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"What are you doing here?" I ask icily, being the first to break the silence as he hangs back in the doorway.
"To make things right again... to apologise for my behaviour. It was a pretty shitty thing to do."
"Yeah... It was Harry," I say, turning around.
I can't face him. Not like this. Especially looking as good as he is in his black jeans, blue shirt opened most of the way exposing his swallow tattooes on his chest, and that lovely dark brown hat of his. He really is a sight.
"Why did you have to be like this? It's a side of you I don't like, nor want to see. I can understand why you're cut at Luke – but you were just so vindictive back there. I can't forget that look on your face. I'll really never forget that Harry."
"I was drunk," he reasons, stepping forward to close the distance between us. "I honestly can't remember saying or doing anything, but from what I've heard I was a dick."
"I don't get it though," I say, rubbing my forehead in thought, "You have me. Shouldn't that be enough where you don't have to dangle me in front of Luke? Am I not enough for you anymore?"
"You're more than enough! Just please Ava. We were both drunk. Let's please just forget about this and move on. I love you and can't even express how sorry I am. I'll do anything to get you back. Anything."
"I just... I don't..." I begin, trying to hold my tears back, and within an instant his arms are surrounding me, holding me close, and I let them fall freely into his shirt.
"I know," he says, rubbing my back comfortingly.
"Yes Harry, you know, and yet you still hurt me time and time again. If we get back together I need to know it's the last time. That we try and make it work, or we call it a day and go our separate ways because this hurts just too much," I cry.
I don't know how much of that is true. Yes I've been hurt, but I know how much more it hurts not having it in my life. Having him gone is unbearable, and as much as I like to think I'm independent and doing okay, I'm really not. He's my absolute world now and I hate that I'm so invested. I hate feeling like he has that power to just walk away and leave, but be less affected by it.
"I want to give this another shot," he says, holding onto my shoulders and demanding I look at him with his eyes. "I know this is right. I know you feel it too."
He's right. Of course I feel it. But I also feel other things, and can't help but question that I just feel this pull to him because he was my significant first? I really don't even know.
"So are you still my girlfriend then?" he asks, moving his face so that I'm still looking at him. "Can I still keep my relationship status on Facebook to single?" he smirks, causing my lips to upturn in a smile.
"I hate that I can't stay mad at you," I say, hitting him in the chest.
"One of my more redeeming qualities," he replies, hugging me around my neck and kissing the top of my head. "But I really want to start taking this more seriously. Maybe we should go away for a bit... Just the two of us," he suggests more seriously. "Especially before the tour starts again."
"Really?" I ask, unable to keep the grin off my face. "Where do you have in mind?"
"Somewhere... tropical," he decides after thinking for a while.
"I would love that," I reply, "I know this is meant to be your Summer over here in England, but even the national news is stating that thirty degrees Celsius is a heat wave," I laugh. "Either there is no news to report on, or you're all just an exaggerative bunch of pansies."
"Well thirty is hot," he defends.
"Harry, in Australia, I would contemplate whether or not thirty is hot enough to go to the beach."
"Ooh, I'm from Australia," he mimics, trying to put on a high pitched voice, "On thirty degree days I like to wear winter coats and mittens."
"Oh, shut up," I say, shoving him squarely in the chest, and he holds his chest, pretending to feel hurt.
"What are our plans tonight my dear?"
"I don't really have anything in mind. Maybe order in?" I suggest.
"Or," he states. "We could go for dinner and drinks. I have this business type thing that I'd like for you to come to. Very relaxed."
"Ooh business," I say, mocking him. "Well I'll have to get changed first. Put on a fresh face of make up because I look like shit."
"I actually think you're beautiful," he says, kissing behind my ear. "Too beautiful for your own good."
"Anything else you'd like to add, because you are so far up my arse right now," I comment jokingly. "I'm going to go downstairs and find something nicer to change into. Make yourself at home."
"Don't mind if I do," he says, sitting sideways in the cream coloured tufted wingback armchair, his feet hanging in the air.
That's Harry though. You give him an inch, and he'll run a mile.
How am I meant to stay mad at this guy for when he is such an infuriatingly lovable bastard?
Downstairs I choose a lovely white crotcheted looking dress, which is quite short, but very lovely. I'll keep my hair down, as it has somehow stayed decent from the night before, and I apply a good amount of make up to my face to hide the dark circles underneath my eyes, and I look surprisingly fresh faced despite how I currently feel.
"So what do you think?" I ask as I reach the top of the stairs, to be met with a quietly snoring Harry with one hand on his chest, and the other dangling off the chair. My heart softens at the sight of him laying there, and I walk over to him, and sit lightly on his chest. He looks around quite dazed before remembering where he was and smiling.
