Life As a Star
Remember To Love
Nialls View:
Where could she be? She should be home by now, I hope she's okay.
"Niall, did you hear me?" I turned to Harry who was sitting across from me. We were in Claire's living room discussing the past few days and how we could make things work.
"I’m sorry what? I was a bit distracted." I had to be honest. I couldn't stop thinking about Claire. Harry and I decided in the end we would have to let Claire choose, I knew it was the right thing to do.
"I asked if you wanted to watch a movie to take your mind of things, since you seem to be so...lost in your own thoughts." He looked worried and I shook my head to be thinking clearly again.
"Sorry, just a lot on my mind ya know? Yeah, sure, what did you want to watch?" Harry shrugged his shoulders and went down to the TV cabinets to look for something.
While we were talking, Harry told me how horrible he felt about treating Claire the way he did. He said he's the one who made her believe it was her fault for our fighting and he told me how he accidentally pushed her over. When he told me that, I'd gotten super angry and yelled at him. I told him that no matter what girl it was, we had to respect them. I mostly just cared about Claire, but all women deserve to be treated properly.
"Hey Niall, take a look at this." He said, waving me over. I got off the couch and came down beside him with my plate of food that I made myself. I looked at the old VHS tape he was holding in his hand. It had a white sticker on it labeled 'Claire Elizabeth Chasez ages 3-13.' We looked at each other; I bit my lip in fear of prodding around Claire's stuff, especially if it had to do with her past. Surprisingly I could tell Harry was thinking the same thing. We both decided to watch it anyway, I was curious about her past. She never talked about it. We sat back on the couch and I turned out all the lights.
We pressed play as black and white lines streaked across the screen turning into a video. It was a little girl with blonde peach fuzz on her head, running around a living room. She had to be about 2 or 3 years old. I smiled and for some reason felt tears stinging my eyes. It made me emotional, I mean what doesn't, but I guess seeing Claire in such a way made me feel closer to her.
We watched for another good 15 minutes. Finally the video changed to her when she was 8 years old. It was her first piano lesson. She turned to her dad I was guessing, and gave him a big cheesy grin, the kind she uses when she's being goofy. She started playing a little song they had been practicing. She was pretty good even back then. I felt the pain she might be feeling right now if she was here.
I turned to see Harry's reaction only to find him out cold. I laughed a bit, but realized that this is why Claire and I belonged together. I could never fall asleep while watching this, no matter how tired. To be able to learn more about her inspired me to become closer to her. Man, I sound like such a softy right now.
The videos kept going as her age and talent progressed. It showed her finally at 13, the year before her dad died. I smirked at the little cutie she was, even at just a little teenager. Which was only 4 years ago granted, but she's changed so much. She was walking out onto the main floor in a conference center, where she had her recitals. She sat in front of the grand piano in khaki shorts and a white shirt. She put her hands to the keys and started playing a jazzy tune. It was called 'The American Bandstand,' it was really good. She ended with a big finish and turned around to take a bow and show a big smile full of braces.
The video seemed to be over after that, but then a short video flicked back on. It was her dad sitting in front of the camera. He was holding his hands in two thumbs up. He turned to be showing a door, steam was coming from the bottom so I assumed it was a bathroom. All of a sudden I heard singing. I immediately recognized the voice being Claire's. She was singing, 'When I Look at You,' by Miley Cyrus. It was so beautiful, her voice was clear and melodic and full of grace. I narrowed my eyes to look at the date. I realized she was 14 in the video. I quickly got out my phone and looked up when exactly her dad died. It was in 2012 on September 14. I looked back at the date of the video, September 14. He made this the day he died, possibly minutes before he left. Harry told me that Claire couldn't remember the last things she said to her dad, it was all a blur. I kept watching and waited till Claire finished her song and got out of the shower. She opened the door and came out in a towel, her face immediately turning red.
"Dad…" She laughed and tried blocking the camera. He wrapped an arm around her and faced the camera toward them.
"My little girl is going to be a star, just like her old man eh?" He kissed her head and they sang the chorus of the song together.
This is what happened before her dad died. Now she could know, I felt happy for her. I knew this would make a lot of things better for her, and just knowing that she could feel relief after watching this, gave me tears of joy.
