Truly, Madly, Deeply

I sat at the dinner table of my parents’ home in Holmes Chapel, pushing around the pasta on my plate. They’d asked how school had been going and if I’d been making friends, which I partially had. They’d also asked if they’d be seeing Harry while I was on break, but I told them that would depend on his schedule and whether he’d be in town or not. As soon as my mum had mentioned Harry, my seven-year-old sister, Stella’s eyes lit up; she had the biggest crush on him. Stella isn’t my only sister; I have another that had been sent off to boarding school three years ago, her name’s Aria and she’s fifteen years old. Aria came home to visit every now and again, but her private boarding school was where she’d really been living. The school was correcting her behavior since she’d begun to spin out of control.

“Alright, Stella, tell your sister goodnight and go upstairs to brush your teeth.”

“Bed? Really?” Stella sassed.

“Yes, now go on.”

“Bleh, fine.” She got up from her seat and walked over to me. She hugged me tightly and I kissed her cheek. “Night, sissy.”

“Goodnight, Stell-Belle.” I replied as she ran up the stairs. I helped clean up the table and did the dishes for my mum before telling my parents goodnight and going up the stairs and to my room. I pulled out my laptop and opened Face Time, ringing Aria. She answered on the second ring and seemed excited.

“Mickey!”

“Aria!” I squealed. “I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever!”

“I know, it’s been a while.”

“How have things been? Are you getting better?”

“Yeah, things have been great and I’m doing really good, actually. You’d be proud of me.”

“Good, you have to make me proud.”

“Well, I’m not doing it for mum and dad, that’s for sure.”

“Do it partially for them.”

“It’s mainly for you, Mick. I hate having you disappointed in me and unhappy with me, so I’m trying.” She finished as I started to tear up.

“Well, look, I was thinking, and I would love to see you.”

“And what did you have in mind, my dear?”

“Either you come visit me at uni for a weekend, or I can come visit you for a weekend.”

“Hm, I like the sound of both. So, is there any way that we can make both happen?”

“Definitely! Whichever you want to do first is completely up to you, I’m down for almost anything.”

“Okay, how about in two weeks. In two weeks you come and visit me, and if you think I’m doing well, then I’ll come and visit you two weeks after that, yeah?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” We talked for a bit longer before she needed to go to bed.

My mobile started ringing at four in the morning and I looked at the caller I.D. before hitting the ‘answer’ button; the screen read Noah Roberts.

“Hello?” I said before attempting to clear my throat.

“Hi.” He said quietly.

“Um, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just couldn’t sleep and wanted to call you.”

“As sweet as that is, you woke me.”

“Aw, I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re fine. How are you?”

“Tired.”

“But you can’t sleep?”

“Nope, and I don’t know why.” We talked for about a half an hour before I told him that I couldn’t handle it anymore and I needed to get back to sleep. Noah and I had seen each other a few more times before I came home for holiday and I was really enjoying him and his company, more so than I thought I would.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of my mum’s French toast. Sliding out of my big, comfy bed, my bare feet padded across my bedroom floor as I walked to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and shuddered at the blurry image in front of me. I grabbed my glasses off of my nightstand before walking down the stairs to the kitchen.

“Mickey!” Stella yelled from her seat at the table.

“Stell-Belle!” I yelled back with a raspy tone. “Smells good, mum.” I said as I kissed her on the cheek.

“Thank you, dear.” She smiled. “Grab a plate and dig in. Coffee’s up too, if you want some.”

“Hazelnut?”

“In the fridge.” I sat down at the table next to Stella and ate my French toast, sipping on my coffee casually. After finishing, I watched a bit of TV with Stella before going up for a nice, relaxing shower. Once I got out, I checked my mobile, seeing that I had a few text messages; one from Charlie, Perrie, Liam, Louis, and Anne. Charlie was just sending me a story about something that triggered one of our inside jokes. Perrie’s text was her pretending to be super annoyed with Zayn because he was reading over her shoulder. Liam was talking about how he felt as though he hadn’t seen me in forever, which it’d been a week and a half, so I understood. Lou was saying that he was considering coming to kidnap me this evening in my sleep, so make sure to be prepared for the possibility. And Anne, good ol’ Anne, said that my mum told her that I was home on holiday and that I had better come to visit her, which I had planned on doing today any how.

I put my mobile on the dock and let my music play as I tried to find something to wear. After putting on a bit of mascara and tossed my hair about before looking in the mirror and feeling satisfied with the way that I look. Telling my family that I’d be back later, I left our house and drove the short distance to Harry’s parents house.