i decided to not include robin in this story, because i don't think i can accurately portray the battle with cancer that he would've been going through at the time, and while i love and miss robin with all of my heart, i want to respect his memory by not creating a fake personality for him
i hope you can all respect that xx
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THE FAMILY
Honestly, the last three hours (there were certain benfits to travelling on the M40 at seven in the morning) had been surprisingly enjoyable and relaxed. The majority of the drive had been spent with Ellie encouraging Harry to sing along to a wide variety of ridiculous songs, and then feeling incredibly outdone when he joined in. It wasn't her fault she couldn't sing.
However, as the small blue vehicle entered Holmes Chapel, Ellie started worrying a little bit more. It was all well and good driving on the motorway, but as the speed limit dropped, so did Ellie's heart. She was fairly certain that it was sitting somewhere at the bottom of her stomach.
She wasn't even Harry's girlfriend - she didn't even know what she was to him, to be honest - and yet she was already meeting his family. Ellie knew his family weren't mean. If there was one thing that her minor obsession fangirl stage had taught her, it was that. Still, she was scared.
Her hands weren't shaking yet, but they weren't far off.
As if he'd noticed her discomfort, Harry reached over and put his hand over hers, suqeezing it slightly. She looked over at him, and she assumed there was probably some silent fear in her eyes, because he smiled.
"They're going to love you," he whispered, still holding her hand. She nodded, smiling slightly, and although parts of her didn't believe him, she felt a tiny bit better.
She'd been too lost in her own thoughts (mostly revolving around the feel of Harry's hand on hers) to notice them pulling into a smaller street. Oh no. This was it. Harry's house. Ellie took back what she'd earlier thought about feeling better - she was a lot, lot worse.
They pulled up outside a house which Ellie could only assume was his, and she realised that there was one question that they'd yet to answer. What exactly were she and Harry
Eager to sort that out, Ellie shifted herself over and pulled on Harry's hand so that he turned over and looked at her, his head slightly tilted.
"Harry, what are we?" He blinked once, then twice, clearly trying to sort out an answer in his own mind. To be honest, she'd been working over the same question in the back of her mind for most of the drive.
"What do you want to be?" Ellie raised an eyebrow. Was that really the best he could come up with? "No, I mean, I know what I want us to be, but Ellie, this isn't just about me, is it? It's you too, and you're leaving, and I don't want to rush you into anything you can't maintain and-" Harry was rambling, moving his free hand rapidly as he spoke. Now it was Ellie's turn to be taken aback.
"Harry," she said, slowly, "I kind of think a long distance relationship will kill me, you know?" Harry looked down at his lap, removing his hand from hers and playing with his fingers.
"Oh," he said, and there was a ridiculous amount of sadness in his voice, "I guess you're right." Ellie shook her head, laughing under her breath, before she reached out and grabbed his hand in hers again.
"That's why you should always let me finish, you dolt," Ellie smiled at him, lightly slapping his shoulder, and she could've sworn his green eyes lit up slightly, "I kind of think it'll kill me, but you know what I really think? I think you're good for me, Harry. You make me happy, so I want to try. And I hope that's the answer you were hoping for, because otherwise I just ridiculously embarrassed myself." Ellie knew she was bright red, and she looked down at her lap.
However, she really should've looked up, because Harry had to use his hand to lift up her face, and she realised that he was smiling with the widest smile she might've ever seen. She could practically see the happiness in his green eyes.
"So you're my girlfriend now?" Ellie nodded wordlessly, because she wasn't quite sure if she could speak right now. Harry Styles had just asked if she was his girlfriend. Suffice to say, Ellie's inner One Direction fangirl was crying - all of the imagines couldn't ever prepare her for this.
She felt his hand move from her chin to the back of her neck, and she was being pulled in, and her hands moved to his hair. Then, his lips were on hers for only the second time, moving together, the sparks just as real. He pulled back first, before smirking slightly.
"Considering that you're meeting my mum, I don't think you want to look too messed up right now." Once again, Ellie knew she looked like a red traffic light, but she didn't particularly care. All she did was laugh as Harry opened his door, shooting her one last grin.
Ellie shook her head, still laughing slightly. How she and Harry could go from kissing, to basically being dumb teenagers, she didn't think she'd ever understand. She heard the door in the back of the car open and close, and she looked around to see both hers and Harry's bags gone.
She opened her own door and climbed out of the car, walking over to where Harry stood. Ellie reached out to take her bag, but Harry simply shook his head, and marched with purpose towards the front door. Ellie rolled her eyes before trudging up the path after him, her freezing hands buried in her pockets. Him and his ridiculous chivalry.
Before she knew it, Harry had rung the doorbell, and Ellie broke into a strange half-run to catch up to him - curse her little legs. Once she'd reached him, Ellie stood slightly behind Harry, making no pretense of doing anything but hiding. Harry chuckled lowly, removed his bag from one of his hands and grabbed her arm, lightly tugging her forwards.
She was now standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Harry, waiting. However, they were hardly waiting long. Soon after Harry rung the bell, they heard a faint shout of 'coming' from behind the door. Even if he didn't show it, Ellie could tell Harry was excited, because he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, and his smile was crazily wide.
The door flung open rapidly, and standing there was a woman Ellie recognised to be Anne. However, Ellie didn't really see very much of her before Harry was being crushed into a hug. Honestly, she could've cried. Because they lived in Adelaide, she hadn't seen her parents once in the last year.
