A/N: sorry for the later chapter!! School is starting back up):
EL'S POV:
Coming home from the hospital was a breath of fresh air. I hate the hospital, I hate the smell, and the feeling. Harry followed me home, he wanted to make sure I was okay, and he gave me my shot as well. I could have done it myself, but he wanted to so I let him. He stayed with me, and then he stayed again, ignoring his work. I finally made him go home, telling him that he needed to work on his album, and that I was fine. I still feel like shit, they weren't kidding about the side effects I would feel. This is like the flu on steroids almost, but that doesn't change anything. I'm making myself work, and right now I'm in the showroom, I closed the doors early today, and I'm sewing, doing the best I can. The four coffees I postmated from Starbucks have helped too. The material is soft, and silky, the lace, and mesh work perfect with each other. I've been back and forth with how I feel about this, but in this moment it's perfect to me... and I think it's done. I pick up my phone instantly.
"Are you alright? Do we need to go back to the hospital?" He asks quickly, and I stand up.
"Nope but I'm going to need you to get here right now. Right this very second now." I tell him, pacing with my fingers to my chin in thought.
"We're at my house working on some stuff right now..." He tells me, and I shake my head.
"I do not care. Not one bit. This is a spark of genius, pure genius, the jumpsuit is done I need to see it on your body now before I change my mind, and decide I hate it because right now I don't hate it, I love it, so please." I take a deep breath, seeing as I spoke all of that in one sentence.
"I'm with Kid, and Mitch, and Sarah..." He tells me, and I throw my hands up.
"Perfect, we have an audience. You have no excuse, get here now or your version of camp will be walking the carpet naked. Now!" I speak quickly, not purposefully, it's the caffeine talking, but that's the least of my worries.
"Okay fine. We'll all be there soon El... this better be good." He mumbles, and I think he's joking but I couldn't care less. I pace the floor, and then go back to the jumpsuit, picking it up, and hanging it. I pull out the steamer, and plug it in, waiting for it to heat up, and then I steam it. Once I finish I back away, and look at it again, turning away to start pacing but I see them, all of them pouring out of the car. I run to the door, and unlock it.
"Come in, come in." I wave them in, and they all move, most familiar faces besides one. They all come in, and I lock the door behind them. When I walk in, I move past all of them, and move quickly to the jumpsuit, and stand in front of it.
"El, this place is amazing... you gonna dress us up for the next tour?" Sarah asks, and I shoot my attention to her.
"I would love more than anything to design clothes for all of you." I speak, thinking of the fact that they were all on their own for clothes last time around.
"I missed you... How was Milan?" She asks, and leans into me, hugging me.
"Great, awesome, but not awesome enough to stay, so I'm here. Happy here." I smile, my mouth moving faster than my brain. Harry steps up to me, and holds my shoulders.
"El, how much coffee did you drink?" He asks, and I shake him off of me.
"Four cups but that doesn't matter, what matters is- Hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm Harry's girlfriend El." I hold my hand out to a shorter man with shaggy hair that was obviously dyed blonde.
"The infamous El, nice to finally meet you." He shakes my hand, and for some reason I get a bad feeling from what he just said. The infamous El, meaning he's heard a lot about me, he's been apart of this song writing process from what I know, he knows everything...
"Yep, you too, anyways... Jumpsuit." I turn away from him, and grab it in my hands. "This, on your body." I push the hanger towards his chest, and he takes it in his hands, and looks at me, obviously not used to me like this. I take his shoulders and turn him around, pushing him towards one of the changing rooms. I turn back around, and see the three others, standing there having watched the entire conversation take place.
"I'm going to be honest, I didn't expect you to be so... cheery. Happily surprised though." Kid speaks, and his voice is a little gruff.
"Oh I'm not normally like this. I'm normally a lot less cheery, and a lot more quiet." I tell him, and sit at my desk. He turns to Mitch, and Sarah who are holding hands, standing beside him, and they both nod, agreeing with me. "I drank a lot of coffee today." I tell him, and he looks at my desk, seeing the four empty cups.
