The Girl with the Purpled Streaked Hair

Both of them stayed quiet as Harry bought the dress and Lori just stood next to him, looking down at her worn out converse. When they walked out of the little store Harry opened Lori's door and handed her the dress after she sat down. Harry got into his own seat and they drove off. The silence was uncomfortable and Lori didn't like it, it reminded her too much of the fragile silence that constantly occupied her house. No words were exchanged for a little while. The weird thing was they hadn't even fought, Lori just though he was annoyed because they were "in trouble," and she felt awful that she was probably the cause of it.
"Thanks for the dress," Lori said quietly.
"No problem. I can't wait to see it on you."
"You already saw it on me," she said with a weak smile and looked down at her fiddling fingers.
"Yeah, but that was only for a second. Tonight I get to see you in it all night."
"Harry..." Lori said slowly as she dared look up at him, "why are we in trouble?"
"We're not in a lot of trouble. You're not even in trouble so don't worry. I, um, had to meet some people today and they were supposed to come over to my flat, but I wasn't there this morning."
"It's my fault," Lori said instantly, letting the guilt begin to tear up her insides.
"No, it's not," Harry said softly as a comforting smile appeared on his face. "Don't feel bad, I'm the one that invited you. I'm not even that late and we're close by. Smile Lori, I don't like seeing you frown."
"Who were you supposed to meet?"
"Just some stylists to help me get ready for the premiere tonight. If you want, I can ask Lou to help you get ready. She's incredible with hair."
"Okay."
They didn't talk for the rest of the ride which didn't really matter since they got to Harry's flat a few minutes later. Harry opened Lori's door for her and they walked up the path together. There were people waiting for them and Lori couldn't meet their gaze so she just looked down as Harry opened the door and everyone piled in.
"I-I'm just gonna go to my room," Lori said quietly as everyone set up their things.
"Alright, I'll send Lou in in a few minutes."
Just as Lori was heading towards her room Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her into him. He gave her a quick kiss causing her to smile and then let her go into her room. Lori closed her door and leaned against it as she calmed herself. She couldn't believe Harry was always surrounded by people, she knew for a fact she wouldn't be able to do that, but then again Harry was probably used to it and people loved him anyway because was so charming and funny; he was a people person. After another moment Lori walked over to her still messy bed and put the bag containing the dress in it. Someone started to knock on her door and at first Lori didn't want to open it, scared it'd be some official buisness person of Harry's who would yell at her for making him late.
"Lori, love open the door!" Lou said.
Lori let out a sigh of relief and smiled at the sound of Lou's voice. She opened the door and was immediately hugged by the gray haired beauty. They separated and sat on the bed together, smiles on both of their faces.
"Hey Lou. Harry said you're gonna work your magic on me."
"That's what I do best," she said with a prideful smile. "I was thinking, since neither of us really have anything to do today that I'd do a little touch up on your purple highlights and while your waiting I can get one of the makeup artists in here to do your makeup. What do you think?"
Lori nodded at Lou's idea. "Sounds good to me. There are makeup artists here?"
"Of course. The boys hate having little touch ups done on them, but when the whole world is watching you have to look perfect."
"No pressure there," Lori muttered under her breath, "Lou? This may sound silly, but while the person is doing my makeup could you possibly sit in here with me? Only if you're not busy," Lori quickly added.
"Of course, love. Aw Lori, you're such a sweetheart. No wonder Harry fancies you. I'll go get Jasmine, she's amazing. Be right back."
Before Lori could say anything Lou got up from the bed and left, but she quickly returned with a thin woman with sleeky black hair and dark chocolate skin. Lori noticed she had a really pretty smile and shook her hand when she extended it.
"Hello, I'm Jasmine."
"I'm Lori."
"Now that introductions are done. Jasmine, I was thinking that you do her makeup while I re-do her highlights. That alright with you?"
"Yeah, sure. She doesn't need much makeup just a little emphasizing. I'll go get my bag."
"What does she mean by emphasizing?" Lori asked when Jasmine left.
"Jaz wants to bring out all of your natural beauty. You're naturally gorgeous, Lori, so she doesn't have to put loads of makeup on you, just little things to make things, you know, noticeable. Make them pop. She'll probably just give you some natual looking makeup, simple as that."
Jasmine came back in the room with a fold up chair and a black bag on her shoulder. There was a lot of noise coming from outside the door, but Lori did her best to ignore it. Jasmine told her to sit down in the chair so she did. Her face was taken in Jasmine's hands and she examined Lori's slightly nervous face.
