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harry

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My shoulders sagged as I watched the mysteriously beautiful girl walk out the door. Questions flooded my mind and there was no way for me to answer any of them. I had been put in many bizarre situations before, but none that impacted me as much as this one did in.

Mia. Who was this girl? She was so young to be getting married and it was evident that she wasn't looking forward to it. What young woman doesn't look forward to her wedding day? Suddenly, a feeling of responsibility came over me. Suppose I was the only one she confided about her problem and the only one capable of helping her out?

I sighed and sat back on my bar stool. It didn't matter, anyway, because I have no clue where she had run off to.

"Can I actually just have one more?" I asked the bartender.

"Sure thing, man." Cheery bartender said as he took my glass and started to mix up my drink. A vibrating sensation occurred in my jeans pocket and I pulled out my phone to see that I had received an alert from Smith's Renting- the place where I had gotten my RV for the road trip.

"Hello?" I said into the speaker.

"Mr. Styles, this is Adam Smith from Smith's Renting, just calling to inform you that your RV is ready for pickup." A scruffy voice said on the other line. "You've already paid in advance, so feel free to stop by today to pick it up." I smiled.

"Thank you, Mr. Smith. I'll be around soon to pick it up." I said before hanging up.

Suddenly, a rather idiotic idea popped into my head. My head snapped up to see the bartender set my drink before me as I tried quickly to sort all of my thoughts together. My plan was absolutely insane, but it just might be able to work.

"Can you do me a favor?" I blurted.

"Uh, I guess so." The bartender scratched the back of his neck. "What is it?"

"Can you tell me of any weddings that might be going on in this area?"

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mia

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When I entered the church, I could have sworn a bomb had gone off.

All at once, people were rushing up to me with a million questions spilling out of their mouths- "Where were you?", "Do you realize you are two hours late?", and "You've kept everyone waiting!". I simply brushed everyone off as my mother sternly grabbed my arm and practically drug me to a room behind the chapel, her claw-like nails sinking into my skin.

"Do you realize how panicked we've been?" Mother practically screeched. "I've called you twenty four times!"

"I'm sorry, Mother." I apologized. "My phone must've died."

"That's still no excuse for being late to your own damn wedding." Mother seethed. "The makeup artist almost walked out! You could have ruined the whole wedding entirely!"

"It's already ruined." I mumbled low enough for her not to hear as she grabbed my wrist and brought me into a brightly lit room filled with women getting ready. These women were supposed to be my bridesmaids, but I had no clue who they were.

"Is this the bride?" A scrawny woman asked Mother.

"This is she." Mother answered. "And she is very sorry for being late."

"Very well." The woman said, her nose stuck up in the hair. "I'm Mrs. Hawthorne, your stylist for this evening. We need to get your dress properly fitted on you and fix up some of your makeup. Now, strip."

Her words made me so uncomfortable that my face turned a light shade of pink. I glanced between her and my Mother for a few seconds until Mother rolled her eyes at me and started tugging at my shirt.

"I can't just get naked here! I don't know any of these people!" I protested, swatting her hands away.

"You can and you will, dear. There isn't time for silly things like this." Mother warned me sternly. I dropped my eyes to the floor before reluctantly taking everything off except for my bra and underwear (which, fortunately for me, weren't my Spongebob underwear that I contemplated wearing this morning.)

Mrs. Hawthorne had me step into my beautiful wedding gown as every woman in the room turned to watch. I gulped and the white fabric was pulled over my body. It was incredibly tight and a bit itchy, but as I looked in the mirror I could see that it made me look beautiful. There were some gasps that came from some of my unknown bridesmaids as they admired my dress. All I could do was stare at myself in the mirror as I examined the gorgeous material.

"It's beautiful!" Mother screamed. "We've got to show Matthew how stunning you look. He will be absolutely blown away. Mrs. Hawthorne, if you could do her makeup now, please. We still have to visit the groom and his parents before the wedding begins to discuss things." She clapped her hands together and I gulped.

