Home Is Where The Heart Is

It took her just one glance to break the careful facade that Harry had kept up for two years. It had been pretty easy without having to see her right in front of his eyes. He could fool himself into thinking that he didn't give a damn about what she was doing or where she was. But now that he'd seen her, all that bullshit caught up to him so fast that it left him a little out of breath. He'd spotted her as soon as she'd walked in with Niall. She'd looked miniscule next to him. Allison had always been on the smaller side, a tiny package that had packed the biggest punch. It had been true then and it was true now. She looked like she'd lost a lot of weight and he face was paler than he'd ever seen. She'd looked at everyone in the room like a deer caught in the headlights. She probably felt that way too seeing as how she'd run away without telling anyone and then proceeded to avoid everyone for two whole years. She'd hugged Lottie and while the younger girl had sniffled a little, Ally hadn't shed a tear. It had always taken a lot to make her cry, especially in front of people, but knowing her as he did, Harry didn't miss the quiver in her lower lip when she asked about Louis. However he felt about it, Harry was glad she was there for Louis. His eyes fell on Gemma who raisedan eyebrow at him, as if to ask him if he was okay. He just shrugged. On the other side of the room Oliver Shaw kept throwing hostile glances at Zayn who looked uncomfortable as hell. Harry had wanted to smack the man right across the face when he'd thrown a fit on seeing Zayn with him. He'd only stopped his tirade when Dan had said firmly that he was glad to see Zayn because he had meant as much to Jay as the rest of the boys. Liam's attention was also stuck on Zayn and he looked torn between hugging Zayn and punching him. Harry walked put into the backyard for a smoke, unable to bear the stillness in the room anymore. He found a corner and sank down on the paved path. It was the second week of December and freezing ot in London. He fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up. He closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall and let his heart settle down. Things had not been going the way he'd hoped for. Sure he'd got cast in a Christopher Nolan movie and even finished shooting it. It was a role most aspiring actors would kill for. But now, he wasn't even excited about the release, something he'd worked his arse off over. His personal life was on a fast track to hell. He hadn't had a serious relationship since Ally. He'd dated around a bit but nobody had interested him. He did it because it looked good to his agent. "Since when do you smoke?" Liam's voice startled him so bad that he almost dropped the cigarette. "Since when do you want to give me a heart attack?" He dropped down next to Harry and sighed. "This is the worst thing that could have happened in the worst year of my life." "I couldn't have put it any better mate," Harry agreed, patting Liam's back. "I've been trying to write. Not going too well." He shrugged. "The thought of working with Simon and Modest again gives me the fucking creeps." "I thought you wanted to stick with Simon because he'dalways wanted the best for you," Harry said sarcastically, quoting from an article he'd recently read about Liam. "Those aren't my words, man." "What about Cheryl Cole?" Harry had also read in the said article that Liam was dating the 33 year old singer. "No fucking way!" Liam shook his head. "Thats what Simon and Oliver would want everyone to believe. She's pregnant." "She's what!!! You-" "Not mine Haz," Liam said hastily. "Its her ex husband's. She's going through a divorce." "But you know what people are going to think anyways, right?" "Who cares what people think yeah?" Harry threw him a glare. "You seemed to care a lot when it was about Zayn and you." Liam looked down and shuffled his feet which was a move so similar to what Zayn did that it surprised Harry. He grabbed Harry's smoke and threw it down, stubbing it with his feet. "This stuff will kill you Haz," he said, changing the subject. "I saw you staring at Zee the whole time you were in the room." "Do you know he is dating Gigi Hadid?" Liam said, kicking his leg against the pavement. "Probably promoting each other. It's been known to happen before." "Gigi doesn't seem like the type. You dont remember meeting her at Ally's birthday?" Harry had forgotten that Ally and Gigi were friends. They'd met at some photoshoot for Vogue four years back and Ally had developed a crush on her. For weeks all she would talk about was Gigi Hadid and how amazing she was. "Yeah she seemed nice enough." "So what's going on with