People
Always
Trying to escape it

Lara opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again. She saw Sky glance over at Harry nervously, the room suddenly thick with tension.

“What’s going on?” Lara finally asked when it became clear that nobody was offering to explain.

“The paps caught up with Sky outside.”

Harry was still standing awkwardly by the open door. He closed it and turned to face Lara again.

But what is she doing here?

The question hung in the air and she saw Harry advance toward her.

“Wanna sit down?” He asked gently.

“I’ll be back.” She said tightly before disappearing into the bathroom. She switched on the light and leant on the basin, her eyes focused on her reflection in the mirror.

She wasn’t going to tell him anything. Not a fucking thing. He could figure it out on his own, but she was not going to confess to anything. Only then would they be on the same playing ground. Every time she thought she had things figured out, she was hit with something unexpected. Well fuck it. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset.

Lara calmly emerged from the bathroom and sat down on the couch opposite Sky. Harry had kneeled down in front of her and was tweaking his iPad as they began to listen to a song.

“Everything okay?” Harry looked up to ask Lara.

“Everything’s fine.” She said airily, ignoring Sky who she knew was looking right at her.

Lara watched as the two quietly spoke as they listened to the song. It was obvious it was one of Sky’s songs because she kept looking at Harry for approval as he nodded along to the beat. Lara was not sure why Sky looked so worried; her voice was soft with an undeniable strength behind it. It almost didn’t sound like the voice that came from this now nervous girl sitting before her.

“This is exactly what I was talking about.” Harry said to her.

“I don’t know.” She said doubtfully.

“Trust me.” He said, placing his hand on her leg for added emphasis. Sky looked down at it, and then back up at Harry as she chewed her bottom lip nervously.

The song ended and Harry was about to play another one, when Sky interrupted him.

“Harry, I-I think I better go. It’s okay, isn’t it?” She asked. “The photographers are probably gone by now.”

“Let me check.” Harry said, and he dialled the foyer number to check with the doorman. Sky avoided Lara’s gaze to gather her bag and coat.

“They’ve all gone.” Harry said. “You’re free to go.”

“Thanks.”

Lara watched this odd exchange with her arms crossed across her chest. Sky looked at her
and smiled politely.

“Bye Lara. It was nice seeing you”

Sky walked to the door where Harry gave her a hug and murmured something Lara couldn’t hear. Once the door closed, Harry approached the back of the couch where she sat and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“So what’s up with this surprise visit?” He asked, and she didn’t have to look to know he was smirking.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Lara shook his hands from her shoulders and she stood up, the only thing separating them being the couch. “Why was she here?”

Her decision to remain calm seemed to fly out the window at that point as she eyed him warily.

“You saw us- we were going through some songs.”

“So how did the paps know she was here, Harry?” She asked impatiently.

“How am I supposed to know? There’s always someone hanging around downstairs.” He stared at her for a moment and then sighed. “Who knows… maybe Julian tipped them off.”

“Why would he do that? I thought you said you didn’t want people knowing about your involvement in her career.”

“I don’t know Lara.” Harry sighed. “Maybe Julian thought it would be a good thing for her… maybe he’s right.”

“But you said!” Lara moved around the couch to stand in front of him.

“I know what I said. But things don’t always go the way you want them. You should know that by now.” He took her by the hands as if to placate her.

“You’re letting them control you again.” She said and his face hardened, his grip on her wrists growing tighter.

“I’m not letting them do anything.” He said angrily. “So they took a few photos of her, big deal.”

They stood there staring each other down, nobody willing to break the silence or even look away, until Harry’s lips descended to her neck.

“No.” Her voice was loud and firm, but Harry ignored her as his mouth nipped at her collarbone. “I don’t want this.”

“I know you want this.” She felt Harry’s husky voice against her skin as he backed her onto the couch and lowered his body onto hers.

“I don’t.” She placed her palms on his chest and pushed him away. “This isn’t all I want!”

“What do you want then?” He asked, his deep green eyes flashing with anger.

Lara stared at him for a moment before scrambling to her feet and heading for the door. She reached for the doorknob, but found herself pinned against the door with Harry’s face only centimetres away.

“What do you want me to say to you?” His voice was suddenly calm, his eyes searching hers.

“Nothing. I don’t want you to say anything.” She said finally before turning to leave.

X

A few days passed and she had not heard from Harry, nor had she attempted to contact him. But the story about Sky visiting Harry’s house predictably hit the gossip sites.

Harry’s Mystery Girl Revealed!

Harry’s mystery girl has been revealed to be Sky Taylor, Syco Record’s latest recruit. She was recently spotted with Harry in LA, and then visiting Harry’s house.
When contacted, Harry’s management have been quick to confirm that their relationship is entirely professional.
“Harry’s been working on some of her new material. They are just friends.”
Well we’ve heard that line before, so we’ll be keeping you up to date with any more sightings of the “potential” new couple.

She studied the photos of Sky walking toward his apartment, at one point her hand covering her face and wondered if Julian had orchestrated the whole incident. She believed Harry when he said he wanted to remain behind the scenes when it came to Sky’s career. He seemed to be doing it for the right reasons. He had seen a girl with talent, and wanted to help her. But she had learnt quickly that most of these articles didn’t just come from nowhere. There was more to it than met the eye, despite the lack of real information in the story.

