Chapter 9

Louis POV

Tonight is the night of the party. I wasn't looking forward to it. It's a party; they're supposed to be fun. I actually felt sick because I was so worried of what was to come. This might not even work.

I was sitting in Harry's bedroom. We were sitting in silence. The only sound was from Harry's laptop. He was looking over everything for tonight, making sure we got everything right and hadn't left anything out. If we did, this could go horribly wrong and we could end up losing both of them.

"I think we have everything." He said, breaking the silence, making me jump slightly.

"Are you sure?" I said, turning to him from the chair I was in at the desk, he was sitting on his bed.

"Yes… No. I think so, stop asking." He said, getting slightly frustrated.

"Ok, calm down." I said. "Is Ariana coming here before the party?" I questioned.

"No, she said she would meet us there." Harry said to me. It was 4:34. We had about 2 and a half hours until the party started. I looked over to Harry. I could see he was worried in case it didn't work.

"Stop doubting it." I said to him, bringing him back to reality. He turned to me.

"I'm not." He lied. I gave him the 'don't-lie-to-me' look.

"Harry, you're lying, I'm not stupid, and you're not a very good liar." I pointed out, smiling.

"What are you talking about, of course I am. I lie all the time." He said, jokily defensive.

"And I always manage to catch you out." I laughed.

"That's what you think." He said, throwing a pillow at me.

"Oh, you want to play like that. Fine then." I said, getting up. I walked over to the bed and raised the pillow above my head.

"No, Louis. Don't." He said, laughing. I hit him with the pillow. He grabbed another one and started fighting back. This lasted for about 15 minutes. We were running around the room, dodging all the pillows being thrown.

"You cant hit me, I have epic ninja skills." Harry said. Then, at the same time, we both stopped. We were both thinking the same thing. Erika. She was always joking about her epic ninja skills. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up. It just slipped out." He apologised.

"It's fine." Awkward silence.

"You want to go watch TV for a while?" He asked me.

"Sure." I said, following Harry to the door of his bedroom and down the stairs to the living room. He turned the TV on.

"What do you want to watch?" He asked me, flicking through the channels.

"How about that?" I said, as he went past a channel. He turned back. It was the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Everything today was reminding me of Erika. This was her favourite Harry Potter movie. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe everything would go right.

We watched the movie in silence. Time just seemed to fly by because when I looked at the clock next, it was 6:45. The party started at 7. we had 15 minutes to get ready.

"Maybe we should go and get ready." I said to Harry. He also looked at the clock.

"Yeah, I guess we should." We both got up and walked up the stairs. I had a bag with my clothes in it. I went into the bathroom to get changed while Harry stayed in his room.

It was 6:58 when we left. It didn't matter if we were a little bit late, Ariana could cope on her own. We would only be 15 minutes. The walk was silent for most of it. We both left each other to our own thoughts. We were both nervous, it was obvious. Me and Harry are never this silent. We always have some sort of banter going. It was horrible. In this case, silence is a scary sound. You never know what is to come. The only noise was cars passing by and the occasionally dog barking. I didn't like the silence so I decided to break it.

"So…Are you looking forward to getting Erika back?" I asked, slightly wary of bringing up the subject.

"I'm not sure. I mean, obviously I want Erika back, but I don't exactly want Ariana to leave. And if we are the only ones that remember her, then we still have someone missing. If it even works, otherwise, we will have two people missing." He said, looking straight ahead. I never thought of it like that. I mean, sure, I didn't want Ariana to go, but she insisted. She wants to do this, we aren't forcing her. But I also really want Erika back. I honestly don't know how I have lasted this long without seeing her, the real her.

We were about 2 minutes away now and you could hear the music from down the other end of her road. I don't know how the neighbours cope. This reminds me of that night. This was exactly how it started, hearing the music from the end of her road. We walked up to her door, and just like last time, the door was already open.

"You ready?" Harry asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah." Taking a deep breath, me and Harry walked through the door. It was 7.15 and already there were some people drunk. The party started 15 minutes ago, how is that possible?

"So, where were you last time?" I asked Harry.

"Living room, with Niall. I should go find him. You need to go in the kitchen and do whatever it was you were doing last time. I also need to go find Ariana and say goodbye to her. Good luck mate." He said, patting me on the shoulder. He walked towards the living room. I walked into the kitchen, sitting in the exact seat I sat in last time. I could see into the living room from here. I saw Harry. He had his back to me. He was talking to someone. He then hugged the person and I knew it was Ariana. He walked towards Niall, who was standing in the corner of the room. Ariana looked over at me. She mouthed to me 'what do I do?'. I saw Nathan sitting on the sofa. I pointed at him 'talk to him', I mouthed. She gave me the thumbs up and sat down quite close to him and started talking.

