I held tightly to Judd's hand as we stepped into the studio, with Stevie in tow. "I'll see you guys after the show, okay?" Judd nodded and Stevie led him to where the audience was getting seated. I waved to some of the sound-tech people as I made my way to my dressing room. I opened the door, seeing a pair of skinny jeans and a blouse sitting on the chair, waiting for me. I stepped in and closed the door. I walked past the clothes and into the bathroom, I splashed some water on my face before re-entering to change. I slipped off my sweats and started pulling on the jeans. I jumped around, trying to get them on. I sighed, knowing that they weren't coming on. I slipped off the jeans and checked the tag for the size. Size 3. Not my size. I put my sweats back on and opened the door.
"Uh, Madeline?" I said to our wardrobe designer. She turned around and smiled when she saw me. "Um, these aren't my size." As soon as the words left my mouth, Mr. Cook stepped in.
"Not your size?" He said. "What is your size?"
"I'm a size seven, not a three." I said, handing the pants to Madeline. She gladly took them and went to find a pair in my size.
"Have you been doing what I asked you to do, Presely?" Mr. Cook asked. I knew exactly what he meant. He wanted to know if I was trying to lose weight. In his eyes, you didn't lose weight from exercising, you lost it from not eating.
"Uh, yeah." I lied. "But maybe you should try altering the clothes, not the girl." I said, as Madeline came back with my pants. I took them out of her hand and walked back to my dressing room.
****
"I don't get why we have to interview her." Alexander said, as we stood on the side of the stage, waiting for our cue.
"Because she has a lot of money." I answered him. "Besides, maybe Mr. Cook is hoping he'll be able to hook up with her." The familiar music came, on, cueing us to go on stage.
Ten minutes later, we were listening to Kim Kardashian tell us all about the stuff she bought herself for Christmas. I propped my head up on my elbow an listened to her drone on and on.
Finally the interview was over. It didn't go as bad as it could, I guess. I just feel bad that the first live show that both Stevie and Judd attended, it was this one. "Good job Presley!" One of the stage managers said to me.
"Thanks!" I said, turning to see Stevie and Judd standing there. "Hey guys! Look I-" I started to apologize for bringing them to such an awkward show.
"That was so much fun!" Judd exclaimed. "You did so good!" He wrapped his skinny arms around me and I hugged him back.
"Did you have fun?" I asked Stevie.
"It was fun, but I could go without listening to Kim Kardashian talk about all the Prada bags she bought herself."
"Me too. That was probably the worst interview ever."
"I liked the one with One Direction." Judd spoke up. It got quiet between the three of us.
"Me too." I said to him. I gave him a hug and told them I'd meet them outside after I got changed. I started walking to my dressing room, passing the meeting room along the way.
"You can't do this to her, she's perfectly fine." A voice I recognized as Alexander said. I pressed my war to the door, listening to what was being said.
"As you see it," Mr. Cook said. "But we don't want people thinking that its okay to be a size seven, because Presley is. That's not how society works."
"Well society sucks. I'm not going to do that to her. Not with what's going on in her life already." Alexander fought.
"We don't want you to straight up tell her that she needs to lose weight, we just want you to not let her eat too much, at the New Years party." Me. Cook said. I could easily picture him sitting, facing Alexander, his hands folded in his lap and a blank expression on his face.
"No." Alexander said. I heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and footsteps approaching the door. I quickly darted down the hall, shutting myself in my dressing room before they noticed that I was eavesdropping. Tears threatened to pour out if my eyes. I had never really been called fat, and I was pretty confident about my body.
I took deep breaths as I took a seat on the couch. I finally let's the tears pour over my face, my shoulders shaking violently.
I wanted to be an inspiration, everyone does. But is my weight really going to affect this? I wiped my eyes on my sleeve, letting a small sniffle out. I took deep breathes as I went into the bathroom and washed my face, getting all if my makeup off. I grabbed my sweats and the t-shirt and stuffed them in my bag, before exiting the room and the building to go meet Stevie and Judd.
****
December 31, 2012
"Where are you now?" I said through the phone, to Harry. He said that he was in LA and was planning on coming and seeing me. We have been doing pretty good on being 'just friends'. We haven't kissed, and I literally had to force myself not to lean in and give him simple kisses, like we used to.
"I am almost there, just like five minutes away." He said. "Where are Judd and Stevie staying?"
