Catching Red Eyes

I reread the letter through almost ten times before I actually realized what it said. The two VIP passes fell to the ground as I tried to comprehend what I was reading. I bent down to pick them out and put them on the kitchen island which I had also been using to steady myself.

“What are you doing in here?”

I jumped from Laurie pulling me out of my weird concentration, the letter falling to the ground. Laurie went to pick it and I didn’t stop her. I stood staring at the stove, trying to process. I caught my reflection and saw the huge bouquet of flowers sitting amongst the presents and balloons from earlier. I turned to look at them again. They were from Harry.

“Holy…fuck..,” said Laurie.

I nodded in agreement and her eyes went to where mine were transfixed on the flowers he sent.

“I don’t even want to know how he knows where you live.”

I looked over at her and nodded in agreement again. I suddenly realized my phone was missing. I didn’t even think about where it was until right now. I dashed up to my room and shuffled through my things until I saw it face down in a pile of throw pillows on the floor. I quickly grabbed it and hit the home button to see it was completely dead. I ran over to my nightstand and quickly plugged it in. Laurie was at my heels, waiting for the phone to slowly come back to life.

“Are you going to call him??”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t even know what to think right now. I haven’t talked to him since before finals.”

“Well, if you go to that concert, I’m coming. I cannot miss this. Miss you two I mean, the concert will suck.”

“Laurie, I don’t even know if I’m going to go…I can’t even think right now, oh my God, why do these things take so long to turn back on?!” I said, looking at my phone and trying to keep my voice down.

After what felt like an eternity, my phone came back on and wouldn’t stop buzzing and chiming for a good 10 seconds. Scrolling down the notifications, I realized they were all mostly missed calls and texts from Harry all apologizing and asking him to call me.

“Damn, he’s got it bad. Look, these five calls are like two seconds apart.”

She was right. There were some many. My head was throbbing trying to figure out what I was going to do and the champagne I drank wasn’t helping. I looked up at Laurie and her eyes were wide.

“Row…you have to talk to him…”

I knew she was right. I had to because even if I did decide not to fix our relationship or whatever it was, I needed him to know I didn’t hate him. Even if I did want to deny it, I knew a part of me that I hid in dark box in my heart, still was hopelessly in love with him but could I forgive him? Sure, he was drunk when he said those horrible things and that didn’t make it right but I couldn’t help the fact that I missed him. I wanted that forever love with him but I knew some things had to be talked about before I made any kind of commitment to him.

“I know but why now? Why after all this time, he try to contact me now? Why couldn’t he have called me the next day and just said sorry?”

“Because you two are like the same damn person. Stubborn as hell. I guess he just broke down before you did.”

“But Laurie, that stuff I read in the magazine about him and his new girlfriend?”

“Seriously, Row? You’re a writer, you know people make up shit all the time to get people to buy it. You can’t jump to conclusions about him and some random model. People who invented Photoshop make a ton of money on that shit. Call. Him.”

She was right. I had to talk to him. I quickly hit redial on one of the many missed calls in my log and waited. My stomach was in knots again and was also now doing somersaults. It only rang once before I heard his familiar voice on the other end.

“Rowan.”

My name never sounded more captivating then it did when he said it. My legs felt like jello as
I tried to gather my thoughts.

“Are you there?” he asked.

“Y-yes. I’m here.”

“How are you doing? Did you get the flowers?”

“Uh, y-yes, thank you. They are lovely.”

“Look-“

“I-“

We both spoke at once.

“Go on,” I said to him.

“Look, Rowan, love, I am so tremendously sorry for earlier today and for that night…I didn’t know what I was thinking saying those terrible things to you…I really hope you can forgive me…”

I took a deep breath. Laurie staring at me.

“Harry, I-I can’t make the decision right now to forgive you fully but…we can start slow…not start over because I can’t forget the things that happened but we can go slow. I am sorry too.”

I waited, holding my breath.

“Really? You’re sure you are ok with that? We can go as slow or as fast as you want.”

“Yes. I am sure.”

“Rowan, you have made me so incredibly happy. If I wasn’t stuck in LA right now I would catch the Red Eye and come see you tonight.”

“Wait, you were just here this morning, how did you get over there so fast??”

“Planes, love, they fly in the sky?”

I laughed and Laurie’s face broke into a smile.

“I’ve missed your laugh. I promise as soon as I can, I will be back to New York but that probably won’t be until the concert because the tour has already started. Will you be there?”

“Uh I should be able to make it to the concert, yes.”

“SHE’LL BE THERE!” Laurie yelled into the phone, grabbing my arm to pull the receiver closer to her.

“Good. Listen, love I have got to go but I cannot wait to see you.”

“Me too.”

I hit the end call button and looked up at Laurie.

“Dude, I cannot believe I am going to a damn One Direction concert. I am bringing ear plugs.”

Notes