19 May
SHAY
"Shay."
I feel as if I've only been asleep for a mere ten minutes, we couldn't possibly have landed in the amount of time it's taken me to close my eyes and snooze. I mumble a response that makes no sense to anyone, not even myself and turn slightly in my seat.
"Shay, wake up." Again I respond with a light moan and bury my face against my light cardigan. "Shay, c'mon love, we're here."
Love.
I hum in response this time before fluttering my eyes open to the airplane around me. But my view is blocked because I'm immediately met with Harry standing over me, smiling.
"Morning?" I question, looking around the plane with tired eyes.
After spending two hours watching a movie with Harry midair, I fell slumber awaiting our arrival in Sydney. Our first flight had past agonisingly slow and all I had to entertain myself with work and a couple of movies. And our layover was spent in Hong Kong, gathering a dinner before we boarded this flight around nine and a half hours ago.
"We just landed." He says, smiling largely.
I perk up in my seat and unbuckle the belt around my waist. So maybe I had been asleep for a bit more than ten minutes. Harry must have moved my seat back up whilst I was asleep because prior to now I had been lying down.
As I had mentioned before, I'd never been outside of the UK in my entire twenty-one years of living. When you grow up with distant parents you tend to spend your time daydreaming of other, better things. For me it was always getting away and seeing the world. Australia just happens to be at the top of my dream list, and just being here with Harry makes everything 100% better. If you had asked me when I was younger if I'd ever be here today, I would have laughed in your face. I strive for this, but I never thought it'd truly happen. Truthfully, I was always fearful of my parents taking me back and locking me away in the "tower".
Harry chuckles at my eager demeanor and watches as I groggily stand to my feet. He gathers his carry-on bag as I gather my handbag. We decided on packing light for this trip so all of my work stuff was in with his carry-on whilst all of his personal stuff was in my Michael Kor's.
Leading the way off the plane, I take in the sun shining through some of the open windows as we make our way to the exit. You hardly ever see the sun shine this brightly in London, maybe in the summer but not year round. The flight attendants and pilots say their goodbyes to us passengers as we exit and begin down the long jetway into Sydney International Airport. I hear Harry laugh at my skipping as I quickly make my way into the building before us. It's bustling with people when we escape the jetway and I almost fear I will lose Harry.
"Slow down!" Harry calls after me, to which I slow and wait for his long legs to carry him towards me. He holds his hand out and takes mine before we both walk hand in hand towards customs. "You seem very awake now."
"I am, Harry! I'm in Australia!" I remind him. "I've always wanted to come here. You know when you first announced to me that you'd be opening up a location here in Sydney, I nearly peed my pants with excitement. I've always hoped one day I could tag along with you."
"You should have said something to me, I would have taken you with me long ago." I roll my eyes and lean into Harry's muscular arm.
"I'm here now, aren't I?" Harry nods in agreement before leaning over and pressing a kiss to the side of my head. I shy away from the kiss, mentally taking note that I haven't showered since Tuesday morning, and it's Thursday morning now. I need a shower more than ever at this point. "What's on the agenda today?" Harry's jaw drops at my comment as we come to the line for customs.
"You, Shay Nichols, doesn't know the schedule by heart?" I blush lightly, shrugging lightly. This is an impromptu trip to Australia, I didn't even make the flight arrangements, Harry did it himself. I haven't touched the calendar since Monday... I haven't touched a schedule/calendar in four days? "Wow, I'm shocked. I'm going to have to fire you now for slacking." My jaw drops playfully.
"You'd fire a pregnant woman?" I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. "Why, Harry Styles I never knew you to be such a heartless man!" I exclaim.
People turn their heads in our direction at our playful banter some of them sending us a roll of the eyes. People here are just not awake enough for jokes. We both laugh lightly until we're leaning into each other's grasps, having nothing better to do whilst we wait.
Harry's hand is placed on my hip as mine winds around his waist as well. His hand rubs my back and side smoothly as I watch the travelers before us move about and interact with customs.
There are many men and women dressed in professional attire, like Harry and I would usually be clothed in. They look not nearly awake for the start of today, but they carry on with their lives quickly.
I see a man with a woman, presumably his wife, clinging onto each other. Their eyes are dancing around the customs line, loudly laughing with each other over something the man had said. The look like a couple taken from an advert and I can't stop admiring them.
Then my eyes fall to a young woman with two kids. The woman is juggling with passports as well as an infant in a travel seat. She's scolding her older child, who's running circles around her, giggling as her pigtails bounce up and down. I can't help but smile at the interaction even as anxiety creeps slowly into my body. That'll be me. With a roll of the eyes she sets the infant's seat onto the floor and digs through her handbag, coming across a phone. The little girl stops running around and freezes when her mum hands her the device.
