You - A Harry Styles Fanfic/Novel

chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Ivy's POV:

"Hey Ari what's all the racket about?" Ivy asked as she looked over at the crowd that was slowly dispersing. Ari scrunched her eyebrows together and looked at Ivy weirdly like she lived on another planet. "You're telling me you don't recognise the one with blond hair at the edge of the table?" she said. Ivy shook her head; who could they be? The one she could see looked like a normal guy. "They're like THE biggest boy band of right now, EVERYONE knows them. They don't sing my type of music but how can you not know One Direction?" Ari explained, "I've got to get back to the table, you might want to get a photo, this might be your only chance little hormonal one." She patted Ivy on the head. Ivy felt taken aback, why had Ari called her hormonal she didn't think she had ever showed signs of uncontrolled emotions ever. "Hormonal?" Ivy asked.

"Why else would you have come in a skirt today?" she winked and walked off. Ivy had never known Ari was so attentive. She was even somewhat smart which caught Ivy off guard even more. Maybe she shouldn't have judged her by her appearance; tattoos and two piercings didn't make you brainless. That's the reason why Ivy had never wanted to become closer with the kind girl; the reason why Ivy couldn't believe that she and Tina were best friends. She judged people too quickly; she made reasons to stay away from someone too easily. She didn't want to be like that anymore, she knew it wasn't her. She had built herself a personality she didn't like unconsciously. And even Tina had only seen half of her. She was so disconnected from reality that she didn't even know who One Direction was. She wanted change, except she was confused with how to do it, I NEED a restart, she thought.

"Ivy, to earth please?" David the head chef called to her from the window that separated the kitchen from the rest of the restaurant. "Sorry I'll be right there!" she called out.

Harry's POV:

"He was really nice and the amount of people here is a good sign that the food is going to be excellent," Niall beamed proud of himself for finding another restaurant that was up to his standards even though they hadn't tried the food yet. Niall always saw the best in things and people until they showed the bad basically. Harry admired him like that. A waiter was walking over to them with a delicious looking dish in each hand. Harry needed to go to the restroom but waited until the waiter placed the two dishes in front of Louis and Niall and went to get the third before getting up. "Where are you going?" Niall asked him. Harry replied walking backwards slowly, "to the bathroom."

"You'll miss my first bite judgment, your loss!" Niall called out. Harry smiled and he wanted to laugh but contained the giggle to maintain his too cool aura. He turned around and BANG! CLANG! SMASH! A broken plate, chips and beef scattered the floor. People stared and Harry's eyes were wide open. He looked down at his shirt and jacket that were now smothered in food and sauce. A small figure bent down and picked up the broken pieces in a scramble. She looked frustrated wiping everything she could with the towel she had repeating, "Sorry, I'll clean it up, it's ok," as if she was reassuring herself. She stood up and ran into the back of the restaurant with her head bent low and what was left of the broken plate in the tray. Harry couldn't stop looking at her and he hadn't noticed that waiters had come up to him and started to wipe away at the stains on his shirt. She looked so uneasy and flustered he wanted to calm her down and apologize since he was the one not looking where he was going.

The only thing that snapped him out of the trance of the unexpected scene had caused him to go in was his need to pee. He thanked the waiters and said it was alright and that he would clean it up in the bathroom. He walked away while people whispered. Whispering was nothing new to him but it seemed that the attention had made the girl anxious. He was walking to the bathroom when she came out of the staff only door that leads to the back of the restaurant. He had caught her eye and she stopped in her path and gaped, her eyebrows slowly scrunching up. She looked like she was about to be sick. She looked familiar. "Hey I'm sorry. It was entirely my fault I should've looked where I was going," He reassured her.

"No I was in a rush and never saw you I'm sorry I have to go now," she said in a rush, sidestepped and walked away. Harry was perplexed. He walked into the bathroom and felt the relief that came after holding it in for so long. Then he cleaned himself up as best he could and walked out to find the girl. He was being completely and utterly out of character and people surely noticed. The waiters looked at him weirdly because he had thanked them and he hadn't gotten angry about the whole situation. And now he was about to go and comfort a girl because he just didn't have the heart to leave her in her discomfort. He also wanted to find out why she looked so familiar to him.

