Days passed since Penelope returned to England and now that Gemma was also back, they were eager to spend time together. It would be a nice break from the surplus hours she had been working on designs and the excess shifts she had taken at the restaurant to keep her busy while Harry was away. Penelope definitely needed a break so when Gemma called inviting her to spend the day in the city, she was more than enthusiastic.

The girls spent most of the day at the fair that was set up in town. Carousels and Ferris wheels only brought them closer together. Together, they even braved the precarious looking thrill rides that were probably assembled the night before. After risking life and limb on a rickety Tilt-a-Whirl, they shared candyfloss and even won prizes for each other at the carnival games that were set up. Penelope happened to be very good at the rope ladder climb and won a ginormous stuffed Bart Simpson doll for Gemma who won her a big inflatable hammer at a ring toss.

At one point, Live While We’re Young started playing over the loud speakers. Gemma started pretending she was gagging and playfully yelled “Who sings this shit, anyways?” She was scolded by a few parents and One Direction fans who didn’t know who she was, but she and Penelope just laughed and continued eating their candyfloss.

After a long day, Penelope and Gemma decided that breakfast for dinner was a great idea, so they went to a nearby Ed’s Diner. It was pretty much empty when they got inside which was all the better for them.

“How do you think Harry will react when he finds out that we’re together?” Gemma asked jokingly as they sat down at a booth. “I don’t reckon he’d be to pleased.”

“I’ll break it to him gently,” Penelope laughed. “What we have together is real. He’s just going to have to accept that.”

Gemma opened her menu, “Our love is as real as my hunger for some chocolate chip pancakes! The picture looks so good!” She turned the menu around to show Penelope the large stack of pancakes that were dripping with syrup and whipped cream.

“Oh my goodness,” she sighed and stuck her tongue out like she was going to lick it. “I’ll share one of those with you if you want.”

“Um, you didn’t even have to suggest that because that’s what I was planning on doing actually,” Gemma giggled. “So that’s settled.”

At that moment , Penelope’s phone started ringing. A picture of Casey and Hadley popped up, so she answered immediately. “Hi, Casey.”

She sounded concerned and slightly frantic, “Nell, are you okay? Why haven’t you called?”

Penelope was taken aback, “Casey, I’m fine! Was I supposed to call today?” Gemma raised her eyebrow in bewilderment. Nell just shrugged.

“Well… no, but…” her tone changed from concerned to confused. “Are you and Harry still together?”

Now Penelope really had no clue what was going on. Subconsciously, she sat up very straight and looked at Gemma as if she could hear the conversation, “Yes. I’m pretty sure Harry and I are still together.”

Gemma’s jaw dropped, “What’s going on, now?” Penelope shrugged again.

“Well,” Casey sounded deflated. “I just… never mind, then.”

“Why did you think we broke up?”

“I… It doesn’t really matter, I don’t think.”

“Casey, you’re acting very strange. What do you know that I don’t?”

Casey hesitated, “Well, hypothetically speaking,” she began trying to tell Penelope what happened in a gentle manner, “let’s just pretend that I get some American channels on my TV. I might have been surfing through those channels and seen that One Direction were doing an interview.”

“Okay,” Penelope said urging her to continue.

“Now, just using our imaginations here, Harry might have said that he was single.”

“He said what?” She refrained from yelling, but still sounded outraged.

“Who said what?” Gemma asked.

“Harry said that he was single!” Nell whisper-yelled. Gemma’s eyes went wide and she covered her face with her hand.

Casey interrupted, “I may have been sparing your feelings a little when I said that he said he was single.”

“What did he really say then?” Just based on Penelope’s tone, Gemma could tell that the situation wasn’t getting better. She put her other hand on her face and slid down in her seat.

Casey sighed, “The host of the show put a picture up of the two of you and he said that you two weren’t together. Then he said he was single. Then the guy kind of asked him if he was open to a relationship and he said yes, if the right girl came along. Please don’t be mad.” She added hastily.

“No, I’m not mad. Thanks for telling me.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

Penelope could tell it was a double sided question. Was she going to be okay and were she and Harry going to be okay, “I think so.” The waiter came over to their table. “So, Casey I’m out at dinner right now, I’ll call you back soon, alright? Tell Hadley and Mark I said hi.”

“I will! Tell Mage, Anthony, and Charlie I say hi if you see them before I do. Enjoy your dinner!”

“Talk to you later,” Penelope said before ending the call.

Gemma looked at her sympathetically. She had told the waiter to come back after Penelope got off the phone. “So, I’m guessing my brother did something dumb?”

“A little dumb,” Penelope sighed with a forced smile. “There was an interview in America and they showed a picture of me and Harry and he said we weren’t together and he’s willing to date if the right girl comes along.”

