The Story of Us

Audrey

New York City – March 24th, 2016

Audrey wasn’t entirely sure what to expect or what exactly Niall’s intentions were when he invited her with him to a club to see Harry Styles whoop it up on stage. She told him she would go, but the skepticism set in when he told her his mates would be there and he wanted her to meet them. Was it a date? Or were they just friends, like she thought? Audrey and Niall had been meeting up at the 38th Street Diner off and on for over a month now. But he never made a move or even hinted that he was showing any other signs but friendship toward her – which she was okay with.

Oh yeah, and there was this little nagging part of her that secretly wanted to meet the illustrious Harry Styles – even though she knew there was a snowballs chance in hell for anything to develop with that. Harry Styles was what you might call a ladies man. He always had the most beautiful girlfriends, whether they be famous models or pop stars, it didn’t matter. This really was the only time in his life where he wasn’t toting around a gorgeous woman on his arm and that was because he was deep into the One Direction hiatus, working on his solo music. So, like she said – there was a snowballs chance in hell that she would ever have a shot with a man like Harry Styles. But she could always hope, couldn’t she?

Audrey felt silly and out of place standing with Niall side stage at the sold-out club. But the thing she liked about him was that he was the complete opposite of her – he was bubbly and friendly and always had a smile on his face. The same could be said about the man on the stage, shouting out to the crowd between the songs he performed.

Harry Styles.

He was in rare form, dancing around the stage, laughing with the people up there with him. He looked like he was having an amazing time and Audrey absolutely loved watching him. It wasn’t the first time she’d been in the same place as him, but it was the closest she ever felt to him, especially with Niall Horan standing next to her. It took all she had not to sing to the One Direction songs he performed during his set. And listening to his flawless new music was probably the best thing in the world.

If someone would have told Audrey a month ago that she would become friends with one fifth of One Direction, she would have said they were out of their mind. Being a long-time fan, she had the chance to see One Direction live on every single one of their headlining tours – which was still something she had yet to share with Niall. Too much time had passed since they met and she thought it would be weird if she brought it up now. Besides, she never expected him to ever come back to the diner and she sure as hell didn’t expect them to become friends.

But there she was and there he was and there Harry was.

“Hey, mate,” Audrey heard and looked up, only to be met with the likes of Louis Tomlinson and Eleanor Calder.

Audrey was almost star struck as they stood in front of her. Her eyes were wide with shock and awe, feeling like a complete stalker because she was already privy to intimate details about the infamous relationship that was Elounor.

“Hey! I’m glad you made it,” Niall said, hugging his mate and then Eleanor.

“Hey. I’d like you to meet my friend Audrey,” Niall said, introducing her to them.

“You’re friend Audrey, huh?” Louis said, smiling suggestively as he looked over at her.

“Yeah,” Niall said as Eleanor leaned up to say something to him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Audrey. I’m Louis, Niall’s mate, and this is my girlfriend Eleanor,” Louis said, shaking her hand.

“Hi,” Eleanor said with a wave and a bright smile as she continued to carry on a secret conversation with Niall, that neither Louis nor Audrey could hear over the music.

“So how do you know Niall?” Louis asked Audrey curiously.

“Niall and I met about a month ago in a diner,” Audrey told him.

“In a diner, huh?” Louis asked as his eyes widened in amusement.

“Yeah. I don’t know. We just started talking and we’ve been friends ever since,” Audrey said with a shrug.

“Friends?” Louis asked, smiling at her.

“Friends,” Audrey nodded. Louis smirked and looked over at Niall.

“I swear that’s all it is,” Niall was saying to Eleanor, oblivious to Audrey and Louis’ conversation.

“Alright,” Eleanor said, smiling at him.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Audrey,” Louis said, smiling at her.

“Likewise,” Audrey said, smiling back at him to show him how unphased she was by his implication that there was more going on between her and Niall besides a simple, budding friendship.

The four of them watched from the side of the stage as Harry rile up the crowd over and over again. It was crazy and awesome and it completely made her entire life being backstage with three-fifths of her favorite band. If she was dreaming, she did not want to wake up.

