No Control (Book 1)

33. Steal My Girl

I woke up on Tuesday morning to a Twitter notification telling me Harry had tweeted - 'Looking forward to the show in Singapore.. Can't wait to see you all. All the love. H'

I knew they weren't performing until the following night, and decided to wait until nearer the time before I made any contact with Harry. It was Wednesday morning when I finally bit the bullet and decided to text him. I sat at my desk about 8am, swinging in my chair and typing things and then deleting them. For all I knew, he'd probably forgotten who I was. I settled on:

To: Harry Styles: Good luck tonight, hope it goes well x

It was just after 4pm that he replied. (I hadn't been checking my phone every five minutes for the entire day. Honest.)

From: Harry Styles: Thanks, it was amazing, the crowd was brilliant. We've just finished. What are you up to? x

I grinned stupidly at my phone for a couple of minutes, contemplating whether to reply, but before I could decide, another message came through. It was a picture message this time. I hurriedly tapped on it and couldn't contain my squeak of excitement as I realised what it was. It was a selfie, taken by Harry, with the rest of One Direction. They were in what looked like a backstage area, and looked all sweaty, as if they literally had just walked offstage. They were all grinning at the camera. I positively beamed at my phone, and Sarah, who had heard my excited squeak, looked up.

"What's got you so gidd... oh my God has Harry texted you?" She jumped out of her chair and raced over to my desk.

There was no point trying to hide it; my face was giving me away. I turned the phone towards her to show her the picture message and she squealed in excitement. The entire office was now looking over. "Send him one back!" she urged.

I grinned as Sarah, Gary and my boss Nicki came and crouched next to me. I held my phone out in front of us and we all pulled excited faces as I snapped the picture. "Wait, I look goofy on that one," Sarah frowned.

"And I look gay," Gary protested.

"You are gay," Sarah and I said in unison, then laughed.

"I'm sending it," I said, and quickly pressed send. "And we love you, Gary, even if you are in the closet."

It was a few minutes before the response came back:

From: Harry Styles: You're beautiful x

I fired one straight back.

To: Harry Styles: Flirt x

From: Harry Styles: You don't give an inch do you! x

To: Harry Styles: Sometimes ;) x

From: Harry Styles: Now who's flirting? x

To: Harry Styles: Not me #littlewhitelies x

(It took me a minute to pluck up the courage to send that one).

From: Harry Styles: Not much! I thought of you when we sang that tonight x

My entire body flushed.

To: Harry Styles: Shut up, no you didn't x

From: Harry Styles: I did. Think it's my new favourite x

To: Harry Styles: It's been my favourite since I saw you live last year x

From: Harry Styles: You have excellent taste x

To: Harry Styles: You would say that ;) x

From: Harry Styles: Why's that? x

To: Harry Styles: You know why. Don't make me say it x