Unexpected
Chapter 26
I woke up the next morning around ten o’clock with Chloe still wrapped tight in my arms. I smiled to myself as I quietly slipped out of bed. Chloe remained still and asleep as I left the room. I knew everyone else would be awake by now and I found them in the dining room downstairs.
“Good morning, winner,” Louis greeted me.
“Morning, guys,” I answered, pouring myself some coffee. I usually don’t drink the stuff but I figured since I was in a good mood, why not?
They all mumbled greetings as I took a seat beside Niall at the table.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Great,” I answered honestly. I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling since last night.
“Don’t mess it up this time,” Liam warned.
“I won’t,” I told him. I really planned on doing everything in my power to keep Chloe by my side from now on. No more slip ups for me.
The boys all asked me random questions about Chloe and me and the party last night and what we talked about when we got back to the room. I answered them all honestly, telling them I really wasn’t expecting her to forgive me as quickly as she had. When I saw her in the middle of the room when I stepped off the stage last night, I had to do a double-take to make sure she was actually there. My speech was made just to express how sorry I was that I’d messed up; I hadn’t expected it to get her to forgive me. That’s what the bracelet was for. When her arms wrapped around my neck, I fought to hold back tears. I hugged her back as tight as I could without hurting her; I wanted to keep her close to me. If we weren’t at her party, I don’t think I would have been able to let her go.
“I’m so happy for you,” Louis said from across the table.
“You too, Lou,” I told him. A smile took over him as he remembered his reunion with Eleanor at the party last night. She left early this morning to catch her flight back home but Louis was still over the moon about it.
I finished my coffee and headed back up to the room I’d left Chloe in a little while ago. Quietly, I opened the door, smiling to myself when I saw her still sound asleep on the bed, her back toward me. Her long, blonde hair hardly looked as if she had been sleeping. With the smile still plastered across my face, I entered the bathroom and was stopped dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me.
Chloe was sitting in the corner of the bathroom, her hands bound behind her back and a gag tied around her mouth. I was speechless and I felt my stomach churn. I slammed the door shut behind me and locked it, hearing the girl in the bed get up and walk quickly to the bathroom. I got the door closed just in time as she started banging on the door.
Then I knew who it was: Blair.
Blair is a crazy ex-girlfriend of mine that I met back in Holmes Chapel. I liked her for a long time before asking her out freshman year of high school. She’d said yes almost immediately and I was extremely happy. Things were going smoothly for a few weeks until she started getting a little clingy. I didn’t really pay too much attention to it since I figured it would pass but as the weeks progressed, it starting becoming more and more worrisome. She called me every night and always asked me where I was, what I was doing, who I was with, and so on.
Once, she even followed me out with my friends and blew up on me when I waved at one of our mutual female friends. She was always jealous of me and when she told me I couldn’t hang out with my friends anymore, I broke up with her. No one, not even my girlfriend, can keep me from my life.
She continued to call me and stalk me for months after I dumped her and when I went on the X Factor, she was almost always in the audience or trying to get backstage. I had to have security by my side at all times in case she finally got past the security at the doors. She never was successful in getting through, thank goodness, but I was always looking over my shoulder to make sure she wasn’t there behind me.
When the band was put together, the attempts at getting in to talk to me became less frequent and I was beginning to think she had finally decided she was going to leave me alone. When we found out we lost the X Factor, I was shocked when there was no news of her trying to get backstage to console me.
We signed with Simon, made our first album, and began our first tour. There were a few attempts from her trying to see me but they weren’t nearly as frequent as they were when I’d first started the show. When we reached our 2nd week of the tour in America, the attempts ended. I focused on the concerts and interviews we had during those months and eventually forgot all about Blair. Life was amazing: I was touring the world with my four best mates, I was making music and doing what I love, and I had the greatest fans ever.
The tour ended and we got to work on our sophomore album and launched our second tour early the next year. About 5 months in, I met Chloe and Tess when they won the contest and any remaining memories of Blair were gone. I focused on having fun and getting Chloe to like me and then on the concerts in New York and the upcoming ones in New Jersey.