"I must have dozed off," he yawns, stretching out. I put my hands on his warm exposed chest, and lean in to kiss him.
"What was that for?" he asks, looking pleasantly surprised.
"I want you to know that I appreciate you coming here. And that I want things to work just as much as you do."
"Don't get too soppy on me," he says, his lips twitching into a smile.
"I want this to work and I think we need to take things slowly. Just until things are back on track."
"I agree," he nods. Looking down at my new dress, he pauses before speaking, "Well, hurry up and put on something nice before I take you out. I can't be seen with you looking like this. And would it kill you to do your make up?" he says, jokingly rolling his eyes, and I pinch his arm.
"Who knew you were such a sadist?" he jokingly comments.
"Only when it comes to hurting you," I smile, leaning in to kiss him again. He teasingly slips the tip of his tongue into my mouth, and pulling back, turning my insides to mush. I press my tongue up against his, urging him to reciprocate, and he does so within seconds. He sits up in his position, with me still sitting on his chest. He grips onto my hair as the kiss deepens, eliciting a moan from me against his lips. I pull away, holding onto his chest as our foreheads rest against one another's, as we try to catch our breaths.
"We should probably go before..."
"Before this goes any further and someone walks in on us," he finishes for me.
I take the lead down the stairs and he follows closely behind. The girl's eyes widen as they see us together.
"Girls, I hope you don't mind if I leave for the day. We have some dinner plans."
"Oh lovely," Casey answers. "Where are you headed?"
I look to Harry as I'm not actually sure.
"The Groucho Club," he answers, "A pretty nice spot."
"I heard you have to be a member there," Casey gushes, while Scarlett plays it cool.
"Well you'll have to come along next time," Harry offers. "But tonight is a business type thing."
"Business?" Scarlett asks, almost scoffing. "What kind of business?"
"Well that's what we're hoping to figure out," he politely replies. "You ready?" he asks, turning to me as he places his hand on my lower back.
"Yeah, let's go."
He rubs my shoulders as we step into the cool London night, and into his car.
"So where is this Groucho Club anyways?" I ask.
"Down in Soho. About a ten minute drive from here if the traffic is good."
The traffic is never good in London.
"I'm sorry about Scarlett," I say out of nowhere. "She's just looking out for me. She'll come around though," I say hopefully, not even truly believing it myself.
"No, it's okay. It's understandable," he shrugs, looking straight ahead at the road.
We arrive at The Groucho Club surprisingly close to Harry's estimation and find a park quite close. There are already a few photographers out the front, snapping away at us as we approach the bar.
"How did they know we were coming?" I ask, turning to him.
"They didn't. There's normally a few here hanging around because a lot of celebrities are seen here quite regularly," he says quite casually.
We walk in and I immediately love the place. It is full of plush brown leather couches which remind me of Harry. It's very him. It is perfectly decorated with quirky art pieces and a neon sign with a fancy font reads 'fucking beautiful.'
Well that sums it up quite nicely.
Stepping through the doors a waitress unphased by Harry coolly leads us over to a table where there are already four indie type guys seated on a three seater couch, and two plush leather armchairs.
"Hey man, how you doing?" one of them says getting up to shake his hand. "I didn't realise you were bringing someone, I'll go sit over here," he says, moving over to the couch.
"No, that's unnecessary," Harry says, "Ava and I can share one of the armchairs."
"Your call?" he asks once more, and hesitantly sits back where he was sitting.
"It's fine Brad. Guys, this is my girlfriend Ava. Ava, this is Bradley, James, Connor and Tristan," he introduces, pointing to each of the boys as he says their names.
"I'm probably going to forget all of that," I laugh, "So I apologise in advance for my shitty memory."
"You ordered?" Harry asks the boys.
"We ate before, but I don't mind getting something small."
I take a quick peak at the menu while the boys chat amongst themselves and my mouth salivates as I read over the items.
"I'm starving," I say quietly. "Can we please order?"
Harry tries to get the attention of a waitress and she is over to us within seconds.
"Can we please get..." and he trails off as he looks at me.
"Can I have the honey glazed duck breast," I say, "and a glass of rose please."
"Make it a bottle," Harry corrects.
"And I'm feeling oysters?" Tristan says. "Can we get like a platter on ice for the table?"
The waitress looks a little uneasy, before agreeing, and walking off to deliver our order to the chef.
I don't remember oysters being on the menu.
I take a quick look at the menu and realise they're not on there.
The things people do for celebrities...
"So what do you do Ava?" Brad asks, turning to me as I set the menu down.
"I own my own clothing boutique on Kings Road," I smile.
