The Way We Used To Be - ON HOLD-

“Maggie, Mags wake up.” I hear a muffled voice calling, unsure of where I am or why my head was pounding, I opened my eyes slowly.
“Maggie, thank god. You’re okay.” Harry said, his voice louder than ever as he leaned down to hug me. I was on the ground, what the hell?
“What…What happened?” I asked as I tried to sit up and instantly regretted it. I felt woozy, I remembered the air bag and hitting my head, but why had we even ended up like this?
“I hit a deep hole and my tire blew out, I couldn’t control the steering wheel because I was going too fast…” He said sheepishly as he sat up and sighed.
“I have no service; I can’t get any calls through.” He looked defeated.
“Where are your stalkers when you need ‘em, ‘eh?” I asked as I tried to sit up again. I may have had a slight concussion, but other than that – there was no blood so that was a plus. The airbag probably helped with that.
“You’re bleeding.” I said as I finally realized he had a giant gash across his hand, it looked like it needed stitches. His shirt was covered in blood.
“It’s fine, it stopped bleeding mostly.” He said with a shrug, maybe it was the adrenaline from everything – but I would have been crying if that were me.
“Can you walk?” He asked as he climbed to his feet, reaching a hand out for me to take it.
I nodded as he pulled me up, feeling like I was pushing a ton of bricks up with me. I felt my knees wobble, but luckily he grabbed me before I was able to hit the ground.
“I’ve got you.” He said as he pulled my arm over his shoulder. “We need to get to the road, maybe someone will pass by.” He said as he looked up the large rocky hill we’d flown down.
“Sure, I’ve got this. Just one second.” I said as I walked over to the car, it was crushed – I wondered how he’d gotten me out. I grabbed my bag and pulled out a bottle of water. I chugged down half the bottle before offering it to him.
“Thanks.” He said as he took it and followed my lead.
I rummaged through my bag, no sight of my cell phone. I looked around the car – but no sight of it there either. It must have flown out or gotten crushed. Just perfect.
“I’ve got a bandana, let me see your hand.” I turned toward him and watched him reluctantly hold out his hand, “Maybe I should have stolen some of Dean’s booze…” I tried to lighten the situation as I wrapped the bandana tightly around his wound. He winced, but took it like a man for the most part.
“I’m so sorry Maggie, this is all my fault.” He said as he looked down at me.
“No, I was distracting you and being an utter bitch, I’m sorry Harry. Let’s just worry about getting help okay? My mom is probably freaking out.”
“All right… I am sorry though, for everything.” He said, making sure I knew what he was implying. I simply nodded and we began the trek up the hill.
“How long was I out?” I asked as we neared the road, the sun was higher in the sky I was guessing it was about 3 or so.
“Almost an hour? I tried to wake you up and I walked up here and I couldn’t find any help or get any service so I just came back down and waited…” He admitted. We had finally made it to the road, but it was deserted.
“This is such a scene from a horror movie…” I said as I shook my head, looking over at him.
“Yeah, I think there was a gas station back about 5 miles or so… can you walk?” He asked, taking another sip of the water.
I nodded and took the bottle when he handed it to me. There was a little left and I figured we should save it. Just in case.
I kept checking my phone, no service. We’d walked a mile and it only showed me how out of shape I was.
“Maybe I should look into sports.” I said as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. My sweater had found itself tied around my waist, leaving me in just a sheer white tank top. Harry’s t-shirt was wrapped around his head, you’d think we’d been lost for much longer.
“Why’s that?” He asked, looking down at me.
“I’m dying here, I can hardly breath.” I said with a laugh.
“Nah, you’re doing fine. I can carry you if you’d like?” He offered, with a cheeky grin. This was the best we’d gotten along in years.
“No, I’ll save that though. Maybe in a couple miles when my feet have fallen off.” I said with a smile, my eyes quickly looking to my feet as I walked.
“So, you and Freddy?” He asked, as if he’d been wanting to ask it the entire time.
“What about us?” I asked, my arms swinging casually at my sides.
“You guys are official?”
“No, I mean yes. No not really, I haven’t talked to him in days.” I admitted.
“Why?”
“He… we had plans to go camping and he blew me off to go with his family and in retrospect it really wasn’t anything he had control over, but I’ve just turned into such a bitch.” It was as if a switch had gone off in my mind, how long had I been like this? Hateful and spiteful and full of angst. I used to be so happy and easy-going. Was it because I couldn’t accept that Harry had found success? I blamed him for all my problems, but my problem was not being able to let go.
“Oh… I probably had something to do with that huh? Trust issues…” His eyes were on his feet too now, I could see a slight blush in his cheeks.
“Yeah, a little bit. He’s lovely. I need to apologize.” I sighed.
“You hear that?!” Harry said, looking up quickly. I did, it was an engine and it was coming towards us.
“Come on.” He said as he took off into a sprint, he was in the middle of the road as we watched the old pick-up truck flying over the hill.
“Harry, get back he’s going too fast!” I yelled, my heart was racing as I watched the truck swerve just in time to miss Harry.
He didn’t even stop, he just kept on.
“What an asshat!” Harry yelled, throwing a fist in front of him.
“Fuck!” He yelled, before turning and looking at me. “Sorry, what a jerk.”
“Be careful Harry, not everyone is as kind as you.”
“I know, c’mon. It shouldn’t be much further…maybe some nice old lady will come by.” He said as he took his spot beside me again.
“Or better yet, a car full of hormonal teenage girls. They’d carry you all the way to safety.” I said as I put my hands over my heart and mocked him.
“Oh hush, they’re really a bit…They’d probably strip me down and take turns touching my hair. They’d a bit scary…” He shuddered.
“Oh, c’mon. You love it, you’ve always loved the attention.”
“Yes, but to an extent. Walking out of a room and being swarmed by girls… it’s not really fun. I’ve ran to my room more times than I can count. It’s like they get so caught up, I can’t count the number of younger girls I’ve had to help off the ground because everyone was stomping on them. I am not sure I like it either Mags, that’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about…I mean I wanted to talk to you about everything because you’re wonderful at putting stuff in perspective, but I messed it all up.”
“You… did yes, but I’m here now and I can’t really escape you so now is your chance.” I gave him a grin, nudging into him slightly. He winced and put his uninjured hand on his rib cage.
“What?” I said, looking over and pulling his tank top up. His ribs were red and bruised, definitely looked broken.
“Harry! Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, letting his shirt fall back down.
“I didn’t even realize.” He sighed.
I wasn’t sure if he was lying or not. “We’ve got to get you to a hospital.”

