Be Your Everything

Alice’s eyes filled with tears that Harry couldn’t see and almost choked on her own words. “I… I’m fine…”
He, of course, saw right through her I’m fine act and swept her up in a hug. This seemed to be becoming a regular thing for them – Alice breaking down crying and Harry comforting her. If it were anyone else she would have thought it annoying that he cared so much, and she knew it should be the case, but she couldn’t bring herself to be pissed at him. He was the first guy to pay attention to the fact that she was hurting since her dad had died.
Alice wrapped her arms gingerly around his torso and he tightened his around her back. It felt nice to have a proper hug from someone. She hadn’t had one in such a long time – not even from her mother.
Before she knew she was even thinking about it, she spoke. “He hit her.”
“What?” Harry pulled back a little to study her face, his brow pulled down in a frown.
She shook her head, shocked at what she had just admitted to an almost stranger. “Nothing, I-“
“No, Alice, what did you say?”
The intensity in his tone made her clap her mouth shut and stare directly into his eyes. “He hit my mum.”
She could see anger beginning to bubble up inside him and tried to back away. He saw what was going through her mind and began to panic. “Don’t be scared of me, please, I’d never… that’s horrible. I’d… I’d never hurt you.”
He eyes wide as saucers, Alice stopped struggling and took the time to really look at him. His eyes were an incredible shade of green and his lips were a luscious pink that made her, out of absolutely nowhere, want to kiss him. She almost leaned forward but scolded herself quickly. He doesn’t even like you, he just feels sorry for you! Plus, he’s leaving soon!
The kettle dinged to signal that it had finished boiling and Harry blinked as though he’d been pulled out of a daydream. “Have a seat. I’ll bring your tea out in a minute.”
“You don’t have to-“
“Sit,” he commanded her with a smile.
Alice nodded timidly and moved to the adjoined sitting room.
“Here…” he mumbled, carefully handing her a mug of hot tea. The warmth of it made her fingers toasty warm for a moment before becoming too hot and forcing her to place it on the coffee table in front of her.
There was a small, comfortable silence, before Alice asked the question that had been on her mind for days now. “Why are you here?”
Harry’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “What d’you mean?”
“I mean… you’re here on holiday with your friend that you’re hardly ever with, there’s no family around… are you on the run or something?”
He actually laughed at this and shook his head. “No, not on the run. Well, not from the law anyway.”
“What on earth is that supposed to mean?” Alice exclaimed, feeling herself relax a little now that she was sitting down.
“I erm… I’m on the run from…”
“Oh, come on, I just told you a secret!” she tried not to think of exactly what it was that she had told him.
“Alright, alright. I’m on the run from the press. Y’know, the media.”
“What are you, famous?” A peculiar look crossed Harry’s face at these words and she regretted them a little. “Wait… yes you are!” she gaped at him, remembering that she had seen his face on a magazine once or twice.
He winced at the sudden change in her voice and looked away.
“Sorry,” she bit her lip. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine. I just… I don’t hate being big.”
“Then why are you running?”
“Um…” he began, but stopped. Alice decided not to pry – he obviously didn’t want to talk about it. So she took and deep breath and began to talk about the things she hadn’t spoken about to anyone ever before.
“My step-dad. He punched my mum the other day. Right in the middle of her face. She had a black eye for ages… still does actually. He’s been kind of violent for years now, drinking and throwing stuff. I guess I just never thought he’d go this far. That’s why I was crying in the park before… where you found me.”

Harry was staring at her, his eyes roaming her face. She was finally looking at him square in the face. He didn’t know what to say – she had confessed something so incredibly personal that he felt the need to reciprocate.
“I blew up,” he told her, looking down at his lap. “The boys and I – my band, that is – were in an interview and… I’d been under a lot of stress and the woman interviewing us just happened to ask the wrong question and I… I told her that she should go fuck herself, that the whole organization she worked for was shitty. I told the audience that I was sick of being treated like a piece of meat, like I wasn’t human. I guess I was just fed up. Now the boys think I need psychiatric help, my fans think I’m a total arsehole, and my management have forced me to go into hiding until it’s all died down.”
Alice gaped at him. “It’s probably a good thing Rick hogs the TV all the time then. At least I didn’t have to see it.”
He nodded and then frowned. “Who’s Rick?”
“Oh, uh… he’s my stepdad.”
“As in the one that… y’know?” he couldn’t bring himself to say punched or hit. It sounded incredibly insensitive in his head.
“That’s the one.”
“I’m sorry…”
“What for?”
“That you have him for a stepdad.”
Alice felt the tears coming on again and this time took it upon herself to lean into him. He knew what she was doing and slung an arm around her, pulling her close enough that she could hear and feel his heart beating beneath his chest.
She didn’t mean to fall asleep in his arms – it just sort of happened.
Harry had felt her breathing slowing down and glanced at her to find her eyes closed. She looked peaceful there. So peaceful, in fact, that he didn’t even try to wake her up. He’d never found himself watching a girl sleep before – he’d always thought it creepy; what if she woke up and saw him?!
But this time he couldn’t stop himself. She really was beautiful. Maybe not in the stereotypical way – blonde, perfect skin, perfect weight. She had adorable freckles that made him smile, ginger hair that a lot of people would make fun of (he couldn’t for the life of him work out why that was).He felt something stir in the pit of his stomach when she smiled in her sleep. It was something that he couldn’t remember feeling.

Pure happiness.