Harry Styles: Instant Attraction

5. Fame

Thursday morning, two days after their second date, 6.00am 
...

Charley woke up to her phone alarm early on Thursday morning. She tapped the snooze button as was her custom, letting herself come awake slowly. When it went off again at 6.09am, she rose and changed into her running clothes. As she laced up her sneakers and tied her hair into a ponytail, Charley glanced at her phone and smiled, thinking about the message Harry had sent her just before midnight last night.

Charley had worked hard all afternoon yesterday at her desk to make up for lost time. She hadn't stopped until 10pm, only pausing for bathroom breaks and to heat up one of her pre-made frozen meals. Grilled pesto chicken and veggies – she'd scrunched her nose up a little, knowing pizza would be so much nicer, but it's why she cooked bulk and froze it – so she wouldn't cave into getting her pizza fix when she was busy working late.

After she'd turned her computer off, Charley had had a shower and washed her hair. She'd stood under the warm water for nearly fifteen minutes thinking about all the things Harry had done to her, reminded further when she went to wash herself between her legs and winced, then grinned. Oh yeah, she'd be sore for a week after what they'd done.

The thought kept her smiling until she was in her customary singlet and undies and tucked up in bed.

Charley had been just about asleep when her phone had lit up on her nightstand. She had it set to Do Not Disturb from 10.30pm onwards, but she was dipping in and out of sleep, so as her eyes fluttered open she'd noticed the light coming from her bedside table in the darkness, disturbing her.

Blearily, she had grabbed her phone noting the time. It was just after 11.30pm. What the heck? Who was contacting her this late? She'd focused harder and saw a green icon saying she'd received a text message. Squinting, still half asleep, her eyebrows had risen when she'd seen who it was from. Unlocking her phone quickly, she brought the message up close to her face and stared at it:

HS: I hope this doesn't wake you – but I've just knocked off work and I wanted to say good night...or good morning, whenever you get this. I enjoyed our date...all of it [wink emoji] [blow kiss emoji]

Charley had read it and re-read it about ten times, blushing deeply but smiling like an idiot before she'd slowly clicked the sleep button on the side of her phone, the room swallowed up again in the sudden blackness. She hadn't felt the need to text back as she knew he hadn't expected one. Exhaustion finally overtook her and she'd drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

Thursday, 6.30am
...

Now, she slipped her building key card into the tiny pocket of her Lycra running shorts. After adjusting her tight crop top that bared her stomach, and tugging her pony tail nice and tight, she let herself out the building and went for her morning run. It was one of her favourite times of days, and she always stopped to grab a coffee from the coffee cart in the park that was ten minutes walk from her apartment. She enjoyed the guilty pleasure as she walked home, part of her cool-down.

She was back at 7.30am feeling revived and ready for work as she let herself back into her apartment. She booted up her computer as she walked past, then hit the shower. After changing, she padded barefoot back to her desk in comfortable black yoga pants and a grey hoodie, as she typed in her login and emails began pinging.

8.30am
...

By this time Charley had prioritised her day and eaten breakfast. Excitingly, the photos had arrived from the shoot in Europe last week, and Charley had her usual one-day turnaround deadline to get the first drafts of the designs through to the fashion brand's marketing team for approval. Things moved fast in the fashion world and Charley knew it.