Chapter Seven
A loud, obnoxious beeping woke Bree up at ten the next morning. She rolled over and turned off the alarm clock, remembering why it was set so early in the summer. Work. She groaned and rolled over again, reaching out to wake up Harry. But the bed was empty.
She sat up and looked around. Harry's jeans were gone. She was still wearing his shirt, though. She frowned, did he leave without saying goodbye? Bree wanted to cry at that thought, but she had other things to do. She pulled herself reluctantly out of bed and grabbed some clothes, a towel, and her iPod and made her way to the bathroom to shower.
About an hour later, she was all ready. She had on some light blue skinny jeans and a white flannel shirt, rolled up at the elbows. That was what she was supposed to wear for her new job as a waitress at the small restaurant, Villa Dolce. She had blow-dried her hair and decided to skip the make up today, based on what Harry said the day before.
She grabbed her phone and purse and trotted down the stairs to grab some cereal before work. She set her purse down on the counter and turned the corner into the kitchen. She heard him before she saw him.
"I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn," Harry sang in his gorgeous voice as he scraped some bacon and eggs onto a plate. "I'm all out of faith. This is how I feel. I'm cold and I'm ashamed, lying broken on the floor."
"What song is that?" Bree asked, a huge smile on her face at finding her boyfriend making breakfast. He wasn't wearing his shirt, obviously, it was upstairs in Bree's room. His back was just as toned and sexy as his chest and abs. He turned around and grinned.
"Morning sleepy," Harry said as he finished serving three plates of bacon and eggs.
"When did you get up?" Bree asked as she sat down at the kitchen table.
"Eight," Harry said and slid a plate over to her. "Which is really late for me. We get up at six almost everyday."
Bree smiled, "Well thanks for making breakfast, babe!"
"No problem! I made some for your mum, too. So I better go get my shirt on and let her know," Harry said and kissed Bree's forehead and headed upstairs. Bree grinned and started eating.
Harry jogged down the stairs and sat down next to her. He was wearing his shirt again, unfortunately. He grinned sideways at her as he started eating.
"Good morning Harry. Good morning Bree," Mrs. Keller said as she came downstairs and sat down on Bree's other side.
"Morning," they said in unison and laughed. They finished their breakfasts quietly, really enjoying Harry's cooking.
"Thank you so much," Bree said as they cleared away their plates.
"Not a problem," Harry smiled and helped clean up. "Can I drive you to work?"
Bree looked at the clock and it was 11:30. She had to leave pretty soon to get to work at noon. "I'd love that. So... are you leaving after that?" she frowned.
"I have to, I'm sorry. We have two shows this week," Harry winced and took her hand. They said goodbye to her mom and walked out to Harry's car. Harry opened the door for Bree, as he usually does, and they headed out.
They pulled up at Villa Dolce five minutes later. They both sat in silence for a minute, not wanting to say goodbye just yet.
"Thanks for the ride, Harry," Bree smiled and leaned over to kiss him. He kissed her back and smiled.
"You are very welcome, darling," he said. "I don't want to leave, though."
"I know. But I'll see you in a week," Bree said, stroking Harry's face.
"But then I'll be leaving for two months," Harry frowned.
"Ah! Don't say that!" Bree exclaimed. "I'll see you on Sunday!" She kissed him one more time and got out of the car. She waved to him as he pulled away.
She turned away and walked into the restaurant. Even though it was supposed to be a small place, but the place was packed with teenage girls. As soon as she came in, the girls started crowding around her, asking for pictures and autographs with Harry Styles' new girlfriend.
She sighed and thought, Will I ever get used to this? And thus started Bree's new job.
*1 week later*
Bree had missed Harry more than she had thought she would. When Sunday finally arrived, she was almost so excited she couldn't function. Harry had called every night to talk, and apparently their shows went well.
After taking a shower on Sunday morning, she got dressed in the dress she was going to wear for her voice recital. It was a light blue and green floral summer dress that a dad, if she had one, would criticize for being too short. She paired this with a light yellow cardigan and some black flats. Her hear was curled loosely and she wore a little bit of make up.
