You are my bitter rival
But I need you for survival
You are my bitter rival
But I need you for survival
You are my bitter rival
But I need you for survival
You are my bitter rival
But I need you for survival

Scarlett’s POV

One week down. One week of my first real job, working in the fashion industry. I must say, it hasn’t been too hard. Despite Harry’s wishes that I stop trying to schedule every aspect of my life, it was actually welcomed by Caroline and her team. There were deadlines to meet, stores to hit up. If I didn’t work on such a tight schedule, I would lose my mind.

Of course, Harry tried to do whatever he could to throw me off. Amelia thought I was insane, getting angry over his kind gestures, but I saw through them. The small smirk on Harry’s face when breakfast would suddenly appear at my hotel room in the midst of me getting ready, instead of me going to get some myself on the way out. Sending today’s outfit out to the cleaners so I would have to rework my wardrobe. They weren’t sweet gestures. He just liked to disrupt my day in any way he could.

“What could you possibly be doing, Scar,” I heard Harry’s voice behind me as I sat in the hotel’s lobby, rearranging my schedule while I sipped my coffee. The boys didn’t have anything on their agendas for the day and Caroline gave me the afternoon off, so I planned on seeing my boyfriend. We were headed to England next week, so this may have been my last time to see him for a while.

“What do you want, Harry. I’m busy,” I grumbled. That morning, Harry scheduled massages for all of the ladies, since we worked so hard at keeping the boys looking good, or whatever it was he said in his note. I saw right through that, he knew I had breakfast plans with Xander and now I would have to reschedule with him. Hopefully I could find somewhere to go for lunch that wasn’t too expensive and wasn’t crowded.

Harry pulled out the chair across from me and took a seat, that stupid smirk still on his lips. I rolled my eyes and shifted my focus back to my ipad, searching for a good lunch date location.

“What crawled up your arse today, Scar. I thought massages were supposed to relax you.” I shot him another look and took a sip of my coffee, swallowing hard. Harry tested my patience, as often as he could, but if it was one thing he knew I hated, it was being called Scar.

“I had to cancel my breakfast plans with Xander, and now I’m having trouble finding a restaurant that’s not too upscale, but where I can still enjoy his company. Oh, and also, for it to not be too far away from a yoga class. And to top it all off, my dad has a few meetings, so our dinner plans are practically ruined. My mom says we can find another place for dinner, but with my dad unsure of how long he’ll be at his meetings for, so making reservations will be a nightmare. They think we can just go up to any restaurant and be seated!” I don’t know why I shared all of this with Harry today, but it was finally getting to me. I had a whole day planned out, to spend with my loved ones, and it’s all gone down the tube.

Harry shook his head at me, his curly hair flopping all over the place as he laughed. “It’s not funny!” I shouted, earning even more laughs from him. I couldn’t help but smile after a while, his laughs were a bit infectious.

“You’ve got to calm down a bit, love. It’ll all work out in the end, I promise. Now, why don’t you tell your perfect little boyfriend to head in this direction, and I’ll walk you down to my favorite bistro. There’s hardly ever anyone in there, and it’ll be perfect for your date, how’s that sound?” I glanced at him sideways, confused as to why he was helping me.

“What? Don’t give me that look! I’m being helpful here, Scar.” Ugh. The name. That’s the Harry I’ve grown to know and loathe. With a roll of my eyes, I pulled out my phone and shot Xander a quick text, getting the directions from Harry. It’s a shame that he knew somewhere in my own city to go to that I didn’t.

I finished up my coffee and slid my tablet back into its case before putting it into its compartment in my purse. I could feel Harry’s eyes on me and I could tell he was making fun of me in his head.

Once my things were put away, I slipped on my new coat, (yes I was wearing the one he gave to me and I had actually grown quite fond of it), and headed for the door, with Harry and a security guard in tow. At first, it was a bit odd having someone follow me around whenever I was with Caroline or the boys, but I’m finally starting to get used to it.

“So, what kind of food do they serve?” I asked, making small talk. Harry smiled to himself and I frowned. He always seemed to be having some sort of private joke with himself whenever I said something. “What?”

Harry shook his hair out of his face and adjusted his sunglasses, giving me a knowing smile. “You’ll be there in less than ten minutes and you’re still trying to plan it all out in your head. I promise you, there will be food that you will like,” he snickered. I hated him.

I hated how he knew exactly how to get under my skin.
I hated how he pretended to do nice things to throw off my day.

I hated how quickly he figured me out.

But most of all, I hated that no matter how hard I would try and hate him, he would do something nice and for a moment, I could think of us as friends.

Only for a moment.

“Scarlett?” I could hear the unmistakable voice of Xander from behind me and I turned around, running straight into his arms. It had only been a week since I had seen him last, and even though we were still in the same city, running around with the boys every day made it hard for me to catch up with him.

For a moment I forgot that Harry was even there but was quickly brought back to reality by his clearing of his throat, causing me to whip around and glare at him.

This was one of those times when I hated him.