“He’s acting a bit crazy right now, innit he?” Louis laughed, looking over at Niall.

“You know Harry. He’s always got that pent up energy,” Niall chuckled.

“I know. But like, he’s acting crazier than usual,” Louis said, making a face.

“He’s probably drunk,” Niall laughed, which made Audrey giggle.

She thought it was kind of funny that the first time she would meet Harry, that he just so happened to be drunk. She waited a long time for this. But luckily for her, it was almost kind of exciting to see him like that. Ever since she saw drunken pictures of him at his nineteenth birthday party, she always wanted to be in the presence of Drunk Harry and now she would get her chance.

Harry’s set was filled with covers of classic songs and new songs, some One Direction songs, and a few brand new solo Harry Styles songs. It was quite a treat for Audrey as she watched and listened to him. After an hour, Harry ended his performance and bid adieu to the crowd of his loyal fans.

“Hey, you were brilliant up there!” Louis told him, giving him a quick hug as Harry approached.

“Thanks, mate. It was unbelievable,” Harry said with a wide smile.

“It really was great,” Eleanor said, wrapping her arms around him for a short hug.

“Thanks, El,” he told her.

“Congrats, mate,” Niall said, giving Harry a hug as well.

“Yeah, thanks,” Harry said before his eyes fell on Audrey.

It was crazy the sensations that flitted through her entire body as his eyes washed over her. It was Harry Styles after all. She’d never been more than a large crowd away from him. And now, she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. And she wanted to. She really did. But that would make her the crazy girl and she didn’t want to be that.

“Harry, this is my friend Audrey,” Niall introduced them quickly.

“Audrey,” Harry breathed.

There was something about the way her name sounded rolling off of his tongue. It was heavenly – absolutely divine.

“Audrey, this is my mate Harry,” Niall continued. Harry reached out, taking her hand in his to shake it.

“Nice to meet you, Harry,” Audrey said, trying her hardest to keep her voice from quivering as she said the words.

Her face was burning with blush, but that couldn’t have been helped. When given the chance to meet a man who she’d admired for five years, things as trivial as blushing cheeks didn’t mean a whole lot.

“Likewise,” he said, still shaking her hand lightly as he stared into her eyes.

Audrey wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but she knew she felt something. What really threw her off was how entranced Harry was with her. He wasn’t backing off. He was just standing there, staring at her, shaking her hand – taking her all in. Audrey’s heart was beating out of her chest, she was so excited. But she didn’t know what to do, so she just stared back, appreciating every single second with him.

“Ohh-kay,” they heard Niall say awkwardly.

Louis and El’s snickering was enough to break Harry out of whatever daze he was in and he dropped Audrey’s hand and looked around at his friends.

“So uh, do you want to get out of here? Get something to eat?” Harry asked his friends casually.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Louis said, smirking at him.

“Audrey, are you in?” Harry asked, his eyes coming back up to her, stunning her with the use of her name once again.

She looked over at Niall who had yet to answer. After all, she was there with him. She couldn’t just go off with his friends without him. Niall gave her a slight nod of his head to say it was cool.

“I’m in,” Audrey told Harry.

“Brilliant. Let’s go,” Harry beamed a smile at her.

An hour later, they were sitting around a table at a small 24 hour diner near the club. They were already finished eating, so they just sat there talking and laughing with each other. Audrey was seated between Harry and Niall – any girl’s dream – while Louis and El sat across from them.

Harry was bouncing in his seat, still going off the adrenaline from his set at the club. It was surprising that he was still so hyped up. He was obviously a little intoxicated, which was amusing in itself. But she had no idea where all that energy came from. Then again, if you knew anything about Harry Styles, you’d know he was an upbeat person in general, especially when it came to performing. Audrey always loved that about him over the years.

“So, what is it you do, Audrey?” Eleanor asked Audrey curiously.

“Oh. Uh. Right now I am a full-time student,” Audrey told her, feeling a slight blush rise up her cheeks.

