Fool's Gold

Enola was silent as we sat in the car on the way to the new hotel. She looked exhausted and annoyed. She'd had enough of the boys and their shenanigans. She wanted quiet and sleep. I felt bad for her. It was a lifestyle she wasn't used to and it was taking its toll on her. I missed her while we were apart but I felt terrible for pushing this trip on her. It was her sixth day with me. I knew we had a day off in a couple days but she needed rest before that.
I moved closer to Enola, putting my arm around her shoulder. She leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. I kissed her hair gently before pulling it away from her face and off her shoulder. Enola wrapped one arm around my waist. She held onto me tightly.
"Just go to sleep, baby. We've got a while before we get to the hotel." I whispered to her. She nodded and snuggled even closer to me. I put both of my arms around her when she settled her head on my chest. Louis and Liam started to get rowdy in the seat behind us. I turned my head and glared at them. I shushed them quickly. When they saw how Enola was lying on me, they both apologized quietly. I looked to my left to see that Niall was almost asleep on the window of the van. I chuckled lowly. Enola gazed up at me with questioning eyes. I nodded toward Niall. She smiled weakly then released my waist. Enola reached over and placed her hand on Niall's thigh. He looked over at us curiously. I was curious as well.
"Harry's a really good pillow." Enola giggled. I laughed and motioned Niall over. Niall laughed and shifted. He laid his head down on my shoulder while Enola was cuddled into my chest. I kissed Enola's hair once again. She had the capacity to be so adorable. She could be so childlike and playful when she felt like it. I loved seeing it. I would try to wake up before her so I could watch her sleeping because that's when she looked the most innocent. She could be completely naked and passed out from making love all night but she still had an innocent aura about her. Enola groaned as her phone began ringing.
"Are you going to answer that?" Zayn inquired quietly. Enola sighed heavily and sat up. She pulled her phone from her pocket. When she looked at the screen, she froze up. I furrowed my brow and leaned over her to see who was trying to ring her. I frowned deeply.
"It's okay, baby. Answer your phone." I muttered lowly. The car had fallen completely silent. Everyone now knew who was calling. Enola stared at me with fear filled eyes. "Go on." I urged her. She nodded and her finger hovered over the "accept" button. I placed my hand on hers for a moment. "Can you...can you put it on speaker?" I asked; I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to hear the voice she heard when she woke up and went to bed. She became even more frightened. I looked back to see Louis' deeply saddened expression. Enola nodded and pressed the two buttons.
"Hello?" Enola answered quietly.
"Took you long enough." Charles huffed. His voice wasn't what I expected. I thought his voice would be deeper and smoother. But he sounded like he'd smoked a pack a day for twenty years. His voice was raspy and harsh. He was also a jerk. Who spoke that way to their wife while she was away? Regardless of what she was actually doing.
"Sorry. I'm driving." Enola replied flatly.
"Don't get an attitude with me, Enola." Charles snapped at her. She glared at her phone. I did as well. Who did he think he was? She didn't deserve to be spoken to in that way. "Where are you going?" Charles asked with a tone that was still less than nice.
"I am going to a hotel. I am going to sleep for a few hours then I am going to go do a shoot." It was a half-truth. We were on our way to a hotel. We were going to nap for a bit.
"What's your shoot going to be?" Charles didn't actually sound interested.
Enola ran her hand through her hair, "I'm going to do some things with natural lighting. Kind of experimenting with some stuff. It'll build my knowledge."
"Want to build knowledge? Go back to school. Lord knows you should with the things you've been making lately. I didn't realize that I paid as much money as I did for you to still be doing things you did your freshman year." Charles replied bitterly. Enola bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears. "Why are you going to take a nap?" Charles asked with a bland tone. He didn’t really care. He was asking because he had to.
"I'm tired. I've been walking around cities nonstop for six days. I just feel like I need a rest." Enola answered quietly, like she feared what he would say next.
"Maybe you wouldn't need a rest from walking if you actually tried to lose some weight." Charles replied like it was an obvious thing. Enola quickly took her phone off speaker and pressed it to her ear. How dare he say that to her! She was perfect the way she was. Enola had no need to lose weight. She was breathtaking. She was more muscle than anything. Her arms and legs were toned. Her stomach was flat and she definitely had abs but they weren't overly sculpted. Enola's thighs were a bit thicker but they were strong and I loved the way I fit between them. Her bum was the perfect shape and size. Even her breasts were perfect; they were full and firm and absolutely amazing. Enola was soft in her appearance. She looked like a Nineteen Fifties pinup. As I gazed at her, I could see that she was trying her hardest not to cry. What was he saying to her now? She winced a bit but murmured something to him that sounded like it was sweet. I was trying to control the rage building inside of me. I wanted to rip the phone out of her hand and tell Charles was an ass he was being. Tell him all of the things that I loved about his wife.
Enola finally hung up; she slid her phone back into her pocket. She stared out the window, resting her chin on her hand. Her hand was covering her mouth just enough to hide that she was fighting crying. I placed my hand on her thigh to comfort her. Her eyes closed and a single tear slipped down her cheek. I leaned over to kiss her head but she shied away from me. I was beyond mad. I was pissed off. How dare that man treat her the way he did. What made him think it was okay to say any of those things to her? I heard one of the boys shift in the backseat. I turned around to see Liam, Zayn and Louis all frowning as they stared at the back of Enola's head. Louis' eyes met mine and I glared at him.
He sighed quietly then mouthed, "I'm sorry." I shook my head briefly. It wasn't a conversation to have right then. I needed to find a way to comfort Enola. I needed her to know that the words Charles spoke weren't true. She was amazing. She was beautiful. She was the best kind of special there was.




