Harry’s POV

I did everything right this time around.

After that failed attempt of being seen with Jess in public leaving the club last night, Sven pretty much went ape shit on me. He told me that the reason he hired Jess in the first place was to make me look good, and that what we did was the stupidest move especially early on in this “relationship”. I explained to him that nothing actually happened, that I was just being nice in offering to give Jess a ride home. Sven told me he didn’t care and said that either way the world didn’t care either.

I was photographed leaving a club late at night with a girl no one knew, and she was seen hopping into my car. Apparently that automatically means that I’m a manwhore and that she was my “conquest” of the night. Sven said the whole thing sent out the wrong message to the world and that I had to fix it before the plan completely fails.

So I did. It was my idea to take Jess out on a “proper” date even though Sven and Alice arranged it. I chose the restaurant, they tipped off the paparazzi. I guess this is how it’s going to be like from now on. I’m glad that Sven doesn’t completely control the “relationship” though. At least we have a bit more freedom on what to do for dates and stuff. My plan is to work really well with Jess so Sven backs off a little bit then hope that from there things will be okay and this relationship won’t extend longer than the contract.

To her credit, Jess did look different when I picked her up today. The lace dress thing she was wearing looked really good on her, and she gave me a shy smile when she opened the door. She was definitely more “date” ready and sober this time, which helped. I was quite nervous as I waited for her to open the door, to be honest. It was almost like this was really going to be a real date and I was freaking out because I didn’t want to fuck it up.

Thankfully, the date ran smoothly. Well as smoothly as two strangers in a romantic contract’s first date could be. The dinner itself was lovely and it was refreshing to see that Jess actually ordered the steak. Maybe that’s because she wasn’t trying to impress me at all by ordering a salad or something? I ordered the steak too and some pasta. Man that meal was good! I thought about texting Niall about all the amazing food I was eating but I didn’t want to be rude and bring my cell phone out in case someone was watching our table closely.

We talked about safe topics – the weather, where Jess was from, where I was from, her job, her friends, and when things got slightly awkward, we talked about how good the food was.

Overall it was awkward at times and not exactly amazing, but highlight of the night though was what happened after dinner.
The dinner only lasted for about an hour with Jess and I being too full to order dessert. We were kind of just sitting there wondering what to do next, asking some random questions (“Are you sure you don’t want dessert? Some wine?”) and trying to pass time until it’s acceptable for us to leave.

“Now what?” I finally asked, addressing the elephant in the room.

“I don’t know,” Jess said, “I haven’t really been to many dates to know what to do. What do you usually do on dates?”

“Well I haven’t really been on a date like this before.”

I watched as her face fell the minute I said this and I mentally kicked myself for saying that. Nice one, Harold. Dick.

“I mean, we could go do something else?” I suggested, trying to distract from what I just said.

“Yeah, I guess so. Should we just go then?” she asked as she stood up from the chair and gathered her purse.

We went to go settle the bill and I saw her bring out her wallet. “Don’t worry about it, Jess. I got this.”

She looked like she was about to say something, and I had a feeling she was going to bring up how Sven was probably paying for this date but she bit her tongue.

Once the bill has been taken care of, we stood by the door planning our next move. It wasn’t even 9 o’clock yet and already we were at a loss.

“What do you want to do? We could go for a walk?” I asked, slightly annoyed that our date wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s not that I was expecting anything, but I hoped for something a bit more fun and less “work”.

“I was going to this outdoor cinema thing tonight if I didn’t have to go to this, but it doesn’t start till 9:30. We can make it, if you’re keen?”

I agreed to it. I figured that at least when we’re watching a movie, we didn’t have to talk. Then afterwards we would actually have something to talk about. This plan could potentially be the solution to get us feeling less awkward with each other.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said and opened the door for her.

_

The outdoor cinema was held in a little private garden in Hyde Park. Jess told me that this outdoor cinema was organised by a company called Secret Cinema that travels around the country with a projector and a surprise movie. Only people who have signed up to the newsletter or something get alerted on the day that it’s happening in their area.

I was intrigued. As far as first dates go, this is something I’ve never done before. I don’t think I’ve been to an outdoor film showing either. I don’t know what to expect, but I quite like the idea of it. It reminds me of how things were like back in the day.

There weren’t a lot of cars around and we got a park really close to the entrance.

“Are you sure it’s happening tonight?” I asked Jess, “it doesn’t look like there’s much people around.”

“Well it is a secret cinema. And the movie’s probably starting now so they’re all in there.”

I turned the engine off and brought my phone out. I had the bright idea of texting Sven and Alice so I could tell them where we were. I knew they would tip off the paparazzi straight away, and that this was the kind of opportunity they wanted in publicizing our fake relationship.

I was right. Just seconds later, I felt my phone vibrate. Sven was obviously keeping tabs on us judging by how fast his reply was.

“Great! That’s what I’m talking about, Harry. Well done! Have a great night. Cheers, Sven.”

“Are you ready?” I asked Jess and she nodded.

We made our way to the park and followed the signs to find the outdoor cinema. It was quite dark although I could see some light at the end of the path. It didn’t look like the film was starting yet, judging from the music that was still playing. We reached the end of the footpath and came face to face with the set-up.

The park was bigger than I thought, and there were way more people than I expected. There was a big projector screen set up and from a distance, I can see the silhouette of the people already camped in front of it.

We walked around the crowd to find a spot for us to sit with a good view. I realised how unprepared we were coming into this. A lot of the people sitting had their own portable chairs or blankets. Jess and I have neither of those things and the night is getting colder and the grass presumably will be a bit damp.

“Where do you want to sit?” I asked Jess as we looked around to find a spot.

“I don’t really mind. I just wanna get a good view of the movie,” she said, “should we just sit here?”

