Matilda | Harry Styles

FIVE

My eyes drew to a close as I now forced myself to turn back in my chair, repositioning myself to face the desk as I had before. I couldn't look at him for a second longer.

I was unsure of how to feel - all that came to mind was intense humiliation at his presence in the room. There was no way - there was surely no way, that I was signing myself up to work alongside Harry.

I had to force myself not to bury my face in my hands in fear that would even further emphasise the blatant awkwardness of our situation. The way Harry had stopped dead in his tracks; the way we'd stared at each other for uncomfortably long, there was no way that a million alarm bells of confusion weren't ringing in Ally's head. I dared to peer back up at her, my pen still grasped between my fingers as her eyes, as expected, travelled between Harry and I, a puzzled look upon her features at Harry's previous exclamation.

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Do you two know each other?" No. Yes. Well, not really. I wasn't exactly planning on telling her that we'd just about crossed first name basis before I'd gone back to his house and unexpectedly had the best sex of my life. That probably wouldn't have been the best way to lead. But I figured it was already pretty clear that Harry and I weren't strangers, thanks to both of us being clearly bewildered at the sight of the other.

I began to think of a small, simple lie to justify our paths having crossed. "Well-"

"No," Harry's voice cut across my own, quickly and firmly, and I spun my head around to face him again. I narrowed my eyes at him, as he didn't meet my eye now. "Actually, Ally - you're so busy. I can introduce myself and get to know Isabella out here," he gestured towards the door, still refusing to look at me. I felt a jolt in my chest at the idea of speaking to him privately.

I turned back to Ally, who still appeared slightly, and unsurprisingly,  unconvinced. I brought my lip back between my teeth, again willing the ground to open up and finish me off. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but I didn't really want to join him in the hallway.

"Isabella," he said, capturing my attention once more as he had now pulled the door open, gesturing for me to step outside. His eyes were almost pleading with my own, and I had to ignore the slight flutter I felt in my stomach as he cocked his head towards the hall. I refrained from sighing as I stood up, catching Ally's puzzled eyes one more, before I obliged with Harry's request, and stepped out into the hallway. He followed swiftly behind me, pulling the door shut.

"Are you crazy?" I hissed as soon as the door clicked behind him, and he now stood only inches away from me. It was like as soon as I was alone and face to face with him, I found myself equipped with that odd sensation of confidence that I'd also managed to find on the night that I'd met him. He only brought his finger to his lips, silencing me, causing me to frown.

"Not here," he hissed back with a furrow of his eyebrows, almost appearing annoyed as he gestured for me to follow him again. He stepped past me to walk along the corridor that I'd only occupied a few minutes ago with Natalie. I followed, reluctantly, still unable to quite fathom the situation I'd found myself in. As I watched the back of his head, and as he took his long, quick strides across the floor, I couldn't help but be transported back to the night we'd spent together; recalling the urgency in which he'd headed down the street in search of somewhere to take me. He monitored our surroundings in the very same way, but this time, he wasn't aching to get his hands on me - it was like he was aching to hide me.

Finally, he stopped outside another room, that to me, appeared no different from Ally's - the same slick, black door faced me, and he pushed it open, holding it for me to step inside. It was pitch black, until he flicked a light on, and I found it was, quite literally, the same office as Ally's, only unoccupied.