Hearts Like Ours

Sixteen

Charlie watched with bated breath as Allison turned slowly to look at her. The expression on her face was unreadable. She let out a small yelp of surprise as her best friend suddenly gripped her wrist, perfectly manicured nails digging into her skin. Wordlessly, Allison tugged her away from the doors where Cam and Harry stared bewildered after her.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Cam called after Charlie sarcastically. Charlie shot him a glare over her shoulder, still being dragged behind Allison and back toward the bathroom she’d been in earlier. She turned away just as Cam took a step toward Harry, extending his hand to shake. She wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that Cam had taken a liking to Harry even before meeting him, but she didn’t have time to properly think about it as she was shoved into the small restroom, the large latch on the door locking into place.

“What the hell, Charlie,” Allison finally said. Her voice sounded angry and Charlie bit her lip as she took a step backward, letting her lower back rest against the cool edge of the sink. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded.

“I didn’t know how,” she answered truthfully, guilt seeping into her tone. She regretted not having found the time to tell her, not making a spare moment when none naturally arose.

“Harry fucking Styles just sauntered into my birthday party and you couldn’t warn me?”

“I didn’t know what to say!”

“How about, ‘Hey, I’m bringing a member of the most popular boy band on the planet to your party as my date’? What about that?”

“He’s not my date,” Charlie argued.

“What is he then?”

“I don’t know!” she snapped, turning from Allison to face the mirror. She lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, annoyance getting the better of her. Allison let out a sigh and Charlie could her the sound of her heels as she came to stand beside her.

“What’s going on? How do you even know him?” Allison’s voice sounded much calmer now, almost gentle. Charlie knew she was really the one who had messed up in the friendship department. This was a huge deal and yet she hadn’t divulged this information to someone who was supposed to be her best friend, or at least was once. Sure, they stood on shakier ground now, but they were trying to rebuild their trust and she’d just ignored her responsibility to it. 

“He found my journal on tour. It was on the street, he found it and then he found me.”

“What journal? The one Emmett had?”

Charlie nodded in reply and Allison’s eyes widened.

“So... He read it?”

Again, Charlie nodded. Allison furrowed her eyebrows together, taking a moment to silently process this information.

“Harry Styles stumbled upon your journal, read it, decided to find you, and now he’s here?” Allison summarized. It was the SparkNotes version, but was enough to hold her over until she could really get the details.

“Yeah,” Charlie affirmed, rubbing a hand over her eye before she realized the make-up she had on. A moment later she reached for a paper towel, wetted it, and padded softly over the place where she had smudged her eyeliner. She crumped up the paper towel and forced it into a nearby trashcan before looking up to meet Allison’s eyes in the reflection of the mirror. Allison’s lips upturned into a wide grin and Charlie narrowed her eyes, wary of this change in expression.

“You just successfully snagged the hottest, most popular musician on the planet right now, and you hadn’t even met him.”

Charlie felt her face flush crimson and was thankful for the dim lighting and foundation she was wearing.