She had been talking to him for about 20 minutes now. I had had 2 beers. The problem was that I wasn't getting annoyed like last time. She wasn't Erika, it wasn't annoying me. She got up and walked towards the kitchen.

"Hey." She said, sitting next to me.

"Hey." I said.

"What?" She could obviously sense something was wrong.

"It's not working. I'm not annoyed." I said, putting my beer down.

"You were annoyed last time? What happened?" She asked me.

"She was doing exactly what you were doing. But it's not working this time." I said, slightly frustrated.

"So I have to annoy you. What annoys you?" She asked me. That was a good question. What does annoy me?

"I don't know. Just try anything." I said to her.

"Ok then… Um…I don't know. Help me." She said.

"I don't know either. I don't really get annoyed." I said to her.

"What about that day you told me about Erika, you were pretty annoyed then. Why was that?" She asked me. I thought back to that day. Me and Harry had been talking about Erika when Ariana walked over. That was it. when people talk about that day.

"Because me and Harry had been talking about the day Erika, you know…" I trailed off, hoping she would get what I was talking about and not make me say it.

"I see. I'm sorry for everything I say." She said. I nodded. She sat there thinking. "The way you talk about it, its almost like you're guilty. That it was your fault." She said. What? I had spent ages being convinced by Harry it wasn't my fault and now she's telling me it was?

"No it wasn't." I said defensively.

"Well you argued with her and made her walk out. If you hadn't of let jealousy get the better of you then she wouldn't have died, would she?" She asked rhetorically.

"Now hang on a minute, she didn't have to do what she did. And if she hadn't, then I wouldn't have got annoyed." I said, I didn't blame Erika, but Harry had spend so long convincing me that it wasn't my fault that it just came out.

"So you're blaming her now? Maybe if you had been a man about the way you were feeling then none of this would have happened, but no its her fault because she cant mind read, is that it? if she was here now and she heard this, she probably would have slapped you and would turn you down. That is out of order, blaming her. man up Louis, and take the blame." She said, and with that, she walked out. I followed her, like I did with Erika.

"We aren't finished here Ariana. Come back." I shouted after her, still following her. She had walked out the front door. "Ariana!" I shouted.

"What?" She shouted back. "Leave me alone." And with that, she walked towards the road and memories of that night flooded my head. I realised she didn't mean anything she had said, even though she told be that before. She succeeded in annoying me and getting me angry. That's when I saw them. The lights again.

"ARIANA!" I shouted. She knew exactly why because she stopped and turned to me. 'I'm sorry' she mouthed. She gave me a little wave. All of that happened in a bout 2 seconds and then next thing I knew, she was in the air falling towards the ground with great force. I heard her scream, then the thud of her hitting the floor. I was frozen to the spot. I couldn't move. The car stopped and the door opened. I managed to move and ran to Ariana. I knelt down beside her. I rested her head in my lap.

"Ariana, can you hear me?" I asked her, tears running down my face. The woman that got out the car slowly walked over. She was pale and in shock. "HARRY!" I shouted, hoping he would come out. I saw him standing there, and he knew he couldn't do anything to help. "Call an ambulance." I said to the woman. She quickly got her phone out and walked away, talking into it.

"Louis." Ariana's weak voice said. "I know I'm going to die. So I just want to say, thanks. To you and Harry. Even though we didn't get off to the best start. Don't forget me." She said to me.

"I wont, don't worry." I said to her.

"And make sure you tell Erika how you feel." She smiled.

"I will." I said.

"Goodbye Louis." She said as her eyes began to close. I knew I was losing her.

"Goodbye Ariana." I said, the tears streaming down my face. I leant down and kissed her forehead. She went limp. I knew she was gone. I just cradled her in my arms. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was outside, but no longer in the road.

Harry POV

I walked into the living room. I saw Ariana. I walked over to her.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked me.

"I guess. A little nervous but I'm fine. What about you." She asked him.

"Scared as hell. What if it doesn't work?" I asked her, worried.

"It will be fine Harry. Just chill." She said to me. How is she so calm about this?

"It's going to be weird without you. Even though I haven't known you that long, you're a close friend and I am going to miss you." I said to her.

"You and Louis have been amazing friends and I will miss you too, kind of." She smiled. I hugged her.

"I'm gonna go and find Niall, I'll see you…" I stopped, realising what I had said. How could I be so stupid, of course I wont.

"I know what you mean." She smiled. I smiled back and went over to Niall.

"You alright mate?" He asked me.

"Fine, why wouldn't I be?" I asked nervously.

"No reason." We stood there in silence for a while.

