Wild

I walked around the plain white one bedroom apartment that was located on the west side of the city. Harry and I have been house hunting with Bob, our real estate agent, since 7AM which was over six hours ago. We’ve been through at least ten apartments and houses, but neither of us took a liking to any of them.
“What do you think?” Harry whispered to me as Bob went on about the apartment.
“I don’t know. It seems too plain to me” I whispered back.
“I was thinking the same thing”
“Do you think he’ll notice if we go outside?” Harry chuckled quietly and shook his head.
“Probably not. Let’s go”
We made our way back outside and stood on the sidewalk as we looked through the folder that Bob gave us. It had pictures of all the places he wanted to take us to and thought we would like, but none of them really stood out.
“I don’t think we’ll find one today. We’ve been at this for hours and I’m getting bored” I mumbled as I flipped through pictures.
“Don’t worry, love. We’ll find one. In the meantime, Lou and Tom invited us over for supper tonight”
My face immediately lit up. Lux was THE most adorable baby ever and I loved that kid to death. The first time I met her was on tour with the boys and quickly became my little buddy.
“Oh my gosh! I haven’t seen Lux in forever!”
“Me either”
“Ah, there you are” Bob said as he walked over to us. “What did you think?”
“Weeelllllll.....” I started.
“It’s not really for us. I think we should stop for the day and pick up tomorrow” Harry said.
“Yeah. Oh, and if it’s possible, could you please make sure that none of the houses have a fireplace?” Bob raised his eyebrows. I’m sure he had never heard such a question before. Most people would love to have a fireplace in their home, but I was still having trouble with fire so it would have to wait. Maybe in the future we could put one in.
“Um...sure. May I ask why?” Bob asked.
Harry reached over and grabbed my hand then gave it a reassuring squeeze. He looked back up at Bob who was looking at us, expecting us to give him an explanation.
“We had a bit of a run in with fire a few months ago. I don’t think it’s a good idea to have it around for a while yet” Harry answered.
“I see. I’ll get right on that. So, should we pick up things tomorrow afternoon? Say one o’clock?”
“Sure”
“Alright. See you then”
He shook both our hands then left in his car. Harry and I got in the Range Rover before taking off ourselves on course to Lou’s house. I stared out the window, feeling guilty for causing so much trouble. You’d think that after so many months I’d be over that stupid fire by now, but I’m not. It still haunts me. I have nightmares about it nearly every night and every time I get near fire it brings back memories of that night. There was this feeling deep in my gut that something wasn’t right about the fire. I just can’t explain it. It’s like I was missing something. My head started throbbing as I tried to think and the more I thought about it the worse it got.
“Emily? You alright?” Harry asked worriedly.
“Yeah. Just got a headache is all. I’ll be fine”
He didn’t look completely convinced, but decided to let it go. A few minutes later we turned down Lou’s street in Primrose Hill. As we passed by the houses I noticed one in particular that had a for sale sign in front of it.
“Harry, stop the car” I said.
“What?”
“Stop the car”
He pulled over and I got out to look at the house. It looked normal from the outside, but once I got to the window and peered in I immediately took a liking to it. The inside was beautiful. Harry stepped up beside me wondering what I was doing, but once he looked inside he figured it out for himself.
“Wow” he said.
“I think we should start here tomorrow. I have a good feeling about this place”
“Yeah. It looks amazing. Now, let’s go before someone calls the cops on us”
I giggled as he pulled me away from the house and back to the car. After he wrote down the address we drove to Lou’s house. The moment we got there we saw Tom sitting on the couch by the window with Lux looking over his shoulder. She saw us and I waved at her. She smiled widely then hit her hand on the window.
“Luxy!” I squealed as I jumped out of the car.
I ran up to the window and started making funny faces at her so she would laugh. Tom looked back with a confused expression on his face then laughed himself when he saw the way my face looked pressed against the window. I smiled and waved at him. Lou opened the door for us and we stepped inside.
“LouLou! I haven’t seen you in forever!” I said giving her a hug.
“I know. It’s been too long. How have you been?”
“I’ve been great. I’m thinking about doing something different with my hair. Maybe going lighter. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a wonderful idea. You and I will have to set up a date soon”
“Sounds good. Hey, you know that white house down the street with the brick arch over the driveway?”
“Yeah. The people who lived there just moved out of it. Why? You thinking of buying?”
“Maybe. Harry and I just spent all day looking at apartments with the most talkative and boring real estate agent ever. It was horrible”
Lou laughed.
“Come in the kitchen and tell me about it”
I went to follow her, but paused when I saw Harry playing Patty Cake with Lux on the floor. I smiled at them. He was so good with kids and seeing him with her made my heart melt. He looked up, noticing me staring, and smiled. I gave him a small wave before going into the kitchen where Lou was finishing up supper. We caught up with Tom and Lou, occasionally getting distracted by Lux randomly popping into the conversation with baby talk.
Hours flew by and we finally had to say goodbye to them so Lux could go to bed. I set up a date with Lou so she could cut my hair. Harry and Tom decided that while we did that they would take Lux out to the park or something to get out of the house. It was good for me, because I kind of wanted to surprise Harry with what my look would be like. I already approved it with Simon beforehand. I figured that since I was starting with a new label and basically a new life I would switch things up a bit and live a little. What the hell, right?
~.:o:.~
The next afternoon we went back to the house we saw the day before with Bob. He got us the keys and everything so we could see the inside. It was even more amazing than I had imagined. The walls were a creme color and most of the furniture was the same apart from a few colorful pieces. It was more space than we needed, but we figured that since we always had friends over that it would be alright. Plus our families would be able to stay here if they decided to visit instead of paying for a hotel. Either way it was a win win situation and we both loved it.
