Olivia refused to let Harry pay for her.

Not wanting Olivia to be anymore testy then she already was, Harry let it go. They sat down in the busy food court, ignored by busy patrons. Nobody gave them a second glance so Harry chanced taking his glasses off. This conversation was going to be personal, he didn’t want to be disrespectful in anyway.

“I love frozen yogurt.” Harry declared, eating a large spoonful. Olivia waited, nibbling on an M&M.

“What else do you love?” Olivia asked almost mockingly.

“Sex,” Harry wasn’t going to beat around the bush or lie. Olivia deserved more than that.

Olivia snorted, rolling her dark eyes. “And your mom?”

Harry grimaced, “Not exactly in that context.”

“’Course not.”

“Speaking of mums—”

Olivia sighed exasperatedly. “Why are you so obsessed with my mom? I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish by trying to bring her up after all these years.”

“I just get the feeling that no one ever had this talk with you.” Harry shrugged.

“You’ve met my dad, right?” Olivia asked. He nodded. “Then you know that he’s the kind of guy who won’t let anything go. He sent me to therapy, he brought me to church. He did everything to make what happened right. For him.” She sighed with a sharp tone of frustration, “I’m not a big talker, if you couldn’t tell. I keep everything bottled inside and I don’t like when people try to pry into things that aren’t any of their business. I lost my mom. It was a tragedy. But at some point people need to move on, Harry. And I’ve come to terms that shit happens and it happened to me. So, please, Harry. Drop it.”

She stared meaningfully at the Brit. He contemplated it. He mulled it over. Harry wasn’t completely sure why he wanted to hash out some old painful memory. He could tell that even though it was years ago, it still hurt. So, he decided to do as he was told because he was certain he wouldn’t get anything else out of her on the subject.

“I just want to get to know you.” Harry said quietly, “I get that you’re a private person. I respect that. I get the desire to have privacy more than anyone. But, sometimes friends have to ask the hard questions to get to know each other better. We are friends, right, Olive?”

“I don’t know,” Olivia pursed her lips, “Are you asking or telling?”

“I’d prefer an honest answer.” Harry replied.

Olivia blinked, “Sure, Harry. We’re friends.”

Harry grinned, “Good. Because I like you, Olive.”

“I like you too, Harry.” Olivia breathed. “When you’re not being an ass.”

Harry threw back his head, laughing. His hand flew to his beanie when it almost fell off. Olivia’s eyes flickered to it, “Now that we’ve established friends ask each other the tough questions: who was the dirty lass from last night?”

Harry narrowed his green eyes, trying to configure the American sitting before him. “Why? You jealous? You wish you—”

“I’d suggest you shut your mouth if you don’t want me to punch you in your pretty face.” Olivia warned.

A smirk danced upon Harry’s taunting lips. “Her name was Bailey and she’s a big fan.”

Olivia felt something tighten within her and she didn’t know why. “That’s nice.” Nothing in her tone and face told Harry that it was nice.

“It was just a one night stand.” Harry promised, “I won’t see her again.”

“That’s not very gentlemanly of you.” Olivia rolled her eyes.

Harry couldn’t help wonder why all their conversations led to fights like they were some bickering couple.

“Yeah, well—” Harry cleared his throat.

“What happened to Caroline?” Olivia said shortly. She couldn’t help the obvious disdain in her voice.

Harry felt his heart drop into his stomach. “Don’t be like that.” He murmured.

“Don’t be like what?” She crossed her arms, raising her brows.

“Like Louis.” Harry spat. “All judgmental and disappointed. It’s my life. I can do whatever the fuck I want.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Harry wanted to take them back. But, he was tired of everyone throwing their unwanted opinions in his face. He was just sick of it. “Sorry, Olive.”

Olivia retracted, “It’s alright. I don’t want to talk about my mom, you don’t want to talk about your complicated relationship with Caroline. We all have our breaking points.”

She checked her watch as Harry opened his mouth. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say but she cut him off before he could start. “We should get back. The workers at H&M are going to murder me with all Zayn’s ‘no’s’.

“Right,” Harry nodded, watching Olivia pick up her trash and throw it away. For some reason, unbeknownst to him, Harry felt ashamed. Something nipped away inside him and Harry felt his hand pulling out his phone, scrolling through his contacts, and deleting a name: Bailey.

“You ready?” Olivia asked, putting her hands on her hips. Harry peered up at her, surprised to see her eyes were apologetic.

“Yeah,” He smiled lightly. She held out her hand and he took it. She dropped it quickly once he was standing, but Harry felt the static.

