Lockdown | Harry Styles | AU

Chapter 36

As the party got busier, the vibrant colours of the sunset were now so dim that the night had almost consumed them, more and more guests starting to flood the garden.

Quite a few of them noticing Aubrey and her barely dressed body as she stood by the infamous Harry Styles. However to an outsider, it would more than likely seem as though they were just having a casual conversation. Chewing the fat and exchanging pleasantries as they waited for their partners to come back.

But if any of the guests were to actually stop long enough to smell the roses, they would quite easily see that the tension engulfing Harry and Aubrey was so incredibly obvious it was almost like a slap to the face.

However most of the people attending the party were either too busy drinking, chatting and laughing, or perhaps too wrapped up in their own self indulgence to even notice anything else around them.

"Actually, no." Aubrey confessed with an odd sort of bitter confidence, her shoulders slumping a little and her big sad eyes looking up into Harry's, her bottom lip slightly pouted.

However Harry hated to admit that he actually felt great pleasure at knowing this.

Her answer made him happy.

"I'm single." Aubrey confirmed, the champagne seeming to have an impact on her all of a sudden. Her thoughts a little hazy, her body buzzing. "Been single ever since you really..." Her voice was a little too loud, and Harry couldn't help but glance around to see if anyone noticed.

Which they didn't.

"Sorry to hear." Harry lied, his false comment sounding so fake it was as though he wasn't even try to hide his... satisfaction.

"How's Sofia?" He then steered the conversation after his green gaze watched the flicker of resentment reside across Aubrey's face.

"She's good." Aubrey snipped a little as she scanned the crowd around them, sipping on more champagne— she wasn't even sure how many glasses she had sank now. "She lives with her girlfriend now."

"Oh?" Harry eyes never left Aubrey's, reading every single reaction that struck her.

He had gone so long without seeing her now that it still felt so strange to be looking over her face again. The whole experience feeling so familiar and unknown all at once.

"Yeah, her name is Cleo. She's really nice. I'm really happy for them." Aubrey's voice came out softly as she looked down at her drink.

Could she have made herself sound anymore pathetic? Sofia was shacked up. Harry was engaged. Tim was seeing Sarah, and his career was taking off like a fucking rocket flying out to Space.

And then there was Aubrey.

Still the same as she was when she met Harry.

If not worse...

Sure she had her job. Which was booming even more since the pandemic had eased and global restrictions were now over. However even during the peak of the first lockdown, taking the time to build her image online and boost her cliental through zoom meetings had actually worked wonders for Aubrey's work. She was making more money than she had ever done in her whole life.

And thanks to this she now had a gorgeous, spacious apartment in the none dodgy part of London. As well as a fancy car where the engine actually started the first time and never broke down.

She had everything she ever wanted...

So why over the past couple years had she been drinking more than usual? A lot fucking more.