Stare Like You'll Stay [h.s.]

Chapter 6: Skull cage like a prison

Present - April 2017 - Scotland - Rachel's POV

"You really don't have to explain anything to me." At this point in the conversation, I have looked at almost every inch of the interior this private plane had to offer - the warm-colored wood that lined the walls and the plush white carpet that kept my feet warm - wanting to do anything, but make eye contact with the boy across from me.

"'eel like I do. 'm sorry I didn't tell you 'bout her before, 'orgot she was going to be there." Despite the fact that I refused to look at him, his eyes never left my face, a gaze so powerful that all of the heat was rushing to my cheeks.

"Harry, I don't really want to talk about this right now. I need to get this release written because the song is going to be listed on Apple Music and Spotify in ten minutes." While an excuse to get me as far away from the conversation as possible, it was the truth. Being under a strict deadline, my first of my many while working for Harry, while thousands of miles in the air wasn't exactly helping with my stress levels.

"'ust don't want ya to think that I purposefully didn't tell you." He muttered lightly before leaning back in his black leather seat, his bottom lip now placed between his thumb and pointer finger.

"I don't think that. You don't owe me an explanation for anything you do anymore, honestly." The words came out spiteful though I didn't mean for them to be, but I was too focused on the words I was reading to try and backtrack what I had just said. Hitting the final period, I began scanning over my words to make sure there were no spelling errors and that all of the links worked.

"We're not even really datin'." I stopped myself from rolling my eyes at his statement, his words fueling the fire building inside of me even more.

"Right. Because Harry Styles doesn't date anyone." Before Harry had any moment to respond to my words, his eyes turning hard and cold, Jeff quickly cut in in efforts to get us both to shut up.

"Are you about done with the release? We need to send it."

After attentively working to making sure that the announcement went on without a hitch, proofreading all social media posts and fixing all punctuation before I hit send on the press release, I knew that by the time this plane landed in Scotland, the news would be everywhere. Harry's first single as a solo artist would be live on every streaming service tonight and the whole world now knew that he had an album coming out in a short amount of time.

"And it's live." Shutting my laptop and placing it back into my bag, I leaned back against the plush airplane seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good job, Rach." Both Harry and Jeff said in unison. Jeff was typing away on his laptop next to me and my eyes finally glanced in Harry's direction, only to find him with his head resting against the back of their chair, his eyes closed.

Glancing out one of the windows of the private jet, all I saw were clouds as we soared over the Atlantic Ocean back to the country that I now called home. As much as I wanted to get out of this trip, I was promised a day or two home in London before we had to be in New York City for album promotion.

Since the incident in the car yesterday, I've hardly been able to look Harry in the eye and meeting Camille yesterday left a sour taste in my mouth for reasons I can't even seem to pinpoint.

Playing with the frayed hem of my sweatshirt sleeve, I should have know expected Harry to move on and find someone new. I know I certainly tried to as well, I was just never really successful.

From the mere hour I spent chatting with Camille, she seemed like a truly wonderful girl and her face seemed to light up whenever she was near Harry, something a lot of us can relate to. As much as I wanted to paint in my mind this awful girl that Harry didn't deserve, Camille was a beautiful and kind woman deserving of any kind of love that Harry wanted to give her.