Harry Styles - Instant Attraction Ch. 05

5. Fame

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Thursday morning, two days after their second date, 6.00am
...

Charley woke up to her phone alarm early on Thursday morning. She tapped the snooze button as was her custom, letting herself come awake slowly. When it went off again at 6.09am, she rose and changed into her running clothes. As she laced up her sneakers and tied her hair into a ponytail, Charley glanced at her phone and smiled, thinking about the message Harry had sent her just before midnight last night.

Charley had worked hard all afternoon yesterday at her desk to make up for lost time. She hadn't stopped until 10pm, only pausing for bathroom breaks and to heat up one of her pre-made frozen meals. Grilled pesto chicken and veggies - she'd scrunched her nose up a little, knowing pizza would be so much nicer, but it's why she cooked bulk and froze it - so she wouldn't cave into getting her pizza fix when she was busy working late.

After she'd turned her computer off, Charley had had a shower and washed her hair. She'd stood under the warm water for nearly fifteen minutes thinking about all the things Harry had done to her, reminded further when she went to wash herself between her legs and winced, then grinned. Oh yeah, she'd be sore for a week after what they'd done.

The thought kept her smiling until she was in her customary singlet and undies and tucked up in bed.

Charley had been just about asleep when her phone had lit up on her nightstand. She had it set to Do Not Disturb from 10.30pm onwards, but she was dipping in and out of sleep, so as her eyes fluttered open she'd noticed the light coming from her bedside table in the darkness, disturbing her.

Blearily, she had grabbed her phone noting the time. It was just after 11.30pm. What the heck? Who was contacting her this late? She'd focused harder and saw a green icon saying she'd received a text message. Squinting, still half asleep, her eyebrows had risen when she'd seen who it was from. Unlocking her phone quickly, she brought the message up close to her face and stared at it:

HS: I hope this doesn't wake you - but I've just knocked off work and I wanted to say good night...or good morning, whenever you get this. I enjoyed our date...all of it [wink emoji] [blow kiss emoji]

Charley had read it and re-read it about ten times, blushing deeply but smiling like an idiot before she'd slowly clicked the sleep button on the side of her phone, the room swallowed up again in the sudden blackness. She hadn't felt the need to text back as she knew he hadn't expected one. Exhaustion finally overtook her and she'd drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

Thursday, 6.30am
...

Now, she slipped her building key card into the tiny pocket of her Lycra running shorts. After adjusting her tight crop top that bared her stomach, and tugging her pony tail nice and tight, she let herself out the building and went for her morning run. It was one of her favourite times of days, and she always stopped to grab a coffee from the coffee cart in the park that was ten minutes walk from her apartment. She enjoyed the guilty pleasure as she walked home, part of her cool-down.

She was back at 7.30am feeling revived and ready for work as she let herself back into her apartment. She booted up her computer as she walked past, then hit the shower. After changing, she padded barefoot back to her desk in comfortable black yoga pants and a grey hoodie, as she typed in her login and emails began pinging.


8.30am
...

By this time Charley had prioritised her day and eaten breakfast. Excitingly, the photos had arrived from the shoot in Europe last week, and Charley had her usual one-day turnaround deadline to get the first drafts of the designs through to the fashion brand's marketing team for approval. Things moved fast in the fashion world and Charley knew it.

Turning her phone off and closing her email app as was her custom on deadline days like this, Charley pressed play on her favourite Spotify work playlist she'd made called 'D-Day' on her computer, and downloaded the selected fashion photos. Time to get down to business, she thought, and, knowing all her neighbours worked in the city during the day, she bumped the sound on her computer up almost as high as it could go.

Hours passed and she only got up to make a smoothie and grab a cookie around 12pm, then was right back into it.

2.17pm
...

Charley was so immersed in her designs, tweaking and rotating and refining and touching up, that at first she didn't hear it. A distant drumming. She frowned and tapped the loud volume down on her computer - was that in the song?

