Somebody Else's Arms

After dressing and brushing her teeth, Hailey reluctantly came out of the bathroom, dragging her suitcase with her. Harry was already in the bed, sitting up watching TV. His bare tattooed chest was gaping at her and she tried her best to avoid all eye contact with him and his well-chiseled body.

“Hailey…” Harry said immediately, watching her.

“Just… whatever, Harry,” she said as she propped her suitcase up against the wall.

“I didn’t… I didn’t mean it like it sounded,” he told her again.

“I don’t even care,” she snapped, lying completely. He knew it, she knew it.

“Hailey,” Harry sighed heavily.

“I’m tired and I just want to go to bed,” she told him finally, hoping he would just shut up.

“I don’t want you to be angry with me,” he said as she walked toward the bed and got under the covers on the opposite side of Harry.

“I’m not upset,” she said, lying down with her back to him, successfully keeping her eyes off of him.

“Usually when a girl says she’s not upset, it really means she is,” Harry sighed and Hailey scoffed lightly.

“Perceptive,” she mumbled under her breath, causing Harry to sigh again.

“I’m really sorry,” he apologized.

“For what?” She grumbled, staring at the wall, trying not to cry again.

“For everything. For what I said… for what I did,” he said quietly.

Hailey closed her eyes tightly feeling the pain in her heart. She didn’t want him to apologize for their night together. She didn’t want it to be just some colossal mistake he made. At the very least, she didn’t want him to regret it. In his own mind, it may have not been the soundest decision he made, but she never wanted him to regret it.

“Hailey…” He said again.

“What, Harry?” She asked, really trying to fight off the tears.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated.

“Yeah,” she said quietly.

“Can we… can we just put this behind us?” He asked, sounding hopeful.

“Yeah,” she choked out as the first tear slipped down her cheek.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

Hailey pulled the blankets up tighter to her chest as she lay there trying to think of something, anything else to keep her from crying. She didn’t want to cry in there with him. She didn’t want him to know how much his words affected her, how much they tore into her.

A few moments later, Harry shut off the lights and TV, settling down next to her in bed. For a while Hailey lay there letting the tears fall silently, unable to hold them back.

“Hailey, I didn’t mean it,” Harry whispered through the darkness.

“I know,” she told him quietly.

Harry left it at that and they both eventually fell asleep.

Hailey woke up the next morning determined to put the whole thing behind her. She slipped out of bed and immediately got into the shower. Harry would be waking up soon and he’d need to get ready too, so she did them both a favor and got a head start. When she got out of the shower, Harry was awake calling in a breakfast order.

“Ooh, pancakes!” Hailey said quickly.

“And I’ll get an order of…” Harry said in the receiver.

“Chocolate chip!” She added in.

“Chocolate chip pancakes,” Harry said, smiling at her as he relayed the message to the person on the other line.

“And milk!” She added.

“And milk,” Harry told the person.

“Anything else?” Harry asked her, placing his hand on the receiver of the telephone.

“Bacon,” she said, biting her bottom lip.

“Just like, a ton of bacon,” Harry said to the person.

“Alright, thank you,” Harry said and hung up the phone.

“I’m glad I caught you. I am starving,” she sighed, rubbing her stomach.

“I pretty much ordered one of everything. I would have shared,” he said, smirking at her.

“Glad to hear,” she said, smirking back at him as she hung up her garment bag that held her dress for the wedding.

“What’s it look like?” Harry asked, eyeing the hanging bag.

“What?” She asked, looking over at him.

“Your dress,” he said, smirking at her from the bed.

“It’s a dress,” she told him playfully.

“Well, is it going to go with my tux?” He chuckled.

“With your black and white tux? I’m pretty sure anything will go with your black and white tux, Harry,” Hailey giggled. He rolled his eyes at her and got out of the bed.

“I’m going to shower. One of the blokes is bringing my tux by soon. If it gets here… or the food, will you please answer the door?” Harry asked, walking to the bathroom in only his boxer briefs.

“If it’s anything else, I’ll make sure not to answer the door,” she giggled.

“You know what I mean,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her playfully.

“Get outta here. You smell funny,” she giggled as he laughed and shut the bathroom door.

It wasn’t long after Harry got in the shower that there was a knock on the door.

“Special delivery,” she heard Louis’ voice through the door. Hailey smirked as she pulled open the door.

“Hello, love,” Louis greeted, smirking at her.

“Good morning,” she countered with a smile.

“I’ve got Harold’s tux,” he said, holding up a large garment bag.

“Uh, I guess you can hang it up over there,” she said, pointing to where her dress was hanging.

