The Fish Song

Better

Harry's POV

     "Thank you all for coming tonight. You were all so lovely, as always. Please get home safe tonight," I yelled out as the show came to an end and the crowd was going wild. I looked back down into the audience for Gabby and Christian. I took the same path to leave through the crowd that I did every night. The people pushed towards the barricades reaching for me. I grabbed hands and smiled at as many people as I could until I reached Gabby. I turned to George who was following directly behind me, signaling with my finger at Gabby and Christian. George nodded and I turned back around, continuing to where security was leading me to the exit. We pushed through the doors and I continued on to the green room, wanting to get quickly changed before the two people I wanted to impress came in.

     I quickly opened the door to see a semi familiar face that I hadn't seen in roughly two years standing before me, causing me to stop in my tracks. "Oh Nicole. Hi, how did you get in here?" I asked. Nicole Bear. I met her about two years ago when I went out on a date with her as a favor to her father. Her father, James Bear, was the arena manager for many many stadiums, including this one.

     "Hello to you, cutie. Well I just snuck my way right in. When daddy told me you would be here tonight I knew I had to see you. We haven't talked well since our date," she said walking closer to me.

     "Well it was very nice to see you again but I am afraid you can't stay. I have some friends coming, so if you don't mind," I said motioning towards that door. I didn't want to be rude but she wasn't my type and as much as I tried to be nice to people I didn't necessarily like, now wasn't the time for her to be here. I just really wanted to spend some time with the people closest to DJ.

     "Oh Harry," she said with a chuckle- the smile on her face starting to remind me of the Cheshire Cat. She got closer, placing her hand on my chest. I peered down on it. The last person to touch me there was DJ. I missed her touch so much that as I looked at Nicole's it was almost as if I could see DJ's hands. The peace ring, still on her thumb, but it wasn't DJ's thumb, it was Nicole's. I grabbed her hand off my chest and stared down at the ring on her finger.

     "Where did you get this?" I asked her, my heart beating faster than it had all night. I didn't know if it was my ring or not but it was identical and if it was my ring, how did Nicole get it?

     "Oh, yeah," she said, pulling her hand out of mine. "I got it from DJ. She asked me to give it back to you and said something about a mistake before leaving," she said pointing towards the door. "But isn't it just great on me?" My eyes grew wide as my heart stopped.

     "She was here?" I asked, slowly beginning to back up. "When?" I was in a panic. She was here and I didn't know. She handed the ring back and said what? This was a mistake. What was a mistake? Me and her together? We weren't a mistake. We were far from perfect but what relationship is?

     "I don't know," she said in a whine. I couldn't handle this right now. I wasn't remotely interested in her and I could not handle that while trying to handle my own emotions.

     "Well what do you know?" I growled out, excess saliva flying as my upper jaw met my lower, grinding together. Her eyes grew wide and I could see the wheels turning as she tried to think.

     "Uhm," she started and I began to grind my jaw together again, causing her to jump back a little bit. "I think I heard you singing. Something about your shadow dancing. Right before she entered the room." That was towards the beginning of the show. She was long gone by now. I turned, throwing my fist into the frame of the door. Causing it to shake and my hand to instantly throb.

     "Harry?" I heard a small voice ask from behind me. Shit. I turned towards her, looking at her small features and noticing all the ways she looked like DJ.

     "Gabby. I'm sorry love, you didn't need to see that." I told her, crouching down to be eye level with her, nervous that my aggression scared her. Her mouth picked up a little on the sides, but worry was still in her eyes.

     "Are you okay?" She asked, placing her hand on top of mine, tracing my red and already swollen knuckles with her fingers. I nodded, placing a small smile on my face, even though I wasn't sure I was, okay. I slowly stood back looking to Christian with an apology already written on my face. He just shrugged a look of understanding on his face.

     "Give me one second and we can talk?" I asked him.

     "Of course," he said with a nod. I turned back towards the room looking at Nicole from where she was partially shaking, her back to the wall.

     "I'm sorry Nicole. Now is just not a good time," I said walking towards her. She nodded quickly, grabbing her bag from the couch, and heading towards the door. "Oh Nicole?" She stopped, slowly turning back towards me, a small smile on her face. "The ring." I pointed towards her hand. She rolled her eyes with a snort as she began to try and pull it from her thumb. When she finally got it off she turned towards Gabby and my protective instincts kicked in as I quickly headed towards them, preparing for whatever was about to happen, but all she did was huff before holding it out to Gabby.

     Gabby gave her a funny look before snatching it out of her hand. "That belongs to my auntie," she said, sticking her tongue out. My jaw dropped and I tried to hold back my laugh. Nicole gasped before huffing and standing up as straight as she could, trying to have some dignity before turning and walking as quickly as she could away. I waited until she was gone before I let my chuckle out.

     "After you," I said stepping back and motioning towards the door. Letting Gabby and Christian step into the room. I had a lot I needed to talk to DJ's brother about.

***

     "Thank you," I said, reaching out my hand towards him as we stood to leave.

     "No thank you," he said back, taking my hand in his, shaking it. I released his hand, turning to Gabby. She was on her dad's phone playing Minecraft. DJ wasn't lying. Minecraft and me. Those are her two favorite things.

     "I'm going to see you again soon. Is that okay?" I asked her. She hit pause on her game and looked up at me with a huge smile, nodding. "Good," I started, "And don't forget our deal." She shook her head, placing her hand on her pocket where the letter was being held. It was all in this little girl's hands now.