***Harry Styles***
Sunday, June 17th, 2012 – Anaheim, California, USA

“Did he just quit the band?” I asked Zayn as Louis stormed out of the room. Zayn peeked down the hallway, probably watching to see where Louis went. I heard another room door open and close, and then Niall and Liam walked in my room. I was on the bed, not sure if I wanted to stay numb, or if I wanted to cry. I knew the whole world had just heard our fight – which I decided was good in this case, because it meant I wouldn’t have to rehash it to the guys. Zayn sat down next to me.

“Did you just break up with Louis?” he asked me, ignoring my earlier question.

“I had to,” I shrugged. “If he was so convinced Natalie was the right one and she turned out not to be, then chances are I’m not, either.” There came the tears. I wondered how I even still had any left in my system.

“Why didn’t you just say that to Louis?” Zayn asked. His voice was exasperated, but he put his arm around me.

“Because I didn’t want to hear him confirm it,” I buried my face in my hands. I felt the indentations as Niall and Liam climbed on the bed as well, and they both put their arms around me, letting me cry just as we had done with Liam when Danielle broke up with him the month before.

“Harry,” Liam spoke after a good five minutes of me being a complete and utter mess, “I love you, but if you really think Louis wasn’t head over heels for you, then you’re crazy, Mate.”

“He’s right,” Niall chimed in. “Louis loved you – loves,” he corrected quickly.

“Then how come he said it more before we were dating than he did once we were together?” I pressed.

“There’s a difference between loving someone and being in love with them,” Liam explained. “I love all of you, but I’m not in love with any of you. I was in love with Danielle – I still am.”

“You know feelings are hard for Louis,” Zayn added on. “It was fine when it was just as friends, because there wasn’t as much risk involved. But the second you two got together, that changed, because he knew you had the potential to break his heart.”

“You’ve been good for him, Harry,” Niall told me. “You were getting him to break down his walls, even if you couldn’t see that, we all could.” The other two nodded in agreement.

“Well, it’s over now,” I said, and my heart suddenly ached with more pain than I knew how to handle. I folded my arms across my stomach, rocking back and forth.

“Harry,” Zayn said, tightening his grip around my shoulders. “Do you really mean that?”

“I don’t know,” I said, honestly. “I can’t shake the feeling that I was just wasting his time.”

“Give Louis some credit,” Niall told me. “He’s a smart guy. If he thought you were wasting his time, he would’ve told you that and he wouldn’t have stayed with you for so long.”

“Niall’s right,” Liam said, and I was beginning to see so as well. “Louis’s the type of person who lives for the moment – he knows life is short. He wouldn’t do something or string someone along if he didn’t think it was worth it.” The pain in my chest and stomach worsened – they were right.

“Oh, my god,” I muttered. “What have I done?”

“It’ll be okay,” Zayn told me.

“I have to find him,” I said. I grabbed my phone and called Louis, knowing he could be anywhere, not sure if he was still in the hotel or if he had gone for a walk outside. He didn’t answer his phone, though, and when I heard his voice on his voice mail I broke down again, unable to leave a message. Zayn took my phone from me and hung it up before putting it in his pocket, then he hugged me again.

“You guys will work this out,” he told me. “It’s probably best to sleep on it now, and give it a day or two for you both to calm down.” I nodded – that made a lot of sense, especially with my emotional instability and Louis’s emotional avoidance.

“We should probably take Harry shifts tonight,” Niall suggested.

“I don’t need a baby-sitter,” I said, now knowing how Liam had felt when we had done this to him.

“Where’s your razor blade?” Zayn asked me.

“In my duffel – ” I started, but then stopped when I realized he had set me up just to find out if I’d brought it with me. I sighed.

“Yep, definitely baby-sitting you tonight,” Liam told me.

Just then, I heard my cell phone ringing from Zayn’s pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it.

“It’s Louis,” he told me. My heart jumped, but I didn’t know what I would say, which was silly because I had just been the one trying to call him. I shook my head to indicate I didn’t want to answer, so Zayn answered for me. “Hey, man, where you at?” he greeted into the receiver. But then he got a confused look on his face as he listened to the response. He glanced at me, then turned and walked into the bathroom. When he spoke again, his voice was hushed, but we could still hear. “Yeah, this is his – brother,” Zayn lied. I froze. I hoped with everything I had that that call wasn’t from who I thought it was. I heard Zayn take a sharp breath before responding again. “Okay. I’m on my way.” That confirmed it. I didn’t want Zayn to walk out of the bathroom. I didn’t want him to tell me what he was about to tell me. I stood up as he walked towards me, his face distressed. “Harry,” he said, and he put his hands on my shoulders.

“No,” I shook my head. “No.” Niall and Liam stood up and walked behind me, their hands resting on my back. It made sense that whoever was on the other end had called me – I was Louis’s emergency contact in his phone.

“Louis’s been in a car accident,” Zayn spoke the dreadful words that I wanted to unhear, I wanted them to be untrue, I wanted to turn back time and stop Louis from leaving. “He was in a cab, and got hit by a truck. He’s – well, we should get to the hospital.” I leaned over, grabbed the trashcan, and threw up in it.

“Harry,” Liam rubbed my back. I had to pull myself together – Louis needed me. I didn’t want Zayn to tell me how bad it was, but I needed to know.

“How bad?” I asked when I stood back up. Zayn looked at me, trying to evaluate if I could handle the answer. Apparently, it was bad enough that he decided I couldn’t.

“We should go,” he repeated. I pulled my hand up to my face to cover it, but nodded, and made to start walking, but I couldn’t move. Liam put his arm around me and pulled me along until I found my legs again, and we rushed down to the lobby, told the hotel agent to call the rooms of the managers and let them know what was going on, then they pulled a van around front for us and someone drove us to the hospital.

I sat leaned over, my arms resting on my legs and my head on my arms the whole drive, the guys rubbing my back, knowing there were no words they could say to make me feel better. I couldn’t even think straight – all I knew was that the driver seemed to be going ridiculously slow.

Finally, we got to the hospital and I ran to the front desk.

“Louis Tomlinson!” I exclaimed. The nurse looked at me, surprised, then typed something on her computer.

“I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone here by that name,” she told me.

“Yes you do!” I yelled. “Where is my boyfriend?!” I sobbed.