The Lucky Ones

Chapter 4 - Slightly Personal...

We waited until there was little to no sign of the mob that had just chased us down a dark alley next to a dumpster and then we re-emerged. I wasn’t sure how long we had been hiding, but the entire time we were – it was silent. There was no conversation. Once again, my awkward self took over and I was no longer able to hold any kind of normal conversation. I don’t know if Harry was just as awkward. I was too wrapped up in the fact that it was freezing cold out and I was an idiot for deciding to leave a party. For someone who wanted adventure and magic in her life, I sure as heck didn’t like the hard work of looking for adventure and magic.

Needless to say, we were much more careful about walking along the sidewalk now. Neither of us drew much attention to ourselves, the silence continuing to follow us as we walked without an apparent destination. It was probably nearing one in the morning by now and I wondered how freaked out people were going to be back at the party. Of course, the fans that saw us earlier most probably tweeted about it, but that didn’t mean management and my mom wouldn’t be worrying about where I’d run off too. The rumors were probably already spreading like wildfire about me and Harry, too. I was suddenly grateful that I had decided not to bring my phone with me. Otherwise, I’d be looking at all the hate that was undoubtedly going on.

"Are you cold?" His voice broke the ten minute long silence that had been hanging around us. Before I could answer, he was shrugging off his jacket and placing it over my shoulders. I would have made a comment about him not needing to be so gentlemanly or chivalrous to try and flirt with me, since it wasn’t going to happen. But he seemed to be a genuinely nice thing and it was definitely something for which I was appreciative. "So can I ask a slightly erm… personal question?"

I steeled myself against whatever it was he was going to ask, but nodded with a gentle smile in his direction. I have had quite a few hundred “slightly erm… personal” questions thrown my way over the course of my career, there is nothing “slightly” personal about them. They all detail around my love life and while I liked to think Harry had better manners than that, the fact of the matter was I didn’t know him at all. Just like he didn’t know me. Which was probably why he was wondering if he could ask a slightly personal question; regardless of just how not slightly personal it may be.

"Why crawl out through the window and leave the party?" His tone was… I couldn’t really define it with an adjective. He was speaking as if this was the most intimate question he could ever ask me. Granted, it wasn’t the one I was expecting, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the others I’d received. I admired that he felt as if he was crossing a line, though. Not many people cared where that line was drawn let alone felt bad for potentially crossing it.

"You ever have one of those days where you just… everything feels so totally wrong and you just… you can’t be around people and you wanna scream and throw things and punch a pillow and maybe even cry a little but you can’t because you know someone will notice and make a big deal out of it and then you just break down a little more on the inside until you can’t handle it anymore so you wanna jump out the window?" I asked with one breath, inhaling deeply as I came to the end of my sentence. He watched me with an amused smirk and nodded. "Okay. Well. That was today. Except, I didn’t jump out the window. You nudged me out."

Quickly, we crossed the street where a small hole-in-the-wall café was located. After peeking through the window, we saw that no one was inside and it seemed like a great place to just stop and warm up for a bit. At least it was secluded and we could sit out of the way of windows. People wouldn’t notice us there unless they walked in. The owner of the café was a cute little old lady who had dyed her hair pink in hopes of looking younger and more “hip” with the generation, but I couldn’t help it; “Can I give you a hug? Please?” I asked her. She looked at me with wide eyes and laughed before coming around from the counter and giving me a hug. She barely came up to my chest. “You’re just so wonderful and this café is so cute and I just love hugging people.”

I could feel Harry watching us, but I didn’t really pay him any attention as I let the little old lady (who was named Marissa) lead us over to a table, her arm still around my waist and mine around her shoulders. She was talking about her grandchildren and how they were almost grown and how her great granddaughter was in love with me and wanted to be just like me. I looked down at my hands and blushed deeply. No matter how many times I hear it, I will never get over being told someone wanted to be like me. It was one of the biggest compliments I could ever receive and it was, in a small way, why I wanted to get into music. Not because I wanted people to envy me, but because I wanted people to be able to relate to what I sang about.

Marissa hurried away to get us some tea and we sat down, thankful for the warmth the café was offering us. “Are you always like that?” Harry asked as I picked up a menu to look through the other types of drinks they had.

"Like what?" I didn’t even look up, didn’t even register the way he was looking at me.

"Genuine. Kind."

"Should I not be?" I finally looked at him, my head tilted a little in confusion, "The world has so much hate and anger in it already. Just because I may not be the happiest person on the inside doesn’t mean I shouldn’t express love and kindness to someone else." I shrugged my shoulders and Marissa appeared by our table again, depositing a tea pot and two mugs in front of us along with some honey and cool milk. "Thank you!" I smiled at her and she beamed before scuttling into the back again. My attention went back to Harry as I lifted my cup of tea to my lips and blew on it gently to cool it down, "These are some awfully personal questions for something that was meant to be ‘slightly personal.’" I teased him quietly, hiding a smile behind the rim of my cup.

He blushed and shook his head, looking down at his own cup of tea while trying to fix his hair.