“Yeah, okay.”

I watched as she carefully sat down – she put her bag down first before inching closer to the ground.

“Hey wait, the ground might be damp. You might ruin your dress!” I tried stopping her.

“I don’t have anything else with me! It will probably just wash off or something.”

“Here, sit on this,” I said as I started taking my blazer off for her to sit on so her dress won’t get ruined.

“I don’t wanna ruin your blazer either! Seriously I’m fine.”

“Okay then.”

Just as I was about to sit down, I noticed a tiny stall in the corner lit by fairylights. Some delicious smells were coming from it and I couldn’t resist it any longer. I know we’ve just had dinner, but the hot chocolate was calling my name.

“I’ll be right back,” I said to Jess.

I walked over to the stall and looked at the treats that were in front of me. I ordered two hot chocolates, a brownie, and this banana loaf thing that looked amazing. Since the stall was illuminated only by tiny lights, no one could really recognise me. I found the anonymity refreshing and perhaps this was the first time that I’ve been able to be in a public place without really getting recognised. I hate saying it because I don’t want to sound cocky, but it’s kind of nice to be normal again.

I sat down beside Jess but almost dropped the brownie to the ground. Niall always makes fun of me because I often hold a lot of things at the same time and juggle them, and he’s been telling me that one day I will just drop something at the wrong time and fail.

“Hot chocolate? And I don’t know if you’re hungry but I got a brownie and this banana cake thing.”

“Thanks! I guess a movie wouldn’t be complete without treats!”

“Yeah. I really wish we brought blankets though. It’s kind of cold.”

“I guess it’s a YOLO kind of evening,” Jess said, surprising me.

“Did you just say YOLO?”

“This is embarrassing. I just did.”

I had to laugh at that. I must say, Jess is starting to surprise me. After dating in the entertainment world for a while now, it’s refreshing to be spending time with a normal girl that wasn’t my sister or my friends. Just before I could say anything about that, the opening credits to the movie started.

“Oh my god,” Jess whispered excitedly, “this is one of my favourite movies! I watch it every year on my birthday.”

I’ve never seen this nor have I ever heard of it before. Let’s hope I make it through without getting bored.

_

“But the last part though!”

The movie just finished and Jess was buzzing with excitement. I could tell she really loved the movie because she wouldn’t shut up about it.

“I gotta admit that was yeah, pretty awesome.” I had to agree with her. I was worried the movie was going to be boring but it was not what I expected. I think I just developed a curiousity with 80s movies.

“That part when he says “Make a wish” and she was all like, “it already came true” really makes me cry.”

“Did you?” I asked.

“Did I what?”

“Cry tonight?”

“Tears may have been shed. . .” she admitted.

I laughed at that. Tonight has taken a very unexpected turn and I found myself being relaxed around Jess for the first time ever. It was getting late and a lot colder, though, and I was really keen to move somewhere warm. I stood up first, this time carefully balancing the empty cups of hot chocolate to throw away. I held out my hand for Jess to grab while she stands.

“Thanks!” she said as she straightened her dress.

“Shall we?”

There was quite a going out of the venue. All around us I could hear people talk about the movie excitedly! We followed the crowd to the now dark path back to where the cars were packed.

Again, I felt people squeezing past me, and my instinct was to hold on to someone just in case things would get to rowdy like in the past where I got mobbed. So I reached for Jess’ waist and pulled her a bit closer to me. I felt her stiffen, then relax as we inched past the crowd.

“It’s been a pretty great evening! That brownie was one of the highlights of my night.” I could feel her slightly smiling as she said that.

“Yeah. I’ve always wanted to go to an outdoor cinema. I wish this happened more,”

As we were nearing the end of the path, I could hear a commotion happening outside. Then I heard clicks, some yelling, and an excited buzz. As soon as we stepped back on the concrete, I saw it. The lights were almost blinding after staying in the dark for so long, the yelling was deafening after hearing silence for a couple of hours saved for the movie.

“Harry! Look ‘ere. Who is this? Is she your girlfriend?”

The crowd started getting excited too, and I could feel hands yanking my arm and I could hear people calling out to me.

“Harry! Harry!!” I heard.

“Hey girls!” I said politely and waved. I looked over to Jess to see if she was alright but her head was down so I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I tightened my grip around her waist and slowly stirred her to the direction of where we were parked.

I looked down to avoid looking straight at the lights. I don’t know why I’m even surprised seeing that I had arranged with Sven for the paparazzi to find us tonight. I guess back in there, I forgot that I was on a fake date with a girl hired by my management. I’m not saying I was starting to fall in love or whatever, but in there I felt like I was just Harry yet again and that I was completely myself in public.

“Who is she Harry? Is she your new girl? What’s your name, love?” there was a lot of yelling and a lot of questions aimed at Jess and I.

We kept our head down and even when inside the car, the paparazzi was still following us and wouldn’t leave us alone. I looked at Jess in the passenger seat.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just a bit surprised. Does this happen all the time?”

“Umm kinda, yeah.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

I was looking at her by then. Mainly because I didn’t want to look at another flash yet again, but also I couldn’t help but notice that she was glowing. Provided, her lipstick was gone and so was half her make up, I could see the tangles at the back of her hair emerging, and her eyes were quite watery from all the lights.

I thought about kissing her right there and then, with a full view that’s perfect for the paparazzi. I thought about how that would make Sven so happy and how that would make our jobs so much easier.

And maybe it was because of that very same reason that I didn’t kiss her. I could feel we were both expecting something to happen, and I don’t know if disappointment is the word to describe how we felt after.

Notes

Sorry for the hiatus back there! Here's a pretty long chapter filled with Harry to apologise xx