It wasn’t until I saw Chloe tied up in the corner and heard the banging on the door that I realized I should have seen this coming. She left me alone on purpose, got me to forget about her, just so she could come back a year later and catch me completely off guard. I have to say, I admire her planning and deviousness, but this is the scariest situation I’ve ever been in. How did she even get into the room? Chloe, Paul, and I are the only ones with the key cards.
I made sure the door was locked and rushed over to Chloe. I untied her wrists and the gag as she stared at me with scared, confused eyes.
“Who is that?” she whispered, afraid to know the answer.
I sighed and looked at the door, as if to make sure it was still there. “My psycho ex,” I answered quietly.
The banging stopped for a moment and resumed, this time much louder. Chloe jumped and I saw some tears escape her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. There is no way we can protect ourselves if she breaks the door down; my phone was out in the other room with the rest of my things. I’ll be lucky if Blair hasn’t sent anything to anyone.
“How did she get in here?” I asked a trembling Chloe.
“She knocked on the door. She wouldn’t stop. I looked through the hole and she looked nice so I let her in. She said she was a friend of Aleanbh so I didn’t feel threatened. Then she shoved me to the ground and tied my hands together and threw me in here and told me to be quiet if I wanted to see any of you again,” she answered.
I swore under my breath. Blair always was good with coming up with elaborate plans like this.
“Then she got in bed and pretended to be me,” Chloe finished.
“Sounds like her,” I mumbled.
“What’s her problem?” Chloe asked after a moment of silence.
“She became obsessed with me shortly after we got together,” I told her and explained what happened after we broke up. The whole time, Chloe watched me with shocked eyes, not wanting to believe what I was telling her.
She remained silent after I finished my story and watched the door. The knocking had stopped but we could still see Blair’s shadow under the door. I figured she was listening, trying to determine if we were talking about her – or anything – and thinking of what to do next.
“Oh, Harry,” she sing-songed after a while.
I shuttered at the sound of her smooth, deceptive voice. I hadn’t heard anything quite so terrifying in over a year.
“Come on out, sweetie,” she sang. Chloe shot me a glance when I didn’t answer or move.
“What does she want?” Chloe asked in a voice so small I could barely make out what she had said.
“Me,” I answered.
“Go,” she ordered me.
I looked at her as if she was crazy. I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly until I saw the look on her face. Surely she couldn’t be serious?
“What?”
“Do what she wants,” Chloe said, looking away from me.
“No way, Chloe. I’m going to stay in here with you,” I told her, refusing to move.
Chloe sighed and said nothing more. In the silence that followed, I heard a small sound coming from the other side of the door. I quickly looked at the door and – to my horror – I saw one of the screws on the top hinge turn.
Chloe must have seen it too because her grip on my hand tightened dramatically. I watched as the screw fell in slow motion to the floor and hit with a deafening clank.
“I’m going to see you, one way or another,” Blair said from the other side of the door. I could practically hear the smile in her voice. There was nothing I could do but watch as screw after screw fell from the hinges of the door down to the hard linoleum floor of the bathroom.
Chloe shook in my arms, sobbing silently. I felt so bad for her; I was the one who got her into this. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t be hiding in the bathroom of a hotel right now.
“It’ll be okay, love,” I said, trying to soothe her.
We watched the last screw fall to the floor and heard the small, almost nonexistent sound it made as it made contact with the tile. The door was slowly pulled away from the frame and a skinny blonde girl became visible.
As she set the door on the wall across from the bathroom, I heard her laugh maniacally and mumble something to herself. I couldn’t quite make out what she had said but I could tell by the tone it was something to do with her hostages.
She turned around with a huge, satisfied smile on her face. “Harry,” she said with a giggle. “It’s so nice to see you again.”
I stared at her, not sure if I should say something or keep my mouth shut for the sake of Chloe and myself.
“How long has it been since we split up? 2 or 3 years? That’s definitely too long to avoid your soul mate, Harry,” she said with a tone sort of like when you mother scolds you for doing something you shouldn’t.
