Chapter 16: Chasing After You

A/N: Feel free to listen to the songs for the full effect. xx

Whitney POV:

Song- Gone: Matt Nathanson

I had to know for sure.

Harry wouldn’t really leave without a final goodbye would he?

He wasn’t in my bed.

Or even in my house.

His suitcase no longer sat by the doorway…it was gone.

And so was he.

I was about to head back upstairs when something on the coffee table caught my eye. I squinted trying to make out the image on my open laptop, which I last recall leaving shut off in my room. I cautiously took a few steps forward until there was no mistaking Harry’s face on the screen. I ran over and took a seat on the edge of the sofa, my heartbeat accelerating as I saw the play button in the middle.

It was a video.

I took a deep breath which was harder than it may sound with my throat feeling like it was in my chest. I tapped the mouse pad eagerly after a succeeding exhale.

He had a black tee on, fiddling with his messy bed head curls as he spoke at his usually slow pace.

“Whitney. By the time you’re watching this you’ve probably came to realize I am no longer there. It was selfish of me, I know.”

I paused the video as tears obstructed my view. Hearing his voice brought it all back. The worst part about having an amazing day like last night was knowing the next seven would never compare. I quickly wiped my burning cheeks, longing to hear what else he had to say.

“But you see I’m not strong enough for this either.” Harry said, biting his bottom lip. It almost looked like he was trying to hold back tears… “It’s just as hard for me. I can’t look at you and say it.” I held my breath as his figure became frozen. I almost thought that was all of it but then he looked back up from the floor. There was no mistaking the tears that fell down his cheeks as he said the word, “Goodbye.”

“No. No. No.” I cried as my heart spiraled like a cyclone of raging water. I longed to hear the same thing two years ago but now it was too much to take in at once.

That’s when I realized there was still a missing piece. I needed to tell him goodbye.

My eyes glanced down at the time.

8:10 AM

I searched my memory trying to remember what time...

I think it was nine. Maybe it was eight. Think Whitney. Think.

I concentrated on the frozen image of Harry until it came back to me in a sudden epiphany. The flight leaves at nine, which gives me…

I immediately sprang up from the sofa, sprinting out of the living room and back up the stairs.

My feet skid on the hardwood floor in the hall, the carpet of my bedroom bringing me to a halt. My eyes quickly scanned the room until I saw what I was looking for. I swept the keys off my nightstand, yanked my purse off the hook on the back of my door, threw on the first pair of jeans I could find before slipping on my uggs, and raced out the door.

I was determined to get that goodbye.

Time was the obstacle.

_  _  _  _  _

Harry POV:

Song- Unbreakable: Jesse Ruben (Incredible song! I can only link one video per chapter so please look it up & listen along. xx)

It hurt like hell.

The image was engraved in my memory, her head lying against my chest as she peacefully slept. That’s how I wanted to remember her until I returned. Not tears falling down her cheeks, seeing the mutual pain we both undeniably felt written across her face.

I wonder if it’s true what they say. People being able to hear in their sleep, the goodbye I whispered in her ear after recording the video. Placing a kiss on her cheek that barely brushed her skin so I knew it wouldn’t wake her. Then I left.

A monotone voice came across the intercom: “Flight 723 now boarding.”

I had been through this routine so many times, but none felt like this.

I always missed my family.

My friends.

And most of all, Whitney.

So much has changed since then even though it had only been a little over a month since my last departure.

It’s bittersweet really. Caring about someone to the point where it consumes you. To have someone you care about so strongly here and then have to leave them.

An arm bumped mine, “Hey man you ready to go?” Louis asked while standing up and pulling up the roller bar of his suitcase.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I hoarsely mumbled.

Louis gave a shrug, stopping mid turn after Niall drew his attention back.

“You sure you don’t want us to wait for you?” Niall questioned with a look of pity.

“No you guys go ahead and catch up with Zayn.” I gave a quick glance over to Liam who appeared to be in a conversation with Paul, providing me with a reason to wait. “I’ll stay back with Liam.”

Niall did one of his jump kicks as he made his way to the plane, Louis trailing a step behind. Moments later they disappeared behind the gate. Besides a few employees the terminal was now rather deserted since the rest of the crew had already boarded.

I wasn’t quite sure what I was waiting on to be honest.

Just avoiding the inevitable.

Curious as to the time I pulled my phone out from the front pocket of my carry-on bag.

Nine missed calls.

All from Whitney.

My phone suddenly began to vibrate as a call came through making it the tenth. I felt terrible knowing I couldn’t answer. If I heard her voice, there’s no way I could get on that plane. So I hit the ignore button.

It wasn’t what I wanted.

More so of what I needed to do.

