Ellie Hoover

I awoke to a gentle nudge to my right bicep, followed by Harry’s voice. “Ellie, wake up. We are here.”

I groaned in response and struggled to open my eyes. “No. I want to go home.”
“You are home, El.”

“Seattle home,” I replied, still half asleep.

I heard Harry let out a frustrated breath and the car door shut on his side. The next thing I knew, the door on my side opened and a set of arms wrapped around me. I was lifted up and pulled into a structured chest veiled by a soft jacket. I could tell it was Harry from the warmth radiating in his tight hold and the way his body moved as his legs made long swift strides. I jumped at the sudden rattle of Harry’s knuckles against the door in front of us, but still refused to open my eyes.

“Okay. You can stop faking like you’re sleeping. I already got you to the door,” Harry said softly, his head close enough to my ear so I could feel long strands of curls fall against my temple.

The door swung open and my eyelids sprung up as I recognized the cheery voice as the old woman who guilted me into this trip. “Ellie! Harry! I’m so happy. Come in! I have breakfast ready.”

“Thank you Beth,” Harry said as he carried me through the doorway, surrounded by immediate warmth and the sweet smell that always accompanied my grandma.

“Harry, you can put me down now. There is no one around for you to impress around here with your strength,” I joked.

I could felt his chest rumble as he quietly laughed. He set me down on the carpet covered floor in the front room and left his arms out readily in case I until I completely regained my consciousness and stability to stand.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and looked at the room we occupied. Nothing had changed in the six years I had been gone. The rose colored walls were shielded with countless framed pictures. The coffee table in front of the light fabric couches was spotless, only supporting a perfectly aligned set of books and a vase of fake daises. The place was spotless, but it still seemed like a little bit of home to me. Maybe this was where I got my incessant need to clean from. The familiarity of the house relaxed me.

“All right?” Harry asked, staring at me.

“Yeah. We should eat. I am starving.” I lead him to the kitchen.

“Nana! Pops!” I shrieked and went into hug both of them. It was a comforting feeling; it was something I hadn’t done since they came out to Seattle for my birthday last January.

“It’s about bloody time you came home,” my grandpa nagged. I rolled my eyes and sat next to Harry who was already shoving his plate of food into his mouth.

“Careful, you might eat the fork as well,” I smiled.

“Hey, I’m hungry and it’s not every day you get a traditional English breakfast. Especially made by nana Beth,” Harry protested. So we were close enough for him to refer to my Nan as nana, I thought.

“My heart is thankful that I don’t,” I said as I took a bite of my sausage.

Harry shook his head and chuckled once more. “Well who’s the cheeky bastard now?”
I felt my grandparents staring at Harry and I with joy written across their faces. I felt undeniably comfortable with Harry and yet I hadn’t even known him very well with the time given.

“Harry, hun, how is the band? I haven’t seen you in a year. It’s bad enough from this one,” my grandma gestured to me with a disapproving frown. “You know how much I love to hear about your travel stories!” And with that statement, Harry embarked on a conversation with my grandparents about travels and experiences for what had lasted most of the morning.

I watched the three of them engrossed in Harry’s recent adventures. I was truly curios what it was like being the one and only Harry Styles. I still couldn’t fully grasp the thought that someone like Harry Styles was my childhood best friend. I was starting to get used to the idea and it was one of the first times I had been able to stay around and actually feel comfortable with something from-well my past life. He was genuine and all the past thoughts I carried in my mind were washed away and replaced with new ones. This Harry Styles, the one sitting next to me. The one whose eyes green eyes lit up and got wide when he got excited. The one whose cheeks faintly flushed whenever nan or pops would compliment him. I could keep listing off the Harry Styles I saw in front of me, so different from the image of Harry Styles I used to see in front of me. No one would probably notice this Harry if they had not been paying close attention like I had, especially for the entire morning I had spent with him. My ears were almost shut off, using all my brain power to try and figure out what about Harry intrigued me. What did I need from Harry? What drew me to him so much? Maybe I was infatuated with him like every other normal human in the universe, I thought. But this definitely wasn’t infatuation. It was so much stronger. I needed to find out more about him-about his heart, his desires, his wishes, his fears, his purpose.


Harry Styles

I sat at the dark wooded table across from Beth and Dan explaining all the things I had been through since I had seen them last. Ellie remained quiet, but the curiosity was evident; I sensed her gray eyes fixated on me as I was clearly entertaining her grandparents with all the recent event in my life.

Being next to Ellie was comforting. Hell, I wasn't sure if she remembered me at all but I didn't care at this point. I called my mom on the phone Friday night after I put Ellie to bed. I couldn't wait any longer and luckily it was it was around 10 in the morning in England. She was surprised at first and then excited when I told her about Ellie and how we had met earlier that week, but she knew I needed answers. She explained all she knew-all Beth had told her. I had thought about it all morning. I wasn’t sure if I should mention it to her. Would she want me to have known? Did I want to help her remember? Was it worth it all just for a childhood friend? Did she believe me? She had barely came back into my life for what, a week? And she was already screwing with my thoughts. What the hell was this? I felt close to her, closer than I had ever felt to her before. I needed answers. I needed to act somehow… But what did I need to do?

I was pulled out of my internal debate by Beth, concluding her rambling about her accounts on holidays in Italy with Dan. She could talk for hours, so unlike Ellie.

I looked at my watch and mentally noted I had been in the same spot of the kitchen for the past two and a half hours.

“Well, I really need to get going. I might come home to an angry mom now, but of course I enjoyed seeing you two as always,” I said as I dragged the door backwards across the while tiled flooring. “And thank you Ellie for accompanying me on my drive up,” I caught her out of her daze.

“Of course, Harry. You can pop by any time, hun. And you know I’ll be making you favorites at the bakery,” Beth winked as she went in for a hug. Dan followed with a gently pat on the back.

I wasn’t sure what t expect from Ellie, but she followed me to the front door. We stared at eachother for a while, but her eyes never meeting mine completely.

“Well thank you Harry for waiting for me and well basically everything,” she laughed nervously. She clasped her hands in front of her, unsure of what to do next.

“My pleasure,” I replied. What the hell, I thought and went in for a hug.

“I believe you,” I heard her lightly say as she neared my ear. My body chilled at her words because I knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said as I started walking backwards out the door.

Her brows burrowed in the same look of confusion I had seen so many times previous. “Tomorrow?”

Before I could reply, I miss stepped on the drop off of a step in the walkway, nearly falling over completely. She rid her face of the awful expression of confusion and broke out in a wide toothed smile.

“Tomorrow,” I replied before heading back into my car.

Notes

xo.