sweetest downfall // h.s au

one || across the bar

one || across the bar

"So, Harry, what are you up to tonight?" Ella asked her son.

The green-eyed boy shifted in his seat on the sofa, his hand repositioning the phone he held to his ear.

"Erm, not much, really," Harry began, and his mother's laugh echoed through his phone.

"Harry Edward Styles, what are you even talking about?" she teased. "I know you've got plans with those friends of yours; probably going to a club or something but you just don't want to tell me. You shouldn't lie to your mother."

Harry sighed defeatedly, before letting out a chuckle. Mother knows best. "Yeah, Ed and I are actually heading out to a bar tonight. He said someone he knew was playing a gig tonight, and he asked me if I wanted to go."

"I knew it! But that sounds nice," Ella cooed immediately. "And how's Ed doing?"

"He's doing pretty well, I guess." Harry couldn't hold back his shrug, even though there was nobody in his dorm to see it. "He seems like he's focusing less on uni now though, and more on his music. Which I do think is good for him, I guess."

Ed was one of Harry's best mates. He was a couple years ahead of him in university, but that hadn't stopped their blossoming friendship. They'd only known each other for a year or two, when really, it felt like they'd known each other their whole lives. Harry simply couldn't remember a time when the ginger-haired young man hadn't been in his life.

"That does sound like something he would do," Ella agreed. "And he really shouldn't let that talent of his go to waste."

"Mhmm," Harry hummed in acknowledgement.

"Hey, y'know Harry, maybe you should look around for some gigs too," Ella suggested brightly. "You have wonderful talent."

"Mum," Harry groaned slightly. "You're only saying that because it's your job; you're supposed to."

"Harry." His mum's tone was serious. "Would I tell you that you were a good singer if you were actually a horrendous one?"

"No," Harry admitted, biting back his initial answer of 'yes'. His mother had always been brutally honest - although she was not unkind. She always said how she truly felt, which Harry thought was better than feeding him sugar-coated lies and having him grow up in an overbearingly-sheltered world. "You wouldn't."

"See," Ella said triumphantly, and Harry could almost see the smirk on his mother's cheeks. "Now, I'm gonna let you go; you should get ready to go head out with Ed!"

Harry, noticing the abrupt way she tried to end the conversation, checked his watch in surprise. "Mum, isn't it only seven-thirty?"

"Yeah, it's getting a bit late -"

"You have a date, don't you?"

Ella made a shocked noise through the phone. "How did you know?"

"Son's instinct," Harry sang. "You'll tell me all about him tomorrow, right? It's not fair if you only tell Alice everything, y'know," he pretended to complain.

"Well, it's not my fault that your older sister wasn't the one who moved three hours away as soon as she was a legal adult," Ella countered, pulling the guilt card on Harry.

"But I call you practically every single day," Harry replied indignantly.

"Not good enough," Ella said sternly, then burst into laughter. "You know I love you, Harry. But I've really got to go now; Jack is picking me up at eight."

"Okay, love you too. Bye," Harry pulled the phone away from his ear, and ended the call. His shoulders immediately slumped, and he slouched down on the comfy sofa, throwing his phone to the other end of the love-seat.