She looked back and forth from me to Chloe a couple times before stepping into the bathroom. She hoisted herself up onto the counter and criss-crossed her legs.
“So,” she continued. “How’s the tour?” I didn’t answer her. “When did you meet this toy?” She gestured toward Chloe and her voiced changed from one of casual conversation to one of anger and betrayal.
“Blair, I broke up with you two years ago,” I defended myself. “You need to get over it and stop being a psycho bitch.”
She looked taken aback at my comment for a moment before recomposing herself. “You didn’t break up with me, Harry. I remember exactly what you told me that day.” She looked up at the ceiling as if trying to remember something. “You said, ‘Blair, I don’t think this is working. Maybe we should take a break.’ Last time I checked, Harry, a break wasn’t permanent.”
I was appalled that she remembered my exact words.
“I have a great memory,” she said with a smile, as if reading my mind. “Anyway, our break is over, Harry. You’re my boyfriend now. This girl,” she said with a wave, “has to go.”
I felt Chloe stop breathing for a second as she heard the words coming out of Blair’s mouth. She was still trembling and her face paled almost instantly.
“She’s not going anywhere,” I told her. “She’s my girlfriend and she’s here to stay.”
A devious smile spread across Blair’s glossy lips. “That’s funny,” she said, putting a finger up to her chin in fake thought, “because just last night you were broken up.”
It was my turn to be shocked. How could she know that? “Are you stalking me again, Blair?” I asked, furious.
“Again? I never stopped, Harry. You just never knew I was still around. I’ve followed you to every one of your concerts and interviews. I’m pretty good at disguises, you know. You made eye contact with me a few times but you never noticed it was me.” She looked pretty pleased with herself when she saw the surprised expression on my face.
“That’s not the best part,” she continued. “A few times at your interviews when you ask audience members’ questions you answered mine. You looked right at me and gave me the answers. Also, remember that accident you were in? Yeah, I was in the passenger seat. It wasn’t the driver’s fault.” She paused and let her information sink in. “I jerked the wheel when I saw your bus and caused my drunken friend to crash into your bus.”
“You’re insane,” I told her through gritted teeth.
“Nice cast,” she said, pointing to my injured wrist. “Mind if I sign it? After all, it was my fault you got hurt.”
The last part is what got to me the most. She caused it? “There’s no way this is your fault. I tripped on the stairs; I couldn’t see my feet.”
“Which is exactly why you couldn’t see my foot in front of you,” she answered with a smirk. “I tripped you, that’s why you fell. I know you get angry when you’re in pain, I knew you would yell nonsense, and I knew you would direct it toward Chloe. I figured with her out of the way I could easily get you back, but you went and screwed it up last night with that stupid speech.”
“I liked his speech,” Chloe said quietly from beside me. Blair’s eyes quickly fell on her as she hopped off the counter and made her way over to where we were still sitting in the corner. She squatted down in front of us and looked Chloe in the eyes.
“What did you just say?”
Chloe cleared her throat and looked away from Blair’s piercing glare. “Nothing,” she whispered.
“That’s what I thought,” Blair said, standing and giving us our space. She paced around the bathroom, mumbling some things to herself. Soon, there was a knock at the hotel room door.
She looked quickly at Chloe and me, her eyes telling us all we needed to know. She smiled and opened the door, greeting two guys who walked into the room.
“Harry, Harry’s slut, meet Jack and Jeremy,” Blair said, pointing the muscle-y men on either side of her.
“You ready?” Jack asked Blair.
She nodded and Jack and Jeremy walked over to us. Jeremy forcefully pulled me off the ground while Jack got Chloe.
“I’ll take the girl,” Blair told Jack. “You get their things.”
Jack shoved Chloe over to Blair and grabbed our suitcases. When everything was removed from the room, we were pushed down the hallway and into the elevator. While on our way down to the lobby, Jack and Jeremy tied our hands behind our backs and stuck duct tape across our mouths.