By the time Anne released her son, all three of the people on the front deck had some form of tears in their eyes.
"Harry, did you not tell your mother you were coming to see her? Honestly, I expected better." Ellie looked at Harry in mock horror, trying to use her emotions to hide just how emotionally moved she was. Harry shook his head and laughed, looking down at his feet.
"I like her," Anne said, smiling even though she was crying, "You should keep her. Come here, love." Then Ellie was being hugged, and although she was stunned at first, she quickly hugged back, relishing the feeling.
"I'm Ellie," she said, when Anne pulled away, "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Cox." Anne looked almost impressed.
"You managed to get my name right on the first try," Anne said, smiling, "But please, call me Anne. I like her even more, Harry. Also, I'm not done with you, young man. Don't surprise me like this!"
"It was a good surprise though, wasn't it?" Harry smiled innocently, and Ellie saw Anne's whole face soften. "Besides, of course Ellie got your name right, she used to be an obsessed fangirl."
"Shut up, Harry," Ellie whined, blushing, "I was a strange teenager." Anne and Harry both laughed, and Ellie couldn't help but join in. Then, a voice sounded from inside the house.
"Mum? What the bloody hell is taking so long?" Another girl emerged from inside the house, and wow, there was Gemma Styles. How was the entire Styles family so genetically perfect? Ellie simply didn't get it. "Harry! You idiot! How could you not tell me you were visiting?" Gemma stormed over to Harry and slapped him across the face (lightly), before pulling him into a hug. "You're an asshole."
Ellie bit back a laugh. Gemma was exactly what she'd thought she would be.
"Sorry, Gem," Harry said, smiling despite the fact that he'd been slapped, "But at least I brought Ellie to meet you, right?" Gemma gasped dramatically, pulling away from Harry and turning to face Ellie.
"You have made a horrible mistake," Gemma said, before cracking a smile, "But hey, his family makes it worth it, right?" Ellie nodded solemnly.
"Of course," she said, "Gemma, you are by far the better Styles." Gemma laughed loudly, soundly eerily similar to Harry.
"I like her more than you Harry, I'm very sorry." Harry pouted, and both girls laughed.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of," he said, "No one in this family loves me." Anne moved into the door of the house, motioning with her arm to come inside.
"Come on, you lot," she said, "Come inside, we can make tea."
"Let's be stereotypically british," Ellie cheered sarcastically, making a jazz hand with the hand that wasn't around Gemma's shoulder, "I love tea, but I think your family has an addiction."
"Shut up, Ellie," Harry said, grinning lazily, "You don't appreciate tea enough." Ellie could tell that Harry was much more at ease when he was with his family.
"To be fair, Harry, we do drink a ridiculous amount of tea." Gemma smiled sympathetically at Harry.
"My girlfriend and my sister are teaming up against me," Hary said, rubbing his hands over his face, "Mum! This is child abuse!" Ellie and Gemma simply laughed, walking through the doorway of the house together.
"Girlfriend, hey? Didn't know you were such a charmer, Harry," Gemma said, winking slyly at Ellie, "Especially to girls as nice as Ellie. What are you doing with him?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Ellie said, sighing dramatically, "I really only want him for his body." Gemma nodded with an understanding expression on her face, before both of them burst out laughing.
"I'm going to be deaf by the end of this weekend, I swear." Harry walked off into the kitchen, muttering to himself under his breath, and Gemma and Ellie simply followed.
"Gemma, do I have your permission to post embarrassing pictures of Harry while I'm here?"
"Absolutely."
Ellie knew that this was going to be an amazing weekend.
@elliepotts_ - 18.02.2017
@elliepotts_ : embarrassing photos day one, part one, with ellie @harrystyles @gemmastyles @annetwist stay tuned for more, live from holmes chapel, cheshire (he doesn't want to talk to me so he's asleep :( )
harrystyles, gemmastyles, and 563,078 others like this post
COMMENTS - 342.9K
@mullingar_girl : ELLIE ELLIE ELLIE ELLIE WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE HANGING OUT WITH HARRY AND HIS FAMILY WHAT
@harrystyles : I feel very loved
@elliepotts_ : every embarassing photo is posted with love @harrystyles
@gemmastyles : making good use of that phone camera
@elliepotts_ : what else am i meant to use it for??? normal things?? @gemmastyles
@prettystyles : BABY LOOKS SO PRECIOUS WHEN HE'S SLEEPING
@allhallie_allday : MY SHIP IS TOGETHER BLESS I LOVE THEM SM
@future_mrs_styles : i think the fuck not, back up
@harrysonething : let's ignore the girl and focus on our pretty baby
@hallie_sails : this is cute and ellie and gemma are my new favourite friendship
@harrys_hoe : the door is over there >>
@elliepotts_ : would you like me to take you to it so you can leave @harrys_hoe
@gemmastyles : take em down
@elliepotts_ : yes ma'am @gemmastyles
MORE COMMENTS
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HALLIE ARE CANON
HALLIE ARE CANON
guys i love harry's family too much
so you'll probably get like a solid 5 drama free chapters or something
unless you count gemma being sasssyyyyy
(jk itll be less than five i dont have time for this and neither do you i want drama)
this is like 2000 words so i think it is officially the longest chapter in this book (right now at least)
it is also not proofread! i am lazy! it is night time! so yeah have fun w/ that
ur welcome for double updates i had nothing better to do :)
until next time
all the love, K xo