No Regrets

I was woken up the next day by light shining in through the faint curtains. I had a killer headache, and I sat up to discover that I was alone in the room. Of course this would happen. I looked at the alarm clock which read 12:54. Shit it was later than I expected. Since I was dying of thirst, and there was no water around, I weakly got up, found my bra and underwear, and shuffled my way to the bathroom to drink out of the sink. I felt disgusting, so I decided to clean up a little bit before I tried to find Harry. I was lucky because I have somewhat long, wavy brown hair, so the fact that it looked a little messy wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I washed off the rest of my makeup, and used some of the complimentary hotel mouthwash before I finally put on my bra and underwear. Damn I wished I had picked out a matching set when I changed yesterday. Now I faced a new dilemma. I really couldn’t put on my dress from the night before. If I walked around in that now I would look super trashy. Still contemplating what to do, I heard someone enter the room. I exited the bathroom to see that it was just Harry, thank god.

“Well look who decided to wake up.” He spoke at a soft volume, smirking, but I could tell that he was fairly hungover from last night too. But he looked hot. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, and a grey beanie that concealed most of his hair but a few curls that framed his face.

“Well look who decided to show up.” I shot back at him. You can’t just leave a girl to wake up by herself the morning after you sleep with her. He, being the playboy that he is, should know that.

“I know, sorry, I had to take care of some things, but here- I brought you some Advil,” he said as he handed me a water bottle and two tiny blue pills. “Now, we need to talk, because we need to discuss the situation, but first put this on.” He threw me one of his sweatshirts out of his bag.

“Getting a little distracted, Mr. Styles?” I asked, laughing, as I pulled his sweatshirt over my head. He smiled a cheeky little grin at my remark. The sweatshirt smelled good. Like him.

“Can you blame me? It’s not like you wouldn’t be distracted if I just decided to lounge around in my briefs when you had important things to talk to me about!” He was laughing as he made this comment. I started to blush because it was so true, which just made him laugh more. Soon, he stopped laughing and got right back to being stern.

“But seriously, we need to talk. I’m really sorry to tell you this, but there are pictures of us leaving the club earlier this morning and coming back here already posted all over twitter and other stupid websites. I guess we weren’t that attentive to the paparazzi because we had been drinking, but my management is freaking out, and I already have innumerable texts and missed calls from Taylor.”

At the mention of her name I froze. Management, I could deal with. Paparazzi, I could deal with. But to be known as the girl that caused someone’s boyfriend to cheat, I could not deal with- even if it was Taylor Swift, who I could not stand. I had been cheated on before, so I know firsthand how bad it feels. My head was spinning. I guess I assumed that they were broken up because of Harry’s phone call that I eves-dropped on. I shouldn’t make assumptions like that, because apparently I was wrong? Taylor and Harry, the boy that I just had an amazing night with, were still in a relationship… I thought for a moment and gathered the right words before I spoke.

“Harry, we need to just forget that this night ever happened. I’m sorry, but I won’t let you cheat on your girlfriend with me regardless of if I like her or not. And quite frankly, I don’t think that we can handle being friends.” Even though it was devastating to me to say, I had to say it. Our little escapade was put to an end quickly, just like it started. By this point, he had taken off his sunglasses, and was now suffocating me with his glare. He took a step forward, raised his hands to my face, and made sure that I was looking into his eyes before he spoke.

“I don’t know how much you meant out of what you just said, but I’m going to be in New Orleans for at least another two weeks, maybe more, and I don’t want to already lose the only friend that I’ve made down here.” He seemed so sincere, but his comment was so silly- he was Harry Styles! He could make about 2,000 new female friends just by taking a jog around the block. I backed up out of his grip, and was all of the sudden uncomfortable about the fact that I was still just standing here in my underwear with nothing covering my body but his sweatshirt.

“Okay, we can be friends, Harry. Just get me some proper clothes and let me get out of here. I can go out the back and walk home alone so that no one suspects a thing- plus my apartment building is just a few blocks up the street.”

“I’ll go check with Louis and Liam; they might have something for you to borrow. Wait here, I’ll be right back,” and that’s all he said as he turned around and left the room.

I sat down on the bed again to think. Twenty-four hours ago, I hadn’t even met Harry. I couldn’t wrap my head around how it could become so hot so fast and die out just as quickly. He needed to figure out his problems with Taylor because being friends was going to be hard- I didn’t know how well I would be able to control myself around him… I was lost in thought when he came back into the room, but I quickly snapped out of it.

“Here, these are Eleanor’s clothes. Louis got them out of her bag for you, and he insists that she won’t mind.” He handed me jean shorts, simple flip-flops, and a flowy white shirt. That was one of the good things about living in the south- it could be the end of January and you could walk out of a hotel in shorts and not be cold at all. I pulled off the sweatshirt and quickly dressed myself, fully aware of how Harry did not take his eyes off of me the whole time.

“Now, before you go, I want you to know that it’ll be best if you don’t even bother to look on any social networking sites for a while. Our fans, as much as I love them, can be downright brutal when it comes to new girls in our lives, and I don’t want any nasty comments to affect our friendship. Also, I don’t think that anyone knows who you are, but if any reporters ask you questions, just ignore them.” I guess I looked worried because he quickly added, “And don’t worry, love, I think you’ll be fine.”

“Okay, thanks Harry. I guess I’ll see you around..” I gathered my dress and heels and started to walk towards the door when Harry pulled me into a massive hug.

“I’m sorry again, Lizzie,” he said as he pulled out of the hug. He seemed truly upset about the whole ordeal, so I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before I began to open the door. Before I left, I turned around to tell him one last thing.

“Oh and Styles?”

“Yeah Liz?” he responded as he looked into my eyes.

“I had fun last night.” I said with a wink before I shut the door behind me.

And just like that, much to my disappointment, I walked away from Harry Styles. As just friends.