Just to get through today.

Slowly I stood, grabbing Liam’s attention by flickering a glance over towards the boarding sign lit up in green. I threw my carry on bad over my shoulder as he gave a shrugged nod, picking up his luggage bag as well before walking over to where I stood.

“Goodbye Whitney” I spoke under my breath as I reluctantly advanced forward to the boarding gates, inaudible to everyone but me.

*  *  *  *  *

Whitney POV:

Song- Down: Jason Walker

I don’t know what I was thinking to be honest.

After running at least five stop signs, flooring it through four lights, stopping at three gas stations for directions, avoiding two head on collisions, I made it to the airport containing the one person that made it all worth it.

I didn’t know the first thing about these places. Having only been here once over five years ago didn’t make finding Harry any easier. Neither did the fact that he wasn’t answering any of my calls.

I glanced down at my watch as I pushed on the revolving door. Everyone inside seemed to be in a hurry as much as I, only they were rude about it; Bumping into me and continuing on their way. I rolled my eyes in annoyance while scanning the enormous room for a sign, anything just to help me find him.

I immediately jogged over to the flight board after catching sight of it.

My eyes frantically scanned, about half way down coming upon what I was looking for.

London.

9:00 AM

“Great” I sarcastically mumbled under my breath as I then saw there were two identical flights. Same destination. Same departure time. Fifty percent chances were as good a zero.

A crowd of people to my left caught my attention. My eyes quickly scanned above; I hastily shoved through the crowd after seeing the sign that read ‘Customer Service’ which was also adjacent to the clock that read 8:46 AM. Realizing the time waned the small fraction of hope I still managed to hold onto until this point.

I didn’t have time to wait in line. I pushed my way to the front…receiving a few snickers, unfriendly glares, and rude remarks in the process.

“Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to please find your way to the back of the line.” An older woman with an uneven pixie haircut at the counter told me.

I took in a deep breath of air speaking in such as haste that I barely even knew what I was saying.  “You don’t understand. He’s here. And I need to find Harry! I need to say…”

She crossed her arms in refutation, obviously not wanting to hear any of it. “In case you haven’t noticed everyone’s in a hurry here. Now you’re just going to have to wait your turn.”

My eyes flickered over to the girl behind her who appeared to be around my age. Something I said must have peaked her interest.

She took a step forward, speaking softly. “I’m sorry did you say his name was Harry?”

“Yes, Harry Styles. Have you seen him?” I blurted out noticing her eyes widen as I said his name.

The older woman gave her a disapproving glare before turning back around and shouting at me: “I will get security. You need to move NOW!”

My eyes rose back up to the clock, heart sinking a little more seeing as it was now 8:49 AM.

The older woman studied the two security guards that stood only a few feet away. I wasn’t going to test her threat because it was unmistakably clear she had every intent to flag them down any second now.

I gave the younger girl a pleading expression as I reluctantly took strides backwards, retreating as slow as physically possible. It was so noisy but there was no mistaking what she slowly mouthed to me, “723. Terminal 5.”

Words my entire existence now felt as if they depended upon.

“Thank you.” I mouthed back, repeating the numbers to myself as I saw her nod to the left out of the corner of my eye. I glanced in the direction seeing a sign that hung from the elevated ceilings.

I shoved through the packed bodies nearly tripping over their luggage trailing behind, following the arrow for Terminal 5.

My heartbeat was so rapid that one second I could feel the blood rushing through my veins.

And then there were others.

When an inconceivably painful thought passed through my mind; The possibility that Harry may have already left. Those were the moments where it just stopped beating entirely. These signs would take me to the terminal, but the question was:

Would Harry still be there?

*  *  *  *  *

Harry POV:

Song- A Thousand Years: Christina Perri

I thought I was hearing things but then it happened again.

A melodic voice calling my name, “Harry!”

The first time I knew.

The second was a confirmation.

“Whitney…” I twisted around to see her standing before me at the opposite end of the terminal. After a double take I dropped my luggage as she dashed across towards me. It was worry and relief that hit me all at once. This was the best, yet worst scenario I could have imagined.

I couldn’t grip ahold of her quick enough. Feeling overly protective I locked my arms around her waist tightly. Afraid her delicate frame would disappear any second and I would wake up from this dream.

Feeling her body press against mine brought me to the conclusion that this moment was indeed real. Meanwhile the emotions running through my chest make it impossible to be anything other than so.

I briefly raised one arm to take the elastic out of her falling bun so her hair now cascaded across her back, just grazing my bicep.

There weren’t words, just a mutual understanding of emotions taking over.