No. It wasn't distant drumming: someone was about to beat down her door. Surprise coloured her thoughts, she obviously hadn't buzzed anyone up, and she glanced at her screen, loathe to be pulled away right now. It's why she turned her phone and email program off - no distractions. She waited for a moment, keeping the music loud, wondering if they'd go away if she pretended not to hear, but no such luck.

The pounding continued along with the muffled sound of her name being called. Sighing, Charley pulled the volume of her music right down and got up, throwing one last longing look at her screen. Thinking dark thoughts about the person still hammering on her door, she wrenched it open.

The person standing there, fist raised to hit the door again, stared at her in surprise.

Charley stared back.

"Harry," she said, shock colouring her thoughts and voice.

"Charley." His face changed from surprise to relief in an instant. "I'm so glad you answered. I'm so sorry, I had no idea," he rushed on, reaching forward to grasp her hands.

Charley looked down at their joined hands blankly. Her skin had already started to tingle at his touch, and suddenly she was hyper-aware that he looked like a rock God - and she didn't.

Had Harry just arrived unannounced at her apartment while she was wearing yoga pants and a sweatshirt with no bra on? Not to mention no make up and her hair tied in a knot on the top of her head? Her eyes, which had been drinking in his body from head to toe, raised to his in disbelief.

And then she realised something was wrong; his green eyes were worried. And he was waiting for her to say something. She tried to think, the effect of seeing him unexpectedly clouding her thoughts, forcing her to sift through what he'd said more slowly than normal. What?

"Why are you sorry? And what are you doing here, Harry? How did you get in? You could have called first." The embarrassment of him finding her looking like this made Charley's words sharp, and she pulled her hands away, drawing them into her sleeves and wrapping her arms around her body defensively. What was he doing here? This was the second time he'd managed to get in her building without her knowing - security was getting a bit lax, and she grumpily thought about emailing the building manager about that.

"I pressed all the buzzers until someone let me in. And I tried calling. It just goes to voicemail. I tried to email, too."

Not stalker-y at all with the buzzers and getting her email, Charley felt like rolling her eyes, but at the phone comment she felt like an idiot. Oh duh, she'd turned everything off.

"Can I come in?" He continued before she could answer, and the way he looked over his shoulder down the hall while he said it sent a chill up her spine.

Perplexity suddenly overrode the discomfort at her appearance and she gestured him inside wordlessly. As he walked past, she glanced helplessly at her reflection in the mirror next to the door. She shrugged and rolled her eyes. Too late now.

He'd walked in a few steps before turning and watching her close the door. She looked at him, arms hugging herself again. All the charm and playfulness that had danced in his expression since meeting him was nowhere to be seen; instead, anxiety and concern seemed to shimmer off him in waves.

"Why are you here?" She asked again, narrowing her eyes this time. Why had he tried calling and emailing her? Charley had never liked being held in suspense for bad news. And she knew somehow this was going to be bad news. Three reasons came to her rapidly:

Was he dumping her? That was her first thought. 
That's strange to come do it in person, was her second one. 
And, I can't be dumped we're not even dating, was her third.

She was stumped.

"Look, I'm sorry if you don't want me here, but I just had to tell you in person. I don't know who did it, I swear," Harry said in a rush, his hand coming up to run through his hair in a worry-filled gesture. "Luca has never had a problem with this sort of thing before, I'm really sorry Charley. I just wanted you to know I had nothing to do with it and I haven't answered any calls or questions."

Charley stared at him, bewildered. It was like he was talking another language.

"You're not making any sense," she said slowly. "What's Luca not had a problem with? I'm confused."

Harry's mouth opened as if to say something, then shut again as he faltered. His brow furrowed and he put one hand in his pocket and the other up behind his neck, looking less concerned and more puzzled.

"Isn't that why you've turned off your phone and won't take my calls? Why you didn't want to answer the door? Look, I completely understand if you never want to see me again after this, I just wanted to make sure you're o-" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Charley's hand rise in the air.

Charley frowned now in utter bewilderment. What the heck? Why wouldn't I want to see him again? she thought, trying to get her head around what he was saying, but still feeling dazed from his presence. They'd only seen each other yesterday. Did he think because she didn't answer his calls today she didn't want to see him anymore? That would be a little needy, she thought. But it didn't seem to fit with what he was saying. What did Luca have to do with it? She tried again to find out what was going on.

