A/N: We finally see a chapter from Harry's POV. I hope you like this one. I had fun writing it and you gives you some more insight as to why he is the way he is :) Thanks for all the comments so far. Keep reading, voting and commenting. <3
Harry’s POV
I was floating on cloud nine with Annaleise by my side as we told the boys and her friend Lizzy we were going to finish out our respective commitments until October and then reconvene and sort out what exactly was going on between us. Of course, the boys and Lizzy were all supportive.
I had a drink dumped on me by Hayley but I got to see Annaleise laugh gleefully when two security guards escorted her out and that was worth it for me. It was definitely worth getting a drink dumped on my head to see her smile. Anything was worth that beautiful smile.
I didn’t plan on the night turning out like this. I was a bit sad it was our last concert in Los Angeles but even sadder at the thought of leaving the city where I knew she lived and was.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I walked into the hotel room a few days ago and she was actually there. It was almost like a dream, you know? Like one of those surreal moments where you have an out of body experience and then you snap back to reality, but then you realize that it’s actually real and happening and you’re not sure how to process. That’s exactly how I felt.
It was all those years of keeping all my feelings inside that let to my word vomit and weirdness around her. I had finally dealt with my anger towards her for leaving me about a year after it actually happened. My mum had encouraged me to pick up singing again.
I had kind of stopped when I started dating Annaleise even though I would sing to her every once in a while. But I always pretended to be a bad singer so she wouldn’t make me do it all the time. And, as I’m sure you know, once we came in second place on the X Factor, it was history from that moment on.
But Annaleise was destined to reappear in my life. We were doing some small tours around the UK. I think I was about 17 at the time. Niall was obsessed with watching American television and would download the shows to watch on his laptop all the time in between different venues. I rarely paid attention until he started rambling about this new show with this smoking hot blonde on it.
Always interested in checking out some of the opposite sex, I obliged him and watched an episode with him and it hit me then that the smoking hot blonde was my ex-brunette ex-girlfriend with an American accent. The resemblance was uncanny but I knew it couldn’t be Annaleise.
It wasn’t until the credits rolled at the ended and Niall clapped me on the shoulder. “Archer Grey, man, I’d love to see what she looks like under that dress.”
I shrugged off of him, disgusted at the idea of him seeing Annaleise naked. But I knew it wasn’t Annaleise so what did it matter to me? I played with the name in my head for the rest of that day. Archer Grey. Annaleise’s last name was Archer. So maybe there was a chance.
“Let me see that man.” I snatched Liam’s iPad out of his hand.
“Mate, you could ask.”
I waved him off with my hand, typing Archer Grey in the search bar. And sure enough, there was Annaleise who was now going by Archer Grey. There was a small biography about her on IMDB about how she had a small part in a few other television shows and that the current show she was on, “Latimer Villa” was the winner of some award and she was very lucky to have gotten the leading role. At that point, the words had all become a blur and I searched for her pictures. I scanned through hundreds of pictures, probably the entire one’s that were on Google for all I know.
“Mate, are you done yet?” Liam asked.
Niall had walked over to us, peering over my shoulder. “If you’re looking for porn, it’s quite disrespectful to do that in front of four other lads.”
“Shut it, will you?”
“Crikey, you’re sensitive today. Oh, I see you fancy that bird I showed you on the American telly show.” He laughed and took the iPad out of my hands.
“Zayn, Louis, check out this bird. She’s quite fit, yeh?”
“That’s my ex-girlfriend you’re talking about.” I stated through gritted teeth. Even after two years I still was protective over Annaleise. She wasn’t even mine anymore.
They all turned to look at me. “You’re joking, right? She’s American, there’s no way.”
I whipped out my mobile and logged onto my very old and thankfully never found MySpace account.
Liam grimaced something about needing to use his iPad when I had my own phone.
I pulled up the few pictures of Annaleise and I that actually existed on the Internet. She was two years younger and had brown hair, but it was definitely her. They all nodded in agreement.
“What the hell happened, man? How did you let her get away?” Niall asked, coming to sit down at the table.
“She left me, actually. Just sort of picked up one day and left.”
“That’s rough, mate. Sorry to hear that.” Zayn said. The rest nodded in agreement. I made them all swear to not repeat the days events as I ended up telling them the full story of our relationship from the beginning to the end only two years ago. It was obvious without me even saying anything that I was still in love with her.
That was the best thing about being a band with four of your best friends though, you could tell them anything. They certainly were the best friends that I could ask for. We rarely spoke of her again until a few years later when we were in Los Angeles and all of a sudden she appeared at my concert.
Of course, I had known she was going to be there. That’s why I felt so lucky and it felt so surreal. The tour manager gave a little rundown of the guests invited backstage just so we knew who people were after the show. It was protocol I suppose. Annaleise, or Archer Grey, was attending with her friend Lizzy whose father was handling our USA tour dealings.
