Personal Assistant ➵ H.S.

17

The next day you woke up and, for the first time in what felt like forever, you were actually looking forward to going into work.

You felt like you'd finally broken through this rough patch with Harry; his simple gesture had unexpectedly been all you'd needed to realise things could still be patched up between you both. Although you were still hurting, as feelings didn't just turn off overnight, you felt happy to move forward with just a friendship. And anyway, you were meeting Damon tonight so your dating prospects were not entirely bleak; you and Harry had just missed your time, and you had to be okay with that.

It was swelteringly hot today, not always common in June but you loved the glorious sunshine - unless you were stuck in a high-rise office, as you currently were. Today had also been a slow day, nothing much occurring so you found yourself aimlessly scrolling through holiday websites and online shopping.

By lunchtime an idea struck you - to carry on repairing your friendship with Harry you thought grabbing lunch together somewhere outside would be a nice thing to do. So you grabbed your bag and walked up to his office door, fist raised ready to knock just as the door swung open.

"Oh!" You stepped back in surprise as Harry yelped in shock. You immediately burst out laughing at the noise that had just left his lips; how could such a girlish scream come from such a manly man?

"Cecelia, don't laugh you scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry Harry, but that noise..." you trailed off as laughter overtook you again, until you became the embarrassed one as a snort slipped from your mouth.

Now it was Harry turn to laugh out loud, "Might've sounded like a girl but at least I didn't snort!"

Your cheeks warmed substantially in a blush, but you eventually couldn't resist but join in with Harry's laughter; the way his eyes crinkled up and his mouth opened in a wide boyish smile was completely contagious, and downright beautiful not to mention.

Once the laughter died down you began to speak, "I was just coming to see if you wanted to go and grab lunch outside somewhere since it's such a beautiful day," you held your bag in front of you with both hands, one coming up to unconsciously tuck your hair behind your ear as you smiled shyly up at him.

"Funny you say that, I was just coming to ask you the same thing," he said returning your shy smile, his eyes glistening with happiness at the fact you wanted to have lunch with him; it was the little things.

"Perfect."

◇

After some silly bickering over choosing what to eat, you finally settled on a little sushi place just down the block. You found a shaded bench under a large blossom tree on the outskirts of Central Park and settled down to begin your lunch.

"Oh, so I forgot to mention to you - well actually you might already know about it since you control all my calendars," he chuckled sheepishly, "But there is this big company weekend coming up for the Fourth of July where everyone - all the employees, our clients etcetera - go down to the Hamptons for a massive...piss up, pretty much."

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure Emmy mentioned it to me once when she went last year with Niall, we get Friday and Monday off for it too right?"

"Yeah, it's a proper big thing, usually have a formal meal one night then some stupid games, fireworks, karaoke you know the drill,"

"Ooh karaoke!! I love karaoke,"

"Why am I not surprised," he said laughing, as he popped a piece of sushi in his mouth.