A/N: Surprise!! Here is another update!!! I know I only just posted a new chapter but here's another one lol. Enjoy 😊😊
"Er...I...O-OK..." I told the reporter, "where...do you want me..?"
"Let's not stand in the middle of the red carpet," Eva said, "why don't you come this way?"
She led me off the red carpet and over to its side – opposite to Harry who was still busy doing his own interview – but he still glanced over at me quickly when he realized that there were people pulling me away. When he saw the reporters with me, he gave me a smile and a discreet nod – and I quickly returned both gestures.
Eva positioned me so that all the crowds could be clearly seen in the background. With a quick, silent countdown on her fingers, her cameraman began rolling.
"Leah, allow me to start off by saying that you look absolutely gorgeous," she beamed at me, "I adore that dress."
"Oh...thank you!" I smiled back at her, "I was hoping people would like it!"
"I'm sure that everyone else here loves it as much as I do. It's a simple design, and yet you still stand out," Eva went on, "and are you excited to see Dunkirk today?"
"Beyond excited," my smile grew, "Christopher Nolan is an amazing director, and it'll be great to learn more about such a significant event in English history," I then let out a soft chuckle, "plus, it'll be interesting to see what Harry's acting is like."
"Yes, I agree!" She chuckled as well, "But actually, speaking of Harry, we've noticed that you shared a car with him today. So, you're attending today's premiere together?"
"Yeah," I said with a nod, "we are attending together."
"The two of you have been seen together multiple times since you first met at Harry's first solo concert in May. And this is the first time in a long time we've seen him step out in public with a girl. I mean, I personally haven't even seen him hold hands with a girl in public since 2012, with Taylor Swift. What are we supposed to interpret from this, Leah? Are the two of you in a relationship?"
Wow. Diving straight in, I see.
OK, Leah. Remember what Harry said.
"Just tell them the truth, Leah. The whole point of this was to show people that we're together, remember?"
"Er...well..." I broke out a shy smile and chuckled nervously, "I...guess you could say that we are, yeah."
"Wow! Well, aren't you a lucky girl?" She beamed at me.
I chuckled again. "I know. I'm still trying to get my head around it, actually. I just...never really thought that something like this was gonna happen, y'know? Especially not to me."
"Yes, I don't blame you!" Eva chuckled as well, "Although, you do live in Worthing, don't you?"
"Yes, that is correct," I nodded.
"That's quite a while away from here. Nearly two hours, I believe?"
"Pretty much, yeah," I nodded again.
"So, if you're in Worthing while Harry's here in London...how do you get your relationship to work over that distance? Does he have somewhere that he stays whenever he visits you? Your house, a preferred hotel, or...maybe even a place of his own that he's secretly bought?"
At her question, I had to bite my lip a little.
This interview surely must be broadcasting live – meaning that pretty much all the other fans who couldn't make it to the premiere today must be watching its live broadcasts at home – waiting to see Harry, or watch interviews with Harry. So, if I talked about Harry's apartment on a live broadcast, God only knows what's gonna happen.
So many of Harry's fans would do anything to see him. If they knew that Harry had an apartment in Worthing, I'm sure some of them wouldn't even hesitate to try and track it down in hopes of seeing him. I didn't want Harry to be stalked, because he was such a private person – and he doesn't like being stalked.
If Harry was asked about what he does to see me in Worthing...would he talk about his apartment?
No. He wouldn't. I've never heard him speak publicly about any house or apartment that he buys. So I'm not going to, either.
"Er, we're actually still working that out," I replied, "the distance is a problem, but we're trying to figure out a solution together. I pretty much have to stay in Worthing all the time because of my daughter, so...right now, he usually drives down to see me."
"Really?" Eva rose an eyebrow, "No...overnight stays? Nothing like that at all?"
"No, not really," I said half-truthfully, "in fact...the only overnight stay I can think of right now, is when he drove me up here yesterday to crash at his place – so that I could make it to this premiere today."
"I see," she said with a slow nod.
OK...are we done?
"One more thing, if you don't mind me asking," Eva looked at me carefully and smiled a little, "do you have any comments about the intimacy of your relationship?"
Her question left me knocked for six.
Wait, what?!
"Ex...Excuse me..?" I asked her softly before I could stop myself.
"Well, all if not most relationships need at least some intimacy to work, right?" Her smile grew, "How's that part of your relationship with Harry right now?"
What the fuck?!
