Hollywood Stars

Chapter Thirty One

a/n: hey! preface for the chapter it does once again show insight into her past relationship taht i have stated was toxic. if manipulation and lying and toxic relationships trigger you here is a warning and i'm here if you need anything. all the love and i hope you enjoy <3

\\Sophia's Pov//
I pull up to Eleanor's house and she runs inside to grab some things. I pull out my phone and dial Jeffrey's number. "Hello?" He says and I take a deep breath.
"Hey Jeffrey it's Sophia."
"Sophia, I was actually just about to call you."
"You were?"
"Yes I'm making good progress with the stories."
"Oh good I'm glad to hear that."
"That's why you were calling right?"
"Yeah.."
"Was there something else?"
"I mean I do have a question as long as I have you on the line but I'm not sure if it's the best idea."
"Sophia just ask me."
"How long have you been working with Harry?"
"Um I don't know a few years now I guess. Why?"
"Okay I really shouldn't ask especially since I already know what you're going to say, if you even say anything, but how long has he been such a selfish dick?"
"Um I'm sorry what?"
"Right that's what I thought um forget about that last thing and thank you for killing the stories."
"Of course Sophia back to that last statement," he says and I shake my head.
"I uh I gotta go. Thank you again," I say before hanging up. I lean back against my chair and bite my lip. I can't believe I just asked him that. I unbuckle and turn off my car. I run up to the door and run inside.
"Eleanor I'm sorry for just barging in but.."
"It's okay.. I'm almost done if you wanna just wait on the couch," she says and I follow her over to the couch. She sits down and writes something down on a piece of paper. "What's that?"
"A note for Louis he probably won't even read it but..." Eleanor says putting the cap back on the pen. "You ready?" I nod and she grabs her bag up off of the floor.
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We pull up to my apartment and I park my car. We get out and begin walking to my car. "Now I have to warn you it's not as nice as your place and I had to work quite a few double shifts to afford rent in the beginning," I say and Eleanor smiles.
"I'm sure I'll love it," she says and I begin unlocking the door.
"Sophia!" I hear a voice call out. I turn around and see Adam and Jenny walking towards us hand in hand. "Hey Jenny," I say and she waves. "Eleanor you remember Adam from lunch and then this is his girlfriend Jenny." I finish unlocking my door and we all walk in. "Claire should be home from work any minute now. So make yourselves at home and I'm going to go change into something comfortable," I say and they all nod.
I walk into my bedroom, making sure to shut the door behind me. I grab a pair of leggings out of my drawer, a short sleeve tee shirt and walk over to my closet to grab a hoodie. I see a gray one lying on the ground and pick it up. I unfold it out of its ball like form and my heartbeat quickens when I see it.
It's Harry's treat people with kindness hoodie that he lent me. I run my fingers over the words and sigh. It still smells like him. It smells good, like good cologne, vanilla and mint gum. My eyes begin to fill with tears and I clutch the hoodie tightly.
"Soph are you ready yet?" Claire asks walking into my room. I feel a tear run down my face and turn around. "Sophia.." Claire says and walks over to me. She wraps her arms around me and I begin crying into me. No amount of time will ever make this easy.
None. Because I still love him. And it sucks knowing that he thought ending things with me was the best option. "Here let me see that," Claire says letting go of me and I shake my head. "What are you gonna wear it?"
"Maybe," I say holding it tight. Claire walks over to my closet and pulls out a black hoodie with mickey mouse on it. She hands it to me and takes Harry's hoodie out of my hands. She sets his hoodie down on my bed and pulls me out into the living room. "Okay so first things first.. what kind of pizza do we want?" Adam asks as I sit down as far away from everyone as possible.
"One pepperoni, one cheese and two Alfredo?" Claire says and Adam scrunches his nose up.
"Can we get one supreme?"
"Ugh fine. But you're paying Vance," Claire says and Jenny laughs. "Is that okay with everyone?"
"Good by me," Jenny says and Eleanor nods.
"Soph?" Adam says but I don't look at him.
"Sure whatever I don't care," I say and Eleanor gives me a sympathetic look.
"Okay well what do you wanna watch?" Claire ask and I sigh.
"Tangled," I say and she smiles. I hear Adam ordering the pizzas and sigh. I should be happy, I'm surrounded by so many great people but I'm not because Harry isn't here. I just want to be held by him and told how much he loves me. If he loves me.
I grab a throw pillow off the couch and clutch it tightly. "You okay?" Eleanor asks moving closer to me.
"I'm fine."
"Liar."
"Okay no. I miss Harry, I miss holding his hand and I miss his hugs and I miss feeling loved.. he doesn't care anymore."
"That's not true and you know it. We've both seen the effort Harry has been trying to make with you."