After about 25 minutes, I saw Ariana walk out of the kitchen with Louis following her. he was shouting for her to come back. I knew this was it. she opened the door and then I didn't see her again. I waited for about 2 minutes. Then, I heard it.

"ARIANA!" Louis' voice. I heard the bang, then the scream and then the loud thud of her falling to the floor. People inside stopped what they were doing and looked out the window, even Niall, but I knew. I walked outside.

"HARRY!" Louis shouted. He looked over to me. He had tears running down his face. I knew I had tears streaming down my face aswell. I couldn't do anything though. I couldn't go and help, I could call an ambulance. I just had to stand there. The woman from the car walked over.

"Call an ambulance." I just heard Louis say. She pulled her phone out and walked away. I saw Louis and Ariana talking. Then, they stopped. I saw her go limp. She was gone. I blinked and I was no longer outside.

Ariana POV

Today was the day. The day I die. That thought was scary. I was walking to the party. It was a 10 minutes walk. I was getting more nervous with each step. Getting closer to the street, I could hear the music. It was five past 7. I knocked on the door. Kayla answered it.

"Hey Ariana, glad you could make it." she stepped aside so I could go in. she closed the door behind me. The music was loud. Too loud for my liking. If I could, I would have gone home but I have to do this. I'm helping the boys.

There was a knock at the door. Being the closest to it, I answered it. it was Zayn, Niall, Liam and Brittany.

"Hey guys." I said to them.

"She put you on door duty?" Zayn asked, laughing.

"No, I'm just psychic and knew it was you so I answered it." I joked. They laughed.

Niall, Zayn, Liam and Brittany were scattered all around the house so I took this as an opportunity to say goodbye to them. I couldn't tell them what I was going to do because they would tell me not to and that Louis and Harry had convinced me to do this, when really, it was the other way round. I went to Liam first as he was closest.

"Hey Liam." I said.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I'm great." There was a silence, well, as silent it could get when there was loud music and people shouting. "You know, you are a great friend and the others are lucky to know you. Thanks for being such a great friend to me." I said, and hugged him. He hugged back.

"Um, you're welcome, I guess." He said, slightly confused, but then I would be too.

"I'm going to go get a drink." I said to him.

"Ok, I'll see you later." He smiled.

"Yeah." I lied, smiling weakly. I walked towards the kitchen where Brittany was.

"Hey Ari." She said to me.

"Hey Brit." I smiled. Here we go again I guess. "I just wanted to let you know that you have been a great friend to me. So thank you." I hugged her. she took a bit longer than Liam to respond.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked, still hugging me.

"No, I just wanted to let you know." I felt awful for lying but I had to. I released her. she smiled.

"Ok thanks." She said.

"I'll be back later ok?" I asked her.

"Sure see you later." I smiled weakly and walked away. I hated this. Niall was next on the list. He was eating some crisps, nothing new there. I walked over to him and took the crisp out of his hand and ate it.

"Hey, I was gonna eat that." He whined.

"Well, I did instead." I laughed.

"What do you want anyway?" He said, moving his crisps out of my reach and eating one. I laughed.

"I'll go again then." I joked. "Am I not allowed to come over and talk to my amazing friend?" I smiled.

"What do you want from me. I'm not giving you money if that's what you're thinking." He joked.

"Did I ask for money? I was just being nice." I laughed. Round 3, here we go. "I'm serious though. You are an amazing friend. Don't ever change, ok? Ever." I said to him. He gave me a confused look.

"Change? What are you talking about?" He asked me.

"It doesn't matter, just remember that." And then I hugged him. He hugged back but I could tell he was still slightly confused. "I'm gonna go talk to Zayn." I said.

"Alright. Bye" He said, still confused. I walked away and went to find Zayn. He was out in the garden.

"Hey Zayn." I said to him.

"Hey, it's door girl." He laughed.

"Ha-ha. You alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good. What you doing out here?" he asked me.

"I could ask you the same." I questioned back.

"It's hot in there." He said.

"Ah, yeah it is a bit. That's why I came out here." I lied. I wasn't going to tell him I came looking for him to say goodbye now, was I?

"I see." He said. "What's up?" He asked me. I was a bit shocked, but I didn't let it show.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ariana, seriously? Come on, what's up?" He asked again.

"Nothing. Just glad to have such good friends as you lot." I said.

"Ok then." he said.

"What, you asked. I'm serious. You are all awesome and I'm glad to have known you." I said.

"What do you mean 'known'? are you going somewhere?" He asked me. Am I being that obvious?

"Course not." I lied again. I feel really bad now.

"Sure?" He asked again.

