"Uh.. phone charger?"

"Yep."

"Extra pair of keys?"

"Check."

"Your wallet?"

"Got it."

"A picture of me?"

"Of course."

"In a frame?"

"I don't love you that much, Harry."

"Ouch." He says and I laugh.

"Alright, now that we're done packing after three hours.. want to go out for the day?" he says. "The last day, to be exact." And I give a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me use the bathroom real quick. You can wait for me in the car, it'll just take a minute." I say.

Once Harry leaves, I make my way towards the bathroom and put my hair in a ponytail. I haven't said anything, but I have had the worst headache, and I just feel like sitting down and crying. Today is the day I have to let Harry go.

I splash water on my face, and wash my hands before I head downstairs and out the doors that lead me to a boy I tremendously love.

I enter the passenger seat of the car and he smiles at me.

"Hey, do you know how to drive a stick shift?" I ask him.

"Yeah, why?" he laughs at my odd question.

"That's hot."

"Really?"

"Really! Why are you laughing?"

"You're weird."

"And so are you, thats why we're a great match." I smile at him.

"So what do you have planned for us today?"

"Well," he says. "We can go out to lunch right now, walk around downtown after, and at night go to your house and watch a movie, relax, and maybe even double check everything you've packed."

"Sounds like a plan." I say and he smiles at me.

***

His hands are tangled with mine as we walk in the park downtown. The weather is nice but my eyes are cold, my hands are numb and I am deeply sad inside.

"Harry, do you believe in like long distance relationships?"

"Never been in one. But I see friends that still talk and stuff even if they're states away from each other and I think that's pretty cool. Why?"

"Do you think we could manage that?"

"I think we'd have to no matter what baby." He says and gives my hand a squeeze.

"You see that store over there?" Harry asks me and points to a small worn out little shop labeled, "Styles Hardware."

"My dad used to own it." He says.

"No way." I tell him. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Business was slow and then my dad had two kids."

"Oh.. well that's cool. Why is the sign still there? Didn't the store shut down?"

"Yeah, uh I was walking around here one day and saw it so I went and told the new guy who was remodeling the place for rent to keep the sign up."

"Why?"

"Well at least until someone officially rents the place, I just wanted it to be there. I don't know where my dad is now but, I knew he loved that place from seeing pictures and hearing stories."

"Maybe one day you can remodel Styles Hardware and have it under your name and run the business."

"Yeah," he says and looks down to me. "Maybe."

"Hey Harry?" I ask.

"Yup?"

"Can we go sit over there at a bench?"

"Sure, you feeling alright, love?"

"Yeah, just a little headache. S'all." I reassure him with a smile.

We walk over to a bench and sit down, he puts his arm around my shoulder and tries to scoot me in towards him more but this time, I move away.

"Willow? Are you sure you're okay?" Harry says and looks worried.

I don't deserve you. I think to myself.

"No. No I'm not Harry. Do you know why? Because I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm leaving you. I'll be hundreds of miles away."

"Okay? And? We have technology now, we will still stay in touch every day. What will be so different?"

"What if I leave and during that time you meet some new girl who makes you feel even better than how I make you? What if I meet a boy on campus and we start to like each other? What if you become so busy and forget to make time for me? Or if I do that to you? I can't do this Harry and it has been eating me up alive for weeks now and I have been trying to tell you this for a while and I know it's bad timing to say it now, the day before I leave but I just don't know how this will work H. I really don't."

"Why are you talking about what ifs? You're Willow, you live by the moment, not what is going to happen. You don't mean anything you're saying."

"But I do, Harry. I thought this over plenty of times trying and thinking of ways to see if maybe it could work but listen, I am taking five classes for my future and I will be overwhelmed and overworked and I will barely have time to keep in tact with my parents so how will I with you?"

"Are you saying that we're just going to become complete strangers?"

I don't say anything, I just look down.

"That none of what happened between us will stay with you? You'll forget everything about me? About us?"

"Look at me, Willow. Listen to me. Look me in the eyes and tell me all of that is true. That what we had is nothing to you now that you're leaving."

My eyes are full of tears yet somehow, I still manage to look up at his cold dark eyes.

"It's all nothing." I say and lie to myself and to him.

It was everything.

"It's nothing? The pillow, the trip to New York, the rooftop, when we first kissed it was all nothing?"

"Yes Harry! Can you not understand me? I know what I am doing and trust me I am saving your time and helping you. Once I leave we will forget about each other and move on with our lives. I can't just be a burden to you."

"You aren't and you never will be. Why are you thinking like this?"

I stand up and kick the rocks next to us. "Why don't you understand? I won't have time for you, Harry. I love you. God I love you. I love you so much that it hurts me but now I know that if I let you go it'll be better. You can keep working and save money and I'll get a degree and when I come back after I graduate college and somehow we still find a way to each other, I'll believe we were meant to be. You are my one and only, Harry. Trust me. But right now, I need to find out who I am and what I want to do and in fact, I believe you do too."

"You're scared, nervous, what you're saying right now.. you don't mean it." He says and stands as well.

"But I do, Harry. I do." I say and tears roll down my face.

"You act like you cant be hurt, invincible or something. But I know deep down you want someone to hold your hand and buy you flowers and write about your laugh and look you in the eyes and tell you your his soulmate. You want someone who will love every single thing about you, even the pieces you can't love yourself. Well guess what Willow? I love everything about you, your insecurities and your strong demeanor even though I know you're weak inside and you just want to break. You're breaking, Willow. I'm here to put those broken pieces back together because that is what you did to me." He says and takes my hand and pulls me in towards him until our lips connect.

The sparks I get every time I kiss him come back into my stomach and everything around us disappears and his arms are around my waist touching my back and my hands are around his neck touching his hair and I am thinking to myself that maybe this can all work out but the tears that are still rolling down my cheeks think otherwise. Our lips are intertwined and our eyes are closed and everything is black but I can still see some light because Harry is right in front of me and I don't know what I did to deserve him but I know I don't deserve him anyways so I have to let the one I love the most go because if you love something you have to let it go and if it comes back it was meant to be.

I never thought I was a believer in faith or destiny but when Harry came into my life, I felt like a new person.

We stop kissing and I get a wave of cold air hit me and I am sure he feels it too.

"I love you." He tells me.

"I love you." I tell him. I tell him because I mean it.

"But I have to let you go for now."

"I know." He says. "And I know we'll find a way back to each other."

"You think so?"

"My heart knows so."

Our hands drop from each other and I feel like a mess.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"I'm okay." Harry says.

"Can you drop me home?"

"Sure."

Our hands are intertwined throughout the drive and the sound of the radio is faint in the background. He looks straightforward and I look out the window and at him. What two beautiful sights I have in front of me.

He parks the car once we arrive at my house. I get out and so does he. He comes to my side and once I close the car door we hug each other.

We put each other's broken pieces back together. And I hope this time they can stay that way.

"Do you think we can be friends?" I ask Harry.

"Probably not, but we can pretend." He says and we both smile.

"Bye, Harry." I say and give him a sympathetic smile.

"Bye, Willow." Harry waves to me, gets into his car, and drives away.

***
no this isn't the end, there are three more chapters, though!

ALSO, the name of my next story is officially going to be called...

Refuge.

please vote/comment and tell me your thoughts :-)

love you loads x