Harry loves me. Harry fucking Styles fucking loves me.

It was all I could think about. I’d had the biggest, goofiest smile plastered on my face all morning. Harry and I were in the car on the way to our quadruple date with the boys and their girlfriends. I should’ve been nervous, but all I could think about was Harry.

He loves me.

I couldn’t stop and I was pretty sure Harry was doing the same thing I was. He kept glancing over at me with a big grin on his face. He would just look at me and smile, then turn back to the road. I loved it. I loved him.

I’d put on some flowy, black and white pants with a black tube top and my hair down in waves. Harry had on his usual black jeans and a black v-neck. His hair was quiffed and I wanted to die just looking at him.

“Harry, baby, we so match right now.” I giggled.

“Uh, oh. We’re gonna get shit for this if anyone notices.” He smirked.

“Only cause we’re cute.”

“You’re cute.”

“Harrrry!” I spoke with playful frustration. We pulled into the parking lot and when we passed Louis’ car, panic hit me like a sack of bricks.

I’m about to meet the girlfriends of One Direction. Shit. They’re all so perfect. I have to step up my game if I want to carry this title.

I psyched myself out.

“You ready, love?” Harry opened my car door and held his hand out. I smiled and nodded, trying to hide my anxiety as he laced his fingers with mine and we headed inside the restaurant.

“Harry! How are ya, mate?” Liam stood from the table, the others all followed. Harry and I were the last ones to arrive. I hugged Liam and Louis.

“Leah, this is Danielle. Danielle, Leah.”

“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you!” I said, clearly ecstatic.

“You too.” She smiled and turned to find her seat. I didn’t think anything of her quiet behavior. I figured she was just shy, or hungry.

I get quiet when I’m hungry. No, I get pissed off when I'm hungry.

“Hi love, I’m Eleanor!” Louis’ girlfriend hugged me around the neck. “It is so great to finally meet you! I’ve heard such great things!”

“Thank you! I’m so glad to meet you as well!” I smiled. She was clearly very happy to meet me. Her warm personality made me feel so welcome.

“Leah, hi! This is Perrie!” Zayn walked up, but he didn’t hug me. That was okay though. I knew things would probably be quite awkward for Perrie and I.

“Hi, I can’t believe we’re finally getting to meet!” She hugged me. “You’re going to fit in so well! I love you already!” She was so bubbly. She acted like nothing had ever happened between me and her boyfriend.

Thank you, God!

“Thank you! I’m so glad you think that!” I grinned and we all began to find our seats. There were two empty seats between Eleanor and Liam so Harry and I took those. I sat next to Eleanor. She was the sweetest girl I’d ever been around.

“So, Leah. Tell me about everything. How did you and Harry meet, when was your first kiss, you know, all the juicy stuff!” Eleanor beamed.

I told everyone the story of Harry and I – even the part about the club when I kissed Zayn. I figured everyone knew and I wanted them to know how much I regretted it. Perrie’s expression didn’t change from the warm, bubbly, upbeat one that she’d held when we’d first met. She was completely fine with the whole story. However, I did take notice that Danielle’s expression cringed when I spoke. It was almost as if the whole story disgusted her. I was sitting right across from her and she didn’t even try to hide her disapproval of me. I decided to ignore her. I wasn’t going to let her detour me from becoming friends with Eleanor and Perrie.

“Sounds like you two have made it through a few rough patches, but you came out of it all, matching your outfits!" She giggled and Louis let out a dramatic snort, almost spilling his tea.

Everyone else laughed too as Harry gave me an "I told you so" look. I blushed. I loved the fact that we matched.

"I think it's adorable! Louis, we're going to start matching more often!" Louis muttered something under his breath. I didn't hear, but Eleanor did.

"You’ll love tour, Leah. These boys are so much fun, even though they’re annoying as hell.” Eleanor made a face as Louis scoffed at her. She giggled and nudged him with her elbow. “We like to be at as many shows as we can, so we can all hang out a lot! Oh, and we try to do a “girlfriend getaway” every now and then. Dani and I made it up. We take three days every so often to jet out to the beach and let all of our famous boyfriend anxieties out. Perrie’s been on a few with us and you’re going to love it!”

“It’s really super fun!” Perrie added.

Danielle sat with her head turned towards her phone. She had barely spoken two words to me all afternoon and she was sitting directly across from me. She was obviously not happy that I was here. She didn’t even comment on the “girlfriend getaway.”

Eleanor, Perrie, and I continued our conversations while the boys talked over us. Danielle never tried to carry on conversation. Instead, she just focused on her phone. By the end of the outing, Eleanor, Perrie, and I had made plans to all go to the spa in the near future. Danielle said she would have dance rehearsals, even though we never set a date. It wasn’t until after lunch when we were on our way home that I got to ask Harry about Danielle.

“She’s always been a little different.” He said. “She doesn’t think she’s too good, but she comes off that way. She’s really sweet once you get to know her.”

“I just don’t think she’s going to give me a chance to get to know her though.” I sighed, wondering why this girl hated me when she didn’t even know me.

--------------------------

(two days later; the night of the opening show)

“Leah, here’s your outfit. Go change, now! You’re on in fifteen minutes!” Spencer tossed me an outfit that my fashion team had picked out.

I hurried out of the makeup room and headed for the makeshift dressing rooms, which was one room filled with many curtains. The O2 Arena was undergoing renovations and the original private dressing rooms were being revamped.

