The Fangirl Next Door - h.s

Chapter 13: Lucy's Place.

I would be lying if I said him turning his phone off didn't scare me. It gives me anxiety, mostly because he's an important person, people need him, Me on the other hand, of course I'm needed, my team messages me a lot, talking to me about new things, events coming up if there are any. Another thing we are very different in. Today without phones has been incredible, being disconnected from the world, spending the day by the pool together. This day has made my feelings for him all more real, making me feel even more horrified.
"You never told me about this." He points to the cross tattoo on my hand and I look up to him with a blank face.
"Because it's obvious why I have it... The sole reason was to have a matching tattoo with you, and it was my first tattoo actually." I show him my hand and he takes it and holds it in his.
"I just wanted to hear you say it." He laughs and I push his chest back. I walk off into his house, leaving him by the pool, and I go into the kitchen to get water, but I'm interrupted by loud knocking on the door. I run to the front door, opening it up to see a certain person I did not want to see at all.
"I should have known you were the reason he wasn't answering his phone. Where is he?" Aaron walks into Harry's house, uninvited, pushing past me.
'Harry!" I call out, walking back into the kitchen. He runs in, expecting me, but seeing Aaron first and he stops.
"Surprised to see me? Well you didn't pick up the hundred times I called you, tomorrow, huge press day for the tour, and the album, needed you today for a quick fitting, but you never answered, so I brought it to you." The door opens again and a line of people walk in, bags on their shoulders, and a rack of clothing being wheeled in behind them. "And it's not anything for you to see, little one, time for you to go back to where you came from. Bye bye." Aaron waves at me and I try my hardest to not say a word.
"Don't talk to her that way. You don't have to like it, but you could still try to be kind." Harry grabs my hand, keeping me in the kitchen.
"I'm not going to try to be anything but your manager. She needs to leave." He speaks as if I'm not even here, like he did last night.
"It's fine Harry, I'll see you soon." I whisper behind him.
"The boys were wanting to hangout again, tonight?" He turns to me asking.
"Oh boy, you're pulling them into this too? You being around her is one thing but all of you, does she have you brainwashed?" Aaron chimes in and Harry keeps his eyes locked on me.
"I'll just talk to you about it later." I whisper, not wanting Aaron to hear my words. I grab my things and walk out, not giving Harry a chance to kiss me goodbye, that way Aaron can't get a word in about us being affectionate towards each other. I walk into my house, which is vacant for now, but Harry mentioned the other boys, and I know Cora will be home soon, so maybe, just maybe, I can get her and Ian to stay and hangout so we can all spend time together. We don't have a pool in my backyard but we do have a giant fire pit, I think it could be fun if everyone is up for it.
Once Cora walks in the house and into her room I attack, running in and jumping on her bed.
"Bitch. What the fuck?" She pushes me off of her and I sit back up.
"What are you doing tonight?" I ask, sitting on my knees.
"Hanging out with your bro-" I cut her off.
"Okay perfect because he already said yes, all of the boys are coming over, and we're gonna have a bonfire and hangout and have fun." I tell her, smiling.
"By the boys? You mean One Direction is coming to our house, are they putting on a concert?" She pretend fangirls and my face drops to a glare.
"Are you in or not? I need to tell Harry, well I need to tell him whenever he is done with work stuff." I mumble, my voice dropping to a low hum.
"Why do you sound mad? What don't I know?" She asks. I sigh, starting from the moment she left the concert last night and everything that had happened between Harry and I up until right now. "Bitch how tall is he, I can take him right now." Cora jumps up and I grab her forearm, pulling her back down.
"No. Harry doesn't need any more stress. It will be fine, we're stronger than you think." I tell Cora and she relaxes.
"Okay fine, he can live, but I swear I will rip him apart, just say the word." She tells me and I laugh at her. Thank God my best friend has my back. She tells me she's in for tonight, and now all I need is confirmation from Harry, though I know he had his phone turned off before he must have turned it back on by now, and I would just go over but I would rather not risk the chance of running into Aaron again.
Time passes on, the sun is dipping and a knock sounds from the door. I go to open and all the boys are standing in front of me, Harry included, and I open the door wider, letting them all in. Harry pulls me to him as soon as he walks in and I press my head to his chest like routine.