They walked back together. There was a shift in the air between them, a mutual understanding that their relationship had just changed, whether they liked it or not.

Olivia was shocked when all four boys were sitting quietly outside the store with two bags in each hand and a new beanie on Louis’ head. She felt a little guilty for not believing they could behave themselves. Louis was twenty after all. He should be the one in charge of them all, not Olivia.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Harry whispered, sending shivers down her spine.

Olivia made an effort to roll her eyes, “I’m sorry I doubted you guys. Obviously you can be left alone for more than ten minutes without causing a riot. I apologize for my skepticism.”

“Well, thank you, m’lady.” Louis stood up and curtsied.

“Does that mean you’ll let us do our own thing more often?” Niall piped up.

“No,” Olivia shot down, “But’s that’s only because it’s my ass on the line if you end up on the front page of some rag mag with a huge scandal.”

“Fair enough,” Liam nodded, standing up.

“Shall we head off, yeah?” Zayn asked, running a hand through his quiff.

“Yeah, let’s get back.” Olivia agreed.

+ + +

“You should apologize more often,” Harry murmured behind Olivia as she plugged in her laptop back in the apartment. The rest of the boys were putting their new goodies away. “You look so cute when you apologize.”

“That doesn’t even make sense, Harry.” Olivia shook her head, blowing a stray hair out of her face as she bent over.

“Whatever, love.” Harry grinned, waving his hand. Once Olivia had her computer put away, she turned to face the curly-haired lad.

“Can I help you with something?” It wasn’t rude, but it was to the point.

Harry shrugged, tossing himself onto her freshly made bed in a seductive position. “Just wanted to have a right chat with my friend. That good with you, Olive?”

Olivia narrowed her eyes, thinking of a few things she’d like to ask him. “Alright. So, what else does Harold Styles love besides frozen yogurt, sex, and his mom.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Louis popped in the room obnoxiously. “What is this talk about sex and sweet ol’ Annie? Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Olivia?”

Harry shifted awkwardly, fighting the urge to bop his best mate on the head. Olivia breathed, shaking her head. “Harry was just telling me about himself.”

“That makes sense.” Louis nodded, plopping himself onto her bed as well, causing Harry to sit up. “We all know how much Harold loves a good shag. Well, I’m much more fascinating than that wanker.” He jutted his thumb in the curly-haired boy’s direction. Harry glared at Louis, silently willing him to go away. This was supposed to be his alone time with Olivia. Louis was always trying to ruin things for Harry when it came to girls.

Maybe Louis really was gay, Harry thought childishly.

“I’m sure you are, Lou.” Olivia smiled softly. “You boys hungry? I can order something.”

“Please,” Louis waved his hand, “I’m a big boy. I can order a simple dinner.”

Olivia laughed her musical laughter and Harry forgot why he was annoyed with Louis. “Alright. You know where the menus are. Have at it.”

Louis jumped from the room and yelled to the other boys that he was ordering them all dinner and they had to convene in the living room.

“Kids,” Olivia muttered, “They grow up so fast.”

Harry grinned, liking this new side to Olivia. “I’m starved. I better go supervise him or else he might mess up everyone’s order. On purpose.”

“Sounds like—” Olivia was cut off by the ringing of her phone. She turned her head towards it as Harry stood up.

“I’ll leave you to the business side of this friendship.” He smirked before disappearing.

Olivia picked up her phone and held it to her ear. “Olivia Mann.”

“Hey, Olive,” Her father’s voice rang. “How’s it going?”

“Busy.” Olivia answered, listening to the background noise. It sounded busy. There were mechanical voices and beeps. “How about you?”

“Good, good,” He sounded distracted. “Listen, honey, I meant to talk to you before you left, but those charming boys got in the way.”

“Yeah, they do that.” Olivia agreed wholeheartedly. “What’s going on dad?”

A breathy sigh sounded through the speaker. Charles delayed speaking for a moment but Olivia waited patiently. “Olivia—”

“Charlie,” A muffled female voice interrupted him. “Charlie, sweetie, it’s time to go.”

It was Julia’s voice. And it was tender and intimate. Olivia had never heard Julia speak to anyone like that, especially not her father.

“Dad, is Julia with you?” Olivia asked wearily, “What’s going on?”

“Maybe another time, Olive.” He sighed again. She could almost hear him rubbing his face tiredly. “I’ll call you soon. I love you.” And the line went dead.

Notes

Thank you to infinity for all your comments (:
Means a lot!