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nine
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“We are in an elevator.”
“Yep.”
“We are stuck in an elevator.”
“Again, you’re correct.”
“I’m claustrophobic.”
“Uh …”
“LUKE DO SOMETHING.”
It wasn’t every day Avalon had to face her biggest fears. Every day she would tell herself she’d get to it tomorrow. But the thing about tomorrow is that “tomorrow” is never really specified as which tomorrow so she decided she would chose a different tomorrow to face her fears.
This just happened to be that tomorrow.
Avalon had never been one to hate Mondays. She’d actually quite enjoyed school. Almost, to the point, that if she felt one day that she didn’t want to attend then she didn’t have to considering she was usually ahead in her school work. Her job was no different. She liked her job.
But this Monday was proving to be the reason Mondays were hated so much and Avalon wanted to throw up.
“Okay,” Luke said calmly, shooting Avalon a somewhat worried look as he pulled out his phone, “Let me just call Calum. I’m sure he can fix this.”
“This is a nice building!” Avalon cried, starting to feel hot, “We should not be stuck in an elevator! Elevators don’t just stop working!”
“Hey,” Luke grabbed her shoulders and turned her so she was facing his beautiful blue eyes, “Look, let’s go over the pros and cons here, shall we? First of all, we’re only on the bottom floor so there’s no way the elevator could make us plummet to our death.”
“LUKE.”
“That’s a good thing!” Luke chuckled, “Second, my best friend is the head technician here and he’s already on his way. So don’t sweat it short stuff. Our hero is on the way.”
“But –”
“Cons,” Luke said holding up a finger telling her to let him finish, “Considering my best friend is the head technician and he’s already on his way that means that I hardly get to spend any time alone with you because for some reason Harry Styles will have my throat if he sees that I’m stalling work to talk to you.”
“How do you –”
“Another con is that we even had to cut our little lunch date short because Harry was being particularly annoying and needed some extra articles filed. Which, might I add, isn’t my fucking job so I don’t know why he’s making me do it. Just because he works through the lunch hour does not mean –”
“Luke?” Avalon asked quietly, “You aren’t helping.”
“Right,” Luke sighed, “Sorry.”
“No it’s fine. Your rambling is kind of cute.”
In the dim light of the elevator Avalon could just make out a soft blush appearing on Luke’s cheeks. He looked away and scratched the back of his neck, discreetly biting his lip before looking back to Avalon. “I’m looking forward to coffee after work.”
“Same,” Avalon smiled, “However, it’ll probably be my millionth cup considering the espresso machine is so close to my desk and I’m constantly taking advantage of it.”
They both laughed and Luke leaned up against the wall. Avalon couldn’t help but think how attractive he looked today in a dark grey button up and black slacks. He rested his hands in his pockets and Avalon about had a heart attack.
“Well if you aren’t in the mood for coffee then how about we just go for dinner then?” Luke asked, “I can pick you up at 6:30ish?”
The thought of going to dinner with Luke intrigued her. She wanted to talk with him more about books and she had heard he was quite into the same music as her and that made her want to spend even more time with him.
“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Avalon nodded, “How should I dress?”
The doors were pried open and Calum stood there, smiling at them. “Hello fellow coworkers,” he smiled, “I was nervous to open the door. Last time I did this the pair in here were half naked.”
“Wha –”
“You can ask Styles about it later,” Calum said, smiling at a flustered looking Avalon. “Now out you go you two. Looks like you’ll have to take stairs.”
“In those shoes?” Luke asked, pointing to Avalon’s green stilettos. “Damn girl.”
“Please,” Avalon scoffed, “It’s not that big a deal.”
They started making their way up the stairs and Luke finally said, “Nice. Dress nice.”
“How nice?”
“Nice nice.”
“Nice nice how?”
“Like …” Luke pondered for a moment, “A dress and those type of shoes nice.”
“Ah so not work slacks and a blazer?” Avalon chuckled, smoothing out the black pants she was wearing.
“Well your legs do look killer in those pants …” Luke winked, “But I’m going to have to ask you wear a dress. So 6:30 is okay?”
“6:30 is fab.”
The made it to their floor and Avalon decided to follow Luke to his little desk area. They still had some time before lunch break and Avalon hadn’t seen Harry all day except for their sleepy drive to work. In fact, she hadn’t really talked to him since the Saturday night they fell asleep together on the couch. He’d been gone by the time she’d gotten up, cuddling Charles.
