My One and Only

Harry stormed into the hospital with Louis on his heels. The curly-haired lad was overwhelmed with so many emotions. He was full of anger, sadness, and regret. The phone conversation he’d had with Sage only a half-hour earlier continued to replay over and over again in his head. “Nicole has been in an accident. She’s been taken to the hospital.” The words made his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. Of course he couldn’t feel anything but guilty for the car accident. He’d fucked things up between them again and forced her away. Nicole was a shitty driver in general, but when she was upset—when tears were filling her eyes—he didn’t even want to think about the damage that might’ve been done, the damage that he caused, the damage he could have prevented if only he’d never gone to the wedding with Alice and not lied to Nicole.

“Calm down, mate. Don’t get worked up before you even know how bad it is. It could be nothing more than a few scratches.” Louis reached to grab Harry’s arm, but he shook him off before punching the elevator bottom, illuminating the upward facing arrow.

“She had to be taken to the hospital Louis. It’s more than fucking scratches.” He hissed before the elevator doors opened. Harry pushed his way inside before the previous riders had the chance to get off. Louis offered them a polite smile as they gave looks of annoyance to his friend, he understood that Harry was upset, but he didn’t need to be so rude to everyone. Louis just hoped there wasn’t anything terribly wrong with Nicole. As long as she was able to heal within a few weeks everything would be fine, but if things were worse—if things were fatal, Louis was afraid his mate might never be happy again.

The pair remained quiet the entire ride to the 12th floor; Sage had instructed them to meet her there. Nicole hadn’t been taken into surgery or anything yet, and Sage seemed to believe Nicole wasn’t in horrible shape and would probably only need a few tests. Harry hoped to God she was right. If anything happened to her—if anything happened to the baby…

Louis reached to grasp Harry’s shoulder again, but this time he didn’t object. “Listen, everything is going to be fine.”

“I hope your right,” Harry muttered as the doors opened. The pair was immediately met with the sight of the silvery-purple haired Sage pacing around the waiting room. Her hands were resting on her nonexistent hips and her face didn’t have a pigment of color in it; it was obvious she was beyond upset.

“Harry,” she said quietly, almost unable to speak from the amount of pure terror overwhelming her. “And Louis thanks for coming.”

“Where is she?” Harry demanded, searching around frantically, hoping Nicole would suddenly appear.

“She’s with the doctor now—”

“What happened?”

“She ran a red light and got t-boned. Her car flipped but luckily she was wearing her seatbelt—”

“Is she alright!?”

“From the bit I saw her it didn’t look much more than a few scratches and bruises. I think the airbag did more damage than anything. They wouldn’t tell me much about her condition, though, but it doesn’t appear she has any broken bones. She’s suffering from a lot of neck pain but that’s probably the cause of a bad sprain, and she definitely has a concussion—”

“Why did they call you and not me?”

“I’m her emergency contact because, believe it or not, we did used to be best friends.”

“But I’m the father—” Harry stopped mid-sentence after Louis shot him a surprised look. He’d forgotten Louis didn’t know about the baby. “I mean, I know how to contact her father. I should contact her father.”

Sage rolled her eyes, easily noticing his obvious mistake. “That bastard wouldn’t even care if you told him. Trust me, Nick won’t want him to know.”

“Right, because you know Nicole so well.”

“Like the back of my hand.”

“Then why’d you shag Niall? If you knew her so fucking well you would’ve known how angry she’d be about that and how she’d never forgive you. How it would destroy your whole friendship!”

Sage didn’t reply, but instead pressed her lips in a tight line before storming off to the other side of the room. Harry sucked in a sharp breath before raking his fingers through his curls; Louis’ blue eyes were fixed on him the entire time.

“That’s why she broke up with Niall? He cheated on her with that slag?” Louis whispered harshly. He didn’t want people to overhear, but he also didn’t want Harry to think he was going to get away with not answering him.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! Niall adored her—”

“Thought you were on my side, Lou.”

“I am, but c’mon! I wasn’t expecting that, and what was that talk about her father, or you being a father? Is Nicole fucking pregnant?”