"Didn't feel like texting me back?" I ask as we pull away.
"I got caught up, I'm sorry." He tells me and he presses his lips to my forehead. Niall holds up two bags over his head.
"I brought snacks!" He yells and I shake my head, looking back to Harry.
"How did everything go after I left?" I ask and he doesn't answer, he's completely zoned out. "Harry?" I ask again, trying to get his attention.
"Let's talk about that later, when we go to bed?" He asks me and I nod, getting an uneasy feeling in my chest. We all end up making our way out back, the boys all rowdy and energetic in their own way. Ian got here a while before they did, but was with Cora in her room until they got here, and now we're all outside. The sun almost gone from the sky, the fire burning in the pit in front of us. I walk to the ring around the fire, heading for Harry until voices stop me.
"He gets you all the time, let us get to know you!" Liam complains.
"Come on Lucky, sit next to us!" Niall pats the empty spot in between him and Liam and I look to Harry who waves me off. I sit down on the cold seat, feeling small between both of them. Harry across from me, Louis to the right of him and Cora and Ian on a bench to the left.
"So Haz told us you sing." Louis chimes in, a beer in his hand. My eyes divert to Harry and I glare straight at Harry who smirks, drinking a beer himself.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I say simply, my insides twisting in a million knots.
"She does sing, don't let her fool you." Ian chimes in, Cora nodding along, and my glare shifts to them, do they not realize that this is the last thing I want to do?
"Come on Lucky, I can play a lot of things." Niall reaches to his side, pulling his guitar up from the case that lies on the ground. I shake my head no.
"I'm not singing." I tell them all simply and I hear a groan from all the boys, Harry's smirk hasn't left his lips. He looks incredibly hot right now, seeing him through the fire, his hair hanging down, his lips pressing to the bottle. It's odd seeing all of them so nonchalant and care free, having a drink, just sitting here, the boy band facade has disappeared now.
"We can sing anything you want, you don't think we'd leave you hanging do you?" Liam asks and I groan out, knowing they won't let this go. Harry told me before, they don't take no for an answer. I lean over, whispering to Niall and he smirks, pulling his guitar up.
"You all have to sing, no questions asked." I point to Harry, Louis and Liam, and they nod in agreement. Ian and Cora both sit up too, interested in this. Niall starts playing the familiar tune and Harry sits up, knowing his part of the song is first.
"You don't understand, you don't understand, what you do to me when you hold his hand, we were meant to be but a twist of fate, made it so you had to walk away." I sing along with him harmonizing as he sings, and I refuse to look at anyone but Harry, knowing if I see any of the other boys reactions I will pass out. Niall starts singing his part of the pre chorus, Liam joining in to sing the low harmony, but I jump in singing a high harmony, the part that used to be Zayn's, and I can see movement from Louis, he's nodding in approval. As we sing I feel more and more comfortable, and become more aware of the fact that I'm singing with my favorite band, literally all of them around me singing with me. How have I not pissed myself yet?
"I told you." Harry is the first to speak after the song ends and I shake my head, covering my face with my hands.
"Not to be that guy, but I just watched my baby sister sing a song she's been singing for years with the band she's been so obses-" Ian starts but I cut him off.
"Shut it Ian!" I hold a finger up, giving him a warning glace and he backs off quickly.
"The harmonies you added were incredible." Louis adds onto the conversation and Liam and Niall both give their praises and in this moment I feel so overcome with emotion I could spontaneously combust. Literally just burn to the ground like this fire.
I refuse to sing anymore after a few more songs, though Niall continues to strum throughout the entire night. Louis, Niall, and Harry ended up kicking a soccer ball around the yard, continuing to drink beer. Cora and Ian hung out for a while but ended up going upstairs, leaving Liam and I. He talked to me like we were two friends hanging out, and he's genuinely one of the nicest people I think I've ever met. He told me the other boys are always running around and that he joins in sometimes, but he didn't want me to be alone. He told me about England, and how much he missed it, but how he wouldn't trade his life or One Direction for anything in the world.
"I'm really happy Harry found you. You're not some random fan, don't listen to Aaron." Liam tells me.
