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Chapter 3 - Nude - Part 1

A/N: Comment as you read, yeah? It would mean a lot. 

HARRY: 

Zayn was walking back and forth in my living room. I wasn’t exactly listening to what he was rambling about, and I didn’t particular care, either. I personally thought that today had gone pretty well.

It had been a few hours since we’d left Cami at her school, and I’d spent the last hour trying to make Zayn see the brilliance of my plan. However, he wasn’t exactly easy to sway.

“Have you lost your bloody mind?” he yelled.

Uh oh. Zayn rarely said bloody, only when he was severely pissed off. I leaned back in the couch, realizing I should probably listen to his rant—just in case.

 “I can’t believe you,” he said. “You’re such an idiot sometimes, Harry. I swear one day you’re going to make me get gray hair. And this hair isn’t meant to be gray.” He gestured wildly, until finally he sank down into my armchair. “Fuck,” he muttered.

“It’s not bad,” I said.

He glared at me.

“No, really,” I said, trying to defend myself. “This way, I get to spend time with her and get to know the real Cami, without being played like a fool. It’ll give me a chance to see if any of the thing I felt was real or if it was all pretend.”

“But you’re doing the exact same thing she did to you!” Zayn rubbed her forehead. “I’m too old for this shit.”

“Actually, she asked if I could act in love with her,” I said. “And since I’m actually in love, it won’t be hard. Besides, I couldn’t let Larsson drag her to court, could I?”

“I know that.” Zayn sighed. “But Harry, why didn’t you just tell her that you wanted to be with her for real? Why didn’t you just talk about it?”

“I couldn’t,” I muttered. “She only contacted me to get my help, Zayn. That doesn’t really open up for a chance to tell her how I felt.”

“You didn’t even try,” he said. I glanced at him, and he was looking exhausted. Did I really mess up that bad? I had taken the step to ask her out, and I’d been the one to suggest we’d at least learned to spend time together, as well.

That had to count for something.

“I’ll tell her soon,” I said. “I just want to see if there’s any chemistry left between us, or if it was just a one-time thing.”

“Yeah, okay.” Zayn stretched his neck. “I think I’m going to call Terry. You should probably get ready for you date anyway.”

With that, he rose from the chair and left me alone with my thoughts. I’d been trying to figure out what we could do together. New York had a bunch of places to go, but at the same time, I wanted to make it particularly unique. It was our first fake date, after all.

Our first actual date had been a disaster. Back then, I’d believed that Peyton Moon—Hollywood’s super jerk himself—had deliberately crashed our date to win his girlfriend back. It wasn’t until later that I found out that he was Ludmilla’s ex-boyfriend, and not Cami’s, but it had still been a blow to the face.

It all seemed like a dream now. And in a way, it was. I would need to up my game to get to know the real Camilla Hanson. But how? There were so many memories that clouded my mind. All I actually knew about her was that she liked photography, but I couldn’t exactly take her to an exhibition, could I?

Pulling out my phone, I checked to see if there were any open houses at the art galleries tonight. That might be something she’d enjoy. There was something called ‘Nudus’, which had been long awaited. It didn’t say much about what kind of art was on display, but it seemed like it was going to be a hit. I booked a couple of tickets online, and then made reservations at my favorite restaurant that weren’t too far away from the gallery.