She looked at herself in the mirror and hoped she looked decent. Bree grabbed her little yellow purse and her phone and went downstairs to wait for Harry. Mrs. Keller was already at the church where the recital was taking place, getting the last minutes things done. This was quite a big deal for Bree and any other voice student at her studio. They had all been taking singing lessons for years, and their senior recital was their last time to perform for their friends and family. Each student got their own recital, in which they sand four songs of their choice, accompanied by their voice coach.
Bree turned the corner and saw Harry sitting at the kitchen table, looking as handsome as ever in his suit. "Harry!" she cried and ran over to him. He stood up and pulled her into a hug, burying his face into her neck.
"Bree. I missed you," he mumbled as they hugged. She pulled back, planted her hands on each side of his face, and kissed every inch of his face. He grinned and pulled her into one long kiss.
When they pulled apart, Harry looked her up and down. "Well, you look absolutely stunning," he smiled and stroked her face.
"You do too, Harry," Bree smiled and ran her finger down Harry's light green tie. He sucked in a breath. "We match," she mused.
Harry grinned shyly, "You're mum might have given me a hint of what color you were wearing."
Bree rolled her eyes, "Come on. Let's go." Harry took her hand and they went out to Harry's car. Harry opened the door for her and let her in. As he backed out of the driveway, he took her hand again and squeezed it.
"I missed you so much, "Bree said, remembering her awful week of work and college preparations.
"I missed you, too, Bree," Harry said, squeezing her hand again. "How was work?"
"It was boring," Bree shrugged. She didn't hate her job, she just didn't particularly enjoy it. Plus, add screaming girls on top of that, it made it a little hard to concentrate sometimes.
"Someone tweeted me a picture of you working," Harry winced. "Do you want a bodyguard? I know how our fans can get."
"A bodyguard?" Bree laughed. "Absolutely not!"
Harry laughed with her, "I don't know if you'll be laughing for long." They pulled up at the little church and parked around the back, to avoid people recognizing Harry's car.
They walked inside and saw about fifty people all sat in their seats, chatting. Bree had invited all her close friends from high school, her favorite teachers, a few family friends, and her grandparents. Unfortunately, most of Bree's friends were "Directioners," and upon hearing that Bree and Harry were dating, officially, they became bitter with jealousy. Yet they pretended they liked her just so they could meet Harry and perhaps the other boys, too. This was why she couldn't wait to go to college.
When Maddie and the rest of her friends noticed Harry and Bree walk in, they started screaming and ran over towards them.
"Sorry, I didn't think about this happening," Bree muttered to Harry as the girls raced over to them.
"Well more importantly than them being my fan, they are your friends. So it's a pleasure to meet them," Harry whispered back. Bree scoffed. Yeah, great friends they were.
For about twenty minutes, Harry posed for pictures with them and was a genuinely good sport about the whole thing. But Bree felt bad for all of these girls harassing him like that.
Ten minutes before the recital started, Bree knew she had to go. "Well, I better go get warmed up and stuff," Bree said and reached up to kiss him. All her friends "awwwww"ed and she blushed.
"Okay, well good luck. You'll be fantastic," Harry smiled and kissed her again before gently pushing her in the direction she needed to go, sensing how much she didn't want to leave. "I'll be fine," he mouthed to her, jokingly, feigning fear at being left alone with those crazy fans.
Bree nodded, laughing, and left to go warm up in a back room with her voice coach.
*Harry's POV*
After about ten minutes, they all settled down in their seats. Harry sat with Bree's family, which made him nervous, but he felt like they liked him, and that was important. Carla, Bree's voice coach, walked out in front of everyone.
"Good afternoon everyone! I'm Carla, and I'll be accompanying the lovely Bree today," Carla said and the audience clapped lightly. It was a different kind of applause than Harry was used to. It wasn't crazy screaming and cheering, it was a polite appreciation of someone. Harry was almost jealous, but he was too excited to see Bree sing to actually do more than notice the difference. "So, without further ado, here is Bree Keller!"