“Well?” Harry asked me.
“I love it. What do you think?”
“I love it as well. It’s perfect”
“So, are you ready to buy?” Bob asked hopefully.
Harry and I looked at each other then smiled.
“We’ll take it”
~.:o:.~
Moving in was tough. I had to work around my recording schedule which meant that I got little to no sleep most days because all of my time was spent either packing and moving or recording. Somehow I managed to fit in going back home to grab the rest of my stuff that was in my room. My dad wasn’t too happy about Harry and I moving in together at first, but Harry managed to convince him otherwise after having a long discussion with him. It was actually quite funny when we told him.
~.:o:.~
*FLASHBACK*
“YOU’RE WHAT?!” My father bellowed.
“We’re moving in together. We already found a house and nothing you say will make me change my mind” I stated firmly.
“Emily, you’ve only just turned twenty one! If you two move in together then you’ll be more tempted to have sex and my daughter is too young to be having babies!”
“Dad! I practically live with him anyways! This way we’ll be saving money and we’ll have room when family comes to visit”
“You’re still so little though! My baby girl can’t grow up yet!” He pulled me into his arms and started getting emotional. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl and we had a special bond that no one else would understand. Not even Matt. Sure we loved him just as much, but it was different than this. I looked over my father’s shoulder at Harry who looked slightly scared and confused.
“Help me” I mouthed to him.
“I...Um...Sir?” he stammered.
Dad stood up and looked over at him with hard eyes that made Harry visibly shiver. He’d never seen my father like this before so it was terrifying to him, but I knew that Dad was just putting on a show for him.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with you privately about this whole situation” Harry spoke, more calmly this time.
“Alright, fine. Come with me”
Harry followed him into his office while I sat out on the couch with Matt. We both looked at each other and laughed.
“Did you see Harry’s face?” Matt said through his laughter.
“He looked like he was going to shit his pants” I replied.
We both laughed harder. I felt bad for picking on Harry like this, but it was just so funny because we knew that my father wasn’t actually mad. He was probably messing with Harry like he did with my other friends or boyfriends.
A long time passed before the pair finally emerged from the office, and both of them seemed happy. Harry walked over and kissed my cheek.
“All good?” I asked.
“All good” he replied with a smile.
I looked over his shoulder at my father who nodded.
“You’re mean, you know that?” I told him.
He chuckled.
“I know”
~.:o:.~
“Where do you want this box?” Liam asked as he walked into the door of our new house.
He and the boys, along with my family and band, were helping us move as well. They did all the heavy lifting while the girls helped me unpack everything.
“Put that in the bedroom upstairs”
He nodded and walked up the stairs. I looked around at all of the unpacked boxes that we still had to put away and sighed.
“This is going to take a while” I said to myself.
Two strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind and I turned around to see Harry smiling at me. He kissed my cheek and rested his chin on my shoulder.
“Yes, but when it’s finished it’ll all be worth it. Why don’t you take a break. You’re exhausted”
“I can’t just leave you guys to finish this”
“Yes, you can. Besides, you have no choice in the matter”
Before I could protest Harry lifted me into his arms bridal style and carried me upstairs to the bedroom where our bed was already set up. He set me on the bed and I immediately felt tired as I sunk into the soft mattress. Harry covered me up then gave me a kiss on the forehead before turning to leave. I grabbed his hand to stop him.
“Stay until I fall asleep?” He smiled and laid down next to me, his hand making its way into mine. He brought my knuckles to his lips, placing a soft kiss upon them before singing a familiar tune.
“Your hand fits in mine like it’s made just for me...”
~.:o:.~
Harry’s POV
Emily fell asleep before I even got to the chorus of the song. She was exhausted. We’ve spent the past two days moving in after she got back from the studio in the afternoon and she barely has time to sleep. I knew she didn’t want to make anyone else doing most of the work, but she needed rest.
I watched her sleep for a few moments before slipping out of her grip and heading back downstairs to find everyone gone except for Matt and Jack lounging in the living room. I glanced outside to see all of the boxes were now inside the house and placed in the correct room.
“We done already?” I asked no one in particular.
“Yep. Where’s Emily?” Matt asked.
“She’s asleep. Passed out the second she hit the pillow” I replied as I sat beside Louis on the couch.
“Good. It’s about time she actually slept” Jack said.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Her nightmares about the fire seem to be getting worse."
The two men stared at me in silence for a long while, thinking about what I just told them. Jack was the first to break the silence.
"Is there anything new?"
"I don't know. Every time I ask her about it she just shrugs it off. She gets headaches a lot too"
"We should take her in again to have her checked out. We'll come back next week after you two settle in"
"Let me try talking her into it first before we force anything on her"
He nodded and I sat back into the couch. In times like these I wished that Emily wasn't so damn stubborn. She tries to be independent, because that's how she grew up. Mostly alone with only a handful of people to fall back on. She had it rough, while I was lucky enough to have my friends, family, and the boys. I guess that's why I've been hesitant to tell anyone about her condition. I don't want to lose that trust with her when it's so easy to break. She's still so fragile, yet she acts like everything's alright. She keeps things to herself and at times doesn't even let me in on what she's thinking about. Hopefully I'll be able to change all that sooner than later.
"Well, we better get going" Matt said as he stood from his seat.
I stood up along with Jack and shook their hands.
"Thanks for helping out today. It probably would have taken a week to move all of this stuff otherwise" I said with a small laugh.
"Any time. Take care of my little girl" Jack said with a serious tone.
"I will"
I walked the two men who were now like my own family to the door and bid them goodbye.
They returned the gesture and left me alone in the box filled house. A deep sigh escaped my lips.
"Well, I better get to work" I told myself before getting to work on unpacking the boxes.
It was going to be a long night.

Notes