We had met him a few times before and he had mentioned how his daughter enjoyed our music and he was going to be sending her to one of our shows in LA. Of course once Niall got a glance at her, he was smitten. It must be the Irish in him but he always seemed to have a thing for redheads at the end of the day.
So, to continue, my uncontrollable word vomit and weirdness was due to the fact that I hadn’t seen her in almost six years and then next thing I know, I’m hijacking her phone number off of her agent and texting her to come meet me in my hotel room. I certainly hadn’t planned that one before I thought it through.
When it came to Annaleise, Mr. Smooth Harry Styles had gone out the door. Before we got to LA, I knew she was in the city and I desperately wanted to run into her. I tried to get myself an invite to her boyfriend co-star’s birthday party but the party was too close to the start time of our opening concert. I could wait a few hours and hope that she would tag along with her friend to the concert and sure enough she did.
But then I had to go and be all weird and almost kiss her but not. I kicked myself for that one. I was thankful I didn’t have to force Niall to be all over her friend in order for them to come back the next night since he genuinely liked her. That was the easy part. It was getting her to admit something to me that was difficult. I knew it would take a little more coercing.
This obsession had been driving me insane for the last few months and I knew I had to do something about her. I either had to see her and speak to her and just lay it all out there or not do anything. I wasn’t the type to not do anything, so I may have had a little bit of help in that department.
Having Hayley there was another easy part. I didn’t have to do much, the girl was such a slag she would have fucked me on that dance floor if she could have. But making Annaleise jealous wasn’t part of the plan, at least not intentionally. It wasn’t until Hayley started running her mouth to Annaleise (clearly she sensed there was some unfinished business between the two of us, so she was smarter than she let on) and telling her how she slept with her boyfriend the night before that I knew exactly what direction this situation needed to be pushed in for me to get Annaleise to at least admit some feelings for me. I really hoped this wasn’t a last ditch effort.
And to be honest, I really do feel pretty bad about it, but it needed to happen. And besides, it’s mine and a few other’s little secret, err, little white lie-bribe? Let’s say and no one wants to mention it because it’ll just do more harm than good.
So after Hayley mouthed off to Annaleise, I took her out to a taxi and got her in one after she threw up on me. Not that that’s a relevant part of the story, but again, it helped my cause. I called up the tip line for the Star Magazine and mentioned how Cost Lemoyne had been seen having two females in his hotel room last night while Archer was no where to be found.
I might have then also mentioned how Archer Grey had been seen going to a nightclub with Harry Styles and was drunk off of rum and cokes so if they wanted some photos, they had better hurry before they left together since they had been seen getting quite cozy. I might have also mentioned that they might have dated in the past and someone should check out Harry Style’s old MySpace since that was the only place on the Internet where pictures of the two were.
I quickly dialed Cost’s number since I had taken Hayley’s phone. “Look, Hay, I told you I was busy tonight. I appreciate you covering for me last night.” He had said when he answered the phone.
“This isn’t Hayley.” I said, adopting my best American accent.
“Hayley told me what you really did last night. Then she also told your girlfriend.”
“Who is this?” The angry voice on the other end answered.
“Cost Lemoyne, I know you’re a closet homosexual. You’re going to get a text with instructions in a few minutes. If you don’t want Hollywood to know your secret – which I don’t think they would care – but anyway, then you’ll do what the text message says.” I hung up the phone then.
I banked on Annaleise wanting to be alone after what Hayley had just revealed and sure enough once she saw me covered in puke, she saw that as her way back to her car without upsetting her friend Lizzy or seeming overdramatic. Always the over thinker, that girl.
Sure enough, I was able to text Cost instructions to come to room 1027 at the Park Hollywood Hotel and save his girl from the clutches of Harry Styles. Even if Cost questioned the motives behind the demand, he never said anything since he was obviously too worried about his secret being revealed.
The paparazzi arrived just as we left and snapped a few pictures I hoped. The rest of the night went, as you know it with me getting a nasty black eye from Cost although to be fair I got a few good punches in myself.
When I saw Annaleise check her phone that night and see all the stories from the past and Holmes Chapel brought up, I really did feel bad. And I still do. But I also saw her thinking change. I could see her resilience giving up and I could see her beginning to recognize the feelings she still had for me. All I had to do was just give her a little push in the right direction – it was completely harmless.
Look where I am right now? I looked to see the beauty that was Annaleise. Maybe I could convince her to color her hair brown again but I doubt it. Her face was slightly round, her lips full and her eyes brown. She was only tall if she was wearing heels. She was the type of girl who could get away without make-up but looked like a supermodel with it on. I still liked her better without it. She had curves in all the right places. But her legs were my favorite, along with the beauty mark underneath her bottom lip. Her smile made her cheeks ‘super chunky’ as she called it and as much as she disliked it, I loved it because it made her look so human, like this angel was actually placed on this earth to be with me.
I am standing here, with her next to my side, happier than ever and we are ready to face the paparazzi that are undoubtedly waiting for us to leave because you can never trust valet drivers. So why do I all of a sudden feel like I’m going to throw up?