A/N: I KNOW ITD BEEN TOO LONG IM REALLY SORRY!! I've had some stuff going on in my personal life and I haven't been in a good place to write. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I will be putting out things more consistently from now on, super promise. I love you guys. Enjoy 💖💖
"So what exactly is this event we are going to tonight?" I ask Harry as he emerges from the walk in closet fiddling with his cuff links on his white button up shirt.
"It's a dinner for the London Children's Hospital. They throw one every year around this time of year; as a way to thank everyone for their help and donations, that sort of thing" Harry explains, his concentration focused heavily on his wrist, trying and failing to slide the small button through the hole.
I leave the side of the bed where I have been examining my options of outfits for the evening to help him out. I take his wrist in my hands and easily slide the button through on one hand before lifting up the other to do the same. I don't look up when I do so, but I can hear the smile in his voice as he tells me "Thanks bub." I'm about to walk back to re-examine my outfits when he catches my elbow and pulls me gently against his chest. I raise my head up to meet his gaze, it's soft and tender, and there's that smile.
"I know the first time you went to one of these things it didn't exactly go well. Thank you for giving it another chance, for giving me another chance" His words melt me like butter on a hot day, and I'm pulling him down by his collar to connect his lips with mine the instant I hear them. The memory of that first event that he took me to still makes me shudder, but it also seems like such a long time okay. Not just in time, but in how our relationship has matured and grown. That confrontation was really what lead to us figuring out that we wanted this to work, and was the starting point to make the changes necessary to work it out.
"You're welcome" I reply softly against his lips as ours part ways. "I feel a lot better about where we are now compared to back then" He lets out a soft hum in agreement. "Who knows, maybe this time I'll actually stay the entire time" I joke as I release the grip on his collar and straighten it out against his neck.
"That would be delightful. And I agree, I think we've made a lot of improvements since then" He muses as he walks over to the dressing table and opens a drawer, taking out a watch from a wide selection and sliding it onto his wrist. It fills me with some relief I didn't know I needed as he says it. Sometimes I fear that he doesn't see me as an improvement on his life; that he maybe sees me as an object or worse, an obstacle. But I know that most of that comes from me and not from him, but I like the reassurance either way.
"Will tweedle dee and tweedle dum be in attendance this evening?" I ask him, referring to the two assholes Boyce and Lenny who spent much of that night mocking me and putting me down in covert ways. Harry chuckles as the comparison and thankfully, shakes his head.
"Very unlikely. They aren't rich enough to be donating that kind of money when they don't get that star power recognition out of it" He replies in an amused tone. I let out a small grin in relief, at least that will be a comforting thought to take me through the evening.
"Okay, now you have to help me choose a dress. Which one" I hold up the final two options after narrowing it down earlier in the day. One dress is a deep red that hugs me slightly at the waist and thin spaghetti straps. The other is fairly similar except it is black and has a slit that comes up the side to around mid thigh.
"Why not the white one you tried on earlier?" Harry asks with a slight pout. I roll my eyes, remembering my selection process before the make up artists arrived.
"No no no we ruled that one out remember? My whole boob almost popped out on a couple of occasions, I don't feel like standing like a statue to keep myself decent" I remind him. I'm met with a shrug as Harry now sits down on the edge of the bed.
"Yeah it looked good. You've got marvellous tits babe" He flashes me a wide grin as he speaks.
"Well thank you. Would you like everyone attending this dinner to also see just how marvellous my tits are?" I repeat his words back to him, then sounding slightly wrong as they fall from my mouth. Mainly just saying the word 'tit', or describing any part of my body as 'marvellous'.
Harry suddenly doesn't seem overly keen on the white dress. "Maybe you should keep that one as a more 'around the apartment type evening gown'" My eyes roll upwards in amusement before I hold up the dresses to him again.
"Good Point. Now; red or black?" I can see by the look on his face that he isn't exactly thrilled to be doing several rounds of outfit selections, but it's his fault for only giving me a couple of hours notice about this event.
"They're both nice, the black one I guess" he shrugs as he lifts his foot up onto his knee and starts to tie his shoe. I smile and lean down to give him a soft kiss on the cheek before I go into the bathroom and start to slip on the dress.
As I slip the dress on over my head and find the zip to fasten the material tighter against my skin, I think about how wildly my life has changed over the last five months. Five months ago I was struggling to survive on my little income and never ending expenses and now; I wear dresses that cost almost half a year of rent to an event once and then I never wear them again. It's a completely different life, incomparable in so many ways other. There are times that I often don't even remember how I used to be before I met Harry. Sometimes that scares me, but other times I think I'm better off the way I am now. The hem of the dress hangs just below my ankles, allowing for my toes to peek out strapped into a pair of stilettos. Could I do this for the rest of my life? And how much of who I am before I met Harry will survive if this is what my life becomes?