My stomach felt weak, comparable to spinning around so many times on a ride that you feel disoriented because your body hasn’t had a chance to catch up with reality. She nuzzled her head into the crevice of my neck, causing my dimples to form.

A subtle cough flickered my eyes open. Liam pointed down to his watch then shot a glance towards the door.

I let out a sigh, “Whitney…” I warned but she quickly cut me off speaking in a haste.

“I saw the video Harry. I couldn’t let you leave like that.” She said shaking her head in refusal, lowering her voice to a muffled whisper, “Not without saying goodbye to you first.”

We kept our arms around each other but pulled back just enough so our eyes would meet. I stared into her saphire ones which to my surprise weren’t flooded with tears, yet.

The monotone voice shot over the speaker, “Ten minutes until departure.”

Whitney’s tone suddenly became rushed, “Ask me.” She said as her hands began to shake anxiously.

I didn’t understand, “Ask you what?”

She slowly slid her hands down my forearms, breaking my grasp around her before intertwining her fingers with mine.

Suddenly I understood.

“Ask me.” She repeated with encouragement.

*  *  *  *  *

Whitney POV:

A grin spread across Harry’s face, running his tongue along his bottom lip before he spoke in a raspy tone. “Whitney, will you give me the honor of being your boyfriend?”

“Yes.” I confidently replied before crashing my lips into his. They tingled at the sensation; Still slightly in disbelief I was actually able to catch him in time. I was beginning to lose count of this feeling that was now present for increasing spans of times; Consuming every minute we shared to the ones apart where I was left longing to be with him again.

“Whit.” Harry muffled out.

“Mhm,” I hummed in response as his eyelashes fluttered against mine.

“Come with me.”

I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly, “What did you say?”

“I want you to come with me.”

“Harry I…”

He swallowed sharply, flipping his tangled curls out of his face so his emerald eyes locked with mine.

“Come with me.” He repeated but this time spoken much slower in a pleading tone.

The thought of not having to say goodbye made me feel whole again, replacing the anxiety in my chest with exhilaration.

Worry spread in Harry’s expression, trying to convince me even though there was no need. “You said your parents live in London now. You can visit them while you’re there too.”

He was right, I did promise to visit them before my birthday. Then the realization hit me, “There’s no time Harry.”

“Forget time. I asked if you want to.”

“Yes. Of course,” I answered, not even needing to think about it.

God That was all I wanted.

“Then you’re coming.” Harry directed, detaching his eyes from mine to look up at Liam who was still standing beside him.

“I’ll go see what I can do.” Liam said taking off behind me where I had entered from.

A smile spread across Harry’s face as he ran the pads of his fingers over my knuckles, “Sorry I didn’t answer your calls.”

“If only you knew what I went through to find you Styles.” I playfully retorted while trying to keep a straight face. But admittedly it was impossible to look at his dimples and not smile like an idiot.

Within seconds I was grinning back at him.

My hands were still shaking with anxiety. Harry always knew just what to do in times like these. He circled my back causing my heartbeat to decelerate to a semi normal place; Meanwhile the feeling in my chest grew stronger from his warming touch.

Impulsively I felt the need to tell him what was running through my mind, what I was feeling in my body, what I wondered if he felt too.

“Harry.” I muttered to make sure I had his attention first.

He responded by flipping the chestnut curls out of his view, his calm voice making me a little less nervous. “Yeah babe?”

I opened my mouth to speak but it didn’t come out the way I had intended.

“I like you.”

My cheeks blushed in embarrassment, self- conscious because it probably sounded really stupid.

“Nevermi…” I started to say but he quickly interposed.

My eyes trailed back up from our feet to see his dimples resurface, eyes squint with conviction, as the words left his lips: “I like you too.”

It may have been a simplistic statement but it was a truly breathtaking moment. Around Harry everything came easy in the sense that I didn’t have to entirely explain myself, he just already knew. We were closer than “on the same page” as one another.

I could see the subtle changes the more time we spent together. Sharing more of ourselves until we essentially knew each other inside and out, that’s what being his boyfriend meant to me.

“Okay lovebirds I got the tickets!” Liam shouted as he hastily approached us, pausing to glance down at his watch.

Me and Harry shot each other a quick glance, questioning in harmony “Tickets?”

“As in more than one?” Harry added for clarity.

But Liam didn’t need to respond, our question was answered for itself as the door behind him jerked open.

My confusion became curiosity before reaching a level of anxiety I didn’t realize was possible.

I could see Harry’s eyes intently observing whoever was now entering.

Our mouths dropped open, literally in complete disbelief.

Well everyone’s except Liam’s.

It was Andy.

Suitcase in hand.

Smirk across his face.

Let me just say awkward didn’t begin to describe the situation.