My Sister's Big Fat Wedding

Being A Nervous Gentleman And Bone Chilling Texts

The lunch date could be very well described in three short words : awkward yet funny.

Harry, like always, was being a gentleman but it didn't help his case that he was very nervous. He was trying to present himself as a man of respect and worthy of my time, well he was doing this to impress Perrie. You see, in the short time I had known her, she had grown to be one of my very, very good friends. I trust her with almost everything.

Harry, getting back to the point, was a nervous wreck, so much that he sprayed ketchup on his white tee shirt, spilled lemonade on the waiter and walked into a poor old lady on his way to the men's room.

She was very startled and mumbled about how the young generation just doesn't care about the elders anymore. She even went to the extent of calling him ,and here I quote, a complete nitwit dud who has potatoes for eyes. Perrie, being the loyal friend, did not judge him quite yet, but I had my strong beliefs that she was presently having doubts about Harry's mental abilities.

"Are you okay?" I ask eyeing him as he slides into the chair. The hard glare he had been wearing turns into a soft frown and I can't help but smile. Every time I started talking to him I felt a flurry of butterflies hit me. I now knew that I had to make a conscious attempt not to say something even vaguely stupid.

"I guess..." He mumbles, sipping on his soda. I could see that he was trying very hard to come off as a good person but his butter fingers were not helping him.

"So...Harry, how did you manage to get a job?" Perrie asks skeptically. I nudge her hardly with my elbow so she adds a small smile to her question.

"Um...how was the venue looking?" I ask again, praying to God that the topic can be changed.

"It looked amazing Al, don't worry." He says showing me his stunner smile.

"I am pretty sure it wasn't that good." I say modestly. I was hoping I could get all the small pieces together before four days, before the wedding, before the elopement.

"Why do you doubt your abilities?" Perrie asks suddenly.

I look stunned for a moment before I open my mouth to answer, nothing really comes out.

"I know right, it's good to be modest, but not being proud at all is kind of stupid." Harry butts in. Okay, I expected him to take my side.

"You can't accept compliments, it's so frustrating. If someone says you look good Alia, it means you do.If someone says you have done something well, you have done it the best possible way you can." She says, nibbling on her salad as she conducts her 'therapy sessions' right in public.

"I can accept compliments." I say stubbornly. This was all very pointless. I didn't need a diploma on accepting a compliment. And besides it's not like I get complimented a lot.

"No, no you can't." Harry says, leaning back into his chair.

"Oh please, it's not like I need to learn how to accept one. It's just that I don't want to come off as an obnoxious girl. I am not like that." I say timidly. How did we ever end up talking about this?

"Oh Al, you deserve compliments. Not always from Harry because he just seems like a klutz, he may forget, but even from your friends, your siblings, you deserve love." She says, smiling her billion-watt smile. Harry glares at her for a moment for calling him a klutz but nods along with her.

"Well, that means a lot." I say honestly, trying very hard not to cry.

"So Harry, how did you two meet?" Perrie asks. And this is where the awkward part of the situation begins.

"Oh long story! You just need to know this much that she embarrassed herself by calling me Nick and asking me all of these random questions about Jas." He says proudly. As if he had accomplished something great by not embarrassing himself for once.

"Oh please, I completely forgot about it." I say. It was a lie. I remember the day till date.

"Another thing you need to work on, lying, you don't do that very well.The second time we met, I saw her underwear." He says cheekily. Oh, that day,possibly the worst day ever.

"What?" Perrie shouts, several heads turn our way but we don't bother looking.

"She won't admit it but every time we meet she does something stupid, and that's why I like her." He says, mischief gleaming in his orbs.

"You like me because I am an embarrassing person?" I ask not believing him at all.

"That's one of the reasons why I like you." He corrects me.

+

We left the cafe a little later just casually strolling around the park near it. Perrie had left to talk the caterers the final time before the wedding. So I decided to stay behind with Harry.

"How has all the planning been going?" He asks curiously as we walk towards the pond in the middle of the park.

"Okay, I guess..." I reply simple. The butterflies were on the full blast mode as now we were the only two ones.

"Are you sure? You haven't really been talking to me anymore." He says, I look at him and actually find him looking scared for a moment before it was replaced with concern.

"It's just...I have been really nervous lately. I have been nervous while talking to you." I mumble, hoping that he didn't hear me.

"You have,why didn't you just tell me?" He asks, I can see him smiling at me from the corner of my eye.

"You do know when you are nervous you are terrified of speaking to the person, right?" I ask, looking straight ahead and not at his distracting features.

"Oh right, I forgot about that. But Al, I don't want you to be scared of me, at all." He says, pocketing his hands and looking forward.

"Just add that onto the things I have to learn." I say shrugging to which he lets out a chuckle.

He stops in his tracks and looks at me, I too stop but look at the pigeon sitting behind him.

"Alia, don't be scared of me." He whispers and leans in.

I didn't know what to do, so I just lightly push him away. Kissing him would be very distracting and that's not what I want to be.

He pushes me right back.

I push him again.

And then begins the push-war.

Suddenly I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Harry is in the middle of jamming his hand right onto my shoulder when I look down into my purse and search for my phone, he stops mid-air.

I read the text and know something is up, someting important.

It's from Louis and it's relatively small:
We need to talk.

_

( This is unedited, all right.

Plus this story is just getting interesting, I can't leave you'll hanging for days.)