You and I | Harry Styles/1D Fanfic

Six.

"So, I guess you're going to be working with us for a while," Niall said as he pulled up a chair beside me. It was lunch time and Emmie had insisted that the lads and I went off to eat together, you know, to give us a chance to 'mingle'. I forced a smile.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied. Niall laughed.

"Don't look too worried," he said. I froze. Oh no. Was I making it really obvious that I didn't want to work with them? I couldn't be unprofessional about this arrangement; if it got reported back to Emmie then she wouldn't be pleased. Part of my job was to make sure that artists felt welcomed and wanted.

"I'm not worried at all," I protested. Probably a little too enthusiastically judging by the odd looks the four boys gave me. "I mean, obviously I'm a little nervous because this is a really big deal for me, but it'll be fine. We'll have fun!" Niall beamed at me as he took a large mouthful of pasta.

"Are you sure you're okay with working with us?" I looked up to see Harry sat across the table, smirking at me.

"Erm, yeah I'm sure. I just said it was fine, didn't I?" I quipped back. Harry raised his hands in mock surrender.

"I know, I know, I'm just checking you're not offended." I frowned, confused. Harry leant forward, closer towards me. "I don't want us to be a disappointment." Now I really was confused. Harry was smiling at me but there was a little glint in his eye that told me that he was a little pissed off. Why, I didn't have a clue. But to be honest, he wasn't exactly wrong, they were kind of a disappointment – okay, a major disappointment – but I couldn't exactly tell him that. But at the same time, I wasn't going to lie. I never lied.

"I think working with you guys is going to be really... interesting," I replied, vaguely. Harry's eyes narrowed a little.

"What do you think of our music?" he asked. I felt four pairs of eyes all turn to look at me. Shit.

"Your music?" I stalled. "When I hear your songs I can't get them out of my head for hours." That wasn't a lie. Zoe played their albums all the time and I often found myself singing along despite myself – I literally couldn't help it.

"Yeah, but do you like it?" Harry wouldn't stop.

"Why so many questions, Harry?" He cocked his head to the side and shrugged.

"Oh, I just want to know what our new manager thinks of us," he said. "I just get this weird feeling that you think we're, I don't know, talentless or something." I stared at him. Something wasn't right. I'd barely met these people and I felt like Harry was trying to challenge me already, like he already had some sort of grudge. I couldn't understand why. I mean, yeah I'd had some kind of rude thoughts about them and their music but it wasn't like he'd heard me say anything bad about them out lou...

Harry put his shades on. Then looked at me. Then he reached into his pocket and grabbed a beanie. He shoved it onto his head. Like, really far down onto his head.

"Harry, why are you wearing your hat like that?" Louis asked, staring over at Harry like he'd just sprouted wings. Harry readjusted his hat.

"No reason," he said. He looked back at me. His beanie was now placed normally and he'd pushed his glasses back to rest on his head, but it didn't matter. He'd already made his point. I pushed my chair back from the table, ignoring the others' cringing at the noise it made.

"Harry? Can I speak to you outside quickly?"

"Wow, Tay," he quipped. "You moved so fast there you almost gave me whiplash."

"Now."

I moved away from the table, ignoring the confused glances from the others, and made my way out of the office café. Once outside, I turned to face Harry as he came through the door.

"You!" I pointed at him. He just looked at me.

"Yes, I was me the last time I checked." God, this guy was even more sarcastic than me.

"It was you. That weird, creepy man at HMV who kept bumping into me."

"Erm, I think you'll find that it was you who bumped into me," he corrected. I guess he had a point.

"Whatever! What the hell were you doing creeping around Westfield like that?" Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at me, amusement clear on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't know that walking around HMV was considered 'creeping' nowadays. I guess we're both guilty." I rolled my eyes. This kid was gonna get a slap in a minute.

"Okay, you know what, whatever!" I was losing my patience. "My point is, you heard me, didn't you? You heard what I said about One D-, about you guys." Harry's expression quickly turned from amused to pissed off. Well, I think that answered my question.

"Yeah, I heard you criticising our music, talking shit about us, judging us, like every other person in the world," he said. "I don't tend to give a shit anymore when I hear people saying crap about us, but usually I don't then get told that those people are being put in charge of our career." Okay, so this was getting incredibly awkward. I sighed.

"Look, I'm not gonna lie to you, your music isn't exactly my cup of tea. What do you want me to do about it? I'm not going to lie and say that your albums lull me to sleep at night or that I enjoy the dulcet tones of Louis' voice in 'Live While We're Young' because I don't. And, to be quite honest, I don't see why I should have to. I was having a conversation with my best friend that you listened in on. What have I done that is so wrong?"

"You judged us," Harry said, accusingly.

"It's my own opinion if I think your music is shit or no-"

"Not our music, us." I paused. What was he on about.? "Commenting on how we treat our fans during signings, calling us dicks when you don't even know us? I mean, I haven't known you for very long, but I didn't take you as the type to listen to rumours and gossip." All I could do was stare at him. He was completely right. I always prided myself on giving people the benefit of the doubt, making my own mind up about them and not basing my opinions on other peoples'. Yet, I didn't do that with them. I guess with them being celebrities and everything I didn't think it mattered, like, I never imagined I'd ever actually meet them. Let alone have to work with them.

"You know what?" I nodded at Harry. "You're right. Having opinions on your music, or even your music abilities, is completely my own prerogative because I know what I like and I don't need to pretend otherwise. But forming opinions on you as people, especially such harsh ones like I did, without knowing you? Well, that isn't cool. And I'm sorry." Harry eyed me. I think he was trying to suss out if I was being genuine or not but I one hundred percent was. I admitted when I was wrong (although let's be honest, it wasn't often) and I wasn't too proud to apologise either. It seemed that Harry saw the honesty in my words because suddenly he was nodding.

"Thanks. It's okay." I smiled at him.

"I promise that I will get rid of any and all preconceptions I have of you lads starting from right now," I said firmly. "We're a team now, the five of us, and we're going to have to work together."

"Deal."

"So, could you not tell the others about what you heard me say the other day?" I asked. Don't get me wrong, I still didn't think there was much talent in the band but I needed to look at this in a professional manner and it wouldn't help to have these guys thinking I was against them before we even begun. Harry held his hand out to me.

"You're not going to kiss it again, are you? Cos that was majorly cheesy last time." He laughed and shook his head.

"No, you're safe." I took his hand and shook it firmly.

"Here's to starting over," I said.

"To starting over," Harry agreed. Then he quickly bent his head and planted a kiss on my hand. He tilted his head up to smirk at me, adding a wink for good measure. "And to the fun that's yet to come."