Harry Styles - Instant Attraction Ch. 10

10. Three

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"Come on, I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Harry teased, grinning cheekily out at her from her iPhone screen.

Charley threw her head back and laughed at his incorrigible behaviour. It had been just over a week since they'd returned from Tahiti, the last time they'd seen each other in person, but this time they had talked nearly every day. Harry had instigated each call, causing Charley to squirm with delight that he was making more of an effort to stay in touch this time. She'd told him he didn't need to call her so often, protesting that he still had to work, but he stated that he couldn't concentrate anymore until he had his 'Charley fix'. It had made her smile, because she liked getting her 'Harry fix', too.

Harry was, right now, trying to get her to flash him, and she was blushing like mad at the thought while covering her mouth to stifle her giggles. "Harry, I'm trying to eat!" she protested weakly and heard him snort.

"It only takes two seconds to lift your top up," he wheedled as he leaned back on his sofa where he was sitting to eat his lunch. He had a huge shit-eating grin across his face.

Charley put her lunch down, spun her office chair around and turned her phone outwards.

"That's making me dizzy," she heard him complain. "Charley, I'm trying to eat." She giggled again at him mimicking her. She didn't think she'd ever giggled more in her life than since she'd started dating Harry Styles.

Turning the phone camera back towards her, she saw Harry with his hand across his eyes, refusing to watch the room spin.

"Have you stopped?" he asked, peeking between his fingers, removing his hand when he saw her face again.

Harry held his phone in one hand, and stabbed another fork-full of chicken and vegetables as he smiled at the beautiful girl on his screen. He listened to her giggle through the phone and revelled in the sound - he seemed to spend most of his time with her trying to make her laugh so that he could hear more of it. It was his newest favourite sound. There was no affectation, just genuine amusement.

"Look, I'll do it first," Harry said to her, and put down his fork to lift his grey t-shirt up to his chin, revealing his tattooed abs and chest before pulling it back down again. He grinned as Charley visibly rolled her eyes at him.

"That's not the same," she complained. Then she paused. Leaning in close to the phone, she lifted her eyebrows mischievously, lowering her voice. "But I know something that's much fairer."

Harry chuckled. "I am not sending you a dick pic," he said primly, making her giggle again. "Come on," he complained with a grin. "You don't have to take your bra off. It's been a week since I've touched you and honestly, I think you should be being a bit more generous."

Harry watched Charley toss her head back with another one of her beautiful laughs. Getting the chance to flirt with her was the highlight of his day. His heart was so light when he was with her, happiness filling his every pore. They'd texted every day since coming back from holiday, and he'd made an effort to FaceTime her most days, too. It was fast becoming a necessary fix, finding he slept better when he'd talked with her, heard her voice or made her laugh.

"Fine," Charley said in exasperation, and Harry lit up in surprise. Really? He'd thought she'd never give in. His smile widened as she quickly lifted her black t-shirt, revealing a navy blue, padded satin bra he hadn't seen which was struggling to contain her stunning breasts, and a hint of her beautifully concave stomach. The lingerie had a cute little bow with a diamanté in the centre, and it was sexy as hell on her. Too soon, she yanked it back down and glared at him through the phone. "Happy?"

"Very," he said, feeling inordinately pleased that she'd trusted him enough to do that. Next time, no bra, he thought with a grin. He found himself getting a little hard at the thought of her spectacular breasts nestled in the silky material, but tried to ignore it as he looked back at her. "Now, let's start working on those pants."

He laughed along with her this time and he popped some chicken into his mouth, chewing happily. He'd made the habit to call her at lunch time on Charley's suggestion so that he ate more regularly. Harry had been a bit bemused that she cared so much about his eating habits, but if it meant she agreed to video chat with him, he was happy to comply.

"What are you having for lunch today anyway?" Charley asked him as she spun her chair in a circle again. He could tell because the background blurred around her, and he smiled, swallowing.

"Portuguese chicken and steamed vegetables," he replied, spearing a piece of broccoli. "Maria has outdone herself."

"Yum, sounds good. Very healthy," Charley praised as she stopped spinning and picked up her own fork. "I'm having lamb and roast vegetables."

