Right Place and Right Time

Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Harry’s POV

            I looked around the restaurant; who was Nat hiding from? She looked ridiculous, hiding behind a dinner menu. Two blondes slowly walked over to our table after nudging each other and pointing at our table. Do they know Natalie? They approached our table; maybe they do know her. But then they walked up to me. “Oh my God, you’re Harry Styles,” said one girl with this voice that made me want to curl up and die.

            Oh yeah, I forgot the whole world knows me.

            “Erm… Yeah, that’s me,” I said with a smile. I always smile for the fan, that’s what I do.

            “Are you sitting here alone? Here, why don’t I join- Natalie? Is that you?” said the other blonde.

            Then a falsetto voice was heard behind the menu, “Wh-who’s that?”

            The girl with that wretched voice yanked the menu down, “Oh my God, it is you!”

            “Pfft… Wh-what? I don’t even know a Natalie… My name’s…. Gertrude, yeah, Gertrude. Who’s Natalie?” said Natalie while attempting to cover her face with her arm.

            “What’re you doing with Harry?”

            “Um… Eating dinner. Obviously,” said Nat.

            “Why would he eat dinner with you?”

            “I dunno, ask him.”

            Then the taller one turned and faced me, “Look, you’re obviously a bit duller than I thought. Why are you sitting here? Did she pay you?”

            Natalie looked down to her lap, her face bright red.

            Then the girl who spoke to me look at Nat and said, “He is so out of your league. Did he look at you and feel bad for you? Is that why you’re here with him? If you are, I’m not surprised. You’re way too ugly to be sitting there; I should be sitting there. How could he have such bad taste, this is sad.”

            Then she faced me again. “I’m Sydney, and I’m better than her. Look, here’s my number. Call me when you want to actually not waste your time. Cause right now you’re wasting your time with that bitch.”

            As soon as this Sydney girl was done speaking, Natalie abruptly stood up and muttered the word bathroom before quickly walking away.

            With a smirk, Sydney swiftly took her seat and said, “You should be thanking me right now. I just got rid of the biggest mistake of your life.”

            “Of your life,” that other girl said.

            What the hell. This Cindy or Sydney girl is a complete bitch. She’s pretty I guess; I would’ve called her if it wasn’t for her ugly personality. She just ruined my perfect date by calling her rude things. It just makes her a complete whore. And that other girl, her voice is just too much. I stood up, angry, and looked Sydney right in the eye, “Look, Natalie is so much better than you. She’s beautiful and I don’t want you to ever insult her like that. Ever. Nat’s not the biggest mistake of my life when she’s the best thing in it. You’re not better than her, or anybody else in this whole restaurant, so get over yourself. And you,” I said while looking at that other girl, “your voice is the most annoying thing in the whole world, my God.”

            And then I walked to the bathroom where Natalie went to a few minutes ago, throwing away the paper with Sydney’s number on it on the way.

Natalie’s POV

            I slowly turned the faucet off after washing my hands. I looked at myself in the mirror, staring at the tears running down my face. I’m usually a strong person, but everybody isn’t bulletproof. I seem to have trouble with insults; those little snide comments always slip past me and end up hurting me. Especially what Sydney said today; and now I can’t handle it. I stood there, in front of the sink, just thinking. Then the door slowly creaked as it opened, jolting me into action. I quickly wiped the tears off my face as best as I could. I couldn’t do anything about my red, puffy, eyes. By the time I was done, I heard a familiar voice, “Natalie?”

            “Harry, you’re in the wrong bathroom.”

            “I’m not if I found you,” said Harry as he slowly walked up to me, “You okay?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a little breakdown. I’m good though.”

            “I’m sorry this ruined our date. Do you want to go back to your hotel, if you don’t feel well? Or we can go back to my hotel and just finish dinner there.”

            “Why don’t we finish dinner at your place.”

            “Sounds good; let me call up a cab.”

            Then we both walked out of the bathroom. Sydney and Taylor were watching us, shocked. On the way out I gave them a small wave because YOLO. The taxi arrived and we got to the hotel. I turned the TV on, just in time for a showing of She’s the Man. Yes, I love this movie. Harry ordered room service and we ate on the couch, watching the movie. While we were eating, Harry said, “You know none of those things are true, right?”

            “What’s not true?”

            “Everything those two girls at the restaurant said. In my eyes, you’re perfect.”

            “Harry this isn’t the first time people have said things like that to me. It’s all good, I just got a little sick of it at the restaurant.”

            We finished the rest of our dinner in silence.

            Afterwards, I ended up leaning on his shoulder while watching the movie. He grabbed a blanket from somewhere and wrapped us both; it was pretty chilly in the room.

            “Harry, tell me a story.”

            “A story?”

            “Yes. One from when you were little, before you became this famous boy in a boyband.”

            He then told me a story about how he worked in a bakery, and the argument he once got in with a customer. As I sat there quietly, I felt a strange sensation, something that hasn’t stirred in my heart for a while. It was the feeling of being safe, a sense of security; something I never felt after my father’s death. Did I really feel this safe when I’m with Harry? I pushed the thought back inside of my head and listened to the rest of my story. As it was coming to the end, jetlag hit me like a bus and was making me sleepier by the second.

            “I’m tired Harry,” I told him.

            “Go to sleep love.”

            As I was drifting off to sleep with Harry’s arms around me, he began to quietly sing Safe & Sound. ‘Yes, I am safe and sound in your arms,’ I thought, right before I fell asleep.