"My child is not going to be connected to an electronic like it's another appendage." I say aloud, hoping that Harry hears me even remotely.
When I look up at Harry I notice his eyes gazing downward towards my flat stomach, instead of where I was looking prior.
"Can I help you?" I ask, raising a brow.
"Sorry." He says, blinking out of it. "I'm just really excited." I smile lightly up at Harry and rest my hand onto my stomach, giving it a light pat. "You know, I know that this baby isn't technically mine but I'm still going to spoil and take care of him or her like they're my own." I laugh, nodding along. I would expect nothing more. It warms my heart that even though Harry isn't bound to me in anyway he's still willing to drop everything and help. "I'll build the nursery and buy the baby toys and clothes." I reach up and place my hand against Harry's cheek, stroking the soft skin there.
"I know you will." He leans down and quickly pecks my lips before standing tall again. "Did you even hear what I said before?"
Harry thinks for a moment before admitting with a shake of his head that he had not been listening. I motion with my head towards the woman with kids, waiting in line. His eyes follow my gaze and a smile immediately is brought to his lips.
"She's adorable." He admits and I nod in agreement, watching the little girl take a seat on the ground with her mum's phone in her hands.
"Yes she is, but my child will not be dependent on a electronic device." I repeat. "Whatever happened to kids being excited about a book or a new toy, that's not electronic." I look up at Harry and find he's nodding his head in agreement.
With a sigh, I slip my hand into Harry's larger one and move us up in line, nearing the end of this God-awful wait. I'm patient, but not this patient. I want to see Sydney and explore!
"Have you made an appointment yet?"
"I called and left a message the day we left and I sent Dr. Surrey and Dr. Barnes an email stating my decision. Hopefully, I've gotten a response from one of them, or both. I'll set up an appointment for when we get back."
"NEXT!"
Harry and I split apart, jumping at the loud voice of the man at the counter before us. He eyes us dramatically before motioning in his direction.
We move forward and thankfully get through customs without an issue. Harry made it through before me on account of traveling outside the country before, whereas I had no idea what to do. I don't think the man behind the counter was too tolerable towards my lack of experience. I can't imagine he had better things to do though. When we're reunited, Harry had already gathered our bags and we begin making our way towards the exit.
"Do you remember Ashton?" I shrug my shoulders and try to think back to a time where I've met an Ashton before. The name sounds familiar. "He was at my party the night..." Harry's voice carries out until he's staring at his toes as we walk.
"Oh," I interrupt, hoping not to dwell too much on the situation, "you mean the man with buff arms and curly blondish hair? And he's got an obnoxious laugh?" A smile spreads to Harry's face as I look down at me, laughing.
"Buff arms?"
"What? That's how I remember him." I defend, shrugging casually.
"Do I not have buff arms?" Harry pouts and causes me to roll my eyes. I lean into him and give his bicep a squeeze.
"Your arms are perfect."
"Anyways, we're meeting up with him for lunch before we head over to the new building. We don't have to be at our meetings until three." I pout and let my eyes scan out to the floor to ceiling windows of the airport. It's a lot to ask but I was kind of hoping that we'd be able to sightsee for a bit or something nice like that. "Don't worry, tomorrow I only have one meeting in the morning and then we're going to go to the beach."
"Two things: it's a little cool for the beach, we don't have to go, and why am I not going to the meeting in the morning?"
"First of all, it's an abnormally warm winter so it's going to get pretty hot tomorrow. And second of all, I will not have you sleep deprived whilst carrying a child." I roll my eyes and lean into him. I love how caring he is, but I have a feeling it's going to get a little old. "You sounded hesitant about the beach, do you not want to go tomorrow? Because we can do something else." I shake my head and grip onto his hand.
"It's not that, it's stupid."
"Tell me." Harry urges and I have no choice but to.
"I'm not really a swimsuit type of person." I mutter.
"There's no need to be self-conscious. You're beautiful, Shay, and I want nothing more than to see you in that bikini I saw you pack." I raise my eyebrows at him and wonder how he even noticed that. He had left the room when I snuck it in, I thought I would bring it just in case not that I was actually planning on wearing it. "You have a magnificent body and there's no reason to be ashamed."
"It's just weird. No one's ever seen me in a bikini before and now that I'm pregnant it just feels wrong." Harry leans down and presses a long kiss to my temple.
"We don't have to go to the beach, but I promise if you do you won't regret it." And with that Harry gathers my hand in his and leads me out of the airport, hailing a cab with ease. And so our adventure began.