The fear and the dread were beginning to set in. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever want to get married to Matthew Miles and today it would be happening. The thought of standing beside him at the alter made me want to throw up and cry at the same time, but there was no way that I could get myself out of this situation. I was absolutely and positively stuck.

"Very well, then. Have a seat." Mrs. Hawthorne commanded. I sat in a chair that was in front of an elaborate mirror as she began to work on my hair, focusing on the increasing of my heart rate. My hands were already clammy as ever and I wished that someone would open up a window for fresh air.

Mrs. Hawthorne wasn't reluctant to pull at my hair until my scalp was in pain. She fixed some of the curls that were draped around my face and then pinned it up in the fanciest way that I had ever seen, and I was sure that I could never do that to my own hair. She then spun my chair as she began to paint on my face in attempt to make me prettier for my not-so-special day.

"You will look perfect." She assured me. I wanted to ask her to try and make me look as atrocious as possible so that maybe Matthew would immediately find me repulsive and refuse my hand in marriage, but that would never happen. My time was running out and I couldn't think of any way to escape this hellish reality that I was confound in.

As Mrs. Hawthorne reached into the makeup bag, I took the opportunity to swipe away a stray tear before she could notice. I saw a flash of pity strike across her face before she could regain her composure. I realized that I needed to try to distract myself in order to prevent myself from bursting out into embarrassing sobs.

"What was your wedding like?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"Very elegant." She smiled. "I was twenty four. My dress was given to me by my mom, who got it from my grandmother. Sort of like a tradition. The ceremony was beautiful and afterward my husband and I shoved cake in eachother's faces." She laughed at the memory. "Then we honeymooned in Cancun. Beautiful place."

I couldn't help but sigh. I so desperately wanted the love that she had.

"Sounds really nice." I complemented. Mrs. Hawthorne nodded and patted me on the shoulder.

"You're all finished. I believe your mother wanted you in the room beside the chapel."

I nodded and exited the room reluctantly, not even bothering to look at myself in the mirror. Why would I need to? This was all against my will and I hated it with every fiber in my body.

There was some laughing coming from the room beside the chapel, and when I pushed the door open it revealed my parents, my fiance's parents, and my fiance. I gulped as they all raved over how amazing my dress looked.

"Stunning, baby. Absolutely stunning." Matthew smiled as he pulled me down to sit beside him. I kept my mouth shut as our parents talked about things that really didn't matter to me and Matthew smiled down at me.

Matthew Miles. Devilishly handsome, incredibly wealthy, and smarter than smart. He should have been all that I could have ever wanted, only he was not. The only reason that I was about to become Mrs. Miles was because of a business agreement between our parents.

"Now," Mr. Miles said. "We want to clear all the ground rules before this becomes official. Matthew has agreed to this arranged marriage wholeheartedly, so we do not see many problems from his end of the spectrum. We just need to clear some things up with you, Mia, so that you will not tell anyone of the public about this arrangement."

I gulped again.

"Mia." My father spoke up with a stern tone of voice. "You are aware that because you would not agree to this marriage, it is no longer an arranged marriage, but a forced marriage. You are also aware that things of that nature aren't necessarily legal, which is why it is incredibly important that you keep quiet about all of this. Miles and Roden industries would go down the drain if you fail to abide my these rules. I want you to know the seriousness of this ordeal."

I blinked away tears that sprung in my eyes. We had been over this talk many times and I still couldn't get over how my father could just throw me to the wolves for something that could be beneficial to his company.

"Y-yes dad." I croaked. I glanced down to see Matthew's hand on my leg and I looked at it in disgust.

"Good, then. I think we are finished here." Dad said. Everyone but me nodded as I struggled to get air. Suddenly all of the oxygen was taken from my lungs and I gasped loud enough to have everyone look at me in worry.

"I-I'm sorry." I stammered. "I just need a few moments."

That was all I said before I ran back into the dressing room, which was now completely empty. I sobbed into my hands as I could feel the panic attack in full now. The feeling of being trapped was finally sinking in and I struggled to breathe properly. I had never passed out in my life but I was almost completely sure that this is what it felt like before you passed out.

