The Fangirl Next Door - h.s

Chapter 11: extended meet and greet.

A/N: this is Lucy's outfit she gets!

I pace my floor, the floor I can hardly see anymore, the floor that is now covered in clothes, but it's not only the floor, it's the bed, and the closet, and most of the bathroom too. What the hell do I wear tomorrow? They are all used to hot models, and super famous celebrities, I am a trash can that doesn't compare, so how am I supposed to fit in? I also haven't seen Harry since he filmed my video, so what if he doesn't want me to come anymore? What if he hates me? What if he is moving right now as we speak? I feel like my mind is going to explode, this would be so much easier if I wasn't going backstage, and if I was normal and just picked out an outfit. The door swings open and Cora stops in her tracks.
"Um... You know what I'm not going to ask. I was going to tell you Harry is here, now I regret coming up here, goodbye." She walks out and minutes later Harry takes her place and his face is the same, full of confusion at the sight of me sitting in a pile of clothes on my bedroom floor.
"What are you doing?" He asks simply, staying put in the doorway.
"Having a mental breakdown, what does it look like I'm doing?" I throw my hands up and he looks at his phone checking the time.
"How long have you been sitting here? Lucy have you eaten at all today?" He finally enters, extending his arms to help me up.
"Well if it's six then that means i've been here for about... all day." I mumble, looking through clothes on my bed.
"Please tell me this isn't about tomorrow..." I can hear the amusement in his tone, and I bet money if I turned around his stupid face would have that adorable little smirk on it.
"Of course this is about tomorrow, I need to look good so your friends will approve of me, they're used to models, I'm the farthest thing from that." I throw my hands up, turning to walk past him towards the next pile of clothes, but I'm stopped and held by my shoulders in front of him.
"Lucky, you're the prettiest girl I've seen. Not that it matters, none of this matters to them, or me, just wear something normal, something you." He tells me and I sigh loudly, and way too dramatically.
"Me is too boring." I tell him pulling away.
"No, you're not, and next on the list is getting you out of here, I've got something to show you." He pulls me back and I knit my eyebrows together, instantly nervous.
"Shouldn't you be rehearsing, or going to a fitting, or doing something that famous people do before they have a show?" I cross my arms and look up at him.
"I have rehearsed, and we don't do fittings, I wear what I want on stage most of the time. We've been over this, famous people do the same things normal people do." He laughs and I sigh.
"Okay, well I need to figure out what I'm wearing for tomorrow, no, I need to go shopping, I need something new, CORA!" I yell and he just laughs.
"Okay my surprise can wait, let's go shopping." He tells me and I stop in my tracks.
"No! I can't go in public with you! I'll get mobbed, I'll get attacked, they will hate me. What will my subscribers think? What will your fans think? What will the boys think, what about management? What about-" Harry stops me once more.
"What about not caring what they think and coming shopping with me and your best friend? It's just shopping, we'll be okay, I even looked at that update account and they haven't said anything about me or where I am so we're in the clear." He smiles and Cora walks in.
"What?" She asks from the door.
"I have nothing to wear tomorrow." I confess to her and her eyes fall straight to the floor along with Harry's.
"Are you blind? Should I call a doctor?" Cora asks motioning to the floor.
"None of it's good enough, I need a good outfit." I whine.
"Okay so let's go get you an outfit, come on." She waves her hand and I jump to the door. "Is boyband coming with us?" She asks me.
"Cora you can ask him yourself." I groan.
"Okay, boyband, are you coming with us?" She asks and he nods.
"We're taking your car then, I don't care which one, they're all more expensive than this house so whatever you choose will be great." She boasts and I smack her shoulder. I swear her filter was lost at child birth.
"I'm sorry for her, she's annoying, I'm sure you've already noticed though." I smile up at him and he rolls his eyes, running into his house to grab the keys. Moments later he backs out of the driveway a Tesla, a fucking Tesla, good god. I open the door and sit get in the passenger seat, Cora getting in the back.