"I can see that..." He smiles, and I hear the dressing room open. I stand up, my fingertips to my lips. I hold my breath as I see him walk forward.
"Wait! Stay there, hold on." I don't look at him, and I turn towards the normal Gucci clothing, the part of the store that gets sent to me every few weeks. I run to the cubby holes in the wall, and grab the sleek black boots, knowing I kept his size here for this exact reason. I cover my eyes, and walk back over. "Put these on!" I hand them over, and hear him sigh.
"Jesus El.." He mumbles, and I keep my eyes covered.
"Don't bring Jesus into this, put the damn shoes on." I mumble, and I hear laughter from behind me.
"Could you at least give me a hand?" He asks, and I let him have my hand, and he holds it, holding himself up as he zips the boots. "Okay they're on... I haven't even looked at myself but I need you to-" He starts, and I interrupt.
"Button the back, yes turn around." I open my eyes, and turn him around without taking a full look at him. I move my fingers up the back, the back fitting perfectly as I close it up with the buttons. His skin looks clear, and soft underneath the mesh. "Okay, look at me." I mumble, and he turns around. The jumpsuit fits, it fits perfectly. I love it, the way the chest billows in lace, and the way the mesh looks with his tattoos. He looks beautiful... his tattoos are brought out by the lace, and mesh. I can't even look at his face, I can't stop looking at his body in this.
"Um... What are your thoughts, because I can't tell." Harry holds his hands up, looking straight to me, and I find myself smiling.
"I love it... I love it, I love it, I love it. Oh I need to drink coffee like this more often this is the best thing I've ever done. Ever...." I run to the side, and pull out the rolling mirror, and bring it to the side of him, that way I don't block everyone's view. "Now it's your turn, look." I point, and watch him as he looks into the mirror. I see his eyes light up, and he looks from head to toe. "What do you think? You hate it don't you? Fuck, I can start over... Take it off I'll burn it." I walk to him, and he holds my shoulders.
"El I haven't even said anything yet." He laughs, and I turn away.
"You're right, I don't want to know yet. What do you guys think?" I turn to the three people behind me, and they're smiling.
"Looks great El." Mitch speaks up, and Sarah nods.
"I love it, not something I would have thought I'd see him in." She tells me, and I look to Kid.
"I never thought someone could make him look good." He tells me, and I hear Harry chuckle behind me.
"Oh, shut up." He mumbles, and I turn back to him.
"But you hate it? Tell me if you hate it? Actually don't, I can't take it." I start, and he shakes his head.
"El I love it." He tells me, and I freeze.
"You... You do? Really?" I ask, my hands clasping in front of my face.
"Yes... if you'd let me speak I would have said that a long time ago." He tells me, and I sigh in relief.
"Oh thank god... I thought you hated it, I thought I was going to have to go through that torture again... Okay you can take it off, and leave again." I tell him, and he shakes his head, walking away from me. The relief that I felt flooding through me when he said he loved it is still coursing through my veins.
"You're pretty great at what you do huh?" Kid asks me, and I look to him, feeling my cheeks burn red.
"Oh um.. Yea, I take pride in it all. Normally I'm really sure of all my designs but this one has been bugging me almost, I was afraid it wasn't good enough." I tell him truthfully.
"Oh it's good enough, definitely good enough." He tells me, and he sits in my office chair, spinning around. "So how do you like LA Eleanor?" He asks, and I cringe at the name.
"Haven't heard that one in a long time." Mitch laughs, and Sarah does too.
"That's not your name?" He asks, and I shake my head.
"It's Eileen, but I go by El... Just El." I smile, and Harry walks out.
"Okay, enough interrogation... Come on, let's go." He waves them on, and the others stand, moving towards the door. Harry hands me the jumpsuit and boots. "Thank you... Thank you for this a hundred times over El." He leans forward, and kisses my forehead, and I shy away a bit, knowing his friends are probably watching. "Come with us, we're going to grab something to eat now that the music thing stopped so we could come here. I'm sure Kid has a few more questions he'd like to ask." He laughs, looking over his shoulder, and back.