When the elevator stopped at the lobby, we walked down a hallway and past the dining room. I tried jumping around and getting everyone’s attention, since they were still eating, but they were all so engrossed in conversation they didn’t notice. We were doomed.
“Good morning, winner,” Louis greeted me.
“Morning, guys,” I answered, pouring myself some coffee. I usually don’t drink the stuff but I figured since I was in a good mood, why not?
They all mumbled greetings as I took a seat beside Niall at the table.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Great,” I answered honestly. I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling since last night.
“Don’t mess it up this time,” Liam warned.
“I won’t,” I told him. I really planned on doing everything in my power to keep Chloe by my side from now on. No more slip ups for me.
The boys all asked me random questions about Chloe and me and the party last night and what we talked about when we got back to the room. I answered them all honestly, telling them I really wasn’t expecting her to forgive me as quickly as she had. When I saw her in the middle of the room when I stepped off the stage last night, I had to do a double-take to make sure she was actually there. My speech was made just to express how sorry I was that I’d messed up; I hadn’t expected it to get her to forgive me. That’s what the bracelet was for. When her arms wrapped around my neck, I fought to hold back tears. I hugged her back as tight as I could without hurting her; I wanted to keep her close to me. If we weren’t at her party, I don’t think I would have been able to let her go.
“I’m so happy for you,” Louis said from across the table.
“You too, Lou,” I told him. A smile took over him as he remembered his reunion with Eleanor at the party last night. She left early this morning to catch her flight back home but Louis was still over the moon about it.
I finished my coffee and headed back up to the room I’d left Chloe in a little while ago. Quietly, I opened the door, smiling to myself when I saw her still sound asleep on the bed, her back toward me. Her long, blonde hair hardly looked as if she had been sleeping. With the smile still plastered across my face, I entered the bathroom and was stopped dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me.
Chloe was sitting in the corner of the bathroom, her hands bound behind her back and a gag tied around her mouth. I was speechless and I felt my stomach churn. I slammed the door shut behind me and locked it, hearing the girl in the bed get up and walk quickly to the bathroom. I got the door closed just in time as she started banging on the door.
Then I knew who it was: Blair.
Blair is a crazy ex-girlfriend of mine that I met back in Holmes Chapel. I liked her for a long time before asking her out freshman year of high school. She’d said yes almost immediately and I was extremely happy. Things were going smoothly for a few weeks until she started getting a little clingy. I didn’t really pay too much attention to it since I figured it would pass but as the weeks progressed, it starting becoming more and more worrisome. She called me every night and always asked me where I was, what I was doing, who I was with, and so on.
Once, she even followed me out with my friends and blew up on me when I waved at one of our mutual female friends. She was always jealous of me and when she told me I couldn’t hang out with my friends anymore, I broke up with her. No one, not even my girlfriend, can keep me from my life.
She continued to call me and stalk me for months after I dumped her and when I went on the X Factor, she was almost always in the audience or trying to get backstage. I had to have security by my side at all times in case she finally got past the security at the doors. She never was successful in getting through, thank goodness, but I was always looking over my shoulder to make sure she wasn’t there behind me.
When the band was put together, the attempts at getting in to talk to me became less frequent and I was beginning to think she had finally decided she was going to leave me alone. When we found out we lost the X Factor, I was shocked when there was no news of her trying to get backstage to console me.
We signed with Simon, made our first album, and began our first tour. There were a few attempts from her trying to see me but they weren’t nearly as frequent as they were when I’d first started the show. When we reached our 2nd week of the tour in America, the attempts ended. I focused on the concerts and interviews we had during those months and eventually forgot all about Blair. Life was amazing: I was touring the world with my four best mates, I was making music and doing what I love, and I had the greatest fans ever.
The tour ended and we got to work on our sophomore album and launched our second tour early the next year. About 5 months in, I met Chloe and Tess when they won the contest and any remaining memories of Blair were gone. I focused on having fun and getting Chloe to like me and then on the concerts in New York and the upcoming ones in New Jersey.
