untitled |h.s|

twenty-three

*Three Weeks Later*

Harry

It's been a very chaotic few weeks. Ari's officially moved into our apartment, though I haven't seen her much with how busy both of us have been. I've been at the studio almost every day since I finished up the song with that recording of Ari, and if I'm not there, I'm at the store, still teaching music lessons throughout the week.

Ari's been busy with rehearsals and fittings since the second she told the casting director she had a place to live. She keeps saying things are going to slow down once the show is actually in place, but it's been three weeks of her constantly out of the house, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to get worried about her.

I'm not much better though. I've been meeting with Zayn pretty much every minute he has free, either finishing the song or talking about releasing it. He wants to put it out by the end of the month, but that's really only a week away at this point. I love the song, it feels so much more complete now that Zayn helped me put everything together. He loved the addition too, which only made him push harder to put it out.

Don't get me wrong, I want to release it, that's the fucking dream. The only problem is Niall.

I've already been avoiding any and all conversations about the song. It's been relatively easy since I've been out of the house so much, but he's going to catch on at some point. I'm excited about the song we made together, I mean this wouldn't even be happening if it weren't for him. He's not stupid though, he'll be able to figure out whose moans are on that recording and I'm not trying to get my ass kicked.

Sometimes I think if I just talk to him about my feelings for Ari, maybe he'd understand. I know she's supposed to be off limits, you know, bro code or whatever, but I think we're past that point. I don't want to talk about that if I don't know where me and Ari stand, though, but I haven't been able to talk to her about anything either with both of us constantly busy.

I want to be around her all the time, even if we're not doing anything, I'm obsessed with just being in her presence. Based on the number of times she's knocked on my door in the middle of the night just to come and lay with me, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one feeling like that.

"Harry?" I'm pulled from my thoughts by the little boy sitting beside me, I turn to look at him, only to be met with a confused expression on the poor kid's face.

"Sorry, Tyler," I apologize, shaking my head in an attempt to focus, "Can you do it one more time for me?"

I don't miss the frustrated breath he lets out, but he turns his attention back to the keyboard in front of us and plays the short segment of the song we've been working on yet again.

I make myself give him my attention for the remaining 30 minutes of our session working on the song he's learning. For an 8-year-old, the kid's pretty good. We've only been working on this song for a couple of weeks and he's already sounding really good, I think he's excited to play the full thing for his mom, he's definitely a mama's boy. That's why I like him so much though, he reminds me of myself a bit.

Once we wrap up the lesson, I walk Tyler back out to the front of the store where his mom is waiting for him. There's a quick exchange of goodbyes before they head out of the store and barely a minute later I'm rushing out to meet Zayn at the studio. That's been my life for the past few weeks, working all day, rushing to spend the evening at the studio, and then crashing pretty much as soon as I get home. It's fun, but I'm not sure how long I can keep doing this packed schedule.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," I tell Zayn as I walk into his office, attempting to catch my breath.

"Relax, Harry, you're not even 2 minutes late," he assures me with a laugh, "I think we'll survive."

I take a seat across from him, diving straight into the same conversation we've been having for the past week now.

"You still want to release the song, right?" He asks, leaning his elbows against his desk.

"Yes," I answer with a nod, prompting the same silent pause we've also faced all week.

"Okay," Zayn draws out before letting out a sigh, "Listen, H, we can't keep dragging this out. If you want to put it out, we can set up a PR schedule and set the release date for next Friday at the latest."

I nod, but don't say anything in response as I silently wait for him to continue, "I get that you want to talk to Ni first, but I'm giving you as much time as I can here," he offers me a sympathetic look, "if you don't want to release the song anymore, that's completely fine. You have talent though, man, I'd definitely want to keep working with you regardless."

"I still want to release it," I say after forcing myself to take a breath, "It's a dream to even have this chance, thank you for that."

"I know, and I'm more than happy to give you that chance, Harry, you know that," he says with a nod, "I just need an answer, though."

"Okay," I say without hesitation for the first time since this whole thing started, "Yeah, let's put it out next week. I'll talk to Niall tonight." I think I say that last part as more of a promise to myself, but Zayn accepts it with a smile either way.

"Great, I'll have one of our reps email you tonight and you guys can get started on some promotional stuff this week," he says, typing something on his computer as he speaks, "I'll let you get out of here early tonight, but, as a friend," he pauses, shifting his attention back to me, "be honest with Niall, okay? You and I both know he's not going to beat your ass because you got caught up with his sister, but don't beat around the bush either."

"You're right," I admit with a sigh, "I'll figure it out."

"Good luck," he says with an encouraging nod as I stand from the leather chair. With that, I head out of the door, fishing my phone out of my pocket as I walk to text Niall when a notification pops up that instantly captures my attention.

Ari: Rehearsal got cut short, I'm all yours tonight if you're free ;)

Suddenly I'm rushing to the elevator, antsy to get home and see the girl I've been dying to spend time with for weeks. I make my way down to the parking lot, and any thoughts of talking to Niall are completely forgotten as I ride back to the apartment.

ok i know the random time jump is a lot but you'll see why i did it soon and you'll love me. also she's definitely a short and kinda filler chapter BUT... 10k?!? Thank you guys so fucking much, holy shit.

i'll be back soon, love you 💋
xx k

ps while we're here make sure you're following me on twitter and tiktok (that's right, we got one of those now) @/complik8edfreak on the bird app and @/complicated__freak on tiktokkk