She was in the company of multi-millionaires and there she was, a poor little college student with an encroaching mountain of student loan debt.

“That’s great. What’s your major?” Louis asked.

“Communications with a minor in business,” she told him.

“Oh, really? What kind of career are you looking for after school?” He asked curiously.

“Oh, I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought much about it. Probably something in public relations. I don’t know,” Audrey said shyly as she pushed around the crumbs on her plate with her fork.

“PR, ugh,” Harry grumbled under his breath. Audrey looked over, sending him an odd look.

“I just want to be able to make a living for myself and my future family,” she said quickly, shrugging off his comment.

“That’s very noble of you,” she heard Harry say.

Audrey looked up at him from the corner of her eye and he gave her a wide grin as he bobbed his eyebrows at her. Every little thing he said or did made her heart beat a little faster, even if it was at times mildly insulting.

“You’ve gotta have a plan, you know,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m all set,” Harry said, sending her a smirk.

“Unfortunately some of us don’t have the luxury,” Audrey said, breaking her eyes away from him to look at her plate again.

“And that’s okay. Working for what you get is the most rewarding,” Louis chimed in, sending Harry an odd look too.

“That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful,” Harry said, looking around at his friends before he looked at Audrey.

“I wasn’t being rude. I didn’t mean it to be rude,” Harry told her, looking a bit offended.

“I didn’t take it that way,” she said, looking at him again.

“Good,” he said as he began to bounce his leg once again.

The five of them sat in an awkward silence for a few moments. Audrey wasn’t sure of what to do or say. She already knew so much about these people and that was awkward in itself, carrying that information around. She always thought she’d have so much to say to her idols if she ever met them, but the reality of it was, when she was faced with it, it was hard to get anything out.

Harry Styles was sitting to her left. Harry Styles, the boy who she had legitimately fantasized about on several occasions was sitting right next to her, bouncing his leg so much that every once in a while he’d lose control of it and it would knock against hers. Harry Styles’ anything touching her was like a dream come true. And that fact made everything awkward.

“I’m going to use the loo,” Niall said, standing up from the table.

“Alright,” Louis said, looking at his friend.

“I’ll come with you,” Harry said as he shot up too, heading after Niall to the bathroom.

Louis, El and Audrey were left at the table with each other, which wasn’t too entirely awkward. They seemed so down to earth.

“So… are you from around here, Audrey?” Louis asked curiously.

“I grew up in Midtown Manhattan,” she said with a nod.

“Oh, yeah? We spent a lot of time here over the past couple of years,” Louis said with a happy smile.

“Yeah. Niall told me that,” Audrey said, smiling back at him.

“So you and Niall…” He started to say.

“Are friends,” she reminded him.

“And that’s it?” He asked curiously.

“I swear,” Audrey laughed.

“Alright,” Louis chuckled.

“Leave her alone,” Eleanor laughed, smacking Louis’s arm lightly.

“What? I’m just asking,” Louis laughed, rubbing his arm.

“I already told you I talked to Niall,” Eleanor reminded her boyfriend.

“Yeah. I know,” he chuckled.

“Wait. What did Niall say?” Audrey asked curiously. He was so hard to read sometimes. It would be nice to figure out just a bit of what he was thinking.

“That you were just friends,” Eleanor told her.

“That’s all he said?” Audrey asked.

“Would you have liked him to have said more?” Louis said, smirking suggestively at Audrey.

“Ha. No. I just… I don’t know. I’m curious,” Audrey laughed, shaking her head.

Those two sure were inquisitive. And the fact that they were grilling her about Niall gave her more than a few butterflies, even though he wasn’t the one she truly had eyes for. The way they kept smiling at her made her think they would have liked to see Niall with a girl like her. And that kind of approval was life-changing.

“So, how did you two meet again?” Louis asked curiously.

“Well, there’s this diner I’ve been going to since I was really little. And one day he came to eat there and I don’t know… we just started talking. And he kept coming back and we kind of just became friends,” Audrey told them.

