"Hello".
The single word was low and gravelly, the voice that uttered it the odd mix of alien and familiar.
Eilidh stood up and faced him quickly, swallowing her mouthful of cider too quickly, causing her to cough and then curse with embarassment. How to make an arse of yourself in front of a celebrity volume one, Eilidh thought sarcastically to herself, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, trying to regain her composure. She still had her hand over her mouth when she finally looked up at him, the reply to his greeting dying on her lips.
He looked exactly like he did in photographs. It was an odd sensation, much like the confusing familiarity of his voice, looking at someone whose face she had seen so many times in image and film, but never in flesh. Rather than his beauty being exaggerated in media, it occurred to Eilidh that it was actually muted in comparison to real life. His beauty beamed from his face and he physically glowed with it.
A mass of fchocolate curls fell in tendrils over his wide forehead, and his sharp green eyes bore from a wreath of thick black lashes that swept the sharp plane of his cheekbones, as he gazed down at her, unblinking. His jawline was impossibly sharp, and Eilidh noticed the muscles working as he raised his bottle of cider to his cherry lips, revealing an impressive watch and a wealth of tattoos on his wrist.
His face suddenly erupted into a smile so beautiful, Eilidh felt her breath hitch in her throat and the hairs on the back of her neck duly stand to attention. The smile was as genuine as it was stunning, and revealed rows of pearly teeth and a deep, adorable dimple in the left side of his face. His eyes creased as his expression changed and he looked shy, and like he was on the verge of some nervous laughter of his own. He looked .....Kind. The word spilled into Eilidh's mind and she gently bit her lip to stop herself from mouthing it.
"Hello", she coughed, crossing her arms over her chest for want of something better to do with them.
"I'm Harry", he smiled, holding out his hand, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Eilidh", she attempted a smile, worried it was awkward and too toothy. "My wee brother is in the Rebellion", she gestured around her, hoping for the familiar sights of Alex and Nina, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"Ah, is it Alex? The singer?", Harry asked, taking a step closer to her, which made Eilidh burst into a shower of goosebumps.
"Yeah", she nodded, still looking away,unable to meet his unbearably green gaze.
"They're really good", Harry enthused, still staring at her, refusing to break his contact from her face.
Eilidh finally looked up at him again, physically bracing herself for the assault of beauty on her senses. His face blazed with the sincerity of his sentiment, and she felt herself unwillingly break into a grin.
"Yeah, this is massive for them, a huge achievement", she enthused, unable to hide the obvious pride she felt rolling from her. "The fact Tom is here is awesome too, dont know if they told ya, but they are massive fans of you Pads", she acknowledged Tom, who was standing slightly behind Harry awkwardly smiling, waiting to be introduced. Had he really been there the whole time, Eilidh marvelled, shaking her head. Harry Styles' face demanded devout attention, she decided inwardly, pushing her guilt away.
"Hiya", Tom smiled and shook her hand easily. "Ta, they are really, really special they lads", he said seriously, swigging from his bottle. Eilidh grinned back at him openly accepting the huge compliment on her brothers behalf and filing it away to repeat to him later.
Nina came bounding over at this point, crashing into Eilidh at a rate. "They are on in five by the way! We should go so we can get down the front...", her words trailed off as she realised who she was standing directly in front of.