I led Enola into our hotel room slowly. Both of us were dragging our feet from exhaustion. Enola rubbed her eyes gently. I had finally gotten her to go to sleep in the van after Charles' call. She slept on my shoulder with her arms wrapped around herself. I felt horrible for the things that Charles had said to her. He was wrong. One hundred fifty percent WRONG.
"Do you want to take a shower with me?" I asked her with a genuine smile. I wasn't going to get cheeky with her. I thought it would be a good way for her to relax. She shook her head shyly. "Okay. I'll wait too then." I kept my smile. Enola set her bag down on the floor by the end of the bed. She unzipped it carefully. She dug through her clothes after sitting down on the bed. I smiled. She was trying to find something to sleep in. It was probably just going to be one of my shirts that she had taken. I was shocked when she pulled out sweat pants and a jumper. She almost never slept in clothes and when she did it was just my shirt. She carefully took off her blouse leaving her in a tank top. She pulled the jumper over her head. She then removed the tank top while the jumper was on. I never saw a single centimeter of her skin. Enola then stood. She slid into the sweatpants without taking off her skirt. She slid the pants right up underneath the skirt. She removed her skirt soon after. I was astounded. Enola didn't want me to see her without clothes on. Enola climbed into the bed hugging the blankets tight around her.
I disrobed quickly. I removed everything but my underwear. I was eager to crawl in bed with Enola and make her feel as special as she was. I quickly jumped into the bed, snuggling close to Enola. She stayed still and silent. As I wrapped my arms around her waist, she tensed. She didn't want me to touch her either. That fucking jerk. He made her insecure. She was ashamed of the way she looked. I held her closer and tighter. I buried my face in her neck, kissing the soft skin lightly.
"I love you, Noli. You are perfect." I whispered to make her feel a bit better.
"I think I may take a shower. I'm really cold." Enola whispered turning her head back to me. She wasn't looking directly at me yet though. I nodded, knowing I wasn't going to win with her at the moment.
"Okay. Are you hungry too? I can order something." Wrong, Harry! I screamed at myself when I saw the way her bottom lip quivered. "I am. I'll get you something if you want." I added quickly.
Enola shook her head, "No, thank you." She nearly scrambled out of my arms and ran into the bathroom. I sat up in bed and reached for the phone. She was going to eat. She'd not eaten all day.

