Trace of Innocence (No Control Book 3)

Chapter 20

(No Control - 20. Save You Tonight)

I tap on the tweet. It was sent at 11.17 this morning. I can't believe I hadn't seen it until now.

"She's tweeted me," I hear myself say out loud.

"Who has?" Gemma asks.

"No one," I reply, and look over at Mum.

"No one has tweeted you?" Gemma repeats, rolling her eyes. "You're Harry Styles. Of course someone has tweeted you."

"Shut up," I grin at her.

I can't believe Jess has tweeted me. I can't believe I almost missed it.

I tap onto her profile and hit the little star button next to her name, switching her notifications on. I'm not risking missing another one.

"Who's making you grin like a lunatic?" Gemma asks. "Wait, don't tell me - no one, again."

"Something like that," I mutter, staring at the tweet, still grinning.

"Was it the one night stand from Friday?" Gemma teases.

I snap my head up to look at her. "How do you know about that?"

I've momentarily forgotten I am famous and it was all over Twitter.

"I read Sugarscape," she says slowly, in a monotone, as if talking to a child. "And I am on Twitter."

"Oh yeah," I mutter.

"So she's not just a one night stand then?" Gemma presses.

"Gemma, leave him alone," Mum chides.

"I don't know," I answer honestly. "Maybe. It's complicated."

"Why?"

"She's a fan."

Gemma claps her hand to her mouth and I stare at her. There was no need for such a dramatic reaction. Gemma doesn't even do dramatic. She's just sarcastic.

"Oh my God, Harry! Has she reported it to the police? Are they coming to arrest you?!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask exasperatedly. I'm not in the mood for this.

"Well your fans are like 12 or something. What you did is ILLEGAL."

She says this seriously and then breaks into laughter at the look of disgust on my face.

"You're fucked up," I mutter.

"Language!" Mum scolds.

"Yeah, don't let your girlfriend hear you say words like that," Gemma advises. "She might repeat them in front of her parents and get grounded. Then how would she get to your concerts? Or to school?"

"She's 22, actually," I snap, even though I know Gemma is only teasing me.

"What? An older woman? Wow, we've never been here before," she remarks, and I want to punch her.

She grins at me and gives me a one-armed hug. "You know I'm only winding you up," she teases. "It's been months since I last saw you. I've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Are you ready to go?" Mum asks me, and I exit Twitter and stand up, shoving my phone into my pocket. As much as I want to obsess over this tweet, it will have to wait. I'm giving my mum my undivided attention tonight.

"Yep," I reply. "Let's go."

I push Gemma's head as I walk past and she protests with a "hey!" and I lead Mum out to the Range Rover, and we head to Knutsford. We park on a side street near the restaurant, and manage to get inside without any unwanted attention.

Once we're at our table, Mum fills me in on what's been happening in her life lately. We speak on the phone most days but it's not the same as having a proper catch up like this where we can have a good laugh.

"Robin wasn't offended that I wanted it just to be us, was he?" I ask as we wait for our main course.

"No of course not," Mum smiles.

I didn't think he would be, but you never know.

"So have you thought about what you're going to say back to your girl?"

"No," I say, fiddling with the napkin in my lap. "She sent that tweet this morning but I only saw it right before we left."

"What did she say?" Mum asks.

I pull my phone out and reread Jess's tweet. "'Apparently it's rude not to acknowledge a follow from you, so thanks,'" I read aloud. "Two kisses on the end."

"Oh." Mum blinks. "Is that it?"

"She was getting hassle from other fans because I followed her and she didn't freak out," I explain, but I am thrown by Mum's reaction.

"You followed her on Twitter?" She looks surprised.

"Yeah," I sigh. "I'm not very good at playing it cool, am I? Jess, on the other hand..." I trail off and stare at the wall.

"Are you going to tweet her back?"

"I can't," I say. "It would attract too much attention. I'll have to do it via a Direct Message if I respond, so no one else can see it."

Even if I wasn't in One Direction, there is no way I would try and chat up a girl with a tweet. I'm bad enough at talking to the opposite sex as it is, never mind doing it with the whole world watching. People don't seem to realise I am just as nervous as the next guy when it comes to girls.

"Why don't you try playing it cool too, then?" Mum suggests. "Maybe leave it a couple of days before you message her? Then it gives her the chance to message you first."

"I don't think she will get in touch," I say.

"Why not?"

"Because she's just tweeted me. The ball's back in my court now." I run my hand through my hair. Why couldn't this be straightforward?

"Then let it bounce for a while," Mum says, smiling at me. "I thought you were going to wait and see how you feel about Nadine first, before you go jumping in with this one?"

"Oh yeah." I'd forgotten I'd said that.

Fuck, why am I in this mess? I need to sort my head out.

"Harry, just be careful," Mum says softly, and I get the impression she has been mulling this over since this morning. "Girls will always want you, and very often not for the right reasons. Don't let your head be turned by a pretty smile. Play it cool and get to know someone before you go charging in there like a bull in a china shop."

I chuckle at her words.

"I'm too nervous to go charging in anywhere," I tell her.

"Then leave it a few days," she advises. "Let the hype die down over this story, and see how you feel at the end of the week."

She's right, again. As always. What is it with women always being right?