After The X Factor (One Direction)

Chapter 2

It’s been nine months since The X Factor finished. For a couple of months the One Direction boys had been pretty quiet since they were taking a break, a holiday, spending time with family and friends. That’s what I was looking forward to.

I think you could say that Harry and I were inseparable during this time. Members of our family didn’t notice this – “You’ve always been glued at the hip!” – but we certainly did, and the other One Direction boys teased us non-stop.

I’d like to say it was weird at first, but it really wasn’t. I spoke to Lola about it after a few weeks of being together and she said it wasn’t weird for her and Gregg, either. They’d been friends first too, but not for as long as Harry and I.

What was weird was I having to be in the same room as Liam. That became quite awkward. Harry told me that he had a chat with Liam the evening we got together, and that Liam seemed OK by the news – apparently Louis had already had words with Liam about how Harry felt about me. Though Harry and Liam got on brilliantly, I was still exceptionally quiet around him.

Being in different parts of the country, the boys spoke on the phone mostly. For too short a time I had Harry all to myself. I’d always known Harry to be quite the romantic with his previous girlfriends, and so got to experience this first hand. He took me out for dinner in posh restaurants in Manchester; to watch films at the cinema (just the two of us); and walks through the park, hand in hand. Of course we didn’t change our previous routine – meeting at each other’s houses every week to watch films, play games, or to just have a chat. Harry’s family were so pleased about our relationship, and would follow us around the house ‘awwing’.

But then he and Louis went on holiday together and so it was I who only spoke to him over the phone.

“How much longer will you be away?” I asked him over the phone one afternoon.

“Well, I arrived this morning, so…a while,” he said back, and I could practically hear him grinning.

“It’s just weird you know, being so far away…and even weirder since it didn’t bother me so much before…” I had sighed, absent-mindedly twirling the laces on my converse around my fingers and letting the shoe dangle.

“I know what you mean,” Harry had replied quietly. I smiled down the phone, loving this new side to Harry that I’d never witnessed before. Heck, I didn’t even know it existed.

“Yeah…well, have a great time with the guys,” I had told him. He was away skiing in France. By the time he returned he had a bit of a tan, but he was paler around the eyes where his goggles had been.

“So many people at the airport noticed,” he said to me on the evening of his return with a laugh, “I kept apologising for ruining pictures!”

“You could never ruin a photo!” I said in protest to him, which he answered with a smile. He turned over then, for we had been lying on my bed gazing at the ceiling, and propped himself up on one elbow facing me.

“Tell me, why didn’t we realise we wanted to be a couple before?” he pondered.

I gave it a lot of thought, “Things change,” I had shrugged, “Maybe we’d always felt it but we’d never been given a kick in the right direction,” I continued, giggling.

Once Harry had ceased laughing too, he leaned over and kissed me. “I love you,” he whispered to me. I kissed him back. We stayed there, lying on my bed and bathing in the draining sunlight, for hours…

“Charity!” someone hisses at me, back in the present day.

“Mmm hmmm… what?” I say startled. I look around and find myself not in Harry’s arms in my bedroom, but in the back of my mum’s bakery. Mum’s stood over by the oven, a look of annoyance on her face.

“Customers!” she snaps, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead and turning back to cleaning the oven.

I groaned noiselessly and made my way to the front of the shop. Since fans found out that Harry used to work in our bakery they’ve been coming in by the dozen (sometimes) mainly to gawp around and whisper to each other ‘Harry Styles might have been stood on this very spot!’. Out of politeness, most of them will actually buy something, and almost every time they ask either my mum or me a question about Harry.

When the fans found out about Harry and me being a couple, people visited more. This time they asked me questions and told me how lucky I am! It was crazy! Harry’s mum and my mum warned me to be careful around some of the more – jealous – fans.

To my not-so-great surprise, two girls, clearly One Direction fans, are stood timidly behind the glass casing. They both look about fourteen years of age and each are proudly wearing colourful jumpers, one with ‘I ♥Niall Horan’ plastered in black lettering across the front; the other with ‘I ♥ Louis Tomlinson’ in white.

“Hi, how can I help you?” I smile politely at them, and they both stare at me in what looks like shock.

The Niall fan nudges the Louis fan, who sort of explodes into mumbled speech, “Oh! Erm, two cheese pasties and a bake well tart…please.” She gives a shaky smile, but her friend still looks shocked.

I grin back at them both and begin to sort out their order. Out of the corner of my eye I see them bickering and whispering, and it’s a few moments before they speak again. This time it’s the Niall fan, “Ar-aren’t you Harry Styles’ g-girlfriend?” she stammers, and I smile again.

“That’s right. I thought you two might have been One Direction fans,” they both smile and look down at their jumpers, “That’ll be four pounds forty, please,” I say. The girls fumble with their purses and eventually hand me the coins.

I wave goodbye to them and am putting the money away in the till when I hear the door open again. I glance up, still checking the coins, but drop them the moment I notice who’s stood before me.

Ken.

I drop to the floor to locate the escaped five pence coins, and when I stand up again I see that, sadly, I wasn’t mistaken and it is actually Ken. He’s leaning on the cabinet that the glass is on top of, probably trying to look cool. He doesn’t.

A smug smile is resting on his face, “I’ve figured out who your boyfriend is,” he tells me.

“Great, do you want a medal or something?” I retort angrily. How did he find me at work?

“He’s from that boy group, One Direction, isn’t he? Only I heard some girls talking yesterday, and I don’t think there are many girls named Chaz around here. Plus those two just now looked pretty eager to see you.”

“Fantastic. Now if you don’t want anything, get out,” I tell him firmly. To give me something to do, I walk along the counter and randomly straighten the little empty packets we use to put the food in. When I see Ken hasn’t moved I speak again, “We’re closing soon, you know.” This was a lie, but I didn’t care. I wanted him out.

He seems to acknowledge this, but doesn’t show signs of obeying my command, “About that medal…”

“Yeah, we’re closing,” I repeat, walking around the corner and forcing him out of the shop, “See you at the award ceremony,” I say sarcastically as I push him out of the shop and close the door.

“It’s a date!” he calls through the glass before jogging off down the street. What? It is most certainly NOT a date! …Besides it was a fake ceremony… oh God, I’m getting a headache, thanks to that idiotic brute, who probably has fewer brain cells than a potato.

“Everything all right?” my mum asks when I walk back into the kitchen.

“Yep, fine,” I lie, clutching my temple. “C’mon, let’s close early. You look tired and I doubt anyone else will come along in the next twenty minutes.”

“Oh, OK then!” mum agrees happily, quickly closing the shop and walking back home with me.

I need a word with Elvie. Something is DEFINITELY wrong with this guy.