"Bubs, the cars downstairs we gotta get moving" Harry says calmly with a soft knock on the bathroom door. I quickly run my fingers through the soft curls of my hair and open the door to walk back out of the bathroom to join him. He's leaning with his back against the wall peering down at his phone typing away. When I pick up my clutch from it's resting position on the bed he puts his phone away and lifts his head up to look at me. I giggle at the sound as he softly wolf whistles while I make my way over to him.
"You look hot babe, can't wait to tear this off of you later" he purrs gently as I reach him, his hand immediately resting on my waist. I gasp and shake my head, causing his eyes to light up.
"You will do no such thing! This dress is worth way too much money! You can help me unzip it and place it carefully in the garment bag though?" I offer an alternative, though it is a lot less sexy than the thought of Harry ripping off my clothes. The thought of which does make my heart rate pick up just a little bit. He lets out a slight sigh as his thumb rubs circles into my waist.
"Who cares if it rips, I'll get you a new one" I see his soft smirk for a moment before he tucks his head into my neck and kisses along the skin slowly. I'm almost lost in him before his words from earlier begin to ring in my ear.
"I thought you said the car was downstairs" I mumble. He quickly withdraws and takes my hand.
"Shit you're right come on we have to go" he chuckles quickly and leads me down the stairs. His laughter is infectious, soon I'm laughing too. We reach the elevator and slip inside before Harry reaches into his pocket and takes out his cellphone. I'm about to reprimand him about cutting back on work calls when he explains. "It's my mum"
I grin in response, even though his tone conveys one of slight annoyance. "Answer it" I tell him. The doors slide open effortlessly and Harry takes my hand, leading me to the front entrance before bringing his other hand to his ear.
"Hello mum" he says flatly. I give his hand a slight squeeze before I let it go, meeting John at the side of the car where he has my door already open and waiting. I mumble a small thank you to him and climb in, managing to catch a glimpse of a smile before he shuts the door. Harry slides in next to me and rests his head on his shoulder, freeing up both of his hands to pull on his seatbelt.
"Just heading out to a dinner....yes she is....mum says hello" he turns his head to look at me with a gentle smile as he talks. I lift my hand up in a slight wave as John begins to drive the car.
"She says hello back...okay....okay....yeah sure I guess....alright alright.....yeah okay" he lets out a slight huff and offers the phone to me. "She insists on talking to you" He tells me with a slight smile. I take the phone with a grin; I really like his mum.
"Hello?" I say into the speaker, Harry's eyes watching me as he places his free hand on my thigh.
"Hello sweetheart how are you?" Anne says warmly in response, I can hear the smile and warmth in her voice.
"I'm good thanks, how are you?" I respond politely, running my finger over Harry's knuckle. It's slightly bruised, he said he got it getting back into boxing after being away in New York. It sounds like something that would be fun to watch him do sometime.
"Oh I'm well darling thank you. Listen, I know you will probably have plans with your family for Christmas but I was hoping you might want to join us for a little pre-Christmas celebration. Nothing too big don't worry, just a couple of our close family members and I would really like it if you came as well. We will do it a few days before Christmas so it will be nice and festive. And don't you worry about gifts, it's just about spending time together. What do you think?" She explains sweetly. I'm sort of at a loss for words. I watch Harry's face, she's obviously just mentioned it to him before he handed me the phone and he doesn't seem opposed to it. But is that too soon for us to be spending Christmas together? I mean technically it won't be Christmas.
"Oh uh yeah, yeah that sounds really nice. Thank you Anne, that's very kind of you" I stumble out a response. It's sweet that she thinks I will have such important Christmas plans with my own family. When in reality I travel up to see mum, have a subpar meal with her courtesy of the kitchen staff at the home, we watch some television reruns in her room and then I go home. Last year my mum didn't even realise it was Christmas, the year before she had a freak out and we didn't celebrate at all.
"Wonderful! It will be so lovely to have you" Anne says cheerfully, I swear I can almost hear her clapping her hands in excitement. "I will start making the plans and will give Harry the date and time when it's all figured out. Anyway I'll let you go, enjoy your dinner sweetheart and give Harry my love" she says quickly.