"Their hotel is in walking distance from my apartment, so not too far away." I told him. Judd was a bit sad when I told him that I wouldn't be staying at the hotel with them, simply because I have my own house. I would have let them stay with me, but my apartment wasn't big enough.
"Okay that's good. Are you going to spend New Years with them?" He asked.
"No," I said, not really happy about it. "I have to go to Mr. Cooks annual party, to meet some important people or something. What are you doing?" I was a bit nervous with going to that party, with what I overheard the other day. I just wanted to stay and celebrate it with my family, not in some club with sweaty, drunk people.
"I'm going to accompany you at this party, if you want me to, of course."
"Yeah I want you to. That'd be amazing." I said.
"Okay, sounds like a plan. I'm outside the building, I'll see you in a few." He hung up and my heart pounded. I straightened out my hair, pulling at the ends. I haven't seen him since before Christmas, and I look like I just woke up. I examined the skinny jeans and the hoodie of Harry's that I had on, debating whether I wanted to change or not. Before I could decide, there was a knock on the door. My heart raced as I walked over, twisted the doorknob and pulled the door open. Harry was standing there, using his phone as a mirror as Herman his hands through his hair. He looked up and saw me, before tackling me in a hug.
We didn't say anything as we hugged. His familiar scent filling my nose. I closed my eyes as his arms styled wrapped around me, both of us standing in my doorway still. "I've missed you so much." He said, his mouth so close to my ear that it gave me cold chills.
"I've missed you too."
****
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you guys?" I asked Stevie. "I can just tell Mr. Cook that in sick or something-"
"No Presley! Go have fun, we're okay by ourselves for one night." She said, practically pushing me out the door of their hotel room. I stopped by to check on them and to see if they wanted me to stay. "By the way, you look gorgeous in that black dress." I has just threw on a simple black dress that ended just above my knees. I curled my hair and put on a little more eyeshadow than usual.
"Thanks Stevie," I said, reaching for a hug before she kicked me out. "You're the best."
"I know," she said. "Now go, be free with your king Harold!" She said before quickly shutting the door. I rolled my eyes, letting out a small smile and got in the elevator.
Harry was sitting on the couch in the lobby, and the receptionist was staring at him, her mouth wide open. I smirked at this before grabbing Harry's hand and leading him out the door.
****
"You look gorgeous, you know." Harry said, for about the hundredth time this evening.
I blushed and hid my face in his chest. We were dancing to one of the very few slow songs they had been putting on at this party. The song soon ended and Harry and I exited the dance floor. We both got a Dr. Pepper as we sat at the bar. He knew I didn't drink, and so he decided not to drink, on my behalf. Mr. Cook came over to us and motioned for me to follow him. "I'll be right back." I said to him, and he nodded.
I followed Mr. Cook through the club, the music had started up again and was pounding in my ears. I scanned the crowd, looking to see a familiar face. Not one in sight. I don't even think Alexander is here, I thought to myself. Mr. Cook led me to wear a small group of men in suits were sitting. "Presley this is James Dunning," he said, introducing me to each one of the guys, whose names I forgot as soon as he role me them.
"So if we decide to do a movie, would you be interested?" One of the men asked. I hadn't even been listening to what he was saying.
"Uh, yeah that'd be awesome." I said, giving him a thumbs up. After we talked a little more, Mr. Cook told me I was free to go, since midnight was closely approaching. I made my way through the club, seeing Harry in a serious discussion with...Alexander? My eye brows furrowed as I made my way through sweaty people, to them. They seemed to bee having a serious discussion, Alexander was talking with his hands and Harry's eye brows were furrowed, just as mine had been a few seconds before. I was within four feet of them before Harry noticed me. "Hey," he said, as I took a seat next to him. Alexander gave me a warm smile and patted Harry as he got up and walked out of sight."How'd it go?"
"Good, I didn't really pay attention to what was being said. What were you and Alexander talking about?"
"Oh, uh," he said, trying to think of something. I knew he was lying. "We were just talking about the basketball game last night." He said, he avoided eye contact, another sign that he was lying.
***Harry***
She knew I was lying. I had an awful habit if stuttering and avoiding eye contact when I'm lying, obviously something she caught on to.
