Behind The Camera

Chapter Sixteen

It was the last day of the Sidemen working at Dominos and Pizza Hut and I was walking into work when I saw Harry again.

"Hey." I said as I walked up to him, unsure how to act around him now that I was fake dating his mate.

"Hailey, I ah, I'm gonna be doing my own thing today so you're not needed." He told me and I felt my heart drop.

"Oh okay. Sorry, I'll leave you to it." I said as I backed away and got on with another task.

So clearly things between us weren't great.

At first I was upset, feeling like it was completely my fault but then I remembered that he'd already been fake dating Lexi without telling me about it, so the sadness turned to anger quickly.

Did he just expect me to be his piece on the side while he took another girl on dates and wooed her in front of the whole world?

I realised I was taking out my anger on the dough balls that I was supposed to be rolling when Ethan came over and asked me if I was okay.

"Perfectly fine." I replied with a smile that even I couldn't believe, but he didn't question it, he just gave me a slightly uneasy smile and walked away.

I stared at Harry with a scowl on my face as he joked around with the others and completely ignored me as if we'd never even met.

My phone started ringing and I pulled it out of my pocket to see that it was Simon calling.

"Hey!" I answered, slightly flustered that he'd called me but happy to hear from him.

"Hey what are you doing after work?" He asked and I told him I had no plans.

"Would you like to go and see a movie with me?"

Was that even a question?

"Yeah of course!" I replied enthusiastically and I noticed Harry was now looking my way with a scowl on his face.

I ignored him and got on with the rest of the night, excited for my date with Simon.

****

When I arrived at the movie theatre I was more than shocked to see Harry and Lexi also standing with Simon.

Simon spotted me and walked over, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey you look great! Sorry it kind of turned into a double date." He told me out of earshot of the others.

"No, no it's fine." I told him with a smile as I tried to calm myself down, knowing that it definitely wasn't fine.

We were spotted by fans within 5 minutes of being there and as soon as we bought our tickets they came over and asked Simon and Harry for photos.

Apparently they knew Lexi as well as they asked her for a photo too which she happily posed for.

"I can't believe Harry ended up dating my favourite instagram model!" I overheard one of the fans say and I tried my best not to roll my eyes.

So she was an Instagram model... She probably had millions of followers and brand deals coming in every day that would set her up for life. I tried not to be jealous over her life but it was really, really hard not to be.

I noticed a few of the fans whispering while looking at me and I tried my best not to feel self conscious as Simon came back to my side and held my hand. I knew that this was all part of the deal but it didn't make it any easier knowing that people were instantly judging you before knowing you.

"You okay?" Simon asked and tilted my chin up so I was looking up at him.

I knew he could tell from my face that I wasn't and he was quick to tell the others that we would meet them inside the movie theatre.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked as soon as we were sitting down in our seats and alone. The movie didn't start for quite a while so we were alone in the theatre.

"I guess I didn't realise how many people I was going to piss off by dating you... Fake dating you, whatever this is." I said with a sigh.

"Hey, it's always going to be tough to start with. They don't know you yet! And once they realise that you're just an ordinary girl like them, I think they'll come to love you." He said and gave me a hug.

I almost let myself enjoy the feeling of his arms wrapped around me, until Harry walked in with his arms full of popcorn and snacks and looked right at me.

"Also I think you're much more than ordinary, for the record." Simon told me as we pulled away from eachother.

Harry scooted in next to us and ended up in the other seat next to me, still somehow managing to ignore me.

"I'm just going to grab us some food." Simon said as he got up and started to walk towards the door.

I wished I could ask him not to leave but it's not exactly like I could tell him that I was uncomfortable sitting next to Harry because we'd kissed the other night, so I let him go.

"So where's Lexi?" I asked trying to make small talk in the awkward silence that followed Simon's departure.

"Bathroom." He said and I sighed at the one word answer.

"Look I don't know why you suddenly hate me Harry. You never told me about Lexi in the first place and it's not like-" I was cut off by Harry talking.

"Look I don't hate you Hailey, I could never. Can we talk? After the movie?" He asked ruffling his hair and nervously looking over at me.

"Uh, yeah I guess so." I replied unsure of what was to come.

Lexi and Simon joined us and we settled in and watched the movie. Simon put his arm around me for a while but moved it back after a while to eat some popcorn.

Lexi hadn't spoken a word to me the entire time and honestly I was thankful for it, but she didn't seem to care that Harry was next to her. In fact she was on her phone and not paying much attention to the movie at all.

But even knowing this information did not prepare me for the moment that I felt Harry's hand subtly reach under the armrest to hold mine.

It took everything in me not to flinch or to look at him. But I couldn't help myself from intertwining our hands and letting myself smile a little bit.

And I couldn't seem to pull my own hand away. It was nice feeling like I was close to him, even if it was in our own little secret world.

We stayed like that for the majority of the movie, secretly holding hands under the armrest, his jacket casually draped over them so that nobody could spot us.

I was nervous for whatever our talk was going to be after the movie but my nerves were calmed every time I felt his thumb stroke over my knuckles.