"You know what I mean. It's not enough for him just to want to still be friends and for him to apologize and tell me he loves me. I want him back," I say and she sighs.
"I know it's hard," Eleanor says and I sigh.
"Way too hard if you ask me," I say and she sighs. "Are you gonna say some cheesy shit about how it gets easier? I've been through heartbreak it doesn't always get easier."
"Actually I was just gonna tell you I can tell he still loves you."
"That doesn't matter if he doesn't want to be with me." I say and look over at the wall.
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"Soph come out tonight!"
"I can't Chris is working and you know how he gets when I go out without him."
"Well if Chris is really working then he'll never know," Claire says holding out a light blue dress. I change into the dress and follow Claire, Morgan and Bailey out to the Uber.
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We arrive at the club about twenty minutes later and quickly climb out. "Man this is the place to be tonight!" Bailey says. She waves at a cute guy with brown hair and glasses and winks at us before strutting off. "Ugh what are we gonna do with her?" I say and Claire laughs.
"Lighten up, have some fun, get a drink, go flirt."
"I can't flirt I have a boyfriend!"
"Yeah a boyfriend who never has time for you and always lies to you. Is he even actually working tonight?"
"Yes, he said so."
"He also said so the last fifteen times he lied."
"He hasn't lied to me that many times."
"Yes he has we're keeping count."
"Why?"
"Cause we've got a bet going," Morgan says and Claire glares at her.
"No, no we do not."
"Wow. You guys have a bet on how many times my boyfriends gonna lie to me?"
"I mean you can't be that surprised, it's not like he's the most trustworthy guy," Morgan says and I scoff.
"Oh my god. I-I can't even believe I'm hearing this."
"Sophia we're sorry. But I mean he's not exactly a good guy in fact he's kind of a dick," Claire says and my mouth falls open.
"You do realize you just called the man I love a dick right?"
"Yes but.."
"Oh my god I need a drink," I say walking away from them. I walk towards the bar and see a pair of familiar faces. I see Ryan and Isaac at the bar drinking. "Hey," I say walking up to them.
"Shit.." I hear one of them mutter. Isaac begins to look around and I raise my eyebrows. "You two okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," I say and Ryan bites his lip. He nods before taking a swig of beer. "Alright let's do shots!" Chris says as he walks up to the bar.
My mouth falls open and I look at him. I scoff and his eyes widen when he sees me. "Sophia baby what are you doing here?"
"Uh I could ask you the same thing."
"I'm um.."
"Not working obviously."
"Okay I lied."
"Yeah I can see that," I say and turn to walk away. I push past people and suddenly feel someone grab my wrist.
"Chris. Let go."
"No I answered your question now you're gonna answer mine."
"Fine," I say but he doesn't let go of my wrist.
"What are you doing here?"
"Claire felt bad that I was cooped up in our apartment since you decided to lie and tell me you couldn't go out again tonight."
"Why the hell are you dressed like that?"
"Dressed like what?"
"All skimpy and... if you dress like that guys are gonna try to make a move on you."
"I can handle myself I shouldn't have to dress however the hell you want and besides I don't look skimpy."
"When you're here without your boyfriend, in that you do," he says and I scoff.
"Why the hell did you lie anyway?"
"Maybe because if I told you I'd rather hang out with the guys you'd get pissed!"
"I wouldn't get pissed if you actually let me do shit! What? Do you just not trust me?"
"I don't know you're always flirting with Adam why would I expect better?"
"What a dick. You don't have to worry about me flirting with other guys cause I'm going home. And don't bother calling I have nothing to say to you." I say and he runs in front of me.
"Baby I'm so sorry you know I trust you. It- it's not that at all, I just don't trust other guys."
"But it's not like I'm gonna flirt back!"
"I know it's just you're so beautiful and any guy would want you. And I promise I will not lie to you again," he says cupping my face. "Please just stay."
"Okay.. I love you."
"And I love you too," he says smiling. His twisted charm had worked again.
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I'm shaken out of my thoughts when Eleanor puts her hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay? You zoned out again."
"Yeah.. I'm fine," I say and she smiles. I stand up from the couch and walk into my bedroom to grab some blankets. I grab a few and look over at the gray hoodie with the rainbow lettering stitched on. My heart drops to my stomach and I feel like crying again. "Hey I figured I'd see if you need a hand," Eleanor says walking into my room.
She follows my eyes over to Harry's hoodie lying on the bed and gives me a look. "Don't say it."
"Say what?"
"That I should throw out his hoodie, that keeping it is just gonna make me hurt more."
"I wasn't going to.."
"Oh," I say and Eleanor gives me a warm smile. She takes a couple of blankets off the top and I smile. I grab a hair tie off of my desk and walk out into the living room. I throw the blankets down onto the couch and go into the restroom. I turn on the sink and splash my face with cold water.