OK, I understand that reporters would be interested in me because of Harry's decision to make our relationship public, but asking me about our sex life?! That is an entirely different level of interest in itself.
Jesus. Harry was right to warn me about these 'bold reporters'.
"Just remember that it's OK not to give an answer if you're not comfortable doing so," Harry's voice began to play back in my head, "just because someone pulls you aside for an interview, it doesn't mean you have to give an answer for every question they have. Do some ducking & diving, or just avoid the question completely."
Ducking & diving...damn it, I wish I practiced that a little.
OK, Leah. Don't freak out. Harry said that ducking & diving was easy.
You can do it, Leah. You can fucking do it.
But how the fuck can people get away with asking questions like this?!
"Erm..." I bit my lip and chuckled nervously, "well...the two of us...actually haven't been together for very long. And we're similar...in the sense that sometimes, we just like to take things one step at a time, and one day at a time. Especially considering the fact that I have a young daughter, we need to tread carefully, as I'm sure you understand."
Did that count as ducking & diving..?
Eva looked confused, as if she wasn't sure what exactly my answer was supposed to tell her – kind of like she didn't know whether I was saying "Yes, we've had sex" or "No, we have not had sex". And I took that as a good sign.
"Yes, I...understand," she replied with a slow, uncertain nod.
However, she then began to smile again – as if another idea had popped into her head.
"What if we asked you to push your braid back, Leah? Would we get an answer from that?" She asked cheekily.
My eyes immediately widened at her words.
Did she...did she just ask to look me over for hickies?!
Oh, God. Someone please help me.
"E-Erm..." I began to stutter, "I...I don't-"
"Excuse me, miss," a security guard suddenly addressed me quietly, "pardon me for interrupting, but you must start moving on. There are still other photo ops that you would need to go through before the film starts."
"Oh...OK!" I replied without hesitation before turning back to Eva, "I...I'm really sorry."
"Oh, it's fine. I understand," she replied with a tight smile, "it was lovely to meet you, Leah. Thank you for taking the time for this interview."
"It was nice to meet you too," I muttered back as earnestly as I could before gladly letting the guard gently take my arm and whisk me away.
Thank God for that.
"Thank you," I told the man with a smile, "you literally saved me."
He chuckled. "Don't thank me. I'm not the one to thank."
"Huh?" I frowned a little, "What do you mean?"
"There you are," I realized that the guard was actually escorting me back to the smiling Harry, "I was looking for you, babe."
My eyes had to widen a little.
Wait a minute...
"Thanks mate," Harry told the security guard as he took my hand, "I owe you for pulling her out of there."
"My pleasure, sir," he replied with a smile.
"Harry..." I began slowly as the guard walked away, "did you...tell him to get me out of that interview?"
"Well, you looked uncomfortable," he smiled at me and gave my hand a squeeze, "isn't it a man's duty to save his damsel when she's in distress?"
"Holy shit..." I beamed back at him, "thank you, so much. That interview was hell."
"Too invasive?" Harry guessed.
"Way too invasive," I rolled my eyes, "ugh, she practically asked me if I had any hickies to show her."
"Wait, seriously?" Harry's eyes widened, "Shit...just as well you told me not to make them last night, huh? That was actually a good call."
"Oh yeah," I nodded vigorously, "it was too much, Harry. She was too much."
"Wow. It was your first interview...and it turned out like that," Harry pouted, "I'm sorry, Leah."
"It's OK," I gave him a small smile, "at least you rescued me."
He smiled back at me. "Yeah. I suppose so."
"Oh, and I didn't...tell her anything," I told him, "I think she was trying to faze me into spilling something juicy, but I actually stood pretty firm. In the end, the only thing she really found out is that we're together. She doesn't even know that you have a place in Worthing."
"Really?" Harry sounded surprised, "You managed to keep all that to yourself? How did you avoid her questions?"
"I tried to duck & dive," I giggled, "I don't know how well it worked, though."
"Oh, did you?" He smirked at me, "So, you took my advice, then?"
"Of course I took your advice!" I scoffed at him, "I would've been nothing without your advice!"
Harry chuckled. "Well, I'm glad I could help," he then took me by the waist and pulled me closer to him before smiling, "I'm proud of you, babe. You must've handled that really well."
"Yeah, I'd say that, all in all, I actually did," I giggled again, "thanks, Harry."
"Hopefully, if you get pulled aside again, your next interviewer won't be anywhere near as bad as her," he chuckled again, "shall we move along?"
