He Saved Me

Chapter Twenty

Lia's POV

"Hips don't lie

Ya make me wanna

Ssssss

One more night."

I danced a little to Niall's solo as "Better Than Words" played on the radio while I was putting up laundry. I smiled when, at that exact moment, Harry's face appeared on my phone, requesting to FaceTime. I turned off the radio and answered it. "Hey, babe," Haz greeted me and I smiled. "Hey, Boo." I heard a voice in the background cry out, "Hey! Get your own pet name for my Boo Bear!" I laughed and Louis appeared behind Harry. "Sorry, Lou. I'll try to think of something else," I promised. Louis looked at me, trying to appear threatening. "You better," he growled and walked away. Harry shook his head. "Sorry," he apologised.

"What's with him?" I asked. Harry shrugged. "Trouble with El, I guess. Has she talked to you?" I nodded. "Yeah, she's grumpy too. Maybe they had an argument. Hmm. I'll text her later and see."

"Are you still flying here for Thanksgiving?" Harry asked. I nodded. "Yeah. Tell your mum I'm bringing my recipe book. She mentioned she'd like to taste test my specialties: fried chicken and chicken stir fry." Harry chuckled. "Watch yourself," he warned, "you sound like Niall," I rolled my eyes as he continued, "ya keep talking about chicken. How do you two eat like you do and stay thin?" I raised my eyebrows. "You saying I eat like a fatty?" He nodded. "Don't get me wrong, babe. You're fit as can be and thin as a stick but you eat a lot." I scoffed. "I'll be fat when I'm old, Harry."

He smiled. "And still beautiful to me." I blushed, as I always did when he complimented me. "Would you love me and still think I'm beautiful if I looked like this?" I pulled a distorted face. He laughed. "Yes, I would, Lia," he promised, still laughing. I laughed along with him. His laugh. One of the many great things about him. His laugh was wonderful. And I felt blessed constantly by the fact he was my boyfriend. He may not have been a Christian, like my friends and a few relatives would prefer, but he was truly wonderful and treated me like a princess. Yes, I know it sounds cliché, but it was true.

Harry's POV

I ended the FaceTime call when Lia fell asleep, after taking a screenshot.

"Aww. She fell asleep during our FaceTime. Sweet dreams, babe. xx @LiaStevens456", I posted on Instagram, synching it with my Twitter and tagging her in it. I looked at the clock; it was seven am where I was, and after midnight in America. I sighed. "Louis?" I called. I heard a thump coming from his room. El wasn't here, which meant he was probably throwing a tantrum. "Lou?" I opened the door. Louis was sitting on the bed. Bed sheets and pillows were strewn about, and the lamp had ended up on the other side of the room near his closet. He was holding a picture frame. It contained two pictures: his and Eleanor's first picture together, and their most recent picture.

"El and I had a fight. The fans got to her and they and the stupid paps convinced her I'm gay and Larry is real," Louis whispered bluntly. "What? But Louis, I'm dating Lia. She's coming here for Thanksgiving. Mum and Gemma are meeting her and everything," I said, not bothering to hide the surprise in my voice. Louis just shrugged. "I think she's gonna break up with me. We said hurtful things to each other, things we shouldn't have said." He sniffed. I sighed. "Look, Louis. This is the biggest fight you and Eleanor have had. I'm sure Lia will talk to her."

Lia's POV

My eyes widened at the undeniable proof El was sending me around eight am. "Oh my gosh," I whispered and covered my mouth with my hand. I called Eleanor frantically. "El, you know you can't believe everything you see," I tried to reassure her, but my voice was shaky. "Lia, you know as well as I do that those articles and pictures look pretty f-" I stopped her. "Eleanor," I warned. "F... Freakin believable and real." I shook my head and walked to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen; I was getting quite the headache. "El, this isn't setting well with me. I'm going to talk to Haz and Louis then I'll call you back." I hung up before she could object and called Harry's cell.

