Harry Who?

The bookstore became an immensely dull void after Harry, One Direction, and their fans left. I went back to yelling at homeless people for sleeping in the nonfiction section and spent my nights reading the merchandise. At first, I tried to ignore the dull ache, the thought that maybe Harry would stop in for another book, but I knew he wasn’t coming back, he was off in Detroit, or wherever he said the next stop on their tour was.

We texted, but our schedules (mainly his) kept us from talking too much. After a show, when he was still all hyped up, he’d sometimes call me at work and we’d talk until a customer came in, or he fell asleep.

“You know what I miss most about Canada?” Harry asked one night.

“What?”

“Poutine,” he teased.

“Shut up, Harry,” I laughed.

“Just kidding, it’s you. Although, poutine is really freaking awesome.”

“It is, maybe I’ll some grab for dinner on my way home from work,” I teased.

“Ellie, I have a weird request. While you’re eating it, can you describe it to me in detail?” He jokingly asked.

“Mmm, I’m putting the gravy covered fries in my mouth, and the cheese curds… there’re so many yummy cheese curds!” I teased. “I’ll put that in my new book, ‘Fifty Shades of Poutine’.”

We both laughed until he got quiet for a moment. “Actually, I do have a real question for you. Is Ellie short for something?”

“Um, yeah, it’s Elloise.” That’s weird. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious,” he answered, and wouldn’t offer any other explanation.

“So, is Harry short for anything? Like, Henry or Harold?” I felt I should ask, since he asked me.
“Nope, it’s just Harry.”

“Cool.” I wasn’t sure where to go with that, so I changed the subject. “So, how are you liking Anne of Green Gables?”

“I haven’t gotten to the part where she turns into a vampire yet. I kind of think that’s not going to happen,” he pretended to sound disappointed.

“No, she doesn’t get bitten until the third or fourth book.”

“Does she ever get together with that Gilbert Blythe dude?” He asked. “Never mind, I don’t want to know, don’t spoil it for me.”

“Actually, he’s the one that bites her.” I could almost hear he was smiling at my attempt at a joke.

“It’s funny, my mum’s name is Anne. She’s nothing like this Anne, but,” he paused. “It kind of makes me miss her.”

“You probably don’t get to see her too much, that sucks.”

“No, I don’t, but we talk.” He answered quietly, and I could tell he was tired.

I had a feeling that was how a lot of Harry’s relationships were, whether they were friendships, family members, or whatever we were, he didn’t see them much, but they talked. My throat started tightening as I realized I had no idea when, or if I would see him again. We hadn’t talked about that, but the way we left it when their tour bus rolled out of Ottawa, it really felt like he wanted to see me again.

“Um, I have to go,” I said quietly, not trusting my voice.

“Customer?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I whispered, and we hung up. I didn’t want to, but I put my head down on the counter and cried.

When I woke up for work the next evening I had an email from Harry. I thought it was odd, since we didn’t normally email, but he’d asked for my email address a few days ago, and I didn’t really question it.

He wrote a short message:

“Hey there Elloise, I hope you like it
-H”

Attached was a video, and I was %100 not prepared for what it contained, but I blindly pressed play, thinking it was probably just a cute video of a puppy or something cute (Harry likes cute things).

Yeah, it was a puppy, kinda, if you can call Harry a puppy, but it was incredibly, heartbreakingly, cute. He was sitting in a hotel room alone with a guitar.

“Hey Ellie, sorry for being weird and asking for your full name, but Ellie didn’t fit right with the song.” With that, he looked down at the guitar and began playing. After the first few notes I recognized it as ‘Hey There Delilah’ by the Plain White T's, except Harry replaced ‘Delilah’ with ‘Elloise’. It was so beautiful, and he was so cute and adorable I had to stop it a few times I was crying too much. At the end, he just said, “I miss you,” before turning off the camera.

I listened to it on repeat as I got ready for work, and considered calling out sick, so I could listen to him sing to me all night long, but I knew that probably would not be good for my mental health. I considered calling him, but decided a text was safer, in case I got emotional again.

*Thanks, that was really beautiful, I’m crying, but it was amazing

I couldn’t remember if he had a show tonight or not, so I wasn’t worried when he didn’t respond for a while. I downloaded his video onto my phone so I could listen to it at work (that was a bad idea). Once I was sure there were no customers in the shop, I gradually found myself listening to One Direction, trying to pick out Harry’s voice in every song.

‘What am I doing?’

Around 2AM Harry finally replied to my text.

*Sorry for making you cry
I’m not sure why, but his response made me laugh.

*Actually, Harry, you should apologize for making me fall for you so hard

He replied: *Hey, you started it

What? *No, you’re the one who came into my bookstore ‘looking for a book;’

*guilty as charged ;) What are you doing next week

*Working, why? I asked

*Want to come to New York? We’re doing a couple shows around New York and I have a few days off in between

Yes, yes I did! But this was crazy, right? Flying to New York to see him for a couple days? But, when else would I see him? *You’re insane, but okay :D

*Awesome. Bring poutine ;)

Notes

Now I feel like I need to hear Harry singing Hey there Delilah! That would be so cute!!
PS. I remember seeing a clip from a concert in Canada where Harry seemed to reallllly like poutine :p