It wasn’t until I saw Chloe tied up in the corner and heard the banging on the door that I realized I should have seen this coming. She left me alone on purpose, got me to forget about her, just so she could come back a year later and catch me completely off guard. I have to say, I admire her planning and deviousness, but this is the scariest situation I’ve ever been in. How did she even get into the room? Chloe, Paul, and I are the only ones with the key cards.
I made sure the door was locked and rushed over to Chloe. I untied her wrists and the gag as she stared at me with scared, confused eyes.
“Who is that?” she whispered, afraid to know the answer.
I sighed and looked at the door, as if to make sure it was still there. “My psycho ex,” I answered quietly.
The banging stopped for a moment and resumed, this time much louder. Chloe jumped and I saw some tears escape her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. There is no way we can protect ourselves if she breaks the door down; my phone was out in the other room with the rest of my things. I’ll be lucky if Blair hasn’t sent anything to anyone.
“How did she get in here?” I asked a trembling Chloe.
“She knocked on the door. She wouldn’t stop. I looked through the hole and she looked nice so I let her in. She said she was a friend of Aleanbh so I didn’t feel threatened. Then she shoved me to the ground and tied my hands together and threw me in here and told me to be quiet if I wanted to see any of you again,” she answered.
I swore under my breath. Blair always was good with coming up with elaborate plans like this.
“Then she got in bed and pretended to be me,” Chloe finished.
“Sounds like her,” I mumbled.
“What’s her problem?” Chloe asked after a moment of silence.
“She became obsessed with me shortly after we got together,” I told her and explained what happened after we broke up. The whole time, Chloe watched me with shocked eyes, not wanting to believe what I was telling her.
She remained silent after I finished my story and watched the door. The knocking had stopped but we could still see Blair’s shadow under the door. I figured she was listening, trying to determine if we were talking about her – or anything – and thinking of what to do next.
“Oh, Harry,” she sing-songed after a while.
I shuttered at the sound of her smooth, deceptive voice. I hadn’t heard anything quite so terrifying in over a year.
“Come on out, sweetie,” she sang. Chloe shot me a glance when I didn’t answer or move.
“What does she want?” Chloe asked in a voice so small I could barely make out what she had said.
“Me,” I answered.
“Go,” she ordered me.
I looked at her as if she was crazy. I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly until I saw the look on her face. Surely she couldn’t be serious?
“What?”
“Do what she wants,” Chloe said, looking away from me.
“No way, Chloe. I’m going to stay in here with you,” I told her, refusing to move.
Chloe sighed and said nothing more. In the silence that followed, I heard a small sound coming from the other side of the door. I quickly looked at the door and – to my horror – I saw one of the screws on the top hinge turn.
Chloe must have seen it too because her grip on my hand tightened dramatically. I watched as the screw fell in slow motion to the floor and hit with a deafening clank.
“I’m going to see you, one way or another,” Blair said from the other side of the door. I could practically hear the smile in her voice. There was nothing I could do but watch as screw after screw fell from the hinges of the door down to the hard linoleum floor of the bathroom.
Chloe shook in my arms, sobbing silently. I felt so bad for her; I was the one who got her into this. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t be hiding in the bathroom of a hotel right now.
“It’ll be okay, love,” I said, trying to soothe her.
We watched the last screw fall to the floor and heard the small, almost nonexistent sound it made as it made contact with the tile. The door was slowly pulled away from the frame and a skinny blonde girl became visible.
As she set the door on the wall across from the bathroom, I heard her laugh maniacally and mumble something to herself. I couldn’t quite make out what she had said but I could tell by the tone it was something to do with her hostages.
She turned around with a huge, satisfied smile on her face. “Harry,” she said with a giggle. “It’s so nice to see you again.”
I stared at her, not sure if I should say something or keep my mouth shut for the sake of Chloe and myself.
“How long has it been since we split up? 2 or 3 years? That’s definitely too long to avoid your soul mate, Harry,” she said with a tone sort of like when you mother scolds you for doing something you shouldn’t.
She looked back and forth from me to Chloe a couple times before stepping into the bathroom. She hoisted herself up onto the counter and criss-crossed her legs.