"An Australian making it big time in London and you've even managed to land yourself a nice boyfriend. Pretty impressive."
"Oh he's alright," I shrug, and he pinches my thigh causing me to jump.
"Sydney?" he asks.
"Ew no," I reply quickly. "I'm from Melbourne. The better city."
The boys chuckle at my feisty response.
"Better than London?"
"As a whole I think so. London is exciting for now, but Melbourne is the best city in the world. It's home."
"Oh yeah?" he asks smiling, "According to who?"
"It's ranked and everything," I say seriously as the waitress returns with our wine. "It's the most livable city in the world."
"Oh, right," he answers. "Well let's drink to Melbourne," he says, raising his beer.
"What about you boys? What do you do?"
There is a few moments silence and I realise I've embarrassed myself again.
"You're a music group, aren't you," I say, covering my face again, to which they all nod in consensus.
"I'm sorry," I groan.
"No, you actually know them," Harry says, pulling my hands away. "The Vamps. We sung one of their songs in the car the other day."
"Which song?" I ask, trying to remember.
"Somebody to you," he answers. "The one you said you like."
Oh, that one.
"How does it go again?" I ask slyly.
Harry looks up at the boys expectantly, and they all look really amused. "Yeah Harry, how does it go again?" Connor asks, rubbing his hands together.
Harry shakes his head embarrassed, before he positions me on his leg to face him.
"You know..." he starts, "Yeah YOU!" he says, saying the first bit of the song.
"Hmm, doesn't ring a bell?" I say, feigning ignorance. "More."
He clears his throat before singing again, "Look at me now, I'm falling. Can't even talk st-stuttering... All I wanna be yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah yeah, is somebody to you."
"Jokes on you because I knew which song you meant," I laugh mischievously as the boys clap, impressed with my deceitfulness.
"I should have known," he says, looking down and going a slight shade of pink.
I like embarrassed Harry. A lot.
"Mate, I actually think we would be good with a fifth member," Brad jokes. "You should audition."
"Very funny," he sarcastically replies.
"Don't be stroppy," I tell him, kissing him briefly as I hold his face.
I let go when I see the waitress approaching with our meals and my meal looks delicious.
"Get in me," I say without really thinking about double meanings and I can feel Harry giving me a strange look despite not looking at him.
"Did you just talk dirty to your dinner?" he questions, and I ignore him as I cut into the succulent duck breast.
"Oh my God," I breathe, "I'm in Heaven."
"Good is it?" Tristan asks me, helping himself to an oyster.
"Good is an understatement," I reply, cutting myself another piece.
Harry moves his head on my shoulder, opening his mouth for me to give him some.
"You should have ordered your own!" I exclaim, to a pouty looking Harry.
"Fine," I relent. But first I cut the piece of duck already on my fork in half, and feed him.
"Could you spare it?" He jokes, biting. "Yeah, that is good," he decides as he chews.
He takes a sip of my wine before he goes on,
"Alright, so the reason I brought you hear to chat is to see if you're all good with the dates. Did you get my email?"
Fuck.
Why has is only just dawned on me that the whole idea for meeting up with these boys was for business? I somehow got caught up in it all and thought it was a pleasant meal with pleasant enough people, but no. And suddenly in the way that hindsight always works, the heated conversation that I overheard between Harry and Liam is beginning to make a lot more sense.
What the fuck is going through Harry's head?
Author's Note: Thank you all for being patient! I want to let you know that the reason I didn't update yesterday was not out of spite, because I got lots and lots of votes, but because I had written my chapter on word, and then my computer was stuffing up so I restarted it - when I came back my word document had recovered, but I accidentally closed it without saving thinking that it was something else and the chapter as well as my detailed plan for the rest of the story deleted itself, and I was too annoyed to write, so please forgive me!
What do you think about the whole Vamps thing? Naughty Harry going behind One Direction's back to meet up with them. What do you predict will happen now?
Choosing my favourite comment for the last chapter was like choosing my favourite One Direction song - next to impossible, and I finally decided upon the comment from @Lovelystylinsonn. That is incredibly lovely, and I am so touched! I also want to thank @britishladsarehot , and @softball1167 also for their lovely comments. You're all too sweet to me!
I've kept myself free from work until Sunday because I have a few things to take care of at home, and also I want to spend lots of time writing and finishing off the story, so I'm hoping I can update more regularly.
The outfit I chose for Ava and Harry is on the side (or in the media tab thing if you're on your phone) - I in particular love Harry's outfit which he wore quite recently. Isn't he perf? Ugh.
Please vote and add my story to your reading list if you haven't done so already - it helps me out lots.
Love Gemma
♡
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