I smiled at him. "Yes. We shall."
He smiled back at me, and we joined hands before we started moving along the red carpet once more. We even caught up with Fionn again – and the three of us posed together for a few pictures before he helped us get to the same place as the other actors.
Harry introduced me to every single one of them – to Kenneth Branagh, to Mark Rylance, to Jack Lowden, to Cillian Murphy, and all the rest. I had to admit, I was once again starstruck – especially upon meeting Cillian Murphy. I absolutely loved him in 28 Days Later (which I actually wouldn't even have seen if Aidan wasn't so obsessed with horror movies, so I had to thank him for that), so it was amazing to meet the very man who brought Jim's role to such life, and it was such an honour to be captured in the same pictures as him.
"I've never been in the same place as so many important people before..." I told Harry in a soft voice after we finished another photo op, "it's kind of overwhelming me. I mean...I even saw Dermot O'Leary from the X Factor UK!"
Harry chuckled. "You're pretty much like I was at my first awards show."
"Like, seriously, who am I gonna meet next?" I asked him.
"Er..." Harry began to look out across all the crowds, "well...maybe Prince Harry?"
"What?" My eyes widened, and I quickly followed his gaze.
And as soon as I did, I let out a huge gasp.
"Oh my God!" My jaw dropped, "Prince Harry! The Prince Harry! He's just over there!!"
"Yep," Harry said with a smile, "and er...it looks like he's coming this way."
"Holy shit!" I couldn't help blurting out, "He...he's a member of the Royal Family!!"
"Yes, Leah, he is," Harry chuckled – obviously amused.
"How are you not freaking out?!" I looked at him in total disbelief.
"Well...I have already met William and Kate when I was on the Royal Variety Show. So, it's not like meeting members of the Royal Family is new to me," he chuckled again.
I barely heard him as I watched Prince Harry warmly greet and shake hands with Christopher Nolan and all the other actors. I honestly couldn't believe that a Royal Family member was right in front of me.
"Oh, God, he's coming closer," I let out a nervous whine, "do I...do I look OK? Has my hair been messed up or anything?" I asked Harry.
He chuckled again before smiling at me warmly.
"You're still as stunning as ever. Stop freaking out."
Realizing that I was over-reacting, I finally let out a soft chuckle of my own and nodded.
"Thanks," I smiled back at him, "I needed that."
Seeing that everyone was lining up to greet the prince, Harry & I quickly joined them – my heart thundering so loudly inside my chest that I barely heard the shuttering cameras that snapped photos of all of us while Prince Harry met the actors. And when he finally came to us, I'm pretty sure I forgot how to breathe.
"Harry Styles," the prince greeted him with a smile, "I see that I'm in the presence of another prince – a 'Prince of Pop' as I've heard some people say."
Harry chuckled deeply as the two of them shared a friendly handshake.
"It's an honour to meet you, sir," he replied with a smile, "thank you very much for taking an interest in this film."
"Well, the evacuation at Dunkirk was very significant. I'm very interested to see how it was envisioned in Christopher's eyes," he then glanced over at me, "and who's this?"
"This is my girlfriend, Leah," Harry took my hand and brought me slightly forward – as if he were presenting me to him, "I asked her to accompany me today."
"Your Highness," I placed one leg behind the other and did a small curtsy – not even knowing if that was the proper thing to do or not, "I'm honoured to be of your acquaintance."
Whether I was too polite or not, I didn't care. It was fucking Prince Harry, and it was better to be too polite in my opinion.
He chuckled and shook my hand as well while giving me a friendly smile.
"Very nice to meet you, Leah," he told me, "and that's a very beautiful dress. You must've been turning heads all day."
"Oh...th-thank you!" I was startled but immensely flattered by the compliment, "I-I hope you enjoy the film, sir."
"I'm sure I will," he smiled again and bowed his head at both of us before moving on.
"Holy fuck!" I cursed under my breath as soon as I was certain that the prince was out of earshot, "Did I seriously just meet Prince Harry?!"
Harry laughed. "I'm starting to feel offended now. I bet you didn't react like this after you met me."
I giggled. "Well...it was a close second with you," I then began to turn serious again, "did I...did I handle that OK..?"
"Of course you did," he smiled at me.
"Did I go overboard by curtsying?" I asked him anxiously.