“No, I can’t wait to meet you!” I heard an Irish voice swooning from one of the curtains.

“Only two weeks! I can’t wait. You’re making it hard for me to focus on my exams, especially when you FaceTIme me like this.” I heard a familiar giggle.

“Well I guess I’ll have to stop FaceTiming ya then.” The Irish accent sounded again.

“Nooo, baby don’t! That would make these exams even more unbearable! Please don’t ever stop calling me.”

Ew. Emma, that’s mushy and gross. Since when have you ever been mushy and gross?!

I recognized the voices.

“Niall, leave my best friend alone! She’s got exams!” I shouted, clearly scaring the piss out of Niall and Emma both.

“Hey, I thought no one was in here!” Niall exclaimed, pulling back a curtain.

“Sorry, I just walked in.” I punched him in the arm.

“Hi Leah! I missssssss you!” Emma said, dramatically.

“Miss you too, Em! Hurry up and come over here!” I made a pouty face at Niall’s phone.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can!” She yelled through the phone.

Niall had to go get Lou to tame his hair so we said our goodbyes. I got dressed and headed out to the side of the stage to begin the show.

---------------

“That’s when you kno-o-o-ow. You gotta let it burn. (burn) Sting! (sting) Let it rip through your ve-e-eins. Cause it’s ov-er. It’s really ov-er.” I sang the last verse of my number one hit and bowed, thanking the crowd, and announcing that the boys would be out shortly.

I walked off to the side of the stage and my family bombarded me.

“You are the most amazing thing, ever!” My mom beamed.

I hugged her and my dad. I shook my hand through Carson’s hair, messing it up and causing him to protest. We talked about life and how they were doing. My mom was dying to meet Harry; however, my dad was a little skeptical of his little girl dating a hotshot from a boy band.

We took our seats on the side of the stage as the boys went out to start their show. They were amazing. My mom and I sang and danced to every song. My dad and Carson acted like they weren’t very interested in the boys’ show, but I saw my dad tapping his foot, and Carson bobbing his head a few times. The lights went out after the boys’ finale and they all came running off to the side of the stage where we were sitting.

Harry came over to me and met my parents and Carson. My dad lightened up a little, but then tensed back up when Carson asked Harry about his tattoos and Harry told him that he had a total of 42. My mom adored Harry, I could tell. Carson, my dad, and Harry talked about football for a few moments before my mom checked her watch.

“Honey, I hate to go, but we have an early fight. We’ll be back out to see many more shows though, so don’t you worry!” My family left and Harry just smiled at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Just trying to take in the fact that the most perfect woman in the world actually loves me.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me deeply.

“Excuse me!” I heard a voice say. Harry let me go and we turned to find his mom, Anne.

“Mum!” Harry exclaimed, spinning her around in a hug. “I’m so glad to see you!”

“And I’m so glad to see you!”

“This is Leah.” Harry said, turning to face me. His face beamed and I knew this was a big moment for him.

“Hello, love! I’m so glad to finally be introduced to the woman that has stolen my baby boy’s heart!” She hugged me around the neck for the longest time.

“You have made him so happy! Thank you!” She smiled and looked me up and down. “You did good, Harold!” She grinned and patted him on the back. “Now, treat her right!”

“I will, mum!” He assured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Anne and I talked for a while backstage with a few glasses of wine. She was the sweetest thing and had opened her heart and her home to me whenever I felt homesick, or if I just needed someone to talk to. I figured that she and I would become fast friends.

-------------------

A week and a half had passed by and we were rehearsing yet again. I don’t know why Ronnie made us rehearse so much. We never made major changes and we had all grown as artists so it wasn’t like anyone was a novice anymore.

Well, I don’t think I’m a novice. Well, maybe. Nahh.

We were still playing shows at the O2 Arena and Emma was coming in two days. I was beyond excited. But someone else may have actually been more excited than I was.

“Niaalllll!” I called out. “Harry, Liam, have you seen Niall?” I asked, walking around backstage.

“Ronnie was getting him to work on his stage presence.” Liam joked.

Ronnie had to have everything perfect and had told some of the boys that they needed to work on the way they behaved themselves on stage. Of course, they all just brushed it off because acting like fools was what made them One Direction. I walked around to the side stage to see if Niall was onstage, but no, Ronnie was running around setting up things with a few stage hands.

Hmm... where could he be?

“Just leave early. Come on, I’m ready to see ya!” I heard the Irish accent coming from behind a few stage sets. “Your teacher won’t let you take it early?!” He was on the phone … with none other than Emma. I rolled my eyes and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, looking surprised.

“Geez, Leah. Why do you always have to find me when I’m on the phone with her. I only have limited time to begin with and you’re always interrupting it!” He said, handing me the phone and walking off.

“Sheesh, what’s his problem?” I said into the phone.

“He thinks he can’t wait two more days to see me.” Emma sighed.

“Oh, he’ll get over it. Don’t worry.” I said, reassuring her. “So, I can’t wait for you to get here! We can stay up late every night like the old days. And Harry’s even got a guest room set up with a mini bar. So I mean, heeeeey girls weekend! Oh and there are so many people I want you to meet!”

“Leah – Leah!” Emma tried to cut in.

“What?” I was a little confused.

“Niall’s asked me to stay at his place with him for the weekend.”

Notes