Y/n fought the urge to make a petty remark once she was back on the table, what helped the most was that not long after she sat down next to Harrison a pair of waiters came by pushing a loaded food trolley. They took their time setting the table, finalising by placing a plain white card on y/n's plate only. "I don't think this is what we ordered," Darcy pointed out eyeing the cake stan then the champagne bottle to her left.
"Definitely not." Harrison agreed turning the bottle of champagne his way so he could read the label. With that y/n had a feeling of what the card in front of her said. With a sigh, she picked it up and opened it a bit of messy handwriting greeted her to the place and thanked her for choosing them, then by the end the acknowledgement that they had upgraded their order to the "Blanc de Blanc Champagne Tea" a signature which she assumed it was the manager's decorated the bottom of the card.
"They upgraded it." She let the other two know. "Which tea did you get me?"
"Something about a second flush? I don't know, it sounded fancy." Darcy shrugged, "We can swap if you don't like it."
"Darjeeling," Harrison told quietly but y/n noticed out of the corner of her eye that he was smiling faintly in Darcy's way. "It was Darjeeling second flush and it is quite nice." He reassured.
With a subtle roll of her eyes, y/n poured her tea taking a sip just to taste test if it needed any sugar or milk added to it. Y/n grimaced at the astringent taste of it, "Oh god," she winced under her breath before she reached for the sugar and milk to tone the taste down a bit.
"D'you wanna swap? I've got English breakfast." Darcy offered, already taking the handle of her pot to handed to y/n.
"It's fine," Y/n said dryly taking another sip, the taste much softer with the added elements still not her preferable taste but better than when it was plain. In any other circumstance, she would've accepted swapping pots with Darcy but she was still wary of the fact that she was speaking with Harrison in a very secretive way while she was gone. Darcy's teeth trapped her bottom lip as she eyed y/n, searching for her eyes which y/n actively avoided by re-reading the card and taking one more sip of the tea.
Between Darcy's attempts to make the conversation flow among the table and awkward hand touching when reaching for the finger sandwiches or the brushing of Harrison's shoulder against y/n's, the girl was growing more and more impatient to leave. Her head was beginning to pound as she noticed that her jaw never relaxed since she stepped out of the car.
She skipped on the champagne when a waiter came to pour it for them mainly because of her headache but also, she didn't like to be seen drinking by the paparazzi, it'd be just another incriminatory picture to use against her.
Excruciatingly long minutes passed where Darcy and Harrison had a back and forth while sipping their champagne, the topic she didn't bother on listening to she just blocked everything out and reclined on the back of the sofa her head resting on top of Harrison's arm draped over the backrest, this she failed to notice for her headache was in full swing now, brain painfully pulsating inside her skull.
It wasn't until she felt his hand on her opposite shoulder from him and the movement of his wrist made the rest of his arm under her head move. "Time to leave," Darcy announced softly, coat and handbag in hand. In a quick move, she was on her feet, grabbing her own bag and coat. The exit was anything but smooth, some of the workers lined up by the door the connected the dining area with the kitchen and y/n knew exactly what they were there for.
She stood in the middle of the five waiters and waitresses, a smile plastered on her face that she did her best to make it look as natural and genuine as she could. It wasn't that she was unhappy to be asked for pictures but with her rapidly growing headache she just wanted to be out of there as quick as possible and stopping to take pictures with the staff just delayed it. As the next group aligned on either side of her, her gaze landed on Harrison. He was standing just off the view of the street by the entrance of the place, arms crossed over his chest and lips slightly curved into a faint smile.
Y/n felt a blush began to creep up her chest, threatening to warm up her cheeks the longer he stared at her but the reason it intensified wasn't that she felt scrutinised under his gaze but because she realised he was looking at Darcy who was taking the pictures, not at her.
Her throat cleared and she looked at the floor, shuffling a little pretending to position herself better. She couldn't believe what had just happened, more so, she couldn't understand why it happened.
Distractedly she thanked everyone and started for the door without waiting for Darcy or Harrison, she just wanted to get out of there and away from him. Upon coming out of the restaurant she was practically attacked by cameras and even more people shouting at her than when they first arrived. Not all were paparazzi, though. There were a couple of pedestrians gathered there, between kids and adults they had y/n surrounded in the blink of an eye.