“That’s cool. Niall is a good bloke, a good friend,” Louis said, smiling at Audrey.

“It’s not like we’re best friends or anything. We don’t talk about our deep dark secrets or anything. The conversation stays pretty light. Like, we like to talk about history,” Audrey said with a small smile. Louis let out a boisterous laugh.

“I know, I know. We’re dorks. But that’s what we kind of bonded over,” Audrey said with an all-encompassing blush creeping up her face. She enjoyed being dorky with Niall.

“We talk about other stuff too, I guess. He did tell me a little bit about how he and his girlfriend just broke up. Long distance issues and things like that,” Audrey said with a passive shrug.

“Yeah, it happens,” Louis said with a somber nod.

“Not for you two though, huh?” Audrey said, smiling fondly at them, trying her best to lead the conversation away from herself.

“El usually just travels with me wherever I go,” Louis said, giving his girlfriend a cute little look as El scrunched her nose up at him adoringly.

“That’s nice,” Audrey said, smiling at the two of them just as Niall and Harry came back to the table.

“Hey,” Niall said as he sat down on her left side.

“Hey,” she greeted him as she felt Harry drop down next to her on her right side, the side of his leg resting up against hers.

Audrey’s heart began beating faster and more irregularly at the thought of her and Harry touching again. She didn’t want to be that girl who has a coronary being in his presence, so she took a couple deep breaths to try to calm herself.

“Are you okay?” Audrey heard Niall ask her.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she told him, giving him a small smile.

“Good,” he said, smiling back at her.

“Any of you looking to have some desert?” The waitress asked them as she walked up.

“Oooh,” Audrey heard Harry exclaim and her head immediately turned in his direction with a small smile turning up her lips. He was so endearing.

“Ice cream,” he said, bobbing his eyebrows at her. Audrey giggled slightly at his excitement over something as trivial as ice cream.

“What kind would you like, sugar?” The middle-aged woman asked Harry.

“Vanilla with hot fudge,” he said, smiling at her.

“Anything for anyone else?” She asked, looking between all of them.

“Uh, I think we’re okay,” Niall said, looking at the rest of them.

“Ah, come on. Someone’s got to eat dessert with me,” Harry whined. Audrey smiled to herself over the childish nature his voice took on.

“Audrey, come on. I’ll buy,” he said, elbowing her lightly. Audrey turned her head toward him, letting him see her smile.

“Come on,” he said, giving her puppy dog eyes.

“Fine,” she conceded and couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Ace!” He said triumphantly.

“I’ll have the same as him,” she told the waitress.

“’Atta girl,” Harry said, patting her upper thigh, causing her entire body to tense at the contact.

It only fueled the dirty thoughts in her brain that she really shouldn’t have been having for that man as she sat in such close company to two of his best mates, one being a friend to her. But she couldn’t help herself.

.

.

Harry

New York City – March 24th, 2016

Harry loved everything about music – everything. He loved the sounds, the feelings, the memories that could be conjured up by listening to it. He loved writing it, singing it, composing it. Music was everything to him. So when he got to play a few solo gigs at a club, he ran with it. He was in New York staying with Niall for the time being as he worked on his solo music. One Direction had just gone on hiatus and all the lads were diligently working on their own stuff.

It was nights like these that Harry loved. He was able to have his time in the spotlight. And he was feeling good. The alcohol flowing through his veins also made him feel good.

He couldn’t believe how blessed he was to be able to make a living doing what he loved. He would never be able to thank the fans enough for letting him continue even after One Direction. He made his music for them and hoped he could continue making them happy for the rest of his career.

He spent his entire set, giving it his all. He channeled all his energy into every song and relished in the crowd screaming the words back at him. It was like a drug he never wanted to be off of.

After his set, he found Niall, Louis and Eleanor backstage. As he walked toward them, Harry saw Niall talking to a very attractive blonde woman. He was quite proud of his mate for chatting up a girl after the bad break-up he just went through not long before, but then he remember how Niall mentioned he was going to bring his new friend Audrey – that he insisted was just a friend – to the club with him.

