Forever, Ever

Neither Ana or Harry talked about that night and following morning in Ana's apartment. It was understood that no more needed to be said on the subject for the time being. Ana was now understanding that when Harry said they would be fast friends he wasn't joking. After that night, she immediately felt closer and more comfortable around Harry. She let go of her inhibitions towards him and let herself enjoy the friendship with him.

Ana and Harry were currently seated on the couch in the backroom, lounging about during their break. Ana had Harry's phone in her hands, messing around with it. She had never had a cell phone of her own and was rarely allowed to use James'. Most of the programmes on the phone confused her and she needed Harry to show her how to do most things. Eventually she just decided to play a game on it. Harry watched her in amusement as she would get occasionally frustrated with not knowing how to work the phone. He thought she looked absolutely adorable right then.

"Ana," Harry said.

"Harry."

"I'm going to be leaving for tour again soon," he told her.

She looked up at him, her head seated in his lap. "Oh," she said quietly, looking back down again.

"The concert I mentioned to you... that's the first date of our tour. We'll be gone for a month and a half," he told her slowly, trying to gauge her reaction to it.

"Oh," she repeated, quieter than before, not looking up from the phone.

"Ana... look at me."

Ana slowly moved her head back and looked up at him.

"Are you alright, Ana?" he questioned.

She was quiet for a moment before nodding her head slightly. "Yeah... I just.. I had forgotten about it."

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

For the first time since he had went on his first tour, he felt absolutely terrible about leaving. He knew Ana was hiding more of her emotions that she was letting on. He was absolutely gutted about leaving her, but the band was his job now, not the bakery.

"Don't be," Ana smiled weakly up at him.

"But I am. I'll make sure to call you all the time until I'm back," he promised.

She smiled at that, in return causing Harry to smile.

"You don't need to."

"But I want to."

She smiled more before returning her attention back to the game on his phone. He watched her play on until break was over when she returned his phone to him.

* * *

The night of the concert rolled around faster than Harry or Ana would have liked. But both of them were extremely excited for it. Harry loved getting on stage and performing, he loved being able to do what he loved for a living. And Ana was excited to see Harry perform, she was also excited because she had never been to a concert before. She spent all day in the bakery anxious for her shift to end.

Harry had called her earlier in the day saying that he would be around later to pick her up to take her to the concert. Ana was nearly bouncing in her seat as she watched the hands on the clock tick nearer to the end of her day. When it finally struck 4 o'clock, she hopped away from the counter and rushed to her flat to get ready. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this excited about something.

Nearing 5 o'clock Ana heard a knock on her door and she rushed to get it. She opened it quickly, grinning widely, expecting Harry to be on the other side. She was quickly confused when she saw another boy around Harry's age standing there instead.

"Ana?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I'm Zayn," he smiled, "Harry sent me with his apologies. He wasn't able to get out of the venue to come get you himself so he sent me. If that's alright with you?"

She took a moment before nodding and smiling timidly at him.

"Don't worry, Harry gave specific instructions to 'protect his Ana at all costs'," he grinned at her, stepping away from the door frame to allow her through.

Zayn watched as Ana beamed at this which caused him to smile wider. He led her outside to the car, quickly donning his shades. They sat in a comfortable semi-silence all the way to the venue, just enjoying the music playing during the ride. Ana was finding it easier to be comfortable around people she didn't know. She didn't know if that was because of the fact Zayn was a friend of Harry's that she trusted him but she still couldn't help but to feel proud of herself for it.

Zayn slowed down and pulled up to a gated area that was absolutely swarmed with young girls. Ana moved away from the window subconsciously, her eyes wide at the amount of people. Zayn moved slowly, careful of all the girls around the car. Security quickly stepped in to help move people out of the way. As soon as the car made it through the gates, they were immediately shut to block the girls from entering.

Ana let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and relaxed in her seat a bit more. There were so many people and she had never been a big fan of a large crowd.

Zayn parked the car and hurried around to Ana's side to let her out. He did his best to shield her from the cameras the fans were holding. But that didn't stop Ana from hearing their shouts asking who she was and what she was doing with Zayn. It was all a bit overwhelming and Ana wanted nothing more than to get inside. Security hurried them through the back door and it was immediately quiet around them. No more shouts and flashes from fans.

"Come on, this way," Zayn said, resting his hand on Ana's back and carefully moving her ahead of him and down the long hall.

Zayn led her through the halls to a door with a paper marked 'One Direction' taped to the front of it. He opened the door and let her walk in ahead of him. Ana immediately spotted that curly hair and made her way towards him.

"Ana!" Harry cheered, coming to her and enveloping Ana in a hug like he hadn't seen her in ages.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't come get you, there were so many people outside it would have been impossible to get out safely. But Zayn was already on his way," he explained.

"It's fine," she smiled.

"Good," he let out a sigh of relief, grinning and showing off his dimples. "Now time to meet the rest of the lads!"

Harry led her over to the group of boys and she shifted behind Harry, peaking at them over his shoulder as she gripped his wrist. She was meeting so many people today, it was a lot to take in for her no matter how much progress she had made.

"Ana, this is Louis, Niall, Liam, and you met Zayn, obviously," Harry said, pointing out each one as he said their names. "Lads, this is AnaBelle," he introduced, grinning at her.

A chorus of 'Hey Ana's came from the guys around the room. Ana gave a small wave to each of them before moving with Harry to the couch and sitting close enough to him that she could hide herself in his side when she got too shy. He didn't seem to mind, as if he ever would with her, and moved his arm to wrap it around her shoulders.

"So are you excited, love?" Harry asked her as the rest of the boys chatted with each other.

"Yes!" Ana grinned making Harry do the same.

"Good, good, I was hoping you were. Here take a picture with me," Harry said, scooting around to get his phone out of his pocket.

Harry leaned in towards Ana and put their faces right next to each other. Ana smiled into the camera with Harry as he took the photo, which Harry immediately set as the lockscreen on his phone.

"You're not going to put it on any website are you?" Ana asked him timidly.

"Nope. All photos I have of you will stay with me until you say otherwise," he assured her.

"Good, thank you," she said.

There was a comfortable silence between them as Harry messed around on his phone and Ana looked around the room.

"Wait, photos?" Ana turned back to Harry as soon as it set in what he had said.

Harry just turned to grin at her cheekily before getting up off the couch and walking over to a table with food.

"Harry!"

"Ana!"

The other boys had stopped their conversations to pay attention to Harry and Ana as they seemed far more interesting right now.

"Harrrrryyy."

"Annnnnaaa," he mocked her.

"What other photos do you have of me?"

Harry once again grinned and shrugged his shoulders, continuing to chew away on the snacks in front of him.

"You'll never know."