"No way," he shook his head, "the curtsy was very respectful – as you should be when meeting a member of the Royal Family. And I'm sure you earned his favour with it – since he even complimented your dress," his smile grew before he took my hand and pressed a soft kiss to it, "I'm proud of you, Leah."
I finally gave him a small smile back. "Thanks."
"OK, everyone!" A guy who was either another security guard or a sort of event manager suddenly began addressing the fans cheering behind the ropes, "You have a few more minutes to get photos taken, or have autographs signed! Just a few more minutes!"
Upon hearing the news, the fans' cheering immediately got way louder – with loads of them calling out all the actors' names simultaneously. However, a rather large section just ahead started screaming Harry's name at the top of their lungs – so of course, he had to rush over to them before they all broke their windpipes.
Since all the actors had gone off in different directions, I ended up being left alone again – and I began to feel anxious and awkward straight away. It felt so weird standing around by myself, while everyone else was posing for photos or signing things.
"Leah!" An unfamiliar voice suddenly began calling to me from the left, "Leah!"
Frowning, I turned my head in the direction of the voice – only to see that my gaze had fallen on a large section of fans that seemed to be getting a little ignored. I saw a few girls in the front row smiling in my direction, but I didn't know if they were smiling at me. So, I pointed to myself and mouthed "Me?" at them, and they responded with vigorous nods as their smiles began to grow.
Slightly confused, I made my way over – not even knowing what to expect once I got over there – especially since I saw several girls in that section wearing One Direction T-shirts, showing that they were clearly at the premiere for Harry.
"Hi, Leah!" A girl in the front was the first to speak – flashing me a beaming smile.
"Er...hi," I smiled back shyly and gave a little wave, "what's up?"
"Well, you kinda looked like how we feel right now," she replied with a soft chuckle, "just a little left out."
"Oh..." I began to nod as I noticed that her and her two friends were all holding printed photos of Harry, "you guys are waiting for your autographs and photos, huh?"
"Yeah," one of her friends said with a nod and a sigh, "loads of people came to see Harry today. I think it's become almost impossible for some of us to get his attention."
"Oh, he'll come around to you eventually," I tried to assure her with a smile, "Harry always tries to keep his fans happy."
"Yeah, but, we heard what the guy said. There's only a few minutes left," the first girl lowered her eyes, "I think we're gonna run out of time," she then looked back at me and smiled, "can we get a photo with you, though? You look really pretty!"
My breath hitched softly at her words.
"I...do..?" I asked her uncertainly. I really wasn't expecting a friendly reception from Harry's fans.
"Yeah! Your dress is amazing!" She replied with a smile – pulling out her phone, "Can we please have a photo? If we can't have one with Harry, then at least we could have one with you!"
"Oh...wow..." I began with a soft chuckle, "er...sure you can, if you really want to."
"Yay!" The girl then held her phone out for me, "Can you take it, so we can have a photo as a group?"
"OK...yeah," I gave her a small smile and carefully took her phone from her – chuckling again as I caught sight of her One Direction phone case, "hey – pretty sick phone case!"
"I know, right?!" The girl laughed, "Do you need help working the camera?"
"Er...nope, I think I'm good," my smile grew as I held out her phone until I saw her, her two friends and myself on the screen, "OK, one...two...three!"
I tapped the camera button a few times to get more than one photo, before handing the girl's phone back to her.
"Thank you so much, Leah!" She grinned at me as she took her phone.
"By the way, some of us were watching your live interview earlier," the third girl who was yet to speak finally did so.
"Oh...you did, huh?" I bit my lip, "I really screwed it up, didn't I?" I tried to joke.
"What? No!" The first girl objected, "We all think you handled it really well!"
The second girl nodded vigorously in agreement. "That lady who interviewed you was way too forward. Like yeah, it's OK to ask for a confirmation of you and Harry's relationship, but asking anything more than that is too much."
"Total invasion of privacy," the third girl spoke again, "and when we heard how confused she got from your reply about her intimacy question, we all cracked up – because your answer really sounded like something Harry would say."
"Oh," I giggled, "well, he did give me some tips before we arrived, so there's not really any surprise there."
All three girls giggled as well.
"Thanks for talking to us, Leah!" The first girl smiled at me.
"Oh, thank you for talking to me," I smiled back, "you're right – I was feeling pretty left out over there."
"Well, not for much longer," the second girl smile as well, "I think Harry's looking for you."