Lara didn’t expect to hear Harry’s almost apologetic voice on the other end of the phone.

“Are you still mad at me?”

“Yes.” She said.

“What if I told you I missed you?”

“Missed me how?” She asked suspiciously. She was ready to hang up if he alluded to anything to do with sex.

“I missed you. Talking to you, seeing you. I just missed you.”

“I missed you too.” She said in a small voice. It was strange that she had gone for over a year without seeing him, and after their recent reunion was unable to go for a few days without longing to see him.

“Then we should fix that.” He said lightly. “Where are you now?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to come pick you up.”

“Library.” She said quickly. “But I can meet you somewhere else.”

“Are you sure? Actually you might want to go home and get your swimming costume.”

“My what?”

“Swimming costume. Remember my friend’s place in Chelsea?”

Lara thought back to the apartment he had invited her to not long after they had started seeing each other again.

“Yeah…” She said uncertainly.

“Meet me there at six.”

Lara hung up and turned to Louis who regarded her with raised eyebrows.

“He wants to meet up with me.”

“Well aren’t you the lucky one?” He said. “You’ve just spent the last hour complaining about him.”

“Yeah I know.” She said ruefully.

“But I guess you also said you wouldn’t come back to me for more.” Louis added gesturing to the smoke that still engulfed the room. “But that changed quickly.”

“Are you going to give me a hard time about this?”

“Maybe.” Louis flashed a quick smile at her.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to get the smell of pot off me before I get there.” She said and pulled back when Louis buried his nose into her hair.

“You smell fine. Maybe have a shower before you go just to be safe.”

Louis lingered for a moment.

“Mmm nice perfume.” He commented.

“Very funny, I’m not wearing perfume.”

“Well something smells nice.” He shrugged looking slightly embarrassed as he watched Lara rise to her feet.

“Have fun with Harry.” He said in a sing song voice.

“Didn’t you tell me jealousy was a curse?” Lara asked picking up her bag before heading for the door.

“You and Harry can do whatever you want.” He said with a slight edge to his voice. “See if I care.”

Lara stuck her tongue out at him before she walked out the door.

X

Lara made it to the apartment in Chelsea by six, just as Harry had asked. The door swung open and Harry stood there, a shy smile on his face.

“Thanks for coming.” He said as she stepped through the door. He quickly hugged her,
making sure not to hold on for longer than necessary, only to notice her glance around curiously.

“Is anyone else here?” She asked.

“Yeah, Sky’s inside…I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“What?” Lara turned to him with a thunderous look on her face.

“Gotcha!” Harry grinned at her. “We’re here alone. My friend’s very kindly let us borrow his flat for a while.”

”Very funny.” She said, poking him in the ribs and then smiling when he twisted away.

“So come on in. I kind of figured you hadn’t had dinner… since you were so busy at the library.”

Lara quickly glanced at him to try and figure out if he was being sarcastic, only to see Harry look back at her earnestly.

“So I ordered Chinese again. Because we had it last time and I remembered you liked it… I got those spring rolls you like.”

Lara couldn’t help but notice his nervousness as he led her to the table.

“You haven’t had dinner, have you?” He asked, suddenly looking unsure.

“No I haven’t. This is perfect.” Lara said, taking a seat. They both smiled at each other as they began to eat.

“I visited my Mum yesterday…” Harry said. “It’s been a while since we caught up.”

“That’s nice.” Lara replied. She remembered briefly meeting her at the film premiere, the year before.

“It was. I missed her… you know?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you miss your parents?”

“Not really.” Lara said, “We don’t talk much anymore.”

“It must be hard with them being so far away.”

“No, it’s not that. We just don’t talk.”

“Oh?”

Lara placed her fork down looked up at him.

“They found out about us.”

“Oh.”

“And then they found out about me pulling out of my teaching degree.”

If the Harry breakup wasn’t bad enough, things managed to get worse. Once her parents discovered what she had been up to they had swiftly closed her bank account.

“Tough love Lara.” They had said to her, angry that she had not only lied to them about her studies but she had also had the temerity to move in with an infamous pop star in the meantime. The fact that Lara was living with a man before marriage offended their every sensibility.

“How could you have not told us?” They had asked angrily.

“Maybe because you were never there to ask!” Lara had yelled back. They were living half a world away working in a third world country. Phone calls were a rarity. Letters or even emails were non-existent.The more time passed with no contact, the easier it was to just forget they even existed.

“And then what?” Harry asked a frown on his face.

“So they cut me off… no money, no contact, no nothing.”

“Fuck Lara, why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“It never came up.” Lara shrugged.

“But you should have told me. I could have helped.”

“Helped how? I don’t want your money Harry.”

He went silent for a moment and Lara resumed eating to avoid his gaze.

“Come to LA.” He suddenly blurted.

Notes

I wasn't going to update so quickly but your lovely comments forced my hand :)

I'm going to have to slow down with the updating otherwise you're going to catch up to where I am now, and then there will be huge delays between chapters! (I'm experiencing a little writer's block at the moment)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

:)