"Smashing our nutrition goals," Harry responded with a wink. They both ate for a few moments in companionable silence.

"This is an odd lunch date thing we have going on," Harry commented as he bit into another mouthful of chicken, watching Charley dig into her meal. "Reheated meals in plastic containers. Very romantic."

Charley chuckled as she put what looked like a piece of roast pumpkin in her mouth.

"At least you're eating and not wasting away while you're writing," she countered happily.

"Why do you care so much, anyway?" he asked curiously as he shoved a piece of chicken that was much too big in his mouth. Charley laughed at his ridiculous mouthful, his cheeks bulging, and waved her fork at him through the screen.

"If you choke, I'll tell the newspapers that you made me flash you while eating Portuguese chicken," she threatened, but all Harry could do was grin around his full mouth. Smiling, she continued with another mischievous smile. "I care because I need you to have your strength for...other things."

Harry snorted and reached for his glass of water as he spluttered and really did nearly choke on the chicken. He could hear Charley's giggles from where he'd placed the phone on the sofa next to him, her 'I told you!' floating up as his eyes watered. Hastily gulping down the water, he wiped his eyes and picked the phone back up to continue their conversation, laughing at his own situation.

"Oh! Ulterior motives! I see. And here I was thinking you cared about my wellbeing," he teased. "In case you didn't see, I nearly died just then."

Charley smiled at him with growing affection. His sense of humour ran from sarcasm to outrageous exaggeration, and he could be very witty. This last week of 'lunch dates' had made her feel even closer to him as she slowly learned ever more about Harry. This was also largely due to Charley metaphorically pulling her gloves on and starting a full 'Harry and One Direction' research slog the weekend after she'd got back from Tahiti.

She'd spent the whole two days trolling through the internet, learning an awful lot of things about the band - a lot good, some bad and some ugly. The bad and the ugly were never anything to do with the band members themselves (although there had been that odd incident of Louis and Zayn smoking weed in Peru she'd stumbled across - she'd written it off as being young and dumb and feeling trapped by fame), but the fans were something else.

The fanfiction. It had blown her away. And 'Larry'! That had been shocking, with full-on pages and YouTube channels dedicated to supposedly 'outing' Harry and Louis being in a secret relationship, despite the boys repeatedly denying and ignoring it. There was also some 'Zarry' shipping, and she wondered if that could be something to do with the oddness she sometimes noted between Harry and Zayn. Why did it always centre around Harry, though? It made her sad for them all, but especially Harry.

Charley had asked him about it a couple days ago during one of their lunch video chats. She'd mentioned she'd finally looked him and One Direction up online, and he'd laughed and asked her what she'd found, seeming completely unconcerned. With his casual expression and open body language on screen, Charley had tentatively asked how he felt about the 'Larry' thing. He'd rolled his eyes with an exasperated smile and said it didn't bother him any more. Now he just ignored it.

Charley had been concerned, noting the 'any more', asking if it had affected his relationship with Louis at the time, feeling aghast that fans that claimed to love Harry and the other members so much could cause Harry, and Louis, so much distress. Harry had shrugged and nodded, his bright smile dimming a little, making Charley's heart ache.

The main issue had been two straight-but-close adolescent boys worrying about what others thought. Being young and new to the spotlight, it had upset them a lot back then. Desperate to stop fans from their online spiral, they'd listened too much to management and lawyers who gave advice on how things they could do to reduce the rumours. This had led to Harry and Louis watching their every move with each other for some time in public, which had eventually backfired and instead added more fuel to the fire. Harry had mused that they just couldn't win, and he and Louis eventually given up and agreed to ignore it best they could. Their relationship had never been the same again, though, and it was something he regretted.

Charley had listened to him quietly, eating her lunch, her mind spinning. Harry had had to deal with an awful lot as a teenager growing up. Thrown into the world-wide arena at a young age, then being called a womaniser by the press, being linked with famous beauties every couple of weeks. And then to be dogged by 'Larry' or 'Zarry' rumours by his own fans! She was absolutely astounded to be talking to such a seemingly well-adjusted, funny and kind young man. It seemed if anyone had any reason to have mental-health issues and go off the rails, it was Harry. And yet, here he was, grounded and down-to-earth, chatting with her about some of the biggest issues during his career with a care-free smile and matter-of-fact attitude. Her respect for him had grown a thousand fold that day.

