It was light when I opened my eyes. I groggily put on my glasses and noticed the green light flashing on my phone. I pushed the power button and the screen displayed six new messages. What time was it?! My clock read 12 noon. Sometimes nine hours are not enough for college students. Oh, well. I sat up and stretched before heading to the bathroom for my morning beautifying duties and shower. By 1 PM I was clean, dry and dressed. Time to face the day! But not before I get some caffeine and a muffin, I quickly amended. The nearest Starbucks is about ten minutes from my flat so I stuffed my phone and keys into my Aldo cross-body purse and headed out the door.
Plugging in my headphones I selected Ed Sheeran on my iPod for some relaxing morning music. Lucky me, Starbucks wasn’t too crowded so I got my blueberry muffin and caramel macchiato without trouble. Oh, right. I should probs check my phone since that’s what everyone else in the shop was doing with their eyes practically glued to the tiny screens. Six messages…
Mom: “How are you doing? Love you.” My sister Maeven: “What’s up with the Twitter crap?” Hmm.. I’ll have to check that one out for myself. Zak: “Add The Hunger Games trilogy to that reading list if you haven’t already read them. The movies actually don’t suck!” Emmy: “Way to leave me hanging… did you finish the essay yet?” Taylor: “Great meeting you! Don’t forget. Rain-check soon!” and finally one from Harry: “You busy tonight?” I sent a fast and brief reply to the first five. That last one stumped me though. I decided to check Twitter in reference to my sister’s weird text before embarrassing myself with an awkward response to Harry’s message.
…Really? “@Harry_Styles with @RosieRomp light sleeper ;)” with a photo of me asleep in the inner tube the day before. I fought the urge to be flattered that he mentioned me on a public website with the flare of anger for having been photographed in such a compromising position. I typed out a reply to Harry on my phone: “Thanks for the lovely shot. -_- Not sure, why do you ask?”
In a matter of seconds my phone flashed green with a text reading: “We should go out tonight. Text me your address.” Clearly he was going to play coy about the picture. I sent my address with a question mark at the end and all I got in return was : “Dress well. See you at 8 :p” Well, that was unexpected, I thought and took a bite of my muffin. Better call Emmy for fashion help.
She agreed to meet up with me at a boutique a few blocks over. Truly, I think she was more concerned with why I’d been so vague than with spending friendly time together. She had her back turned to me with a floral dress and jean jacket paired with combat boots. Her dark hair was slicked back in a pony tail- that meant business time and serious shopping. I’d grown to pick up on these personal touches with her wardrobe in the short time we’d known one another. “Em! Let’s get going.” She whipped around, smacking her face with the ponytail. “Agreed. Fill me in while I look, please.” I told her a condensed version of yesterday’s events. She took it in relatively calmly, which surprised me. Afterwards she nodded and said, “If you’re lucky, anyone can meet pop stars here. It’s still exciting though. I think you need this, personally.” She held up a sequined black high-low dress and sparkling gold closed-toed heels. “You’d be a knock-out and it’s star-worthy.”
“SOLD!” I exclaimed. “You really are the best. What would I do without you here?”
She raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Probably ace our English Lit class. On time.”
I hurried home to check my e-mail and get some last minute reading out of the way for my classes on Monday. While curling the ends of my hair and shaving my legs I called my mom on speakerphone. She was happily surprised to hear I had a date but lectured me on being safe and putting school before boys. I kept telling her it wasn’t a date- he just asked me to hang out but didn’t mention anyone else. At twenty years, I felt pretty confident I could handle myself but I thanked her for the advice and said my goodbyes. By 7:30 I was as close to ready as I was going to get. A quick swirl of bronzer had been added to my lotion for a shiny look, what little jewelry I added matched the gold in my shoes and I’d finished with a natural cat-eyed makeup approach. Very nice, I thought appreciatively, turning around to view the backside. I can’t emphasize enough how nicely these high-low bottoms create a taller illusion for shorties like me. It’s cute to be five-one but I’m an adult and tonight I don’t want to look cute.
Before I had more time to evaluate my appearance I heard a series of knocks at the door. I took a deep breath and opened it. Harry stood before me in a pair of khakis, white Adidas, white dress shirt and an open black blazer. His only accessories were a black bowtie and a gold watch aside from his trademark brown curls. His eyes seemed to sparkle as they drank me in. “Is it too much?” I asked, embarrassed. “No. You look fantastic, Rose. Let’s get going.” I locked up and he took my arm in his to walk downstairs. He’d driven himself and he let me in the passenger side of his black Audi. I still wasn’t quite accustomed to using the “wrong” sides of the car so I was thankful for a guide. We didn’t speak much on the ride aside from my complimenting the car and his complimenting my dress. It wasn’t uncomfortable though, thank goodness. Before long we pulled up at fancy-looking restaurant with which I was unfamiliar. A valet took the keys and Harry walked around to let me out. He once more linked his arm with mine and winked. “Don’t be nervous. It’ll be fun.”