The door opened, revealing Mother, whose face was red with anger as she approached me.

"Mom, please." I begged as the tears streamed down my face. "Please, please, please."

"Mia." Mother hissed. "There is one hour until your damn wedding and you're ruining your makeup. Quit it, now."

"I can't!" I furiously wiped my eyes. "Don't make me marry him. I won't do it."

"You will." She insisted. "This is an amazing opportunity to show everyone that there is no feuding between your father's company and the Miles' family company and you are completely ruining it!"

This made me burst into tears again.

"For Heaven's sake." Mother groaned. "You're eighteen, not eight! I thought I raised a young woman that could rise to any task and today you have completely let me down. Now you will take ten minutes in the bathroom, wash up, and we will do finishing touches after. Are we clear?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. If only people really understood what was going on.

I didn't watch, but I heard Mother's loud heels clicking against the ground as she left the room. I was surrounded by mirrors that could show me how miserable I was from every angle possible and it made me want to cry again. Normally crying wasn't my thing, but today it most definitely was.

There was a washcloth sitting at the makeup table and I used it to dab at my puffy red eyes as I started at my reflection in the mirror. The bags under my eyes were bulging and tear tracks stained my face- something no bride should ever imagine having on her own wedding day. Your wedding day was supposed to be filled with love and happiness and all I could feel was hatred.

I peered closely into the mirror once more to apply some makeup to my face when I saw something else in the mirror. Not just something else- someone else. I gasped loudly and spun around as quick as lightening, holding up my mascara wand in defense.

"It's just me!" Someone whispered in the shadows of the room. I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry me, but I can't even see you."

I gasped even louder than I did before when I saw who emerged from the shadows. Standing in front of me, wearing a tuxedo with the same scuffed boots as earlier, was the famous man called Harry Styles that I ran into at the bar earlier.

"How did you get in my dressing room?" I half whispered, half screeched. "Were you following me?"

"I swear, please just let me explain. I promise I'm not following you. The bartender told me this was the place that you were getting married at and I knew that there must be someway that I could help you. I know you don't want to get married." His jaw tensed.

"Y-you can't help me." I protested. "There is nothing that you can do to help me."

Harry pursed his lips and frowned into the distance as he tried to think up a way to help me. I still hadn't gotten over the fact that he was just casually in my dressing room at my own wedding.

"How did you even get in here?" I asked.

"Well," He began. "I knew you were in trouble and I knew where your wedding was, so I rented a tux and snuck in here. I hadn't really thought of anything beyond that point. My intentions are good, I swear."

I didn't know what to believe, but I knew that if I really wanted out of here he was possibly my last hope.

"I told you about my road trip." Harry continued. "And I have my RV in the parking lot. I just thought, I dunno, maybe I could help you escape all of this... whatever this is." He scratched the back of his neck.

"Yes!" I said too soon, jumping at the chance. "I mean, sure. Yes." He chuckled at my sudden enthusiasm and walked over to a window before opening it up the whole way, revealing the way that he had gotten in here. I wasn't sure how my gigantic dress would fit, but I would make it work.

"We have to go quick." I said with urgency. "My mother is going to come back any minute."

Harry climbed out the window and then stretched his hands out to pull me through. It took about three tries until the train of my wedding gown successfully made it's way through the window sill, but we were successful. My mind was screaming about how crazy I was, running away with Harry Styles of all people.

He grabbed my hand and led me to the large RV made for his road trip and opened the door for me to sit in the passenger side before running around the car to the drivers seat. I had no time to process how stupid my actions were, I just knew that I was not going to get married today. It was incredible how much weight was lifted off my shoulders.

I slammed the door closed as we drove away from the church, getting my wedding dress caught in it in the process.

And I didn't even care.

a/n:

talk about exciting chapters, am i right?

pls vote/fan/COMMENT or be fab and do all three.

-xx delilah