Letting Go (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 20: Player's Gonna Play

Holla! Apologies for being so late, but this past week was finals week and it was awful. Also...I graduated college on Saturday!!! Whoo! I know, I'm old. Anyway, to make it up to you, I will have the next chapter up within the week. Hello summer! This isn't the chapter you've been waiting for, but it's the lead up to it. The next one will be the one :)

Harry Styles

We strolled into the dining hall like champions after battling our way up the thick, sticky mudslide. The boys had begged me to play in it, but I told them it would have to wait until after dinner. Whoever had them for the skill sessions today would have killed me if they were covered in mud. But, I didn't see anything wrong with having a cabin mud war tonight. As a matter of fact, there were a couple of them that I would love to peg in the face with a nice mud pie....without getting in trouble.

As we filed into the serving line, I scanned the room for a familiar face. Natalie had avoided me all last night. It was a habit I had noticed over the last three weeks. Any time I ticked her off or made her uncomfortable, she would ignore me for as long as she could. Any other day, I would have said screw it and annoyed the crap out of her, but I held back. She was pretty shaken up at what I said. Though I knew she had forgiven me, I didn't think she had totally gotten over it herself.

However, when I looked at our usual table, I found it empty. She wasn't at breakfast. None of them were.

I was momentarily stunned before I broke out in a sly grin. Natalie Clemons, little miss punctual, was late. Glancing at the clock, my eyes widened at the time: 8:07. Damn. This was the earliest we had ever gotten here.

Both I and the boys valued our ten extra minutes of sleep each morning. Besides, we're guys. We can scarf down food no problem. We don't need thirty minutes to eat. But, for Natalie it was lethal to be late. I usually get a glare and a lecture from her every morning. I ignore it of course, but still...

Where was she?

I hadn't even seen her on the way up the hill and there's only one path to the dining hall. Grabbing a plate after Thomas, I began to plan out the speech I would give her when she and her campers walked in. It had to be good, I might never get this opportunity again. One thing was for sure: I was going to enjoy every minute of it, from the glare on her face to rubbing it in for the rest of the summer. I, Harry Styles, made it to breakfast before the great camp counselor Natalie Clemons.

Bow down bitches.

Suddenly the doors to the dining hall swung open and both Jenna and Emma came rushing in, frantic looks on their faces. They scanned the room quickly, eyes widening in panic when they came in contact with mine. Nat's other four campers slowly strolled in behind them and immediately headed for the line behind my crew, but there was still no sign of her.

I put my plate back down and walked over to Jenna and Emma. "What's up girls? Where's Natalie?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest when they stumbled backwards. They both shared a worried glance, not sure of what to say. Something was definitely wrong. Emma was usually all over me, bouncing around and tugging on my arm to get me to pay her more attention than anyone else. Now, she could barely look at me.

After a few moments, Emma cleared her throat and forced a huge fake ass smile. "Nothing." She answered, twirling her hair.

Jenna rolled her eyes and nudged her with her elbow to get her to stop talking. "She's at the cabin." She uttered quickly, peering at me through her wide oval frames. "She told us to get Connor and James. Do you know where they are?" Her voice was strong and sure, no longer the soft one I remembered from the sessions that I had with her. I was a little taken aback by her speaking at all. According to Nat, it was a rare occurrence.