The Replacement Program - Harry Styles

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

            After I started thinking about Harry, I slowly fell asleep. An hour later, I woke up to a slow buzz. I looked around the room and pinpointed my phone on the little nightstand beside my bed. I groggily answered the call with a slow, hoarse greeting. "Wake up! You have a meeting with the photo-shoot people!" Laura said, screaming from the other side. I mentally groaned as I realized I would have to get up, change, and do my makeup before leaving. "What time is this meeting?" I ask, still groggy from my nap. "An hour and a half is when we leave," she responds. I fully wake up when I hear this news.

            "You mean I only have an hour and a half to get ready? I've barely begun unpacking!" I say, shocked. "Well then you better hurry up," is the only thing she says before the line became dead and I begin to hurriedly prepare myself for the meeting. The hour and a half pass quickly, filled with many outfit changes, makeup brushes, and steamy showers.  Time passes quickly and I finish getting ready just as Laura enters my room ready to go. She gives me a once over and smiles, giving me her seal of approval on my outfit.

            We head towards the elevators and wait for them to ascend to our level. As we wait, she goes over the procedures of the meeting, and everything that should or should not happen. The elevator doors ding as they open, and we quickly enter the machine. Laura pulls out her phone, tapping away at it quickly. "How long is the drive going to be?" I ask her as we step out of the elevator into the lobby. "Ten minutes," she responds, briefly glancing up from her device.

            I nod even though I know she isn't paying attention. We walk out onto the streets and wait for Finn to arrive with the car. Laura was still tapping away at her cell phone, so I decided to play the license plate game. I saw a license plate that said 'WHY WALK' which I thought was pretty funny. A minute after, Finn arrived with the sleek black car. I smiled as he opened the door and gestured for me to enter. I got in and scooted over so Laura could come in as well. As soon as she did, Finn shut the door and jogged back to the driver's seat, pulling onto the streets to drive us to the meeting.

            The car ride consisted of glances out the window while listening to the steady thrum of Laura tapping away at her phone. Soon enough, we reached our destination and the car stopped. I glanced up at the building and noticed the large black canopy above the entrance. On it were the words "Destiny Awaits." I laughed at the irony of that statement, seeing as my destiny depended on how this meeting went.

            I inhaled a large gulp of air and began to hop out of the car since Laura was already at the building doors. "Remember, smiles on, and please, best behavior," Laura told me for the millionth time. I fake pouted and responded, "It hurts how much you doubt me." She tried to fake annoyance, but a small smile escaped. The smile gave me some type of reassurance since I was already scared enough.

            I braced myself as she opened the glass doors. As we walked in, we were greeted by a blast of air conditioning, but as we walked forward, a comfortable heat filled the room.

            We stepped up towards a small gray desk, lodged into the corner of the reception area. I observed the women behind the counter. She had blonde hair with brown streaks mangled together, creating the perfect blend of color, something I wished I could have naturally. Her face was small and round, and her eyes were a beautiful blue color. They were outlined by a dark brown Smokey eye effect, which made her eyes look even brighter. Many layers of mascara were coated to her long lashes that had been curled to perfection. Her hair was cut into a bob with her fringe sweeping all the way across her forehead. She was perfect, and I was quite surprised she was a receptionist and not a model.

            As we approached her desk, she was typing away on her keyboard, only glancing up at the screen every few seconds to see the words on the screen in front of her. It wasn't until Laura awkwardly coughed that she tore her gaze away from the screen and acknowledged our presence.

            "Hi, do you have an appointment?" she asked us pleasantly.

I looked at Laura, waiting for her to respond to the receptionist, but she just continues to stare behind the desk with her mouth slightly open. I watch her confusedly before I turn around and see what's making her freak out. As soon as I do, I instantly regret it.

            There standing in all his glory is Harry Styles. My mouth drops as he looks in my direction. As his eyes meet mine, I feel the floor melt away. For a few seconds, his eyes hold level with mine and I see the physical shock my presence has on him. I can hear Laura muttering beside me, but my attention is preoccupied, focused on nothing other than the British heartthrob himself. His body turns, facing my own completely. I am frozen until I see his leg move. He is walking towards me. I freak out, and I begin to look for the nearest exit. I turn around and start speed walking away from him. Behind me, I can hear Finn and Laura, frantically trying to keep their eyes trained on me. I can hear Finn's heavy footsteps tracking my light paces. I can hear Laura pressing Finn to stay on me, but it all begins to fade away as I continue to move, putting more and more distance between myself and Harry, focused on nothing but getting away. I feel myself automatically pushing through men and women in their formal attire, not giving any attention to who I am disrupting in my mission to get out of there as quickly as possible.

     I feel someone grab onto my arm, but I keep moving, assuming Finn had just barely reached me, and continue to trek forwards, increasing my distance and speed. Finally, I see a set of double doors, with an exit sign above them. I ran through them and quickly turned right, only to be met with someone else's body. I push back and fall onto the ground, and see another man held his hand out for me to grab. I grab onto it and stand up, dusting off my jeans, analyzing myself for any bruises or scrapes. "No fucking way," I hear a deep voice say in front of me. I look up and of course, it had to be another member of the boy band. 'So help me God I better get some really good karma for all of this shit,' I think.

     "It's Ella, isn't it?" Liam Payne questions. I nod, shyly. He smiles, baring all of his teeth, "Holy shit, Harry is going to go mad, I can't believe this! Has he seen you? Have you two talked?" He continues to attack me with questions, talking faster and faster the more words he releases. "Oh, fuck, sorry you probably don't even know who I am," I quickly interject, "No, you're Liam Payne, you're one of his bandmates, and I don't mean to be rude but I really have to go," as I say that I begin to walk past him, but he sticks out his arm barricading me in. "Why are you running away? What, are you scared of me or something?" He says it jokingly, but I think my face was enough to let him know that he was partially right about me being scared. I could tell he chose his next words carefully, trying to calculate how I would respond, "He doesn't know you're here, you're running from him, aren't you?" He says it slowly like he's speaking to a child. I nod, not sure what I could possibly say to explain myself.

     "Why would you? I mean, I just don't get it. He was miserable without you, why are you doing this to him?" Here is where I began to get angry at him for attacking me without knowing both sides of the story.  "Excuse me?" I'm about to say more but the door I had previously burst out of opens and Finn slides through. He looks around and spots me, "Thank Jesus you're okay sweetie," and he leans in to hug me. "Laura is holding back Styles so we have to make a move now if you want to make that meeting."

     I looked back at Liam who seemed to be very confused as to what was happening. "I'm sorry but I really do have to go," I told him. He shook his head, "Can we finish this conversation later? Please?" He was practically begging, and I understood his reasoning however it didn't do much to appease my nerves. "Look, I understand," I began to reason with him but instead he cut me off. "I'm staying at the Carmichael Hotel, it isn't too far from here, why don't you meet me after we both finish our meeting and we can talk in private?" Finn interrupts this time, "Ella, we really need to go," he said it in a low tone, trying to help me out of this situation. I smiled at him and looked back at Liam who was waiting for my decision. "Okay, fine, meet me in the lobby after your meeting, alone," I emphasized the alone part of my statement so he would understand not to bring Harry along with him, who would no doubt be looking to find some sort of reconciliation with me.