Claire's View:
Liam and Zayn and I drove back in silence. I could only smile inside at the thought of my Nan and her stories that would help me make decisions, decisions that would change my life forever. When we finally pulled up to my driveway, I punched in the code to unlock the gate and we parked next to the SUV. I immediately got out and ran to the front door. I walked right in and turned off the alarm that someone set for some reason. Most of the lights were off except for a faint light coming from the living room. I quietly walked in and took off my shoes. I took off my jacket, which was really Nialls that I never gave back, and hung it on the hook. I made my way to the leather couch and smiled at the site of a blonde head sticking up over the top. I crept up behind him, aware of all the noise I'd already made coming in, and through my hands over his eyes. He jumped and scrambled at what was touching him. He sat there for a minute probably wondering what was going on.
"Guess who?" I whispered in his ear. He laughed and used my hands to somehow pull 130 pound me over the couch. I landed in his lap and furrowed my eyebrows at the site of his puffy red eyes looking down on me, a small smile on his face. "Niall, what's wrong? Have you been crying?" I whispered, trying to be quiet of a dozing Harry.
"There's something you need to watch. Wait over there just a minute." He picked me up and set me down by the closet and walked over to Harry who was holding a remote. He slipped the remote out of his hands but used it to hit Harry upside the head. Harry whimpered and grabbed his head.
"What was that for?" He asked looking up at Niall. I tried really hard not to laugh. I was hiding in the closet right behind the couch so we could save questions and confrontation for tomorrow. Niall told Harry to go to one of the guest bedrooms to sleep. He did so groggily and went upstairs. A few seconds later Liam and Zayn walked through the door, I wondered what took them so long. Niall waited for them to quietly make there way upstairs. He pretended to be asleep on the couch until they were gone, then jumped up and ran to the closet.
"Okay the coast is clear!" He whisper yelled. I giggled at how ridiculous we were. I opened the doors and ran into his arms. He gave me a big squeeze and kissed the top of my head before letting go and letting our noses touch. We laughed and then went to the couch where he evidently wanted to show me something.
"So, I'm not sure how to show you this. Harry and I were deciding on what movie to watch out of the ones from the cabinet. When he called me over, he was holding a VHS tape labeled, 'Claire Elizabeth Chasez ages 3-13.' Neither of us wanted to watch it because it may be private, but I was so curious at your past, so I decided we should watch it anyway. We watched the whole video. I thought it was over until one last snippet popped up at the end. I think you need to see it." His face turned serious with emotion. I didn't know what to think, my Nan must've brought the video for us to watch together. I'd seen this tape a million times, but there wasn’t anything at the end that sparked my interest. Niall pressed play and then my breath caught in my chest as I saw a video of my dad holding our video camera. I immediately started crying. I hadn't seen a video of him for years. I'd never seen this video before, so I made sure to suck up every second of it. Niall put a caring arm around me and pulled me into a side hug. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen but I could tell he was watching me. The video was of me singing a song, one that I couldn't quite remember. My dad was giving double thumbs up, which made me cry even harder. I came out of the bathroom only in a towel; I blushed in the video and in real life, wondering what Niall must've been thinking when he watched this. My dad turned the camera around as he put an arm on my wet shoulders. What he said next made everything inside of me stop.
"My little girl is going to be a star, just like her old man eh?" I bawled at the sound of his voice. I couldn't believe he thought I was so good, I never even remembered this happening. How old was I? When we started singing the chorus that’s what made it all come out, I buried my face into Nialls chest and just cried. He leaned his head down and whispered into me ear.
"I know it seems hard to watch now, but I know what'll make it all better. Go look at the date of the video." I looked at him with confusion when he nodded towards the screen. I crawled over on my knees to look at the orange numbers.
"September 14, 2012?" My jaw dropped. That was the day my dad died. The day I lost everything, the day my world spiraled into a black hole. Yet in that moment right there, I could feel myself crawling out, the light suddenly shining in my eyes again. I felt a great weight being lifted from my chest because now I knew. Now I had peace in knowing that on the day of my father’s death, we experienced peace and love, he and I were singing. That's when I knew that becoming a singer was now more important to me then anything in the entire world. That's what he wanted for me, that's what he believed I could do and if he believed in me then I had every right to believe in myself.
