Delicate

Chapter 8

HAVEN MCQUEEN

Every item of clothing I own is more or less laying out on my bed for me to inspect, yet I've had an empty suitcase for a half hour now. I've never been on a trip that lasted ten months, give or take, so how the hell am I supposed to know what to bring when I clearly can't bring practically a year's worth of clothes? I guess it helps to know that we'll have a break from around December through February, so technically I only need enough clothes for three months...which is still the longest I'll ever be living in a hotel room.

Katie's knock on the door gives me hope, but that's until I open up to see her with bloodshot eyes and two shopping bags in her hand. She looks like she's been sobbing but I have no idea why.

"What's wrong?"

In a wavering tone, she says, "I brought Cherry Garcia, Pringles, sour gummy worms, Twizzlers, beef jerky, and I figured we can just order a pizza and put on How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and just sob the whole time you're packing."

I blink at her before I start cracking up. "Oh my God, you scared me! I thought something awful happened!"

"Something awful is happening, Haven!" She storms past me to come inside. "What am I supposed to do without you until December? And then again from March until July? I'm going to be fucking miserable!"

"Kat, we went like basically four years without seeing much of each other when we were in college," I gently remind her. "And it's not like I'll be busy in classes this time, so I'll be able to talk and FaceTime whenever you want."

She groans and rubs her eyes as she sets the paper bags on my tiny kitchen counter. "I'm just sad. You know I hate my other friends."

I really am trying to be sensitive, but that last part has me laughing all over again. "Then why are you friends with them?"

"Because if I'm not friends with them and you're gone then I'll have no one!"

Fair.

"Alright, well we still have the rest of this afternoon and tonight, so let's just make the best of it while we can, yeah?"

Inhaling a deep, calming breath, she nods and takes the ice cream out to put in the freezer. "You're right. We still have time, and we still need to talk more about how the whole world is convinced that you and Harry are dating."

I roll my eyes and turn back to my suitcase to focus on packing again. "That's not true in the slightest. Jeff already cleared up the rumors from the Dunkirk after-party, so 'the whole world' should know that I am Harry Styles' stylist and that's all."

Dramatically so, she clears her throat so I turn back to see her looking at her phone now. This oughta be good. "'Wait, but why is he smiling like that?' 'Who is she?' 'What, who is she?' 'No, I'm actually gonna cry', 'This is the worst news', 'Who is she omg?' Should I go on?"

I shake my head. "That was before Jeff responded and said that I'm his new stylist, and his detective fans already figured that out before he even said anything. They know I'm a stylist."

"Okay, but you have to admit that this looks pretty questionable," she's smirking now as she shows me the pictures on her phone that I've been avoiding looking at.

The first one was taken when we were leaving the premiere and he was turning back to smile at me while we were talking. We were both smiling, actually. And the second was taken from inside the after-party. The two of us were standing at a table with our drinks in hand, both of us leaning over slightly to hear each other better, but we were smiling then too. To only myself, I will admit that it looks questionable as Katie already pointed out.