Undercover | H.S.

14.

I'm awakened the next morning by the light shining in from the massive picture window. I rub the sleep from my eyes as I rollover and expect to feel Harry next to me. My face contorts in confusion when I find only empty sheets where he should be. I open one eye, then the other. Glancing around the room I see nothing out of the ordinary apart from the missing man.

A loud crash sounds down the hall and I hear a deep voice mutter "shit". Found him.

I glance over at my clothes from last night and opt instead for a t-shirt of Harry's from his closet. I slide on the black Ramones shirt with a pair of clean underwear and pad down the hallway to the source of the noise. When I reach the kitchen Harry has his back turned to me and he's standing over the stove cooking something that smells suspiciously like bacon and eggs. I'm lost in my thoughts about last night and the feelings I've admitted only to myself when he turns to face me and jumps, having been slightly startled.

"Geez, El. How long have you been standing there staring at me?"

"Just a moment or two. I must be pretty special to have Harry Styles whipping me up some breakfast ."

"Oh this? This isn't for you." He replies nonchalantly and I feel my heart hit the floor. My face falls as Harry turns away.

He quickly turns back to face me and says "Kidding! El, you should've seen your face. Of course it's for you darling, and yes, you are very special to me."

I let out a light laugh of relief at his bad attempt at a joke before taking a seat at the breakfast nook. The booth like table looks out to the garden in the back yard and again, I'm surprised by the coziness  of Harry's home. He walks over to the table carrying the food before returning with two cups of juice and joining me at the table.

"I was worried when I woke up and you were gone" I admit as I bite in to my breakfast. The eggs are fluffy and the bacon perfectly crisp. I hum in content as I work on the plate Harry's prepared me.

"I just thought this would be a nice gesture" he says to which I nod.

"I'm glad you did. I didn't notice I was starving until I started eating."

"Well we did work up quite the appetite last night." He chuckles and then places his fork and knife on the table and clasps his hands together. "El we need to talk"

I choke on the bite of eggs in my mouth as his words hit me. I spend the next few minutes coughing and raising my hands above my head before finally I'm able to dislodge the obstruction. I take a sip of juice before replying "excuse me?"

Harry sits in observance of the whole ordeal becoming concerned only after realizing I was choking and signing in relief once I'd stopped.

"I just meant there's something I need to tell you"

"Oh okay well in the future if you could use a phrase with a little less negative connotation that would be great" I say as I feel my cheeks heat up.

"I'm sorry" he says "I just am nervous about this and want you to be okay with it."

I nod, urging him to get on with it.

"You know we've been working on the new album?"

"Of course. You've been killing yourself in the studio" I reply with a shrug.

"Well, yeah. It comes out in November." He looks to me for affirmation as if I need to acknowledge that this is accurate and not brand new information to me. I simply nod begging him to get to the point.

"Basically the label is wanting us to start doing promo."

"But you haven't even finished the album yet!" I cry.

"I know. But they want the hype to be crazy. They think it could be our biggest release yet and they want all our fans to be ready to purchase and support us on the next world tour."

"When do they want you to leave?"

"In a week" I suck in a breath at the realization that the summer I thought we would have together was no longer a probability.

"That's so soon."

"Yeah"

I had a million questions I wanted to ask. A million questions, but one resounding answer. An answer I didn't want to hear. Harry was going to be gone all summer, I'd be moving to New York in September . The chances of us figuring this whole thing out were fading fast.

"What are you thinking?" He asks after I've been silent too long.

"What does this mean" I pause locking eyes with him "for us?"

He looks away and speaks his voice low and reminiscent of the first night I saw him, "let's just cross that bridge when we get to it."

I nod, unsure of how to respond to that.

"Please don't be upset with me" as he says it his voice hitches. I turn to meet his gaze.

"I'm not upset with you. I'm upset about the situation, I thought we had all summer before I had to think about what all this might mean."

"We'll figure it out El. Just promise me we'll enjoy this week."

I nod and try to go back to my breakfast but I've lost my appetite.

•

The next week is full of bitter sweet moments as Harry tears himself away from his work as frequently as he can to spend time with me. My mom knows something is up but has resigned to keep her thoughts on the subject quiet. When I'd told her that Harry would be leaving in a week she'd given me a sad look and again, warned me to guard my heart. I was trying not to dwell on his approaching departure but instead on the time we still had left. That time was dwindling though, and quickly. I filled the days Harry was needed at the studio with work and time with Kambrie. We'd quickly picked up our friendship where we had left it and she helped to distract me as much as possible. My nights were full of Harry. His tongue, his eyes, his warm skin pressed hard against mine. Each time I awoke in the morning, I wondered if the night before had been the last time.

Short chapter but it's important! Hope you like it! I'd love to hear your thoughts or if you even like this story 😂

-Sav