Rebel Rebel |harry styles| - ongoing

TWENTY-EIGHT

"Mates, we've got something we'd like to tell you.", I opened and as soon as she heard me say it, Ramona turned around quite aggressively and pointed a finger at us.

"I knew it!!! You are together! Finally!", she shouted. Pierce and Michal were surprised, like any unsuspecting partner would be, they weren't exceptionally good at paying attention to the little details, but they did their best.

"You got us, Ramona. We are.", Essie finally spoke, softly at first, but her voice strengthened when she said her mate's name.

"HA! I have been waiting for this to happen for a year!", a little victory dance was apparently in order, as the peculiar woman started twirling around the back yard like a ballerina and simultaneously pumping her fist in the air, triumphantly.

"I think we all knew, mate. We were just waiting for them to say it.", Becks cut in, and Gemma nodded.

"Well, there you have it. Now, we'd like for everyone to just act normally because this isn't very new for us and there's no need to treat it as such. Still the same Harry and Essie, just paired up.", I couldn't have said it better myself, only I think it was a bit naïve to expect our mates and my sister to drop it, just like that. The fact that it wasn't news to us didn't mean they could just ignore it and go business as usual. I already knew Becks and Gemma would have questions – how it happened, when it happened, was it just a desperate quarantine decision and if that were the case, how did we know it would continue. The boyfriends probably wouldn't pry, and Ramona would certainly ask something inappropriate.

"Okay, let's go back to enjoying each other.", Ess urged everybody to just go back to the conversations they were having before, but Ramona's wheels kept turning.

"Are you living together now?", it was like somebody popped a cork and the liquid was about to spill from the bottle.

"I said enjoying, not annoying, Ramona.", that earned her a laugh from everyone, "We haven't moved in together, but it has been pretty hard living apart for the past few months... you know... with the whole 'trapped in Los Angeles' thing.".

"Will you bugger off Ramona? If they want to tell you something, I'm sure they will let you know.", Becks came to our defence and I noticed Gemma was impressed by her rescue mission. Gemma always likes when people stand up for one another.

"Fine.", Ramona held her hands up, as if she were saying she gives up, but she continued speaking softly, "This isn't over, I hope you know.".

We ate, laughed, responded to some mildly uncomfortable questions and everyone left by two. It felt like a fever dream – being close to the people that we loved. Funny, when did we ever imagine that resembling a fever dream?

"Do you know what I've been thinking about today?", both of us were sprawled over the sofa, with Bono beneath our feet. Essie had her legs all the way close to mine, and I instinctively started running little circles around her ankles.

"I do know you fairly well, but I am not a mind reader.", she pulled a funny face, "Tell me, what's on your mind?".

"I was thinking about how I don't remember not knowing you."

"What do you mean?", Essie was puzzled by my random thoughts.

"I mean, my brain has inserted your image into every memory I have. There are no memories that you aren't part of, not anymore. When I think of a five-year-old Harry, I see a little blonde Essie running around too."

"Hold on, I think I can reverse that.", she got up and disappeared to her bedroom.

Essie

I perfectly understood what Harry was saying, it was getting hard to separate my memories before I met him from the ones we made together. And if Ramona taught me anything in her zillion years of studying psychology in uni is that memories are triggered best by smells, tastes, and sounds. So, I ran up to my bedroom to fetch my phone and when I got back Harry was sitting on the sofa, as confused as he could be.

"Hold on just one second.", I fiddled with the Bluetooth on my phone, trying to connect it to the TV surround sound system. Why was it that, when you needed it most, technology seemed to give up on you?

"Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo. Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo. Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo.", the familiar melody of 'Rebel Rebel' erupted through the sitting room and brought a smile to Harry's face.

"Do you remember now?", in a rare moment in which I felt like dancing, I grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him off the sofa. Bono went crazy with us, howling all through the room, alongside Bowie.

"Rebel rebel, you've torn your dress. Rebel rebel, your face is a mess. Rebel rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!", he sang into my ear and twirled me around.

"I do, you know?", suddenly, it was like the music had stopped.

"You do what?"

"Love you, rebel.", I'd said it to him a million times, in my head. It always came easy and naturally. I was choking now, and I had no idea why.

"You don't have to say it for me to know it.", with just one sentence he managed to calm my nerves immensely.

"You might know it, but it's nice hearing it. I love you, Harry."

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A/N: I have been writing a lot, and posting as soon as I finish writing each chapter :D My brain has been a bit cou-cou for the past week, so I've been using this story as a world to escape to, and it's working so far. I hope you like the chapter! 
Also, Golden mv coming soon, I say October 27th... I'm calling it. He updated the DYKWYA site on international gold day, which I was hoping he'd do :) Barely coping with all the hontent here, hope you're doing better haha. 

TPWK, always.
T.