Fool Me Again | Harry Styles

5 | This Christmas

After carefully drying my eyes and fixing my makeup in the nearest downstairs bathroom, I headed back to the lounge where everyone else was already gathered on the chairs and couches around the big Christmas tree in the corner.

I – not very discreetly – completely ignored looking in Harry's direction at all, for fear of making eye contact, and found a seat as far away from him as possible. I caught Danielle's eye, and she gave me a light glare, but I just looked away again. I knew she – and apparently everyone else – wanted me and Harry to fix things between us, but I would face up to it in my own time.

"Okay, are we ready to start?" Louis asked excitedly.

"Wait, no, Em, isn't your gift still in your coat?" Harry suddenly asked.

I froze up for a moment when he addressed me directly, and then replied, "Uh, yeah..." while still not looking at him. I was surprised that he'd remembered the gift, since I'd completely forgotten.

"Don't worry, I'll go get it," Harry said, getting to his feet. "You just get yourself a glass of wine."

I looked up sharply at that and got up as well. "Oh no, it's fine, I can get it myself." I started heading towards the door.

"Really, Em, it's no trouble–"

"I said I can do it myself," I snapped, and pretty much everyone looked up at me in shock. I felt my cheeks flaming up, and the look in Harry's eyes made me feel sick to my stomach, so I just rushed out of there and back to the foyer as quickly as I could.

I made a bolt for the coat-closet, afraid for the second time that night that Harry might follow me, flicked on the light inside, and started rummaging through all the jackets and coats on the rack.

A bunch of them belonged to Harry himself, and as I paged through them, his scent wafted up all around me. Not only could I smell his aftershave and his cologne, but even his shampoo and his chewing gum. My first thought was, home, accompanied by a swarm of butterflies in my tummy.

But then, it just made me feel immensely sad. This wasn't how our story was supposed to have turned out. We should've still been together, and happy.

I found my coat, grabbed the small parcel out of the pocket, and headed back to the lounge. I made sure to grab myself a big glass of wine off the side table – as Harry had told me to do – before heading to place the present under the tree and retake my seat.

Only, it seemed someone else had already taken it. Louis and Danielle – her on his lap – were now sitting in the big chair I had occupied, and the chair they had been sitting on – the one right next to Harry – was the only open one left.

I shot both Louis and Danielle a deadly glare, but didn't want to cause a scene, so I quietly took the seat next to Harry and tried to still ignore him as best I could.

Nick Grimshaw – or Grimmy as everyone called him – volunteered to play Santa, and handed out each gift so it could be opened and its receiver could try and guess who it was from.

Danielle immediately guessed correctly that the printed scarf and plum lipstick she got was from me, since the two of us shopped together quite frequently and I had been present when she'd expressed how much she loved both those particular items.

It was quite fun, seeing everyone's reactions to their presents, and laughing at all the wrong guesses, and I managed to sort of block all thoughts of Harry and mistletoe from my mind for a short while. At least, until the very end.

"And last but not least," said Grimmy, picking up the last remaining present from under the tree, "this one is for Emily."

He came over and handed me the big, sophisticatedly decorated box, and my mind immediately started wondering who it was from. It only took me a second to realise that there was only one person left who hadn't given a gift yet.

I gulped, and paused quite a while, everyone watching me in suspense, before I slowly untied the ribbon and lifted the lid of the box. I pushed aside the mounds of tissue paper, and took out a square jewellery carton with Piaget engraved on the front in silver. Well of course he could afford something like this.

I slowly flipped the small jewellery box open, and inhaled sharply at the sight of the gorgeous diamond choker inside. I didn't want to ask out loud, but since it was Piaget, there really was no question: They were one hundred percent real.

I took a few moments to stabilise myself, and then slowly turned my head to look at Harry, who was watching me intently. I opened my mouth to try and stutter a thank you, but he interrupted me with a, "There's more," and a pointed look at the big gift box still on my lap.

I didn't understand why there had to be more – that necklace alone must've cost thousands – but everyone was still staring in silence, so I reached back into the box and pulled out two more items – a bottle of the most expensive red wine on the market, and a vial of my very favourite, and also extremely expensive, perfume.

The gift was so elaborate, I actually felt my cheeks heating up. I didn't deserve all these things! How was I supposed to say thank you for something like this? Those two little words simply wouldn't suffice.

I looked up at Harry again, and tried to find something appropriate to say, but the look on my face must've said it all, because his mouth twisted into a small, smug smile and his eyes shone.

At last, Louis was the first to break the intense silence. "Well, that just puts all the rest to shame, doesn't it? Thanks a lot for making all the rest of us look like cheapskates, Harry."

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