Talk Is Cheap

Nicole wasn’t the type to wait around for a boy. She wasn’t the type to sit by the phone and wait for a single person’s call. Nicole was usually assertive. She usually went out and did things. She usually didn’t care about trivial things like dating and gossip, but things were different now. She’d changed since last year. She’d changed since meeting Harry Styles.

It’d been five days since she’d talked to her boyfriend. He was busy somewhere in Spain, performing with his new music group ‘One Direction’. Ever since he’d auditioned for the hit show ‘X-Factor’, Nicole barely saw him. At first, he texted her plenty. He frequently claimed he missed her and that he thought about her all the time. He would call her every night and tell her about his day and all the wonderful people he’d met. Now, he rarely texted her and he went days without calling, but Nicole understood. He was busy. He was achieving his dreams of being a singer. He didn’t have as much time for her anymore, and it was okay. Nicole knew they could make it through this time apart. They loved each other, and that’s all that mattered.

Her phone buzzed in her lap, and Nicole quickly looked away from her book to see the name ‘Harry’ flash across the screen. A smile tugged at her lips and she ran her tongue between her teeth before biting her lip nervously. Slowly, she dragged her index finger across the bottom of the screen to answer the call.

“Hello?” she said, pressing the phone to her ear. She could hear him breathing heavily, but he didn’t answer at first. “Harry?”

“Hi, Coley.” he was the only person to ever call her that. It was a silly nickname he’d created the first month they started dating. If anyone else tried to call her that, she wouldn’t reply.

“How are you? What did Simon say? Did he put you though?” she had so many questions. She hoped he had a long time to talk; she wanted to know everything that had happened over the last few days.

“Yeah, yeah he did. We move into the ‘X-Factor’ house next week.” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Nicole couldn’t help but assume something was wrong. He sounded sad, when he should have been ecstatic. His band had made it through to the next round… what more could he ask for?

“Babe, is something the matter?”

“Coley—Nicole, I can’t do this anymore. We need to breakup.”

For a moment, Nicole couldn’t breathe. This could not be happening. She loved him, and she thought he felt the same. How could he be breaking up with her? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d been supportive. She never complained when his texts were seven hours apart. She didn’t mind when he got distracted in the middle of their phone calls and accidently hung-up on her. When he didn’t send a gift or call or text on their one year anniversary, she didn’t yell at him. Sure, she was upset, but she didn’t tell him. He was busy, after all.

“B-but Harry, a-re you sure?”

“Yes,” he snapped, and a tear slipped down her cheek. She’d never expected this. “I’ve got to go, sorry. Bye.”

The line cut silent immediately; there was no time for her to protest. Her first thought was to call him back, and demand he explain himself, but before she could press ‘send’ the phone slipped from her fingers and collided with the floor. She couldn’t control her moments, she was shaking as tears streamed down her face. She pulled her legs against her chest, and nuzzled her face between her thighs. She didn’t stop crying for hours.

All Nicole thought about was him. How could he do this—over a fucking phone call? She was an absolute mess, and wanted nothing more than to call him, text him, be with him. But all those things were out of the question. He’d dumped her, and Nicole wasn’t the type of person to come crawling back to an asshole who didn’t know what he had. She was better than that. She was better than the push-over she’d become. She was better than Harry Styles.

There was more to life than a stupid curly-haired boy with bluish, brownish, green eyes and dimples to die for. Nicole told herself this every day until she believed it, but even two years later there were days her thoughts were still haunted by his face.