"I'm trying my hardest not to, I'm more worried about Harry listening to him." I tell him.
"Harry always listens, but he won't give in on this topic, I know he won't. He knows how lucky he got." He tells me and I tilt my head to the side.
"Lucky?" I ask.
"Meeting someone who isn't part of this lifestyle, someone who doesn't care about the money or the fame or anything like that, it's not easy. He just happened to move next door to you and now he's got his own little piece of normal right here." He waves around him.
"You're forgetting one main factor." I laugh, looking at my small cross tattoo.
"That's not even a factor anymore. It was alarming at first, and even coming here put me on edge a bit, but talking to you like I am right now, I don't even think about that. He finally found someone who can give back what he gives out, and you don't know how relieving that is Lucy." He smiles to himself and I swear he's adorable. He's the most huggable, well besides Harry.
"Well I'm glad-" I start but I am interrupted by a commotion.
"Lucy I think it's time for us to hand him back to you and head home, he might of had one or two too many." Louis calls. All of them stumble towards us, Harry grinning ear to ear, his dimples prominent.
"There's my girl, Lucy I missed you, where did you go?" Harry asks, slinking his arm around my shoulder as I stand up, joining him.
"I've been here the whole time H, I was with Liam." I laugh, taking his arm from my shoulder and putting it at his side.
"Thank you for tonight Lucky, we don't have much time for fun usually." Niall tells us, the three boys standing across from Harry and I, the only light coming from my kitchen and the embers in the ash of the fire. Harry leans against me and I stumble, pushing back so his body weight doesn't completely knock us both over. We both begin to laugh as I push against him.
"You're always welcome, do you need me to walk you out?" I ask and Liam shakes his head.
"We'll show ourselves out. See you soon." He waves, the rest of the boys doing the same, saying goodbye to me and Harry, who isn't all the way here right now.
"Alright, now I need to take care of you." I mumble, struggling to push Harry upright. He's not drunk by any means, but he's very tipsy and you can tell from the bubbly attitude that has sprung out. He follows behind me, stumbling lightly as I pull him towards the front door.
"No, I want to stay with you tonight." He whines behind me, and I turn us around to the stairs, keeping my hand in his. I push him upstairs first, my hands on his back as we walk up and I lead him to my room when we get to the top. Once we're in my room I let him find his own way to my bed, but right as soon as I try to walk away he pulls me right back. His hand finding my lower back, his other hand holding my hand. "You can't leave me, I'm not going to let you." His smile bubbles over.
"I'm not leaving you, I was going to change out of this." I look down at my clothes.
"You're not going to leave me, even if Aaron gets worse? You'll still be here to take care of me when I'm drunk?" He laughs to himself lightly, the dimple creeping up on his cheek causing my stomach to flutter.
"Aaron won't scare me away, and I'll do my best to take care of you, drunk or not." I pull my hand away from his and loop my arms around his neck, pressing my ear to his chest, wanting to feel every bit of warmth he has.
"That's why I think I love you Lucy Collins." He's not quiet about it, but he's got alcohol in his system. So his words only confuse me, and they scare the shit out of me. "I feel like I'm in the sky when I'm with you. Like I'm flying and nothing could touch me." He mumbles. My hair moves with every word, his breath heavy.
"Why the sky?" I ask, thankful he moved past his words, not thinking about what he just admitted to me.
"Because everything in the sky is free, and they don't have rules. You're free and you don't have any rules, you move with the wind, and you have the stars in your eyes." His words are slurring but my heart is beating at a rapid speed, his words are poetic and sweet, and honest.
"I think you should let me change and we should-" He interrupts me with his sweet voice right in my ear.
"Lucy in the sky with diamonds, lucy in the sky with diamonds." He sings lightly and he begins to sway us and I smile to myself, knowing he can't see me with my face pressed to his chest. He doesn't stop singing, singing through the song, definitely messing up some of the words along the way. "Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile, the girl with kaleidoscope eyes." He sings and hums to himself. "You have kaleidoscope eyes, it's like that song was made just for you." He leans back, obviously wanting to look at me.
"That's what my parents named me after actually." I tell him.
