the writer // harry styles au

chapter 17

9 months after the confession of Harry's love, not much had changed. Harry was still utterly in love with a girl that had never said anything to him since the night he told her he loved her. Alexis was still with Will. She tried everyday to forget about Harry, and over time he was becoming less and less of a reminder, but he was still in her head from time to time, reminding her of something she sometimes wish she never rejected. They've gone on, for nearly a year, never forgetting each other.

Harry

Zayn's lying leisurely on the bookstore's couch, coffee in one hand and the first sold hard copy of my book. He's looking at the cover - plain black and a white silhouette of a girl with the title in the silhouette including my name and the fact that I'm a New York Times Best Seller - and he's smiling. Maybe he's proud of me or just laughing at the fact that I continued to write a book about a character based of the girl who broke my heart. He says I found safety with Alice's character because I could write her with everything I love about Alexis and not feel any heartbreak for her. He also says that Daniel, Alice's love interest, is basically a very accurate, fictional form of myself. I disagree profoundly.

"Looks great, Styles," he says, standing from the couch.

He pats my back in congratulations and then sits down on the desk where I'll be signing the copies for the next two hours. It freaks as he places more weight on the table, and in the end he just decides to not risk is and stand up.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asks. Don't get wise on me, Malik.

"Ready to release my new novel and earn some money? Course, man." I try to avoid what he's really asking about. I don't like talking about it.

"Harry, stop being a shut off dick and actually answer the question," he spits. I don't answer him - I won't answer him. "Well, how about I answer the question with my own observations from the past nine months, hey? Sound alright?" I continue to stare. He's been okay the past nine months, not bugging me too much about Alexis, taking me out drinking when I'd really given up hope of her ever calling. He acted like I wasn't totally and utterly fucked in love for the rest of my life, which I am.

"You're not ready for this. You weren't ready to write this novel when you were with Alexis, let alone hung up and totally in love with her. You told her you loved her, she didn't answer. You got pissed for months, Harry. You swore of people in general at one point - not just girls. You were this depressing sad sack, and only recently have you started to shower daily and hide your feelings for her better.

"This is going to be a tip off. People are going to ask you about Alice and what her inspiration was, how she relates to you or anyone you know. People are going to invade your privacy and ask you questions you haven't even asked yourself. It's too late to pull of the signing, you're stuck. You're going to get depressed again, and I'm totally up for a night out tonight, but I'm just warning you of what this signing might do, okay?"

I hated when he was right. He was so fucking wise for someone who was 27. I mean, he notices things that I don't. He shows me of things I should see clearly. I'm not going to respond to what he's said. He knows I've taken it in, realised that he's right - my face says it all. I just move behind the desk, pulling out the chair and dropping.

I don't want to be here. Not without her.

Alexis

"Will," I say, touching his bicep. He's clad in the most amazing navy suit. It's tailored perfectly and does amazing things for his body.

He turns from talking to an elder man, probably a business partner. His face is enlightened with a large smile when he turns to see me. He pulls me close by the hip, only with one hand, then other holding his champagne. He kisses my jaw.

I'm happy. I'm in love. He's perfect and trouble-less, full of love and not a novelist. He's great. Amazing. Not Harry. I love the way he always loved to be near me, yet he's sophisticated about it. He smiles all the time. He says he smiles because of me. I smile because of him.

I can feel something pressing into my hip, knowing full well what I'm feeling. But Will's not smirking like her usually does when I can feel him like this. He's just there, grinning like an idiot. I give him a look, raising my eyebrows at him. He raises his back, cocking his head to the right. He mouths a 'what?', and I just smirk. I'll go along with it. My hand reaches down between us, travelling along Will's taught abdominals. Will jerks back, away from me.

"What?" I asked, stepping forward. My hand falls onto his chest and he brings his warm, rough one to rest on top of it.

"I just realised how much I need to do something," he said. He smiles at me. He puts his flute of champagne on the table. I could feel the press that I felt before slide down my leg as he bent to reach to low height of the table.

When he came back up, he cupped my face. His blue eyes stared into mine. His were a frosted blue and, right now, full of life, love. He leaned in, pressing a slow but agonising kiss to my lips. Thumbs ran back and forth on my cheek as he kissed me and man, I felt like I was on cloud nine.

He pulled back, smiling again, hands still on my cheeks. He mouthed, "I love you," and ran off. I saw him move to where the band was, which was at the front of the ballroom. He nodded towards the man singing and the vocals stopped but the instruments started playing a soft, slow jazz. Will knew I loved this type of music. I told him that if I were to ever get married, I would want a slow jazz band to play, not a shitty DJ. Another thing I noticed was Will's lack of a hard-on. I was so sure that's what I had felt grazing at my skin. But then I saw it: Will reaching into his pocket, pulling out a blue box, signature Tiffany & Co. blue.

"About nine months ago, I met a girl. She had a messy fringe and tangled, unbrushed shoulder length hair. He blue eyes had caught me in the tackiest of places and her heart had taken mine at the most inconvenient time. But who was I to say no?"

My heart was racing. I was being proposed to. He was doing it.

"And today, although the the messy fringe and tangled hair haven't changed, the feelings I had before her certainly have. We haven't known each other for a year, but when you know, you know?"

Ben, Will's friend, yelled out, "Get over with it, Will! A year ago and you would have spit this out 10 minutes ago!" The whole room laughed, including Will. I liked the fact that he was nervous rambling.

"Lex?" he said, staring me down. I didn't have to ask what he was going to say next, I just frantically nodded, putting my drink down on the table and clumsily made my way to him.

When I got to the stage, Will brought me close to him again. He placed a kiss to my forehead, lingering. Why was he doing this? Why wasn't he already kneeling?

"You're lingering," I whisper.

He lets out a shaky breath. "Just relishing in the moment. You might say no."

I would a few months ago. "I'd never deny you."

And then it happened. The thoughts of Harry; the thought of maybe if I'd gone to him, that it would be him kneeling in front of me right now, and not Will. But I'm not in love with Harry- I never was. I am in love with Will, though.

Will got onto his knee, blue eyes looking at me, full of life, love. His brown hair was messy and not styled like it was when we first left his flat. Here I was, gorgeous man kneeling in front of me, about to ask me something so important and all I could think about was what could have been - with Harry.

"Alexis Margot Russel." He's starting. He's asking. "Will you marry me?" This is when you respond - you say yes. You smile wide, you might cry, you kiss him and love him and until it hurts. You do it because you love him. You love him.

"Yes."

(A/N: Soooooo, this is a bit different? I'm super scared that you guys won't like it, and that you might think that there's not enough Halexis (???), but I promise you, there's so much to come! This is the only chapter I'll be writing with a change of P.O.V half way through, so I'm sorry if you guys hated that. Anyway, don't forget to vote and please (!!!!) tell me what you think of this chapter!)