Jess’ POV

You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and feel utterly displaced? That’s exactly how I felt like today. I felt hungover and disoriented when I woke up, despite the fact that I slept fairly early last night and did not have anything to drink.

I rolled over my bed to check my phone. What surprised me the most was not the fact that I had slept in until 10 am, but the fact that there was one unread message awaiting me from a certain Mr. Harry Styles. Curious as to why he’s contacting me so early in the morning, I opened the text.

“Up to?”

Well that was juicy, wasn’t it? No hi, no good mornings, so cryptic yet at the same time so loaded with meaning.

“Just woke up. You?”

I buried my head in my pillow. My room is uncharacteristically bright with sunshine and kind of hurting my eyes. I contemplated whether or not I could go back to sleep again when my phone vibrated. It was Harry again.

“Same. Wanna go for brunch?”

Mmm food. I was about to reply to him when my phone started ringing loudly, the vibrations getting more urgent as the minute progresses. My first thought was that Harry must be really hungry if he’s ringing me straight after he texts me. But it wasn’t Harry. It was a number I didn’t quite recognise.

“Jess you slut!” was the first thing I heard.

“Excuse me?”

“We’re totally kidding we love you. It’s Mosh, btw.” It was a big relief to find out who was calling me. I don’t think I would have survived an ambush call this early in the morning.

“Mosh where are you calling from?”

“I got a new cell from my sugar daddy,” he laughed, “I put you on speaker! Say hi to Emma!”

“JESSSSSS!” Emma practically screamed at me, “YOU WERE WEARING HARRY’S SWEATER HE’S PRACTICALLY IN LOVE WITH YOU.”

“Emma I swear you confuse me all the time. What the hell are you talking about?”

I could feel Mosh trying to move the speakerphone away from Emma knowing full well that she talks (screams) when she’s excited.

“I mean . . the photos from yesterday! You wearing his sweater. You sure as hell left the café not wearing it so it’s obviously his!”

My eyes moved to wear Harry’s sweater was draped all over my chair. I told him I would wash the sweater first because it was the least I could do after he oh so kindly lent it to me.

“Sweets,” Mosh interjected, “in the modern world, him giving you his sweater is practically an engagement ring.”

“Goodness me. Calm down!” I laughed.

“Is he there right now? Oh my god, please tell me you slept with him!” Mosh said excitedly.

I heard Emma scream again. “Oh my god what is he there? Can he hear us? HI HARRY!”

Ow. “Jeezus Em, calm down he’s not here. I just woke up. I really need to get a cup of tea or something. . .”

While I know my best friends mean well, all the screaming is starting to give me a headache. After promising them that I would meet up with them later in the day to discuss, they finally let me go.

I checked my phone. There was another message from Harry, this one as cryptic as his first text.

“?”

“Sorry my friends called. You must be really hungry if you sent me a message with just a question mark :P” I teased.

I don’t know much about Harry Styles but what I do know, though, is that he is a very fast text replier.

“I take food very seriously” he replied within seconds.

“Ok. You had me at food.”

“Cool, I’ll pick you up. See you in half an hour.”

So the dude wasn’t kidding when he said he took food very seriously. There was no way I was going to look very human in half an hour even if I did the quickest shower I could. It takes me 10 minutes to shower but 15 minutes to dry my hair. I wasn’t going to make it.

I ran to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. Gotta have that fresh breath just in case! Just in case what, I don’t know, but I was hopeful. I sprayed my hair with dry shampoo, hoping that it will work its magic on my greasy hair. The thing about having black hair is that every grease, oil, and shine can be seen easily on your hair. I am unfortunately part of the greasy fringe club so this step was crucial.

I slapped on some moisturizer hurriedly while I struggled to find my deodorant. It was a bit stressful cramming my half an hour routine into even less time but I knew the last thing I wanted to be was not ready when Harry came around.

Now I had to decide what to wear. It was sunny outside, the last of the summer sun out for full enjoyment but the air was cool. I grabbed a vintage floral dress that I felt was perfect for the weather and an oversized denim jacket.

I checked my watch and was impressed that it only took me 15 minutes to get ready. I put some powder on my face and a bit of lip and cheek stain. I couldn’t be bothered to wear more than that. I put on my shoes, grabbed my bag and sunnies, and sat by the lounge to wait for Harry.

5 minutes turned into 10 and I was getting a bit bored. Curiousity got the better of me and pretty soon, I started searching for the photos of Harry and I from yesterday. I thought I would’ve looked way worse but because we were running, my hair was in my face half the time. Before I could even scroll through the comments section, I heard the doorbell ring.

