Mixed Up // Harry Styles

Seventeen

                                       CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

FROM: FLISS

You’ve been off work for a week now. Where are you? :/ xx

     I sigh and roll out of bed, opening up a new message to reply to Felicity.

TO: FLISS

I quit. Xx

     I throw my phone back onto my bed and run my fingers through my hair, detangling the many knots. The house phone begins to ring and I move to stand in my bedroom doorway, allowing the answer machine to get it.

     “Hey Hols, it’s Danielle. The funfair is in town next Saturday and all of us are going so we were wondering if you and Aaron want to come too if you’re not doing anything? See you soon hopefully, bye!”

     I walk backwards into my bedroom, pulling out my laptop and sitting back on my bed with it on my lap, starting it up and loading twitter.

     I’m not really into this whole tweet your life story thing which is why I haven’t tweeted since late 2011 but that was mainly because I forgot the password and didn’t know what to tweet to begin with. But recently Aaron has got me back into it and a few One Direction fans have begun to find me and recognise me to be Harry’s childhood friend, although some of them get the wrong idea and believe we’re something more.

@NiallOfficial: @hey_itsholly R u still alive???? U need 2 help me find a suit! Haha! X

     I roll my eyes and log out of twitter after reading most of my mentions, turning my laptop completely off and putting it away again.

TO: NIALLER

See you in an hour for suit shopping. ;) xx

                                                               *

     “What’s been happening with you lately, Horan?” I question as we walk through the street of London on a Saturday afternoon, a few paparazzi running along up ahead.

     “Well you’ll be happy to know I have a date to the wedding.” He grins from ear to ear as do I.

     “Who is it?” I excitedly ask.

     “Her names Anna, she’s a girl from one of our photo shoots,” He explains and goes on to describe to me what she looks like.

     “She’s a really nice girl,” He concludes with a smile.

     “So following in the footsteps of Styles and going for a model?” I smirk and push open the shop door revealing all the tuxedos on their clothing rack.

     “I don’t think I’d go as far as marrying one though,” He admits and already begins to shift through the different styles of blazers.

     “Are you sure?” I quirk my eyebrow up, studying his small frame and then meeting with his eyes again before he catches me looking.

     “Pretty sure, I’m not even dating Anna; she’s just going as my date.”

     “Until one thing leads to another…” I tease and he squints his eyes, his cheeks turning a light shade of red.

     “What about this suit?” He queries, holding up one that looks no different to me than the rest of them.

     I nod my head in agreement. “Do you know what the colour code is?”

     “Purple I think.” His face filling with confusion as he tries to remember.

     “Flower or pocket square?”

     “Pocket square, definitely.” He nods his head, making his way to the changing room, grabbing a white shirt on the way and closing the curtain behind him.

     Meanwhile, I scan the rows of pocket squares to find a purple one for him. Shortly after he emerges from the changing room, modelling the new suit, he encourages for me to take a picture of him flexing in it on his phone just for fun.

     “I don’t think it goes with the trainers too well,” I joke and he pokes out his bottom lip like a child sulking.

     “I thought they went OK,” He whines and pretends to cry, sniffling and wiping his eyes causing the shop workers to give us odd looks.

     “You need a tie!”

     “Already have one at home,” He tells me, disappearing back into the changing room to change back into his clothes.

     “So why did you quit work?” His voice fills the silence of the shop.

     “I’m going to university,” I inform him.

     “That’s great!” He cheers joyfully.

     “In Manchester.”

     The curtain pulls back and he stares at me blankly for a moment, silence between us both. His face lights up and breaks into a smile, pulling me into a hug.

     “What are you going to study?”

     “I want to study Midwifery,” I grin happily, following him to the counter so he can pay.

     “But you had the best job going already.”

     “It was fun while it lasted.”

     “Isn’t there a local university?”

     “Manchester is closer to home, Ni.”

     He sighs and looks away, then back again. “I suppose I’ll live with it. On one condition though.”

     “What’s that?” I ask, pushing open the shop door and already being pounced on by the paparazzi.

     “You come and visit me as often as you can, deal?”

     He throws his arm around my shoulder and brings me closer to his body, lightly pressing his lips to the top of my head creating a stir amongst the paparazzi.

     “Deal,” I agree, smiling up at him.