"The windows are dark, that way no one knows it's me in here, does that make you feel better?" He asks, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. Fuck me, Harry Styles is holding my fucking hand, while we sit in his Tesla, this is so unreal.
"I'm would say yes, but I don't know how to, I don't speak rich." I joke and Cora laughs. "You are incredibly annoying Lucy." He jokes back and I laugh once his smile creeps across his face. Not to be that girl but hot damn he looks good when he's driving, his hair pulled back into a bun, a sweatshirt and shorts on. He looks out of place in his attire, he's normally more dressed up than this, but that makes it all the better because then he won't be noticed as easily.
We drive and of course Harry lets me play music and we arrive to the line of shops, today being Thursday, meaning it shouldn't be too busy. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous as hell, being in public with him for the first time is a big step.
"Let's go in here first." Cora pulls us into a store right off the bat, making me try on outfit after outfit, and we continue this in multiple shops, not being stopped once. "Okay this, this is perfect, please buy it." Cora stands in the dressing room looking at me. I turn to look in the mirror and I do like it, more than I thought I would.
"Let me see!" I hear from outside the door.
"No! Wait till tomorrow!" I call out and hear him groan. I take the outfit off and we all head to the checkout, but right before I take my card out Harry steps in front of me and swipes. "Why did you do that!" I argue as the receipt prints.
"It's not a big deal, I wanted to." He looks over his shoulder at me, smirking.
"You didn't have to do that, I have my own money you know." I'm not angry, more annoyed I'd say. He has a lot of money, but the last thing I want is for him to think this is all I want. I don't need him to buy me things, or spend all his money on me, that's not who I am.
"I didn't have to, but I figured since it's my fault you're worried about tomorrow the least I could do is pay for it." He shrugs his shoulders, and holds the bag in his hand as we head to the front of the store. My phone vibrates and once I look at the screen my heart sinks.
"Harry..." I show him the Harry Styles update account notification and his face goes flat. I pull out the picture and I'm not surprised to see a picture of him walking into a store, me in front of him, the caption reading "Harry out in L.A today, the people he's with haven't been specified yet." They don't know who I am yet but it'll be seconds before.... Yep. I look at the comments and my name is everywhere, everyone knows it's me, they all have differing opinions, mostly happy ones, but not all of them.
"Let's go to the car and back home, we almost made it unnoticed." He laughs, how can he laugh, we could get mobbed in two seconds and he is still smiling. We start walking towards the parking lot and low and behold we are stopped for pictures. A few girls, they ask me to take them and I do happily, knowing for a fact I would have been one of them a few weeks ago.
"Wait you're Lucy! I subscribe to you on youtube!" One of the girls tells me and I smile to her.
"Thank you for subscribing, it means a lot!" I tell her and she looks between me and Harry. Yea trust me girl I know, it's just as crazy to you as it is to me. We take a photo as well and then within seconds we're back to the car and I haven't said one word.
"Lucy are you okay?" Cora asks from the back seat of the car.
"Can we just go home?" I ask. No words are said the entire way, just us sitting in an awkward silence. Once we're in the driveway we all get out of the car and Cora starts for the door.
"It's been fun, I'm leaving you two alone now because I don't wanna be in the middle of this, but I'll be inside if you need me Luce." Cora waves bye to us and walks off, leaving us alone.
"Lucy, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think-" He starts, grabbing my hands.
"We didn't think. That's the thing, we didn't think about going out in public together, because people who like each other shouldn't have to do that. You being who you are and me having the job I do makes this nearly impossible. You have to know that, we were dumb to think this was going to be fun and easy, because this isn't going to be fun or easy at all Harry." I cross my arms over my chest, and I don't want to look at him, because I know for a fact whenever I do he won't be smiling, which is a sight I'm not used to.
"Lucy, it's just one time, and that's just how it is when I go out, if I could change it I would, but I can't change it." He urges on, his voice obviously hurt.