"I uhm.. I'm still not feeling very well hence the coffee... I'm just going to stay, and work on something else I've had planned for a while, and go to bed... Go have fun." I tell him, and he gives a soft smile.
"I'll call soon." He says it like a promise, but I'm the one who leans forward, pressing my lips to his quickly. He walks to the door with his friends, and I move back to my desk, bringing more materials with me, the same black, but also white and red. He's doing camp, the whole Gala is camp, he can't wear the jumpsuit the entire night despite how much I love it. The other idea is giving me a disney type vibe, something kind of like the penguins from Mary Poppins, one of my favorite movies as a child, but he doesn't know I'm even making this one, he has no input on it, meaning it's all in my court now. I get to work, sketching first, only a few designs here and there, and I start feeling the crash, the caffeine slowing down in my body as my eyes grow tired, and my mind starts drifting.
I wake up to the feeling of arms around me, and I open my eyes quickly, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
"Shh.. It's just me." I hear his voice but I still open my eyes.
"I need to lock the showroom." I mumble.
"I locked it behind me when I came in. Go back to sleep." He's lightly whispering now, and I'm still tired, but wondering too.
"Why are you here?" I ask him, and he smiles.
"Glad to see you too... I brought you some food, but you were asleep on your desk so I brought you upstairs... I was going to go home after I brought you up here." He tells me, and I find myself moving to his warmth.
"Mmm no, stay here." I mumble, and I hear him laugh. "Don't laugh at me..." I whine, and I feel him walking up more stairs. We get up to the top, and my bedroom door opens and I feel the warmth of my mattress under me. "Come here..." I whine, and he sighs.
"You need to take your medication first, and then I'll come to bed love." He speaks quietly, and everytime he calls me that butterflies swarm still. He leaves my room, and comes back moments later. I open my eyes as his warm hand guides my back, sitting me up. "Here." He passes me the pills, and a water bottle as well. I take the pills, and swallow them all in one quick sitting. "That was quick." He mumbles.
"Bed time!" I insist, and he joins me. "These sleepovers never happen at my house, always here." He informs me.
"That's because your house has sad memories." My tired mind talks for me. "Your friend... the one with the blonde hair..." I mumble. "Kid was his name." I tell him.
"Yea? What about him?" He asks, and I roll myself into him.
"He called me the infamous El today... He knows me, but I've never met him." I tell him, and he shifts, but he seems somewhat uncomfortable.
"Of course he knows you, we're together now." He slides the excuse my way, but I see past it.
"He didn't say it like he knew me because I was with you, he said it in another voice, almost as if it was a bad thing..." I tell him, and he sighs.
"I've never spoken a bad word on you... none of us have, but I will say that when I was hurting, when I was writing, he was there. I talked to him about all of it, everything that happened, everything I was feeling. He's a good friend, a protective friend." He tells me, and I close my eyes again.
"Well fine. You're weird boy, kid, man friend whatever he is can think what he wants. I've always loved you, and that isn't going to change." I tell him, and hear silence.
"That was sweet..." He mumbles after some time. "I love you, now go to bed El." He coaxes me, and I do what he asks, falling into a soft sleep once more.
A WEEK LATER:
I pull up to his house , and find myself sighing. No family on thanksgiving. I'm used to no family on Thanksgiving, normally I go into this holiday forgetting it's even a holiday, but I was planning to go home for today, in a way I kind of let myself down. I sigh, and move towards his house anyways, opening the door, and letting myself in. I don't smell anything and I question what the hell he's doing. It's around five now. I feel much better than I did last week, still not at a hundred percent but at this point I don't think I'll be feeling that at any point.
"Harry?" I call out, and hear shuffling.
"Dammit. I'm here." He calls out and I walk into the kitchen. "Well you look... you look great for dinner." He mumbles, and looks down to his comfort clothes.
