Meet Me In The Hallway // H.S. ✓

Chapter 12

~Gotta get better, gotta get better~

Harry never had great endurance. The gym wasn't for him, but he had a fast metabolism and loved a good brisk walk through the park so he was pretty fit. But being chased? He was bound to be caught.

Panic set in as he ran through the alleyway, knocking down trash cans to slow the person following him. But she was trained, jumping over them and continuing on like nothing happened. She had great endurance, because she chased people for a living.

As he turned onto a main street, he pulled a rookie mistake. He thought that not running in a straight line would save him, somehow. But it made it easier for him to be tackled. She slapped the handcuffs on him before he could even struggle away.

It was nighttime in London. He was running through the streets of a residential area, but that didn't matter much.

"Please, please don't turn me in." He sobbed to her - Harry was always really emotional. "He hired you, didn't he?" She nodded. "I'll do anything."

"They always say that, kid." She shook her head at him, pulling him to his feet.

Harry was really sobbing now. "If you turn me into him, he will kill me."

"That's not my problem. I turn in people who have broken laws. You're running from your debts."

"And I'll die for that? He's the biggest casino owner in London and he's going to kill me!"

Harry was depressed. The breaking up of the band and his move to London had left him with no friends and no family nearby. Gemma was planning on moving up soon, but not until the summer.

Harry had turned to gambling, since it was hard for him to find a job. He didn't have many skills that would help, and it seemed that there were no openings anywhere. Especially in a city as big as London. He gambled too much, lost too much money, and now he was in trouble.

He kept talking as she walked him back to her car. "His conditions were that if someone were to give me a decent paying job, that he wouldn't kill me. But I've looked all over the city and then some. But no one will hire me! It's almost like they know!"

Harry got onto his knees, begging her. She turned to look at him, knowing that he wouldn't run. "You have to give me a job. At your bounty hunter business, or whatever. Just please...I'm too young."

"You? Scrawny little thing?" She looked him up and down. "You want to be a bounty hunter?"

"I can do paperwork, I can catch people, I can babysit your kids. Whatever you need. All of the money would go to him anyways."

Lou Teasdale hated that one of her clients was the biggest casino owner in London. She never cared to think about what happened to the people she turned back into him, but that did not mean that she did not have a heart. He helped her become a major name in the bounty hunter world, so she owed him something.

But she looked at Harry Styles, and she knew that she couldn't give this teenager to him. Maybe it was his curls. Or his dimples. Maybe his jawline. "Alright." She whispered.

Lou uncuffed him, and he rubbed his wrists. "Thank you." He said, wiping his tears. "Could you give me a ride?"

"Okay," She agreed. "Where to?"

"I live at the homeless shelter right now." Lou took in his appearance - the torn clothes, the ragged curls, and realized.

"You don't have anyone?" She asked, curious.

He did. But he wasn't going to ask his mum or Gemma for help. "Not at the moment. At the beginning of the summer, my sister will move to London and I'll live with her then."

Lou nodded, his mind feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of this knowledge. "You start work in the morning." She handed him a business card with all of the information on it. "Eight o'clock. And not a moment later."

"I'll be there at 7:30." He flashed his white teeth at her. "And again, thank you so so much."

She laughed quietly as she got in the driver's seat.

---

When Lou caught people, she generally brought them straight to the person who asked for them. Who was paying for their return. Harry was to bring people he caught straight to Lou, and she would carry forth from there.

Tom was not his first bounty, and he would not be the last. But the first time Harry brought the tattooed-covered man back to the shop and presented him to Lou, she told him to let him go.

"Lou, that's not how this works." Harry was very confused, and he watched Lou uncuff Tom and escort him out the door.

"See you next time, love." Tom blew a kiss at Lou, resulting in the door slammed shut into his face.

"He has three tries. If I am asked to bring him in now two more times and I catch him, I'm turning him in for real."

"Why do you let him go?" Harry thought she was being an idiot.

"I have a soft spot for ole Tom Atkin," She smiled, and then sat back at her desk. "Take a break, why don't you."

Harry realized that arguing was futile, and he slumped onto the couch. "You're mental," He told her.

"I wouldn't be in this field if I wasn't."

---

Almost exactly one week later, Lou got the report to go and catch Tom. Rather than bring Harry into the middle of that again, she went out and caught him. It wasn't hard. It never was with Tom.

He was waiting for her, same place as always. She silently handcuffed him and brought him back to the office to have a stern talk with him. "Where's your lackey?" He asked. "The curly one."

"On another job," Lou told him. "Don't ask about him."

"I thought you didn't play well with others? Why him?"

"Don't ask about him." Her tone was scathing, and it shut Tom up.

When they got back to the office, the two of them were alone. Coffee bubbled in the background as Lou stared him down and Tom squirmed under her gaze. "What?"

She yelled at him for a good long time about getting into trouble, and he said nothing in return. When Lou felt like she had made her point, she kicked him out after letting him say a couple of things. He characteristically said that he would be a better person, not get into trouble, etc. But they both knew that that was a lie.

When Harry got back to the shop after a long day, he was wiped. He had some coffee, reported his findings, and then took a nap on the couch.

About a week later, he asked about Tom. "Heard from Tom Atkin? The guy your soft on? Has he got into anymore trouble?"

"I have heard from him actually. We talk often."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, extremely curious.

Lou blushed. "We're kind of dating."

Harry screamed.