(My apologies, this is a really long chapter (: but it's cute, or I think it is. Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes!)
Chapter Five:
Bree smiled as Harry opened the door to the passenger seat and let her in. She buckled her seatbelt as he walked around the car and got in. He did his, and then started the car.
The first few minutes, they rode in silence; thinking about what they could do to make their relationship work. Finally, Harry reached over and turned on the radio. The hosts of the station were talking about some recent news on some politics, so Harry changed the channel. Ironically, What Makes You Beautiful was playing.
Bree started moving to the music a little, getting into it, but Harry changed the channel again. “Why’d you change it?”
“I can’t listen to myself sing,” Harry said with a shy smile.
“But why not? You’re amazing,” Bree asked, wondering how he wouldn’t be excited to hear their song on the radio.
“I dunno, I always feel like I wasn’t as good as I could have been,” he shrugged. “It’s like how actors can’t watch movies they were in, it’s kind of embarrassing.”
Bree rolled her eyes, “No need to be insecure. I think your singing is perfect.”
“Thanks, love,” Harry said and reached over. He held her hand and rubbed his thumb around on the back of it, absent-mindedly. She smiled and squeezed his, getting a little chuckle out of him.
“Where are you going for college?” Harry asked, out of nowhere, a few minutes later.
“I’m going to Boston University, to become a vet,” Bree said, looking out of the window.
“Really? Wow, that’s exciting,” Harry mused. “Boston, huh? Well… I know for a fact we have some dates on the east coast next year. I’ll be able to see you for a good two months then. Of course, we’ll see each other before then… right?”
“Of course,” Bree glanced up at Harry. “Every holiday off from school that I get, I’ll fly to wherever you are at the time. No matter how long the break is. A long weekend or three weeks, I’ll spend it with you. Okay?”
Harry grinned, “I’d love that. Except,” he frowned. “I’m paying for plane tickets.”
Bree protested, but he shushed her. “No, it’s my fault I’m always traveling, so I’m paying. No exceptions.”
“You’re very generous, Harry,” she said, in awe. He nodded and shrugged, looking so adorable it was hard to look away.
An hour and a half later, Harry pulled into her driveway and killed the engine. “Here we are,” he muttered, thinking the same thing as Bree; that he didn’t want to say goodbye.
“Let’s go in, then,” Bree said and leaned over to kiss his cheek. He looked confused. “My mom is out. She won’t be home until later. So if you’d like to stay a little longer, I mean if you don’t have anything to do with the band today?”
“Well we don’t want you to be home alone, would we?” Harry smiled cheekily and kissed Bree. They got out of the car and walked to the front door, holding hands. Bree fished her keys out of her purse and opened the door.
They walked inside and Bree shut the door behind them. “So this is my house,” Bree said, suddenly a little shy about showing her boyfriend her house.
Harry looked around, “Well the stairs look nice. Want to give me a tour?” He joked. Bree laughed and took his hand again. She led him into the house and gave him a full tour. Harry seemed impressed.
They ended up sitting on Bree’s bed. Bree was sat with her legs crossed, facing Harry. They talked for a few hours, and Bree learned a whole lot about Harry and the rest of the boys. She hadn’t realized they were discovered on the X Factor, and was quite impressed they got third. Harry was pretty emotional when he spoke about the group being formed, and that made Bree’s heart melt. After learning a lot about each other, they decided to do a Twitcam.
“So what exactly is a Twitcam?” Bree asked as Harry logged into his twitter on her laptop.
“We basically talk to the camera, and people watch. Then they comment and sort of talk back to us,” Harry explained. He then tweeted, “How does everyone feel about me doing a Twitcam with my girl?” and within seconds, he had thousands of retweets and replies telling him they’d love it.
“This is crazy,” she whispered, having another one of those moments where she couldn’t believe she was dating a celebrity. Harry wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to his chest. It was like she was meant to be there, it was such a familiar and comfortable feeling.
“I know, Bree,” he whispered back, kissed the top of her head, and clicked the mouse pad on the laptop a few times before their faces came up on the screen. Bree sat up and looked at Harry.
“Can they see us?” she mouthed, and he nodded.