“So guess what fun story we heard today,” Avalon said coming up and giving Harry a hug around the shoulders from behind. Harry was startled for a moment but instantly relaxed when the scent of mango overcame his senses, telling him that his favorite person in the world was holding him.
“Oh I’d love to hear.”
“Yeah mate it’s a great one,” Luke chuckled, kicking back in his seat and twisting side to side. Harry watched as Avalon perched herself on the edge of Luke’s desk, not his, and smiled at the blonde boy as if they had some sort of secret they weren’t telling.
Her hair was straightened today, Harry had first noticed, making it longer than usual. She’d pinned it back by braiding away her bangs, making her appear slightly younger than she was but showing off more of her breathtaking face.
“Do tell,” Harry cleared his throat, now slightly annoyed.
“So we were stuck in the elevator –” Luke started. Harry’s heart leapt to his throat and he leaned forward.
“You were stuck in there? For how long? Avie, how were you with the claustrophob –”
“I was quite fine actually,” Avalon cut him off, “It wasn’t for that long either. Luke called Calum and he came to get us.”
“Fuck,” Harry groaned, “I know where this story is going.”
Avalon giggled and Harry couldn’t help but smile at the sound. “It wasn’t even my fault,” he continued, “Nancy – Luke you know Nancy – she just kind of attacked me and it was weird and I wasn’t expecting it and yeah,” Harry huffed, feeling the need to defend himself.
“Poor Harry,” Avalon pouted, “Irresistible to women.”
“Hey I wouldn’t complain,” Luke chuckled.
“Well I should be getting back to work,” Avalon sighed, “Nice seeing you Harry. Luke, I’ll see you at 6:30?”
“Yes you will,” Luke smiled, “You live in the same building as Harry, right?”
“Right across the hall,” Avalon smiled, “Bye guys.”
Harry watched as she walked away and he knew Luke was watching too. It wasn’t until she was back at her desk, happily chatting away with Perrie when Harry turned back to Luke. “Why is she seeing you at 6:30 mate?”
“Oh we’re going for dinner,” Luke smiled.
“I thought you were going for coffee after work?” Harry raised an eyebrow. They were spending far too much time together.
“We aren’t anymore,” Luke shook his head, “We drink too much coffee during the day as it is. We decided on dinner instead. Hey,” Luke leaned in, “Do you know what kind of food she likes.”
Of course Harry knew what kind of food she liked. They talked about this almost all the time. Harry mentally went to war with himself over whether or not he should help Luke. Luke was a good kid and he was smart but sometimes Harry didn’t know if he was a lady killer or not. But he wanted Avalon to be happy and Harry knew that she wouldn’t be happy with him, she’d made that quiet clear by going after Luke, so he sighed.
“She likes Italian,” Harry said softly, “But not like, sandwiches and pizza Italian. Not that she doesn’t like those things. I mean, fuck, who doesn’t like pizza? She loves pizza. White garlic with chicken pizza actually, but she loves pasta. Pasta is her absolute favorite food in the entire fucking planet. And she likes red wine, not white wine. And she sees that little Italian joint, Bravado, every time we’re on our way to work so just take her there. She always asks me about it.”
“Wow,” Luke raised an eyebrow, “You two must be close.”
So close actually that my dick has been up her –
“Yeah,” Harry cleared his throat, “We’re really great friends.”
“So you’re … okay … with this?” Luke asked, biting his lip and tapping his fingers against some of his papers.
Not this again, Harry thought before giving the best smile he could and saying, “Sure. But if you hurt her I’ll slit your throat and let you bleed out over a pile of hot coals.”
“Okay,” Luke nodded, sliding away from Harry slightly, “Good to know.”
And this fucker thinks I’m kidding, Harry thought to himself as he went back to his papers. Dumbass.
°
“Fuck we should have just called Eleanor,” Perrie grumbled as she and Avalon looked over Avalon’s dress choices for the night. As soon as Avalon had gotten back to her desk that afternoon, the topic of her and Luke’s date had been far more of a priority than any of their work. Much to Niall’s annoyance of course.
“Can you two just shut up and actually write something or read something?”
“Well sure Niall,” Perrie had chuckled, “So I was reading this fashion blog yesterday –”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Niall had jumped up, “I can’t do this anymore! I can’t!”
Perrie had then offered to drive Avalon home and they’d been eating crisps and picking out dresses ever since.