“Xander, this is Harry Styles. Harry, Xander,” I introduced the two of them in my most polite tone, silently begging Harry to be equally courteous.

“Pleasure,” Harry smirked, shaking Xander’s hand. I could tell he was sizing him up, cocky bastard.

“Baby, I didn’t know you were working with a man. Good thing I’m so trusting, huh,” Xander said after exchanging pleasantries with Harry. We kept walking on our way to the bistro and it seemed to have taken longer than the ten minutes promised. This was eating away at yoga time.

“At least they seem to be paying you well. I hope you’re not spending too much too soon. That coat must have cost you a pretty penny.”

My eyes darted to Harry’s who looked at me wide eyed, his eyes filled twinkling with mischief. I shot him a look, warning him to not tell Xander where I got it from. I don’t know why I hadn’t told Xander about the new coat or why I didn’t want him to know Harry got it for me, but it had to be for the best. Xander would just have too many questions.

“It was nothing. I’ll save the rest, I promise,” I told him, giving him a small peck on the cheek for reassurance. When we finally arrived to the bistro, I thanked Harry for leading us there and shooed him off, eager to have some alone time with Xander.

Harry’s POV

I was having the most boring time of my life. Kendall was on her way to go for dinner and a play or something, Louis picked Eleanor up from the airport and was spending the day with her, and Liam, Zayn, and Niall were off having fun on their own. They had all left before I got back from walking Scarlett and her boyfriend to their lunch date.

Something about that guy bugged me. Maybe it was the way he dismissed my greeting. Or how he seemed to tell Scar how to live her life. Who cares if she spent her first paycheck on a coat? She earned that money, and every now and then, you’ve gotta treat yourself. It didn’t go over my head that she didn’t tell him I was the one to buy it for her, something I would have to tease her about later.

I just didn’t trust him.

Glancing at the clock for the umpteenth time, I wondered where Scar was. They should have finished lunch hours ago and I haven’t received a response to my last text to the girl.

Of course, I had a billion from Kendall, all with her coming up with different things for us to do tonight. She wanted to go to a club, I wanted to do something more low key. She didn’t understand my desire to fly under the radar and it was starting to get on my nerves, but at the end of the day, she kept me entertained when I had nowhere to go and no one to spend time with. I wanted to like her, and most of the time, I did.

The sound of the connecting doors opening snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked over to it to see Scarlett walking through it, clad in her yoga pants and a crop top.

“Fuck,” I swore, low enough so that she hopefully didn’t hear me.

“Christ, Harry, sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here,” she quickly explained, her cheeks bright pink. It always amused me how often I seemed to make her blush and this time was no different.

“Oh? Came to steal my pants when I was gone?” I teased, laughing as her cheeks turned three shades darker. It was too easy.

“No! I…oh stop it you!” She threw a pillow from the other bed at me and continued towards the closet. “When I was hanging out with Liam last night, he loaned me his jacket and when I took it off, my cardigan was still inside. I’m going to need it for dinner tonight.”

Scarlett and Liam were hanging out last night? And where was my invite? What was I even doing? Flashes of Niall and I doing shots on a rooftop went through my head and I smiled at the thought. We probably had too much fun for those two.

As she went looking through Liam’s things, she bent over, giving me a clear view of her ass in those pants. It should be a crime to prance around in those things. I couldn’t help but stare. Kendall or not, looking was not the same as cheating.

Before I could stop myself, I was getting out of the bed and standing beside her, my hand resting on her back. My head had taken a backseat on telling my body what to do, I was being controlled by something else.

Scarlett let out a squeal and turned around, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger. “That wasn’t funny, you jerk!” she griped, punching me in the chest. I simply smirked at her, knowing that it would make her more angry than giving her a response would.

“What? I just thought I’d come and help you is all,” I said, my voice low and husky. Who was this guy? I wasn’t even trying to sound this way, but it was as though something had taken over me.

“I can help myself just fine,” she muttered, though she hadn’t made a move to get back to rummaging through Liam’s clothes. I took a few steps closer to her, very aware of the effect we seemed to be having on each other and watched as she bit her lip.

Fuck. This girl was going to be the best of me.

I had to kiss her. It was those damn pants, they seemed to have cast a spell on me.

Bringing my hand to her chin, I tilted it upwards, only to be interrupted by my phone ringing.

Scarlett’s eyes grew wide and she pushed me away, the obnoxious ring tone snapping us out of the trance we seemed to have on each other.

Of course it was Kendall, letting me know she was downstairs.

With a quick, ‘found it!’ Scarlett grabbed the sweater and raced off back to her room, shutting and locking the door behind her. If things weren’t already bad between us, they were about to get worse.

Sighing, I grabbed my coat and phone and let my security know I’d be leaving for my date with Kendall. I needed a distraction tonight. Maybe a club would be a good idea after all.

Notes

I got almost 200 more views since the last chapter was published and that feels ahmaaazing :D Again, please leave comments/votes and let me know what you think. The next chapter should be posted in the next day or so!