Elusive [Harry Styles]

20. Over The Atlantic

~ Emily ~

"And you promise you'll call if anything happens?"

"Yessss," Louisa sighed, rolling her eyes. 

"And keep me updated every day?"

"Yesss! Now go!"

"Okay, okay," I chuckled, taking a nervous deep breath.

"It's going to be fine, trust me. Go and have fun!" she encouraged, genuinely happy for me. "Have you got everything?"

I patted my suitcase with a smile, passport in hand, "I think so." 

She leaned in and gave me a warm hug, squeezing me tight. Lou knew how much of a big deal it was for me to leave the country and not be in full control of my business, even if it was just for four days. I was a bit of a control freak and the thought of being out of the office was rather terrifying and everyone could definitely tell.

"A whole long weekend of Styles," she thought aloud longingly, "How did you get so lucky?"

I furrowed my brow at her and playfully slapped her arm as she pulled away, giggling. 

"See you on Tuesday."

Harry's driver kindly wheeled my bag to the car, opening the door for me before loading my belongings into the boot. The one thing I wasn't overly looking forward to was the hour and a half drive to the airport in London traffic; I unpacked my laptop and phone so I could work for the majority of the journey in between small talk.

When we eventually got to Gatwick almost two hours later, I insisted we park up somewhere out of sight and I go in alone - I told Harry that I would not fly to LA in a private jet or a first class seat, I wanted to travel in economy like I always had. Besides, it's not like I was even remotely well known, so I didn't exactly have to worry about paparazzi or fans mobbing me. I wanted to take advantage of that for now.

I headed into the terminal, finding my way to the desk and checking in my bag. I went through security pretty smoothly and then wandered around Duty Free for a while to pass the time, grabbing a bite to eat in a café. 

I felt kind of lonely and vulnerable for first time in forever, sat in the airport by myself waiting to catch a flight to see the guy I was seeing, that just happened to be a worldwide pop star. I don't think I'd ever flown on my own before, and I'd never been to LA, so there was lots of new experiences to be had in this trip. Harry always said the States were a bit more chilled out and he was able to live his life a bit more freely without being watched every second of every day whilst over there, hence he loved it so much and spent a lot of his time there, and I sure hoped he was telling the truth. I had to admit I was nervous - before we had been spotted together and although it had been broadcasted in the public eye, we could kind of pass it off as being a bit casual and just friends, but if we get photographed together in another country there would be no doubt in anyone's minds that there was something going on. I wasn't keen on how deeply I was being investigated and the more they were finding out about me the more I couldn't help but feel I was in over my head. I liked Harry, but from the beginning I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision.

After a while of browsing social media, replying to emails and such, my gate appeared on the screen above my head so I began my journey through departures. The whole process went fairly quickly and before I knew it I was boarding the plane, luckily with no delays or disruptions. I was sat in 12A, the aisle seat next to a woman who looked to be in her early fifties, a hippy type with short, dark curly hair and glasses. I gave her a small, polite smile as I sat down beside her.

"I think this is the first flight I've been on in years that's run this smoothly!" the stranger said.

"I don't fly much," I smiled, "but I am impressed."