More clapping, and Bree walked out. She looked absolutely beautiful, and Harry couldn't take his eyes off of her. She smiled and waved shyly as she sat down on a stool in front of the piano. She adjusted her microphone and smiled.
"Hi guys. Umm, before I start, I just want you to all meet my boyfriend, Harry," she smiled and nodded towards Harry. Everyone looked over at him and he gave them a quick smile and waved. "I hope you all like him as much as I do." Harry was elated, and gave her a quick wink. He was really glad she introduced him without mentioning that he's famous. It made him feel like he was in a normal relationship.
"This first song is an Italian one that Bree sang for state solo and ensemble," Carla said and started to play the piano. Harry held his breath , a part of him worrying Bree wouldn't be as good as he thought she'd be. But as soon as she started to sing, that part of him disappeared. He stared in awe as she sang words he couldn't understand. Her voice was beautiful.
The rest of the song went by quickly, with Harry mesmerized by the beautiful notes. Before he knew it, the song was over.
Harry almost stood up to cheer afterwards, but he restrained from that, knowing this was a recital, not a concert. He clapped loudly though, and gave Bree a wide grin. She grinned back at him.
The next two songs she sang were fairly recent songs, both of which were even better than the previous. It was much better when he could understand her. Ten minutes later, she finished her third song and she waited for the applause to finish. She stood up and walked over to a guitar stand and picked up the guitar. Harry raised his eyebrows, not knowing she played guitar. This girl just kept impressing him. She went back to sit on the stool again, and held the guitar. She strummed it once, then looked up at Harry. Directly at him.
"This last song, my friend, Maddie, helped me with," Bree said, still not taking her eyes from Harry. She smiled, "Harry, I wanted to show you how much I care by doing something special. So, uh, this is for you." Harry bit his lip, wondering what she was doing.
She started strumming some chords that Harry would recognize anywhere. He sat up a little bit as Bree's friends starting squealing quietly. She smiled at him and started with the first verse.
"You know I've always got your back, boy, so let me be the one you come running to, running to, ru-ru-running. I said it' s just matter of fact, boy, you just call my name, I'll be coming through, coming through, I'll get coming," she sang beautifully, and surprised Harry. He'd never expected to hear one of his songs in acoustic, especially not sung by his girlfriend who barely knew his songs. He smiled, touched and continued listening as his verse came up.
"On the other side of the world, it don't matter, I'll be there in two, I'll be there in two, I'll be there in two. I still feel it overtime, it's just something that you do. Now ask my why I want to," she continued, winking at him, then glanced down at her fingers on the guitar, making sure she was playing the right chords.
Harry took a deep breath, and blinked a few times quickly. He listened to the rest of the song in awe, amazed she'd learn one of their songs and sing it to him.
"It's everything about you," she sung the last line, and strummed one last time. She smiled cutely at the audience and everyone stood, cheering this time. She grinned and stood up to take a little bow. She looked over at Harry and frowned. He reached up to itch his eye, and realized he was crying. He quickly wiped his eyes, not wanting her to notice. She jumped off the mini-stage and walked over to him.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she got to him. He shook his head.
"That was amazing, sweetie," Harry said quietly and pulled her close and kissed her. "I can't believe you did that."
"So you didn't like it?" Bree asked, frowning.
"No," Harry said truthfully. She looked away and let out a long breath. Harry put two fingers under her chin and turned her towards him. "I loved it." Her eyes lit up and she grinned.
"Really?"
"Really." He kissed her and rested his forehead against hers. "No one's done anything like that for me before."
"Maddie helped, I didn't know the lyrics and the chords and stuff," Bree said, making excuses for the amazing thing that she did.
"But it was your idea, and I'm really happy she helped you," he said. He took her hand and led her over to her mother.
"You did great sweetie," Mrs. Keller said and hugged her daughter. They mingled with people for an hour or so, and then Harry wanted to be alone with Bree for a while until he had to leave to go to Australia.
They said their goodbyes and walked to his car.
(I'm going to end the chapter here, this is getting kind of long (: Hope you liked it and I'll probably not be able to upload for another few days! Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes!)