A week goes by and I haven't heard from Harry once. After our not a date day, he dropped me off at my apartment and said, "I'll see you later." I'm not sure what his definition of later is, but it's definitely later and...crickets.
By Wednesday I considered texting him, but I didn't know what to say and after a few hours of typed but not sent texts, I gave up and decided if he wants to talk to me, he'll talk to me.
It's been a busy week at work which has, thankfully, taken my mind off of the situation. But it's Saturday now and I'm running out of distractions.
I know since I was the one who insisted it wasn't a date, I shouldn't care that he hasn't texted me and I have no idea if I'll ever see him again, but I care. How could anyone spend a day with Harry and not care if they ever see him again?
Did I act like I didn't care and didn't think he was funny too much? I wanted to seem mysterious and cool, but maybe I overdid it.
Thankfully, Ryan insisted we have lunch today so I have one more hour of avoiding my thoughts about Harry. That is if the topic doesn't come up.
Unfortunately, if I know anything about Ryan, it probably will come up.
He's already sitting at a table with food when I walk in the door, so I walk over to the table to set down my bag before I go to order my food at the counter.
"So you didn't die?" Ryan says as I approach the table.
I roll my eyes immediately and reach into my bag to get my wallet.
"Hello to you too," I say.
"Let me see your phone," Ryan demands as I'm setting my bag back on the chair across from him. I give him a questioning look but hand him my unlocked phone anyway. He taps his finger on the screen a few times then shows me all of his texts I didn't answer this week on the screen. "And I see your phone works too."
"You know I'm horrible at answering texts sometimes. It's been a busy week at work," I answer with a huff, taking my phone back from him. We'll just ignore the fact that that was mostly a lie.
"Was it really a busy week or are we just avoiding our problems?" I bite my bottom lip knowing he picked up on my real reason for the radio silence this week. So much for the lie. "Uh huh, thought so. Now go order your food so we can talk about this."
I give him a pointed look then turn to head to the counter. There's no line and the cafe is pretty empty so in less than five minutes I've ordered, picked up my food, and am heading back to the table where Ryan is sitting, typing away on his phone.
I sit down and immediately start eating and checking my phone, hoping to evade Ryan's questions a little longer. But of course, my (un)lucky day is continuing.
"So fill me in on what happened last Saturday after our call," Ryan says, now giving me his undivided attention... unfortunately.
I think for a minute, but know I'm gonna have to answer his questions at some point so I take a deep breath and start explaining, "We got food at some cafe and ate it on the beach, then we drove around for a while and walked around this cute park with a bunch of local art. After that, we went back to his house, ordered takeout, and had a movie night."
"Okay so what's the problem?" he asks.
"I like him," I blurt out, voicing the bigger problem than him not texting me. "Not like I liked him before I met him, but like really really actually like him and I barely know him, but I like him and that can't happen right now. And I haven't heard from him in a week so it's probably a moot point because he's already bored of me. It shouldn't matter, though; the only boys allowed in my life this year are you and my favorite yoga instructor."
"Brooke you gotta let go of your stupid plans. What would 18-year-old you say if she knew you were giving up the chance to be friends with Harry Styles," He leans in and whispers the last part to make sure no one else hears.
"Okay, but I'm not giving it up, am I? He hasn't texted me," I argue.
"You could text him."
"I could but because of who I am as a person I really can't. On Wednesday I typed out like 50 different texts I could've sent but I talked myself out of it and it's probably for the best because there's no way Harry's gonna keep wanting to hang out with me."
"You need to talk to him," Ryan says after several seconds of pondering my explanation.
"Except that I don't."
"He's a busy guy, maybe he meant to text you, but it slipped his mind."
"Well I'm busy too. Maybe I meant to text him, but it slipped my mind," I argue back.
"Okay whatever, I know better than to try to argue with you. Tell me about work," He says, finally giving in.
I fill him in on the latest newsroom gossip--his favorite thing about my job--as we finish our lunch.
Half an hour later we're both done with our food and getting ready to leave.
"Just try to keep an open mind about Harry," Ryan says before we part ways to our cars.
"Okay, but I'm telling you he's done wasting his time on me."
Ryan rolls his eyes and gives me a one-armed hug before walking to his car on the right side of the parking lot.
***Harry's POV***
I'm sitting in my backyard, reading a book and trying to take advantage of the quiet I'm finally getting after a week of interviews, tour prep and promo. I really start getting lost in the book until my phone vibrating on the table next to me pulls me back to reality.
I look to see who it is, not wanting to talk to anyone right now.
Ryan appears at the top of the screen and I remember that I haven't talked to Brooke in a week. I think for a moment about if I should answer, but decide he's probably not calling about Brooke or anything else important so I let it go to voicemail.
I open my book back up and after reading maybe two sentences, my phone starts vibrating again. I glance over to the table and see Ryan's name again.
It must actually be important, I think before reaching for the phone and answering it.
"What's up?"
"How'd last Saturday go with Brooke?" He asks.
"Good, why?" I answer, feeling a little confused. But only a little. I'm now fully realizing I'm basically ghosting her.
"Do you think you're gonna text her or something? Maybe hang out again?"
Oh no, I think.
"Probably, why?" I ask, hoping I'm wrong and nothing weird is going on.
"When do you think you might do that?"
"Um, I don't know. I had a crazy week so maybe tomorrow. Why?"
He's silent for a moment and I open my mouth to say something else but he cuts me off before I get a word out.
"Okay, I'm just gonna cut to the chase, but don't tell Brooke I told you anything because she might actually kill me." He sounds like he's still unsure if he should be telling me whatever it is.
"Um, okay."
"She's pretty much convinced herself that you've forgotten all about her and never want to see her again so if that's not the case you need to do something basically right now."
Shit, I didn't think she would jump to that.
"What do you mean? Why would she think that?" I ask just to make sure I'm not missing anything .
"It's been radio silence for the last week. What else is she supposed to think? Mr. Rockstar has been too scared to text her?" I can tell from his tone of voice that's obviously not what she's been thinking and I'm starting to get scared I fucked this up before anything even really started.
"Okay so what should I do? How can I fix this?" I ask, continuing to kind of play dumb. I know things I could do to fix it, but he's Brooke's best friend so he'll know the way to fix it.
"What are you doing right now?"
"Nothing."
"Go to her apartment. Right now."
Won't she think that's weird?
"I can't just text her or call?"
"No she's already overthinking everything. you need to go hang out with her," He urges, sounding like he's getting annoyed.
"And she won't think it's weird that I keep showing up at her apartment unannounced?"
"Maybe, but that's better than her thinking you never want to talk to her again."
"Okay, you're right. I should go talk to her. Thanks for not letting me completely fuck this up before anything's begun," I say as I stand up and start walking into my house.
"Don't make me do it again," He says in the most threatening voice I've ever heard from him.
I didn't know Ryan could actually be a little scary.
"Right. I won't."
And with that I scramble to get my wallet, keys and shoes so I can head over to Brooke's.