Harry Styles - Instant Attraction Ch. 07

Charley flushed and nodded, forcing herself to drop his hand before she held onto it too long. She gripped her glass tightly for something to do and she barely heard Harry's cough to cover his laugh. Why can't I think of any words to say? She tried to collect herself.

Luckily Ed continued the conversation, realising she was flustered. "Harry's life is always big news in London. Although, I think you're much prettier than Meghan Markle," Ed continued conspiratorially, and Charley was even more confused at that. Her brain scrambled for a reference. What? The Suits actress?

Harry laughed at the comment. "Charley doesn't follow news headlines or social media. She hasn't a clue what you're talking about," he grinned and put his arm round her waist.

"So she doesn't know they're calling you Prince Harry now?" Ed grinned and switched his teasing to Harry, while Charley tried again to follow the conversation. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Prince Harry?" Charley turned to Harry at that, latching onto the unique comment. "Why are they calling you that?"

Ed chuckled and explained. "Because the second Prince of England is currently dating, or so everyone's saying, dating the American actress Meghan Markle. The media is having a blast drawing comparisons about our famous home-grown Brit dating a dark, American beauty."

"Oh," Charley blushed and took another quick drink. How odd. She really needed to start looking a few things up, she was starting to feel seriously out of the loop. Her closeted lifestyle was starting to feel a little Amish compared to everyone else.

Ed smiled kindly at her. "I'm sorry to say it won't really ease up much if you're dating Harry," he said as he took a swig of his beer.

Charley had no idea what to say to that, so she just nodded. Harry smiled in glee, his obvious enjoyment at the situation making Charley more and more irritated. The side of him that loved making her blush was not her most favourite side of him. She watched Harry and Ed exchange quick smiles then look away from each other.

Well, this can't get any worse, Charley thought as she tried to think of something interesting to say as she desperately looked anywhere but at the two men.

Then Harry smiled down at Charley, a wicked glint in his eye. Uh oh. In slow motion, she watched Harry turn to Ed with a cheeky expression.

"Oh, there's something I forgot to tell you, Ed," he said devilishly as he looked directly into her eyes. What's he doing? Charley stared at him, instinctively knowing this was going to be bad. She was right.

"She'd never say, but Charley here is a raging, Ed Sheeran fangirl," he teased and burst out laughing when Charley's jaw dropped in horror and stared at him. How could he?!

Ed chuckled, looking embarrassed as well, but recovered better than she did. "Really? Well, I'm flattered," Ed said kindly. "What's your favourite track?"

Harry had forgotten she was wearing stilettos and she gently pressed a heel into his shoe to let him know, and he promptly snatched it out of her reach, chuckling.

"I'm going to kill Harry later," she said to Ed cheerfully, her face feeling hot as she tried to reel in her mortification. At least it had jarred her out of her awkward silence. The men both laughed at that, and the tension eased a bit.

"Well, since Harry has outed me, my current favourite track is probably Happier because it's so emotive." She pressed on when Ed nodded with a smile, appreciating her choice. "But recently I've been following your song writing, too.Love Yourself that's just been released by Justin is yours right? It's fun and catchy."

Ed flicked his eyebrows up in appreciation of her answer. "That's actually my favourite song I've written so far," he commented, glancing at Harry with a quick smile. "That one and Little Things that I wrote for 1D." He said it like 'one dee'.

Charley nodded, making a mental note to download the song Little Things and add it to her playlist. She hadn't gone back that far with her obsession of songs he'd written.

Harry continued a surreal conversation with Ed for the next ten minutes which Charley participated in here and there when asked questions. But for the most part she just watched the two men talk and laugh like old friends, exchanging industry gossip and who they were currently working with and what family was getting up to. Surreal was maybe too tame a word, Charley thought looking at Ed surreptitiously again as she continued to sip her drink, feeling the alcohol calm her nerves.

Okay, so maybe she was a raging Ed Sheeran fangirl, she admitted to herself as she caught herself hanging on Ed's every word. She was unable to take her eyes from him for long. He was so nice. Just like Harry. Polite and gentlemanly, easy going and chatty. English men seemed to be a completely different breed of men to Americans.

She dragged her eyes from Ed and looked up at Harry to find him staring down at her while he answered a question from Ed. The look in his eye was odd as his gaze flickered from Ed and back to her again. Was that...jealousy? Charley bit her lip to hide her smile. No way. Really? She slipped the hand that wasn't holding her drink into his back pocket and squeezed to reassure him. A flash of humour ran through his features as he gave her a quick smile and continued his conversation, his expression a little lighter.

Aside from the spark of possessiveness regarding her clothing, which she actually found kind of funny, she hadn't really pegged Harry for the jealous type. It was interesting to see his reaction when she was talking to other men.