I sat quietly waiting for Enola to get out of the shower. Our food hadn't arrived yet and I was hoping that it would come as soon as she was dressed. As I sat in silence, I thought about what was going on with Enola. What she was thinking. I felt terrible. I wasn't sure if Charles' words hurt more because everyone in the van had heard them or because they insulted the two things she was most confident about. Maybe it was a combination of the two. I wanted to talk to her. Tell her that Charles was wrong. Because he was. I got up from the bed. I could talk to her while she showered. I'd been doing it a lot. Sitting on the sink, blabbing about anything and everything while Enola bathed. It was something else she thought was cute. I was shocked when I tried to open the door. She locked it. She locked me out. She'd never locked me out before. What was going? She'd never let it show that Charles' words cut her so deeply. I frowned even more when I heard faint sobs coming from inside the bathroom. She was crying. My girl was crying alone. I rested my forehead against the cold wood of the door.
"It's okay, Noli." I whispered. "It's okay. He's wrong. You're gorgeous. You are absolutely perfect the way you are." I murmured to the door. I knew she couldn't hear me but they were the things I needed to say. How could I take away her pain? How could I make her feel as beautiful as I thought she was? I smiled when I thought back to the bag she'd placed in my hands the day she went shopping for me. I hurried over to our bags, digging through each one to find the lingerie shop bag. When I found it, I smiled. I wanted to look inside and see what she had purchased. But I also wanted to be surprised, in complete awe when I saw her. I wanted my reaction to make her feel as amazingly beautiful as I thought she was. So, I set the bag on top of the dresser, where she would see it. I heard the shower shut off finally. Just a few moments after the water turned off, there was a knock on the hotel room door.

When I came back into the bedroom with the meals that I had ordered for Enola and myself, I saw that she was wrapped up in bed already. I looked over to see the lingerie bag was no longer on the dresser. I bit my lip, hoping that she'd put on what was in the bag.
"Noli, I got us something to eat." I said brightly even though I was still very concerned for her. She looked at me with curious eyes. "I know you said you weren't hungry but you've not eaten." I said quickly trying to avoid her being mad. She sat up and stared at me blankly. I set the tray in front of her. "It's not anything big. I would just feel better if you ate a little bit. Then we can nap, okay?" I spoke gently. I didn't want to do anything but make her feel better. Enola just nodded, pulling the tray closer to her crossed legs. I kissed her hair even though she tried to shy away from me again. I sat down on the bed beside her with my own meal.
"Thanks, Harry." Enola's voice was soft and hoarse. It broke my heart that she'd been crying.
"You're welcome, baby." I smiled leaning over for a kiss. She seemed nervous resulting in a quick kiss on my cheek. I frowned once again. I didn't like seeing her like this. "Hey." I kept a bright voice even though I was severely disappointed. Enola looked at me, but not in the eyes. "I love you." I beamed at her.
She smiled slightly, "I love you more." My heart lifted a little hearing the words. Enola returned her attention to the plate in front of her. Her demeanor changed again. I thought quietly as I ate. My stomach flopped when I realized what she had said. "I love you more." Meaning she loved me more than I loved her. Is that what she was thinking? Did what Charles said make her feel like I didn't love her? Like I couldn't? My anger swelled again. How was I going to fix this?

Notes

So, our first kind of meeting with Enola's husband. What are our thoughts?

Also, I saw that you guys have made this hit 20,000+ views. Holy crap you guys are absolutely AMAZING! Never thought I'd get to 1,000. Pretty much thought my wbestie would read this and that's all.

Still want to do a Q&A. It'll motivate me to get cracking on the rest of this story.