Artificial Reality (Harry Styles)

Prologue

Harry's POV

"Hey, Lou! I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight," I asked, hailing a taxi hastily. The London streets were wet and cold, as it was the middle of March, one of the most gloomy times of the year. I readjusted my phone, struggling to hear her answer.

"Sorry Haz, but I have to go to a funeral in a few minutes..." she replied, her voice thick with tears. I paused, my eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"I'm so sorry Lou, are you alright?" I inquired, concerned for the usually cheery friend of mine. I slid in the cab that pulled up in front of me, managing to give him the address of my flat as I listened to Lou.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My sister and her husband lost control of their car while driving across a bridge in a storm and they just recovered the bodies yesterday and called me... I just don't know what to do," she told me.

"That's terrible! Do you need me to watch Lux for a while so that you can go with Tom?" I asked, struggling to find something to say that wouldn't upset her even more.

She sighed, "That would be amazing. I don't want to take Lux, but I need Tom to go with me. Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, I'll be there in fifteen minutes," I replied before hanging up and turning to the cab driver to let him know that I needed to be driven to a different address.

After fifteen minutes of traveling through the city of London, the cab driver finally got me to Lou's flat. I pulled my jacket closer around me before hurrying into the building. Lou's flat was on the first floor, so I arrived quickly and knocked softly on the door.

"Thank you so much again," Lou said as she opened the door up and let me inside. The doorway led into a nice sized living room that was situated near the kitchen and hallway that led to the bedrooms. I took a step into the living area and shrugged my wet coat off, hanging it on the coat rack in the corner.

"No problem, I just want to help," I told her, turning around as soon as I heard small footsteps running towards me.

"Haz!" Lux screamed out happily as she ran over to me and hugged my leg. I laughed, picking her up and pulling her into a hug.

"Hello Lux!" I greeted her, setting her on the couch behind me before turning to face Lou again.

"I'm sorry about your sister and her husband, Lou," I said softly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. I pulled my beanie off and ran my fingers through my hair before putting it back on correctly.

Lou nodded quietly, looking down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at me, "Thanks. I'm just really worried about their daughter. She's a year younger than you, but she is very close with her family and I know that she's going to be very upset."

"It's going to be rough on her, especially if she's an only child," I commented and Lou nodded in agreement, pulling her coat on as Tom walked into the room, nodding towards me.

"We should probably get going now," he announced pulling the door open, "Thanks Harry."

"No problem," I replied, closing the door shut behind them after they said their goodbyes to Lux.

14.6.14