Ally? Didn't she look a little sick to you?" Harry shrugged and pretended as if he couldn't care less just like he always did. "Hazza!" Niall said as he walked up to the two of them. "Anne wants you to go up and check on Ally and Louis." "Why me?" Harry groaned. "Dunno. She sent me to get you." Harry hopped up. He wasn't about to disappoint his mother when she was grieving the loss of her best friend. He took the back stairs up and found the two of them sitting on the floor of Jay's room. He stood at the doorway observing the two of them for a while, feeling a little like a creep. They sat facing each other. Ally sat in between Louis' stretched legs and they looked awfully comfortable around each other. They had always been like that though. Their bantering in the tour bus had often driven Harry crazy and a little jealous as well if he cared to admit. "She wanted to hear me perform solo," Louis was saying. "She was so proud of you Louis, you know that," Ally said squeezing his hand. Louis looked at her and said, "She was proud of you too Ally. She missed you so damn much all the time." She ducked her head and didn't say anything, but dashed a hand quickly across her cheeks. With a jolt Harry realized that she was crying. In all the years he could count in one hand the number of times he'd seen her cry and it always set off an odd feeling in his chest. "Hey don't cry love," Louis said, dragging her close to him and hugging her. "I'm glad you came back. Thats what matters." "I should have been here before," Ally whispered. Harry cleared his throat and both of them pulled apart. "You two okay?" Louis nodded while Ally turned away from him to wipe her tears. She didn't look at him when he approached Louis and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry mate." "I should go down and see who all are here," Louis started walking towards the door. "Ally you coming?" Before Ally could follow him out Harry stopped her. "Ally are you ok?" She looked up at him, her eyes rimmed red from crying and her face as pale as snow. She rubbed a hand over her red nose and fixed him with a death glare. "Don't pretend like you care." She might as well just have slapped Harry right across the cheek in that moment. But before either of them could leave the room, Oliver entered and closed the door behind him. Ally sort of shrunk away from him, a reaction which surprised Harry because she'd never been one to run away from a fight. In fact she was usually the who dogged on until she proved her point. "What do you want?" Harry snapped. "To talk to the two of you," Oliver started calmly. "I'm assuming you don't know that Louis is supposed to perform at the X Factor Final this saturday." Harry'd had no idea and by the shocked look on Ally's face, she didn't either. When neither of them said anything Oliver ploughed on, "Its Louis' first solo and its a tribute to Jay. So he still wants to go ahead with the performance." "What does that have to do with us?" Harry asked, although he was starting to get an idea. Oliver looked at them like he was talking to two 5 year olds. "Well, all of your solo ventures have done really well so far. Harry's Dunkirk trailer was a phenomenon. Liam's teaser itself had a crazy reaction. Niall topped the charts for two consecutive weeks and as much as I hate to admit it Zayn also debuted at no. 1. So Louis needs all the help he can get to match up because we all know he doesn't have the strongest voice." Ally's head snapped up at that. "What the hell are you talking about, Oliver? Louis has a great voice." She turned around and glared at Harry as if challenging him to say otherwise. Harry ignored her. "All this talk and you still haven't said what you want from us." "I want you two to show that you guys have patched up. Good publicity. Be friendly. Go out together and grab a drink." "Not happening," Ally said firmly crossing her arms. Oliver took two steps towards her and stared her down. "You should have stayed in whatever hole you crawled out of then and -" It took Harry about 5 seconds to step him in front of her and shove Oliver back. The rage he felt at the moment, he literally saw red. He could have punched the man or even worse. "You will never talk to her like that again do you get it?" His fists clenched, ready to shove the asshole again. Oliver narrowed his eyes. "She left all of you and went-" "I said never again!" Harry repeated through clenched teeth. "Oh you have no idea what she-" "I'll do it," Ally said quietly from behind him. "One dinner. Minimum paps." To say he was surprised would be the understatement of the year. He turned to face her but she was looking down. "Its for Louis. Whatever he needs," she whispered.

Notes