“Listen, Lou—”

“May I speak with Nicole Wood’s family, please?”

Harry completely forgot about every question Louis had asked him and focused all his attention on the tall doctor that had just appeared from one of the patient’s room. He had a clipboard of papers hanging loosely from his fingers, and a serious look on his face, causing Harry’s mouth to go dry.

Harry raised his hand, “uh, hi I’m-”

“That’s me!” Sage piped up before hurrying towards the doctor. “I’m her emergency contact, Sage Hall.”

Harry’s green eyes narrowed as he glared angrily at Sage. Even though she fit the criteria of being Nicole’s family: selfish, rude, and a twat—Sage was not her family. She’d lost the right to even call Nicole a friend when she had an affair with her boyfriend.

“Fuck you, you shouldn’t even be here.” Harry said, not remotely caring if the doctor heard him or not.

“It’s not like you’re her family, Styles.”

“I will be soon.” Harry insisted, extending his hand for the doctor’s grasp. “Hello, I’m Harry Styles, Nicole’s fiancé.”

The doctor’s dark eyes darted between Sage and Harry before ultimately landing on his clip board. “My name is Dr. Avery, and I just wanted to inform you of Nicole’s condition. Her accident caused extreme head trauma, resulting in a mild concussion. Also, she severely sprained her neck and back. We’ll be putting her in a brace tomorrow before she can go home, and she will need to be on bed rest for the next week. We are still waiting to get her blood work back to make sure everything is normal, but I wouldn’t be too worried—the accident caused minimal damage from what I can tell.”

“Can I see her?” Harry and Sage asked in unison before immediately turning to glare at one another.

“Yes, but just one of you at a time please. We don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“Of course not.” Sage replied, her gaze still fixed on Harry.

“I’ll check back with you shortly once I get the results.” The doctor assured them before turning to walk down the corridor.

“You should go in first.”

Harry turned sharply towards Sage, unable to believe the words had left her thin lips. “Excuse me?”

“She’ll actually want to see you, and besides, you are the closest thing she has to family, even if that fiancé business is a bunch of bullshit. I would have noticed a ring on her finger even in the split second they let me see her earlier.”

“I planned to propose this weekend, but things got so fucked up—”

“Listen, I don’t give two shits about what ever sob story you’re ready to tell me. I said you could go first, so go first, and stop trying to be so theatrical about it all. This isn’t Grey’s Anatomy for fucks sake, it’s real life.”

“Fine,” Harry said before taking a step towards the room. Just as he was about to open the door, he turned to look over his shoulder. “Thanks Sage.”

“Bloody hell, go!” she demanded, pushing him forward and forcing him to stumble into the room.

Harry found himself feeling unable to breathe, again, as he slowly crept into Nicole’s hospital room. She was hardly moving besides the steady repetition of her chest falling up and down, and the quiet whistle of her breathing along with the constant beeping of a machine were the only noises filling the room. She was asleep and seemed so peaceful, but Harry couldn’t believe such a thing was true once noticing the dark bruise around her right eye, the dried blood under her nose, and the giant split through her bottom lip.

He crossed the room to sit in a chair beside her bed. He reached to hold her hand before beginning to rub his thumb softly over her skin while trying to push all his ‘what if’ thoughts to the back of his head. He noticed the necklace he’d gotten her sitting on the bedside table; the chain was broken and the locket was contorted into a shape completely different from the original heart. There seemed to be dried blood splattered everywhere, and Harry couldn’t help but think this was a sign. The necklace was a symbol of his love for Nicole and now it was ruined, and he was the only one to blame.

“Please don’t cry,” Nicole muttered softly as her eyelids fluttered open. Harry pulled himself away from his thoughts and focused all his attention on Nicole, she looked so weak and exhausted, but she offered him a small smile nonetheless.

“I’m not going to cry.” He promised her, returning the smile that had fallen from her lips. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like I was in a car accident.”

“Be more specific please.”

“My head is pounding like someone is literally hammering nails into my skull, and every time I move my neck it only makes it worse.”