She'd guiltily clicked on the 'womaniser' headlines, feeling bad for doing it, knowing how quick the media could create a title and link Caroline with a man she'd just met in passing or at a party. She found the famous Taylor Swift photos; he looked so young! His most recent relationship had supposedly been Victoria's Secret model Camille Rowe for a year, but only a couple photos showed them together. Charley had timidly asked Harry about that too, trying to be nonchalant, but he'd smiled knowingly and admitted he'd seen Camille for a few months on and off, but nothing serious. Their busy schedules had kept them apart, and they hadn't made a strong connection. "Not like us," he'd smiled shyly out at her from her phone, his right dimple indenting deeply. She'd felt her lips part and her heart rate increase at the way he was looking at her from under his lashes, green eyes sparkling.

He'd asked her about her own previous romantic relationships, which Charley thought was more than fair since her life wasn't laid out on the internet for him, so she explained in as much detail as he wanted about the two steady-but-not-serious boyfriends she'd had. Although she did discover he'd Googled her after their first date.

"You Googled me? I'm not even remotely famous," she'd laughed protestingly, feeling strangely pleased that he'd liked her enough even back then for him to try to find out more about her.

"You actually have quite the results," Harry had teased her back. "I had a fun time stalking you. I actually saved a photo of you to my phone."

"You didn't!" she'd laughed. "Show me!" And he had. It was the head shot she'd had taken for her website last year, and she turned crimson, jaw dropping open. Harry had refused to delete it when she'd asked him, teasing very suggestively that if she wanted him to, she had to send a 'better one', causing her to throw her phone across the room onto her sofa. She'd laughed silently into her hands, hearing him laugh out loud and yell at her to pick him back up from where he'd landed staring at the ceiling. God he was funny!

Of course, as soon as they'd hung up, Charley had immediately Googled herself to see what he'd found out about her, quite shocked at the amount of information available. It explained why the press had so many random facts about her. Then, of course, when she was Googling herself and Harry, 'Harley' had inevitably popped up. To start with, she had purposely and very decidedly ignored clicking on links that had her name on them. But then, towards 'Day Two' of her One Direction research, she'd caved and pressed on the latest news items.

Photo after photo of her appeared, with accompanying text and video, about her rescue of the girl in London. She had been painted as a hero, and Charley had felt her face turn hot as she'd read the outlets waxing lyrical, praising her as a 'fine choice for Harry Styles to move onto.' Like she was just another stop-gap for him. It made her feel uneasy and she'd abruptly stopped reading anything else about them.

While the major news stations were very complimentary about her, she'd chosen not to delve anywhere near trashy websites or Twitter, knowing from Caroline this is where the fake news and rumour mill originated. So far, it seemed Harry's fans were being kind, the image results including shots of the girls who'd asked to have her picture taken with her in LA when out running - the captions were all along the lines of how kind and sweet they'd found her to be. Well, that's something, Charley had thought reluctantly as she finally shut her web browser down, a dull headache starting from all the information she'd consumed.

After discussing some of the main things Charley had been curious about with Harry earlier in the week, they'd played a fun game the next day of 'True of False', with Charley quizzing him on some of the more ridiculous things she'd read.

"You used sheep placenta and gold flakes as a facial," she'd giggled as Harry had gagged.

"False and gross," he'd said. "Some dermatologist made up that I came to see them to get more business."

"Someone collected your vomit on the side of the road to sell it on eBay?" Charley had turned her mouth down in distaste, sure this one was fake.

"True!" Harry had laughed as Charley's jaw dropped open. "Yeah, I hadn't been well, I had just been on a hike, and we had to pull over on the side of the road. I found out later some girl stopped and collected it."

"Ew, Harry!" Charley had groaned. "Did someone actually buy it?"

He'd grinned. "I don't know, but I hope not."

"You're an ambassador for Gucci." This one had interested Charley, his unique fashion choices were well-documented online, but she thought it fit with his personality.

