All At Once

Ch. 12: #thatawkwardmoment

"So what's going on here?" Josh asked, taking a bite out of his toast. We were all sitting on the stools and eating our breakfast quietly. Harry had his phone out, scrolling casually and I was reading a magazine. Josh was just starring at us, like he had been all morning.

"What do you mean?" I asked, flipping the page in my Star magazine.

"Are you guys dating?" Josh asked.

Harry didn't even look up from his phone when he began to answer, but I cut him off.

"Apparently." I said, lifting up my magazine to show Harry what was sprawled across 2 whole pages. Josh looked over and grabbed the magazine to get a good look.

"Harry Styles and new mystery girl heating up: the dates and details" Josh read the headline out loud. There was a picture of me and Harry after we left from the ice rink that night. It was an awkward angle, above us, as if someone was on top of the building, and all you could see was Harry's face, my profile, and the top of my brown hair. I hadn't even known that anyone was watching us, let alone taking pictures that night.

I sighed and layed my head on the counter.

"It's really not that bad, rumors start like this all the time." Harry said, still looking at his phone.

I took a good look at Harry before speaking up.

"You know, it technically wasn't a rumor that night." He looked at me and smirked.

"So you guys are dating then?"

Me and Harry looked at each other, I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. Harry joined in, too.

"You guys are so weird, I swear." Josh said as he took his plate to the sink.

"Is that someone's phone?" Harry asked, I heard it too, it was mine.

I hopped off the stool and wiped my mouth with a napkin. "Be right back." I said.

I took my phone off the charger and it began to ring again. Strangely enough, it was Connor.

I answered, a little confused.

"Hello?"

"Hi Annie, how've you been?" he asked.

"I'm doing fine, how about you?" This was a bit weird.

"I'm...I'm alright. I was just calling to ask you to lunch tomorrow, if that's okay."

Harry walked into the room and I put a finger up, signaling to give me minute and he walked back out.

"Um...Actually Josh is visiting so I'm a bit busy..." I hesitated.

"As friends Annie, don't have a heart attack. I just want to make sure you're okay and see how you're doing. It's been a while since I saw Josh, tell him I said hi."

What harm could lunch do, really? Especially if it's not even a date.

"Okay, sure." I said. Why the hell not?

"Great, I'll just text you the details I guess."

"Okay, see you then." A part of me felt like it was being tightened so much that I could barely hear my voice, all I could hear was Connor.

"Okay, bye Annie." With that I hung up the phone, feeling more exhausted than I have in days.

I massaged my temples for a second, thinking that it was probably a bad idea afterall but I quickly pushed that out of my mind. Connor sounded like he was doing really good, and I was glad, mostly.

...

I drove up to the restaurant where I was meeting Connor for lunch and parked my car. Just Breathe Annie, I told myself. I took my keys out of the ignition and began walking to the entrance and I started wondering to myself what the hell I was doing here, this was definitely a bad idea.

"Annie, hey." I turned around just as I had entered the place, Connor was already here, and it was too late to run now.

"Hi." I said.

"Come on, our tables over here." I nodded and followed him.

A waiter came and took our orders and that's when it got awkward.

"So how long is Josh in town?" He asked, he looked completely calm and collected, like he had no care in the world. He was wearing a blue shirt, god he had gorgeous eyes. His dirty blonde hair was normal this time, although I noticed he started styling it differently for X-Factor shows.

"I'm not sure. We planned just to have him here for a week but I'm going to show him around L.A., maybe he'll want to come live here, too." I said and took a sip of my water.

"You want him to move here with you? Do you think he will?"

"I don't know, that big house is lonely with just me though, so I hope he will." This just got more awkward by the second.

"Right. So...the finale is this week. The X-Factor finale."

"Really? That was quick...I haven't watched the last few, I totally forgot about that." I said.

"Well, I'm in it. I made it to the finale, because of you." Connor said.

The waiter came and put our food in front of us, some kind of chicken for Connor and a salad for me.

"Me? I don't think so."

"Yeah you, you kept pushing me to be better and push myself. You supported me, I owe it all to you." He looked at me with those deep blue eyes, I felt like I was sinking. I missed him, I missed this Connor.

"I'm not the one with the voice, Connor." I said, laughing it off.

"So are you going to watch?" Connnor asked me.

"Probably." I replied, eating some of my salad so I didn't have to talk much more.

"I...Okay this might be weird but I saw a magazine this morning with a picture of one of the judges, Harry Styles with another girl, and I noticed it looked a lot like you from the side, and the girl was wearing a black and gray cardigan, like the one I gave your for christmas, and I know it's crazy for me to even ask if it could be you but..." Connor went on, babbling like an idiot, I could tell he was nervous. I could tell everything about him just by his facial features.

"Connor stop," I told him so he would stop talking. "I...Yeah, that's me, but there's not really anything going on." I said.

"Okay, okay good." Ours eyes met for just a split second and suddenly my mind just turned off.

He looked up and smiled at me that perfect smile and I remembered our first date, a picnic at the park. He flashed me that same smile and told me I looked beautiful, I fell for him instantly.

"Annie?" I snapped out of the memory, I guess I was day dreaming. Connor was waving his hand in front of my face trying to get my attention.

"Yeah, sorry." I said, laughing it off.

"That was cute," Connor said, laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked, throwing my napkin at him.

"You were smiling, it was cute. I love seeing you smile." I couldn't help but to blush at this but I then remembered Lynsey.

"I should probably get going soon." I said.

I got up to go and pay for my part of the check but Connor insisted on paying for lunch. He held the door open for me and walking me to my car.

"I had a really good time Annie, I'm so glad you came." He did look really happy, he had been smiling through the whole lunch.

"I...had a good time too, Connor. Thank you for inviting me." It wasn't that bad. I actually really missed the familiarity.

Connor hugged me with his big arms and spoke into my hair, "I miss you Annie. I know it's selfish of me to say that but I just needed you to know that. I miss you, so much." He released me and his look lingered for a second, he let go. 

"I'm sorry," I shook my head, "I'm sorry." I said again.

"What are you sorry for? I was the one who screwed up." I couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry for this," and then it just happened. We kissed, except this time, it felt like an ending.