Groupie (Harry Styles)

Chapter 14 - June 2015

We drove in silence for a few minutes following the attack from the paparazzi. It was a warm summer night in London, and the city was in an obvious Sunday daze. Somehow, it always seemed much calmer on Sundays.

"I'm sorry about that." Harry broke the silence, still having his eyes fixed on the road ahead of him.

"It's not your fault they're following you Harry." I responded in a way to ease his guilt.

"No, I know. It's just that I feel the need to apologise since they're almost always rude to the people I'm with." He sighed. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful in any way of what I have and what everyone has done for us, but this part I could definitely live without." He let out a small chuckle.

"Well, please don't apologise to me anyway. It's not you who should apologise, ok?" I smiled.

"Ok." He took his eyes off to look at me for second, and then quickly turned to the road again.

From the middle of nowhere, the biggest growl I've ever heard came from my stomach. I quickly covered it with my hands in some futile attempt to silence it.

"Someone's hungry I reckon." Harry laughed and as always around him apparently, I felt embarrassed. "We're going to a small Lebanese place, it's just a few minutes away so you can tell that to that noisy stomach of yours." He moved his hand off the steering wheel and put it on mine and gave it a small squeeze. His touch sent a shiver down the spine off my back, and I squeezed his hand back gently. He smiled, still not taking his eyes off the road, and put his hand back on the wheel.

We pulled over right next to a restaurant with tables outside. It seemed popular and really cosy, overlooking the park across the road, full with plants and candles and lanterns all over. The infrared lights over people's heads kept them from running cold when the sun set.

Harry parked and quickly went over to the left side of the car to open the door for me. Fortunately for us, there were no paparazzi in sight. The waiter met us at the front and asked for the name we made our reservation in, and Harry quickly responded with my surname. I gave him a small look of surprise but went along with it.

"Bennett, Bennett, Bennett..." He muttered to himself. "There we go, follow me please."

He started making his way through the crowed outdoor area and we moved between the tables towards one that said "Reserved". I stopped by it, assuming it was for us. The waiter turned around and watched me with surprise.

"I'm sorry, I thought you requested a table inside?"

"We did." Harry awkwardly responded and rubbed the back of his neck while the only thing I could get out was an "Oh" as my cheeks were turning just as red as the colour of Rudolph's nose.

The waiter showed us to a remote table in the back of the restaurant, and Harry sat down with his back facing the rest of the tables so that his face wouldn't be visible to everybody. The waiter handed us our menus and asked us for our drinks.

"I'd like a glass of red wine." I looked to Harry to see what he'd order since he was driving.

"I'll have the same please. I'll call my driver if this get out of hand." He winked at me.

We thanked the waiter as he left us staring awkwardly at the menu.

"I'm sorry we couldn't sit outside." Harry broke the silence. "I just didn't want to risk being seen, it kind of ruins the whole thing you know?" He gave me shy smile.

"Oh" I responded again as I hadn't even thought about the fact that he was a world famous celebrity and probably wasn't so keen on being seen out with someone on a first date.