Haz and Mel

Chapter 6: Second date

‘So how is he?’ My mom asked me curiously. We were sitting outside a little café in London city. After my little discussion with Harry I decided I needed some time off, so I called my mom to ask her if we could meet up. And that’s why I ended up here. It always felt good talking to her. I saw her as my best friend most of the time. We could talk about everything and she was always there when I needed her. Even now, while I was doing something crazy like this, she never lost her confidence in me and that meant a lot.

‘He’s okay… I guess.’ I started hesitantly. ’Better than I imagined him to be. It’s not like he really hates me. At least I don’t think so.’

‘I knew from the beginning that he wouldn’t hate you. I can’t imagine anyone hating you.’ My mom spoke with a voice full of sureness. 

I laughed because of what she said. ‘Of course, that’s why you are my mom.’

But she shook her head seriously, telling me that was not it. ‘No, honey. It’s just the fact that you are a good person. And I think he appreciates that. You are doing this to help him, and not for the money. There is nothing to hate about you! It’s just simple as that!’ We both made sure we sat far enough from the other people, so nobody could hear our conversation. That would definitely not be good. ‘And those videos only show me he already cares about you.’ My mom went on. ‘And I absolutely don’t think it’s okay, what he did you know. But you can’t hide the fact that he actually defended your honor at some point here. It has to mean something, you know?’

I really couldn’t hold in my laugh anymore at this point. ‘Mom, you look like you do actually want this to work!’ I smiled at her, and it made her blush a bit.

‘I don’t know… I don’t know him really. But I think he can be nice. And when I see someone taking care of my daughter. I’m happy about that!’ She admitted shyly.

We were interrupted by my phone going off. I looked at the screen and saw it was an unknown number. Wondering who it could be, I picked up the phone quickly.

‘Melanie.’ I said, letting the person know my name.

‘Hi, Melanie. It’s Paula. From management team.’ The voice on the other end said urgently. ‘Where are you?’

‘I’m in London, with my mom. What’s wrong?’ I asked her, not really getting her point of calling me.

‘Ok, good. I’m in the mansion. You need to go on a second date with Harry. He needs to work his image of the videos away. I’ll send him to London. You can go out and about, I don’t care what you do. Just make sure paparazzi sees the two of you. We will let them know you’re going to be there.’ She said in a rambling tone.

‘But-‘ I wanted to object. I was in a conversation with my mom for God sake. But she didn’t let me finish.

‘Harry will let you know when he’s there. Send your mom away, will ya? Bye Melanie.’ And before I could say or do something to stop this, she already hung up on me. I groaned frustrated.

‘What’s wrong?’ My mom asked worriedly. I explained the situation and she understood. It frustrated me a bit how it didn’t really seemed to get to her. Like she was totally fine with me hanging out with Harry again, after not speaking to her for a couple of days. It was like she gave me her blessing, although I didn’t really know for what exactly.

When we said our goodbyes I messaged Harry to ask where we would meet. He answered me right away that he would be standing by the London eye. And on my way over there, I noticed for the first time actual paparazzi following me. It made me feel really uncomfortable and I completely understood again why I never wanted to be famous. I was glad they didn’t say or shout anything, because I wasn’t sure how to cope with that. Especially when Harry was not around. I had to admit to myself that having Harry next to me, helped me dealing with this kind of stuff. Basically because he was used to it. He knew how to cope. And that made me feel more secure. So when I reached London eye and I met Harry, I somehow was glad he grabbed my hand and lead me away from them. Of course he couldn’t just walk away. We needed to be seen by them, but he tried his best to shield them from me. I could notice straight away. It made me even forget our last conversation. It looked like he gave me an answer on my proposition by doing this. He didn’t want me to leave. And I was happy with that, weirdly enough. For the first ten minutes we didn’t say anything, but it didn’t feel awkward at all. He was walking and I was following his lead. When photographers came a bit too close for Harry’s liking, he told them nicely to take a step back. And they listened. They respected him somehow. These were other men than the dudes from the party, that was obvious.