Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter One.

As he climbed up the stairs of the fancy hotel he could hardly pronounce the name of, his mother clinging onto his arm, he already began to feel himself sweat nervously. The ball was set to begin shortly and the pressure was on.

He knew what was expected of him during these sorts of events. He knew he was going to have to make small talk with the towns people and act like he had no idea he was under harsh scrutiny from every single one of them. He knew even minor slip-ups would earn him judgmental glares and a whack in the back of his head from his mother later on after the party was over, and that was a lot of pressure.

He swallowed down his own fears and wiped his sweaty palms off before entering the building behind his parents. They were welcomed by a servant who steered them in the direction of the ballroom, hidden behind two large wooden doors on the left. They were opened by the man, allowing the family to pass through into the room the nights events would occur in.

He had been there before. It looked the same as any other year, big, heavy velvet curtains draping off of windows that reach the high ceilings, multiple circular tables scattered across the room with beautiful center pieces and more dinnerware than anyone could ever use in one sitting. Each seat had tiny cards placed in front of them with the name of the person who would sit there scrawled neatly onto the parchment.

A small stage was off toward the front of the room where the auction would take place, an ten piece orchestra playing music for entertainment in the meantime. A bar for attendees to purchase their drinks, which already had drawn a small crowd, was set off to the side of the room behind an open space to be used as a dance floor. Everything was set up to look fancy, the whole event screamed money. That was normal to Harry, he'd attended those events his whole life.

He and his family made their rounds, greeting everyone who had managed to arrive before they had. It was a long and drawn out endeavor and he heard more than a few long stories about things he didn't really care about all that much, though he was still polite and nodded along as if he were interested. People love to talk about themselves, and lucky for them, Harry was a listener.

As time passed on, more and more people piled into the room. He watched them all, and soon, when the ball was set to commence and the room had filled up, he began to really feel the pressure.

When he sat down in his seat, he was pleased to find that the Payne family would be sitting with his. They were kind, loving people. Not a bad word could be said about the bunch, especially not their son, Liam. Harry had grown up alongside him and they'd formed a close friendship from an early age that carried on for years and years, through childhood and into their teens. Harry happily took his seat across from him.

He looked around the room, seeing the people who he'd been living to impress for years and years. The room was filled with familiar faces, many of them known from school.

He spotted the Malik family sitting with the Tomlinson's, seeing a raven haired boy conversing with the eldest of the Tomlinson daughters. Zayn was someone who intimidated Harry and he'd go his whole life without ever having to speak to him if he could. He had a sort of daunting persona that rubbed Harry the wrong way, and as a result he never really got to know him very well. Harry did not miss the empty seat at that table. It was obvious to him as he scanned his eyes over that someone's presence was missing, and he was aware of why.

The Tomlinson family had a son, one from Mrs. Tomlinson's previous marriage, who had recently been a subject of the towns gossip. He had come out as gay to his mother just over two months prior, which she didn't take very well. She'd supposedly kicked him out of the house and cut all ties with him. He hadn't heard much about Louis since, other than the occasional offensive slur thrown out whenever his name was mentioned. He didn't want to believe a mother would do that to her son, but the evidence was right before his eyes in the form of an empty seat. He quickly turned away.