Harry Styles: Real Person [BOOK ONE]

Chapter Two: The Palace

“Why did that guy look so familiar?” Mary’s older sister, Valerie, asked.

“I don’t know. He didn’t look familiar to me” Mary responded, getting into a cab and giving the driver the address to their apartment.

“Well, what did he say to you?” Valerie asked, always the interrogator.

“Nothing important” Mary responded, looking at the rain falling hard on the window and trying to drown out her sister’s imploring. But her whiny voice was pretty difficult to miss.

“Ugh. You became sooooo obnoxious when we left New York. I thought you would be happy to be here, away from all the drama, doing what you love-“

“We didn’t get away from the drama Val. Drama follows me everywhere. Surprised you didn’t notice that already” she said in her signature annoyed-yet-not-caring tone. Val sighed and kept quiet, realizing she wasn’t going to win this.

Not a minute later the cab pulled up to their apartment building. It was a huge skyscraper with an entire wall of windows on the far side facing the London skyline. There was a conveniently placed Starbucks on the left and nail salon on the right. The neon lights from the upscale restaurants and clubs down the rest of the street made the entire building seem to glow, almost like it was radiating energy. The whole thing screamed dollar signs. Accurately enough, it was named "The Palace".

“The fare is $12.05” the driver said, clearly impressed with the building. (a/n Sorry I’m American and I don’t know anything about British money ;P)

Valerie pulled out her wallet and took out a hundred dollar bill, handing it to the man. “Keep the change” she told him before sliding out of the car after Mary. The man was so stunned afterward it took three honking cars before he drove off. The Valerie giggled, amused with herself. Mary rolled her eyes.

The inside of the building was even more impressive than the outside. The entire lobby was oval shaped. Two marble staircases circled the perimeter of the room and ended together at a door which led to the building’s gym/pool/spa area. To their right was the security area and to the left was a café-like waiting area with overstuffed chairs and couches and a coffee bar stocked directly from the Starbucks next door. Between the staircases was a single, gold elevator with an old-fashioned gate in front of the huge double doors. Hanging from the tall ceiling was a chandelier big enough to fill a football field, and right in the middle was a fountain with water flowing and illuminated in the pool by blue, pink and yellow lights. Mary thought the whole thing was sickening.

The girls headed to the elevator and Valerie pulled out a key card and inserted it into the slot next to the doors. Suddenly, with a noise soundly like a draw bridge rising, the gates over the elevator lifted and the doors opened to the little elevator room with more gold walls and a red carpet that was probably more expensive than the chandelier. Mary quickly pressed the button for the door closer, before anyone could sneak their way in with them, and punched in her code before clicking the big red button labeled “penthouse”.

“I just don’t understand why you’re so angry all the time” Valerie continued their earlier conversation as if it never ended, “I mean, you were the one who wanted to leave the city. I believe your words were ‘let’s go to a different country if we have to’. I thought this was what you wanted.”

“Well, maybe I realized that I have no idea what I really want” Mary spoke to the reflection of her sister in the elevator’s doors.

“Maybe you should start to want to be happy” Valerie said. On the word ‘happy’ the elevator bell rang and the doors clicked open. Without responding, Mary walked out of the elevators and kicked off her shoes. The doors opened right to the penthouse apartment. In contrast to the rest of the building, the room was empty except for box after box lined up against the walls. Some were open and half emptied but most sat collecting dust in the huge living space, looking as if the people living there weren’t exactly sure if they were coming or going. Or staying.

Mary ignored the rest of the house, not bothering to turn on the lights or anything before storming off to her bedroom in the right corner of the apartment. She hated the look of her room. It was placed awkwardly against the wall of windows so that they stopped abruptly and walls stuck out to make a room that was more like a box, almost as if the construction workers built the apartment and added the room as an afterthought. The inside wasn’t much better. Although it was larger than any normal bedroom should be the entire room was square and one dimensional and dreadfully boring. The only plus is had was that there was a full bathroom attached, the only reason she chose this as her room in the first place. Mary needed a bathroom close at hand. She had…well…she had issues, to put it lightly. And her bathroom was the only place that made her feel safe.

Mary turned on the lights in her room and surveyed the boxes scattered everywhere. She found the one labeled “pajamas” and pulled out a white tank top that at one point had probably fit but over time stretched out so that it almost fell off her shoulders, along with a pair of black nike shorts. She didn’t bother taking anything out of her bag or even taking off her make-up before climbing into bed. Normally she would stay up until all hours of the night writing in her journal but she felt the overwhelming urge to just fall asleep and pretend like that night had been a complete dream. She turned the light off by the remote next to her bed; the only unpacked part of the room, shoved her head under the pillow and started to doze off.

A/N another chapter will be up later tonight :) Share, vote, comment, and stay tuned!