The meeting started off awkward, I was to blame for that. I kept refusing to cooperate, mostly because they were trying to dispense all rumors by releasing a statement referring to me as ‘an old friend,’ and I refused to be associated with Harry in any form.

“Why can’t we just tell the truth?” I questioned, quirking my eyebrow at the impeccably dressed women in front of me.

I could tell I was making her uncomfortable, because she kept glancing between Harry and the other boy who had decided to accompany him.

“Well...” Harry began to say, looking between the women and I.

“Because, it would paint you like the idiot you really are, right?” I interrupted. The other boy chuckled, but Harry just glared at me.

“Oh, sorry for wanting to apologise for stealing your phone” He bit out.

“You stole her phone!” I glanced at Harry who mirrored my frightened expression.

“Well, he didn’t steal it exactly, I handed it to him...he just sort of used my credit” I whispered.

To say everyone was shocked to see me defending Harry was a complete understatement. I don’t think I’d seen Harry this happy, I smiled back at him and began to compromise as I figured this was the quickest way out of this inquisition.

“Look, if I let you release a statement about us just being friends and that incident being playful, can I leave now?... Like right now?” I looked at the women and she grinned at me, then at Harry and finally at the boy next to Harry who had been smirking between us since I’d gotten here.

“Yes, of course! You just need to sign a few things then you won’t hear from me again” She smiled at me and started to push papers over from her side of the desk.

“Or Harry?” I glanced at him and he remained silent as he stared directly ahead, expressionless.

“Uh...well...” she glanced at Harry then back to me “I can’t really restrict him from talking to who he wants” She sighed.

“That’s right you can’t” He smirked at her then turned to me “But don’t worry, I won’t be coming near YOU again” His friend began to laugh and I finished signing some papers, got my bag and walked out.

Harry’s words rang in my ears as I hastily made my way towards the door. I know it’s hypocritical, I get that, but the way he said it really hurt. I mean I was used to people ditching me from school, and never really holding a strong bond with anyone, but for some reason with him it hurt more then ever. I stood in front of the lift, waiting for it to hurry up and open so I could get as far away from here as possible, but as this week was revealing the Emily Worth of London, England, was much the same as the one from Coastal Australia, Unlucky.

“Emily!” It was him and I was panicking.

I’d always been horrible at faking a smile, so I prayed that those doors would open. As his footsteps got louder my heart rate increased, until finally the door dinged open and I flew into them. I reached for the close door button, but it was too late, his hand prevented me from escaping and I felt like a criminal, trapped.

“Whe-where are you off too?” His eyes roamed my face as he reached for my arm and pulled me out of the lift. I could tell that he could tell that I was upset, but I refused to give him that satisfaction.

“Home?” I scoffed.

“Right, um” He scratched behind his neck as his gaze shifted away from me. I could tell he was avoiding staring at my face.

“Right, cya” I replied before he could speak but the elevator doors were closed. Great. I looked past him as he continued to open and close his mouth without speaking and spotted a staircase. I brushed past him and headed for the stairs, only to be stopped again by his grip on my wrist.

“Look, I never meant to cause all this crap” He gestured around him before looking back at me “and i’m really sorry, I am” he sighed that last part.

“Alright” I turned around again, but he still had my wrist.

“Alright?” He repeated. Sighing, I turned to face him.

“Alright” I confirmed with a nod.

“So, your just going to let it go? Just like that?” His eyes were scrutinizing my face and I started to feel uncomfortable.

“Ye-p” I responded as casually as possibly, whilst slyly trying to remove my hand from his grip. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, no. I just didn’t expect as much from you” Ouch, that hurt.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realise that Harry Styles was an expert on all things Emily Worth” I sarcastically replied.

He was smirking at me now, and his face morphed from its scrutinizing stare to something that made my tummy do flips.

“I’m not, but i’d like to be” He sounded sincere. My breathe caught and before I could even begin to formulate a response to that, we were interrupted.

“Harrrrrryyyyyy!” It was the boy from the meeting. “Hurry up, the lads are waiting.”

Despite being so far away, I noticed he was looking between us, so I quickly attempted to put my arm at my side, only to be halted again by Harry’s grip on my wrist. I looked up at Harry and he was still staring at me with that same stare, a stare so intense it made me question whether he had heard the boy at all.

“Harry, your friend...” I began.

“Harrrryy, hurry the hell up, we’ll be late!” The boy hollered, but Harry’s eyes remained locked on mine.

“Come with us” He all but whispered.

“What? No...Where?” I barely got it out. He laughed at my flustered response and shook his hair out of his eyes, before slowly dragging his fingers from my wrist into my hand.

“We’re going out. Come with us?” He had this spark in his eyes when he said it and I almost said yes...almost.

“I-” I began only to be interrupted by the boy again, this was so awkward.

“Harry just bring her with you, hurry up!” He was shouting loudly now. I went red.

“I’M TRYING LOU, IF YOU WOULD JUST...” Harry had let go of my hand as he gestured wildly at his friend. I took this as my time to escape. I turned and sprinted for the stairs, I could hear Harry yelling out to me but when I hit the street I knew there was no way they could come out this way, it was too busy to go unnoticed. I told myself that this was a good thing, that i’d gotten out before I was dragged to another confined space with Harry Styles, but It didn’t touch my heart.

I’d escaped him and I was free to go back to my normal existence, what i’d been wanting to do from the start, so why did I feel so empty?