"Harold!" a voice rang out, jarring Charley from her thoughts, interrupting the flow of conversation, and two familiar-looking young men appeared behind them.

"Louis! Liam!" Harry said with pleasure. "I was wondering where you'd got to."

The three men exchanged hugs and pleasantries between themselves and Ed before Harry introduced Charley. The girlfriend word was flung out again, and Charley found she was getting more used to it. Liam was very sweet to Charley and drew her into a conversation almost immediately while Harry, Louis and Ed chatted next to them.

"How are you finding London?" Liam asked her with a genuine smile.

"It's great so far. I mean, I haven't seen much of it - Harry and I landed late last night and we've been at the studio all day. I think we're flying back tomorrow too. I'd love to come back and explore," Charley said, smiling up at him. He was very charming and genuine. Handsome, too. It came with the territory of being a pop star, she guessed. Ed was a unique exception. He was handsome too, but not in the typical all-American way that she was used to seeing.

"You should. Me and Cheryl live here in London, so you're welcome to stay with us if you and Harry come back." Liam ran a hand over his trimmed beard then reached to a passing tray of drinks and grabbed a glass of champagne.

Charley was surprised at the offer. How generous, she thought, thinking that Liam didn't even know her. "Thank you, that's so nice. Is Cheryl your wife?" She was wracking her brains for who Cheryl was, kicking herself again that her habit for not reading any gossip meant she was completely blind with things like this. Maybe she should at least find some things out about his bandmates.

"No," Liam laughed. "We don't need paper. We are having a baby together, of course you'll know." He looked so happy and proud as he told her that. Charley's heart swelled to see it. How lovely.

"Oh, congratulations! Sorry, Harry didn't get around to mentioning that, so I didn't know! How long to go?" Charley was puzzled to see Liam's face show surprise, then hesitation.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that," Charley rushed, instantly embarrassed. Maybe he didn't want to share details, and here she was asking personal questions.

Liam chuckled, his expression clearing. "Sorry, no, it's not that at all. I just assumed you knew from social media. You know, what with my fans and also Cheryl's fans reporting our every movement and baby belly appearance," he joked. "It's everywhere."

"Oh no, sorry I don't have any social media accounts," Charley flushed. She felt like a fool. She struggled on. "Cheryl's fans? Is she a singer too?" And now Liam did look shocked.

"You don't know who Cheryl is? Wait - you're not on social media?" he asked, openly bemused.

"Er, maybe if you told me her last name?" Charley responded timidly, inwardly cringing. Okay, her self-imposed gossip ban was now becoming a liability. She felt more and more stupid every second.

"Cheryl Cole?" Liam started to smile, eyes crinkling in pleasure. "Oh God, Cheryl is going to love this."

Charley's jaw dropped as Liam casually dropped the name of another of her favourite singers. "You're having a baby with Cheryl Cole?" she said loudly, interrupting the conversation of the other three.

Liam laughed helplessly, looking past her, and Charley turned to see the other men chuckling. Harry was shrugging at Liam with a - I know, you see what I have to deal with? look. Charley pressed a hand to her face and shut her eyes. She could have happily fallen into a hole right then, as Ed Sheeran and the three members present from One Direction all laughed.

"She didn't know who I was for a whole week when we first met," Harry grinned as he shared his favourite piece of information with the guys. Okay, I'm really going to kill him now, Charley thought as she tried to laugh along with them, groaning good-naturedly as she tried to recover what was left of her dignity.

"No way!" laughed Louis. "That would have been a new experience for you Hazza." He leaned across the group and ruffled Harry's curls while Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Charley with an apologetic grin.

"Okay, okay," Charley grinned, trying to recapture her equilibrium and join in. "Let's stop making fun of the American girl who apparently lives in a cupboard."

They all laughed at that, Liam chiming in with, "But it's so much fun!" Charley gave him an exasperated look, and Harry barked out a laugh.

"See that look? I get that all the time," he teased and reached across the group to pull Charley back to his side, smiling mischievously down into her eyes. She flipped him off, sending Liam, Louis and Ed back into gales of laughter at Harry's mock-wounded expression, his mouth dropping open. He looked round in amazement at the three of them. "See?! Behave, you," he grinned at Charley's laughing face.

Harry was ecstatic at how well she was fitting in with the guys, despite all the ribbing she was getting. He was glad she'd gotten over her earlier bout of being star-struck over Ed. It was lucky he knew the singer so well, otherwise he would have actually turned green at the way Charley had been looking at him. Harry knew that look - he'd been given it by his own fans hundreds of times over the years, and never thought he'd miss it. But here he was, wishing Charley would look at him like that.