I turned to look at the boy who changed it all for me, the boy who stole my heart and changed my life, all within the course of 2 days. If he could do this much in 48 hours, imagine what a lifetime would be like. I shook the idea out of my head, laughing at my silliness. I started crying again remembering my decision; these were tears of joy though. Niall came over to me and pulled me into a ball on his lap.
"Are you okay Claire?" He kissed my cheek leaving it tingling. I nodded before returning the favor.
"I just want you to know something alright?" He looked confused as he let me go. We both sat on our knees across from each other; I reached forward and held his hands. "I just want you to know that I choose you. Every second of everyday I choose you." He looked so shocked but so happy. He leaned into me as we fell backwards on the floor, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a big kiss. I never felt so happy and relieved in all my life, I never thought that Niall would change my life and make it better. He let go and stood up, pulling my hands to help me up.
"I want you to know something too, alright? Never in my entire life, from here on out do I ever want you to leave because of blaming yourself for something that wasn't even your fault. You're too special to let go, you understand? Don't ever, ever leave me, please." He put his forehead against mine as he spoke these sweet words. I nodded repeatedly and kissed his nose.
We laughed and went upstairs. I took a shower and put on some fresh clothes, considering I still had on the ones from the attack. I took the clothes and threw them down the laundry shoot. I put on some leggings and a t-shirt and I braided my hair into a Dutch-Braid. I came out and found Niall draped across the bottom of my bed sleeping the wrong way, he was so tired. I giggled to myself and lay horizontal like he was, except closer to the head of my bed. I put pillows between us because I was bound to be a reckless sleeper tonight. I didn't want to end up kicking him or something drastic like that. I fell asleep quicker then I had in a long time.
Sometime in the middle of the night Niall removed the pillows between us and scooted beside me, wrapping me up like a stuffed animal and whispering, "I love you," into my ear. I was barely awake, but I was awake enough to remember and never forget.
Where could she be? She should be home by now, I hope she's okay.
"Niall, did you hear me?" I turned to Harry who was sitting across from me. We were in Claire's living room discussing the past few days and how we could make things work.
"I’m sorry what? I was a bit distracted." I had to be honest. I couldn't stop thinking about Claire. Harry and I decided in the end we would have to let Claire choose, I knew it was the right thing to do.
"I asked if you wanted to watch a movie to take your mind of things, since you seem to be so...lost in your own thoughts." He looked worried and I shook my head to be thinking clearly again.
"Sorry, just a lot on my mind ya know? Yeah, sure, what did you want to watch?" Harry shrugged his shoulders and went down to the TV cabinets to look for something.
While we were talking, Harry told me how horrible he felt about treating Claire the way he did. He said he's the one who made her believe it was her fault for our fighting and he told me how he accidentally pushed her over. When he told me that, I'd gotten super angry and yelled at him. I told him that no matter what girl it was, we had to respect them. I mostly just cared about Claire, but all women deserve to be treated properly.
"Hey Niall, take a look at this." He said, waving me over. I got off the couch and came down beside him with my plate of food that I made myself. I looked at the old VHS tape he was holding in his hand. It had a white sticker on it labeled 'Claire Elizabeth Chasez ages 3-13.' We looked at each other; I bit my lip in fear of prodding around Claire's stuff, especially if it had to do with her past. Surprisingly I could tell Harry was thinking the same thing. We both decided to watch it anyway, I was curious about her past. She never talked about it. We sat back on the couch and I turned out all the lights.
We pressed play as black and white lines streaked across the screen turning into a video. It was a little girl with blonde peach fuzz on her head, running around a living room. She had to be about 2 or 3 years old. I smiled and for some reason felt tears stinging my eyes. It made me emotional, I mean what doesn't, but I guess seeing Claire in such a way made me feel closer to her.
We watched for another good 15 minutes. Finally the video changed to her when she was 8 years old. It was her first piano lesson. She turned to her dad I was guessing, and gave him a big cheesy grin, the kind she uses when she's being goofy. She started playing a little song they had been practicing. She was pretty good even back then. I felt the pain she might be feeling right now if she was here.