"What? Harry - I turned my phone off this morning so I could work today without being distracted. I have a deadline. It's been off all day. Emails, too," Charley told him, raising an eyebrow at his peculiar behaviour. "And I didn't answer the door right away because I didn't hear it." She gestured towards her computer which was still playing music quietly. "I turn the music up loud to work." This so weird. Harry Styles is in my living room, she thought. She pinched herself surreptitiously but he didn't disappear.

He was all ruffled brown curls and lean sexiness, wearing a navy blue T-shirt that clung to him and black skinny jeans again. He seemed to favour them. Black converse sneakers finished the look along with his silver cross necklace. He looked good enough to eat.

Charley raised a fist to her mouth to muffle the smile at her fiendish thoughts. He'd looked seriously confused at her words, but upon seeing her smile, his eyes snapped to hers, eyebrows rising. She could swear she saw the dangerous flirty sparkle in his eyes for a second before it disappeared again. She tried to control herself and concentrate.

He tried again, this time more tentatively. "So...you haven't seen the news today? No one else has talked to you?"

Charley nearly rolled her eyes, not sure where this was going. Worried Harry was starting to worry her, too, plus a hint of irritation at his vague-ness was creeping in. She tried to keep her cool.

"No, I went for my run around seven this morning and shut my phone off after I got back so I could work in peace," Charley said cautiously and tugged self-consciously at the hem of her grey sweatshirt. "Harry, please tell me what's going on? What's on the news? Should I turn the TV on?" She moved toward it, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"No!" he said, panic lacing his tone, and Charley stopped, shocked. She waited. Harry closed his eyes. "No. No, don't do that. Oh God, you don't even know. Hell. I'm an idiot," he murmured and pressed a hand to his forehead.

Then suddenly, things he'd said started to come together in Charley's mind, and an inkling of what had happened began to form there. And then, it hit her. Oh jeez, she thought and cringed, inwardly berating herself. She'd normally be quicker than this - but she'd been in a work coma all day, and the guy who completely befuddled her senses was standing right in front of her looking like sex on legs.

Charley muffled a laugh unsuccessfully at her consistently un-pure thoughts, and Harry quirked an eyebrow at her, looking up. Charley grinned at him and both his eyebrows rose again questioningly.

"Did...did someone photograph us together Harry?" Charley asked him slowly, humour and sympathy colouring her words. He looked really upset. She was pretty sure now that that's what had happened. Why was he so worried? Didn't this thing happen all the time to him?

He closed his eyes painfully and nodded. "I'm sorry Charley. Someone took a photo of us leaving Luca's together. It's everywhere. You're everywhere. They know who you are." It was true. The press had gotten ahold off the phone photos and had leapt with glee at the chance to publish them. They were all over the internet; E! had already made a YouTube video about them his manager had told him, fuelling the fire - apparently it already had five million views and counting.

Twitter and Instagram had been in uproar this morning as the photos had appeared, 'Harley' becoming the #1 Trending topic as Caroline's followers had immediately identified the model's best friend - Charley Pearce. From there, it had spiralled to all of Charley's history, work and photos of her being pulled to the forefront. Any photo that had been taken with Caroline with Charley in the background, or next to her on the red carpet, was pulled and used. They were placing her and Harry's photos alongside each other and asking people what they thought of the couple.

"They're calling us 'Harley'," Harry winced as remembered his manager telling him that particular gem. Social media moved fast. Harry chanced a worried look at the woman in question as he heard a distinct gasp at his words. Er- he thought blankly as he suddenly realised she was trying not to laugh.

Charley could feel hysteria brewing. Harley? Really? Charley thought in delight at the ridiculousness of the internet.And had Harry come here all the way to her apartment, because he was worried about her reaction to finding out? Charley felt a strange sense of glee.

She let the laughter burst forth, seeing his full-blown puzzlement at her reaction. The thought that he may now think she was having a breakdown about them being dubbed 'Harley' just made her laugh harder until she was crying. Her knees buckled and she sunk to the floor in hysterics.

