Secrets / Black & White / Playing for Keeps

Lara sat stiffly clutching the arms of her airplane seat as the plane taxied down the runway. She was still sitting in that position long after the plane was in the air. She had never been on an airplane before and she couldn’t help but let her nerves get the better of her. When she tilted her head slightly, she saw Harry watching her amused.

“You can let go now.” He said.

She made a face at him, but still didn’t move a muscle. The hum of the airplane helped her relax slightly, and slowly she let go of her tight grip on the armrests, allowing her body to relax. Harry had disappeared to the back of the plane and when she craned her head to look, she saw him in deep conversation with Louis. They looked up to see her staring at them; Louis scowled and Harry winked. The plane chose to shake with turbulence at that very moment prompting her to fall back into her seat with a squeal. She heard the sounds of laughter in the background.

When they had told her she was to fly to New York she had felt like dancing around the room in joy. Little did they know her little secret, and she didn’t plan on revealing it any time soon anyway. Her plan was to move to New York once the year was over. It had long been a dream for her, so she was excited to be given the opportunity to explore the city beforehand.

Not that she didn’t have any other obligations while she was there. One Direction were to perform in a one off concert at Madison Square Garden, as part of a new concert film they were planning. As well as the concert, there was going to be plenty of opportunities for paparazzi shots. This was all on the back of a recent interview Harry had given where he was asked at length about his new relationship. The media had clamped onto the story and couldn’t seem to get enough. There had only been a couple of sightings of the couple and so the interest was building. Management had advised that they were going to ramp up the public sightings and create even more momentum.

Two hours later Harry was back in his seat with his eyes half open as though he were ready to fall asleep at any moment. Lara grabbed the magazine she had packed with her, and leafed through the pages till she found the interview. A large photo of Harry stared back at her, and she couldn’t help but admire him. He was good looking, there was no doubt about it. His intense green eyes stared back at her, and she couldn’t help but focus on his pink lips.

She began to re-read the article yet again.

There were the outright lies:

“She used to visit us a lot because her Uncle works for us. So we hung around for a while and we got to know each other pretty well “

There were the half-truths:

“The fact that everyone needs to know every single detail of our relationship can get to me, but at the same time I love to talk about her”

And then there were quotes that had a ring of truth about them.

“She’s a nice girl. Very quiet. But a nice kind of quiet. It calms me down.” Harry stopped to think for a moment. “She has an innocence about her that I find refreshing. I can’t help but be drawn to her.”

This line intrigued her, and she began to think about the effect she was having on him. Or was it an act? Everything else seemed to be, why would that one little line make things any different?

It didn’t help matters that he had started to invade her thoughts on a daily basis, even when they weren’t required to see each other. She knew she was veering onto dangerous territory; liking Harry was not part of the contract. But she reasoned that maybe it wouldn’t hurt if she was slightly attracted to him; in fact maybe it would make the whole act more believable.

She snuck a look at Harry who was drifting off, and found herself staring at him. Without warning his eyes opened and he looked at her as though she were crazy. She instantly looked away but couldn’t help looking back to see him smile, amused that he had caught her in the act.

In the limo on the way to the hotel, she leaned forward in her seat and gazed out the window, unable to hide her awe. She stared wide eyed at the skyscrapers and crowds of people, noting how the city seemed to have a different energy to London. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a couple of the boys laughing at her.

“Hasn’t she been overseas before?” She heard Liam ask.

“Dunno.” Harry replied.

“It’s a big bad world out there, honey.” Zayn drawled and Louis snickered.

Lara pretended she wasn’t listening as she turned her attention to what was happening outside her window, unable to hide the dreamy smile on her face. She didn’t care what they said; this whole charade was her ticket to living here in the future. The cash she was planning to save this year would make sure of that.

The dreamy smile disappeared once they arrived at the hotel. Julian led them to a hotel suite. Lara and Harry’s suitcases had magically arrived earlier and were piled in what looked like the foyer.

“You’ll be sharing a suite.” Julian said. “It’s just easier; it would look a bit strange if you were in separate rooms.”

Lara looked visibly surprised, but before she could speak Julian continued:

“There’s a bed sofa in the living room, so I guess it’s up to you to fight over who gets the bedroom.”

Harry and Lara glanced at each other but did not utter a word. When Julian finally left them alone, Harry turned to her.

“Do you want the bedroom?”

“You can have it if you want.” Lara shrugged.

“If you ask me, we might as well share it. I don’t like sleeping alone.” Harry said.

He watched Lara’s face turn pink.

“When I say sleeping, I mean sleeping.” He wandered over to his suitcase. “Get your head out of the gutter.”

Lara opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it. Harry snickered and looked over at her.

“Well I’m going to have a shower.” He stated.

By the time he emerged, Lara had settled onto the couch and was flipping through the TV channels. He entered the living room with only a white towel wrapped around him and she pretended not to watch him as he held onto the towel with one hand and foraged through one of his suitcases.

He was more muscular than she had thought, with a well-defined chest and arms. Her eyes fell on the numerous tattoos that covered his body and she idly wondered how many they had and how she wished she could study them more closely. She was in the middle of trying to decipher one of them, when he looked over suddenly and caught her watching him.

“If you take a picture, it would last longer.” He said.

Lara ignored him and turned to watch TV again, although the screen seemed to swim before her eyes. She didn’t notice that he was standing over her, until the last minute. He shook his wet hair at her, droplets of water spraying all over her.

“Hey!” She cried in protest, sitting upright.

“Don’t pretend to ignore me.” He said with a cocky smile. “I know you’re watching me, but you might as well get used to it. I don’t like to wear a lot of clothes around the house.”

“It’s a hotel.” Lara muttered.

“Whatever.” He stalked off calling over his shoulder. “Just consider yourself lucky I’m holding the towel. I usually don’t wear one you know.”

Notes

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