“Shame that we had to ever come back.” Louis observed the preying paparazzi from the glass confines of our elevator at Heathrow Airport. After our short getaway, it was time to come home and face the music.

The media presence as we arrived wasn’t as bad as when we had left. It seemed we’d left before the eye of the storm, the next story had probably broken about some other poor, unsuspecting celebrity, and I prayed the journalists were over it.

We bundled into our cars, bidding fond farewells to Eleanor and Louis.

“Call me when you get home.” El said. “We’ll grab some lunch this week, I need to start organising the show!”
“Of course. I’ll see you soon.” I kissed both of them on the cheek.

Harry kept quiet most of the journey, as he always did when tired. He pulled me into an embrace and within minutes he was asleep, mouth agape and snores galore. The journey to his home wasn’t too long, but my neck was stiff at the way Harry held me. I was relieved to see the familiar black gates to his home.

“What are we going to do for dinner?” I asked Harry, rifling through the empty cupboards, probably a bit more urgent than necessary. He pulled the last of our bags inside and sat down on the stool.
“Order?” He yawned. “Chinese or something? I’m going to take a bath."

I watched him shuffle upstairs, and pulled out a delivery menu. It was the first time I had looked at my phone, and I automatically felt guilty with what I saw.

Mum
Sweetheart, are we ever going to meet the lovely young gentleman who whisks our daughter to the caribbean for days on end? we miss you, darling. xxx

Oh God. This was definitely something I needed to broach with Harry. We had been dating on and off for four, five, six months, and the only time my parents had seen him was in a magazine.

My stomach rumbled as I collected the food from the front door. Harry padded down the staircase, a t-shirt and sweatpants adorning his body. His eyes were framed with dark circles, he didn’t deal with travelling very well.

“Mmm, what did you get?” He asked, smiling softly and rubbing my back.
“Just a mixture of stuff. Sit down, I’ll bring it over."

Harry and I launched into our meals and I thought carefully about my next choice of words.

“So, I got a text from my mum today.” I started. Harry nodded, but didn’t look up from his plate of noodles. “They really want to meet you."
He paused. “Yeah, that sounds great, tomorrow?”
“As soon as then?"
He looked at me plainly, and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah? What else is there to do?”
“You’re not nervous?” I asked, taking a sip of water.
Harry cooly took another bite. “Nah,” he chewed loudly. “What is there to be nervous about?"

I laughed, remembering my deep anxiety at the thought of seeing his mother for the first time.

“I guess so. Well, I’ll give her a call after dinner."

The rest of the meal was completed in silence. I called my mum, who was almost tearful at hearing my voice. We agreed that Harry and I would come over for Sunday lunch.

“Have you moved out, darling?” She asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
I paused. Well, had I? I had left the key present that Harry had bought me before we split, here in his home. It didn’t feel right taking it.
“Not at the moment, mum. I do have a key here, though. It’s just a lot easier to get to work and, well, it’s a big house. I doubt he really likes staying here alone.”

I imagined her nodding at the end of the phone, and we continued to chat mindlessly before we parted ways.

---

“Harry, will you please get dressed?” I said, nervously clattering about in our bedroom, trying to arrange my hair neatly. Harry looked down at himself.
“What? I am dressed.” He cooly flopped down onto the bed and buried his head in the pillow. I stared down at the skinny jeans with ripped knees and the large oversized knitted sweater he had on. I took a deep breath to calm myself from shouting at him and carried on getting ready.

Harry had taken a nap in the time it took me, and only lazily woke up to crawl into the car and drive us to my house. I couldn’t believe how calm he was about this, or maybe I thought it was a bigger deal than it was. He drove, completely relaxed across town and parked up in our drive. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my throat. I suddenly felt conscious of everything, my home, our cars, my family, and God only knows how Frankie would act. He was usually an asshole in these situations. I took a deep breath and led Harry to the front door. It was flung open almost instantly by my mother, who clasped me in a great hug.

“Oh I missed you, my beautiful girl.” She kissed me over and over. She loosened her grip to step back and admire Harry, who casually strolled up to her and gave her a hug.

“Hello, how are you, I’m Harry.” He grinned. My mother was clearly swooning, 54 years old and swooning over a 21 year old boy.
“It’s lovely to finally meet you, dear.” She smiled, and grabbed his arm. “Come inside and meet the rest of us."

Harry looked at me, shrugged and wore a huge smirk. I was dumbfounded. He was the most charming person I had ever met.

Within minutes, Harry was sat with his feet up on the stool, chatting to my Dad about football. Frankie had come downstairs and they had shared an awkward handshake, but even he was involved in the chatter that filled the living room. I think it was the first time I had ever felt like a spare part in my own house, but I was happy that things had run so smoothly.

As I helped my mum put the dinner on the table, I watched my dad show Harry all of his vintage guitars that adorned the walls. I mentally face-palmed, wondering if Harry was feeling awkward, but I needn’t worry, because conversation flowed easily throughout dinner, too.

“So, Harry, will Annie be living with you now?” My mum asked, looking between us both. I cut her a look that said shut up!
“Well, yeah, I hope so Mrs. James.” He smiled, casually making his way through the potatoes on his plate. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”
I swear I saw my mother blush. I shook my head, trying to fight the smile that played on my lips.

“When you going back on tour? What will happen to her then?” Frankie asked, baring no shame at seeming rude. Harry just shrugged, easily.
“Well, she can either come with me, or stay at mine and visit me when she wants. It’s up to her.”

Frankie was satisfied at his answer, and it got me thinking.

“When is the next tour?” I said, quietly.
Harry stopped chewing and looked at me, seeming awkward for the first time.
“Well, it’s er, in about four months. It’s a stadium tour."

We hadn't spoken about this. Not wanting to cause a scene at the dinner table, I managed to control my shocked face. I nodded and carried on eating.

The rest of the evening went by smoothly, and I felt relieved when we were leaving. Of course I felt comfortable around my family, but mentally I was exhausted from keeping up appearances all day.

The drive home was quiet, mostly because I couldn’t shift the idea of another worldwide stadium tour in the coming months. I had spent three months apart from Harry and in that time we had split up, been manipulated by media moguls, and I’d almost drank myself into a stupor.

“Stop thinking about it, Annie.” Harry said, absent-mindedly checking the rear-view mirror of the car and turning into our road. It was almost like he had read my mind.
“Thinking about what?” I said, trying to seem as cool as he did.
“The next tour. It’s ages away.” He glanced at me. “It’s just part of life. Like I said you can come with me.”
“I have work to do here.”
“You don’t need to work.” He said, putting his hand on my knee. “In fact, you could even get some work on the tour. Maybe Lou could set something up."

I nodded, trying to seem enthusiastic. But it wasn’t just the being apart from him that bothered me. After everything that had happened, our trust barriers were definitely lowered. I knew he wouldn’t cheat, well, I hoped he never would. But the temptation would always be there, whether it be a stadium filled with 80,000 girls, or a bar with one girl. A lot of women would give it to Harry on a plate, and it was always in the back of my mind that he might stray back to his old ways and make a mistake with one of them. I hadn’t even realised that we had parked up outside the house, and Harry swiftly exited the car to open my door.

“You don’t need to always do that.” I gave a sarcastic laugh, nodding at the door. Harry smiled, mocking me, and walked us both inside.

Notes

hiiiii! So sorry about the wait, got an exam on wednesday. trying to revise but it’s not really happening, hence the update lol.
hope you enjoyed! will try to update sooner next time. x