"Okay. Well thanks, have a nice night" I smile widely as she says goodbye a final time before the line goes dead. I hand Harry back his phone and he takes it from me, sliding it back into his jacket pocket.
"Is that okay? That I said yes?" I ask him curiously. He didn't object or jump down my throat as soon as I finished the call.
"Yeah, it's fine. It might be fun, I'm not super into Christmas but mum forces it on us every year. So it might be nice having you there" He says with a slight shrug and a smile. He gave the same reason for having me come with him to the family event at his house a few months ago. And even though he really dug his heels in and didn't want to go, it was clear that he ended up having a really great time with his family.
"Well good, glad I can help then" I reply, resting my head on the seat and giving him a soft smile. "It was sweet of her to invite me" I know deep down she probably only did it to ensure that Harry would definitely come, but it's still nice to feel like a wanted addition to the event.
"She really likes you, almost more than she likes me or Gemma" he jokes, giving my knee a gentle squeeze. John turns a corner, showing a lane of heavy traffic ahead of us.
"Well I really like her too, your whole family is lovely" I tell him.
"You still okay with me visiting your mum with you this weekend?" He asks. I swallow a slight lump in my throat and nod. I have had a bit of anxiety about it, but maybe it's best to just get it out of the way and let them meet.
"Yeah I am" I say softly. He picks up on my nerves as he continues.
"If you don't want me to come you know I don't mind, I know it's a delicate situation with you and her" he says softly. I know John can still probably hear, but I like to think that he would actively try and stay out of these sorts of situations.
I shrug my shoulders. "No, I want you two to meet, but I just want it to go well. And there's only so much I can do to make it go well. She can be very unpredictable"
Harry nods his head. "I know you're nervous about it. But if she's open to it and you're comfortable with it then I would really like to meet her. Maybe I can give her some reassurance that you're doing well and that you're being taken care of?" He offers quietly. I nod my head and keep my gaze focused on his hand, still fixed on my knee. When I don't say anything, he leans over in his seat and places a soft kiss to my cheek.
"She's important to you, so I would like to try and build a relationship with her" His words warm me from the inside out. I never expect him to be so delicate and sweet with me, even though I see this side more often than I used to when we first got together. I think it may be my influence on him; I make him calmer, softer, more gentle. I don't know exactly what his influence on me is; maybe he makes me more relaxed? I'm not as closed off emotionally as I was before I met him, maybe I'm a little more vulnerable and slightly more confident.
"You're right, and you're so sweet to want that. Thank you" I tell him softly, lifting my head up to place a soft kiss to his lips. As though on cue, the car finally pulls to a stop. We've arrived.
"Of course John spoils the moment" Harry mumbles quickly against my lips after John exits the car. I let out a laugh before undoing my seatbelt and climbing out of the car with the help of John.
"Enjoy the night Miss Graham" he says to me quietly as my feet touch the pavement. I mumble a quick thank you before Harry walks around the car and takes me by the hand. We've arrived outside some extremely grand looking building, it must be some posh event centre I've never heard about, because I don't instantly recognise it. What I do see ahead of me is a large group of people with cameras in hand, taking photos of other glamorous people as the climb the outdoor steps to lead to the front entrance.
"We will take a couple of photos and then we will go in" he tells me as we begin to walk up the stairs to the first landing where a group of photographers stand. They are all wrapped in large coats, making me feel like I've been dropped in Antartica. I didn't have a jacket to wear over this outfit, and Harry assured me I wouldn't need one. Hopefully we will only spend a few minutes outside, or else Harry will have to enjoy the evening with a popsicle rather than his girlfriend. They seem to almost instantly recognise Harry and ask him how he is, asking if he will take a few photos. Some of them even ask me to 'look over here gorgeous!' They don't know my name, and for that I'm glad. I don't know if I'm really ready to be an instantly recognisable figure.
We carry on further up the steps to the main landing where there are a larger group of people waiting. An older couple have just finished having their photos taken as Harry and I approach. A woman in a black pantsuit and carrying a clipboard asks Harry for reassurance about who we are before she announces.
"Harry Styles and his girlfriend Elena Graham!" The photographers begin to call out their demands, over here, look up, smile for us. It's intense, Harry is of course a natural, whereas I feel like a complete fish out of water. But nobodies booing me or telling me to stand to the side so I must be doing something right. After a couple of minutes, we are ushered up the stairs towards the main entrance.
"Alright?" Harry asks as I hastily climb the stairs with him.
"Fucking freezing" I say through nearly chattering teeth. Harry lets out a laugh as he pulls me into his side, giving my arms a quick rub before we arrive inside the grand hall.