With his heavy breath fogging up the window in front of him, Harry cursed at the night sky. He pushed himself away from the frame and fished out his phone from his jeans pocket. He dialled the only number he knew off by heart, the only number he had called in the last year, but the line rang out. He tried the number again hoping the recipient would somehow hear the urgency with each shrill ring.
Louis could only look on as he mumbled to himself, racing out of the door. He followed Harry down the stairs.
The line rang out again but Harry persisted. He wasn’t going to give up until the person answered the phone. Keeping his phone to his ear he shoved on an old pair of boots. Swiping his keys from the sideboard he rushed out of the front door. He didn’t have time to waste.
“Mate: where are you going?” Louis words fell on deaf ears. He rolled his eyes, putting on his own shoes and following him outside to his car.
Trying the number a third time he made as grab for the handle but Louis pulled his keys from his hand.
“You are not driving with that…” he motioned towards the phone, “Stuck to your head.”
Harry gave him a tired look, the deep lines in his face only deepening.
Eventually a tired, angry voice answered his calls. “What the fuck, Harry? It’s two in the morning!”
“, just listen to me. Give me her number. Now.”
“What?”
“You need to give me her number, now.”
“You know she doesn’t want me to give you it, Harry.” She sounded agitated.
“Look, . I’m done playing games. She clearly wanted to see me otherwise why else would she turn up at my house in the middle of the night?”
“She did what?”
“She came to my house. I don’t know what for but she spoke to Louis and then just left without seeing me.”
“Ah so you’re tired of your mistakes literally haunting you now. I get it.”
He took in a deep breath. He wasn’t going to achieve what he wanted by getting angry at her when in reality he was mad at himself for stringing on for so long and hurting her so much that she had felt the need to move away. “; she even turned up at our gig in London and at our signing. I need to know why she won’t talk to me but will happily turn up where I am out of the blue.”
sighed down the line. She knew why. Her best friend was torturing herself between trying to figure out why she hadn’t been good enough for him and making sure that he, of all people, was OK.
“Please, . I need to talk to her.”
She was exasperated. “You’re not going to stop calling me until you do, are you?”
“Nope.”
She groaned. “She’s going to hate me for this… but fine.”
He gestured for Louis to give him his phone. He punched in the numbers as relayed them to him, stopping at the end to read them back to her to make sure he had heard her right.
“Thank you. I owe you one.”
“You’re damn right that -” she was cut off by him hanging up on her.
Harry input the number into his own phone and handed Louis’ back to him.
“Are you happy now?” His words were of concern and unusually not sarcastic.
Harry shook his head. “No – but I will be once I’ve spoken to her.”
“I can do one better.” He waved the keys that he had taken from him in the air.
Harry frowned at him but relented when he saw him gesturing for him to get in the passenger seat.
Louis started up the car and drove them down the driveway towards the gate taking the same route he had seen take.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you to her.”

Harry was silent for the duration of the journey in between sending her a few texts and watching the roads stream by as Louis drove them to a housing estate not too far from where he lived. Louis turned into a street and before long he was parking on someone’s driveway. “We’re here.”
“Where is ‘here’, exactly?”
“This is her house.”
Harry hadn’t been expecting that. “Oh.” His voice was monotone.
Louis braced himself, unsure of Harry’s reaction.
“So you’ve known where she’s lived this entire time and didn’t think to tell me?”
Louis gulped. “Not the entire time. I’ve only known for a few months but I was sworn to secrecy by . Are you mad at me?”
“Oh I am beyond mad at you but I’ll deal with you later. I need to see her first.” He got of the car, throwing the door closed and walked a few feet towards the door. The porch light snapped on and he stopped light a deer in headlights. Movement from an upstairs window caught his attention. Someone was definitely in. He looked down at his phone, typing out another text to her. He looked up, sheltering his eyes with his hand as he squinted in the porch light trying to make out which bedroom might be hers. As their eyes met he froze. He held up his phone to her, shaking it from side to side. He typed another message and then another, hitting ‘send’ both times. He needed her to know that he was serious this time. He looked back up at her window. It was too dark to tell what she was doing; all he could see was the faint glow of her phone lighting up her face with every new message. He watched as she stood there unmoving. It felt like eons were passing by without as much as a glance from her. A cold sweat ran down his temples as he waited for her next move – if she was ever going to make one. Without another thought, he dialled her number and waited for her to answer. He could only watch her through the glass as she stared at the phone in her hand. He briefly turned away to look at Louis who by now was leaning against his car a short distance away. The ringing cut off and he was suddenly met with an open line. She had finally answered.
“I’m sorry. I love you. It’s always been you. I need to be with you.” The words just tumbled out of his mouth with him barely catching his breath, too afraid of her hanging up on him. There was silence and then, as just as quickly as he had spoken, the line went dead again and the light from her phone shut off. Now he couldn’t see a thing. He turned back to Louis who only shrugged. He shifted from foot to foot wondering what to do. A few short seconds later he heard the door open and then there she was, a vision illuminated by the glow of her porch light. He blinked at her bewildered as he surveyed her. Now that she was standing in front of him with no one bar Louis around he felt himself at a loss for words.

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