Colorful (H.S) | ✔️

22

When we wake up the next morning, I admire Ellie's face, just like I always do.

Something's different here. I see a little glimmer around her neck.

She's wearing a new necklace I've never seen before. It's gold with a pendant engraved with the letter 'A' and has a stone in it.

Maybe Audrey gave it to her?

She must have woken up because she sees me staring at the necklace. I try to look somewhere else so I don't seem nosy.

Unfortunately for me, she doesn't explain the meaning behind it. Maybe it's not a big deal. 

"Are you working today?" I ask. 

She shakes her head and excitement washes over me. Finally, we can do one of the things I have planned.

"I'm taking you on a date today." 

Her sleepy eyes widen a little. "But what if people see us?"

"No buts. I wanna take you out." I'm stubborn in the matter. I hate hiding her from the world. I'm just waiting for her word. 

"Harry... I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow?" She kisses my hand.

I'm confused. Why wouldn't she want to hang out? Especially when I came just for her. 

"You need rest too. You run around too much. Get some rest... real rest. I know you don't sleep at night."

I want to fight that, but she's right. I'm super jet-lagged. I need to catch up on my sleep. 

She grabs my face with her small hands and forces me to nod my head, while mocking a British accent, saying "Yes Ellie, I will go rest tonight and have a fun day tomorrow." 

I roll my eyes and grab both of her hands. I plant a big kiss on each then agree. She smiles, but something seems off. Her smile doesn't reach her eyes.

Maybe her family has some weird boxing day tradition. 

We sneak downstairs like we're in secondary school. Once it's all clear, I run outside before her mom can catch me. 

She blows me a kiss when I reach the end of her driveway. I pretend to catch it and watch her silently giggle. She disappears back into her house and I drive to a nearby hotel. 

Ellie's P.O.V

The day after Christmas. As Harry may call it, Boxing Day.

AKA the day my dad left.

Once Harry's gone, I grab a tub of ice cream and go upstairs to my room. I know it's only morning and this is super unhealthy, but I let myself go crazy on this day. I have the right to.

Lily doesn't seem to leave her room either. The house is awfully quiet. It always is though.

I open my laptop and decide to waste time.

My mind begins to drift to Harry. I saw him eyeing my necklace this morning. I just hope he doesn't get the wrong idea. 

I'm not ready to tell him about my dad just yet. It'll make me way too vulnerable. 

That's so dumb. I already am.

 I respect that he's never asked about my dad. I'm grateful for that. Then again, I barely know anything about his family. 

I idly watch Netflix while my mind wanders about various things.

Lily barges into my room, disrupting my disassociation. 

"Ellie, you HAVE to see this!" She screams, holding out her laptop.

I scoot over on my bed so she has room. She plops down and hands me the computer. 

It's one of Harry's interviews. It seems to be recent. 

"Lily, I don't like watching his interviews. They make me feel weird," I complain. "I rather just learn stuff about him from the source itself." 

"Shh." She shushes me and fasts forwards to a certain part. 

There he is, sitting on a couch. There's a woman sitting opposite from him, but still angled towards the camera. 

"Harry, you are so charming," she laughs, gently crossing her knees. "Speaking of, this is kinda a personal question."

Harry playfully groans, saying "Ellen, all your questions are personal." The host laughs at that. "Okay, hit me." 

She reads the notecard in her hand. "Do you have a soulmate?"

I tense up. Harry tenses up. Lily tenses up. 

His cheeks turn a little pink. "Uh... yeah I do." The crowd gives mixed reactions. Some are cooing, some are booing, some are clapping. "She's wonderful. She's not ready to be, uh, introduced yet. One day though." The crowd cheers. 

The host begins asking him questions about colors, but I pause the video. 

"Oh my God..." I whisper, mortified.

Lily warily looks at my face to see my reaction. 

"I'm going to kill the bastard."

Harry's P.O.V

I'm getting out of the shower when my phone spams with texts. I smirk, seeing the <3 contact name pop up multiple times.

She can't get enough of me.

I unlock my phone to read the messages.

Uh oh.

She is not happy. 

<3: Harry what the FUCK is wrong with you?

I'm super confused.

Me: ????

<3: You know what you did you piece of shit

Nope, I don't. 

I begin to think about all the fucked up things I did this past couple of months. Nothing bad comes up. At least, nothing she knows about. Maybe I wasn't quiet enough when I left the house?

I text back, asking what I did. I guess this isn't a good response because she doesn't text me back.

Maybe it was another press scandal? I scroll through my social media to see what's going on. 

Shit. It can't be. Unless?

But she doesn't watch interviews!

I look through my phone to find El's little sister's number. I conveniently saved it after the weed incident.

I call her. "Hey, it's Harry. Um, do you know why your sister is mad at me?"

I can hear her scoff from her end of the line. "Men. You're so oblivious. Dude, you just revealed to the world that you have a soulmate. How do you think that makes her feel?"

"But I didn't say who," I argue.

She sounds pitiful. "It doesn't matter. It's about the pressure that ensues. It'll be so much worse to be caught with you in public. Everyone has their eyes out for Harry freaking Style's soulmate."

I guess she has a good point. 

Fuck, I always forget that some people don't like being in the public eye. 

Who really does though? 

I cannot believe I put Ellie in this position. I finally felt that she liked me for me, and was willing to try. Doing this just put me 2 steps back. 

Not to mention, it's going to make sneaking around much harder.

She already seemed off today, and I'm sure I made it worse. 

I fucked up badly. How do I fix this?

A/N: Hi!!! Don't forget to comment and vote!