"Lucille Sky, that makes sense. Did they like The Beatles Lucky?" He stops the swaying but he takes me hand and spins me around.
"We all did in my house. I grew up on The Beatles, the beatles and One Direction." I joke, poking his chest.
"A dangerous combination." He smirks and leans forward but I dodge him, escaping his reach and heading to my drawer.
"Come back." He mumbles, falling onto the bed.
"Let me change, I'll be right back I promise." I laugh at the sudden clingy nature he has developed. I throw on a t-shirt, leaving my lower half bare, and I turn to see Harry shirtless, only in his joggers from before and he opens his arms wide while taking up the entire bed. I flip the light off, joining him in my bed. The lights that hang over my bed cast a shadow over the two of us, my hands pressing to his chest as he looks up at me. His hand tucks my hair behind my ear as he stares at me, his eyes traveling over my face a million times, as if he has missed something though there's no way he could have at this point. I study him too, seeing the creases in his forehead when he's thinking. The way his hair pushed back behind him when he lays down. His lips in a slight pout when he's thinking, and then his eyes, like deep pools. "Have you ever heard the song Ocean Eyes?" I ask him, continuing to stare into his eyes.
"No, how does it go?" He continues to twirl my hair between his fingers, he's looking at my lips though, he has been for a few minutes now.
"It's one specific lyric, I've never fallen from quite this high, falling into your Ocean Eyes... It reminds me of you." I tell him, my hand tracing his cheek bone, right underneath his eye.
"You have beautiful eyes Lucky, and beautiful lips, and a beautiful smile. You're just beautiful, so beautiful." He mumbles, his hand running through my hair at this point. I lean forward and kiss him softly, savoring the sweetness of his kiss.
"You're drunk, you have an early morning, and you need to sleep." I pull myself up on the bed, pressing my head to my pillow. He turns to the side so we're facing each other.
"I don't want to mess this up Lucy." He's not looking at me anymore, he's looking in me, our eyes making a connection no touch could fill.
"You're not going to mess anything up. This is perfect, just how it is." I rest my hand on the side of his face and fall in love with this moment, the carefree way he speaks to me, letting all his feelings out all at once. He scoots towards me nuzzling his head under my chin, pressing his body into mine. He cuddles me, holding onto me this way and I hold onto him the same way.
The next morning he didn't wake me up before he left me. I woke up hours later, finding a note on my dresser from him.
"Lucky, I will be busy all day, but I will be home just in time to pick you up at 7, I can finally show you that thing I wanted to show you the other day. Don't dress too fancy, and don't worry, no one will see us. All The Love- H" The note reads. I fold the letter and put it in my drawer. Cora went off to work early, and it's midday now, meaning I have a few hours alone. A few hours to- The sound of my phone ringing cuts my thoughts in two as I pick it up, reading Mindy, the leader of my youtube team.
"Hey M, what's up?" I ask, sitting on a stool in the kitchen.
"Lucy! Thank God you answered. I told you a few weeks back that we were in touch with Vogue and Paper Magazine about some hosting jobs and events, you remember?" She asks, the questions making my chest rise and fall quickly.
"Yeeess." I drag the word out, excited to hear her next words.
"Well you're in. The Billboard music awards are coming next week and they want you to host the red carpet, you're sponsored by Vogue for the event, and Paper wants to do a story with you too, a story featuring youtube influencers, but your fitting for the red carpet is later this week, Monday actually." I jump from the stool at her words, excitement radiating off my body.
"Mindy this is incredible!!! You're kidding, you have to be kidding." I ask, my feet starting to pace the floor.
"Not kidding, you've got a team of stylists for Monday, I'll forward the details tonight. The list of celebs you'll be interviewing will be sent sometime next week, a loose list of things to go off of when talking to them. This is a perfect fit for you Lucy." She gushes into the phone and I am beyond ecstatic, this is the best news ever. The rest of the day blows by, I got myself ready and right as I suspected Harry pulled into his driveway. I walked out to him, he kissed me, I got in his car, and now we're on our way to who knows where.
"How was the press stuff?" I ask, leaning into him on the console. His thumb dances on the back of my hand, rubbing circles.
