A Sweet Escape (Harry Styles fanfiction)

chapter 12

Although I am not good with words I write to my family again because I have found myself somewhat lonely sitting in my room these past days. I haven't been motivated to leave my room and I have no idea why. I am not sad or angry or anything of such, I'm just comfortable here. I tell my family that I wish they could be here with me now. I miss them a lot.

The worst thing about today though is that I have come to realize how little money I have left. My wallet is practically begging me to stop going out to dinner every night. Maybe I should look for a job and go grocery shopping.

I pull on a pair of shorts and a sweater and I head out. I notice the sun is unusually bright, most likely because I was hoarding away in my room for quite some time now. The sun feels good against my face. If I were to never feel the sun again, I would surely never be fully content. Sunshine gives a lightened mood to any situation. The sun reminds me of when my friends and I drank wine and when Harry and I smoked cigarettes, it was all dumb but we had a good a time. Now that I thought about smoking with Harry, my whole mind is occupied with him. If I see him soon I want to tell him that we should just be friends because if we're friends he probably won't express so much hatred towards me and I wont have to worry about potential feelings I could have for him. I owe that much to James.

I stop thinking when I realize that I'm supposed to be looking for a job. Who would hire an American? I wouldn't be able to help any customers, I would be purposeless. I continue to walk around and I spot the antique shop, although this time it has no red goblet in the window due to my purchase. I wonder if Harry would let me work with him. He could teach me Italian and I am already passionate about history so it wouldn't be hard for me to learn about all the ancient artifacts. I decide that I should go in there and ask him.

I walk in and I see him sitting behind the counter. Harry looks enraged as he holds the telephone with one hand while holding a cigarette in the other. He doesn't seem to  notice my presence as he screams into the phone in Italian. He wipes droplets of sweat off his forehead. He must be really mad at someone. I can't understand a single word he's saying, but it sounds damn sexy coming from his mouth. What am I thinking? We're just friends I remind myself. Just friends. Just friends. I continually repeat in my head.

"Audrey?" Harry is now off the phone standing right in front of me.

I can't even remember why I came here anymore. "Oh um I'm sorry, I'll leave." I rush the words and I turn to leave.

"Wait." He says. I half expect him to ask me to stay and tell me that it's okay. But he doesn't. "What did you hear?" He asks with a mix of anger and worry dripping from his eyes.

I'm confused by his question because he knows that I can barely speak a single word in Italian but I respond anyway, "Just a jumble of words I can't understand."

He takes a drag from his cigarette as relief washes over his face. "Right, I forgot." He says, still with a slight sense of dread in his voice. What is he hiding from me? What is everyone hiding from me? Why didn't he want me to hear the conversation? I need answers, there is too much curiosity building up inside of me.

"So everything's alright?" I ask trying to play it cool.

"Yeah, it was just business stuff."

"Business stuff here or at the Palazzo?'

He hesitates for a moment and then says, "It doesn't matter. Why are you always getting into other people's business?"

I've gone too far, he won't answer another question I have on the topic. I don't want to push him because it'll only cause him to spurt out more mean comments towards me. However, he did make a crucial mistake by hesitating. Now I know that it isn't business at all; he was making that all up to get around the question. Now I really need this job here because it's probably the only way I can get more information, and I'm craving the knowledge on the subject.

"Sorry." I mutter in response to his previous question. "Well, do you think I could maybe help out with work here? I'm running low on money and no one will hire me because I don't speak the language." I ask in a frenzied tone hoping he will pity me with the job.

Harry looks down, he's pondering the question; debating it throughout his mind. He looks like he really doesn't want me to work here, probably because he's worried I'll find something out that I'm not supposed to. That's ironic because that's precisely why I want the job. Well I need money too, but I've found out that I'm now more interested in the hidden information.

"Can't you just work at the Palazzo?" Harry suggests. "People actually speak English there plus you'll probably get paid more."

I never thought about working there. It's strange that the best place to work was right under my nose this whole time. But I don't want to work there because Harry's here all day and there is no way I'm getting anything out of Alessandra; she's clueless.

"Well how come you work here when you already make a ton of money at the Palazzo?" I probably shouldn't be asking financial questions but I need time to think of a reason why I can't work at the hotel.

Harry gives me an annoyed look. "Because working at the Palazzo is boring and my asshole dad is there." I cringe at his harsh words against his father. He continues, "I'd rather be here all day, these artifacts have a history that's a helluva lot more interesting than mine. It's like an escape being here."

I nod at his words. I wonder what his past is like. I bet it is interesting; he's just saying that it isn't.

"Well I like history too. And I was thinking you could teach me Italian. I've been in the country for almost three weeks now and I can hardly say a thing. I won't be able to learn as easy at the Palazzo." I practically beg him, my pleads are desperate but hopefully he'll comply with me.

I wait for his response and he finally sighs, "fine." He looks as if he's already regretting the word, but I'm overjoyed.

"Thank you! I exclaim. Before my mind catches up with my body I notice that I have my arms wrapped around him in a tight hug. Once I am aware of my actions, I immediately let go and I feel the heat rising to my cheeks.

I try to cover up my actions by pretending it was just a friendly gesture although I know it truthfully meant more than that. "You're a really great friend Harry." I say to him. He smiles at me and I can't help but feel a little disappointed that he has no emotional response at all when I just called him a friend. Maybe he always considered me just a friend all along and I was the only one to feel the sparks.

"Harry, are you done with being so rude to me?" I question.

Harry looks down at me. "No promises Audrey. If you're looking to get into heaven, I might just be hell waiting for you." He smirks in an evil kind of way. His response wasn't exactly what I was expecting. At all. "See you tomorrow Audrey Jacobs. Be here, 8 AM sharp."