangled through experience, but my entire being needs for this to work for me to feel like a whole person, because without you, I don’t amount to anything Babe.”

Nope, defiantly not mad anymore. I wrapped my arms around Harry’s neck and let the tears flow freely as he pulled me close. He reached around my back and turned the key the rest of the way and pushed me inside, never letting go. We lied on the couch and stayed like this for over an hour. He held me tight, rubbing my back and whispering that everything would be okay, that this was going to work no matter what. “Hannah, we have to stop doing this…”

“Doing what?” I sniffled.

“We have to stop fighting. Beautiful, if we don’t start just talking things out, then this is how every one of our fights is going to end; with one of us in tears and the other feeling like an awful person for making the other upset…” He paused, recollecting himself and letting his words sink into me. “So, you have to promise me something, okay?” I nodded my head. “We’re not going to do this anymore. We’re not going to get all worked up until we know all of the details. We’re going to do everything in our power to make this relationship work for us… because we love each other, and it’s a love that we’ll never be willing to just let go of. When the bombs are going off and hell is raising everywhere, you and I will hold strong and make it through. No matter what war we fight in, we’ll be the last ones standing.” I was crying again, and not just crying. I had my ugly cry on, and I loved that he still loved me with my eyes all puffy and my nose running, tears streaming down my face.

“I promise, Harry.” He hugged me and kissed me and pulled me in close, cradling me to calm me down.

“I love you, Hannah,” he whispered into my hair. I nuzzled farther into his chest and lost all track of time and space in his words.

Notes

Sorry it's been awhile. Let me know what you guys are thinking. Any predictions? I'm really getting back into this story and I'm really trying to post more often. If any one has any comments I respond :) Love you all!
xoxo Hannah <3