Floss // A Harry Styles AU

five

I'd felt bad for ignoring George the other day, so I sent an apology and a brief response to his question, and we ended up arranging to meet that evening, but this time he picked me up and we drove out to Lechlade where he lived.

It was a beautiful village, much like Bibury - on the river with locks to watch the canal boats come and go. We sat outside The Riverside pub, with food this time as well as a shared bottle of wine, and talked endlessly about nothing while we watched the world go by.

In hindsight I wish I hadn't gone. Not because I didn't have a nice time - I did. But that was all it was; nice. He was gentlemanly to a degree, though somehow I felt like all our conversations lead back to the same thing. For a man who seemed to hold chivalry to a high importance, he talked about sex a lot. I've never been the type to squirm over those kinds of conversations, but it did get boring after so long.

And it's not like he was bad in bed. He wasn't incredible or utterly life-changing, but he wasn't terrible. He was adequate. Unfortunately, adequate was not what I was looking for.

So when I woke early on the Saturday morning and found him wrapped around me, similarly to the way I'd been held in that dream that fucked me up so badly the other day, I felt nothing. Whoever that man had been in my dream, it was not George. For some inexplicable reason this all made me feel guilty. That was all I ever seemed to feel at the moment. Either that, or embarrassed. The latter wasn't quite so uncommon.

I decided it was time to leave, even though it was only early. The alarm clock on his bedside table read just before 6:30am.

I peeled myself out of his hold and sat on the edge of the bed for a minute, rubbing my eyes and my face. I then went straight to the bathroom and used the loo. On my return I got dressed in yesterday's clothes (obviously).

"Everything okay?" George asked, having not moved an inch.

I looked at him with a smile. "Yeah, fine. I just really need to get home before my daughter gets mad at me."

That seemed to startle him somewhat. He frowned and rolled onto his back. "You have a daughter?"

I wasn't at all surprised by his reaction. In fact, most men seemed to be put off the second I mentioned Ruby, so I'd often use the information as a scapegoat to leave.

I hummed. "Yep, she's nearly 7."

"Wow," he coughed and sat up, "you, er, you look too young to be a mum."

I tipped my head to the side. "Maybe."

George didn't say anything else.

I finished getting ready and then found my phone. "What's the number for a taxi?" Ubers didn't exist in the Cotswolds yet.

He gave me the contact information without moving a muscle. He didn't even move when I had to leave. I knew after hearing the revelation of my young spawn he'd never try to contact me again. It was always the way. Fortunately it was exactly what I wanted.

At home I showered, dressed, and had a substantial breakfast before I collected Ruby from my parents' house. I had a bit of a dickie tummy from the amount of alcohol consumed in the heat yesterday and wanted to make sure I wouldn't be feeling shit for Ruby all day. The weather was too nice to miss out on doing something fun with her.

I drove the car around to Mum and Dad's, noting how warm it felt even though it was only early spring. I'd put a dress on but didn't pay a thought to my thighs when I made that decision. Now they were sweating and I was dreading the later unavoidable chafing.

"Mummy!" Ruby squealed the moment the front door opened, and appeared not seconds later at the end of the hallway.

"Morning, angel!" I squeaked, taking her in for a tight hug once she'd charged into me.