Harry looked at her. Of all the reactions he'd expected, it hadn't been this, he thought wryly. And oddly, this was the second time in as many days that one of them had been dying laughing at the other. He wasn't sure how he felt about it being directed at him this time, but a smile tugged at his lips and he dropped to his own knees in front of her, grabbing her hands, waiting until she came back. Charley Pearce wasn't at all predictable, and he felt amused as he watched her full lips stretch wide against her perfect white teeth, finding it cute how she held her tongue behind them as she giggled.

Finally, her laughter quietened, and she pulled a hand from his grip, wiping her eyes with a sleeve as she smiled at him widely.

"Oh Harry," she grinned and squeezed his hand sympathetically. "They'll get over it, it'll be fine." She patted his hand then got up, leaving him kneeling on the floor in something akin to shock as she headed behind him into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. "Harley," he heard her chuckle.

Definitely not predictable, Harry thought in amazement. He twisted around on his knees to watch her walk away. Those yoga pants did amazing things for her legs. Pity the sweatshirt was covering her bum. He snapped his thoughts from her legs and back to the situation at hand.

"Do you want one?" She called, bringing two glasses out of the cabinet anyway and filling them.

He was still on the floor as she filled the second glass from the tap; he was looking at her like she'd grown a third head.

"You're okay with this?" He asked dazedly. "With them knowing everything about you?" She smirked at his disbelief.

"Styles, do you know who my best friend is? I've been in the news plenty. I think Caroline said there's a 'How Well Do You Know Caroline Munroe's Best Friend' quiz online somewhere. Apparently it even asks my waist size, though I don't know how accurate the answer is," Charley chuckled and took a gulp of water. She watched the multiple emotions flicker across his face, tilting the water in the glass from side to side before taking another drink, smiling into it.

Harry was thinking be wanted to find the quiz and take it. He bet he could guess her waist size since his hands basically spanned it perfectly. Don't be stupid, he immediately retaliated at himself inwardly. He was still feeling a little numb from her reaction and all the worry he'd felt, and he was also feeling like an idiot for racing here. She was so gorgeous. It was amazing how quickly his thoughts flicked over and over to her.

Harry didn't move from where he knelt, so she brought his glass of water to him and put it in his hands before sitting casually back on the sofa opposite him and crossing her legs at her knees.

"Yeah, but this is...I mean..." Slowly, collecting his thoughts, Harry put the glass of water down next to him on the floor without taking a drink. The look in his eyes suddenly switched to sparkling humour.

"So...you don't care that there's 50 paparazzi at your building entrance panting over the fact that 'Harley' is up here together right now?" He asked curiously with narrowed eyes, testing her. "I'd say the second I arrived here, my photo disappearing into your building blew up on social media." He did feel a bit bad about that. He could have contained the situation for her if he hadn't come over in a panic - he had basically just confirmed to the whole world that they were an item. He found for some reason, whilst usually intensely private, this time he didn't mind at all. Hmm, he'd put that away to think about later.

He watched as she quirked an eyebrow at his comment about the paparazzi, then stand up to peek out her window and down at the milling crowd four floors below. She whistled.

"Jeez, some of them look like they're getting comfy. Oh, look! There's Bart!" She chuckled. "That old devil, I bet he's mad they're all here on his turf - he looks tired. I should order him some pizza."

Harry watched in amazement as Charley crossed the room to her phone and switched it on. It immediately blew up with text tones and email pings, but she dismissed them all and tapped on Dominos which seemed to be on speed dial, ordering a large pepperoni and asking for it to be delivered to Bart Thompson, a photographer outside of her apartment building.

When she'd hung up the phone and turned back to him, she was still chuckling at her own actions, and Harry just stared. Could this girl be any more different than all the others he'd known?

"Did you just..." He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Charley glanced at him with an expression in her eyes he wasn't used to seeing. Pity? Sympathy? It was mixed in with the humour she couldn't keep off her face. Harry imagined he must look pretty stupid kneeling on the floor and gaping at her.