Elusive [Harry Styles]

19. This One's For The Fans

I was awoken the following morning by my phone buzzing on my bedside table; it was 9:02am (I was having a bit of a lie in) and Emily wanted to FaceTime. I sat up in bed, clearing my throat and running a hand through my tangled hair in an attempt to make myself more presentable. My finger swiped across the screen and the call began to connect. Her face appeared on my screen, pixelated and blurry at first, but the signal got stronger and she came into focus. She was done up - her hair curled and her makeup pristine.

"Hey," the corners of her lips pinched into a smile as I mumbled 'hey' back. "Have you just woken up?"

"Yeah, it's nine AM," I croaked sleepily, my voice incredibly low. I smiled in slight embarrassment.

"Aww did I wake you?" she teased. "Some of us got up at six this morning!"

"What are you up to?" I ignored her taunting.

She shrugged, "Still at work, just catching up on some paperwork."

"And you're calling me?" I asked, surprised, "I'm honoured."

"Yeah, well, you got to LA two days ago and I never heard that you got there safely, so I had to check you were still alive... You know, for the purpose of my upcoming free holiday."

"Oh, right," I nodded, smirking. "So you're excited to come out here then?"

"I haven't been on holiday for years!"

"I'll pretend I'm not hurt."

She was chewing on the end of her pen, the plastic resting in between her pearly teeth, still grinning at me. "How's your work going?"

Ignoring my flirting... I see how it is.

"Good, we did The Late Late Show yesterday, filmed a dodgeball skit where I wear some little shorts and a headband."

"Dreamy," she mocked.

"I know. The interview was better than I'd expected - James didn't bring anything up about you which I'm glad of. We've got the Billboard Music Awards tomorrow evening."

Acknowledged with an impressed nod, she said, "Nice."

"I hope you've voted," I teased, subtly admiring her bright grin on my screen.

"Of course."

"Why's Louis ringing me?" I pondered aloud as the notification popped up; I immediately clicked decline.

"Did you just hang up on him? That's rude!"

"It would be rude to hang up on you to talk to him!" I argued.

She raised her eyebrows at me, "Hmm..."

The notification popped up again. "He's really not giving up," I grumbled.

"Talk to him, he seems pretty persistent," she urged.

I sighed. "Okay, I'll talk to you later, I guess."

The last thing I saw before I tapped accept on the incoming call was her bright smile. "Bye, Harry."

Louis' face replaced Emily's, and as he came into focus a look of sheer panic filled my screen.

"What?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Hi," he spat out nervously.

"What's up?"

"Fuçk, Harry," he began, I could see he was flustered as he rubbed his forehead.

"What?" I repeated more urgently. "What have you done?"

"Oh, mate. I've fuçked up."

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"You know Brianna? The bird I told you about, a month or so ago?"