Odds || H.S.

XXV

I opened my eyes to find myself laying down on the living room couch.  Addy and Chris are whispering over me as Harry sits in the loveseat across from me. I let out a groan as I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position; my head felt as if it had been hit with a brick. 

Addy and Chris's whispering came to a halt and Harry slowly lifted his head from his hands. He let out a large sigh of relief once we made eye contact. 

"Lila, oh thank god," Addy rushed out as she bent over to give a hug. I hissed in pain as her arm brushed against the side of my head. "Sorry, Li, I tried to catch you before you fell out of your chair, but you hit the floor pretty hard. Luckily your hair added some cushion," she said sheepishly. She reached out to touch my hair but quickly retracted her hand as I shot her small glare.  

"Maybe we should give them some space," Chris suggested, already steering Addy out of the living room. 

Harry came to sit beside me on the couch immediately wrapping me in a comforting embrace. 

"How's your head?" he asked, reaching out to touch my hair. 

"It's a little tender," I admitted, not caring as he ran his slender fingers over my coils. "Harry, I'm kind of scared," I sighed. 

"I know, babe, but trust me, I have everything under control," he said, facing the now blank television screen.

I let out a sigh, nuzzling myself further into his chest, "How did they even find out who am I and that I live with you?"

Harry scoffed, "you can thank your best mate, Dylan, for this whole situation," his face hardening. 

"What? No, he wouldn't do that-,"

"Well, he did!" Harry snapped before taking a breath. "I'm sorry, Lila, I'm not upset with you. It's just that you trusted that prick as your friend and he took advantage of that. He tipped off the press and threw away your friendship for quick money," he scoffed.  I looked down at my hands feeling a mixture of sadness and anger.  

"Or maybe he's upset about today," I muttered to myself. 

"What happened, today?" Harry questioned.

"I-well he-he asked me to be his girlfriend," Harry's eyes narrowed, "and I obviously said no, but I that as his friend, I owed him an explanation," I rambled. 

"That jealous f**k," he grumbled, "When my team told me it was him, I wasn't surprised in the slightest, but now that I know, it makes sense."

I just kept staring at my hands, unsure of how to respond. "Lila," he continued, "I know this situation is less than ideal and we haven't even started your trial period, but will you be my girlfriend?" 

"Yes, yes one thousand times yes!" I exclaimed, smashing my lips against his. As soon as our lips touched, the entire world seemed to melt away. He was right, this situation isn't ideal, but it was bound to happen. We both pulled away grinning at each other like idiots. 

"So, what do we do now? I mean now that everyone knows," I clarified, not wanting to give him the wrong idea. I'm sure there a number of things he would like to do now. 

"Well, while you were passed out,  my team and I developed a plan and it starts tomorrow."

"Wow, okay," I nodded, surprised that everything was happening so soon. 

"I know it's quick, but we need to get ahead of the situation," Harry reasoned. "Usually, I don't talk about my personal life at all and I've done a pretty good job keeping my partners out of the spotlight. Thanks to Dylan, that's now impossible. Not only do they know your identity but they also know where we live, soon they'll find out everything about you. My team already gained control of all your social media accounts and temporarily deactivated them. Twitter is going insane right now," he said, seeming to grow more agitated with every word. I grabbed his hand and rubbed my thumb along the back of it in a circular motion to ease his nerves.