"True. I really like fashion, especially quirky stuff. You'll have to come to New York Fashion Week with me in a couple months," he'd said. "Don't worry, I'll hook you up." He had pointed at her and winked, lifting his chin, and Charley had groaned with how cheesy it was.

She'd continued, giggling. "You had an affair with President Obama. Come on. This one's true."

She grinned as Harry nodded seriously, bringing the phone camera in close so she had a close up of his face as he whispered. "I can't say much about it, but...Obama's very caring." He made kissy lips, sound included, causing them both to burst into laughter.

Charley wrested herself from her reverie of their previous conversations and returned to the present. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, her phone propped on her desk so she could use two hands to cut the lamb in her plastic dish up. She watched him doing the same, sitting cross-legged on his couch, with his lunch in his lap.

Finishing with a happy sigh, Harry moved the dish to his coffee table and picked up his phone again while he waited for her to finish, too. "That was delicious, you have no idea what you're missing out on," he said happily and leaned back into the cushions, his eyes tracing over her figure on-screen. "I'll have to get Maria to make that again. Thank God tomorrow is Friday. If I can't get you naked on the phone, then I need to get you naked here instead," he grinned, watching her poke her tongue out at him as she finished her meal.

"Come on, I want to see you," he complained at her lack of response. He aimed his pouty look into the camera lens. "Come over tomorrow night and stay the weekend. I have to fly to Seattle on Monday to meet with Mitch to finish off the last of the songs on my album. I'll be there for two weeks, and I need a Charley fix before I go."

Charley smirked as she finished eating and put her container out of the way. She put her feet up on her chair in front of her and wrapped her arms around her knees as she looked into the phone at him. He'd mentioned his Seattle trip to her earlier in the week. Mitch Rowland was a talented guitarist and song writer who had co-written most of the album with Harry. They worked a lot over video chat, too, but in order to finish and polish the the songs, Harry wanted to spend one-on-one time with Mitch to get it done. It meant, for the second time, they wouldn't see or hear from each other for two consecutive weeks, and they both knew it. Harry would need to have no interruptions, and Charley understood.

Better get used to it, Pearce, she thought, thinking about when he'd eventually debut the album and head off to promote it. Not to mention when he started touring.

Sighing inwardly, she realised she didn't mind so much now she knew where they stood. She'd take what she could get. This last week of chatting every day with Harry and discussing all sorts of things had made her feel closer to him than she had with any boyfriend she'd been with in the past.

"Please," Harry prompted as he looked at her, still pouting.

"Well, that depends," she teased as she watched him lay down on the couch, tilting his face up to the screen with a questioning smile.

"On what?" he asked.

"If you have any more of Maria's amazing Portuguese chicken," she said and he chuckled.

"I'll get Maria onto it," he said, amused. "She loves you, you know."

Charley's lips parted. "What, you've talked to her about me?" she asked in surprise.

"Of course," Harry said, enjoying her reaction, lifting an arm up behind his head to lean on. "You thought I wouldn't ask her why she let a complete stranger into my house, did you?"

Charley scoffed at the 'complete stranger' comment and Harry grinned.

"Well, what did she say?" Charley said, feeling odd about it.

"She said you were fluent in Spanish for starters," Harry quirked an eyebrow and continued, "she also said, 'That girl, I like her. You keep that one, make her happy.'" Harry smiled widely at Charley's obvious embarrassment.

"What, really?" Charley mumbled, wondering what his reply had been but not game enough to ask.

She twisted her fingers together absentmindedly where they grasped her knees, and Harry noticed. His expression became soft as he watched her.

"Yep. Don't worry, I said that I had every intention of doing so." He smiled, feeling his hands itch to thread themselves through the heavy weight of her dark hair. He ached to be with her. Soon.

Charley's heart skipped a beat and her mouth dried. She gazed at him through the phone, unsure how to reply, but he gallantly saved her.

"Anyway, I'll send a car for you tomorrow, don't even think about catching an Uber," he said sternly, pointing a finger at the camera.

Charley started to protest, but he cut her off. "Ah! Behave!" She laughed and agreed reluctantly.