It's You [H.S.]

3.9 | You & I

Harry looks over from their stilted chat at hearing Adele chanting Eloise's name loudly, proffering her cigarette whilst Rosie claps excitedly. Liam, Lottie and Lou all lean in eagerly.

He hadn't taken her for the type to submit to peer pressure easily, so is surprised to see her take a long drag.

He watches on curiously as she holds the smoke in her throat, hands fanning as her eyes start watering before she coughs it all out.

There's a moment of anticipation until a pitch perfect rendition of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart cuts through the quietened crowd around her. "Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit lonely / and you're never coming round...". Husky, raspy and gravelly, it would seem unthinkable that it's coming from Eloise, but he's seen her in action before.

He brings his fingers to his mouth and lets out a shrill whistle then claps wildly for her as she turns around to him, laughing.

'Gotcha!', he mouthes, cleverly.

'Touché', she sasses back with a smile and knowing tilt of her head.

"You've hit the jackpot there, lad. Don't fuck it up", Louis says glumly.

"Don't intend to", Harry reassures with a determined shake of his head. He claps Louis' shoulder and stands up to head over to her.

Fuck. The sound of her raspy, ravaged voice has him getting hard again in an instant.

>

Eloise and Mer dance goofily in the middle of the quietening terrace, whilst Harry, Paul, Ben and Niall sit in a booth beside them, looking on as they chat.

His years in the spotlight have given Harry a finely honed sixth sense for people watching or filming him, and he's aware of a table of guys on the other side of the terrace casting glances and looking over. One in particular catches his eye. A sandy haired guy who looks neither at him nor Niall, but between Eloise and Ben, curiously.

He's distracted from his conversation with Paul when when he notices the guy approaching tentatively.

"Eloise?", he calls in an accent almost identical to Ben's.

She whirls around to face him and stills. "...Mikey? Oh, wow, hi", surprise written across her face.

Stepping hesitantly closer, he gives her a tentative half hug.

"And Ben, right?", he looks down across their table.

Ben just nods, lifting his beer bottle in greeting. Harry catches him cut his eyes quickly to his, widening them and inclining his head slightly towards them as if to say 'on guard'.

Ben watches keenly, not looking away, even as Mer walks to stand behind him and whisper questioningly in his ear.

Taking his cue from him, Harry watches Eloise and this guy closely, following their stilted conversation.

"Umm, so what are you doing in LA?", Eloise asks this Mikey.

"I'm just here for a stag do. We went to Vegas", he gestures vaguely to the table of lads he'd come from. "God, I can't believe I've bumped into you. You've certainly changed... Must have been the funeral when I last saw you?".

Eloise visibly stiffens, cutting her eyes sharply to Ben and then Harry before landing back on Mikey. "Erm, yeah. Well, it's been a while", she says after a little cough to clear her still raspy throat.

"Six years and two months", he replies flatly.

"Yeah", she replies quietly, playing nervously with her hair before dejectedly dropping down into the booth to sit next to Harry. She gestures for Mikey to take the seat opposite, next to Niall.