"Thanks again for getting us an Uber," I thank Harry as he opens the car door for me to get out as we pull up to my townhome unit.
"No problem," he says, closing the door as soon as I've stood to my full height. "Just as long as we can get me a rental car by the time you have to go back to work."
"Oh I wouldn't worry about that," I tell him, walking relatively close to him up the driveway to my front door. "I have the next few days off. I took them as vacation time to both get over jet lag and just take some time off."
"How long have you been working at the salon?" he asks.
"Since a little after college, so around 2 years now," I inform him. We both come face to face but stop before entering my house, fearful Jess would interrupt our conversation.
"Wow, that's not too long," he says, "Did you go to school to do nails?"
"No, actually," I say. "I went to become a counselor, but changed my path last minute."
"Why?"
"I don't know, actually," I confess, shrugging. "It just kind of...happened that way."
"I see," he nods. "I was planning to go to law school back in highschool. Then One Direction kind of blew up, and I never got the chance to go to university."
"Would you go back if you could?"
"No," he says quickly, not even a little pause for thought at all. "For the most part, I like the way my life is going and it terrifies me to think about what would've happened if I would've chickened out of my audition."
"You really love your job, don't you?"
"It's my everything," he says passionately. "All the people I've met and the people I've been able to help is enough to let me live with no regrets."
"That's really sweet, Harry," I tell him wholeheartedly, flashing him a small smile.
He exhales briefly, sounding more like a soundless laugh. Soon enough, he's gesturing toward the door.
"Shall we go in?" He asks, smiling softly.
"Yeah sure," I say, preparing to punch in the code to the lock, "you have no idea how excited Jess is going to be when she sees you."
"Should I be excited or nervous?" He says hesitantly.
"A little bit of both," I tell him honestly, a little giggle escaping from my lips. "Every time I've tried to guess what her reaction to a surprise would be I've been wrong. She could break down hyperventilating or act like nothing's happening. There's really no way to tell with her."
"I'll take my chances."
I punch in the code to the lock and the door unlocks automatically. I push down on the doorknob and just before opening the door, I stop.
"A few things," I advise Harry, turning to him. "First of all, I should warn you that Jess has little to no filter whatsoever. I've gotten used to the things she says, but I just don't want you to get offended by anything she says to you. If it comes off as rude, just know she doesn't mean to it to come off like that."
Harry nods, his eyebrows furrowed together, showing he was listening intently.
"Secondly, the house is very small, so no judging," I point my finger at him. "Which brings us into our next thing. Jess is a really messy and chaotic person, I'm usually the one to pick up after her. So if we walk in and it's an absolute pigsty, I apologize deeply. If her room is disastrous, I will force her to clean it or maybe just do it myself."
"I'm not going to judge you, Lili," he says with a serious look on his face. "I try really hard to be clean myself, but my closet may just be one of the most unorganized places ever."
I chuckle. "You might need to have a little competition with Jess."
With one last deep breath, I finally return home to the place I've lived in for the past two years, inviting Harry Styles inside.
Harry and I walk inside, closing the door after he's entered completely. He takes everything in as I lock the front door once again. A habit I've developed long ago because of paranoia.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asks, looking around and taking in all the sights to see. "It's so nice here."
"She cleaned," I say utterly surprised, my eyes widening as I look around at the practically spotless house. Harry chuckles.
"I can see you and Jess have a thing for plants," Harry points out, referring to the fact that you can't look around without seeing a plant somewhere.
"Yeah," I say, my hands in my back pockets as I join him where he stands in the living room, "only like half of them are real. Neither of us can seem to keep a plant alive for too long."
Harry smiles as he continues to take a look around. "Where is the infamous Jess anyways?"
"Oh right! JESS!" I holler at the top of my voice up the stairs where our bedrooms were located.
Nothing.
"Jess?!" I yell again, not receiving any answer.
Just as I was about to stomp up the stairs to go get her, Harry's voice sounds from the kitchen.
