The Assistant || H.S. [COMPLETE]

F O U R T E E N

Surely Nora was in over her head when it came to the youngest member of One Direction. Surely. She didn't even know what to do or how to handle herself anymore. She was just lost. And lost wasn't a good thing to be when she was trying so desperately to keep everything hidden while sneaking around – quite frequently – with said One Direction member.

She gave in, realizing he was a force not to be reckoned with. Even though everything in her detested Harry. She hated everything he stood for. She hated his arrogant eyes always giving her the once over. She hated his self-righteous attitude that always produced a comeback for everything. She hated that sneaky smile he gave when he wanted her to meet him in some dark corridor of the venue or on the tour bus or in the dressing room. Most of the time she would put up a fight – let him know she wasn't going to play his stupid games. But in the end, she always found herself folding. And he knew this. He knew he could always get her to comply. He had his ways – his sneaky fucking magician ways. Nora didn't know what he possessed that kept her hooked like an addict, but he always seemed to reel her in.

Harry Styles with stupid arrogant eyes, the obnoxious self-righteous attitude, and that sneering sneaky smile.

Nora should have run for the hills after their first meeting. Life would be so much easier. Instead she broke up with her boyfriend of four years and began risking a perfectly suited dream job to sleep with a boy, who she was not particularly fond of. And on top of that, he was a boy she was contractually obligated to keep her dirty little harpy hands off of.

She wasn't sure when she'd learn her lesson, but she knew it was something that could happen at a moment's notice. Anyone from their crew could walk straight in on them at any time and she knew it. Yet she still let it happen over and over again.

As Nora readied for bed – washing her face clean of her makeup, brushing her teeth and slipping into her shorts and tank top – she thought of Harry. Although her feelings stretched thin for him, she still couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement in the pit of her stomach over the fact that tomorrow the tour makes its way to North Carolina – the place of her birth. The place where her parents still lived on a large farm in the more rural part of the state. For some reason, deep down inside her, she wanted Harry to know where she came from. She wanted him to meet her parents and for some stupid reason, she wanted him to appreciate it all.

Nora shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts of Harry as she tamed the smile on her lips. She didn't want tomorrow to be a disappointment, but somehow knew it would be. And she hated herself a little for having high hopes for him. Harry Styles was a disease – spreading like the plague throughout her entire being. She was sure to be dead soon.

Nora slipped herself underneath the covers of the double bed in her empty hotel room. Paul sure liked to cover the bases when it came to keeping her away from the precious cargo – so much that every night they stayed in a hotel, she got her very own room instead of being bunked with one of the guys. Too bad it didn't stop Harry from slipping into her hotel room and seducing her the night before Claire's unexpected arrival.

Sleep was easy to fall into after running around like a crazy person at the venue that night. Nothing seemed to have gone right and it was her who took on the brunt of most of the work. Sleep was welcomed like an old friend as soon as her head hit the pillow. That was until she was woken with a start to the dipping of the mattress next to her.

"What the fu—" Nora gasped.

"Shhh," Harry said, placing his finger over his lip to get her to shut up.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Nora asked quickly, yet quietly as she sat up and turn on the bedside lamp.

Paul and Preston were literally in the next room over and she didn't want to risk them hearing anything. Who knows how thin the walls were.