Eleanora [Harry Styles AU]

[7] Secret Places

A/N: So this chapter turned out better in terms of where I want this story to go, but my writing isn't at it's best. Especially towards the end. 

Dedicated to InfiniteWrongs for those comments she left me on chapter 4!

Song is Cigarette Daydreams by Cage The Elephant. Give it a listen!

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“And you can afford all those concert tickets because ..?”

            “Didn’t you see my aunt’s flat? I come from a well off family. They all work at the family law firm.” she explained

            We were sat against a brick wall. Muffled music blasted through the walls of a nearby club, piercing the otherwise silent atmosphere. The structures surrounding us were victim to various acts of graffiti. We weren't in the bright, touristy, seaside precinct anymore. We'd gone to the nightlife area of Brighton; a place I didn't even know existed. It had nothing on places like London or Manchester. There were only about three bars, a club, and an alley way. But nevertheless, it existed.

            I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I was on edge. Our great escape hadn't yet begun. I thought that we were merely stopping here for a little rest before we made our getaway. My heartbeat quickened at the realisation that at any minute, Eleanora could stand up, clasp my hand and pull me out of town, on to somewhere distant where no-one knew our names. And that would be it.

            She wasn't giving me any indication that we were leaving anytime soon. I wondered if she'd forgotten her earlier proposition. Or maybe she'd looked up 'runaway' in the dictionary and found the wrong meaning. Because if there was anything we were doing right now, it didn't involve running away in the slightest.

            "I was planning on studying law at university. Well, before all the stuff with the band really took off." I explained. Throughout the ten minutes we’d been sat here, we’d been gradually exchanging facts about ourselves in attempts to get to know each other. Although with Eleanora, her little remarks were never anything personal. She seemed to cling to talking about her family, friends and hometown, rather than herself. The only thing I’d managed out of her was that her favourite colour was duck egg blue.

            "Really?" she asked. Her head was thrown back against the brick surface; her forest green eyes discovering their way up to the starry sky.

            "Yeah." I answered. I too, was doing the same.

            "I can't picture you as a lawyer." she remarked

            I sat for a moment and tried to imagine myself in a court room, defending a client with all my energy. "Neither can I." I admitted, scrunching up my nose. The stage was where I belonged. I just hoped my career wouldn't flop.

            We found ourselves enveloped in a silence. We watched the sky like it was our favourite movie, and we’d just reached the best part.

            Two unidentifiable people entered the narrow alleyway we were nestled in. Their distant conversation interrupted our short lull, but the girl next to me didn’t appear fazed. She still viewed the azure sky with wide and glassy eyes. However, I tipped my head forward and knitted my brow, immediately losing the pleasure of relaxation I once possessed.

            “Erm, didn’t you say we were going to run away?” I questioned, choosing not to mention the approaching figures. They didn’t seem threatening -- it was just a boy wearing a leather jacket with his arm snaked around a girl in a cocktail dress -- but Eleanora was so unpredictable, the sight of these two could impact her in a less than desirable way.