&&&
Turning slowly in the hotel room, I admire the outfit adorn on my slender body. After arriving at the hotel two hours ago we parted ways to do our own things. Harry took a shower first, but he fought with me on it using the "ladies first" mantra, to which I ignored and plopped down on the couch instead. Afterwards I hopped in the shower and stayed there until all the filth of traveling was cleaned from my body. With a towel held tightly around my body I had entered the bedroom, only to find my clothes already set out for me.
"Harry, what are these? These aren't work clothes!" I remember shouting out into the suite's living area. He had called back with an excuse that I didn't have to dress too nicely today, besides it's hot, and he reminded me that he's the boss and can dress however he deems appropriate.
The clothes he had set out for me were clothing items that I didn't even remember packing, but alas I put them on anyway.
The white shorts on my tanned legs are shorter than I remember them being when I bought them last summer. The tank on hangs loosely on my shoulders, which is great because I really wasn't feeling tight-fitted clothing items today.
As I turn sideways in the mirror, I give a quick look around the room before pulling my tank tight against my stomach. There wasn't much of anything there aside from the slight pudge of eating too much food over the past week. Other than that you couldn't even tell that I'm pregnant.
"Are you rea- oh..." I just glance at Harry in the reflection of the mirror, seeing him standing in the doorway.
He had sprung for quite possibly the largest suite in the entire hotel. He had been spending his time whilst I got ready out in the living area, watching a bit of news before lunch.
Without another word, he trails into the room and struts over to me. His body presses up against my back as his arms wrap around my waist, giving me a soft squeeze. "Beautiful." He mutters, leaning down and placing a kiss to the top of my head.
"Lies." I mutter, leaning back against him.
"I don't lie, especially not about your beauty." I smile sweetly at him through the reflection in the mirror before turning in his grasp.
We stand pressed together, just staring up into each other's eyes. The next thing I know we're kissing slowly and rocking back and forth to an unheard song. Our lips mold together perfectly and for the time being I forget all about having stuff to do today. Alas, a knock at the door interrupts our perfect moment, leaving us both groaning in annoyance. "That'll be Ashton."
"I just want to kiss you all day." I pout, blushing at my comment. Harry chuckles and ducks his head low, pressing another kiss to my lips.
"You have no idea how much I want that too." Harry leaves another kiss to my lips before pulling away and picking my Converse up off the ground. "I'll go keep Ashton busy whilst you finish getting ready." I send Harry a big smile as he exits the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
I finish getting ready in a record amount of time, putting my shoes on and finishing braiding my hair before gathering my purse and everything else I could possibly need for today. With a deep breath, I open the door of our shared room and come face to face with two tall, laughing men.
"There she is!" Harry announces, walking over to me and placing his hand on the small of my back as he leads me towards Ashton.
Ashton is dressed much differently than Harry and I. He's wearing a grey tailored suit that fits him perfectly and has his hair styled back. I glance to Harry, whom I didn't even realize isn't wearing work clothes. He's dressed in his signature black skinny jeans, only these have rips in the knees, and a white t-shirt. The fabric of the shirt is thin enough to see some of the ink on his tanned skin, to which I'm grateful for.
"Ah, Shay! I'm Ashton." I smile up at the tall man and extend my hand, shaking his lightly.
"Yes, it's a pleasure to see you again." He sends me a larger than life smile before glancing between Harry and I. A smirk replaces his smile as he wiggles his eyebrows up at Harry. I watch the exchange between the two men and roll my eyes. "You guys know I'm still standing here, right?"
"My apologies, I'm just thrown that you two are a thing now." I deadpan Harry, believing he told Ashton, when we agreed things between us were going to stay professional... at least for the next month. I look up at Harry, who's glancing down at me, a nervous smile adorn on his pink lips.
"I didn't tell him." Harry confesses, turning towards Ashton. "How'd you figure it out?" Ashton laughs and shakes his head.
"This is a one bedroom suite, I would know because my company helped with the development of this place, meaning you two would be sharing a bed. Kinky." I roll my eyes at Ashton's blunt way of speaking and cross my arms over my chest. "Harry hasn't stopped talking about you since I walked in the door. Literally. All I asked was if he came alone and he went on and on about you coming along with him." I laugh and pat Harry's back. "And you're too touchy around her." I remove my hand from Harry at the mention of us being too touchy.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"She just walked out of the room and you've already got your arm around her." I smile lightly and look up to Harry, wondering if he'll say anything in his own defense. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you but isn't this a little scandalous?" He asks, wiggling his brows at the two of us. "CEO dates his assistant?"
"Well you're the only person who knows, so I don't think we'll have a scandal on our hands if you tell anyone."
I feel Harry tense beside me, taking me back. I figured he'd be a bit annoyed about somebody figuring out about us, just because of our image and for my safety, which is all he really cares about. I didn't know that he was going to get angry or defensive.