"Positive." And then I hugged him aswell. I was getting a bit cold. "I've cooled down now so I'm going back inside now."

"Alright then." I walked back inside.

I walked into the living room. I saw Harry and Louis walk in. they were talking. Then, Louis walked into the kitchen and Harry walked into the living room and came over to me.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked me.

"I guess. A little nervous but I'm fine. What about you." I asked him.

"Scared as hell. What if it doesn't work?" He asked me. I had tried to get that thought out of my head.

"It will be fine Harry. Just chill." I said to him.

"It's going to be weird without you. Even though I haven't known you that long, you're a close friend and I am going to miss you." He said to me.

"You and Louis have been amazing friends and I will miss you too, kind of." I smiled. He hugged me. Now I was scared.

"I'm gonna go and find Niall, I'll see you…" He stopped, realising what he had said.

"I know what you mean." I smiled. He smiled back and went over to Niall. I turned towards the kitchen and saw Louis. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. 'What do I do?', I mouthed to him. He looked over to the sofa. Nathan was sitting on it. He pointed at him 'talk to him', he mouthed. I gave him the thumbs up and sat down quite close to him and started talking.

After about 20 minutes, I was getting bored and he stunk of alcohol. I decided now was a good time to leave. I got up and walked towards the kitchen.

"Hey." I said, sitting next to him.

"Hey." He said.

"What?" I could sense something was wrong.

"It's not working. I'm not annoyed." He said, putting his beer down.

"You were annoyed last time? What happened?" I asked. He hadn't told me this bit.

"She was doing exactly what you were doing. But it's not working this time." He said, slightly frustrated.

"So I have to annoy you. What annoys you?" I asked him. How was I supposed to know that?

"I don't know. Just try anything." He said. Well that narrows it down.

"Ok then… Um…I don't know. Help me." I said.

"I don't know either. I don't really get annoyed." He said to me. Helpful.

"What about that day you told me about Erika, you were pretty annoyed then. Why was that?" I asked. He looked like he was thinking.

"Because me and Harry had been talking about the day Erika, you know…" He trailed off. I understood what he meant.

"I see. I'm sorry for everything I say." I apologized ahead of time. He nodded. I thought of something to say. Then it hit me. "The way you talk about it, its almost like you're guilty. That it was your fault." I said. His facial expression changed to one of shock.

"No it wasn't." He said defensively.

"Well you argued with her and made her walk out. If you hadn't of let jealousy get the better of you then she wouldn't have died, would she?" I asked wondering if I was going to far.

"Now hang on a minute, she didn't have to do what she did. And if she hadn't, then I wouldn't have got annoyed." He said. Now that was shocking. I was not expecting that. He was blaming Erika for what happened. Unbelievable.

"So you're blaming her now? Maybe if you had been a man about the way you were feeling then none of this would have happened, but no its her fault because she cant mind read, is that it? if she was here now and she heard this, she probably would have slapped you and would turn you down. That is out of order, blaming her. man up Louis, and take the blame." I said. That actually annoyed me. I walked out. I knew he was following me.

"We aren't finished here Ariana. Come back." I heard him shout. I walked out the front door. "Ariana!" He shouted.

"What?" I shouted back. "Leave me alone." And with that, I walked towards the road. I didn't mean anything I said, but he obviously didn't understand that. I succeeded in annoying him and getting him angry though. There was a bright light from my right side.

"ARIANA!" I heard Louis shout. I knew why. I stopped and turned to him. 'I'm sorry' I mouthed. I gave him a little wave. Next thing I knew, I felt a pain in my right side and I was in the air, falling towards the ground with great force. I screamed, then I hit the floor. All my body hurt. Louis ran to me. He knelt down beside me. He lifted my head into his lap.

"Ariana, can you hear me?" I heard him ask. My eyes were closed. "HARRY!" Louis shouted. "Call an ambulance." He said, to who I don't know.

"Louis." I said, weakly. "I know I'm going to die. So I just want to say, thanks. To you and Harry. Even though we didn't get off to the best start. Don't forget me." I said to him.

"I wont, don't worry." He said with a weak smile on his face.

"And make sure you tell Erika how you feel." I smiled.

"I will." He said.

"Goodbye Louis." I said as my eyes began to close.

"Goodbye Ariana." Was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

I'm sorry for the long wait. But, here is Chapter 9. Only one chapter left :( Don't cry though people. I am hoping to write some more stories soon. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and look out for the next one.

Thanks to KtCat96, beautiful. and. freaky, It'sMeSenna, onelifeonedirection, ThatOneDiabeticGirl, Vanessa-1D and Floraxoxox for reviewing the last chapter. keep them coming guys, I like to know what you think.

Much love :) xxx