“Brilliant,” he said, walking into the room.

When he turned around after hanging up the bag, she watched as his eyes took in the messy bed before he looked up at her with a wide smirk.

“Told you it was a bad idea to ignore it,” he said knowingly.

“Oh. No, no, no,” she said, shaking her head.

“Not my business,” he chuckled, holding his hands up in front of him.

“No, we didn’t… this room was for… him and Emma…” Hailey stammered.

“Not asking questions,” Louis chuckled as he moved toward the door.

“Nothing happened,” she added.

“I don’t need an explanation,” Louis said as he headed out the door.

“But—” Hailey started, but he was already on his way.

The door shut with a loud thud and Hailey was just standing there in the silence. Except it wasn’t entirely silent. She could hear the shower water and she could also hear Harry’s shower time rendition of ‘Going to the Chapel’.

“Going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married…” He belted out.

“Oh my god,” Hailey giggled to herself.

A moment later, she was startled by another knock on the door.

“I swear, Louis—” She said, pulling the door open. But it wasn’t Louis. It was room service with an entire cart full of food.

“Hello, Miss. I have an order for Mr. Harry Styles,” the woman said, smiling pleasantly at Hailey.

“Oh, Jesus. He wasn’t kidding when he said he ordered one of everything,” Hailey said wide-eyed, looking at all the food – which could very well be its own all-you-can-eat buffet. Maybe that’s what he was going for.

“Where would you like it?” She asked with a smirk, trying but failing to keep her professional manner.

“Over by the table will be okay, I think,” Hailey told her.

As she watched the lady push the cart in, Hailey remembered it was customary to tip for room service, so she grabbed for her wallet. Except she had no cash.

“Hold on, one moment,” she told the woman.

Hailey grabbed Harry’s wallet off the nightstand and opened it up. Along with a massive wad of cash was small silver package – a condom. Hmm. Looked as if Mr. Styles was looking for a little something-something tonight with an unsuspecting female companion. Obviously it wasn’t meant for her. He didn’t bother with a condom before. Why would it matter now?

Hailey rolled her eyes, pulling out a twenty dollar bill and slamming his wallet shut. Was twenty too much for a tip? Oh well, she didn’t care.

“Here you go,” Hailey said, handing it to her.

“Miss…” She said, looking awkwardly at the money and then at her.

“Take it. He’s good for it,” Hailey said, smiling politely at her.

“Thank you very much. That is quite generous,” she said with a wide smile, giving Hailey a nod before she left the room.

Where the hell was Harry going to take this woman who he thought he was going to fool around with? Not in their hotel room. Oh, no. And what the fuck? He has a date. She was his date. Disrespectful.

“Ooh, food,” Harry said, coming out of the bathroom a moment later.

He startled her and she quickly spun in her chair in his direction. He was wrapped from the waist down in a towel, but nothing else. His skin was glistening and fuck, he was so excruciatingly beautiful. She literally almost groaned at the sight of him.

“I see you’ve attacked the bacon already,” he chuckled.

Hailey looked down in her hand where a half-eaten strip of it was in her hand. Then she looked down at the plate and realized she had indeed eaten her fair share. She must have lost herself in thought as she ate it.

“Hungry. I was hungry,” she mumbled, turning back toward the table.

“Don’t turn around. I’m gonna drop the towel,” he warned her.

“Oh,” she choked out.

“Or… whatever. You’ve seen it anyway,” he added. Oh, god. She couldn’t quite remember if she actually saw him completely naked the night they were together. It was inside of her, but she didn’t think she actually ever saw it.

“No. Oh, no. I’ll just… I’ll eat… the food,” she said, feeling incredibly flustered that he was getting naked in the same room as her.

Her body stayed entirely rigged and stiff staring at the plate in front of her, until he walked over to the table wearing grey sweat pants and a white v-neck.

“This looks amazing,” he said, sitting in the chair opposite of her.

“Yeah. Totally,” she said quietly, unable to really look up at him. She felt so awkward.

“Did you eat too much bacon?” He asked, smirking at her.

“What?” She questioned, finally looking up at him.

“You haven’t touched your chocolate chip pancakes,” he pointed out.

“Oh! Ha. I… yeah…” Hailey stammered, grabbing her knife and fork to dig in.

Harry looked at her oddly, before shaking it off and digging into his own food.

“Eat whatever you’d like,” he said with a mouthful of food.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod as she put a piece of pancake in her mouth.