As they all turned to look at Harry as he walked toward them, his eyes immediately connected with the beautiful blonde pixie – who had to be Audrey. What exactly was the policy on immediately getting the hots for his mate’s only friend in New York? Was it acceptable to act upon it? Or did he need to tread lightly?

“Hey, you were brilliant up there!” Louis said as he hugged him quickly.

“Thanks, mate. It was a unbelievable,” Harry said as he hugged him.

“It really was a great,” Louis’ girlfriend Eleanor said.

“Thanks, El,” Harry said as he hugged her.

“Congrats, mate,” Niall said, hugging him.

“Yeah, thanks,” Harry said, smiling at him.

“Harry, this is my friend Audrey,” Niall said, finally introducing him to the lovely girl.

Harry heard him talk about her all week. Yet, he never talked about her like he fancied her. He only talked about her in the friendly sense. And he never told Harry exactly how beautiful she was.

“Audrey,” Harry breathed, shaking her hand, staring straight into her eyes.

“Audrey, this is my mate Harry,” Niall introduced them, but neither of them gave him any attention. They were too busy falling in love with each other.

“Nice to meet you, Harry,” she breathed. Harry could see the blush creep up her cheeks even through the dim lighting of the club and it made his spine tingle.

“Likewise,” Harry said, still shaking her hand lightly.

“Ohh-kay,” Niall said, eyeing the two of them.

Harry heard Louis and Eleanor snicker lightly, snapping him out of his daze. He dropped Audrey’s hand and looked around at his mates.

“So uh, do you want to get out of here? Get something to eat?” Harry asked them, trying to recover from whatever it was that just happened.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Louis said, looking at his girlfriend as she shook her head.

“Audrey, are you in?” Harry asked, bringing his attention back to her, because why not? Her eyes looked to Niall and then back to Harry.

“I’m in,” she told him with a nod.

“Brilliant! Let’s go,” Harry said, smiling at her.

With Audrey it was instantaneous. There was no other way to explain it. Sure he’d fallen quickly for other girls in the past. But this was different. It felt different. It felt real.

Now all he needed to do was make sure he wasn’t encroaching on Niall’s territory.

…

Harry tried to watch Niall and Audrey out of the corner of his eye – just to see if there was any kind of touching to hint that things were progressing with them. But as far as he could tell, there was no touching of any kind really. In fact, she was actually sitting closer to him than she was to Niall, which kind of made him wonder if she felt the same connection between the two of them that he felt the second they laid their sights on one another. Or was it just her way of being shy and bashful toward Niall? Did she like him? Did he like her? It was driving Harry crazy not knowing.

“So, what is it you do, Audrey?” Harry heard Eleanor ask her from across the table.

Harry looked up quickly at Louis’ girlfriend and kind of applauded her in his head. Why didn’t he think to ask something like that? He should be asking Audrey those kinds of question. He should be making small talk with her – getting to know her. He wanted to get to know her. Why was it so fucking hard to concentrate?

Harry was really regretting doing those few lines before the show. He really hated himself for feeling like he needed something to get him going. Cocaine was definitely not what he needed. He couldn’t even fucking stop bouncing his leg. He pressed his hand to his knee stilling his leg, realizing he should probably try to listen to Audrey’s answer.

“…full-time student,” he barely caught as he turned his head toward her general direction.

“That’s great. What’s your major?” Louis asked Audrey.

Fuck. He really wished he was asking her these questions. He was a proper idiot.

“Communications with a minor in business,” Audrey replied, smiling at Louis.

“Oh, really? What kind of career are you looking for after school?” Louis asked, giving Audrey a smile.

“Oh, I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought much about it. Probably something in public relations. I don’t know,” she explained.

“PR, ugh,” Harry grumbled.

He hated the entire concept of public relations. They were sharks in blood infested waters when it came to spinning stories to fit a particular narrative. They’d done enough to fuck with all of their lives in the past six years.

