Unwanted

"So tell me. How in the world did you ever manage to harness Harry and get him to stay home?" Louis asked me as we were sat on his bed. I looked up from my laptop, confused. It had been a few days since the supper, and this was the first time he mentioned that night.

"What are you talking about, Lou?" I asked, scrolling on my twitter. The media finally found out Maddie and I were friends of the boys, which resulted in a Sugarscape article, and some more Instagram and Twitter followers. I was in the middle of answering a few of my mentions. Louis let go of the pair of pants he was folding and sat down beside me.

"Harry never misses an opportunity to go to the club. None of us get why he stayed back. And he was all smiley the next day. Please don't tell me you guys sexed up my couch," Louis pleaded. I laughed, shaking my head, telling him not to worry. I shrugged, though, not knowing more than him. This was odd. When I befriended Louis, I most certainly didn't sign up for this. I signed up for a friendship with Louis. Nothing less, nothing more. I loved talking to the other boys, but I wasn't trying to befriend any of them, especially not Harry. I wasn't born yesterday. Some of the fans were vicious. Anyone who even dared get involved with Harry would be objected to such ridicule, I don't think I'd be able to deal with it.

"You guys should talk more," Louis wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and I sighed.

"I'm not sure I want that," I said hesitantly. Louis eyed me as if I was crazy, and I knew I'd have to spill. "It's just, I'm quite content with being seen as a friend of yours and nothing more. Like, anything involving Harry is either wildly loved or viciously hated," I explained, shrugging.

"Don't you think he's worth the risk?" Louis asked. I laughed, not really knowing. "I think you should at least try it. You know, kind of secretly. Decide if it's worth it," Louis quickly added, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes, going back to my laptop. If there was one thing I knew, it's that Louis was crazy.

"Whatever," I finally replied, shaking my head.

"So... that's a yes, right?" he asked me hopefully. "Good, good. I could set up a date for you two right in the flat. Say, tomorrow night? Great, Harry will pick you up tomorrow at eight," Louis spoke quickly. Shocked, I stared at him, being thrown into this 'date'.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said, rubbing my temples. Louis laughed, sitting beside me.

"Funny, he said the same thing when I told him this morning!" Louis said, grinning as he patted my thigh.

"Just... why?" I asked, trying to keep a straight face. As much as I was trying to be mad at Louis, it just wasn't working.

"Once upon a time, it was Harry setting me up with a pretty girl he had met, and we're happier than ever two years later! So I thought I'd return the favor," he said, shrugging. That evening, Maddie freaked out when I told her. I laughed, knowing that this was probably a bigger deal for her than for me. Maddie forced me into bed at nine that evening, telling me I needed some rest for tomorrow.

The next day it was hard to concentrate on classes. As much as I was dreading this 'date', I was also kind of excited. I mean, not every girl gets to go on a date with Harry Styles. I kept finding myself daydreaming about the date during class, and I just couldn't concentrate. Finally, when my last class ended at five, I ran back to the dorm, Maddie already waiting for me on the bed.

"Why aren't you in class?" I asked suspiciously, knowing very well that Maddie had class until six on Wednesdays.

"Louis texted me to tell me that I needed to dress you up fancy, so I decided to skip. It was just Art History anyways, nothing too important," she explained herself, rushing over to me and guiding me to her desk chair which she had pulled up in the middle of the room. I reluctantly sat down, and she started right away. For an hour she swiped all kinds of brushed and colors onto my face, and the next she had my hair into a cute little updo.

When I went to see myself in the bathroom mirror, I gasped. My face had been erased of any little imperfection or blemish, and my hazel eyes looked nicer than ever, complimented by the eyeshadow and eyeliner. I turned to Maddie, who was rummaging through her drawers. She was crazy. I went back out and sat on her bed, and she finally pulled out something she thought would be good enough for tonight. I rolled my eyes at the dress she almost had to get me into by force, and immediately felt self conscious. I wasn't used to showing off skin, and this dress was definitely out of my comfort zone. It was a beautiful black dress. It was strapless and ended mid-thigh, and it was pretty tight, showing curves I never thought I had. She finished off the look with a pearl necklace, and I felt my phone buzz at a text. Louis told me Harry was on his way, and Maddie lent me a beautiful black clutch purse, which I shoved my phone in.