After the two of them ate, they knew they really needed to get ready to go down to the wedding venue. Hailey took the bathroom and Harry got ready in the room. Once she was fully dressed and made up, she walked out of the bathroom only to find Harry struggling with his tie by the mirror. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him.

“Need some help?” She asked, watching him from behind. He turned around with a smile, but it dropped off his face at the sight of her.

“Hailey…” He said quietly as his eyes roamed over her.

“What?” She asked, looking down at her dress, afraid something was wrong with it.

“You look… you look amazing,” he told her.

“Stop it,” she said, waving off his compliment.

“No, I’m serious. Wow,” he said as his eyes dipped down her body again.

“Shut up,” she said, feeling the hot blush creep up her face.

“When I was picturing your dress, I never pictured a sexy little black dress,” he said, smirking wildly at her.

“Shut up, seriously. Here. Let me help you with your tie,” she said, walking swiftly over to him. She wanted the attention off of her because it made her feel uncomfortable. She quickly grabbed onto his tie and started tying it for him.

“You’re good at this,” he said, smirking at her.

“Uh, my dad… he’s a suit kind of guy. He taught me. He always told me it would be an invaluable thing to know for when I got married,” she said, smiling lightly at him.

“Or when somebody else is getting married,” Harry smirked.

“Right,” she said, smoothing out the silky tie when she finished.

“Thanks, Hailz,” Harry told her with a big goofy grin.

“You’re welcome,” she said, backing away to find her purse and heels.

Hailey watched out of the corner of her eye as Harry pulled on his suit jacket. He looked wonderful all dressed up like that. It wasn’t fair that he could wear just about anything and be über attractive and appealing. Her eyes and heart needed a break.

“Are you ready?” Harry asked, looking over at her.

“Yeah,” she said, pulling on her heels quickly, grabbing up her clutch purse.

“Shall we?” He asked, holding out his arm for her.

“We shall,” she nodded, linking her arm with his as the two of them walked toward the door.

The wedding site was on the grounds of the resort they were staying at so they only had to take the elevator down to the lobby and they were met with people from the party. Harry and all his friends they drove up with were all groomsmen with matching tuxedos. And they all looked absolutely flawless.

“Christ, lady. I didn’t know you had it in you,” Louis said as his eyes darted up and down Hailey’s body.

“What?” Hailey asked, a bit confused.

“You are on fire. Smokin’ hot,” he laughed.

“Oh. Thanks,” she chuckled uncomfortably as a blush ravished her face.

“Are you hitting on my date, Louis?” Harry asked with a slight chuckle.

“Maybe,” Louis said, winking at Hailey.

The early afternoon consisted of pretty much Hailey waiting around while everyone else around her was busy doing something in preparation for the wedding. Hailey felt completely out of place. She didn’t really know anyone except Harry, and he was preoccupied with groomsmen things. There was one other groomsmen beside the guys, but Hailey didn’t know who he was. All she knew was that he was a good looking dude. A very, very good looking dude. He was blonde and tan and carried himself confidently and it surprised the hell out of Hailey when she kept catching his eye when she looked over at him.

She knew she needed to chill out, so she went over to the open bar and ordered a chardonnay to keep herself from looking in his direction. She needed to stop. Really. Just… ugh.

“Hi, there,” Hailey heard and it startled her.

She turned around quickly and saw the hottie standing in front of her with a smile plastered on his face.

“Uh, hi,” she stammered, trying not to act like a lunatic.

“Are you here with someone or are you just wedding crashing?” He asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

At first she thought he was being serious, until she saw the small smirk at the corner of his mouth and the jovial look in his eyes.

“Uh, Harry. Harry’s my date,” she told him.

“Oh. Harry,” he said, looking over at the man in question.

“We’re just friends… Harry and I,” she added in, sounding like a complete idiot in the process.

“Oh. Okay,” he chuckled.

“We’re neighbors,” she continued, like she couldn’t stop herself.

“I see. I’m Jeremy. Best man, brother of the groom,” he said, holding out his hand to shake hers.

“Hailey. Harry’s date,” she said. Good lord, she just needed to stop talking.

“You said that already,” Jeremy pointed out, smiling widely at her.

“Yeah. I did, didn’t I?” She chuckled nervously.

“It’s okay. You’re just being thorough. I did interrogate you a little bit when I first walked up,” he smirked, giving her an excuse for her awkwardness.

“Yeah. I suppose you did,” she said, smiling bashfully at him.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Hailey,” he said finally.

“Likewise, Jeremy,” she told him.

“I’ll see you around,” he said, giving her a wink before he headed off.

Oh, Lord. She hoped so.

Notes