"We talked a lot about the album. The videos will be posted soon. A lot of interviewers were there. It was cool, we've never done anything like that for an album before, the only thing similar was when we did the stuff for our movie." I stare at him, taking his words in. "What?" He asks, noticing my face.
"Nothing. It's just weird when you're dating a huge star, I forget who you are sometimes." I laugh. My words even shock me, the fact that I'm even having a normal conversation with him still shakes me to the core, I try not to think about it. I try to tell myself this is normal, but I'm a hard person to trick sometimes. The car stops and I look in front of us, giving him a raised eyebrow and a head tilt. "Why are you showing me a place I showed you?" I ask but he's out of the car on his way to open my door before he answers me.
"Well I saw Lucy's place, and though I loved it, I wanted it to be more Lucy, more you." He tells me and my feet are planted on the ground. He takes my hands, pulling me forward. " I wanted to show you the other day, but we went shopping instead, and then everything with Aaron happened, and now this is like an I'm sorry gift." He walks backwards as he speaks, leading me to the cabana of trees.
"You have nothing to apologize for Harry, you didn't need to buy me anything and-" I gasp as we walk under the trees, my hands leaving his and covering my mouth. The once bare trees are all laced with lights, along with woven strings hanging down, mason jars on the end, the jars filled with candles. Where I once sat on the ground in the sand is a small patio set up. Brick laid out in a small square shape, and on top are two wooden beach chairs, one of them light yellow, the other a light green, and a small blue table in between them. I walk around the chairs and see a sign, hand painted and now tacked onto the tree next to the patio. It says "Lucy's Place" in black writing. I turn to him, actual tears in my eyes, my mouth still hanging wide open in shock. "Harry this... you..." I start to mumble, looking around me.
No one has ever made an effort like this. This place meant a lot to me already, but now, here, this is perfect, and it's all from him. The gentle nature he shows me, the care he gives. He's a huge popstar, he's loved by everyone but on the inside he takes attention to every detail, his heart huge, and I know I've taken part of that heart. He told me he thinks that he loves me, and normally that would send me running, but I can't run now. I don't know if he really loves me or if he's still getting there, but from what he said last night, there's no reason for me to hold my tongue, there's no reason for me to wait to say the words playing in my mind.
"I love you. I love this, and I love you, this is perfect." His eyes light up, his mouth parts slightly. Right when I get worried he'll turn me away he's moved right to me, his arms clasped around my waist, lifting me off the ground.
"I love you Lucy, I'll do anything to show you that." His voice is booming in my ear, his hands never loosening as they hold me, even when my feet touch the ground again My feet might physically be on the ground but mentally I'm a thousand feet above us, high in the sky.
"This is the kindest thing anyone has done for me." I mumble, taking our usual stance as I press my ear to his chest, hugging him to me.
"You like it?" He asks, and I nod my head in response. "I'm surprised you told me you loved me first, the boys bet money it would be me." He laughs, and I'm not even remotely surprised the boys made bets on that.
"Actually you said it last night kind of, I just ignored it, not sure if you'd remember it." I pull back, looking up to him, not letting go of him.
"I didn't..... Did I?" He asks and I nod, letting a smile creep onto his face.
"You're very honest when you have alcohol in you. You're also very clingy." I laugh and he rolls his eyes. "It's cute, I felt needed." I tell him and pull away, holding his hand and leading him to the chairs. I sit in the yellow one to the left, him sitting in the green on the right. Our hands stay connected, resting on the table set between us.
"You are needed, drunk or not. I need you to pull me back down to earth, to make me feel normal." I smile at him, hating that word more and more everytime it falls from his lips. "I love you. I knew I loved you the night I told you I was falling for you." He tells me, lightly squeezing my hand.
"I knew it too, I was just scared." I squeeze his hand back, giving him two squeezes.
"Why did you do it twice?" He looks to our latched hands.
"It's like a heartbeat. I squeeze twice, and you do it back." His smile grows at my words and he returns the two squeezes I gave to him.
"Are you scared any more Lucky?" He's looking out past the trees now, right to the ocean.
"No... Not at all." I mumble, happy that the sound drowning me out is the waves. Even if he can't hear my words I know he can feel my love, and I can feel his.