(Harry’s P.O.V.)
Erin was half an hour late in the morning. Grant sighed loudly as she flew into the room looking flustered. She went over to Grant and started talking to him in a low voice. He gave her a sympathetic look and kissed her cheek and she joined me on the set.
“Hello Erin. How was your night?” I asked politely. She scowled at me.
“What?” she asked blankly.
“Remember? We’re acting like strangers on set,” I reminded her. She rolled her eyes, then put on a sickly fake smile.
“I had a fine night, thanks. Let’s get this show on the road,” she said, turning to Grant. “Which scene?”
“Four,” Grant said. I looked over my script quickly, trying to sink everything in. Then the director asked for silence and I got myself into character. That girl across the room was no longer Erin; she was Ariel.
From the second the director yelled “action” to “cut” it was as if I was Drake and she was Ariel. As if we never happened. As if we were in love all over again.
But I guess that’s why they call it acting.
(Erin’s P.O.V.)
“Cut!” the director shouted. I dropped the smile and took a step away from Harry. “And that’s a wrap.”
I sighed a breath of relief and started to gather my things. Grant walked over to Harry and I though, which worried me. “Hey guys, I just wanted to say, much better than yesterday. But I still want you two to hang out today.”
“Why?” Harry whined.
“To improve the acting. I’ll see you tomorrow. Erin, honey, I’m sorry about last night. I’m here for you, you know that, right?” Grant asked me, cupping my face. I nodded gratefully and he kissed my forehead and walked away. Harry stared at me in confusion.
“What was that about?”
“None of your business, asshole. Look, it’s Wednesday so I’m going down to the hospital to play with the kids, which means you have to come with me. So please, be nice,” I begged. He raised his eyebrows.
“You do community service? At the hospital?” he asked sounding surprised.
“Yes, I do. I happen to have a friend who’s…I like to be there. Can you handle it, Harry?” I asked.
“You don’t do it for publicity? You do it because you…like it?” he asked, still in disbelief. I scoffed.
“Yes, I like it. The press don’t even know I go there every Wednesday. Now are you done interrogating me? Because the kids are expecting me,” I said, feeling annoyed. Harry paused then grabbed his jacket.
“So which kids do you hang out with?” he asked.
“The ones in the intensive care unit. Don’t worry, pretty boy: they don’t have anything you can catch. You’re perfect face will stay hot as ever,” I grumbled sarcastically. He smirked at me.
“Did you just say I was hot?” he asked. I mentally facepalmed.
“No,” I mumbled.
“You so did.”
“I did not,” I argued. He just snickered and we made our way to the car.
“Did.”
“Didn’t.”
(Harry’s P.O.V.)
When we got to the room full of sick kids, the kids immediately swarmed Erin and started hugging her knees. “Erin! We missed you!”
“Aw, Tracey I’ve only been gone a week,” Erin said hugging her back. I looked at Tracey and she seemed like she was about nine years old. About a quarter of her face looked like it had been burned, and this carried down her neck and spread to her arms.
Tracey’s eyes wandered to mine. “Erin, who’s he?”
“That’s Harry. He’s my…” Erin trailed off, not knowing what to call me. I made eye-contact with her and she stumbled over her words.
“I’m her co-worker,” I supplied. Tracey cocked her head.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Well, Tracey, you know how I’m in movies?” Erin asked. Tracey nodded. “Harry’s in a movie with me.”
“Whoa! That’s so cool!” exclaimed a little boy at my feet. I crouched down so I was at his eye-level.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Thomas.”
“Cool, Thomas. I’m Harry. Do you have any Legos around here?” I asked, looking around curiously. Thomas nodded excitedly and dragged me to a table full of Legos and we started to build.
I glanced at Erin and she was over with some of the girls playing with dolls. She brushed her dark hair out of her face mindlessly and grinned at the girls. She was really beautiful.
Stop thinking like that!
“Harry, aren’t you gonna ask me what’s wrong with me?” Thomas asked. I looked at him in surprise.
“Why would I ask that?” I questioned. Thomas shrugged, looking sad.
“Everybody does,” he mumbled.
