Until I Find You Again // Book One

Lucy's Conception - Harry's POV

I had been in the music industry for about 5 minutes, but I was already kind of bored by these kinds of parties. They always seemed to be the same people, talking about the same things, drinking the same drinks, dressed in the same clothes. And the girls at these parties always spoke to me like my only goal in life was to get them naked in bed. (It might have been but that's beside the point)

I'd taken advantage of the situation I was in for a bit while we were on the X Factor. I was a horny 17 year old boy, not a saint. But I was quickly over it. Messing around with random girls was never what I was about. Especially after meeting Emily. Niall had brought her to the X Factor house right around the time we got kicked off.

Truthfully, I'd never had much game when it came to girls. I was that awkward nerdy kid who didn't realize my limbs were as long as they were and always ended up slapping or hitting someone accidentally. Surely I'd gotten better about that, but even so, I still never approached any girl with the confidence people expected I would have being in the position I was in. Not to mention I was predominantly raised by a mother and had an older sister. So "game" wasn't really in my vocabulary. At least not in the sense of hitting on women.

Emily was a completely different story altogether. My limbs, my mouth, my brain, my voice...none of it worked right when she was around. I'd succeeded in annoying the hell out of her because of my lack of self-control and tendency to ramble about nothing. My greatest regret up to this point in my life was taking 20 minutes to tell her about my mother's spaghetti sauce. I'd lost her 5 minutes into it, after 10 she was no longer listening and after 20 she'd flat out taken to looking at me like I was insane.

Even Niall had no explanation. He usually just waited until I was done, shook his head in sympathy and tried to change the subject to alleviate the hell I was living in. I had to hand it to him, he was a pretty decent wingman.

I reserved myself to the belief that Emily would always think I was annoying. So I just became annoying. It was the only way I could get her attention and I craved her attention.

When her beautiful crystal blue eyes focused on me, everything else disappeared. I ceased being nervous about a show or an interview or anything else. I just saw her. She calmed the loudest voice in my head and set me at ease. I would have given my entire fortune to have done the same for her.

Standing in the room next to yet another blonde model with a skin tight white dress on, I was focused on one thing and one thing only. Emily had just walked into the house with Niall. She was wearing the most simple black dress, her hair cascading down her back in soft waves. I was completely taken back. It was quite possibly the only time I'd ever seen her look scared or nervous. She was glancing around the room anxiously, surveying all the big names and no doubt feeling out of place.

I could relate.

I had to stop myself from walking over to her, taking her hand and pulling her out of the house to an awaiting car and whisking her away somewhere. A place where we could just talk all night. A place where she was comfortable and happy, radiating the confidence I'd seen out of few other people.

Liam was star player for the night. He strode towards them, with Louis and Zayn following so it didn't look suspicious at all when I fell into line behind them.

Liam, Louis and Zayn all spoke to her so easily. None of them nervous or fantasizing about ripping the black dress off of her like I was, I was sure. She was even more breathtaking up close. I was acutely aware that I was staring. If she caught me it would just be yet another situation in which I'd annoyed her. So I took to staring into the glass of champagne in my hand. I'd taken to staring so hard that I almost didn't catch it when she addressed me,