Falling for Harry Styles

Chapter 56

“Is there anything I can help you with love?” Harry asked from somewhere behind me with a curious inflection in his voice.

“Nope,” I replied with a smile directed at him. I turned back to methodically stirring some herbs into a pan of mushrooms while the potatoes finished crisping in the oven and the steaks cooked in a pan next to me.

“You sure….” He trailed off, now stood right behind me, as the steaks sizzled.

“I’m fine Hazza. But you could set the table for me while I finish up.”

He chuckled and planted a kiss to the back of my head. “Okay I can do that.”

I repositioned the lid on the pan and turned the fire down as I opened the oven and prodded the potatoes. They were crispy and cooked to perfection so I pulled them out to rest on the counter before shucking them into a bowl.

As if on cue, Niall burst through the door connecting the kitchen to the lounge. “I smell food.”

“Yes Niall, I’m cooking,” I replied with sarcasm drenching my tone as I prodded the steaks. Deeming them perfect, I turned off the burner and laid them onto a plate with the rest.

“Is it ready?” his eyes were lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

I chuckled at his eagerness as I stirred the mushrooms a bit more, “Almost.”

“Can I rally the troops?”

“Um…”

“Great!” He ran from the room before I could stop him and I could hear him gruffly telling everyone to ‘get to the table so we can eat you nutters’.

Harry chuckled, “Food enthusiast that one is.” I rolled my eyes playfully as everyone filed into the room and sat at our massive table.

“There’s no food on this table,” Louis complained and he received a blunt elbow to the ribs from Eleanor.

“Louis, don’t be rude,” she scolded.

“Niall got a bit excited is all.” I replied with a light chuckle as I walked the steaks and potatoes to the table. “Luckily I’m finished with the actual cooking bit.” I turned off the last burner and poured the mushrooms into a bowl before taking my seat next to Harry. Everyone was staring at me or looking around to each other like they didn’t know what to do. “Well… dig in.” It was like the invisible force holding everyone back disappeared and they started chatting idly as they passed around the food. I smiled as everyone served themselves, happy to have this again—even if it wasn’t the same as last time.

“Natalie…?” I turned towards the voice with raised brows. “Thank you for letting Niall invite me,” Ginger smiled sweetly.

“Oh no problem hun. I just hope he took you on a proper date first.” I flashed a look at our pink cheeked Irishman who was currently grumbling an ‘of course I did’ as he stuffed his face.