“Hey everyone!” he said and waved to the camera. Bree smiled and waved, too. “Just in case you haven’t seen or heard yet, this is my girlfriend, Bree.” The side bar on the screen showed endless amounts of tweets that fans were sending in. They were updating so fast that Bree couldn’t read any of them. She saw a little blue number at the bottom of the screen. It said, “144,353 are watching”. She shuddered, thinking she was dreaming. That she wasn’t actually dating a famous singer, and that she wasn’t actually being watched on a Twitcam by that many people. She took a deep breath and smiled up at Harry.
Harry returned the smile, and then leaned forward a little to see some tweets. “Umm, I guess we can answer some questions then?” He looked over at Bree for approval and she nodded. “Okay the first one is from Angela, and she wants to know… where do you live, Bree?”
Bree smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “I live in St. Paul, Minnesota.”
Harry nodded and read out another, “Sabrina wants to know… how did you two meet?” Harry grinned widely. “She hit me on the head with a door. Quite hard I might add.”
Bree shoved him a little and he laughed, his deep, booming laugh that always made Bree want to melt. “I hadn’t seen you there!”
“Oh she definitely did,” he whispered to the camera. Bree rolled her eyes. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. A whole bunch of tweets came in right then saying “awww!” and things along those lines. A few were asking to see a real kiss, but Harry didn’t mention it.
Bree leaned forward and read out another question, feeling more confident, “This question is from Katie… What advice would you give to a fan that wants to date one of the boys?” She thought for a moment. “Well, honestly. Just be yourself when you meet them, because then you’re giving the boys a fair shot at seeing you for who you really are. If they’re not interested, at least you weren’t pretending to be someone you’re not and getting your heart broken. I mean, face it, these boys are heartbreakers,” she joked and snuggled closer to Harry.
They continued to Twitcam for another half hour or so, then they said goodbye and hung up. Bree pretended she hadn’t read the hate that some people were tweeting, but she had, and it had upset her.
Harry sensed that, “What’s wrong, sweet heart?” He asked and set her laptop off to the side so he could pull Bree into his chest. She sighed, tears forming in her eyes.
“Nothing,” she mumbled, breathing in Harry’s sweet smelling aftershave.
“Did you see those tweets?” Harry asked, his voice tense. His arms tightening around her.
“Yeah,” she admitted, sniffling a little.
“Don’t believe a word any of them say,” Harry said quietly, anger notable in his voice. “I thought that everyone would love you, I didn’t think they’d hate. I hate it when our fans get jealous. It’s always going to happen, us dating.” He sighed outwardly and pulled Bree’s chin up to look at him. “Don’t believe any of it. It’s all a load of crap and they’re just jealous. Nothing they say is true, okay?”
Bree sniffed, “I just don’t see how they can hate me just because I’m with you.”
Harry nodded, “I know. I don’t get it either. People pick me all the time, but I just think about how lucky I am to be living my dream with my five best friends, that I couldn’t care less about what names people are calling me.”
This made Bree feel better. She was so lucky to be with this guy, even if he wasn’t famous, she’d still be lucky. He’s so sweet and funny and hot! Being famous is just an added bonus that made everything a lot of fun. She needed to think about how lucky she was for having him, and how unlucky the haters are.
Bree leaned up and kissed Harry lightly, "Thanks, sweetie." Harry smiled and rubbed her back supportively. "What do you want to do? It's only three," Bree said and untangled herself from his embrace.
He straightened his shirt and tapped his chin, thinking. "How long do we have?"
Bree thought for a moment, "We have a good four hours until my mom gets home, and I'm sure she's going to want to meet you."
Harry looked a little worried, "Do you think she'll like me?"
"Of course! She already loves you, from what I've told her," Bree said and smiled. "She googled you," she admitted.
"She did?" he asked, laughing a little. "What did she find?"
Bree shrugged, "I don't know, but it can't be bad. She told me she wanted to meet you."
He drew in a deep breath. "What about your dad?"
Bree looked away, "He left a few years ago. We haven't spoken to him since I was seven. But, if he was here, I'm sure he'd like you, too."
"I'm really sorry, Bree, I didn't -" Harry started, but Bree stopped him.
"No worries," she said and got up off the bed and stretched. Harry did the same. "So what are we going to do for four hours?"
"I have an idea," Harry said and took her hand, leading her down the stairs and out the door, barely giving her a chance to put on her shoes and lock the door behind them.
"What are we doing?" Bree giggled as they got into his car again. He didn't say anything while he backed up and drove out of the neighborhood at lightning speeds. His bodyguard's car wasn't far behind.
