"Hey." I breathed my voice catching in my throat.
Instantly, I shot a look over at my lover laughing and joking with Frank and their friends, sat around a table cluttered with empty glasses, beer bottles and pizza boxes.
He didn't look up, and I was glad he didn't I was terrified at what he might see.
The way my head felt, I was never very good at hiding what was going on in it.
"Hi! Cara, hey can you hear me? It's Meg." I hear her explain on the other end clearly understanding that seeing Harry's name pop up on my caller ID was beyond bizarre.
I pulled the phone closer to my ear, held up a finger to T and his friends excusing myself as I walked out of the room to the fire exit. "Hold on, one second." I stepped outside with the thick hot air and a gentle breeze blowing my skirt around my thighs.
The door slammed behind me, locking itself. Brilliant. "Sorry is now not a good time?" I could hear her thick LA accent crackle through the audio.
"No no, now's a fine time, what's up?" I mumbled, cigarette in between my lips.
"Well," she paused, "look - we're releasing his album in two weeks and there's still some legal issues we need to tie up on our end of course, so," she hesitated, I'd never heard a PA get nervous before.
"Harry would really appreciate it if you would come and meet with the team. I mean we're all huge fans of yours and there's just some lyrics we'd want you to sign consent of release on..." She broke off anticipating my reaction.
"Um, well this, right -" I began again.
"We'd be discussing your fee for your creative service of course as well. Harry wants you to be very very well endowed for your genius." She interrupted. "His words exactly." The words lingering.
"Sure, it's late notice but you know - that sounds okay."
"Perfect!" I could hear the relief in her voice. "Perfect. Well you know Harry," she paused and I could hear whispering in the background, all I caught was "and tell her that..." but the British accent faded out of reach.
"Um, Meg." I interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah still here - can you hear me?"
"Is Harry there?" I asked. My voice was monotone. Hollow I suppose.
"No," she started, "sorry - he's at the studio. But he wanted me to tell you, he doesn't have to be there if you don't want to see him. He completely understands if that's what you want."
My head fell against the brick wall as I exhaled smoke into the New York air. I thought for a moment.
"I don't care." Was all I said.
We wrapped up the conversation quickly when Timothée called asking where I was.
He came around the back and saw me sat on a crate smoking up at the sky.
He chuckled, "hey stranger." His curls falling off of his face as he looked up at the sky with me. He took me by the hand and helped me up. "Everything okay cheríe?" He whispered, putting a hand to my cheek. I leant into his palm, closing my eyes.
"Mhmm." I hummed, bringing my lips to his. "Just thinking." Smiling into the kiss.
"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." He smirked.
I threw back my head, laughing. "Brilliant, now I have a boyfriend who quotes Hamlet to me."
He cracked his classic New York grin, and brought another hand to my face - cradling it. "Hey, you're with an actor you know." I rolled my eyes at him, as our smirking lips found their way back to each other once more.
"Come on. Let's get out of here." He put my hand in his as we walked, side by side through New York at night.
"Oh look." He stopped smirking again, nodding his head to the store brandished in Tiffany blue.
"Oh, look." I deadpanned back. He rolled his eyes at me this time and pulled me over to the glass windows.
We watched the rows and rows of cabinets filled with diamond rings, glass reflecting all the city lights with his arms around my waist.
I looked up at him and my heart got stuck in my throat. I wanted to say something, I can't remember what it was exactly but I know that I couldn't say it.
I tugged him away, and kept walking. He began humming. "I love you." He said.
"So what?" I looked at him. His face fell. Then his eyes lit up and I crinkled my nose at him.
"So what? So plenty. Holly, I love you - you belong to me."
I shook my head at him. "No. People don't belong to people."
We smiled at each other, he knew my favourite film had always been Breakfast at Tiffany's since I was nine. I just didn't know he had loved it as much as I had enough to remember the lines from the last scene.
Then he started cracking up. Booming laughter. "What?" I asked. "What's so funny."
"You're so good!" He walked ahead of me, clasping his hands at me. I shook my head at him, I loved seeing enthusiasm rush into his eyes and how his hair seemed to look even more wild when he was grinning.
"You are! You are so good. Cara, you're good!" I just kept shaking my head and walking along as he paced in circles around me, so excited it made my heart swell.
He stopped me, grabbing my shoulders. "Seriously, you've gotta do something with that Cara. You're actually really good. I mean, how have I never seen that? You- you feel things more deeply then anybody else I've ever met." He kissed me hard, and just as I began to melt into him he pulled away on a surge of excitement again. "You've gotta try baby, seriously, you'd be an incredible actress."
I just patted him on his chest. "Okay, okay, T - come on." I dismissed, laughing with him.
"Can you imagine? We could be in a movie together - I mean can you imagine? You'd be incredible and you'd be with me so there'd be nothing to worry about. It's hard and it's emotional sure but, but I'd be there with you through all of it - it could be amazing. I just know you'd be breath taking cheríe."
I just smiled, letting him get caught up in dreaming, as he rambled on whilst we strolled - only taking a break to breathe or to bring my lips to his by my chin.
