It's You [H.S.]

2 | You, again

She gestures playfully with her glass before extending her hand, "Lovely to meet you".

Anne takes her hand to pull her in warmly for a hug. "You too, Eloise. Wonderful to finally put a beautiful face to that beautiful name".

"Oh, so that's where he gets that from, hmm?", she pulls away, smirking from Anne to Harry.

"Mum!" he whines in embarrassment, hiding his pinked cheeks as he tugs at Eloise's arm. "Hey, where's mine?".

Pulling her against his chest in a tight hold, he whispers deeply into her ear. "Hello again, you... Still a happy New Year?".

She feels discombobulated; from his lips gracing the sensitive shell of her ear, his breath intimately tickling her neck, and the rush of heady memories from their flirtatious last encounter at Ben and Mer's New Year's Eve party.

"Oh, H! Do put her down...", his mum chastises.

Eloise hides her blush as she turns back to her armchair and climbs over his bag. She slips into her leather biker boots, sitting down to zip them up before crossing her legs.

Harry takes a seat across from her and holds eye contact as he tousles his long curls back into place. He nods when his mum, next to him, gestures to Eloise's glass as she confers with the waiter.

>

They're pulled from their chatting - that they're on the same flight home, about the entirely different vibe of airports late at night, her busy schedule, their quick trip signing the documents for Harry's new TriBeCa condo, how their delayed outbound flight meant he missed Adele's party - when the VIP concierge interrupts to tell them their flight is now almost fully boarded, so she can escort them to the gate.

Harry gentlemanly helps Eloise into her coat before lifting his and his mum's bags. Anne steps up to chat to the employee guiding the way, as Harry hangs back, head bent close to Eloise as she finishes regaling him with Adele and Rosie's antics from the afterparty.

>

They're down the tunnel and stepping left into the first class cabin before they know it. The Captain finishes his announcement as they're shown to their seats. Anne and Harry by the window; Eloise a few rows ahead in the central aisle.

She bids him goodbye with a smile over her shoulder as they quickly settle themselves in the otherwise hushed cabin. Her attention is soon diverted to the older man alongside her, introducing himself in a brash Brooklyn accent, talking a mile a minute as he looks her up and down.

Whilst the stewards offer them drinks and finish their pre-flight checks, Harry can't help but watch as Eloise hops back out of her seat, nodding and feigning interest to the chatty man he can hear alongside her. He snatches a glimpse of her toned stomach as she gracefully reaches up on tip toes for her tote bag from the overhead locker. She catches his eye and sends a cheeky wink his way as she pulls out her Bose noise cancelling headphones. He chuckles and shakes his head, looking back down to his book.

>

When the lights dim after the meal, which he notes she misses, already asleep, the noise from the snoring businessman across the aisle from him only intensifies. He surreptitiously asks a steward to move; the only free seat, diagonally across from Eloise.

>
>

8th January 2015

Later, walking back to his new seat from the toilets, he chuckles at seeing her jerk awake to the Captain's nasally greeting over the tannoy. He smirks as he catches her stealthily sneak a glance back to his old seat and frown as she sees it empty. Her eyes meet his as he advances down the aisle, widening in alarm at being caught looking.