Harry let out a heavy sigh, the pain behind Nicole’s words and the hurt filling her olive eyes making him feel worse than before which he’d thought was impossible. As his gaze drifted over her body he tried to think of the right thing to say. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and how guilty he felt about the accident and how wrong he’d been to see Alice behind her back and how much he truly wanted to make things right with her again, but the words didn’t want to come out. There was so much he wanted to say but all he could mutter was, “I’m sorry.”

“You can’t blame yourself, Harry. I was driving the car, and you weren’t even there. It’s not your fault.”

“But I was the reason for the argument that caused you to leave.”

She shrugged her shoulders before sinking her teeth in her bottom lip. She didn’t blame Harry. She knew better than to drive when she was angry and if she hadn’t been crying so hard she would have noticed that the light was red and not green.

“Coley,” he spoke quietly and she watched him through the corner of her eye. “This whole thing has made me realize how much I love you and how I can’t lose you. You mean the world to me and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Please forgive me. Please say we can be together. If you give me one more chance I promise I will never hurt you again.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” She snapped, and for the first time she noticed Harry was holding her hand. She untangled their fingers before pulling her hand away and resting it on her stomach, he instantly looked defeated.

“But, Cole—”

“No, Harry. It isn’t fair for you to tell me this stuff now; I’m in no position to be making any kind of decision. I understand why you did what you did for Alice, but it doesn’t mean I agree with it. If you just would have told me the truth from the beginning—” she stopped a moment to take a breath before sucking back the tears that had started to fall. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry over him anymore, and she intended to keep that promise, even if it was just for a little while. “—look, it doesn’t matter now, we can’t change what happened, but I want you to know I do love you. I always have and maybe always will, but I can’t talk about this with you right now. I just don’t have the energy. We will discuss this all later along with what to do about the baby, but not today, actually not for a few days because I want to think things over and be in a better state of mind in order to make the best decision.”

“Alright, I understand.” He replied after a pause of silence. “Would you like me to leave? Or should I stay? What do you want me to do?”

“You can stay if you want. You know I don’t like being alone.”

He nodded and settled back in his chair, expecting to be sitting by her side for quite a while longer.

“How’d you know to find me here?” Nicole asked, she’d been interested to know the answer this entire time but hadn’t found the appropriate time to ask until now.

“Sage called me.”

“Sage—?” she asked a little surprised before she remembered Sage was her emergency contact for everything. She’d planned to change that after their falling out but she’d been so overwhelmed with everything else she forgot. “Oh, right. Well, um, is she here… now…?”

“Yeah, yeah she’s right outside. Do you want me to get her?”

Nicole responded with a nod, and Harry was quick to his feet before rushing out the room. She knew she’d have to talk to Sage eventually. Even if none of this would have happened, Nicole wasn’t the type of person to just let things go without gaining a bit of closure. She kept her gaze focused on the door way until finally the leggy, thin, silvery-purple haired girl appeared. Sage had a forced smile across her lips and Nicole noticed, but she didn’t call attention to it and instead ushered her ex-best friend over with a wave of her hand.

“I don’t even want to see the other guy.” Sage said as she observed all the cuts and bruises across Nicole’s face. Nicole rolled her eyes, but let a small smile tug at her lips.

“You should see my car; it’s much worse off than me.”

Sage let out a breathy laugh before taking a seat in the chair Harry had previously been sitting in. She perched her small bum on the edge of the seat as she stared down at Nicole like she was looking at a dead body.

“Thanks for coming Sage; you didn’t have to do that.”

“But I did Nick. I know you and I aren’t on good terms at the moment, but when I got that phone call all I could think about was how much I desperately wanted—needed you to be okay.”

“Thank you, but you don’t have to stay, really. I’m going to be fine and Harry’s here.”

“I know, and I trust him to take brilliant care of you, but there’s something I need to say before I can go.”

“I’m listening.”

