2013
"And now the question everyone is dying to know. We know you're not going to tell us who, but do you have a crush on anyone?"
The cheeky tone of the interviewer caused the boys to smile impishly at each other.
"Ah, Kate Beckinsale all the way. Or Demi Lava'o. She's... she's amazing." Niall blurted out while the other four pondered their answers.
"Well, the three of us have girlfriends, so I suppose you could say.. our girlfriends." Louis half-laughed while motioning to himself and the two band mates sitting next to him. Their murmurs of agreement caused the interviewer to nod in understanding.
"What about you, Harry? You have a crush you've not told us about?" Louis prodded on, a sassy grin making his eyes squint.
"Kate Beckinsale for him too, I think!" Niall offered matter-of-factly, nodding his head once.
Harry playfully smirked and pointed at him. "Yes... but." He rose a finger slowly, a silly quirk in his eyes as usual, and looked back at the interviewer. "I do have another crush, but I'm not telling you who it is."
A chorus of ridiculous gasps where heard from his mates, making him laugh to himself.
"Ohhhh Harold's got a crush!" Louis played, his voice rising in jest.
"Well there's an exclusive for you." Liam raised his eyebrows before grinning.
"Is she cute, Harreh?" Zayn muttered, leaning forward and putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. His dry sarcasm made the other boys chuckle.
"She's very beautiful." Harry corrected obviously, making the boys laugh again.
"That's very gentlemanly of you." The interviewer laughed with them.
"Thank you." Harry nodded impishly, his silly smirk uncontrollably taking over his face.
"Does she know you have a crush on her?" She asked further.
"Umm.." Harry looked up for a moment as he pondered his answer briefly. "I don't think so, no."
"I think it's you, love." Niall attempted sarcasm and looked at the interviewer who laughed again.
"You think so?" She replied back. Harry shrugged with open hands, a gesture that made them all giggle again, but gave no obvious commitment. That seemed to be enough for the interviewer though, because she went on with her questions without another thought. He sort of wished he could as well, honestly, but his mind wouldn't let him no matter how hard he tried. It just sort of lingered there as he answered questions about their new movie and their last tour and how exactly it was that he got his hair to stay up so well. Even after the interview was over and he was being shuffled along the long corridor back to their dressing room, it stuck to his mind like taffy to a wrapper. He honestly hadn't told the boys yet—well, really anyone, but he felt maybe he should. Maybe they could talk some sense into him, or at least understand where he was coming from. Or maybe they wouldn't, it was hard to tell. It wasn't a situation he ever thought he'd be in.
And he hadn't meant to, really—fall in love with her, that is. Well.. perhaps "fall" wasn't the right term. It was more of a crash, to be fair, because it came out of nowhere and honestly it was all a bit shocking. And maybe it wasn't love just yet, but it certainly was something or else he wouldn't have had to be figuring out whether or not it was love or something else in the first place. He wasn't one to believe in love at first sight (or even date, honestly), because he knew that it just takes time to get to know someone. Love is earned, love is built, love is much more complicated than what movies and music make it seem. He wasn't about to pretend that one meeting could determine all that. But, there was just.. something. Something about her that made her stand out. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it had been, but she was just different from all the others and even in the moment he'd sort of wanted to get to know her better.
But that was just it—he'd been more confused than anything else because it just didn't happen like that, didn't make sense. He'd never been interested in someone like her before, never had this weird out of body experience with anyone other than a few previous girlfriends from outside of the industry. And not really like this because they'd all been fairly normal circumstances, fairly average relationships with normal girls and normal meetings and normal dates. But this.. this was something entirely different, something that, honestly, scared him more than performing in from of thousands of people. It was risky, it was out of his control, it was completely against everything he'd ever thought. He didn't know how it happened or what he was supposed to do about it or who he should tell, but, well, he couldn't deny it.
As much as he wished it weren't true, he was falling for a fan.
