Guarded

08

A/N: We finally see a chapter from Harry's POV. I hope you like this one. I had fun writing it and you gives you some more insight as to why he is the way he is :) Thanks for all the comments so far. Keep reading, voting and commenting. <3

Harry’s POV

I was floating on cloud nine with Annaleise by my side as we told the boys and her friend Lizzy we were going to finish out our respective commitments until October and then reconvene and sort out what exactly was going on between us. Of course, the boys and Lizzy were all supportive.

I had a drink dumped on me by Hayley but I got to see Annaleise laugh gleefully when two security guards escorted her out and that was worth it for me. It was definitely worth getting a drink dumped on my head to see her smile. Anything was worth that beautiful smile.

I didn’t plan on the night turning out like this. I was a bit sad it was our last concert in Los Angeles but even sadder at the thought of leaving the city where I knew she lived and was.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I walked into the hotel room a few days ago and she was actually there. It was almost like a dream, you know? Like one of those surreal moments where you have an out of body experience and then you snap back to reality, but then you realize that it’s actually real and happening and you’re not sure how to process. That’s exactly how I felt.

It was all those years of keeping all my feelings inside that let to my word vomit and weirdness around her. I had finally dealt with my anger towards her for leaving me about a year after it actually happened. My mum had encouraged me to pick up singing again.

I had kind of stopped when I started dating Annaleise even though I would sing to her every once in a while. But I always pretended to be a bad singer so she wouldn’t make me do it all the time. And, as I’m sure you know, once we came in second place on the X Factor, it was history from that moment on.

But Annaleise was destined to reappear in my life. We were doing some small tours around the UK. I think I was about 17 at the time. Niall was obsessed with watching American television and would download the shows to watch on his laptop all the time in between different venues. I rarely paid attention until he started rambling about this new show with this smoking hot blonde on it.

Always interested in checking out some of the opposite sex, I obliged him and watched an episode with him and it hit me then that the smoking hot blonde was my ex-brunette ex-girlfriend with an American accent. The resemblance was uncanny but I knew it couldn’t be Annaleise.

It wasn’t until the credits rolled at the ended and Niall clapped me on the shoulder. “Archer Grey, man, I’d love to see what she looks like under that dress.”

I shrugged off of him, disgusted at the idea of him seeing Annaleise naked. But I knew it wasn’t Annaleise so what did it matter to me? I played with the name in my head for the rest of that day. Archer Grey. Annaleise’s last name was Archer. So maybe there was a chance.

“Let me see that man.” I snatched Liam’s iPad out of his hand.