All At Once

Ch. 3: I slept with a guy on X-Factor, and all I got was his lousy t-shirt.

"Annie" I said, and looked back down at my feet. What was I supposed to do, ask him what he does for fun? This was totally awkward, I should have just called a cab. We drove for about 15 minutes, but it felt like an hour.

Just then we pulled up to a curb in front of a small restaurant with a sign at the top that read "Sue's Soup" why would he come here? 

He stepped out of the car and came around to let me out. I have to admit, I was a bit confused.

"This way." he took my hand and led me around the building keeping his beanie on and head down at all times. He took me in through the back entrance to a little room past the kitchen with a one way mirror, where you could see the whole restaurant and where everybody was sitting. 

"I reserve this private room for security purposes." he continued, "It's a one way mirror. They can't see us but we can see them."

"That's...kind of weird. But cool, in a way." I said, just watching the people.

We were seated and given menus by a woman who looked like she was in her late sixties, with white hair and a nice, comforting smile. He ordered us two cups of tea with some water too and took his beanie off. He was being nice so I didn't have the heart to tell him that I actually hate tea.

"That's Sue by the way, the owner of the store." he told me. 

"This is a really nice place, it's so comforting, it feels like I've been here before." I replied.

"Yeah this place really makes you feel like you're at home."

I realized that he probably came here often since he wasn't back home in England. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" he said, interrupting my thoughts. 

"Talk about what?" I asked, I must have been day dreaming and lost his attention. 

"What happened to you." He was looking at me with expecting eyes but how was I supposed to trust him. I had barely met the guy!

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because you were the one crying..." he said.

"No, I mean, why did you bring me here? Other girls would kill to be here with you, so why me?"

He immediately answered, "Well you're not other girls. You seemed to be having trouble and I thought I could help."  True. 

"Good point. Well, long story short, my boyfriend, the fantastic Connor Laken, cheated on me." I said and took a quick sip of my water. 

"He's your boyfriend?!" he said, looking shocked.

"Well, he was." I responded. 

"I'm sorry Annie, if I would have known you sooner I could have told you that he was cheating. I thought him and that other Lynsey chick were dating." 

"Really?" I said, feeling as weak as ever. How could I be so stupid?

"Well, yeah." Harry said. I just nodded and continued to slowly sip my water.

"Is there something wrong with your tea, love?" 

"Um, no, not at all." I said, way too fast, the words slipping out of my mouth. 

"Do you not like tea?" he said. I felt my cheeks get hot, I don't know why his opinion mattered to me at that moment but I didn't want him to think that I was stupid because I didn't like tea.

"It's okay if you don't." he said, slightly smirking at me. 

I shrugged my shoulders in response.

We went on talking for about an hour after that before he brought up Connor again. We mostly talked about his family and his life in England up until X-Factor when he surprised me with bringing Connor up. 

"So what are you going to do about Connor?" he asked me. 

"I'm not too sure" I muttered as I finished off the plate of French fries me and Harry had been sharing. 

"Well, maybe you should come to tomorrows show, talk to him maybe."

"I don't know." I said. 

"Well I will definitely be there so if you get nervous or if he gives you a hard time, you can just come talk to me." he smiled. Did he think this was funny?  The way he was smiling and looking at me made me blush a bit. 

"I'll think about it." I said, simply enough.

We got up to leave and Harry put his beanie back on. I followed him back to the car and as he was opening the door for me, I heard what sounded like a pack of screaming girls. 

"Shit." I heard him mumble under his breath. "Come on, get in." he motioned. I slipped inside and instead of Harry following, he shut the door. I figured he would go to the other side but it took a whole five minutes before Harry actually appeared. 

"Hey, sorry about that." he said, sliding onto the seat. 

"It's fine." I said. "Oh, I already gave the driver my address, in case you were wondering." I said while the car pulled away from the curb.

"Alright." he checked his phone again and I began to feel annoyed all over again. We sat in silence until we pulled up to my house. I reached for the handle and Harry stopped me by grabbing my hand and said, "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened with Connor okay? Thanks for coming tonight." he slowly released my hand and I stood outside, still with the door open. 

"Yeah, thanks for um, helping me." As I grabbed my purse off the seat Harry dropped something into it. "What was that?" I asked. 

"I put my number into your phone, in case you  need anything." 

What would I need him for? I'm not a child; I can take care of myself. I waved and shut the door and walked to the front door. Since I was pretty sure I left my keys in my car back at the X-Factor stage parking lot, I grabbed the key under the mat and unlocked the door. As soon as I was inside, I looked out a nearby window to watch Harry's car drive away. Then I went to my room, lied down, and cried until there were no tears left.