VIII. IT'S THAT "JUST BEFORE DARK, JUMP IN THE CAR, BUY AN ICE CREAM & SEE HOW FAR WE CAN DRIVE BEFORE IT MELTS" KINDA FEELING.

Ella eyed the luggage carousel closely, searching for her old blue suitcase, trying to let Ed Sheeran's calming voice in her earbuds ease her nerves. O'Hare was a zoo on Saturday mornings, and if she really let herself digest the situation she was in, it just might prove to be too much, so she was playing blissfully oblivious. Oblivious to the fact that she had blatantly lied to the love of her life that morning and boarded a plane to another state to see another man, or that the other man was in fact uber-popstar Harry Styles, or that said uber-popstar was sitting somewhere right now, waiting for her.
Ella spotted her suitcase, lifted it from the carousel, and made a beeline for the nearest ladies' room. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she ran her fingers through the ends of her brown waves and plucked at her cheeks to give them some color. She smeared a layer of her favorite eos lip balm over her lips, sent a quick text to Eric to let him know that she had landed, and headed back out into the chaos. Harry had simply told her that a gentleman named Jamie would be waiting for her at the airport, and that she shouldn't worry - he would make sure Jamie was easily found.
Ella stepped into the arrivals bank and scanned the crowd. Multiple drivers in jackets and caps held white-erase boards with last names scratched on them. Men and women called in excitement as they spotted their loved ones enter the room. A few camera flashes went off. And then Ella spotted Jamie, a man in his early-thirties with short, dark hair, holding a neon-green poster board above his head with the words REGINA PHELANGE emblazoned on the front in glittery gold marker. Ella couldn't help but laugh out loud at the sign as she got closer,
"I think that's me."
"Ella?" Jamie asked in a clean American accent.
"Mhm."
"Perfect. Got your bags?"
Ella nodded.
"Okay, right this way, then." Jamie took the suitcase from Ella's hand and led her toward the main entrance, out through the spinning door, and to a black SUV with tinted windows idling in the pickup/drop off area.
"Hop in," Jamie instructed her as he lifted the rear hatch, "quickly, though. Doesn't take long."
Confused, Ella pulled open the door, and immediately spotted Harry's familiar flop of hair seated against the rear drivers' window. Having someone spot Harry Styles - that's what doesn't take long. Ella slid up onto the leather seat quickly and closed the door behind her.
"Hi." His accent was slow and familiar and comforting.
"Hi." Ella replied, rubbing her hands against the knees of her favorite blue skinny jeans.
"How was your flight?"
"Good." Ella stifled a giggle, "They played This is Us."
"Really?" Harry laughed, "Did you watch?"
Ella shook her head, "No."
Harry ran his hands along his jaw. His perfect, chiseled jaw, and eyed her suspiciously.
"It's just the airline taking advantage of little boys and trying to make a bit of good TV." Ella imitated Harry in her best English accent, and they both buckled over in laughter as Jamie leapt back into the passenger seat of the SUV and it pulled away from the curb.

***

Ella sprayed the roots of her hair with hairspray and lifted it from her scalp. She lined her eyes with a thin layer of charcoal eyeliner and dusted bronzer on her cheeks. She'd taken a shower and slipped back into the same jeans she'd worn all day, topped with a grey a-line tank beneath her favorite black blazer, and a tribal-patterned scarf. It was nearly eleven o'clock - the latest she could remember getting ready in a long time - and Harry would be swinging by to pick her up for the cruise any minute.
Rap. Rap. Rap.
Ella smiled at her reflection one last time, and then pulled open her suite door. As usual, at the sight of Harry standing in front of her, her breath caught in her chest. His pale blue button-down made his skin seem darker than before, and with his hair styled back from his face his green eyes sparkled bright.
"Wow, you look incredible." Harry breathed, giving Ella a slow once-over. He offered her his arm, "Shall we?"
Ella linked her arm in his and followed him down the hall.
"Won't there be paparazzi at the door?" Ella asked as the climbed aboard the elevator.
"We'll use the back entrance to be safe, but the rest of the lads left about half an hour ago to take the attention off of us."
"But the paparazzi will know that one of you is missing..."
"Some of the bandmates went with them." Harry told her proudly, "We've gotten pretty good at tricking the media when we want to. It's the fans you have to be careful of - but this hotel is pretty good about our privacy."
Ella smiled as she followed Harry through the hotel lobby, out the rear entrance, and into the back of the black SUV. As the SUV wove through the streets of downtown Chicago, Ella thought about Eric. She'd called him from the hotel before jumping in the shower to say goodnight. He had a few of the guys over for a fire and she could tell that he'd already had a few drinks. It gave her comfort, somehow, to know that Eric wasn't at home alone while she was out with Harry, though it didn't do much to ease her guilt.

***

"So tell me a story," Ella requested as they floated slowly along the Chicago River.
"A story?" Harry repeated, a hint of incredulousness in his sultry accent.
"A story!"
"Hmm, okay," Harry turned slightly in his seat to face her, "let's see. Okay, this one time we when I was maybe six, my mum took Gemma and I to London to go back-to-school shopping. It was a big deal because it's about a three-hour drive and we didn't get to go to the city very often. So we're at this big department store, and Gemma decides that she wants this sparkly pink knapsack," Harry spoke slow and deliberately, "And I was in this phase of wanting to do absolutely everything that Gemma did, and Gemma was in this phase of absolutely hating me, so when I said that I wanted the same sack, she told me it was a great idea - that this way everyone would know who I was.
"I whined and whined until mum agreed to get me the same bag as Gemma." Harry smiled wide, "So the first day of school comes, and I strap on my glittery pink knapsack and we head for the bus, and I'm not at the bus stop for five minutes before Gemma has completely abandoned me to chat with her mates, and the only other kid at the stop is this older lad with the same sack - I swear to you. We got to school and just owned that glittery knapsack like we were kings - Gemma was so mad."
"You carried a glittery pink backpack all year!"
"Oh, God, no," Harry shook his head, "that night I transferred all of my supplies to my old sack and carried that the rest of the year."
"I bet you looked adorable with that backpack." Ella smiled.
"Mum might have a picture, I'll have her send it to me."
Ella leaned back in her seat as the cruise host showcased an impossibly tall building that dated back to the earliest days of the city. For what remained of the cruise, she let herself bathe in the feeling that this might be the greatest night of her young life, and when the boat docked and the sky opened, pouring rain on the city, Ella could do nothing but laugh.

"Run!" Harry called, grabbing her hand. His fingers intertwined with hers as they ran together toward the SUV and time slowed down. They ran in slow motion, like a scene from a Nicholas Sparks movie. Harry turned to face her, his mop of hair dripping wet, an enormous smile painted across his face. For a moment, with their hands locked as they ran through puddles, Ella was certain that the only sound in the city of Chicago was their laughter.

Notes

I'm transferring this story over from wattpad so I will have a lot of new chapters back to back!