“Who’s Eleanor?” Avalon asked, holding up a dark navy blue dress that she’d bought when out shopping with her sister once. Her sister had loved it but Avalon had never given it a second look since buying it to please her sister for her “amazing” fashion sense.
“Oh she’s Louis’s girlfriend,” Perrie said absentmindedly, “She’s a news broadcaster. You probably see her every morning if you watch the news. She’s lovely and she’s way better at fashion than I am. And I’m the fashion writer!”
The girls both laughed as three sharp knocks sounded on the door.
Harry wondered if Avalon had ever wondered why he knocked three times. Maybe it was just a childish thing he’d never gotten over. One knock meant hello. Two knocks meant I’m here. And three … I love you.
But he was pretty sure Avalon would never figure it out as she threw open the door, only in another one of her baggy t-shirts and a pair of pajama shorts. “Oh thank God,” Avalon clutched her heart, “I thought you were Luke for a second and I am far from ready.”
“Who is it?!” Perrie called, making Harry jump slightly. He hadn’t realized someone else was in the flat. Suddenly his plan to confess his love for Avalon and beg her on his knees not to go on this date fizzled out and whatever confidence he’d once possessed was down the drain.
“Is Perrie here?” he asked, clearing his throat. He had been so ready. So, so ready to just tell Avalon how he felt. I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you and I’m not ashamed of it. Don’t be his. Be mine. Forever.
“She’s just helping me pick something out,” Avalon sighed, “I’m horrid when it comes to these things.”
“Nonsense,” Harry chuckled. He sidestepped Avalon’s petit figure and walked into the flat. He picked up Charles and walked to Avalon’s bedroom where Perrie was standing over three different dresses.
“Hi Harry,” she smiled, “Why –”
“Don’t ask,” Avalon sighed, rolling her eyes as Harry laid down on her bed with Charles tucked up in his arms. He rested his chin on the top of Charles’s head and watched as the two girls talked over dresses.
“The pink one,” Harry said suddenly, “You should wear the one the color of raspberries.”
The chatting between the two girls stopped as they both looked to the grown man cuddling a giant teddy bear in the middle of the afternoon. “It’ll look nice with your hair,” Harry mumbled in Charles’s fur. “Plus, you always smell like mangos and that color will look nice when you smell like mangos.”
“Are you okay?” Avalon asked, crawling up and feeling Harry’s forehead. In all honesty, Harry wasn’t feeling okay. He was hot and prickly and yet he was cold. Avalon’s eyes widened as she felt his burning forehead and said, “Harry, you have a fever.”
“No I don’t,” he mumbled, burying his head deeper into Charles’s fur.
“You do! You’re burning up!”
“I’m fine,” he whined.
“He’s fine,” Perrie sighed, “Let’s get you dressed girl and we can worry about Harry later.”
“Thanks Perrie,” Harry scoffed.
Perrie pushed Avalon into the bathroom with the pink dress and closed the door behind her, whirling around and glaring at Harry, “I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not –”
“You’re trying to sabotage Avalon and Luke’s date.”
Harry looked away from the blonde girl with her hands on her hips and shrugged. He had come here intending to do just that, completely oblivious to the fact that he was developing a fever. It was probably because he never really wore a coat. He hated the restrictions that came with a coat. It wasn’t like he was outside that much anyway. Just the walk from his car to his office. No biggie.
“And why would I want to do that?” Harry asked.
“Because you obviously have feelings for Avalon. Everyone can see it,” Perrie sighed.
“I don’t.”
“Yes you do. Don’t deny it. You’re hung up on her,” Perrie chuckled, “But let her be happy with Luke okay? Tough love Harry, but she picked Luke, not you.”
“Perrie, I promise you I don’t have feelings for her,” Harry lied easily even though a hole was opening up in his heart. It was happening again. Avalon wasn’t even his and he was already losing her. He was losing someone he loved. Again.
“Oh,” Perrie cleared her throat, “Well … are you really burning up?”
“I think I might be.”
“Get that bear out of your face idiot and let me check.”
i am on a writing spree. like this stuff is spewing out of my guts it feels like. i keep having better and better ideas and i'm like freaking out because this is going to be so much better than i thought.
i will still have updates on wednesdays like i promised which means you lucky little shits get two updates today ... possibly more if i continue on this writing craze.
so far i haven't fucked up too bad. but you should all know i don't edit because if i edit then i think it all sucks and delete it all. so if there are mistakes then just deal with it. (pretty please)
thanks for all the votes, comments and reads!
xo, aisling