The Other Side of the World

I looked in the mirror, straightening my dress and putting the last touches of my makeup. My eyes were still really puffy and red from all the cry I did earlier. But there wasn’t a lot I can do now.

*knock, knock* It was Gorgie waiting to bring me down to the car.

“Miss Anderson, you ready?”

I smiled at him. “I am. But I told you to call me Kaylin.”

“Oh right. Kaylin, you look ravishing tonight. He must be important.” He led me into the elevator.

I laughed at him. “There’s no one here I’m dressing for. No one.”

We walked out on to the lobby and I can see the beautiful London lights through the windows. “Keep trying to convince yourself of that Kaylin.” He winked at me as he opened the door to the car. “I must say, he must be very blind to not fall for you.”

I scooted myself into the car, “You haven’t seen the girl he’s with now.”

“Oh darling, I’m sure she’s not that wonderful.” He winked at me. Gorgie reminded me a lot of my dad. Or at least what I could remember about my father. He was goofy and laid back, he definitely said things to make you smile, just like my father did.

Surprisingly traffic to the O2 wasn’t that bad, but I guess it was because I was tad late. Fans who didn’t get tickets to the show were still sitting outside of the place. It really amazed me how dedicated they were. A lot of them waved to me as I walked passed them and into the venue, that surprised me a lot more.

I got into the venue feeling anxious and excited at the same time. I know a lot has happened between Liam and I, but for some reason that never really changed anything. Well maybe it changed the way he felt, I don’t know, but I still feel the same.

“Hey,” I popped my head into their dressing room watching them look up from what they were doing at me. Louis was on his laptop, Zayn was in front of the mirror, Niall was picking at the food, Harry was getting finished dressed, and Liam was nowhere to be found. “I just wanted to stop by before I took my seat. Sorry I’m a little late.”

“’Ello!” Niall said getting up to give me a kiss on the cheek. “It’s alright, you haven’t missed much.”

“Just as long as you don’t miss us,” Louis looked up from his laptop waving at hello at me. I gave a quick wave to Zayn as he flashed a smile.

“Hey H, can I talk to you for a sec?” I gestured out the door. Things suddenly got quiet.

“Erm,” he paused rubbing the back of his neck with his injured right hand and shrugging in uncertainty. “Yeah sure.” He ran his fingers quickly through his hair one more time before following me into the hallway.

Just like that afternoon up against the buses, we stood across from each other. “I’m really sorry about earlier today. I-I shouldn’t have put you in that position... I just-”

“Are you alright?” He said cutting me off without making any eye contact.

“Yeah I’m alright. Thanks for the medical tape by the way; it definitely helps to hide it.” He stood there in front of me not saying a word. All he could do was keep his head down and hold his hand. “Does it hurt?” I simply asked him.

“My hand? Erm yeah a little bit I guess.”

“I’m sorry… again. I’m just really sorry for coming here. Maybe I shouldn’t have come at all.”

“Yeah you probably shouldn’t have.” I looked at him in shock of what he just said. But he was right, maybe I just made things worse.

“Uhm. Okay yeah.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way Kay, I just… I just think the way things were… It was just easier.”

My eyes started to fill up with tears. “Hey Haz!” It was Louis peering into the hallway. “We’ve got 20 minutes, find Liam will ya?” He sensed he interrupted the conversation in its worse part. “Actually take your time, I’ll just call him.”

“I should go take my seat.” I said to Harry trying to keep myself from crying. As I started to walk away I felt his hand quickly grab onto my arm and he turned me around to face him.

“You deserve better Kaylin. With everything you’ve been through, you deserve better. And to be honest, Liam won’t give you that. Not from here. He won’t give you what you need from London.”

“I just needed closure Harry. That’s all I needed, but when I got here it just… It doesn’t seem right, you know? It doesn’t seem right to just leave him, to let him just leave my life like he did before. I can’t do it.”

My tears we’re starting to fall and I hated it. I was tired of crying all the time. Harry grabbed me by the face softly wiping my tears away with his thumbs. “California is your home Kaylin. Not here. And London, the UK, its Liam’s home. I promise you, you’re going to be okay. And you don’t need Liam for that. You don’t need anyone to make you feel okay again. Kaylin, you’re a lot stronger than you think. Please just know that.” I grabbed his hand, which was still gently holding my face, as he kissed my forehead. “Please, just stop with everything. Life has so much more to offer you. All this pain, it’s not worth it.”

Suddenly we heard some commotion coming from down the hall, making us turn our heads towards the disturbance. It was Liam and Danielle coming out of the dancers’ dressing room. Danielle was aggressively shoving Liam out of the room while kissing and laughing as she pushed him against the wall.

“I have to go,” he said to her as he kissed her one more time.

“No, no, one more.” They laughed and kissed each other several more times.

“I honestly have to go now. Bye!” He said giving her one last kiss and playfully pushing her off of him.

He turned and started to walk towards his dressing room but quickly froze.

“Liam…” I said to him in astonishment. He just stood there staring at Harry’s hand in mine. I quickly dropped Harry’s hand and grabbed his face to kiss him.

Harry didn’t push me off; I think it just caught him off guard. After 5 seconds I pulled away from Harry awkwardly wiping my lips with my fingers.

Both Danielle and Liam just stood there without saying a word. Harry, too, just stood up against the wall not making a sound. You could easily cut the tension in the hallway with a knife.