"It's not just one time. I know for a fact when I walk back in that house and when I unlock my phone it will be going crazy, the mean things that will be said about me. You're trained to take that kind of stuff, I'm not. I'm not the same as you," I fight back.
"No you're not the same as me, you're-" I cut him off.
"I'm normal. Yea I know Harry, I get it, I'm your piece of normal. But no one else sees me as that, they see me as some girl, just another girl. If this continues, I won't be normal, and I don't like the thought of that." I tell him, still looking at my feet.
"Lucy, I know you're upset but this isn't a normal feeling for me, I like you, I like spending time with you, the fans always die down, you should know that of all people." He continues to inch forward.
"I know that that's not true. I still see things about Taylor and Kendall to this day Harry, and a lot of the fans liked them, imagine what will happen if they see me and they hate me." I finally look up at him and his face is blank, stern, and I know he's upset.
"They're not you, this is different." He fights back, his voice never raising at me, never angered.
"It's not different to the fans, they don't know about the fake girlfriends, they don't know about anything, and they can't know." Silence washes over the two of us as we look at each other. His eyes are pleading, begging almost. "I'm going inside. I'll see you tomorrow." I tell him, walking away, leaving him in his driveway. I walk straight to my room, not stopping to see Cora, going straight to my bed. Hours pass and I've felt my phone vibrating from a call or a text but I haven't bothered to check, knowing it could be from Harry, knowing I don't want to look because it will only upset me more. Soon enough my bedroom door opens and it's not Harry, or Cora, it's Ian.
"You are everywhere on social media right now Lu, which I'm guessing you already know." He notices me, my messy hair, and smudged makeup. I nod and he sits on the edge of the bed.
"What does he have to say about it?" He throws his hand in the direction of Harry's house.
"Says it's normal, says it will die down." I mumble.
"Lu, I'm not trying to play devil's advocate here but you can't let other people determine your happiness. This is like a dream come true and for you to just end it because people saw you in public is almost a crime." He urges on and I wasn't planning on ending anything, I just needed time alone, time to think to myself for a little bit.
"I'm not ending anything. I just don't know what to do about it, every time I make a youtube video people will know now, and it will be so weird to everyone, including me, I know it's weird, it feels weird talking about him to my camera as if I don't know him, but I signed that confidentiality agreement, meaning no one can really know anything about how we met, or what's going on." I sit up, pulling myself together a bit.
"Why don't you go and see him. I'm here to stay with Cora tonight, but I needed to talk to you first, make sure you weren't going to leave him hanging." He smirks to me and I shake my head no.
"I don't want to see him tonight. I'll see him tomorrow." I tell him and Ian stands up.
"Do whatever makes you happy Lu. I'm sorry though, I really am. Just try your best to stay off of social media right now, you know how it is." He points at me, giving me the signature smile, that never fails to make me smile too. As soon as he's gone I pick up my phone and I was right, a few texts from Harry appear on my screen.
"I'm sorry Lucky, I really am."
"Please don't be mad at me."
"I'm giving you however much space you want, but my door is open if you need me."
"Wait, please don't tell me you're not coming tomorrow, please come, you don't even have to come backstage."
"This silence is killing me, just one text, that's all." I read all of them and I groan, never did I think any of this would be happening.
"I'm not mad at you, just too lazy to get out of bed at this point, and yes I'm still coming tomorrow, I'm sorry I left like I did, just needed some time alone." I type back and send it. I don't think I could ever be mad at him. He's Harry Styles for christ sake. He's practically perfect in every way, even more so now that I know him. I get out of bed, washing my face off and throwing my hair up, returning to my room to my drawers and putting on sleep clothes. I see a specific t-shirt in my drawer and smirk to myself. It's only fitting considering I am going to their show tomorrow. I throw on the OTRA tour shirt that one of my subscribers sent, leaving my lower half only covered by underwear and crawl back into bed, still avoiding my phone. The door opens and I turn to see Harry, arms full of candy.