“Oh,” Gemma grimaced. “It’s that last part that really was just not the best thing to say.”

“Yeah, I mean like I get if he doesn’t want to tell the entire world right now, but that just sounds like ‘Oh, no! I’m never gonna date her!’”

“Harry isn’t the best with interviews, especially if it’s about his personal life. Even more so when management have told him not to talk about something and then the interviewer asks about that something.” Gemma offered. “I’m sure he was just back pedaling.”

Penelope smiled a genuine smile at Gemma she was so sweet for trying to make her feel better and defending her brother at the same time. “You’re right. It just sucks. Even though I know its not real there’s still that feeling deep down that’s a little upset about it. You know?”

“I understand. I mean, I guess I don’t truly understand, but you’re not silly for being upset.” Gemma said playing with her menu. “Did you still want to eat or are you not feeling up to it?”

“I’m still for it.” Penelope giggled.

“Alright, I’ll call the waiter over.”

The rest of the dinner went surprisingly well. It wasn’t awkward at all and Penelope hardly even thought about the situation with Harry. She didn’t eat as much of the pancakes as she thought she would, but Gemma was happy to make up for her slack. After dinner, Gemma dropped Penelope off at her flat. As she got ready for bed, Penelope struggled with calling Harry and ignoring the situation. Ultimately, she decided to call.

The phone rang and rang and rang. Finally, he picked up. “Hey, Nell. What’s up?”

“Nothing, really. I was getting ready for bed and I just… well something sort of interesting happened today.”

“What happened?” He sounded tired. She was really considering making something up and just pretending she didn’t know about the interview.

She closed her eyes as she forced herself to talk, “Um, Casey called today and she thought we broke up.”

“Why would she think we broke up?” Either he totally forgot what he said or he was really good at playing innocent.

Penelope just started rambling at this point because she felt guilty for making a big deal of the situation when it was probably nothing. “Well she said that she was just channel surfing and she saw an interview with you and the boys and you said that we weren’t together and she was worried.”

“Oh no,” Harry sighed, but Penelope continued rambling.

“So then she called me and I told her that we were still together and there was nothing to worry about. And your sister said that management probably said it. I suppose she was probably right, but I still felt weird. I just spent all night thinking should I call or shouldn’t I—“

“Babe.”

“Now I just feel really stupid—“

“Helloooo, Nell!”

“Because I’m blowing the whole thing out of proportion and I know that and I’m sorry.”

“Are you alright?” Harry asked now that she had paused.

Penelope took a deep breath, “Yeah, it made me a little upset, but I guess I’m sort of over it now. I don’t really know what I want you to say, but… please just say something.”

“Okay, well first off, it was management that told me to lie and say we weren’t together. I told them I didn’t want to and they kinda told me to get over it, but in nicer words. Then when we got to the interview, I wasn’t really expecting them to pull up a picture so I didn’t know what to say. Plus, I didn’t want all of our fans to send you hate for being with me. I was going to tell you about the management thing when I got back, but obviously that plan was shit. You don’t have to be sorry. I’m sorry that you have to go through this and I should have told you earlier.”
Penelope sat on her bed and looked sadly at her stuffed turtle, Hendrix, which sat at the end of her bed, “I’m not mad at you Harry. I’m just sad that we can’t go out whenever we’d like.”

“It sucks for me too. I hate being by myself when I come home.”

“Do you know when we’ll be able to go out without everyone having a panic attack?”

“Nah, they just kept saying ‘It won be forever’,” Harry said with the voice of a posh old man. For a moment neither of them said anything. He chuckled, “Are you still picking me up from the airport or should I call my mum?”

Penelope laughed, “No, I’ll pick you up.”

“Cool,” She could practically hear his smile through the phone. “Are you about to go to bed?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna cuddle up with Hendrix,” Penelope grabbed the turtle.

Harry scoffed, “Now you’re just trying to make me jealous. I guess you really should get to bed though.”

“You sound tired too,” Penelope said matter of factly.

“Yeah, I’m gonna try to get a nap in when we get back to the hotel.”

Penelope yawned. “That’s good. I’m about to fall asleep. I miss you!”

“I miss you too! Think of me while you sleep,” he said suggestively before laughing. “Goodnight.”

Penelope shook her head. “Goodnight Harry, see you Saturday.”

Notes

Hi guys! It's been a while! To make it up to you, the next chapter will be up soon :)
Either tonight (sun), tomorrow(mon) or tuesday
I hope you like the chapter! Let me know in the comments what you think might happen or if you liked it... or if you plan on watching the VMAs! Hope you all have a great day and thanks to everyone who comments, subscribes, and recs the story! It means so much to me! Talk to you guys soon! <3