“Uhm.” Liam finally spoke up. “I should really start getting ready.” He turned back and gave Danielle a kiss goodbye, “I’ll see ya babe.”

Danielle went back into her dressing room without saying a word as Liam walked passed between Harry and I. “Excuse me.” He said uncomfortably as he rubbed his neck. All he could do was make eye contact with me, and it just broke my heart even more. He walked into the room with his head down and closing the door behind him.

Things were quiet for a little after Liam left us. Harry, nor I, had any idea what to say. We couldn’t even look at each other.

I finally looked up at him to find him looking up at the ceiling, feeling just as uncomfortable as I am. I took a deep breath and finally spoke up, “H, what are you thinking?”

“Hmph,” he said gesturing like he was thinking hard. “That was one hell of a kiss!” He finally said while looking at me and then he started to laugh.

“Not funny!” I walked up to him and giving him a slap on the arm. “Look,” I gently wiped my lip gloss off his bottom lip with my thumb. “I had no idea what to do. I panicked. I’m sorry. I truly am. I just- I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“It’s okay, I’ll explain myself to him, I promise. Just, promise me you’ll never do something like that again?” He smiled. “You’re not trying to break up the band are you?!” he said jokingly.

“No never, you idiot!” I leaned in for a hug and he took me in his arms. “Thanks Harry, it really means a lot.”

“I’m going to be late for my own show and I have you to blame for that.” He pulled away and just started to laugh.

“Why is all of this so funny to you Harry? It’s not funny.” I ask him in curiosity.

“No, it’s not. But life’s too short to live like you do, Kaylin. You gotta find a way to smile again.” He looked straight into my eyes without any hesitation and said, “He fell in love with your smile, that was the first thing that ever attracted him to you. Just remember that, Kay.”

I look at him in confusion, but yet I knew exactly what he meant. “Go on, Hannah and the rest are waiting for you.” I gave him one last smile before leaving him. “Hey Kaylin!”

I turned to find him still standing there. “What Harry?”

“Promise one more thing?” I nodded. “You’re going to talk to him? And I mean really talk to him. Before you leave, don’t hold anything back. Closure means letting go. So find it within yourself to finally let go. If it’s going to be your last chance, might as well give it your all okay?” He gave me an uncertain smile.

Biting my lip, knowing it was a promise I wasn’t sure I couldn’t keep, I still nodded to him in agreement. I walked away feeling a knot in my stomach and a heavy heart.

I found Hannah with Rebecca and some of the boys’ friends. I greeted all of them with a smile on my face, but I knew something wasn’t right. I felt guilt and remorse within me. The night wasn’t over and I knew I should have walked out of that place instead of taking my seat.

--
Harry’s POV
--

I walked into the dressing room to find the rest of the lads ready to hit the stage. Luckily I was already ready; we were just waiting on Liam.

I approached him in hesitation knowing I was probably the last person he wanted to see right now, besides Kaylin of course. “Mate, can we talk for a sec?” He was busy putting the last of his outfit. “Liam?”

He quickly turned his head to look at me. “Not right now Harry. Not right now.”

“It’s not what you thing. I swear. It’s nothing.”

“We have a show to do.” He pushed me aside and started to head towards the lift that would lead us to the back of the stage.

Liam angrily walked before us. The guys could sense something horrible happened, but it just wasn’t the time to deal with it. Fortunately, no matter what Liam knows how to act professional. I just wished he would take it out on me, because if he doesn’t, I know he’ll for sure take it out on Kaylin. That’s what is worrying me the most.

Everything was just going so fast, as it always does minutes before the show, but Liam was finding every way he could to avoid me.

“Liam, talk to me after the show okay? It’s important.” He looked at me without any answer. The curtains opened and we stepped into the spotlights.

--
Kaylin’s POV
--

The boys did great, like usual. It was definitely different from what I saw back in the states.

I parted ways with Hannah and the rest to take a quick cigarette break. I found my way back to the buses to hide myself from everyone. There were still fans waiting outside just to see if they could catch a quick glimpse of the boys.

Lighting up my cigarette I inhaled deep, and then exhaled.

Bored, I walked around the buses and found the crew packing everything up. It was their last day of tour, so everyone was getting ready quickly to head off to the after party.

My phone vibrated catching my attention away from the crew. It was a text message from Harry. “Hey, meet me in the dressing room. I need to talk to you. Xx”

“Fuck. Now what?” I said out loud to myself.

I inhaled the last of my cigarette and looked at my arm. It was carefully still wrapped with the medical tape Harry gave me earlier that day. Without a second thought I threw the cigarette on the ground and put it out with my shoe.

I smiled to myself and walked back into the venue. I quickly got into the elevator and pressed the button to the dressing room’s floor to meet Harry. I stood back against the wall of the elevator. Taking a deep breath, with my head back staring up to the ceiling, Abruptly, I heard someone quickly run into the elevator before the doors closed.

I looked to see who it was, and found Liam standing right next to me. He hadn’t realized it was me.

“Hi.” I quietly said to him.

“Oh bloody hell.” He said before quickly running out, but it was too late, the doors had already closed on him; leaving me and him alone in an elevator. Luckily, I think we were both were relieved that the ride wouldn’t be that long, seeing we only had to go up 2 floors.

We stood there in silence as the elevator started to move up.