Any Other Way // h.s

What-So-Ever

"Kathryn? Hello?" Harry shakes me, as I rub my eyes. "H-harry? What? I thought I was- why am I still in your car? I'm suppose-" I ask nervously as I sit up, his hand was leaning on his seat for support.

"You've been asleep for the whole car ride here to In & Out. It was about a 45 minute drive here." he says, looking at me. "So, there were no arguments what-so-ever?" I ask curiously.

He stared at me like I was crazy again.

"No arguments what-so-ever, Kathryn." he finally says, trying to mimic me as he starts the car and drives into the drive thru.

I shake my head. That was a pretty detailed dream if you ask me. Harry and I would get into a huge argument because of that? I think I was the one being an asshole in that situation if you asked me.

It's pretty weird. I wouldn't argue about something that small. Even if it was about my brother, not really. Harry orders, 2 double-doubles, 1 fries and 2 vanilla shakes.

Once we got our food, I could see that the cashier giving him the food knew he was Harry and was too scared to even say his name.

He gave her a warm smile as her hand was shaking when she handed him the food, he then drove out the drive-thru line and he parked in the parking lot and we started eating the burgers.

I stuff a few fries in my mouth. He presses the home button on his phone, probably checking the time. Once I get his attention, I point at the fries to gesture if he wants any. He shakes his head.

"Not a huge fan of their fries.." He chuckles nervously. I nod. "The animal fries are delicious though."

"Oh?" My eyes widen at him. "Sounds appetizing?" He adds sarcastically. "They're the best thing on their menu."

He takes a bite out of his burger and shakes his head in disagreement. Taking a few seconds for him to gulp it down before he speaks again. "I'll have to try it sometime."

~

Harry drives his Range Rover up the driveway of my house and glances at me.

"One thing before I leave.." I say with my hand to the car door handle.  "Yeah? Go ahead." he says, leaving his car on park. "We actually never had the little talk that you told me that we were suppose to have." "Right." He laughs.

"Well?" I wait for him to say something but he looks speechless. "Uh, it was about all those rumors about me and the mystery girl who, of course, is you but-" "But what?" Can't his manager just fix it all? Or his Management?

"Everyone's fixing the puzzle; piece by piece and I was just wondering what I'll say and what you'll say about this."

"Just make something up." I say as I open the car door but before I do, he holds gently onto my arm. I look to my arm then to him.

"It's not that easy. You know how crazy those paparazzis can get. I don't want anyone to get hurt." he says, slowly letting go of my arm.

"No one will get hurt. Really. Tell me one person who'll get hurt."

"You. I know you already are but there are people who will build you up then tear you down.. Piece by piece." he sighs.

"I'll be fine." I start and I stop for a couple of seconds and add "Why do you care so much?" "I'm the one who got you into this. So I have every right to care."

"You're making this like it's so serious.." "It is. I will protect you. No matter what happens. Trust me on this." He brushes his hair out of his face.

Trust me on this. It repeats over and over in my head, and I finally look up to look at him and nod.

"I'm going to go.. I think we'll be talking all night at this point." I wave at him and make my way to the front door.

"Night." He smiles as he pulls down the window of his Range Rover. "Night." I open the front door and walk inside my house closing and locking the door.

"Go shopping with Kylie?" My mom asks as she eats the sushi take-out she bought. "I guess you could say that.. but uh- we went to the beach then In & Out.. Like an LA tour." I laugh, stopping for a few seconds to think about what else I could say. She nods. "Actually, I have some good news."

"Oh gosh." I say excitedly but almost sarcastically.

"I know, we'll be leaving soon enough." she says making her way upstairs with her glass of water. "Night, sweetie!" she adds before closing the door to her room.

"Night.." I whisper as I lean against the kitchen island, looking down to my phone.

~

I walk around the mall, of course.. alone. I tried calling Kylie but I remember her telling me that she would be flying to San Francisco with her family this weekend.

I walk into a few stores and buy some clothing pieces I thought were cute or a necessity. No one was really there since it was a week day plus, I'm homeschooled which makes it a total win-win situation.

I was about to walk into my favorite store until I heard a couple of girls whispering, and so I look over to them. Honestly, that wasn't even whispering. They were in front of a store which were 4 stores after where I was.. if that made sense.

Once give them a look they begin to 'whisper' even more and point at me a couple of times. Did I mention that they pointed their phones too? They rush over to me and had smiles plastered on their faces.

"You're the beauty guru right? Kathryn?" one of them asks, she's about my age but a few inches shorter. I nod awkwardly. "Yes. Hi.. so nice to meet you-" 

"You were wearing Harry Styles' sweatshirt! Weren't you? You were the girl that-" she started and one of her friends next to her, much shorter than her, nudged her arm.

"Sorry? Uh, I don't really-" I start. "Excuse her, she doesn't really like the girls who Harry is with." Her friend says.

Didn't notice.

"Oh. I'm not dating Harry and I'm sorry, I'm- I can't really answer any more questions. I'm sorry and thanks." I say trying not to make anything more complicated than it already was, waving to them and shrugging, making my way into the store.

"She's dating Harry Styles. We got to tell this to everyone." she 'whispers' quietly and her friends and her shriek and run over to the near cafe.

I'm sure everyone in the mall heard that and that's still not good at all. If you're wondering why I didn't stop them, it's because I had to pretend that I didn't care so they wouldn't ask more questions.

I look over to them then I take a deep breath.

This is getting worse than it's suppose to be.