Jess’ POV

I have not heard from Sven and his team for over a week now. That goes without saying that I haven’t heard from Harry either ever since that day at Sven’s office where he basically walked out on me.

I wish his rudeness were enough to make me dislike him, yet I found myself falling further down the rabbit hole that is the One Direction fandom. I tried to justify my actions by repeatedly telling myself that I was doing it for research purposes only, but I knew that was all bullshit. I was drawn to a certain Harry Styles and felt like I was a teenager again.

I found myself looking at “One Direction” and “Harry Styles” tag on Tumblr, careful not to like the photos or to reblog them at the risk of blowing my cover. The more I learn about him and the band, the less real he became in my head. He was obviously adored by millions of fans, and seeing his interviews really made me think that he was such a great person.

Yet from firsthand experience, I knew that there was more to Harry than the world knows. For one, he was rude to me. I read a quote from one of the Tumblr blogs that Harry said in an issue of a magazine saying that he makes it a point to always be nice and polite to people he’s meeting for the first time because that would make or break their impression about you.

Funny how he didn’t seem to think about that when I met him. But then again, do I really blame him? I can’t imagine how hard it is to be living such a public life that millions are witness to.

Is that an excuse though? He knew full well what he signed up for and if he doesn’t like the consequences then maybe he shouldn’t do it in the first place. I tried to get him off my head. It’s bad enough that I am overthinking the situation, but I shouldn’t make excuses for him either.

“Away with the fairies, are ya now?” a voice interrupted my thoughts. I was so engrossed in my own head that I didn’t realise the milk I was frothing had burnt by now.

“Oh, just thinking about. . . nothing important,” I smiled at Emma, my coworker. At the 2 months that I have been working at the café, Emma and I have grown to be more like good friends rather than colleagues.

“Girl, stop taking it out on the poor the milk,” she laughed as she gently pushed me away from the coffee machine. “Anything you want to talk about?”

I shook my head. It was a particularly awful day at work and business has been slower than usual. We haven’t been reaching our targets money-wise and the shift supervisors have been on our case to be more customer-focused than usual.
“I’m just having a pretty crappy day that’s all,” I replied.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everyone’s just so rude today. And I feel like they all hate me.”

“Aww honey, you shouldn’t take it personally,” Emma said as she turned to face me, “it’s just a job.”

The way she said it made me think about Harry again. I shouldn’t take it personally. It’s just a job. This was going to be the mantra that I would repeat to myself when I start feeling again.

“You’re right. It’s just a job and it doesn’t say anything about me at all.”

“3 hours till closing, girl! I don’t think there’s going to be much things to do in the next 3 hours though cos we are so dead! I give you permission to daydream,”

“Thanks, Em. You’re the best!”

I was keeping myself busy with cleaning the counter area when I heard a commotion outside. I saw lights, a small crowd that was starting to gather, and there was some screaming. I looked at Emma and she seemed just as confused as me.

I’ve seen stranger things since I moved here so I thought nothing of it and went straight back into cleaning. I was trying to get a particular spot when I felt my face getting hot and sweaty. I grabbed a hair tie from my wrist and proceeded to tie my hair up in a messy bun. I was so caught up in cleaning the countertop that I didn’t even look up when the café’s door opened.

“Jess,” Emma hissed.

I looked up from what I was doing to find Harry standing in front of me.

I had a moment of panic and struggled to put my cleaning stuff away to serve him. He stood there patiently and made small talk with Emma who was in the middle of making a coffee for a customer.

I emerged from under the table and flashed Harry my “friendly barista” smile. “Hi, what can I get you?”

“Hi,” he said in that voice of his and flashed me the biggest smile.

I don’t know what surprised me more. The fact that his smile frazzled me a lot or that he was smiling even. This was the first time I’ve seen him smile in person and I felt my knees go weak. He had such an infectious smile that I found myself smiling too.

“Could I just get an English breakfast tea?”

“Sure, would you like to have it here or get it for takeaway?”

“Umm,” he thought for a moment, “I’ll just have it here thanks.”

He paid for his order and took a seat at one of the smaller booths in the café. From where he was sitting, I knew he had a good view of the countertop. I felt our eyes meet again before he looked down at his phone.

“Oh my god,” Emma was freaking out, “holy shit.”

“What?”

“I can’t believe he’s here oh my god,” she whispered.

“Would you like to serve him?” I asked.

“Fuck no. I’m in this ugly uniform and my make up is all wrong today. He cannot see me up close like this!”

Shit. I didn’t even think about any of that today when I got dressed for work. I wore my usual black shirt and black skinny jeans plus my scruffy but comfy canvas shoes. I realised just how horrible I looked today. My hair tied up emphasizes my double chin more, my shirt clings on to all the wrong parts of my body, and my face was most likely red and sweating. How attractive.

I got his order ready while Emma served the customers that were suddenly coming in. They were mostly female teenagers, I noticed, who was trying very hard not to stare at Harry.

I brought him his order with all the trimmings – milk and sugar – and laid it down in front of him.

“Thanks, love.” He said absentmindedly.

There it was again. The butterflies in my stomach. I stood there motionless, all reason out of my head.

“Go,” Harry said quietly, “go before people suspect anything.”

Right. Of course. All the friendliness and the smiles were all fake. Just doing our jobs.

I busied myself with making orders for the customers that have now come in. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Harry standing up and getting ready to leave.

I wasn’t alone in noticing that as the café got a bit quieter as we all watched his every move. It was like we were all holding our breath at the same time.

“Bye, Harry!” said some courageous fans.

He waved goodbye, flashed his big smile again, and walked out.

All hell went loose after that. A few girls were crying, a few of them shrieking and on their phones no doubt telling their friends about their encounter with Harry Styles.

I noticed a few girls linger on to the spot where he was sitting. I decided to clear that table before any of the fans tried to steal it or drink from it or something. I noticed his tea was still hot and practically untouched.

Of course he didn’t really come here for tea. He didn’t really come to see me. All this was just part of the plan. I don’t know why that realisation made me really sad but all of a sudden, I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes. Damn it. Harry Styles can even make grown women cry.

Notes

Hey guys!

This is a bit shorter than usual, but I didn't wanna add details that aren't really important. Besides, Harry left as quick as he entered anyway. Poor guy obviously still not into the plan.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Tell me what you thought of that xx