Remember Me [harry styles] ✓

18 - Tabloids and teens

  "I wish you were here with me, 'cause right now everything is new to me."  

"You're famous!" Penny's blood-curdling screech cancels out the chime of the bell above the door and I look up just in time to see my teenage colleague throwing herself over the threshold. 

"Pardon?" I say with a wince. It's too early for an octave that high, especially when I was up until the early hours of the morning chatting with Eve. I hadn't known what to do with myself upon landing in Melbourne; I'd text Harry to say I'd arrived home, dropped a bag of goodies off with my mother as a thank you for watering my plants, tried not to cry when Harry had replied to say he'd also landed and was missing me, and then upon realising I'd broken my promise to Eve regarding calling her immediately - had decided to visit her instead. Cue to stumbling through my front door six hours later full of pink moscato and Caramello Koalas.

A glossy rectangle of colours flaps around in Penny's outstretched hand and I squint at it wearily. "Famous." She repeats, somewhat breathlessly. "You made the front cover of New Idea."

I blink slowly as her words register in my head; attempting to contemplate what this means, but all I can think about is the fact that I don't remember seeing her name on today's rota or in the overtime book. If I'd known, perhaps I would have pulled a sickie, because the level of hungover I'm experiencing right now will one hundred percent not tolerate any fangirl, gossipy interrogation bullshit that's bound to come out of her mouth over the duration of the next eight hours. 

Penny's barely reached the other side of the counter before I've leaned over it and snatched the magazine from her grasp. Judging by the slightly grainy, zoomed-in image taking over a good chunk of the page - she's quite right. I have indeed made the front cover of New Idea. Harry's laughing with his arm draped across the shoulders of the girl beside him. She's smiling down at the ground but she's quite clearly me.  

Harry Styles Spotted With Mystery Woman in Sydney

Oh, shit. 

It was taken at the botanical gardens, and if I recall correctly, this was the moment I had told him about my goldfish serial killings and he had called me a dork. 

Of course I'd known this was a possibility. Of course paparazzi are going to be lurking around him, waiting for any opportunity to get the snapshot that enables them to bring home the bacon. But even so, it's a shock to the system. One that sends my erratically beating heart plummeting into the floor of my stomach. 

"I just knew something was going on between you two." Penny exclaims, pointing at the photograph and beaming down at me as I stand hunched over the counter. It takes all of my will power not to whack her on the head with the damn thing. 

"Trust me, Penny, you haven't got a clue." I mutter under my breath as my head pounds like an incessant beating against my skull. Of all the days to make the news, it had to be this one. I regret every single time Eve topped up my wine glass. Every single damn time. 

The door chimes again and over Penny's right shoulder, my boss steps into view. He wipes his maroon Birkenstocks on the doormat, despite the pavement being nothing other than bone-dry outside, and assesses the scene before him. 

"Luca!" Penny trills and whirls around to face the man who looks as though he's about to read her the riot act. "Luca - your employee is famous. Juniper is famous." 

Luca doesn't look nearly as excited about this newsflash as Penny. I know he's probably wondering why only one of us is wearing their apron and why the other hasn't even put their belongings in the staff room yet, given that we open for business in a mere five minutes. His eyes drift to meet mine in brief shared moment of pure bewilderment, before immediately returning to the practically bouncing redhead standing between us.