Bring It Back

you've got a reputation for yourself now

EXCLUSIVE PICS - Who Is Harry Styles' Mystery Girl?
october 4th, 2016
Norah's not exactly sure how it's happened, or why, but she has somehow managed to amass some sort of an odd friendship with Harry Styles. (She knows that she's supposed to be referring to him solely by his first name, now that they're friends and all, but sometimes she can't help herself.) She says odd for two reasons; firstly, because the fact that she can even say she knows a celebrity, let alone is friends with one is absurd enough on its own. And secondly, because it's a bit of a strange friendship–and that's certainly an understatement. To be fair, though, she's not sure if she can really expect much else from a bond that was born in the waiting room of a therapy office.

She remembers asking him if that was them bonding over how fucked up they are, and now she can readily admit to herself that yes, it was, and still is. Of course, she keeps this to herself, because fucked up translates to 'crazy', which is a word that Cherry instructs her not to use lightly. But the thing is, Norah knows crazy people, she's had experience with one first hand. And despite the little inside joke that she's been sharing with herself as of lately, she knows very well that he's not crazy. No matter what the media wants to say about him.

They don't ever talk about Harry's old life, the one where the slightest glimpse of him is enough to send any girl screaming. The one that came crashing down in front of the entire world, Norah included, back in January, which, she assumes, is the reason why he's attending therapy sessions in the first place. Harry knows that she knows about him, this much she can tell, but thankfully, he doesn't push her to tell him why she's here. There's no way that she'd reveal anything of the sort to someone that she's only been able to call a friend for a week. In fact, Norah hasn't even told Lucas yet. She tells herself that this is because they're not those kind of friends, but deep down, she isn't so sure.

"You'll never believe what Cherry's secretary told me yesterday after my session."

Norah glances up from her computer screen at the sound of Harry's low voice from beside her. They're in Public Speaking class and they're both supposed to be writing outlines for their speeches that are due next week, but instead, Norah's endlessly scrolling through her Pinterest feed. Harry, on the other hand, has been debating over whether or not he should buy the new album of some band that she's never even heard him. She wants to tell him that he's the only uni student she knows that actually buys music on iTunes instead of illegally downloading it, but then she remembers that he's a singer himself (or at least he used to be). He's probably super into the whole "music shouldn't be free" argument, and while she does agree with him on that one, Norah is, to put it quite simply, broke. (That doesn't mean she's going to tell him that she downloads her music illegally anytime soon, though).

"What happened to patient therapist confidentiality and all that?" Norah asks him after a moment. It's clearly a joke, since their therapy sessions are just about all they talk about. That, and whether or not Rachel and Ross are going to get back together on Friends. (He's the only person she knows that hasn't finished the series yet, and Norah doesn't have the heart to spoil it for him.)

Harry shrugs before telling her, "Technically speaking, the only one that has to keep their mouth shut is her, not me."

"Fair enough. What did she say?"

"Right as I was about to walk out of the building, she stopped me, and of course, I thought she was going to tell me something important. Like that Cherry had gotten transferred to a new job in Russia or something." He pauses when he sees Norah clap a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter, and then smiles a little bit. It's hard to get a smile out of Harry Styles, this much she has learned so far, but when he does, it's worth it. (He's like Lucas in that sense, she thinks.)