--------------------------------------------
Five miles later and no sign of a gas station, we hadn’t seen a car since the last one. He looked at his phone, the battery was quickly dying. It was almost Six Thirty and the sun was quickly finding its way below the horizon.
“Wait, look.” He said with a grin, pointing to a sign that said it was approximately one point five miles to the next service station. I threw my head back and let out a groan, a mixture of delight and dread. More walking, but so close to where we needed to be.
“Your phone.” I said as I finally looked down at him, it was lighting up.
He looked down and smiled, “I’ve got service!” He answered quickly.
“Mum, mum. Can you hear me?? Mum!” He said, I could hear a very muffled Anne on the line, it was mostly static.
“My phone is fucked.” He said with a sigh, hanging up and clicking on the text button. “I’ll send her a message, let’s keep walking.” He said as he began typing.
“Mum, we were in an accident. We are 1.5 miles from service station that is halfway between Holmes chapel and the lake. Please send help - -we are alive and safe for the most part.”
He read aloud, sighing as he shoved his phone in his pocket.
“What shit luck we have.” He said with a laugh.
“Harry, I may never have another chance to do this.” Spur of the moment impulses ran through me as I turned to him and grabbed his face. I placed my lips on his softly, savoring the moment. I pulled back and exhaled – blinking.
“What...was that for?” He asked, placing a finger on his lips.
“I don’t know what will happen when we’re back home, but for now you’re vulnerable and I feel like I’m with the old Harry and I’ve missed you so incredibly bad. I know we will never be the way we used to be, but I just wanted a proper goodbye kiss.”
“Goodbye?”
“I doubt I’ll see you after this.”
“Why would you say that? Maggie, I’m seriously trying here.” He reached out for me with the bandana wrapped hand, groaning as he clutched my arm. “Fuck.” He said as he pulled his arm back.
“Babe, be careful. Come on, we’re so close. See if Anne text back.” I could tell he was annoyed, but he was also wanting to be rescued so to speak.
“She’s sent my manager and someone to get the car. It’s going to be okay.” He said with a frown, knowing that he didn’t truly believe that.

Notes