"Relax." I utter, uncrossing my arms and intertwining my fingers with his.
"Yeah, relax." Ashton says, reaching over and patting Harry on the shoulder. "Who am I going to tell?" Harry shrugs his friend's hand off his shoulder and turns on his heels, going into our shared room and shutting the door. We both stand completely silent, the air around us filled with so much awkward tension. "Sorry." He apologizes, his face falling. "He used to be so good at taking a joke."
"It's not your fault." I state, looking over my shoulder at the closed door. "Harry's just stressed. Let me go talk to him and we'll be right out." I promise, leaving Ashton without another word.
Softly I knock on the white wood of the door and turn the knob slowly, quietly slipping in and returning the door to it's previous position. When I look up from the ground, Harry is sitting on the edge of the queen-sized bed, his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. His hunched position catches me off guard. This is the stance of a stressed and tired man; I've seen this look before.
There have been many-a-days where I've walked into his office and seen him sitting like this, blubbering on about how he's making a mistake with the company or how much of a dick some guy from a competing company is. There's not much to do aside from just comfort him and try and get him to smile.
"Harry." I mumble, lightly, taking a couple steps towards him. He doesn't look up to acknowledge me, just takes an enormous deep breath. "Harry, come on." I utter, walking to him so that I'm standing right before him. "Mr. Styles." I say, reaching out and running my fingers through his soft curls that shape his face so wonderfully.
Ever so slowly, Harry brings his face from his hands and looks up at me. I send him a soft smile and lean down, pressing my lips to his forehead for a few seconds before pulling away. Harry sends me a half smile before looping his fingers through the belt loops of my shorts and pulling me towards him. I stumble forward, taking a seat on his lap, where he had been guiding me all along.
"What's wrong?" I ask, running my hand through his curls and messaging the back of his tense neck. Harry brings his shoulders up before dropping them dramatically and pouting like a child. "Tell me, I'm all ears." I whisper, pressing another kiss to his forehead.
"I'm just stressed is all." He says with a large sigh. "Between the company expansion and trying to figuring out my shit, I'm just suffocating. I knew that this expansion wasn't going to be easy, it was apparent in the beginning, but we were so close to being done and opening round December. Now I just don't know if it'll be done by then. Plus, you'll be really pregnant by then so I was hoping that we could speed this process up and open around October."
"Harry, you don't have to do that." I say, leaning against him so that my head is resting on his shoulder. "This expansion is bigger than us, it's something that's going to shape your future with the company you have single-handedly brought to life. Yes, I'll be very pregnant then, but don't make yourself more stressed by trying to work around that. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
"Yeah, I know." He grumbles, still far from happy. I know that isn't the only thing on his mind though, if it were Ashton wouldn't have set him off by saying what he did.
"What else is wrong?"
"I'm worried."
"About?"
"People finding out about you and I." I nod my head, understanding just where he's coming from.
I hadn't given it too much thought, but I was beginning to. When people at work find out about Harry and I seeing each other, it's going to cause them to talk. The company is under a microscope by the paps over this expansion, so the word of Harry dating his assistant might cause some bad press. I don't want that for Harry, especially not when he has worked as hard as he has to get where he is now.
"You remember when I first announced the expansion?" I nod my head. "The paparazzi outside the building were mad like. They scream in your face, push you around, grab at you, and raise hell. When they find out about us, the media's just going to swarm all over again. I can't have you getting hurt, it'll crush me."
"Awe, Harry-"
"They'll follow you everywhere and won't give you the time of day for yourself. They will butt into our personal business and cause everything to fall apart. I don't want you to have to go through that, especially not whilst you're pregnant." I nod my head in agreement.
"You know what?" I begin, turning in Harry's lap so that I can sit sideways across his legs. "We have time, not much but we do. We'll tell people when we're ready and we're not going to take anyone's shit, alright?" A small smile plays at Harry's lips at my words. "And if I lose my job, because of the bad press you get, I honestly won't care. Do you know why?"
"You're not going to lose your job, because I'm not going to fire you." I narrow my eyes at him and shake my head.
"You were supposed to say why." Harry chuckles lightly and I smile at the beautiful sound of his laugh.
"Why?"
"Because at the end of the day, you get to still come home to me, to our own paradise where no one can fuck with us."
Harry hums lightly before leaning forward and pressing his lips to mine hungrily. I giggle through the kiss and turn my head slightly to enhance the moment. Harry's smiling against my lips when he takes my bottom lip between his teeth and pulls his head back. He lets my bottom lip spring back to it's original place before pecking my lips once more.
"You're still not losing your job though."
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