“So,” she continued. “How’s the tour?” I didn’t answer her. “When did you meet this toy?” She gestured toward Chloe and her voiced changed from one of casual conversation to one of anger and betrayal.
“Blair, I broke up with you two years ago,” I defended myself. “You need to get over it and stop being a psycho bitch.”
She looked taken aback at my comment for a moment before recomposing herself. “You didn’t break up with me, Harry. I remember exactly what you told me that day.” She looked up at the ceiling as if trying to remember something. “You said, ‘Blair, I don’t think this is working. Maybe we should take a break.’ Last time I checked, Harry, a break wasn’t permanent.”
I was appalled that she remembered my exact words.
“I have a great memory,” she said with a smile, as if reading my mind. “Anyway, our break is over, Harry. You’re my boyfriend now. This girl,” she said with a wave, “has to go.”
I felt Chloe stop breathing for a second as she heard the words coming out of Blair’s mouth. She was still trembling and her face paled almost instantly.
“She’s not going anywhere,” I told her. “She’s my girlfriend and she’s here to stay.”
A devious smile spread across Blair’s glossy lips. “That’s funny,” she said, putting a finger up to her chin in fake thought, “because just last night you were broken up.”
It was my turn to be shocked. How could she know that? “Are you stalking me again, Blair?” I asked, furious.
“Again? I never stopped, Harry. You just never knew I was still around. I’ve followed you to every one of your concerts and interviews. I’m pretty good at disguises, you know. You made eye contact with me a few times but you never noticed it was me.” She looked pretty pleased with herself when she saw the surprised expression on my face.
“That’s not the best part,” she continued. “A few times at your interviews when you ask audience members’ questions you answered mine. You looked right at me and gave me the answers. Also, remember that accident you were in? Yeah, I was in the passenger seat. It wasn’t the driver’s fault.” She paused and let her information sink in. “I jerked the wheel when I saw your bus and caused my drunken friend to crash into your bus.”
“You’re insane,” I told her through gritted teeth.
“Nice cast,” she said, pointing to my injured wrist. “Mind if I sign it? After all, it was my fault you got hurt.”
The last part is what got to me the most. She caused it? “There’s no way this is your fault. I tripped on the stairs; I couldn’t see my feet.”
“Which is exactly why you couldn’t see my foot in front of you,” she answered with a smirk. “I tripped you, that’s why you fell. I know you get angry when you’re in pain, I knew you would yell nonsense, and I knew you would direct it toward Chloe. I figured with her out of the way I could easily get you back, but you went and screwed it up last night with that stupid speech.”
“I liked his speech,” Chloe said quietly from beside me. Blair’s eyes quickly fell on her as she hopped off the counter and made her way over to where we were still sitting in the corner. She squatted down in front of us and looked Chloe in the eyes.
“What did you just say?”
Chloe cleared her throat and looked away from Blair’s piercing glare. “Nothing,” she whispered.
“That’s what I thought,” Blair said, standing and giving us our space. She paced around the bathroom, mumbling some things to herself. Soon, there was a knock at the hotel room door.
She looked quickly at Chloe and me, her eyes telling us all we needed to know. She smiled and opened the door, greeting two guys who walked into the room.
“Harry, Harry’s slut, meet Jack and Jeremy,” Blair said, pointing the muscle-y men on either side of her.
“You ready?” Jack asked Blair.
She nodded and Jack and Jeremy walked over to us. Jeremy forcefully pulled me off the ground while Jack got Chloe.
“I’ll take the girl,” Blair told Jack. “You get their things.”
Jack shoved Chloe over to Blair and grabbed our suitcases. When everything was removed from the room, we were pushed down the hallway and into the elevator. While on our way down to the lobby, Jack and Jeremy tied our hands behind our backs and stuck duct tape across our mouths.
When the elevator stopped at the lobby, we walked down a hallway and past the dining room. I tried jumping around and getting everyone’s attention, since they were still eating, but they were all so engrossed in conversation they didn’t notice. We were doomed.
6/16/13