Harry Styles is spending the summer in a quiet villa on the French Riviera, hoping to find inspiration for his third album. It's not happening. When he sees a beautiful windsurfer racing across the waves, he believes lessons might be a good distract...
He placed his fingers gently on her mouth as she began to speak. "Not tonight. I know you can't stay tonight. But after tonight. Come stay here. We've got the house through August. We're about to start really working, and I'd like you to stay the whole time we're here, until the end.
"I'm not going to beg, but I'll come close. Please come be my muse, my inspiration. The band knows I want you here, and they're willing to have you. Even Louise understands what this could do for me. And if you're unhappy, you can go right back to your house and teaching on the beach."
Lia was silent, the implications and ramifications and possibilities careening around in her mind. Could she, should she, give up her good little summer life for this man? What would it mean if she became his acknowledged... something? How would it affect her regular job? Her teenage students in Paris were Harry's biggest fanbase. And, she thought, what would happen as August turned to September and he left this place?
"Lia?" She felt his hand moving slowly up and down her thigh. "Have I frightened you away?"
"No. You've just given me a lot to think about. I need a little time, a little distance. I'm going to go home. I'm going to teach in the morning. I'm going to think and think and think. And then I'm going to come back, and give you an answer. I won't be back until Saturday afternoon. You'll have to go without a lesson tomorrow, Adam as well. I need the time to think."
"That's fair. But you will come back? No matter what?" The hopeful boy was back, like Peter Pan to Wendy.
"I promise I'll come back. Will you answer a question or two for me before I go?"
"If I can."
"May I talk to Mariam about this? I need an objective opinion. She's not a risk."
"Yes."
"Thank you. Will I come and go with you, be seen with you? Like at the market and in Marseille? I don't want to be a prisoner here, Harry."
"You won't be a prisoner. If we go somewhere and you want to join us, you will. If you want to go somewhere on your own, you will. Maybe we can even go somewhere just to be seen. There's a club in St. Tropez that I'd like to go to again."
"The VIP Room?"
"You know it?"
"I've been once or twice. I'd love to go there with you."
"Any more questions?"
"No."
He smiled, a knowing look in his eyes. "You're going to say yes, aren't you?"
"Of course I am. But I'm still going to think and talk to Mariam and pretend I'm making an objective decision." She stood. "I'll be back Saturday before dinner."
Harry walked her to the truck and kissed her long and hard before she got in. He leaned in the window, smiling.
"What is it?"
"You left your bag in my room."
"I left my bag."
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*****
"Why do you bother asking me? We both know what you're going to do."
Mariam and Lia were back on the café terrace.
"Because I need to hear what you think, even if I don't listen to you."
"You're going to lose your income. Those people at the house will get good on the boards with you there, I'm sure, but you're not going to want to come in town for boring beach lessons. That's thousands of Euros, Lia."
"It's extra money. I can live without it. And I know that any time I spend teaching at the house will be paid."
"You're going to be found out. I went looking and saw the pictures online. Anyone who knows you well, like your students in Paris, would recognize you. Jean-Jaques made me a Twitter and an Instagram so I can keep an eye on you. Those shorts you made him look good. He's got nice legs."
"He does. He's a runner. He drives up into the hills a few times a week so he can run where there's less traffic, less chance of being spotted. As for school... it'll make me the most popular teacher for a while. Mademoiselle LaRoche, the one who spent a summer with Harry Styles. But the summer will be over and I'll be back in Paris and Harry will be wherever he is and life will go on."
Mariam shook a finger at her friend. "Girl, if you think the end of this will be that easy, then you're an idiot or a masochist. You've both got it bad for each other right now. What if one of you can't let go on August thirty first?"
"Then we'll deal with it on the first of September. He says I'm his muse, that he wants me near him while he works here. When the work is done, the muse is no longer needed, right? If I understand that from the start, I can soak up every minute of this crazy experience and be prepared when it has to end. And he's not exactly the long term relationship type."
"All right, then. I've said my piece, and I think you did listen... a little. I'll be right here if you need me. It'll be a lonely summer without you next door. The first in six years."
"Maybe I'll swing a dinner invitation for you. Would you come if I did?"