"Something fun! It's a surprise," Harry said, grinning. His phone rang just then. "Can you get it for me, honey?"
Bree nodded and pulled Harry's phone out of his pocket, a little nervous at the gesture, but Harry didn't seem to notice it. She tapped "Answer" and brought the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Umm, is this Bree?" a deep, gruff voice asked.
"Uhh, yes, it is. What's up?" she replied.
"It's Nate, Harry's bodyguard. We're following you, but Harry never told us where you two are going," Nate said. "Can you tell us where you're headed?"
"Wish I could. He's keeping it a secret," Bree said and glanced over at Harry, who was smiling.
"Okay, well let Styles know I'm not happy that he's not telling us. Okay?"
"Will do. Thanks Nate," she hung up and turned to Harry. "Nate's not happy with you," she said, teasingly.
"I figured. But this is worth it," Harry grinned and turned onto a busier road. Bree wondered what Harry was up to. Where could he be taking her? He didn't know what kind of things there were to do in St. Paul, he'd only driven through it twice.
Bree trusted him, but was really worried about this surprise. She knew whatever it was, it'd be fun because she would be with Harry. She looked out the window as he hummed a tune, she recognized it from the concert the night before, so she guessed it was one of theirs.
She didn't interrupt him, because she loved the sound of him humming, but she was curious as to what song it was.
A few minutes later, Harry turned off the road and into a parking lot. Bree recognized the parking lot because she drove past it everyday to get to school, but had never gone in it. She looked around to see what things were around her.
"Okay, we're here," Harry said and got out of the car, so Bree did the same. She looked around and only saw a shoe shop, a Target, and a dentist office.
"And exactly what is here?" Bree asked, looking around. It wasn't super busy, but from a distance she could hear girls screaming.
"You'll see. Come on," Harry said and took her hand. They started walking towards those buildings, with Bree so confused she couldn't focus.
After walking for a little while, a group of six girls came running up to them. Harry tightened his hold on Bree's hand and smiled at them.
"Can we have an autograph?" one girl asked, almost bouncing up and down in excitement. Harry laughed and held out his free hand for the book she was holding. He had to let go of Bree's hand so he could scribble his name down. He gave the other girls some autographs, then posed for a few pictures. He made sure Bree was holding his hand in every one, while loosely wrapping his free arm around the girl's shoulders. Bree was a little nervous being in even more pictures, but it was cute how Harry wanted her in them.
After they left, Harry and Bree continued to walk towards the unknown destination. A few more groups of fans approached them for pictures and autographs, and even a few of them wanted her autograph and a picture with her. Bree was touched that some fans supported Harry so much that they liked her.
They finally got away from the crazy fans after about half an hour, and continued walking. Finally, they reached big barbed wire fence. Bree looked up at it, confused. "Why are we back here? Isn't this… isn't this the back of the zoo?"
"I present to you... the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory!" Harry joked, motioning broadly to the fence. Bree laughed and looked around.
"Why are we in the back? Why not go through the front, like normal people do?" Bree asked as Harry walked over to the fence. He bent down and pulled a key out of a potted plant. He unlocked the gate and swung it open.
"After you, my lady," he said and let Bree go inside first. When she looked really confused, he explained. "When you went to the bathroom back at your house, I googled fun things to do in St. Paul. Then I called the zoo to ask if I can bring you around the back so people wouldn't mob us. I even got us a private tour around the whole zoo, in a private little safari truck. It's really quite a good deal."
Bree stood up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Harry, I swear," Bree whispered and kissed him lightly. "This is amazing."
Harry kissed her back and grinned, "I needed to make our second date special, huh?"
Bree laughed, "Thank you."
They walked hand in hand over to the gift shop, where Harry said their tour guide would be. Luckily, it seemed as if the fans hadn't expected Harry to visit the zoo. No one was coming up to them harassing them for autographs, which was nice.
Their tour guide walked over to them and stuck out her hand to Harry. "Hi! I'm Kate, and I'll be your tour guide this afternoon. And, on the side, I'm a huge fan, Harry."
Harry smiled and shook her hand, then he motioned to Bree. "Thanks. This is my girlfriend, Bree."
"It's nice to meet you," Kate said and shook Bree's hand, too. "Well, let's get started. The safari truck is outside. Let's go."