Sage closed her eyes tight as she attempted to work up enough courage to tell Nicole all thoughts that’d been haunting her over the past month. There’d been so many times when she’d wanted to call her but she just hadn’t been brave enough to hit the send button. Sometimes she’d spend an entire day just looking at Nicole’s contact in her mobile but she just couldn’t take the next step. Now she finally had the chance to tell the only person that’d truly ever cared about her how sorry she was for ruining their friendship, and she felt like she might be sick, but she knew she had to say what she’d come here to say, even if the second she opened her mouth she vomited everywhere.

“I’m sorry, and I know that’s not saying much coming from me, but I mean it, really. I should have never done what I did with Niall, especially after the first time and there is no excuse for my actions. I suppose I was just jealous of you. You were suddenly so happy with this amazing guy—this amazing guy that loved you endlessly while you were still in love with your ex. I’m not trying to be rude Nick, I promise, but even you know it’s true, you proved that the second you ran off to Harry’s after you caught Niall and me together. I just wanted what you had, but instead of trying to find my own happiness, I tried to take yours. I’m not sure what possessed be to do such a thing, but I can assume it has something to do with me being the most selfish person on the plane. I fucked up, and I know that, but I also know that after you left I realized that you’re the most important thing in my life. You have always been my rock and I took that for granted. I love you, Nick, more than anything, and it took me losing you to realize that, and I would take all of it back if I could, but we both know that’s impossible, but all this did make me realize how lucky I was to have a person like you in my life. You were the best thing that ever happened to me and I’m glad I got to call you a friend at least for a couple years.”

At first, Nicole was speechless. She hadn’t been expecting Sage to say anything like that. She’d known the girl for two years and she’d never said anything so heartfelt and honest to her the entire time. It made Nicole’s heart swell a little to think Sage thought of her so highly, and Nicole was always the first person to understand that people make mistakes, but as long as they learned from them, it was fine to forgive them. Of course, it wasn’t the easiest thing for Nicole to do, forgive the girl that was supposed to be her best friend for having an affair with her boyfriend, but it wasn’t something she was willing to rule out. Nicole was happy with her life and her new friendships with Emily and the lads, but she would always have a place for Sage in her heart because no matter what other people thought, Sage could be an amazing person, and Nicole had learned that when the pair first became mates. A lot of people didn’t understand just how much Sage had helped her two years ago. Nicole owed her a lot.

“Give me a hug, please.” Nicole insisted, catching Sage by surprise. After a second of hesitation, Sage leapt forward and hugged Nicole as carefully as possible. Both girls couldn’t keep from smiling as the holes in their friendship slowly started to patch up.

Harry and Louis remained out in the waiting room hardly saying a word. Harry still wasn’t ready to answer his mate’s questions and Louis didn’t want to upset his already distressed friend by pestering him for the latest gossip about his girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend. When Dr. Avery appeared again from down the corridor, Harry couldn’t stand up fast enough before practically sprinting to ask him about Nicole.

“Did you get the results back yet?” he demanded, and the doctor arched an eyebrow.

“Yes, but before I tell you anything I need to speak with Ms. Wood.”

“Right, right, well you do that!” Harry urged him before Dr. Avery took a step inside Nicole’s room. Harry was directly on his heels, forcing the doctor to snap around with annoyance.

“Alone, Mr. Styles. Please wait out here.”

“Right, sorry.” He mumbled before taking a step back and impatiently waiting for the doctor to finish up with Nicole. Sage soon joined him, and the two stood nosily outside their friend’s door, trying to overhear any amount of information.

“How’d things go?” Harry asked, deciding to give up on hearing whatever news the doctor was giving Nicole.

“Not too bad.”

“Good,” Harry replied before turning to face the tall girl. “Don’t you dare hurt her again.”

“Same goes for you, curly.”

Before Harry could reply, an earsplitting scream greeted his ears, forcing him, Sage, and the entire waiting room to fall silent. Again, Harry couldn’t breathe, because even though he couldn’t see inside Nicole’s room, he knew the scream had left her lips, and even though he hadn’t heard what the doctor had told her, only one thing could have caused that reaction, and as soon as he regained his ability to breathe again he began to cry even though all he really wanted to do was scream too.