Harry Who?

“Elloise, why would you lie to me about your boyfriend?” My mom yelled over the phone. She hardly ever yelled, and I felt guilt pool in the pit of my stomach, a feeling I hadn’t felt since I’d failed a math test in 6th grade.

“What are you talking about, mom?” I knew exactly what she was talking about.

“You expect me to believe you’re dating Harry Styles? That guy from One Direction? I had to look him up, but I thought I recognized his name.”

“Actually mom,” I quickly googled him to see if those pictures of us at the airport had surfaced yet. “I wasn’t lying. I know it’s weird, but just google ‘Harry Styles girlfriend’ and you’ll see pictures of us.”

It was quiet for a moment as I heard my mom tapping on the keys of her laptop. Suddenly she gasped and called for my dad to come over and look. “Oh my God Ellie, how did this happen?” She asked in a low voice, as if I’d been in a car accident or something.

I took a deep breath and looked over at Harry sitting across from me at the table. He was eyeing me with curiosity as he ate lunch, and listened with a smirk as I told my mom the story of how I ended up dating Harry Styles of One Direction. He was grinning by the end of my recount, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“It’s really not a big deal, mom.” I concluded. “And yes, you can meet him, eventually.”

“If he has time, I understand he must be very busy,” she answered, sounding a little more calm.

When she finally let me hang up, Harry came back to the table to sit with me. “That was an interesting conversation.” He had an almost smug look on his face and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why?” It was certainly awkward as hell.

“I just think it’s funny, hearing your side of how things happened.”

“What do you mean ‘my side’? That’s how it happened, right,” I blushed a little as his eyes searched my face.

He shrugged. “It’s close enough. It’s cute to hear how much you missed me.”

I blushed and looked away, but he kept smiling.

“What?” I finally asked when he didn’t say anything.

“So, now that One Direction is taking a break, I’m going to work on my first solo album.”

“That’s awesome, Harry!” I lept forward to give him a hug.

“I’m pretty excited,” he kept his arms around me, holding me close. “I have so many potential songs floating around in my head and notebooks full of stuff I can’t wait to finally develop into something.”

“I can’t wait to hear it.” I pulled away from him to look up at his face, and he was still grinning, happier than I’d ever seen him.

“We’ll go to LA in a few weeks to start writing it. But until then,” he paused and looked down at me. “I kind of feel like doing nothing. Maybe catching up on everything I’ve missed over the last five years I’ve been touring with the band.”

I nodded. “That makes sense. You deserve it.”

The thing is, if he’s doing nothing, or catching up with his old friends or family, than what am I doing? I felt like I had been doing ‘nothing’ for nearly the past two years and was actually ready to move on and do something more purposeful with my life. I took a couple days to think about it, and it occurred to me, while watching ‘The Notebook’ with Harry for the second time (in a row) what exactly it was I wanted to do.

However, I would need Harry’s help, and I hated asking him for help. Financial help, more specifically.

I decided to broach the subject after returning from our daily morning run together. He had just gotten out of the shower as I was finishing up stretching. I’m not sure why I was nervous, but I kept trying to pick the right moment, making sure he was in a good mood.

“Harry, I’ve been thinking,” I blurted out as he got dressed.

“Uh oh,” he teased and sat down on the edge of his bed to put his boots on. “About what?”

“Well, I kind of want to, maybe,” I looked at my nails and picked off some of the peeling red and green nail polish. “I want to play hockey again.”

“I’m not sure hockey is too popular in London, but I’m sure you can find somewhere to play.”

“I think I want to try playing professionally,” I finally looked up at his face and tried to read his expression. His eyes flitted over my face for a moment before looking away.

“I definitely think they don’t have women’s pro hockey teams in London,” he smiled apologetically.

“I’m still months away from being ready to play at that level again. I need to work out some old injuries in physical therapy first, and then, if I practice a lot, I might be able to play in the National Women’s Hockey League.”

His face lit up as if he’d gotten an idea. “Physical therapy is definitely something we have here in London. And LA, when we move there in a bit. I can have someone look into that for you, if you’d like.”

I smiled and relaxed. ‘This was easier than I thought’. I moved closer to sit next to him on the end of the bed and wrapped my arm around him for a hug. “Thanks, that would be awesome. I don’t know why I was so nervous to talk to you about that.”

"Nervous? You shouldn't be nervous to follow your dreams. I'm happy to help in any way," he kissed me on the cheek before leaving.

I smiled to myself as I got into the shower. Perhaps seeing Harry look so happy talking about writing his album made me realize how happy I had been when I too was working toward my goal of playing pro hockey. I felt a new kind of energy I hadn’t felt in a while, and could not wait to start physical therapy again.

Notes

This chapter's a little short, and I had a hard time coming up with a title (sometimes I regret naming my chapters and not just numbering them!) but I hope you like it. I wanted to write Harry being cute, and this is what happened : )