Harry took Bree's hand and they followed Kate outside and over to the big camouflaged truck. The cabin part was only two seats, where the driver would sit, and the whole pit of the truck was big enough for Harry, Bree, and Kate to stand in. There were railings around the pit so they wouldn't fall, obviously.
They all climbed in and Harry stood next to Bree with his arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head against his shoulder and grabbed a handful of Harry's shirt as the truck started moving. Kate leaned over the cab to talk to the driver, then turned to them.
"Where would you like to start? The big cats or the monkeys?" Kate asked.
Harry grinned, "Big cats." Then he looked at Bree for approval, and she nodded. "Yes, big cats."
For the next two and a half hours, Kate talked to them about all the animals in the zoo. They got to see all of the animals up close, and even got to go in the giraffe enclosure to feed them. It was really fun, and Harry and Bree had a great time. After the tour ended, Harry bought Bree some ice cream, and they walked around the zoo, hand in hand, for a while as she ate it.
Bree finished her ice cream a little while later and threw the napkin in a trash can. She turned to Harry, "Thank you so much. This was better than our last date."
"Ouch," Harry teased and kissed her cheek. He looked at her with those gorgeous green eyes and she couldn't help but blush.
"I loved our first date too, silly, this one was just a lot better," Bree said and they started walking out of the zoo.
When they got out of the zoo, and started walking back to Harry's car, fans were all over the place. They must have figured out where they were.
Harry smiled and waved at them, in good nature, but refused to sign autographs or pose for pictures because there were so many of them. Also, he wanted to get Bree home soon.
Bree stayed by his side the whole time, and he opened the car door for her when they reached his Audi. He pulled out of the parking lot, carefully, so that he didn't hit any of the girls that were crowded around them.
When they pulled out onto the busy road, they were finally free from the screaming fans. Harry turned on the radio and sang along to the song that came on. It was Maroon 5's newest single, and Bree found herself singing along, too. Harry stopped and looked sideways at her.
"What?" Bree asked. "Oh! Was I singing? Damn it, that's embarrassing. Sorry you had to hear that."
"Are you kidding, Bree? You're better than I am!" Harry said, hitting the wheel.
Bree scoffed, "You're funny, Mr. Styles." She rolled her eyes, how stupid was that? Her voice is nothing compared to his.
"Okay, well if you'd have been on the X Factor instead of us, you'd be famous right now. Okay?" Harry said.
"You're just saying that, anyway, you can come to my recital next Sunday if you'd like," Bree said.
"I'd love to," Harry said and patted her thigh. His phone rang a few seconds later, and Bree reached over to answer it without Harry having to ask.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Bree!" a cute little Irish accent exclaimed.
"Niall! What's up?" Bree smiled. She liked Niall, not like she liked Harry, of course, but she liked all of his friends.
"Well Hazza just kind of disappeared without calling. I guess he's with you though, am I right? Well, no. You are, because you picked up his phone. Right?" Niall mumbled, getting himself confused.
"Yes, Niall. I'm with him," Bree laughed. "Do you need anything?"
"I need some Nando's," Niall said. "Oh! No, I don't need anything from you two. But I would like some Nando's."
"Well, go get some then," Bree laughed. "Talk to you later, Niall." She hung up.
"What did he want?" Harry asked, putting his phone back in his pocket.
"He wanted some Nando's," Bree said, making Harry laugh. "Oh, well that and he wanted to know where you were."
"Okay," Harry replied and turned into Bree's driveway. He killed the engine and turned to her. "I think your mom is home."
Bree looked over to the garage and saw it open, and with her mom's silver RAV 4 parked inside, next to Bree's blue convertible Bug.
"Yeah, looks like she is," Bree said and started to get out of the car.
"You have a blue convertible Bug?" Harry asked, a crooked smile on his face. Bree nodded and looked happily at her car. She got it for her seventeenth birthday, and loved it to pieces.
"I do. Now let's go talk to my mother," Bree said and got out of the car. Just as she did, her mom opened the back door and smiled.
"Hey guys! I heard you two pull in! Come in, Harry, I'll get you a cup of coffee or tea, whichever you prefer," Mrs. Keller said. Bree smiled and took Harry's hand as they walked to the door. "Wow Harry! That's quite a car you got yourself."
"Mom! Stop!" Bree whisper-yelled to her mom. She just laughed. Harry tightened his hand around Bree's, and she could tell he was nervous. She squeezed back to let him know there's nothing to worry about.
