Harry Styles - Instant Attraction Ch. 12

Charley heard his declaration, her heart leaping for joy as her mind shut it down again. Tears came unbidden to her eyes and she blinked them away desperately, not wanting to cry in front of him. A couple weeks ago, and she would have been throwing herself into his arms at the sound of those three magic words. But now, her heart was broken, and it couldn't be fixed.

She'd been so scared of Harry breaking her heart, but it turns out, he hadn't broken it at all. She had done that all by herself.

It had taken a lot of reflection after he'd come home and not gotten in touch with her, not even tried to find her or talk to her, for her to come to this place. All sorts of things had influenced her final decision: The media comparisons that had been made between her and Kendall's looks, how Harry had a 'type'; her own wretched insecurity and unwelcome jealousy; Harry not getting in contact with her; her own embarrassment in London at not knowing anything about the people in his famous life; the warning Harry's mother had given him; the upcoming tour and press junket...

And that's when a thunderbolt of clarity had hit her. She'd realised that she hated the person she'd become since discovering she was in love with Harry. Charley had never listened to the media before -- she'd never been so insecure, or jealous, either. It was all wrong. And it wasn't fair to Harry. This wasn't the girl he'd met, and it certainly wasn't the person she wanted to be.

And that was when she'd decided that she wasn't going to be the insecure and jealous girl who held him back.

She sat quietly now in the library, looking from under her eyelashes at the young man she loved. He was pale and drawn, his eyes were sad and wretched. He looked like his heart was breaking. It took everything she had not to reach out to him, to comfort him, to tell him she loved him, too. But instead, she was going to let it break. She wasn't going to tell him that she loved him back, and she wasn't going to tell him that they were going to get back together. She was going to do the opposite. So he could move on and find someone who moved in his world. Someone like Kendall or Taylor.

With a deep breath, Charley unwrapped her arms from around herself, and, with a purposeful movement, she slid the car keys in front of her across the desk. He looked down at them in bewilderment.

"The car is still parked in the apartment garage," she said, the words meaning to come out strong, instead coming out as a whisper. "It needs to be picked up by the end of the week."

Charley paused to steady her voice as she felt it begin to quaver. "I'm sorry that I've hurt you, Harry. It was never my intention. Good luck...with everything." She tried to smile, but failed. Shakily she got to her feet, trying not to look at the boy still seated, staring at her with a devastated expression on his face.

"Charley..." he said weakly, and she turned her head to hide the sudden tears at the ragged sound of his voice.

"Goodbye," Charley said quietly, and quickly left the library. Her feet picked up speed, racing away from the first man she'd ever loved, not stopping until she'd thrown herself into a cab and asked the driver to take her home. And then the tears finally came. And they didn't stop.

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A/N: This was so sad to write, please rate and vote it you enjoyed it. These chapters do take me quite a while to write and edit as they're so long -- I really would appreciate comments and votes to know that you appreciate the story -- love kristin x