I turned to see Harry's reaction only to find him out cold. I laughed a bit, but realized that this is why Claire and I belonged together. I could never fall asleep while watching this, no matter how tired. To be able to learn more about her inspired me to become closer to her. Man, I sound like such a softy right now.
The videos kept going as her age and talent progressed. It showed her finally at 13, the year before her dad died. I smirked at the little cutie she was, even at just a little teenager. Which was only 4 years ago granted, but she's changed so much. She was walking out onto the main floor in a conference center, where she had her recitals. She sat in front of the grand piano in khaki shorts and a white shirt. She put her hands to the keys and started playing a jazzy tune. It was called 'The American Bandstand,' it was really good. She ended with a big finish and turned around to take a bow and show a big smile full of braces.
The video seemed to be over after that, but then a short video flicked back on. It was her dad sitting in front of the camera. He was holding his hands in two thumbs up. He turned to be showing a door, steam was coming from the bottom so I assumed it was a bathroom. All of a sudden I heard singing. I immediately recognized the voice being Claire's. She was singing, 'When I Look at You,' by Miley Cyrus. It was so beautiful, her voice was clear and melodic and full of grace. I narrowed my eyes to look at the date. I realized she was 14 in the video. I quickly got out my phone and looked up when exactly her dad died. It was in 2012 on September 14. I looked back at the date of the video, September 14. He made this the day he died, possibly minutes before he left. Harry told me that Claire couldn't remember the last things she said to her dad, it was all a blur. I kept watching and waited till Claire finished her song and got out of the shower. She opened the door and came out in a towel, her face immediately turning red.
"Dad…" She laughed and tried blocking the camera. He wrapped an arm around her and faced the camera toward them.
"My little girl is going to be a star, just like her old man eh?" He kissed her head and they sang the chorus of the song together.
This is what happened before her dad died. Now she could know, I felt happy for her. I knew this would make a lot of things better for her, and just knowing that she could feel relief after watching this, gave me tears of joy.
Claire's View:
Liam and Zayn and I drove back in silence. I could only smile inside at the thought of my Nan and her stories that would help me make decisions, decisions that would change my life forever. When we finally pulled up to my driveway, I punched in the code to unlock the gate and we parked next to the SUV. I immediately got out and ran to the front door. I walked right in and turned off the alarm that someone set for some reason. Most of the lights were off except for a faint light coming from the living room. I quietly walked in and took off my shoes. I took off my jacket, which was really Nialls that I never gave back, and hung it on the hook. I made my way to the leather couch and smiled at the site of a blonde head sticking up over the top. I crept up behind him, aware of all the noise I'd already made coming in, and through my hands over his eyes. He jumped and scrambled at what was touching him. He sat there for a minute probably wondering what was going on.
"Guess who?" I whispered in his ear. He laughed and used my hands to somehow pull 130 pound me over the couch. I landed in his lap and furrowed my eyebrows at the site of his puffy red eyes looking down on me, a small smile on his face. "Niall, what's wrong? Have you been crying?" I whispered, trying to be quiet of a dozing Harry.
"There's something you need to watch. Wait over there just a minute." He picked me up and set me down by the closet and walked over to Harry who was holding a remote. He slipped the remote out of his hands but used it to hit Harry upside the head. Harry whimpered and grabbed his head.
"What was that for?" He asked looking up at Niall. I tried really hard not to laugh. I was hiding in the closet right behind the couch so we could save questions and confrontation for tomorrow. Niall told Harry to go to one of the guest bedrooms to sleep. He did so groggily and went upstairs. A few seconds later Liam and Zayn walked through the door, I wondered what took them so long. Niall waited for them to quietly make there way upstairs. He pretended to be asleep on the couch until they were gone, then jumped up and ran to the closet.
"Okay the coast is clear!" He whisper yelled. I giggled at how ridiculous we were. I opened the doors and ran into his arms. He gave me a big squeeze and kissed the top of my head before letting go and letting our noses touch. We laughed and then went to the couch where he evidently wanted to show me something.