"Harry, c'mon. Just tell me." She said, he eyes pleading. I couldn't just tell her straight out though. How do you tell the girl you love that her boss thinks that she needs to lose weight? Even worse he tried to get her co-star to tell her to lay off the food? It would tear her apart. Especially because she doesn't need to lose weight. She's perfect the way she is. "Is it what Mr. Cook told Alexander to do? Watch me and make sure I don't eat too much tonight?" She said.
My eyes almost bulged out of my head. She knows? "You know about that?" I asked her and she nodded.
"I heard them talking about it the other day." She looked like she wanted to not talk about this anymore. Her eyes were starting to get watery.
"Look, Presley, Mr. Cook is stupid. You don't need to lose weight at all. You look perfect." I told her. She blushed and smiled, looking down. Before I could say anything else, the DJ announced that the countdown to the New Year was about to start.
"10, 9," They started. I stared at Presley and all her perfect features. "8, 7, 6," she seemed completely oblivious that I was staring at her, instead of joining the countdown. "5, 4," I could kiss her, I thought. She knows I love her and there's nothing I want more than to feel her lips against mine. "3, 2," Nows my chance, I could really do this. "1! Happy New Year!" Everyone screamed as some couple shared New Years kisses. I wrapped my arms around Presley and hugged her. I completely chickened out. I can't kiss her now.
***Presley***
Why didn't he kiss me? I was sure he would! As he wrapped his arms around me, I got ready for his lips to meet mine, but they never did. I avoided the awkwardness that we both knew was there as people cheered and shared kisses all around us. "You want to go now?" I asked Harry, raising my voice above the crowd.
"If you want to." He said. I didn't answer, I just grabbed his hand and led him outside where he hailed a taxi. As we got in and started back towards my apartment, the tension in the taxi was ridiculous. I knew he could feel it too. I was kinda upset that he didn't kiss me, of course he has every reason not to. We are just friends.
As we pulled up to my building, I climbed out, as did Harry. "I'll walk you up." He said, also paying the driver and telling him he could go. As we rode the elevator back to my room, we didn't speak a word. It was when we were outside my door, that he finally decided to speak up.
"Are you okay." He asked, grabbing my arm.
"I'm fine." I said, looking him straight in the eye.
"No you're not. Tell me what's wrong."
"Why didn't you kiss me?" I blurted out, before I could stop myself. He looked a bit taken back, but he composed himself.
"Because." He said, leaning in.
"Because why?" instead if answering, he leaned in more. Before I knew it, his lips were on mine. He pulled me closer wrapping on arm around my waist as his other hand cupped my face. I moved my hands from his face to his hair as his tongue begged for entrance to my mouth that I granted, without hesitation. When we were both out of breath, we pulled away and he rested his head in the crook of my neck.
"I shouldn't have done that." He whispered, lightly kissing my neck. I closed my eyes and enjoyed him warm lips on my neck.
"Why?" I breathed.
"Because, now I don't think I can stop." He connected our lips again, leaning my up against the door. I reached up behind me and opened it, shedding off my jacket and my bag in the process. He kicked the door shut behind us, leading us to the couch, where we both laid down He ran his fingers through my hair as I pressed my hands to the back of his neck. We reluctantly pulled away, needing to breathe.
"Want to watch a movie?" He asked, out of breath.
I laughed a little at his randomness, before answering. "Yeah, let me just get changed." I pushed him off of me, walking into my room. I changed into some leggings and a t-shirt, pulling my hair up into a messy bun before joining Harry again. He had Harry Potter all set to watch. "Harry Potter, really?" I asked, sitting down next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and quickly flipped me over, so he was on top of me again.
He put his hips to neck again, making me close my eyes. "What can I say, I'm a secret fan." He said.
"Was this just an excuse for you to kiss me as long as you want?" I asked, my eyes still closed.
" Yeah." He said, connecting our lips again.
**********************************************************************************
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It took me forever to write it!
So I have a question, would you guys rather me do a sequel or just make this extremely long? In my opinion it would be easier to do a sequel, but its up to you guys! Stalker Styles isn't done yet though, I would have a few more chapters before the sequel.
I put a little of Harry's p.o.v in here so you could see what he was thinking. In my opinion this was one of my favorite chapters.
I don't know how long this is because I'm on my iPod, so sorry if its short, ad sorry for any spelling mistakes!
:)
I don't know when I'm going to update next because my cheer schedule for this month is crazy! I will try to update as soon a possible.
I'm going to go and add a song to this chapter when I get on a computer :)