Theirs: a short story [harry styles] ✓

1

26th January 2016 - 11 months before the big day.

"Are you actually crying right now?" I announced, crawling across the carpet on my knees and collecting the soft toys scattered over my bedroom floor.

A sniff sounded from the centre of my bed where my phone lay submerged in the duvet cover.

"Am I on loud speaker? I hope Harry isn't listening." Elenore's voice squeaked. "And of course I'm crying! What if he breaks up with me?"

I rolled my eyes before stuffing a toy unicorn under my left armpit. 

"Ele, I really don't think he would take you all the way into London just so that he could break up with you. That would be cruel." I licked my lips. "And no, Harry and Nola are downstairs with the others." 

The muffled sound of a tissue being pulled from its box crackled through the speaker.

"Who have you got round today?" She said, not sounding remotely interested. "And Marnie, you know how heartbroken I'll be if he breaks up with me. Niall is everything to me. Everything." 

Elenore snivelled at the other end of the phone and I bit my lip in order to prevent an awkward outburst of laughter. I knew full well why Niall was taking her into London completely out of the blue. First a picnic in Regent's Park and then a private pod on the London Eye.

Where he'd propose to her at the top. 

I'd even helped choose the ring. 

I grabbed the last toy - a metallic lady bird - and added it to the unstable pile in my arms. "It's Harry's dad and his partner. He wanted to see us before we go back to LA next week."

Elenore gasped before erupting into a coughing fit.

"Hold that thought," I said quickly, knowing full well I was about to get a lecture in Elenore's most whiny tone. "I'll be back in a moment."

I padded out onto the landing where Nola's high pitched giggle and Harry's booming laugh could be heard coming from elsewhere in the house. A warm tingle ran up my spine, all the way to the corners of my lips which twitched with the threat of an oncoming smile.

Nola and I had lived with Harry for almost two years now and yet even doing something as mundane as tidying up her endless toy supply still felt somewhat surreal. It was a whole world away from when we had first introduced him into our lives and sometimes I still expected to wake up back at the flat, only to realise it had all been a dream.

I elbowed open the door labelled with Nola's name on a pink wooden plaque; a moving in gift from Harry's sister Gemma. It had been strange initially - no longer sharing a room with Nola. And even stranger sharing a room with Harry. I'd felt bad about leaving Elenore to handle the flat herself but she'd since moved into a one bedroom apartment and gotten a better job in Debenhams in the womenswear department. When Niall had finally asked her on a date, it was like the final piece of the jigsaw for her. Everything had fallen into place.

I made my way across the laminate flooring of Nola's bedroom and emptied in the contents of my arms into the fuchsia box at the end of her bed. Every time I walked in here, a pang of emotion washed over me. Harry and I had painted Nola's room together; a weekend of splattering pink paint everywhere other than the walls it was meant for. I'd never been able to give Nola her pink bedroom back at the flat - we'd had to share. Now everything had fallen into place for Nola too.

I made my way back to mine and Harry's room, pulling Nola's door shut on the way out. Harry was probably wondering what was keeping me, I'd been gone at least twenty minutes by now after excusing myself to respond to Ele's incessant spamming of my phone. 

She was still sniffling at the other end of the phone when I re-entered.

"Ok, I'm back." I sighed and collapsed onto the mattress, bracing myself for the onslaught of Elenore Jones.

"LA." She said simply. "LA... again! But Marnie, what if Niall breaks up with me, what am I going to do if you're sunning it up in LA?!"

I bit my lip. "Harry wants to go out there for a couple of weeks, I think he's bored. And besides, you know you'll be more than welcome to join us if you really cannot cope." 

"How can he already be bored?" Elenore snorted, ignoring the latter statement. She'd been to LA with us four times already - she knew it was a second home to her too. "They don't officially go on hiatus until March." 

Elenore was right but she didn't see Harry the way I did. She didn't see the him staring up at the ceiling in the middle of the night; wide awake with his mind whirring. She didn't see the newly developed habit of biting his fingernails or his erratic track record of obsessions; baking, drawing, running and in the last few days - crosswords. 

"I know but things have already started to wind down. His calendar is not full, Ele. There are gaps, empty days. Lazy days." I sighed. "Obviously I love that he's here more and that he gets to spend more time with Nola but he's itching to get working again and I feel bad for him." 

"He pushed for this hiatus might I remind you." Elenore huffed. She'd taken the news just as badly as every other One Direction fan. We'd all been sat around the breakfast bar in Louis' kitchen when they'd broken the news to the two of us and she'd genuinely cried; fat, hot tears with an unattractive Kim Kardashian face. I'd had to clear the boys out of the kitchen and make her a cup of tea to get her to calm down. 

"And might I remind you that it benefits all of them." That's what Harry had said. Louis had been close to tears, Liam had looked tired and Niall had tried to be positive. It hadn't been an easy decision but they were burning the candles at both ends. They'd been non-stop for five years and the departure of Zayn had proven that something had to give. "You know as well as I do that Niall has been writing his own stuff and Harry starts filming Dunkirk in May. These are amazing opportunities."

"I know, I know!" Elenore groaned. "Oh, you forgot the fact that Louis is also now a dad." 

Freddie Reign Tomlinson had been born four days previous and was just as much of a surprise as Nola had been. 

"Is there no such thing as a planned pregnancy in One Direction?" Elenore chortled before bursting into tears again. 

I grimaced. "What on earth is wrong with you now?!" 

"If Niall breaks up with me we'll never get to have a pregnancy, let alone a planned one!" Her words were barely audible; drowned out by the slurping noise of her snotty nose and shrill sobbing. 

I almost wanted to kill Niall for this. Obviously I was thrilled that he wanted to take his relationship with Elenore to the next level but I had an awful feeling this suspense was going to permanently traumatise everybody around them. 

"Elenore, in the nicest possible way - man up." I sighed, forcing the words out through my teeth. I only had a few more hours for this. A few more hours and then hopefully my next phone call from Elenore would be one full of overly high pitched shrieking and happy tears. "Niall is not going to break up with you but he will if you keep acting like a psycho." 

"But-" she protested. 

"No buts." I snapped. "I am going to end this call now and you are going to have a great afternoon." 

"But Marnie!" She whined. "What if-" 

I hung up. 

Author's note: The attached GIF is legit Elenore at the end of this chapter. 
I hope you enjoyed part one!! It was more to outline everything that's happened since Ours and then ease into the new storyline. Elenore hasn't changed a bit as you can tell lol. Let me know what you think!