"I'll be right back," Lou said as she got up from the bed, "I have to get my stuff as well. Lucky for you, Lori, I always have things of hair dye in my bag."
"Are you wearing any makeup?" Jasmine asked Lori who shook her head no. "Perfect. This way I can start clean."
Jasmine took some moisutrizing cream out of her bag and began to rub it on Lori's face. It took a lot of will power for Lori not to laugh out loud. She felt like she was thirteen again and was at Christine's house for a sleepover. Christine loved giving Lori makeovers, but only if Lori could pick out the movie they were going to wach. As Jasmine started adding makeup Lou walked in with a big bag of her own. Lou began to do Lori's hair, putting strands of it in tinfoil to make the purple pop more. The whole makeover felt weird for Lori, she wasn't used to people touching her and she just wanted to squirm, but she forced herself to stay still. Jasmine and Lou just talked to her and each other as they continued to work on Lori. At first they wanted some details of her and Harry, but when Lori didn't budge they let it go and started talking about the premiere. Lori tried to hide her nervousness and hoped neither one of them would notice that her stomach was churning and that her palms were sweaty. This was the closest thing to preparing for prom that Lori had experienced. Dances and dresses weren't her thing so she had never gone to a formal dance before. Christine had been to loads of them and she always tried to get Lori to go, but she just wasn't interested in those kind of events. Seeing Christine become stressed over the dress, the hair, the shoes, etc. hadn't really helped Lori's curiousity anyway. She began to wonder what Harry was doing at that moment.
Harry was getting ready himself and as he was getting dressed Tim, a Modest! employee, was scolding him for his tardiness.
"Harry this is a really important day! We can't afford any mistakes, any tardiness, anything to go off our very tight schedule. Let's not forget that after this premiere we have the one in New York tomorrow. Mr. Deen will kill both of us once he finds out about this, you know how much he hates mistakes."
"Tim, man, calm down," Harry said with a half smirk while he buttoned up his shirt, "I was only a few minutes late."
"Seventeen to be exact, Mr. Styles," Tim said with narrowed eyes.
"Don't call me 'Mr. Styles'; it's weird. Tim, take a deep breath with me. Inhale. Exhale. You need to relax, mate. When was your last vacation?"
"Harry, I'm serious. Once Mr. Deen finds out you were late just because you were out on a shopping date with that girl-"
"First off," Harry interrupted, his eyebrows now in a small frown and his eyes a little darker, "that girl's name is Lori. Second off, it wasn't a date it was just a little errand. We just had to get her a dress real fast. It's my fault, she was supposed to leave today, but I didn't want her to so I invited her to the premiere. She needed a dress so we got her a dress; simple. Don't get upset at her, get upset at me."
Harry finished getting dressed and walked over to Lori's closed door. His knuckles struck it a couple of times before Lou opened the door. While she had been waiting for Lori's hair to be done so she could style it she had changed into her dress and just finished styling her own hair. Jasmine was just finishing Lori's touch ups when Harry said hello to all of them. He stood still as Lou began to do his hair, making sure his gorgeous curls were perfectly swept to the side and would stay there throughout the entire night.
"Alright," Jasmine said as she stepped away from Lori's face, "I'm all done, love."
"Thanks a lot Jasmine," Lori gushed as she got up, "it means a lot."
"No problem," Jasmine replied as she gave Lori a hug before leaving.
Lori stood next to Lou as she finished up Harry's hair.
"Alright, I'm done with you. Lori stand where Harry is so I can do your hair real quick."
As Lou curled Lori's hair all of them just began to talk.
"Lori was so cute while Jasmine did her makeup," Loud said as she continued to curl her hair. "She kept squirming about, all uncomfortable with people touching her face."
Harry chuckled as Lori stuck out her tongue. "She's shy like that," Harry said.
"I can't help it," Lori whined. "How do you get so used to people poking your face? It's weird."
Lou began to braid her hair so it made a little crown around her head and met in the middle of the back of her skull. She quickly put her dress on and her heels and the pair of earrings she brought with her. Finally everyone was done and crowded in Harry's living room. They all piled out of the flat and into separate cars. Lori noticed there were more cars there than when her and Harry came back from the shop. Harry and Lori were in the same car as Lou, Lux, and Sam so they just talked the whole ride there. Lori was fairly quiet the whole ride, not knowing what to expect from the crowds. When they got there they opened the doors of the car and the sound was almost too much for Lori to handle. She followed Harry out of the car and onto the red carpet. The rest of the boys came out of the other cars and met up with Harry. Everyone greeted each other and Lori saw how excited they all were. All the screams and flashing lights of the press were truly challenging her anxiety, but when she looked at Harry she became calm because she trusted him and liked being with him. Photographers kept shouting at her to pose with Harry.