Actually...no, he corrected himself as he watched her chat with the others. He didn't want her 'fangirling' over him. He wanted authentic Charley. He wanted this regular girl who didn't know almost anything about his life or career or his famous friends. He wanted a relationship where they could learn new things about each other daily. The real deal. The thought excited him and he found himself participating enthusiastically in conversations he might normally have been more quiet in. He noted a few knowing looks Liam and Louis kept exchanging, but ignored them, unable to keep his hands from always finding a way to touch Charley.

The hours passed quickly, they were all having such a good time; Niall was an excellent host. Around 3am, Niall, Louis, Harry and Charley were the only ones left, with Liam having gone home hours earlier to his pregnant wife and Ed disappearing with him to be dropped home. Charley had had the best night. Everyone had been so nice to her.

She'd met a few other famous Brits she'd heard of, like radio personality Nick Grimshaw and funnyman James Cordon who hosted The Late Late Show in America. They both seemed to have a true friendship with all the band members, Harry and Nick being especially tight. The two comedians were both funny and had had her in stitches as they told her some funny stories regarding interviews they'd had with Harry and the other band members, and she made yet another note to check out those on YouTube. James and his wife, Julia, had chatted with Charley for a good half an hour, and told her to make sure she and Harry come for dinner next time they were in London.


Shawn Mendes, the Canadian singer Niall was best mates with, had also put in an appearance for a couple of hours. He'd been so sweet to her, and they'd chatted for quite a while while Harry caught up with Nick. Shawn quickly discovered her penchant for 70s and 80s music and they started exchanging their favourite songs and bands.

She'd noticed Shawn get a little flirty with her as they talked. Nothing over the top, just subtly with the way he looked at her and moving a touch closer, his hand on the table in front of him getting closer to where hers lay curled around the stem of a champagne glass. It was flattering really, but she had only had eyes for Harry.

No sooner had Charley noted Shawn's hand inching closer to hers, Harry had appeared next to her, his hand sliding around her waist. So he'd noticed, too, she thought with a smile. Charley watched Harry talking to Shawn with amusement. There wasn't a single hint of possessiveness in his tone, just his polite and good-natured self. Maybe she'd been wrong, maybe Harry had just felt like joining their conversation. She felt pleasure rush through her when Harry started to chime in with his own favourite bands and songs from the 70s, including Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac - one of her own favourites.

It had surprised Charley that they hadn't really discussed the types of music they liked yet, considering Harry's profession. She liked they had something in common in that area. She still had so much to learn about him. The song he'd recorded from his new album earlier today, Two Ghosts, had had a haunting, folksy style to it that she'd liked. She couldn't wait for it to debut on Spotify so she could add it to her playlist.

"Well, we better head back to our hotel. Our flight's at midday today, and I promised Charley I'd get her back in time for work," Harry said reluctantly to the guys as they all sat around a table drinking coffee that Niall had made; all the hired staff had already gone after tidying up.

Charley smiled at Harry and they stood. "It was great meeting you guys. I'm sorry I don't know a lot about the band," she said as Harry put a hand to her elbow automatically. "I'll get myself up to speed."

The other men stood up too. "Refreshing, actually," Niall laughed, and Louis agreed, smiling.

"It was lovely to meet you. Take care of her," Louis winked at Harry. "We all know how vicious the press can get."

"I will," Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Charley from the corner of his eye before smiling at his old bandmates. "Avoid Twitter - Louis' savage."

Louis and Niall laughed out loud. "And if he doesn't behave, give me a call and I'll whip him into line," Niall said in mock-seriousness to Charley. She gave him a mock-serious nod in return, before breaking into a smile.

She smiled up at Harry, noting the eye roll and fond affection in his expression towards the two boys.

"All right, all right, we get it, apparently I'm a lout," Harry muttered, throwing his free hand up in the air before shaking hands with the boys and smiling. They all chuckled again, Charley bumping her hip into his with a grin.

"I'm glad we were all here tonight. It's been too long," Harry said, then paused. "Well, almost all together," he amended.

Charley noticed Louis frown slightly at that, but Niall nodded.

"See you all later, thanks for having me," Charley said as Harry led her out to their waiting car. He must have messaged the security team earlier, and she was grateful they didn't have to wait. She suddenly felt exhausted.

The drive home in the back of the SUV was quiet, and Charley leant her head on Harry's shoulder, unable to believe the events of the day. This whole week had been a dream. Closing her eyes, Charley fell asleep, a smile on her lips.

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Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had fun writing it and trying to imagine a real scenario in a way that could be relatable :) A bit longer than the other chapters, but I hope no one minds! Love to hear your comments and votes of course - Kristin x