She pointed behind me, and turning around I realized that Harry had indeed parted from the fans he was with and was starting to look around.
Upon seeing him, I bit my lip and looked back at the three friendly girls – who were still smiling at me. I then looked around at the other large groups of fans – seeing that they were still getting autographs and pics with the other actors.
"Hang on," I told the three girls with a smile before hiking up my skirt a little and rushing over to Harry – calling out his name to get his attention.
"Leah?" He looked concerned as I ran up to him, "Is everything OK?"
"Yeah, everything's fine," I told him with a smile, "it's just...while we still have a little bit of time, I just met three really nice girls from a group who's been waiting for you over there all day. D'you think you could, er..?" I discreetly cocked my head in the three girls' direction.
"Ohh..." Harry caught on straight away and broke out a smile, "gotcha. I'll be right back."
"You're the best," I smiled back at him as he began walking over to the girls.
As soon as they saw him approaching, the three girls along with the rest of the crowd behind them immediately began to squeal and cheer – with a few of them jumping up & down in excitement or even on the verge of tears. The girls I'd spoken to looked back at me with huge grins on their faces, and they all gave me big waves.
"Thank you, Leah!" The first girl called to me, and I chuckled before waving back and winking at her.
For the first time, I didn't feel any awkwardness at all while I stood there and waited for Harry to finish. It was so nice to see the girls' efforts in coming here to see Harry finally paying off, and I couldn't shake off the bright smile that seemed to be plastered on my face as I watched Harry sign the girls' pictures of him and pose for photos with them.
When Harry was finished with them, he moved on to quickly do some more autographs and photos for some of the other fans in the final group. While he did so, I saw that the friendly girls were looking back at me once more, and I decided to quickly hurry over just to check on them.
"Sooo...how did it go?" I asked them with a knowing smile.
Before any of them could say anything, the first girl suddenly threw her arms around me and hugged me tight – not even caring about the metal fence between us – and it startled me a little. But, the shock quickly wore off, and I broke out a fond chuckle before I hugged her back.
"Thank you so much, Leah!" She told me once we pulled away, "You're so nice!"
"Hey, you guys were nice to me first," I smiled again, "it would've been rude not to return the favour."
"I don't even know if Harry would've come here if it wasn't for you!" The second girl beamed at me, "Everyone behind these fences really owes you!"
"Ah, don't say that," I waved at her dismissively, "this fandom has to stick together, right?"
All three girls asked for hugs, which I gladly gave to them. And by the time we pulled away, we were all smiling from ear to ear.
"Please say hello to Piper for us!" The third girl said, "She's so cute!"
"I'll definitely do that," I said with a chuckle, "it was really nice to meet you guys."
"You too, Leah!"
"Leah," I felt Harry's hand on the small of my back, "I think we really gotta go now."
"Oh, crap, are we late?" I asked him with wide eyes.
"Not yet," he replied with a chuckle, "but we probably will be, if we don't start heading over now."
"Oh...OK," I nodded before turning back to the three girls and smiling, "bye, guys."
"Bye Leah! Bye Harry!" The first girl replied as her and her friends waved at us.
We both waved back before Harry took my arm and began to hurriedly lead me back towards the cinema – to a point where we both even had to start jogging a little to catch up with Chris and the other actors who were already entering the cinema.
As we rushed off, I couldn't help looking back at the three girls – who were still smiling and waving as they watched us run to the cinema – and I felt my umpteenth smile of the day already starting to form across my face.
Wow.
This day has gone way better than I expected.
A/N: If you don't read any of my other books, you can skip this A/N. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter 💕
As for the rest of you, in case some of you didn't know, I posted an update on my page explaining why I will probably only write updates for this book for a little while. For those of you reading my other books, here is a quick update on them all:
(Mild spoiler alert for some cases)
~Ruffled: Smut chapter – slow progress
~Protector: Blank on ideas 😔
~Escaping the Dead: Smut chapter – very slow progress
As you can see, there is a reason why I'm only posting new chapters for this book. For my other books, new chapters are going on at slow rates or I'm just blank on ideas for new chapters. But for this book, my ideas for chapters are getting jotted out onto (digital) paper like spitfire. As most of you guys know, I like to update my books in a way that's convenient for me, so I can upload chapters at the best quality I can write up for you guys. Right now, this is what's convenient for me. I'm so sorry to those of you who read any of these other books, thank you so much for your patience and support – I promise this isn't gonna be long-term 💖 xx