“About time!” I said as soon as I opened the door and was met by Harry’s smiling face.

_

“My sister told me today that apparently if a guy gives a girl his sweater, it’s pretty much like an engagement ring.” Harry said mid-conversation.

“That’s so funny cos that’s what my friends told me too and I was just like, that’s ridiculous!”

“I thought my sister was just being weird as usual. I wonder where do people get these kinds of information from?”

We were sitting at Milk & Honey, a cute vintage inspired café in Soho, and in the middle of finishing our delicious brunch. Harry seems to be perfectly at ease because so far, no one has asked him for a photo or an autograph yet. Just friendly fans that waved at him when we were walking.

“So tell me more about yourself.” He said in between bites of the French toast he ordered.

“Umm,” I said as I cut a piece of bacon, “what do you want to know?”

“I don’t knoooow.” He said in that slow way of talking that he does.

“Oh, well then I don’t really know what to say.”

“How do you like your eggs in the morning?” he asked randomly.

Fertilized. Preferably by you.

“F-fried. . “ I stuttered, “why’d you ask?”

“Just curious. You never know when I’ll need to make my girlfriend breakfast.”

Okay hold the phone. He called me his girlfriend. Technically yes, that would be me, but I never in a million years thought he’d call me that to my face when it’s just the two of us.

Not even going to lie, but it felt strange hearing that come from him. I suspect that even Harry found it weird because after he said that, we kind of ate in silence and focused on stuffing our mouths with the biggest pieces of food we can chew.

“What’s your favourite breakfast food?” he asked me again.

“That’s easy. Bacon, eggs, and rice.”

“Bacon, eggs, and rice? You mean together?”

“Yup. Best breakfast ever.”

“Eww,” he made a face at me.

“What do you mean eww? Mate you haven’t even tried it before!”

“Mmm I think I’m good,” he said as he pushed his now empty plate aside, “man that was so good.”

“This café is really nice. I really love it here!”

At the mention of the word “café”, I saw Harry’s eyes widen. “Oh shit Jess! Sorry I forgot!

“Forgot what?”

“That I shouldn’t take you to cafes because you already work in one and it’s the last place you probably want to go to.”

“I don’t mind,” I laughed, “honestly it’s fine. I really like cafes!”

“Are you working there today?”

“Not till tonight. We’ve got an evening function. What are you doing today?” I asked, trying to make conversation while the waitress cleared our plates.

“I actually have a fitting and a photoshoot.” He said it so casually that again I was blown away by the fact that he and I really lead such different lives. I mean, I’m just a café girl while he’s this big celebrities just casually going on fittings and photoshoots.

“Cool. What for?”

“Can’t really say yet,” he smiled, “listen, I actually need to be there soonish. Do you mind if we go?”

The date was over already and I tried to hide my disappointment. I felt like we were being more friendly. That this Harry was starting to show me his playful side like when he shared stuff about how his sister told him that thing about the sweater and when he teased me as his girlfriend. Why do good things have to end?

Harry paid for our meal and I followed him in silence. As we were walking out, I could see a small crowd gathered outside the vicinity. I instantly knew that they were photographers waiting for us.

Harry went out first and held the door open for me. He was looking at me smling, making sure that I was okay and ready to go. I gave him a small smile. The truth was, was that I was really enjoying talking to him and wished we could have talked more. But just as I was about to keep my head down and follow him to the car, I felt something different.

He tugged at my hand, tentatively at first before gaining full control of it. I looked at him, unsure as to what I thought was happening was actually happening. He had a smile on his face but wasn’t looking at me at all. I felt his palms slide against mine before feeling his fingers curl with mine.

I looked at him again, this time not being able to hide my smile anymore. As he tilted his head to face me, I felt his grip tighten around my hand. He returned my smile and we walked to his car never once breaking free tom each other.

Harry was holding my hand. No warning signs at all, it came out of nowhere. It was that moment when I realised that this was going to be my fake reality from now on. I decided to keep the contract, Sven, and the business of this job and tightened my grip around his hand. This was my reality. Even for just one moment.

Notes

And I'm back in the game! Yay for fast updates. Your enthusiasm in this story honestly inspires me so much! Considering I had no idea what I was going to do about this chapter, I think it's taken quite a turn!

I've posted a photo of Jess' outfit on her blog here: http://lovelyandwanderful.tumblr.com. I enjoy making these things! Do you guys want more outfits or nah?

Hope your weekend was lovely xxx