"So, I'm not sure how to show you this. Harry and I were deciding on what movie to watch out of the ones from the cabinet. When he called me over, he was holding a VHS tape labeled, 'Claire Elizabeth Chasez ages 3-13.' Neither of us wanted to watch it because it may be private, but I was so curious at your past, so I decided we should watch it anyway. We watched the whole video. I thought it was over until one last snippet popped up at the end. I think you need to see it." His face turned serious with emotion. I didn't know what to think, my Nan must've brought the video for us to watch together. I'd seen this tape a million times, but there wasn’t anything at the end that sparked my interest. Niall pressed play and then my breath caught in my chest as I saw a video of my dad holding our video camera. I immediately started crying. I hadn't seen a video of him for years. I'd never seen this video before, so I made sure to suck up every second of it. Niall put a caring arm around me and pulled me into a side hug. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen but I could tell he was watching me. The video was of me singing a song, one that I couldn't quite remember. My dad was giving double thumbs up, which made me cry even harder. I came out of the bathroom only in a towel; I blushed in the video and in real life, wondering what Niall must've been thinking when he watched this. My dad turned the camera around as he put an arm on my wet shoulders. What he said next made everything inside of me stop.
"My little girl is going to be a star, just like her old man eh?" I bawled at the sound of his voice. I couldn't believe he thought I was so good, I never even remembered this happening. How old was I? When we started singing the chorus that’s what made it all come out, I buried my face into Nialls chest and just cried. He leaned his head down and whispered into me ear.
"I know it seems hard to watch now, but I know what'll make it all better. Go look at the date of the video." I looked at him with confusion when he nodded towards the screen. I crawled over on my knees to look at the orange numbers.
"September 14, 2012?" My jaw dropped. That was the day my dad died. The day I lost everything, the day my world spiraled into a black hole. Yet in that moment right there, I could feel myself crawling out, the light suddenly shining in my eyes again. I felt a great weight being lifted from my chest because now I knew. Now I had peace in knowing that on the day of my father’s death, we experienced peace and love, he and I were singing. That's when I knew that becoming a singer was now more important to me then anything in the entire world. That's what he wanted for me, that's what he believed I could do and if he believed in me then I had every right to believe in myself.
I turned to look at the boy who changed it all for me, the boy who stole my heart and changed my life, all within the course of 2 days. If he could do this much in 48 hours, imagine what a lifetime would be like. I shook the idea out of my head, laughing at my silliness. I started crying again remembering my decision; these were tears of joy though. Niall came over to me and pulled me into a ball on his lap.
"Are you okay Claire?" He kissed my cheek leaving it tingling. I nodded before returning the favor.
"I just want you to know something alright?" He looked confused as he let me go. We both sat on our knees across from each other; I reached forward and held his hands. "I just want you to know that I choose you. Every second of everyday I choose you." He looked so shocked but so happy. He leaned into me as we fell backwards on the floor, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a big kiss. I never felt so happy and relieved in all my life, I never thought that Niall would change my life and make it better. He let go and stood up, pulling my hands to help me up.
"I want you to know something too, alright? Never in my entire life, from here on out do I ever want you to leave because of blaming yourself for something that wasn't even your fault. You're too special to let go, you understand? Don't ever, ever leave me, please." He put his forehead against mine as he spoke these sweet words. I nodded repeatedly and kissed his nose.
We laughed and went upstairs. I took a shower and put on some fresh clothes, considering I still had on the ones from the attack. I took the clothes and threw them down the laundry shoot. I put on some leggings and a t-shirt and I braided my hair into a Dutch-Braid. I came out and found Niall draped across the bottom of my bed sleeping the wrong way, he was so tired. I giggled to myself and lay horizontal like he was, except closer to the head of my bed. I put pillows between us because I was bound to be a reckless sleeper tonight. I didn't want to end up kicking him or something drastic like that. I fell asleep quicker then I had in a long time.
Sometime in the middle of the night Niall removed the pillows between us and scooted beside me, wrapping me up like a stuffed animal and whispering, "I love you," into my ear. I was barely awake, but I was awake enough to remember and never forget.
