Lockdown | Harry Styles | AU

Chapter 35

3 Years Ago...

"Unidentified blonde?" Aubrey pulled her face as she read the words aloud, "seriously?" She huffed.

"They're fucking vulchurs." Harry spoke out of irritation, a deep frown on his face as he slumped down on the bed next Aubrey, his anger pulsing through him as he scrolled through the article on his own phone.

"I don't want to be an unidentified blonde."Aubrey said glumly, ignoring Harry as her eyes continued to read through the article on her phone.

"Hey," Harry said softly once he sensed Aubrey's mood, his phone so quickly becoming nothing to him when he turned his focus on her. "You're not an unidentified blonde-- You're Aubrey." He grinned, trying to cheer her up. Aubrey's eyes meeting his soft stare when he placed a reassuring and respectful hand on her knee.

But something in the way Aubrey looked at Harry made his stomach fleet with anxiety, her eyes so big and worried, flooding with so many thoughts, with so much doubt.

"How did they even get these picture?" Aubrey broke their eye contact in order to steer the conversation away from her and shake her head. The look on Harry's face creating a tightness in her chest. "We're on an island in the middle of fucking nowhere." She moaned out while frowning down at the image of herself on her phone screen again.

Well, it was more a picture of the back of her head than an actual photo of her. However it was crystal clear that she was sat next to the infamous Harry Styles as he drove the black SUV they were sat in. It was from a few days ago, when they had decided to just go for a drive to get out of the house, but apparently that was a bad idea.

"Someone probably spotted me and then put them online." Harry suggested, annoyed but more together than Aubrey.

"What if there's more pictures like this? You know, ones that are clearer, ones that show my face." Aubrey stressed, running a hand through her hair as Harry stood up from the bed.

"There won't be." He tried to calm her.

"How do you know?" Aubrey eyed him curiously. She truly believed that he was just as angry as her at this situation. From the few months they had spent together Harry had made it very clear how much he valued his privacy and did everything he could to keep it.

But he had been famous since he was just eight years old, so sometimes in his life keeping things private had been easier said than done.

He had told Aubrey how much he hated reading about himself in the media. How they always spinned things to make situations look more dramatic or worse than they were. How they always tracked everything fucking relationship, every fucking rehab visit. How they put so much pressure on him, tore him to pieces, questioned his decisions and morality.

It was exhausting.

Sometimes he couldn't stand it.

Sometimes he just wanted to be normal.

But despite him and Aubrey waking up to an outburst of articles online following a story from the DailyMail about Harry and his unidentified blonde, Aubrey just couldn't believe how calm he was being.