They all closed up on her and all she could say was "Hi, excuse me," while keeping her eyes on the floor as she attempted to move forward, shielding her face with her hand.
"Y/n! How was your date? Where is he? What's his name?" the stream of questions merged into one as they all shouted them at the same time and the more they shouted the less y/n could move, not because she had froze but because they were too many people around her and they had all stopped moving, therefore, stopping her completely not even two feet away from the door of the restaurant.
"Alright, c'mon lads. Give her some space." Someone said in the far back, grabbing the paparazzi's attention for a split second. A second that was enough for y/n to lift her face and watch Harrison and Darcy break through the crowd. The next, he was holding her by the waist, pulling her into his side as he pushed through the rest of the cluster of people.
At that moment she didn't care he had touched her without her consent, she just wanted to get away from the cameras.
He guided her to a car, lower than the town car that had taken her and Darcy to Mayfair but she didn't protest, she just jumped into the passenger seat as soon as Harrison opened the door for her. She took in a couple of deep breaths, the seconds she spent in the stationary vehicle seemed to drag painfully and she nearly panic when neither Darcy nor Harrison was in the car with her fast enough. Worried orbs looked over to the driver side and a sigh of relief left her lips when Harrison's figure appeared followed by Darcy.
"Oh my god! Drive!" Darcy demanded once Harrison was on the driver seat next to y/n. And he did, he pulled out of the curb and rolled down the road leaving the crowd behind. "Chummy? Are you okay?" the worry in y/n's friend was evident but she couldn't bring herself to say anything to her just yet. Instead, she just relaxed a bit into the seat, closing her eyes for a moment.
A moment for y/n became the whole journey home. She had managed to blocked out the sound of Darcy's voice giving Harrison directions as well as the faint mumbling of the radio, it wasn't until she felt a tap on her shoulder that her eyes opened again, the intensity of the filtered light blinded her and worsened the headache making her wince shielding her eyes from the light. "Here," Darcy offered her sunglasses to y/n and she reluctantly accepted them, relieved to have some protection at last.
"Well," Harrison started, letting out a sight. "That was—"
"Bloody awful." Y/n scoffed as she gathered her bag, making sure everything was inside it just to gain time to speak her mind. "I don't know which part of don't touch me without my consent you didn't understand," She spat, creating new tension between them.
"I'm sorry, but wasn't I supposed to pretend to be your boyfriend? Or did I get the wrong memo?" Harrison raised his voice a little, sarcasm linning his words.
"That doesn't mean you can put your hands on me whenever you feel like it!"
"I was trying to help you out of there! I'm sorry I'm not a dick and left you behind!" he pointed out, the irony in his voice irritated y/n to no end. "I'm not a dick..." yeah sure. A scoff escaped y/n's mouth, she couldn't believe he thought so highly of himself when in reality he was a dick just like every guy that had ever existed in her vicinity.
Darcy must've notice y/n about to say something else, maybe something that would put the whole stunt in danger so she spoke before y/n could even take a breath to start. "Okay! Let's calm down, yeah? You can't be arguing at plain sight." she had unbuckled her seatbelt and scootched forward gripping the back of the front seats.
"I don't think this is going to work out," Harrison said, hands folded over his lap as his knee bounced restlessly. Y/n's jaw locked once more, worsening the headache. It was true, she didn't think it would work out she had become at peace with that fact but having him saying it somehow stung.
"Piss off then," Y/n grumbled, making a move to get out of the car but Darcy's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Stop! Stop! Just ... look at this," She pushed herself between the seats holding her phone in her hands. Grudgingly both y/n and Harrison looked down at the device not before sending each other a blazing glare. With a few swipes and clicks, the screen displayed Darcy's Google's home page. At least seven out of the ten articles were about y/n and the "mysterious guy" at the hotel, all with flashy titles that made y/n roll her eyes. Darcy switched apps, opening Twitter and scrolling through the trends where y/n's name sat very modestly in fourth place. "Everyone's talking about you and not in a bad way." She acknowledged, "It is working, guys."
There was silence between the three, y/n had returned properly to her seat and was now staring blankly ahead at the car parked in front of them, conflicting thoughts cramming in the forefront of her head.
It was working but at the detriment of her sanity and she wasn't sure if it was worth it at all. It caught up with her then. The fact that once they had been seen and photographed together there was not really a way out of it now. They were all in whether they liked it or not.
: a.n : please vote and comment