I grab a towel out of the cabinet and wipe my face. I throw the towel down and flip the hood up on my head before walking out of the room. I see Adam carry five pizzas into the kitchen and laugh. "Alright eat up people," he says and I walk over to the couch. Claire pops the movie into the DVD player and walks over to the fridge to grab drinks.
"Do we want soda or beer?"
"I'll take a beer. I'm not driving," Jenny says. Eleanor grabs a couple of sodas out of the fridge and walks over to me. She hands me one and I take it. "Thanks."
"Want me to get you some pizza?"
"No I'm not really hungry."
"Soph you need to eat something," Adam says and I shake my head.
"I'm not hungry Adam."
"No you don't wanna eat there's a difference."
"Okay well either way.." I say wrapping a blanket around me. Claire walks up to me with a plate with two slices of Alfredo pizza on it. She waves it around and I roll my eyes before taking it out of her hand. "Not hungry my ass," Claire says and I shake my head. I take a bite of pizza and sigh.
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We watch Tangled as we eat but there are certain scenes that I can barely watch, such as when they are both sat around the campfire talking about their pasts and who they really are. It makes me miss him even more. The movie gets to the scene where Rapunzel and Flynn are both sat in the boat on the water, the scene with the romantic musical number. I clear my throat and look around.
Eleanor is watching the move contently, Claire is too busy scrolling through instagram to even pay attention to anything, and Adam and Jenny are practically staring into each other's eyes. Then there's me. And I've never felt more alone than I do right now.
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After we watch Tangled we decide to watch Avengers but Claire gives up halfway through the movie and goes to bed. Eleanor is laying on the couch bout ready to pass out, and Adam and Jenny have begun dozing off. "Adam," I say and he shoots upright.
"Hey are you okay?"
"Yeah yeah I'm I'm fine um you and Jenny can leave if you want.."
"No."
"Adam I will be fine. Claire is right there in the other room and Eleanor's almost asleep and I'm probably going to go to bed soon anyways."
"Are you sure? I know today was kind of an emotional and stressful day," he says and I sigh. That's an understatement to say the least. "Adam. I will be fine. You don't need to sleep on my couch," I say and he sighs. He stands up and I walk toward him. He holds out his arms and I hug him tight.
"It's all going to be okay. Eventually. Okay?" Adam says and I nod. He lets go of me and him and Jenny begin walking towards the door. She gives me a small smile before following my best friend out the door and I sigh. I shut the door behind them and then run over to our movie stack and grab The Notebook. I pop the movie into the DVD player and take a bag of popcorn out of the cabinet.
I remove the plastic wrapping before sticking the bag of popcorn into the microwave and grabbing a bowl out of the cabinet. The microwave goes off and I pour the contents into the plastic bowl before making my way over to the couch. "Just don't watch the notebook without me," Harry's words echo in my head.
"I love The Notebook!" I remember that day so well. It was during our first week working together and I was still trying to keep my distance because I didn't know any better than the media and I was afraid he just slept around. Now it's like I know the truth but he doesn't care that I see the real him. I look over at Eleanor struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Eleanor. Do you want me to take you home? Or do you want to sleep in my room?"
"I can't go home I'd feel awful."
"Eleanor I'm okay really. You look exhausted and I'd hate for you to sleep on the couch."
"You wouldn't mind taking me home?"
"Not at all," I say and she smiles. She grabs her things off of the table and I slide into my converse before pausing the movie.
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I pull up to Eleanor's house and she smiles. "Thanks for inviting me to movie night," Eleanor says and I smile.
"Yeah anytime. Um thank you.."
"Oh for what?"
"For being such a good friend to me. It means a lot to me," I say and she smiles.
"Text me if you need anything."
"I will," I say and watch her run inside. I wait until she's inside before I drive off. I get back to my apartment about twenty minutes later and run back inside. I sit down on the couch and hit play on The Notebook and the opening credits start playing. I grab the bowl of popcorn off of the table and watch it intently.
I don't know why I want to watch The Notebook all it's going to do is make me think of Harry. And how much I miss him and how I want to be held by him so badly right now. My thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door. I kick off my blanket, set down the bowl of popcorn and walk over to the door. I unlock it and open it and my eyes widen when I see who it is.
"Hey," Harry says and smiles at me. I feel my heart begin to race and I struggle to form words. "Um what the hell are you doing here?"
"Okay yeah I expected that.." Harry says and I bite my lip. "I need to talk to you."
"Okay well cant it wait till tomorrow? It's been a long day."
"Yeah I know," Harry says and I look at him confused.
"What the hell do you mean you know?"
"Can I come in?" He asks and I take a deep breath. I move aside so he can come in and look around anxiously. "What the hell do you mean you know it's been a long day?"
"I mean I know you got swarmed by paparazzi today," Harry says and my mouth all's open.