Ten minutes later, we heard a knock at the door, and Maddie excused herself, claiming she needed a shower. I took in a deep breath, putting on a smile as I opened the door. It was hard to keep my cool as I saw Harry's lanky figure dressed in some skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, and a blazer. He was holding out a rose, and smiled shyly as he gave it to me. I laughed, taking it, knowing that Louis probably forced Harry to give me a rose with lots of threats.

"Louis made you, huh?" I said, chuckling as I set the rose on my bed, turning back to Harry. "So... this is Maddie and I's place, it's not much, but yeah," I said, suddenly feeling how small and ordinary our dorm was.

"I like it, it's cozy," Harry said. "Shall we go? I think Louis will kill us if we're not on time," he added, laughing. I nodded, smiling up at him as he offered his arm, which I took gratefully as we walked to his car. The ride to their apartment was nice, and we chattered lightly. It felt weird that we were technically on a date together. It felt much more casual than that.

Finally arrived to their building, Harry helped me out of the car and we made our way to his own apartment, which he knocked on the door, and we both laughed at how serious Louis was taking this. Soon the door opened, and past Louis we could see the dim light and soft music playing in the background. We looked at each other, raising our eyebrows.

"Welcome to Chez Louis, the best restaurant in town," he exclaimed, leading us inside. We were brought to their dining room, which had been transformed into a small restaurant with one table. It had lots of candles and soft music playing. We laughed, being seated.

"On the menu is some Nando's, because I can't cook," he said, pouring us some wine and setting down our entrees, which were far from fancy mozzarella sticks. He disappeared then, and Harry and I were left on our own. We chatted a bit while eating the mozzarella sticks.

Over the course of the supper, we had discussed many things, and I came to the conclusion that Harry wasn't too bad, and that we had quite a bit in common.

"By the way, I think you look lovely this evening," he said, looking down at his plate as we were eating cheesecake. I blushed, looking at my own plate.

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself," I breathed, trying to process Harry complimenting me. He chuckled then, and we smiled at each other.

"You know, I really wasn't expecting this a few days ago," he said, smiling.

"Me neither, actually. Louis is quite the cupid, huh?" I said, laughing easily. We talked for a few more minutes until Louis shooed us away from the dining room. He led us back to the main entrance, his hands on his hips. "Dinner's over kids. You can go home, or go clubbing, do anything, but I have a little Nando's left over and Eleanor hiding in my room, so get out of our hair so we can have our own romantic date," he said, chasing us out of the house. He slammed the door behind us, and we both looked at each other.

"So..." Harry started, putting his hands in his pockets.

"So..." I repeated after him, laughing. Louis definitely knew how to finish off a nice date.

"There's a park not far, we can go for a walk there, then I could bring you home?" he offered. I nodded, buttoning up my coat as we made our way downstairs. It was already 11 at night, so we weren't too scared of getting caught by the press. The park Harry showed me was beautiful, and we ended up walking for quite a while. We talked about everything, from our families to our friends. It was a nice time, and it was 12:30 in the morning when I was finally standing a few feet from Harry's car, Harry leading me up to the dorm door. I turned, smiling.

"Well, this is it! This was really fun, thanks," I said, smiling up at the tall boy.

"No, thank you. Or thank Louis. He's the one who set this all up," he said, and we both laughed. "But seriously, I had a lot of fun, we should do something again soon," he said, his hands in his pockets.

"I wouldn't mind that," I said, my heart fluttering. I stoop on my tiptoes as Harry looked at his feet, giving him a small, fleeting kiss on the cheek before turning and leaving him on the doorstep.

Once I got upstairs, Maddie drilled me about the night, and I told her everything. She was in high spirits for me, and once in bed, my smile faded a little. What the hell was I doing? I had school and a life to take care of. Going on dates with a superstar weren't in my plans. That was pretty much a full time job in itself. I knew how Eleanor and the other girls were under constant scrutiny and were criticized for every little thing they did wrong. I didn't want to be thrown into that life, and as I started falling asleep, I knew I had to end this before it even began, as much as it would hurt me.

Notes