Beautiful Magnolia / Harry Styles

Chapter 2

The movie ended with a standing ovation from the crowd. Briar clapped and watched the cast beam with pride.  She looked over at Chris who smiled at her, gleaming with sincerity.

"Oi, this shit is pure rubbish." she heard in a grumbled voice coming from her left side.

She looked at Harry whose rage-filled eyes were fixated directly across the room on Olivia. Not just Olivia, but Olivia and Jason. Kissing. In the middle of the movie theater aisle. Briar had never felt this much tension before. She shook it off, feeling relieved she was far away from any of that drama. Still, she was already stressing about what a mess this would make for Paul, therefore making a mess for her.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Chris turning to her, "Briar! What did you think?" Briar smiled at Chris, "Well, Mr. Pine, color me impressed."

"Ah! That's what I like to hear!" he said. Chris pulled out his phone and checked the time. "And now, I must make my grand entrance to the after-party." Chris said while laughing, "Do you want to join me for the ride over?" he asked.

Briar's smile dropped at the mention of the after-party. She hadn't been invited. Usually, she wouldn't have cared to go, but now she felt embarrassed that she was missing out. She pursed her lips into a straight line, "Oh, actually uh, I wasn't invited to this one." Briar tried to say cooly, not wanting to seem affected.

Chris waved his hand in dismissal, "Nonsense, be my guest. Perks of being a lead, I always get a plus one." He said while raising his eyebrows in suggestion.

What the hell, it's not like she had any plans of her own tonight. Come to think of it, the thought of going out and having a drink or two sounded like the perfect way to forget the disaster of her run-in with Harry. "I would love to" she replied brightly.

Chris's hand reached forward almost like he was going to take her hand but thought better of it and dropped his arm to his side. "Right... well I think I saw Florence head out to the car already so... after you," Chris said extending his arm for her to lead the way.

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"Don't look now but I think Harry might have just spilled his drink on Chris" Florence said while looking over Briar's shoulder towards the center of the room. Despite her warning, Briar turned her head towards the building commotion. Instead of the anger or annoyance she was expecting to find from Chris, he simply excused himself and started walking towards the bathrooms. When Briar looked back toward Harry, she found his eyes were already on her. She tried not to bristle at the intensity of his gaze.

Turning back around she whispered to Florence, "it's not the first time tonight."

Florence's eyes widened "what did you hear?" she asked leaning in conspiratorially. Not wanting to repeat the interaction that hadn't ceased replaying in her mind Briar just shook her head and laughed. Ever since Chris, Florence, and Briar had arrived at the party an hour ago Briar had not left Florence's side. This was not their first time meeting. Florence had always gone out of her way to thank Briar for doing little things for her or even offer to give her a hand. They had formed a little friendship while filming so the conversation was easy. 

Florence made a noise of protest " you can't just say something like that and not deliver."

Before Briar had the chance to respond she felt a hand on her shoulder turning her around.  Paul appeared his face just inches from her own. His face was red and he looked flustered. Leaning down even further he whispered "I have had enough. This is not what I get paid to do! Harry just went outside and he won't listen to me. Before booking this place their one rule was to not go in the back! Go take care of it."

Briar turned back to ask Florence for help but realized that she had already been whisked away into another conversation. This could not be happening. She had to go outside and somehow convince Harry Styles to listen to her. She wasn't even supposed to be here tonight! But there was no other option. It's not like she could ignore Paul's order. She needed this job, it was the only thing allowing her to stay in the city. She could not handle having to move back home and turn her back on this industry she has so much love for. Thankfully, she had had a few cocktails earlier in the night which would hopefully make this task less awkward. She knew that was wishful thinking, but that was all she had at the moment. Straightening her spine and schooling her face into indifference, Briar made her way down the long corridor that lead to the outdoor space.

When she finally made it outside, she was surprised at how beautiful it was. There was a little sitting area surrounded by a garden right outside the door. She didn't see Harry yet, but her guess was that he was somewhere down the path to her right. Briar followed the winding cobblestone walkway trailing her hands along the vines growing on the walls at both of her sides. When she reached the end it opened up onto a pool. As soon as she saw the water she took a small step back. All of the sudden her hands staking shaking and she breaths were coming in short pants. The urge to turn around a run back inside was becoming harder and harder to ignore. But she had a job to do, she needed to make it quick and get away from this pool as fast as she could. Trying to even her breaths she called out in a small voice "Harry..Harry are you out here?"

When there was no reply she forced herself to scan the pool. In her sudden panic, she had not noticed the dark shape floating in the far corner. She took a few steps closer to get a better look. That wasn't a random shape, it was a person floating face down. Briar screamed and ran around the edge of the pool. "Harry! Harry!" she shouted in a hoarse voice. "Harry, please! Can you hear me?" She knelt down two feet from the edge, tears already burning the backs of her eyes. She tried to bring herself to get closer to the water, but her body would not allow her to move. Her phone. She needed to call 911. She unzipped her purse with shaky hands.

A loud gasp caused her purse to fall from her hands.

"Oi, why are you causing a fucking scene, never seen anyone relax before?" Harry's voice rasped out, his accent thick.

"Harry oh my god." Briar's voice shuttered.

"C'mon babe, why the tears? I knew there was a little fan in you, stalking me since the bloody moment I met you. Probably only applied to the job for that eh?" Harry's voice was cold with venom.

"Are you fucking serious Harry? Do you think I wanted to come out here to check on you? That I want to spend my night babysitting the 28-year-old diva crybaby that no one else wants to deal with?"

"If you're plan is to continue to bitch at me at least have to decency to bring me another drink. It would make the whole thing a lot more interesting if I was drunk." Harry said with significantly less malice in his tone than before.

"Harry, you ARE drunk. It's time to come inside. Please, guests are starting to leave. Don't you want to go home too?" Harry was silent for a moment.

He glanced back up at Briar, "Alright whatever, yeah. Do me a favor and hand me one of those towels, will you?" He said while motioning to a brown storage cabinet near them. Briar nodded and without a word walked over and grabbed the towel. She could not wait for this moment to be over. As she walked back, she looked over  Harry, taking in the view of LA in the back. She reminded herself that's what all of this is for. Just as she reached the pool, she looked down as she stepped, but realized it was too late, the strap of her purse was already wrapped around her foot. She let out a scream as she fell, hurtling towards the water.

Briar couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. She was drowning and she didn't even know which way was up. She was going to die. Her head breached the surface of the water for a split second and she waved her arms around in a blind panic trying to find something to cling to. She slipped below the surface again a new round of terror coursing through her.

She felt something wrap around her forearm and she frantically grabbed onto it. The next thing she knew, her head was above the surface again and her legs were wrapped around a torso. It was not enough she was still too submerged, too unsteady. She wrapped her hands around the person's neck squeezing as hard as she could breathing heavily. She felt strong arms secure her body. One going around her back, the other cradling the back of her head. The water level was slowly moving down her body. Whoever was holding her was walking them to the shallower end of the pool. When the motion finally stopped she felt the arms around her shift toward her waste. The motion only made her tighten her grip and press her face harder against the curve of the person's neck.