"Um how.. how did you know that?"
"Does it really matter? Why didn't you call me or come to me?"
"Because.."
"Because why Sophia? Because is not a good enough answer!"
"I don't have to explain myself to you!"
"Is it because I broke up with you?"
"Hell no!"
"Then why!"
"Because I still love you and I didn't want you worrying about me when you had your own stuff to worry about, and we both know that it's not your responsibility to help me through those things anymore!"
"We may not be together anymore but I still care about you!"
"And that's the thing if I had told you, you would've been worried sick about me and put yourself second again!"
"That's who I am! I do that with everybody. You, Gemma, Louis, Niall, Liam, my mum! Okay? There is nothing wrong with that!"
"I know. You are such a great guy who always puts others first but I needed this once for you to put yourself first. Because I guess part of me hoped if I got through it on my own and you got through it on your own then maybe just maybe we'd get back together," I say not really even registering the words coming out of my mouth. Neither of us says anything for a moment we just stand there staring at each other. "I wanna know how you found out. Did Louis tell you?" I say finally breaking the silence again.
"He didn't have to," Harry says pulling out his phone. He holds it out and I take it from his hand. My eyes widen when I see the headline. "Wait I don't uh... I don't understand I thought Jeffrey killed the stories."
"He couldn't kill all of them," Harry says. I walk over to my couch and sit down. I bury my face in my hands and bite my lip. "Can we talk?" he asks walking over to me.
"About?"
"Us.."
"Harry you made it very clear. There is no us right now."
"Please I need to talk you about all of it," Harry says sitting beside me on the couch.
"Harry I can't keep having this same conversation."
"Okay well maybe you'll just listen to me then," he says and I sigh. I nod as if to tell him okay and he sighs. "I'm so sorry. And I know you said apologies don't fix your broken heart. But I am sorry and when you told me that you had gone home and cried yourself to sleep it broke my heart," He says and I bite my lip.
"It should have."
"Thought you didn't wanna have this conversation?" He says and I roll my eyes. "Look, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I've been talking to Louis, who gave me some very helpful insight, and I realize that I don't wanna be apart."
"You don't?"
"No quite frankly I never did but I got it in my head that by me ending things it would make things better but we both know that's not true.."
"Yeah."
"I love you Sophia Paige Knight and I'm so sorry I broke your heart.. because I told you I wouldn't do that and it kills me that I did. It killed me not to hold you, kiss you, tell you how beautiful you are.."
"Then why didn't you say anything sooner?" I say my eyes filling with tears and my voice cracking.
"I'd convinced myself that this was somehow the best option."
"You thought breaking my heart was better than letting me help you try to get through it?" I say tears now rolling down my cheeks. "Did you have any idea how that felt?"
"No but I'm imagining not good."
"Not good at all Harry! I cried myself to sleep, and I have barely ate since you ended things. And today after I dealt with everything with the paparazzi I wanted nothing more than to tell you that I needed you... but I couldn't do that," I say and Harry sighs. "You pushed me away when you shouldn't have. And I still needed you. And I know you still needed me, I know you won't admit that cause you're stubborn as hell, and maybe this was your way of putting yourself first for once but God it hurt so bad because I truly do..."
"What?" He says leaning towards me and I sigh. I look down and shake my head. I feel him lift my chin and turn my head towards him. He wipes the tears off my cheeks and I sigh. "I love you and it hurt so bad when you ended things."
"I know.. that was one of the hardest things I've ever done. And I was an idiot if I actually thought it would at all make things better. It's been so hard getting through it. You were right I was a selfish dick and.." he says and I laugh.
"I'm sorry you were a what?"
"A selfish dick... who pushed away the woman he loves and I regret that so much..."
"But you said that you didn't.."
"I know what I said... but that's when I was still convinced it was the best thing for both of us... and I know it's not because I miss you so damn much..."
"I miss you," I say and he wipes another set of tears off of my cheek.
"I know this isn't the best apology. I'm not very good at admitting when I'm sorry, or when I've fucked up in a relationship."
"Hey, it's okay. You're doing great," I say and he takes a deep breath.
"I love you Sophia Paige Knight. And I know I screwed up... but I was so wrong and I want to be with you."
"I love you too Harry Edward Styles," I say and he smiles.
"So will you take me back?" He asks and I nod. He cups my face and our lips touch. I pull away and he raises his eyebrows. "Please don't ever break my heart again," I say and he smiles.
"I'll do my best," he laughs and I smile. He pulls me close to him and I lay my head on his chest. I missed being held in his strong arms. "Wait a minute? You're watching The Notebook without me?" He says and I laugh.
"What a dork."
"Hey hey."
"I love you you big dork," I say and he smiles.
"I love you too princess," he says kissing the top of my head.