"They know my name now," Lori thought to herself.
Her and Harry posed for a little bit, giving the photographers what they wanted. People were constantly coming up to her and Harry, telling Harry where to go, who to talk to, etc. Their fans were hysterical, especially when they came over to take pictures and sign autographs. Lori even told one of the girls that she liked her shirt and the girl smiled extremely wide and yelled "I ship you and Harry!"
"Hey Lori," Eleanor said as she grabbed her hand "want to come inside with me while the guys do their thing?"
"Sure," Lori said. She tapped Harry on the shoulder and he turned around to face her. "I'm going with Eleanor."
"Alright, I'll find you inside."
She and Eleanor started towards the theater, not bothering to talk until they were inside since the noise was so loud. They walked through the large lobby that was filled with formal looking people who didn't want to be outside with all the cameras and screaming fans. Lori followed Eleanor to her seat and sat next to her. There were already a few people in their seats, but the majority of the guests were out on the red carpet or in the lobby of the theater. Lori enjoyed the silence of the theater and was more than relieved Eleanor had taken her away from all the hype.
"Is this your first movie premiere?" Eleanor asked.
"Yup, I'm not gonna lie; I'm really nervous. Have you done these kind of things a lot?"
"Yeah, Louis invites to me to a lot, but I can't always go to them because I have school. I'm almost done though so then I'll probably get a job and I don't know how I'll be able to spend so much time with Louis."
Lori noticed her enthusiastic energy wasn't like it was a few minutes ago. She understood Eleanor must've been really upset that she didn't always get to spend time with Louis and once she got a job it'd be even more difficult. Christine had always told her about the boys' relationships and she admired how hard Louis and Eleanor must've worked to stay together for so long. They must've really loved each other.
"Y-You're not gonna break up with him, are you?" Lori asked quietly, her eyes wide with fear.
"No!" Eleanor immediately reasurred her, making Lori to let out a sigh of relief. "I'm not going to break up with Louis, I love him. I'm just a little worried, that's all. Sorry for dumping that on you, we're supposed to be having fun."
"It's fine. I get that you're at least a little scared about life getting in the way, but if you ask me I think you and Louis are gonna make it. And not just because I ship you guys," Lori added quickly with a smile, making Eleanor smile as well. "You mean a lot to Louis. He truly loves you, I've seen that, and you love him and I know this is really sappy, but I think that's the only thing that matters. The two of you have been doing it for what, two years now? I think you can keep going."
Eleanor smiled widely at Lori and gave her a tight hug over the seat. It was extremely comforting to have someone reasure her and it not to be her best friends or mother, but a girl she had only met a few times. She liked Lori a lot and she finally understood why Louis had had such a hard time describing her when they had first talked about Lori. He couldn't think of how to pinpoint any specific words to her other than special or different. Lori was hopeful and kind and Eleanor could tell it was just part of her nature. Now she definitely wanted Harry to date Lori.
"Thank you, Lori. You have no idea how much that means to me. Enough about me, I want to talk about you. I don't really know much about you."
Lori shrugged and began to fiddle with her fingers, missing having sleeves to hide her hands in. "There isn't much to know. This is my first time being out of the U.S., I'm looking for a job."
"I thought you worked at Hershey Park?" Eleanor asked.
"I was fired," Lori admitted, looking down at her exposed toes. "My boss, Robert, wanted me to go find a higher paying job. He said I was too smart to work at an amusement park and that I was wasting my potential."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but at least your old boss believes you can do better in you life."
"Yeah, I guess your right. I, uh, still need to tell Harry," Lori said sheepishly.
"You haven't old Harry yet?" Eleanor exclaimed with a surprised smile.
"Not yet. It just hasn't come up in conversation."
"Just say it," Eleanor said.
Before Lori could respond masses of people started to come into the theater. The girls assumed it was time for the movie to start. Lori saw a lot of famous people beginning to sit down in their seats like Little Mix and Simon Cowell. Soon Harry and Lori showed up and Lori followed Harry to their seats which were near the boys. Harry's family was there so they said hello and Harry introduced Lori to his step-dad.
"What were you and Eleanor talking about?" Harry asked.
"Just the premiere, you know, small chit chat."
"You guys are matching. The two of you are wearing blue."
"Oh wow, I hadn't noticed."
The lights began to dim, signaling the start of the movie.

Notes