"Hey Lili," he says. I quickly make my way over to him, seeing he's standing at the island counter with a note in his hand. I gently take it from him, glancing down to read it.
Lils,
Jackson needed my help again. Unpack and take a nap, I'll be home later tonight and then we can get this party started!
-The best roommate to ever exist, Jess
P.S. I cleaned the whole house for you. Be proud and appreciate it.
"Well," I say, setting the note down, "I guess you're going to have to wait to meet her."
"That's okay." He shrugs. "We could do something else in the meantime."
"A nap?" I ask hopefully.
"I was thinking the same thing," he laughs.
I gave Harry a quick tour of the downstairs before we made our way up the stairs to take post-travel naps. In separate rooms of course.
* * *
"Lili," A familiar voice says, shaking me awake. "Liliana Mason I swear to God I will jump on you if you don't wake up."
"What?" I groan, squinting my eyes open. Through my slightly blurry vision, I could see Jess's shocked expression.
"What the fuck is Harry Styles doing in my bed?" She asks, obviously panicked.
"Taking a nap probably," I say bluntly, shutting my eyes again and nuzzling my head further into my pillow.
"Okay," she restrains her anger by taking a slow, deep breath, "Let me rephrase that. Why is Harry Styles in our house?!"
"You asked for a souvenir, so I brought one home," I joke, shrugging.
"I didn't mean bring home a celebrity!" She says, making me open my eyes again. "And if you were both taking a nap, why is he in my bed?"
"Because it'd be weird if he slept in here with me," I tell her.
"No it wouldn't," she says, smirking. "Are you saying there might be sexual tension between the two of you?"
"No."
"Then why wouldn't you want him to sleep in here?" She nudges me.
"Because it's weird."
"Whatever." She shakes her head, preparing to change the subject. "Go wake him up so I can meet him."
"Are you crazy?" I ask. "I'm not just going to go in there and wake him up from his peaceful slumber so you can meet him."
"I'd do it for you," she pressures.
"I know you would," I giggle, "but you also have a strong lack of self-control."
"That may be true, but at least I'm fun and don't go to bed at 9 o'clock every night like some people I know," she says accusingly, giving me a side-eye.
"You're insane," I say, rolling my eyes playfully.
"You love me," she argues.
"I do," I laugh at my idiot of a best friend. "So what did Jackson need help with?"
"Well, I put him in charge of picking out the main courses for the wedding, my mistake I know. But he was having a breakdown with that so I had to go over and help him pick," she explains. "And then the second time, he needed help tying bows on his groomsmen proposals."
"He can't tie his own bows?" I ask.
"The man can barely even tie his own shoes," she jokes, causing me to chuckle.
"I don't know what I'm going to do when you move out," I tell her honestly, looking down sadly. "It's gonna be so lonely around here."
"Hey, hey," she says, reaching out and putting her hand on my shoulder comfortingly, "I'm not moving out for a long time. If anything, Jack might just move in here with us."
"That's not any better." I laugh.
I had nothing against Jess's fiancé, Jackson at all. He's a really cool and nice guy. He's just very...different from her. It's a wonder he and Jess have been together so long.
"Well, would you rather me move out?" She warns.
"Of course not."
"Exactly."
We both giggle but are soon cut short by a knock sounding from the entrance of the room. Jess turns her head to face the door, but then quickly turns back to me with her jaw practically on the floor.
"Am I intruding?" Harry asks.
"No, of course not!" Jess says before I get the chance to even open my mouth. She stands up quickly, causing me to do the same.
"You must be Jess," Harry says as she approaches him.
"So, you've heard about me," Jess sayings in a flirty manner, tucking her hair behind her ear sheepishly.
Harry seems to notice her flirting, and in response, his eyes widen.
"She's joking," I say, rolling my eyes and nudging Jess in the arm.
"Oh," Harry nods knowingly.
"Come on Jess." I grab her hand, pulling her around Harry and down the hallway before she can say or do anything else embarrassing.
"But I want to stay and talk to Harry," she whines.
"You can do that later," I say dragging her down the stairs by the arm.
* * *