"Maybe it's a southern thing, or maybe it's just a me thing but when it's was thanksgiving we dressed up, even though our destination was our living room." I tell him, and come towards him, planting a small kiss on his lips. "And what about you... What are you doing?" I ask, and he looks to the supplies spread on his counter.
"I was going to try to make some type of dinner, though it's thanksgiving, and I don't celebrate it.... I'm just very bad at cooking, and um I don't really know how to do this whole thing." He mumbles, and I take both his hands, causing him to look at me.
"Take out... We'll get takeout love... It's not a big deal." I smile, and he sighs.
"You just didn't go home, and I wanted it to be special or something." He scratches the back of his head, and I let my hands fall around his neck.
"Take out is special... You're special, don't make it different." I shrug, and he holds my hips.
"Fine, I clean, you call for takeout." He tells me, and I smile, getting on my phone. I go to the balcony, and call for takeout. I stay out here afterwards, looking at the sinking sun over my third home this year, not the third city though. This year has been absolutely insane, and the last thing I would have imagined. "What are you doing out here?" He asks from behind me, joining me as I stand, my hands pressed to the railing.
"Just thinking..." I tell him, and he stands next to me, the glowing sun beating down on his already illuminated features.
"About?" He asks, and I shrug.
"How much life has changed since the beginning of this year, how much I've changed..." I tell him.
"That's a good thing?" He points it like a question.
"Yes... Without it I wouldn't be here right now." I tell him, and his warm hands travel across my skin, moving around my hips, and his chin rests on my shoulder as he hugs me from behind.
"Do you mean that you wouldn't be in this city, or you wouldn't be right here, where you are right now?" He asks, and I look to the side at him.
"Both, but mainly right here..." I tell him, and I can feel his smile as his chin tenses. "I'm making another design... for another MET look, I think you're going to love it." I tell him, and he takes my hand, and spins me around.
"Oh are you now?" He asks, and laces his hand with mine, pulling me close to him.
"I am. It felt necessary... A little surprise." I tell him, and he tilts his head.
"You're aware that since you're telling me, it's not a surprise..." He mumbles, a smile on his lips.
"Minor details." I shrug, and he smiles.
"I know that we have to get through the holidays, but when the new year starts the team is heading to Cancun for a music video, the one I mentioned before... I wanted to tell you about some ideas, then I wanted to show you the song, what we've got so far at least.... Then we can build an idea of what kind of clothes I'll be wearing." He tells me, and I feel a bit of excitement build. "What was that? That little jump in your eyes?" He asks, and I smile.
"Excitement." I tell him truthfully.
"Excitement? Why does that excite you, it's work isn't it?" He asks, and I shrug, breaking our contact.
"Work doesn't feel like work when I'm designing for you... I think it's because of the fans, they get excited about what you're wearing and I get to see all of their reactions and it makes all of this worth it, all the work I put it and stuff." I tell him, and I see him smiling.
"I really do have the best fans in the world, don't I?" He asks, and I nod.
"The best, but you're about to have an angry El because I'm starving." I tell him, and he pulls me inside.
"Stay with me tonight?" He asks, and I look back to him.
"There's not really a reason why I'd say no, and I forgot to tell you but my immediate family, all of them... They'll be here for christmas..." I let it slip out, and he looks to me.
"That's great El, I'd love to see your parents again." He tells me.
"It's more than my parents... My cousins, and my entire moms side pretty much." I tell him truthfully.
"How many is that? Five, six?" He asks, and I scrunch my nose.
"More like... thirteen, or fourteen... would have been more if it wasn't for the fact that this is California, and half of my family despises this state." I tell him, and I can't get over the surprise on his face. Happy first christmas together... the hicks will be in town.
—————————————————
Song: Toxins by Carlie Hanson.
I LOVE THIS SONG!!! Hope you guys are loving this story!
YOU ARE READING
Trendsetter (book 2) - H.S
Fanfiction"They say insanity is trying the same thing but expecting something new" - Anson Seabra. SEQUEL TO STYLIST El kept telling him it was only meant to be for one night. She kept that mentality, or tried to. Harry didn't believe one bit of the front she...