They walked into the kitchen and sat down at the center island, still holding hands. Mrs. Keller started boiling some water.
"So, Harry. Coffee or tea?" she asked as she pulled out the milk from the fridge and started getting the drinks ready.
"Tea, please," Harry said and glanced at me, looking nervous still.
"Me too, mom. Thanks," Bree said and then squeezed his hand supportively. "Calm down, she likes you," she mouthed to him when her mom turned around to make the tea.
He took a breath and Bree could visibly see the difference. He was calming down a lot. Bree's mom turned around and handed them their tea, then sat down across from them.
"I'm Bree's mom, but you know that," her mom said and extended her hand to Harry. He took it and shook it, smiling.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Harry, but you know that, too, I guess," Harry said with a really cute smile. He bit his lip and glanced at Bree, who nodded back at him supportively.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Harry," Bree's mom said and smiled warmly. "I might have seen a video on YouTube of you asking Bree out last night at the concert, Harry."
Harry gulped and opened his mouth to apologize or argue or whatever he was planning on doing. But Mrs. Keller stopped him, "I think it was a very cute way of asking her, and I think it's amazing that you're okay with all your fans knowing right away."
Harry let out a relieved breath and smiled, "Thanks." He smiled at Bree and squeezed her hand again. "Can I ask you something, though, Mrs. Keller?"
"Sure, go ahead," she said, tilting her head to the side, curiously.
"Can I ask you not to google Bree and I's relationship? Or look it up on YouTube?" Harry asked and Bree raised her eyebrows.
"Why?" Bree asked, not letting her mom answer just yet. "What's wrong with that?"
"Bree, sometimes fans or… people who really don't like us… like to make up rumors and spread them," Harry sighed. "I don't want you or your mom googling anything about our relationship. I'm worried you'll get upset with things you read or untrue rumors that are spread."
"Harry's right," Mrs. Keller said to her daughter. "I promise I won't look anything up, Harry."
Bree sighed, "I hadn't thought about that. Sorry." Harry rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand knowingly.
"It's fine. I just don't want you to get hurt," he said. Bree smiled weakly and nodded. She felt so lucky to have him, and whenever she thought about the fact that she was dating Harry freaking Styles, she almost thought that it was all a dream.
"Well, Harry, it was really nice meeting you," her mom said, jolting them back to reality.
"You too, Mrs. Keller," Harry said and stood up. He leaned over and gave Bree a quick kiss on the cheek. "Can we do something this week?" he asked her.
Bree thought about it. Her week was going to be pretty busy, she was starting her new job at a small restaurant and she'd be working eight hours a day for the next few weeks until she went off to college. She also had to finish up some college shopping and paperwork. She sighed, "Harry, I don't think I can." She winced as he frowned. "But you're coming to my recital, right?"
He nodded, "It's a few days before we go to Australia, so yeah. I'll be there, for sure. But… we'll talk later." Harry leaned over and kissed her cheek again. "I'll call you tonight. Bye."
Bree smiled, "Bye." Harry let himself out and a few seconds later, they could hear his car backing out of the driveway. She sighed and put her head in her hands.
"Having second thoughts?" her mom asked. Bree snapped her head up and gasped.
"NO! Not at all! I just, ugh, it's hard. I'm never going to be able to see him," Bree said and groaned.
"I thought you knew that, Bree. He's a celebrity!" her mom said quietly.
"I know that. I knew that. I just didn't realize he'd be touring around the world, and that he'd never be able to see me!" Bree said and dropped her head into her arms again.
"It'll be hard, honey. But if it's what you want to do, you can both make it work," Mrs. Keller said and patted her daughter's arm.
"You think?" Bree mumbled into her elbow.
"I do think, yes," Mrs. Keller said. "Look honey, you made a commitment to this boy to be in a relationship with him. Whether he's famous or not doesn't make any difference. You will make time to see him if you want to, okay?"
Bree nodded and stood up. "Thanks mom, I really like him. I've just spent the last twenty-four hours with him, and we just had our first two dates. It's overwhelming, but I really hope this will work out. I'm going to go upstairs and have a shower or something."
"Okay honey, and it will work out, so don't stress about it," Mrs. Keller said and smiled at her daughter.
"Thanks mom," Bree ran upstairs to take a shower, feeling a little gross that she was still wearing her clothes from the day before, and that she hadn't showered that day. She planned on calling Harry as soon as she was clean.