"Hello?" Niall answered Harry's phone. "Ni, where's Harry?" I asked impatiently. "Um, he and Zayn are with Louis. He's kind of having a break down. He and El-" I interrupted him, "Yeah, Niall. I know. Look. I need to talk to Harry or Liam or Zayn or just someone else. No offence, but I just. I don't know, I'm sorry. I just don't wanna talk to you about this. I'm not as close to you as Zayn and Liam," I rambled. "It's fine, Lia. I get it. On that note, I wanna take a turn hanging out with you when you're over here." I sighed in relief; I was afraid I had hurt his feelings.

"Okay, Ni. I promise. I'll even fix you cake and some fried chicken. I'll travel to Ireland just for you," I promised as I grinned. "Good." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Oh, here. Zayn just came in here." I heard him and Zayn exchange a few words, then Zayn took the phone. "Hey, Lia listen. It's not really a good-" I cut him off; it was kinda my thing that day. "Is it true?" I demanded. "Is what true?" Zayn said, trying to play dumb. "Zayn, cut the act. El sent me everything she's seen, and I hate to admit it but it looks pretty dang legit to me."

"Lia, it's not true. You're dating Harry, my gosh," Zayn said, raising his voice as his temper also rose. "Zayn," I said softly, trying to calm him. "Zayn, lemme talk to her," I heard Harry say calmly in the background. "Fine. But hang on. Lia, Liam and Harry told you to stay away from fan crap and pap drama and-" I heard scuffling, then Harry's voice say, "Zayn, stop. Liam! Come get him please. Zayn, go help Lou." I heard Zayn say a few choice words as I heard Liam talking to him.

"Hello?" I said into the phone. "Hey, Lia. Sorry. Everyone thinks I'm the one with a bad temper, but usually it's Zayn who goes off for every little thing that goes wrong." I sat on the couch and Rufus hopped up onto my lap. "Still Harry. El has me semi-convinced all the stuff is true." I said cautiously. Harry groaned. "C'mon, Lia. I'm dating you." I petted Rufus when he nudged my hand. "Haz, they have other issues, too. El feels deprived of his attention, and there's just a lot of drama El hasn't forgot or forgave him for."

"Forgave Louis?!" Harry snapped. "For what? Love and affection?" I rolled my eyes. "Stop being so dramatic, Harry. Stuff like cheating on her, threatening to dump her and go out with a model friend, etcetera." Harry scoffed. "None of that is true. He loves her." I sighed. "She loves him, too. But she's just tired of the crap. Louis just doesn't get it, and apparently neither do you or Zayn. Liam and Niall probably don't either. Eleanor is just as much in love with Louis as he is with her. She's just as tired of the drama as he is."

"I doubt that," Harry said. "Really now? Well why don't you call her and talk to her yourself?" I demanded. "Well why don't you talk to Louis?" Harry asked evenly. "Well I don't need to because I believe El." I snapped. "Well, I don't need to talk to her because I believe Lou." I rolled my eyes. "What the--?" I heard Liam swear in the background. "Well if you believe Louis maybe you should tend to your 'Boo Bear'," I said rudely. "Maybe I will." He sat the phone down, but didn't hang up. "Harry, go talk to her," I heard Liam insist. "No. Boo Bear is more important."

Jessica's POV

I sat on Lia's bed, listening with Maggie to her side of the story with El and Perrie on Tango on my iPad, as Lia cried. "You and Harry are both at fault in your fight," Perrie said gently. Lia nodded and sniffed. "I know. I just... It's our first big fight and we haven't talked since." Maggie grabbed her phone as the ringer went off. "It's... Liam..." She looked at Lia, who nodded and left the room. "You guys, I'm sorry. I know it's sorta dumb..." I stopped her. "Lia, no, it's fine. Harry shouldn't have said that." She sniffed. "I've just... Always been overly sensitive about everything."

Maggie came back in and handed the phone to Lia. "It's for you."