“I just want to be able to make a living for myself and my future family,” he heard Audrey say just as he looked up to see her eyebrows furrowed at him. Did he offend her?

“That’s very noble of you,” Harry chimed in, giving her a bob of his eyebrows when she looked over at him. He wanted her to know he wasn’t judging her.

“You gotta have a plan, you know,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“I’m all set,” Harry told her, smiling back.

His life plans were set in stone the second they made their first million. When the millions kept rolling in, he knew his future wife, his kids and possibly their kids would be set for quite a while.

“Unfortunately, some of us don’t have the luxury,” Audrey said, giving him an uneasy look, like she was embarrassed or something.

Harry froze, trying to realize what just happened. Did she take what he said offensively? Like he thought he was better than her because he didn’t have to find a traditional job like she would? He didn’t mean that at all. He was on a roll, wasn’t he? By the rate he was going she was more than likely going to tell him to fuck off by the end of the night. A sense of dread washed over him as Louis addressed the issue.

“And that’s okay. Working for what you get is the most rewarding,” Louis told her.

“That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful,” Harry said, staring at Louis before he quickly looked over at Audrey to make sure she knew he wasn’t trying to be a pompous asshole by saying that.

“I wasn’t being rude. I didn’t mean it to be rude,” Harry told her, quickly trying to redeem himself.

She looked over at him with her big wide, beautiful eyes staring straight into his.

“I didn’t take it that way,” she said, her voice sounding sweet and beautiful and airy.

“Good,” Harry told her, feeling relieved, but also feeling incredibly attracted to this girl – even more so than before.

It wasn’t every day that he got a chance to hang out with a girl that was so down to earth, a girl that wasn’t concerned with them being from One Direction. They were just regular blokes to her. That was proven by her friendship with Niall.

“I’m going to go to the loo,” Niall told the group.

Harry almost didn’t hear him, because his thoughts were so loud inside of his head, but he’d been itching to get him alone all night to ask him about Audrey.

“I’ll come with you,” Harry said, jumping up out of the booth, immediately following Niall toward the toilet.

“Alright,” Niall said, giving him an odd look.

When they got into the bathroom, Niall gave Harry another odd look.

“You alright, mate?” He asked carefully.

“Yeah. What? What do you mean?” Harry asked, knitting his eyebrows in confusion.

“You seem… jumpy,” Niall said, watching him from the corner of his eye as they stepped up to the urinals.

Harry waved it off, knowing it was just one of the many side effects of the cocaine. But Niall didn’t need to know that.

“Nah, mate. I’m just buzzin’ about the gig still,” Harry said, turning away from him quickly as he finished up.

A moment later, he turned to the sink and started washing his hands to have something to do rather than being under Niall’s scrutiny. But once Niall began washing his hands too, his skeptical gaze was back on him through the mirror.

“So, uh… Audrey…” Harry started, wanting to get down to business.

“What about her?” Niall asked nonchalantly.

“You two… are you…” Harry started.

“Just friends,” Niall said as grabbed for a couple paper towels to dry his hands. Harry couldn’t help but notice that Niall looked a bit annoyed by the question.

“Just friends?” Harry asked, quirking his eyebrow as his heart began beating a bit faster – if that were possible.

“I don’t know why I can’t just have a friend who’s a girl,” Niall said evenly.

“I mean, you can. But like, I don’t know, you haven’t really had a girl-friend before,” Harry said with a shrug.

“I am capable of having platonic feelings,” he said, looking at Harry like he was a complete idiot.

“I never said you weren’t. She’s just… she’s cute,” Harry said, shrugging again, trying to act blasé about the whole conversation, like he wasn’t aching for the new girl who Niall called a friend.

“Seriously, mate. We’re just friends. I don’t think that’s going to change. Besides, me andCeline just broke up,” Niall told him.

“Alright. I get it,” Harry said with a nod.

That was good news. Good news indeed.

As Harry and Niall were leaving the toilet, Harry could have done a fucking dance, he was so excited. Audrey was fair game.

Game on.

Notes