"You had your time alone, now it's time for me." He smiles wide and I know I told Ian I didn't want to see him tonight but this is perfect. He piles the junk food on my bed and sits down next to me, his hand resting on my knee. "I'm sorry for today, I really should have known that it would turn out this way, but I also didn't take into account that my fans are also your fans, and they would know who you were." His fingers begin tracing on my leg, just like they always do.
"I'm sorry for getting so upset, I should have known too, I am one of your fans, meaning I know how they are." I tell him, and he smirks as he thinks of something, I know whatever it is I'm about to roll my eyes.
"You're much more than one of my fans Lucky, you're my girl." He tells me and I swear I feel butterflies burst from my entire body and fly all over the room. "If that's what you want." He adds quickly at the end.
"Trust me, I want it." I laugh and he pulls at the tshirt on my body.
"I like this." He smirks to himself, amused like usual.
"I didn't expect to have company, and either way, I'm going to see you in concert tomorrow so I thought it was only fitting." I fight back.
"It's not fitting, the shirt I mean." He tugs at the hem of it, that hardly covers my lower half and I roll my eyes, just as I thought I would.
"Well if it's a problem I can always just put pants on." I start to get up until hands reach around my waist pulling me back down.
"You wouldn't dare." He argues.
"Can I braid your hair?" I ask, an urge randomly popping into my head.
"Lucy, I have been waiting for the day you ask me that." He jokes and I hop up on my knees, pulling his hair from the bun and running my hands through it. I've only touched his hair a few times, and I swear I die every time. It's softer than I ever imagined, and definitely never being cut while I'm here. I start to braid it, weaving in and out with my fingers, the two of us laughing and talking while I do so, only braiding one side so I can give him two little pigtails, when the door flies open.
"Lucy I- This was not what I was expecting and I am officially weirded out." Cora chimes and Ian stands beside her.
"I want my hair braided, maybe I should grow mine out." I scrunch my face to Ian as he speaks and Cora does the same. "What? He has long hair, why can't I?" He defends, but only looks to Cora.
"There's only about three percent of the male population that look good with hair that long, you would not be one of them." Cora pats his chest and I laugh at the blatant hurt on his face.
"I think I would look hot." Ian crosses his arms as I continue to braid.
"Do it man, women never know what they're talking about." I glare at him and tug a little harder on the specific strand I'm on. "Ow, Lucky." He whines and touches the top of his head.
"Whoops, my hand slipped." I smirk at Cora and she gives me a thumbs up.
"We're going to get something to eat, we're hungry." Cora tells me and I look at my phone.
"Cora it's almost two in the morning." I laugh, focusing back on Harry.
"It's two in the morning and Cora is hungry, I'm not seeing a problem. We'll be back." Cora starts to walk away.
"Bye! Also, you have cool hair, but you're not allowed to fuck my sister, just saying." Ian points at Harry and my blood boils.
"IAN GET THE FUCK OUT, NOW!" I scream, feeling more than embarrassed in this moment. Harry only laughs, mostly at my anger, but it's not funny, saying shit like that in front of Harry, is completely and one hundred and ten percent off limits. I finish braiding the other side and tie it off, turning him to me. "Oh yes, I'm sure the boys would love this look." I joke, seeing him smile at me.
"They already give me enough grief for the long hair, I don't need any more from braiding it." He jokes, as I pull my phone out to take photos of him.
"Come on, give me a big smile." I joke but he complies, smiling widely and giving me a thumbs up. This, this is so weird. The amount of pictures I have of him on my phone is too big of a number to say, but none of them are photos I have taken, until now.
"Alright you had your fun, now take them out and we can watch a film." He motions for me to come back to him and I do, letting his hair fall back over his shoulders. We watch a movie I don't remember the title of, but it wasn't important, what was important was the fact that I fell asleep in Harry's arms for the second night, and the fact that in a few short hours, my best friend and I would be going to see him live in concert, meeting him backstage and meeting One Direction for the first time.