Gotta Be You.

Tanner pulled her jeans onto her hips, turning to look in the mirror before buttoning them. She turned back around, her fingers lightly touching her abdomen that was covered in bruises. It wasn’t just her abdomen that had bruises; almost every inch of her body was covered in them, excluding her face.

She touched the bruises, careful not to press to hard before shaking her head and sliding on her blue button up shirt. She put on her only pair of good heels before walking out of the apartment, not even caring about locking the door.

It wasn’t a long walk into Manhattan; in fact, in a few minutes she was surrounded by the thousands of people. Pushing her way through the people, she popped into a starbucks, ordering the smallest and cheapest thing on the menu.

“Tanner?” Tanner, hearing a familiar voice behind her turned around, eyebrows raised at the British girl. “I haven’t seen you in so long.” Eleanor walked forward, wrapping her arms around the girl and squeezing her slightly, causing pain to rip through her body and Tanner to pull away from her. Tanner just stared at the girl, before grabbing her coffee and dashing out of the Starbucks. She knew that wherever Eleanor was, Louis wasn’t far behind.

“Tanner, wait.” Tanner stopped, turning to look at the girl who was jogging up behind her. She didn’t know what to say.

“Is he here?” Tanner whispered, looking down to the dirty pavement. She already knew the answer. Of course he was here. The boys were like a family; they did everything and went everywhere together. Eleanor nodded, reaching out for her friend. “Don’t tell him you saw me, okay? Don’t tell any of them you saw me.” Tanner took one last look at the girl before turning and continuing to walk away.

“And what about me, Tan? What am I supposed to do? You were my best friend and you just left without telling me. Do you know what that does to a person?” Tanner stopped walking for the second time. She knew by leaving London that she would hurt Harry but never, in a million years, did she think she would hurt Eleanor or anyone else.

“I’m sorry.” Tanner mumbled, holding her head down and closing her eyes.

“I’ve missed you.” Eleanor said, walking over and resting her hands on Tanner’s upper arms. Tanner wanted to pull away; she wanted to turn in the opposite direction and run as fast as she could but she couldn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to push her old best friend away.

“Eleanor, who are you talking to?” Startled by Louis’s voice, Tanner turned away and tried to hide her face as best as she could.

“She’s no one important, Lou. Just go wait for me in the car, I’ll be there in a minute.” Louis nodded and turned away but not before taking one more glance at the girl.

“Thanks.” Tanner said, pulling her fingers through her hair and smiling at the girl. Suddenly, Tanner was overwhelmed by emotion and she was throwing her arms around Eleanor, not caring that her bruises were pulsing. “You don’t know how hard it’s been, El.”

“Well, then, tell me.” She said, rubbing her friends back. Tanner rested her chin against Eleanor’s shoulder before pulling away and wiping away the tears that streamed down her face. “I’m in town for a few days. Why don’t we meet up somewhere?”

“Tonight. We can meet up outside of that Starbucks at around 6:30 and go get some dinner?” Eleanor nodded before retrieving her phone from her purse, shoving it into Tanner’s hands. Tanner instinctively put in her number and handed it back. “I’ll see you soon.” Both Eleanor and Tanner nodded before hugging one last time and walking in the opposite direction.