“Well, I don’t see a thing wrong with you, Thomas. And as far as I’m concerned, nothing is wrong with you,” I said solemnly. Thomas smiled at me.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Thomas was quiet again. “I have something called leukemia. Mommy’s always crying about it and my brother got really nice to me after they said I had it.”
I felt my heart sink a little bit. “How old are you, Thomas?”
“Ten. How old are you, Harry?” he asked. I grinned.
“Eighteen. Do you live here at the hospital?” I asked. Thomas shrugged.
“I go back and forth. But I’ve been here for a while now. I want to go home,” he said. I wanted to take Thomas home. It wasn’t fair that such an innocent child had leukemia, at least, not in my mind.
“Harry, we have to go home,” Erin said, looking curiously at Thomas and I. I stood up but Thomas stopped me.
“Will you be back next Wednesday, Harry?” he asked. I paused for a moment.
“Of course,” I said. Thomas’s face broke into a smile and he hugged me around the middle. “Bye, Thomas.”
“Bye Harry,” he called after me as I left with Erin.
(Erin’s P.O.V.)
Thomas really loved Harry, and Harry was being quite sweet to him. It was surprising to me. Possibly because I hated Harry and refused to believe that he had a sweet side. I knew that this was wrong, I did date the boy after all. He had sweet moments.
“It’s crazy that Thomas has leukemia,” Harry finally said. I looked at him and he seemed genuinely worried for the kid. I nodded and sighed.
“Yeah, that’s just the way it goes. I guess you understand why I come back every week now,” I said. For some reason, I just didn’t have the energy to be mean to Harry right now.
“I do. That’s why I’m coming back with you next week,” he said. I looked at him sharply.
“What?”
“Thomas asked me to come back and I said yes,” Harry said simply. We got into the car and I tried to imagine Harry coming here with me every week. I didn’t want him here.
“Why?” I asked rudely. He smiled vaguely.
“Because I like Thomas. Is that a crime? It’s not like I’m intruding your privacy, I didn’t even talk to you the whole time we were there,” Harry said bitterly. I groaned. He was right, he wasn’t really bothering me anyway.
“Fine. I’ll bring you back next week.”
“What a good Samaritan,” Harry muttered under his breath.
“I heard that.”
“You were supposed to,” he snapped.
We spent the next few minutes in silence. We reached my house and I stopped. “Where’s your house from here?” I asked, since I was the driver.
“Straight and to the left, there’s a big gate. I’ll show you which house is mine,” he said. I pulled up to the gate and he punched in the code and opened it. There were four houses in the gated community. “It’s the third,” he said.
I pulled up and he started to gather his things when there was a knock on my window. I rolled it down to see Harry’s band mate, Louis, staring at me with a wide grin.
“Hello! You must be Erin!” he said cheerfully.
“You must be Louis. Nice to meet you,” I said politely.
“Harry’s told me all about you,” Louis said randomly.
“No I haven’t!” Harry protested, his face burning. Louis just rolled his eyes.
“So you’re exes? That must be fun filming a romance together,” Louis said, wiggling his eyebrows. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“Louis, I don’t know anyone else who can make me feel quite so awkward,” Harry grumbled. He got out of the car and started towards the door.
“Hey, Erin. Want to hang out with us?” Louis asked.
“What?” Harry shouted in outrage. I glared at Harry.
“No offense to you Louis, I think you’re great, but I don’t want to spend any unnecessary time with Harry,” I said coldly. Louis grinned and looked at Harry.
“What did you do to this poor girl, Hazza?” he asked. I snorted and Harry looked at his friend in outrage.
“I didn’t do anything! She falsely accused me of cheating,” Harry protested.
“That’s bull shit, Harry. I saw those texts. It amazes me that two years later you still deny it. I’d have so much more respect for you if you’d just admit it.”
“I didn’t cheat on you!” Harry shouted, getting angry. I rolled my eyes. “Why would I cheat on you? You were the best girl I’d ever had! You were way out of my league and cool and I didn’t understand why you were even with me – ” Harry stopped there. We were left in a cold silence as the three of us soaked in what Harry had just said.
“Okay, I should get going. I’ll see you on the set tomorrow, Harry. Nice meeting you, Louis. Goodbye,” I said quickly, pulling out of the driveway.
When I got home, Winston called. I declined the call and went to sleep, feeling confused.