27 (Harry Styles)

004. CHOCOLATE ENCOUNTERS

"Mags?" I asked the small blonde in front of me. Her brown doe eyes grew wide as she stared me up and down, then quickly rushed into the elevator and wrapped my waist into a tight hug. "Harry fucking Styles?!" she exclaimed with a bubbly tone as she pulled away from me, picking up the chocolate cake that she had set on the floor.

She opened the palm of my hand and placed a bouquet into them and opened the cake box, displaying its chocolate coating for me. I simply stared at the chocolate mess in front of me (which had slid around to all four corners inside of the mangled box) and listened carefully with my mouth agape as Kat began to explain what the cake was supposed to say before spun around.

"I was going for 'Congratulations on your Big Ass Tour' but instead, it sorta looks like 'Our Big Ass' which is also kind of enticing." She laughed loudly, leaning her small back against the wall of the elevator. She adjusted the sunglasses on top of her head quickly and stared up at me, waiting for a reaction. "Well, Our Big Ass or not, I appreciate the gesture and I'm sure the cake is delicious." I answered with a smile, wiping my pinkie across the lid of the box.

I pressed my lips together and formed a small smile. Good. Maggie smiled back at me with a much larger grin and quickly changed the subject. "This is quite unfortunate." She began to speak. "I was planning on surprising you before the show, but I guess that would mean I'd have to buy my own ticket." She explained, gently chewing the side of her manicured nail.

"You know I would have bought you one."

"But then it wouldn't have been a surprise, Harold." She sighed with a dramatic eye roll. I ignored her banter and kept pushing with more questions.

"Are you here alone?" I asked. "No, with Bella." Like usual. Bella, a girl that Maggie and I had gone to primary school with ever since the age of 14 when Bella moved here. The two became rather close after I left Holmes Chapel, and a part of me just assumed Bella had taken up my place in Maggie's life.

The elevator clicked, signaling our time in the oh-so awkward was finally over. I stepped to the side and allowed Maggie to walk in front of me, leading the way out of the hotel building. I went down stairs and carried both the cake and bouquet to my car. Thankfully, there wasn't paparazzi outside the hotel. I went inside my car, placed the gifts in the back seat before driving to the venue with Mags in the passenger seat.

I unlocked my cellphone to check the time and stared down at my phone, re-reading our previous conversation. She texted me earlier, and to be honest, that text scared me. I assumed maybe she didn't want to come after all, but her asking if I still wanted her to show up was a subtle way of trying to escape her plans with me. My self-doubts were often redundant, and I couldn't help but let them get in the way.

I cleared my throat as I realized the car was filled with awkward silence. "Where is Bella at, by the way?" I thought out loud. "Taking her sweet time, as always. I don't think I've ever seen her early to something in her life, ever." Maggie giggled, her soft laughter filling the car with warmth and tenderness.

I smiled back at her and wiped the corners of my mouth with the back of my hand, nodding slowly in agreement.

____

Harry Styles drove horrifically. Whether stopping or starting, it all happened with a tremendous jolt. I flew against the back seat of his Range Rover, gripping tightly onto the cake that I so desperately attempted to salvage. My neck snapped backwards every time the man hit the gas. I might have been slightly nervous — what with sitting in the car of a person that I used to know, but I don't know where he went, keenly unaware of my horrid cake holding skills which made a chocolate mess.

But my goodness, his driving was so astonishingly poor that we had almost crashed three times on the way to the venue. We'd gone perhaps a few miles in jagged silence before I said, "I'm assuming you usually have people drive you, now."

Harry laughed, nodding. "Well, that is true. I don't like to feel tied down to them but we all know I failed my driving test here 3 times." A half a mile in front of us, a light turned red and Harry slammed on the brakes, tossing me backwards again.

"Sorry. I swear to God, Im trying my best to be gentle." He apologized. I sat back up in my seat and looked in the rear view mirror, wiping away the frosting that had collected on my face. "Three times, Harry?" I began to laugh. "How the hell is that even possible, really?" He shrugged his shoulders and took one hand off of the wheel, turning to face me.

"No, no. Eyes on the road. I don't trust you." I laughed, pushing his arms back onto the wheel. "Right, so anyway, at the end of the test, I was positive I failed again. But the instructor was like, 'Your driving is very unpleasant, but it isn't technically unsafe'".

"So here we are, like ten years later." I giggled. "I'm not sure I agree with him." I added as Harry finally pulled into the concert venue. His parking made me cringe, he took up two whole spaces. I brushed it off and stepped out of the car, having to lean on its side because I felt so dizzy from his awful driving.

He laughed at me and ushered to come with him. I followed Harry as we went through some strange back entrance where no fans would spot us. He waved at members of his team, smiling for them.
We continued to walk briskly down a strange hallway, stopping at a small door. 'Styles' it read in a block font. Harry jiggled open the door, displaying the inside for me.

"Here's my dressing room. You can stay here and wait for Bella. I'll have someone bring her over." Harry told me. I nodded and sat down on the corner of a purple couch, placing my hands into my lap.

Harry took the flowers I gave him and placed them into a pot, which in turn fell out miserably because he didn't cut the stems. "They look nice on the floor, I suppose." He smiled.

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