Ivy's POV:

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. It was her first day on the job; it was the day she had decided to change, the day she thought was going great. Why did her unfortunate luck always come back to her? The moment she let go of her protective wall her life came tumbling down. Tina had called her before she took the tray to serve the customers and she had to answer because her memory had joined the dots and she had figured out where she had heard the name One Direction before. Tina loved them so she had to tell her to get her lazy ass to the restaurant ASAP. Tina went ballistic and Ivy was already late at serving the tray of food when she ended the call so she rushed to the table and then it happened. The plate crushed like the tiny speck of confidence she had mustered. Everyone was starring, how is she going to face Billy?He put her there because he thought she was mature and 'understanding.' Not one to mess things up on her first day of work. People will talk just like before.

She could have handled the embarrassment for the night; she could have if she had not seen the face of the person she had probably ruined an expensive jacket for. It was him; the image of his flawless face was etched into her mind. Why did it have to be him?! He hadn't recognized her, now she was sure he didn't like her for her. And he never would now that she had spilled chips, beef and sauce all over him. She finished cleaning up the mess on the floor and paced straight through the staff only door. She had been so concentrated on rushing away from the side glances of her fellow employees and the looks of the customers that she hadn't heard him call her; or seen him rush in through the door after her.

She had reached her secluded 3 hour old work place and threw the towel on the bench frustrated, before placing her palms on the edges of the sink and bowing her head in defeat. She was so flustered that the deep yet friendly voice that greeted her from behind surprised her and she jumped. "Sorry I wasn't meant to scare you. I think I've done enough damage to you for the night," he apologized. Ivy turned around feeling seriously shy. Did he see her throw the towel? Now he would blame himself for her disorganization. He kept on rambling while looking mostly down at the patterned tiles, "I know that I'm not meant to be in here but I just couldn't leave you looking really uncomfortable for something that was also partly my fault. I should've seen where I was going and I don't know why you seem so worried but if it's about you losing your job I'll speak with your boss. I've already met him and he's a really nice guy so I'm sure he would excuse the matter-" Throughout his whole sincere speech Ivy just stared at him in bewilderment. No one had ever taken the time to comfort her other than Tina and her sister. Even with Tina she was the one usually doing the comforting because well Ivy rarely had huge problems to tell and didn't really like to open up. This guy couldn't get any more desirable and anymore unreachable. He's famous Ivy for goodness sake, doesn't know who you really are and wouldn't care for that matter. Let him go before you get hurt a second time in this short period, she thought to herself and stood up properly to try and act like she wasn't feeling unnerved at all.

She cut him off, "no its ok, I should've been paying more attention and known better than to rush. Uh thanks for caring, your second dish is probably ready by now I can show you the way out." He smiled and when his eyes met hers totally he just stared at her for around 15 seconds before snapping out of his trance. She had no idea what that was about but his eyes seemed so concerned and focused. She didn't feel like hiding as she usually would. In the numbered encounters they had had, which added up to 2 in total, he had made her feel secure. "Um actually I have to be somewhere to try and find someone who you actually look a lot like. But I'll come back and won't except any food unless you deliver it. Deal?" he grinned even wider and held out his hand to her. She looked perplexed; he couldn't be any more, well, perfect. She held out her hand and shook his. She was used to hanging around Tina who was really short with small hands and Ivy had always seen herself as really tall but his large frame made her feel small and his hand cupped all of hers. His touch was warm unlike her cold one. "Well make sure you stay warm until next time," he said still grinning widely and left the way he came. Ivy wasn't sure if she was looking forward to it or dreading it completely. He thought she looked like a girl he wanted to try and find. That was great. She didn't even look like herself to him. She called Tina and told her to cancel the whole plan. She wouldn't be able to handle anything else going wrong tonight.