This is the second and last part to the fake girlfriend blurb.
“Are you sure it’s just casual?”
Harry looks up from his phone to a closed door, assuring Y/N for the umpteenth time that tonight’s evening attire is in fact, just casual.
“Nothin’ too dressy, love. S’just the band out for a couple o’drinks. Nothin’ special, other than the fact they’ll be meetin’ ye’ as m’girl.”
“Oh wow, well yeah that certainly calms me some,” Harry can imagine her rolling her eyes, “y’know. Just introducing me as your girl. But yeah, nothing special. Way to make a gal feel good, Styles.”
He smile and nods to himself, “s’not wha I meant, love.”
Y/N can’t even recall how she came about to agreeing to this. The minute she felt Harry’s lips press against the corner of hers, she was putty in his hands. And all she remembers is that he didn’t have to beg much after that.
“Yeah yeah. Have I still got time to back out?”
He can hear her shuffling about in her room as he nears the door, phone tucked away in his jeans pocket the second he pushed himself off the sofa.
“Not a chance,” he leans against the door frame, a hand tugging at the door knob only to find it locked, “almost done? Feel like I’ve been waitin’ ages.”
“You don’t get to rush me,” he feels her voice closer to him than she’d been previously.
“A’right, a’right.” Harry runs a hand through his hair before clasping them together, thumb fiddling with his rings.
A good five minutes pass by before he finally hears Y/N twisting the knob to pull the door open.
She steps out in a twirl, the question asked more or so in search of Harry’s approval of her attire rather than to once again clarify if it was casual wear.
“When ye’ gonna stop askin’ me tha’?” Harry pushes himself away from the wall, smiling down at her before tucking away a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Until we get to the restaurant. And that’s only because the last time-“
“Who doesn’t know wha’ dressy casual is?” And Harry laughs at the memory, the smirk on his face earning him a playful slap to his arm.
“Harry! I showed up in jeans. Had you said it was a black tie event I would’ve worn something more proper.”
“Nobody noticed, love.” Harry takes her coat from the hook on the hallway wall and follows her to the door, holding it open for her after she retrieves the home keys from her purse.
“Only the hundred-plus models giving me the death glare. You’re lucky I even agreed to this after that!”
“There weren’t tha’ many people,” he goes down a step and pinches her waist playfully when she turns to lock the door, “but ye’ didn’t really put up tha’ much of a fight.”
He catches the roll of her eyes as she turns around to face him, placing a hand on each shoulder.
“Just make sure you can sell this.”
The corner of his lip pulls up cheekily, “not gonna ‘ave a problem on my end. Ye’ good for this, love?”
If Harry recalls correctly, this might be the first time he’s seen a mischievous glint in her eyes.
With no hesitation, Y/N leans down to press an open mouthed kiss to Harry’s lips before retrieving her coat from his grip and leaning down to whisper into his ear.
If he must admit, Harry’s a little shocked at that. Plenty times, he was the one initiating the flirting, and most often than not, Y/N would sort of shy away. He would touch her in ways a best friend shouldn’t - ways a boyfriend would. It was as if he had to have some sort of contact with her at all times. Whether it was a lingering hand on her waist, her knee, her hair, Harry would find himself gravitating towards her. That’s probably why his band mates assumed they were together.
He pushes the thought to the back of his mind when Y/N calls out for him to unlock his car, making his way over to her then.
“Cat got your tongue, Styles.” Y/N teases from her spot next to him.
He’s been unusually quiet, but Y/N doesn’t think it’s because of the kiss, he just looks like he’s in deep thought if his knitted brows are any clue. She notices the way he seems to be chewing on the inside of his lip, the skin moving every time he bites and releases.
“Hmm?” He takes a quick glance her way. And had she not been paying attention already, she would have missed the way Harry relaxes back into the driver’s seat, muscles constricting as he readjusts his grip on the steering wheel. “This is insane, innit? Why did I even ask? Could ‘ave just gone on my own.”
This catches Y/N off guard, Harry’s never really been one to back out of things, or double think himself for that matter. He’ll get nervous yeah, but he doesn’t doubt himself. Then again, this isn’t really a normal thing to do.
“You’re backing out on me now? Am I not a fun date?” She can’t deny that she’s been feeling wary about the whole thing herself, but Harry already told his friends and Y/N knows he’ll be kicking himself if he doesn’t go through with it.
When his demeanor doesn’t change, Y/N reaches over the console and takes his hand in hers, fingers intertwining, “we’ll be fine. You said your friends already think we’re dating right? So really, we just have to be our normal selves.”
By the time Harry comes to his senses, he’s already got the car parked. He thinks Y/N has a point. Mitch had even asked him when he was planning to propose, which - if he’s being honest - wasn’t as much of an awkward question as it should have been for Harry.
“You’re right. Jus’ hav’ta be ourselves.”
Y/N nods reassuringly, and Harry squeezes her hand once before leaning over, a smile on his face.
“What’re you doing?” Having Harry this close the past couple of days brings a new kind of feeling, one that Y/N neither knows what it is, nor how to deal with.
“Kiss me,” he whispers, “need t’get used t’it don’ I? Ye’ blindsided me back there.” He juts out out his lips in an adorable pout.
So she does. Three small pecks before she feels his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her in for a deeper kiss.
When he pulls away, she finds herself completely lost in his eyes, “not bad, Styles.” It’s all she can think of saying. She doesn’t wanna read into it, they’re just friends after all and this is just a favour.
“Thank you,” he whispers as he pulls away and takes the keys out of the ignition, a smile playing at his lips.
“Don’t.” Harry interrupts her movements, and Y/N’s left confused at that as she looks at him exiting the car and making his way round to her side.
He pulls her door open, “if we’re g’na do this, we’re g’na it right.” He jokingly extends his arm out in a gesture for her to step out of the car and take his hand.
“Are we really playing the sappy couple? Is that what you’ve decided for us?” She takes his hand regardless, poshly stepping out of the car so Harry can shut the door.
Her question’s pretty much answered when he halts her walk and pulls her around to face to. He smiles down at her before placing a kiss to her forehead.
“S’the only kind we could be. B’cos m’so smitten with ye’. I make you breakfast in bed and give you foot rubs.”
Harry begins to casually walk then, his hand intertwining with Y/N’s as he leads the way, cautious in taking slow strides as to not forcefully pull her along.
“Do you now? I don’t recall any of that.”
He eyes her playfully when she passes him when he opens the door and they enter the restaurant, Harry taking lead again and making his way to the table his band mates are already sat at.
“‘Arry!” Adam chimes, standing up to give Harry a short hug and a pat on the back.
“And Y/N.” This time he looks at Harry knowingly, winking at his friend as he leans in to offer Y/N a kiss on the cheek.
“Hope we didn’t make ye’ guys wait too long. The missus here took ages t’get ready.”
Y/N playfully slaps his chest at that, her her heart missing a beat at the sound of the word missus.
“Yeah, well you drive like my nana Harry. Could’ve been here sooner if ye’ didn’t,” Y/N quips back.
“Oi, she’s got you there, mate.”
Harry shoots Adam a playful glare, “ye aven’t even been in the car with me when m’driving ye’ git.”
Harry chooses to ignore Adam, turning his attention to Y/N who’s just placed her coat round the back of the chair. “M’lady,” he pulls it out for her to sit, making sure she’s seated properly before moving around the table to greet Sarah and Clare with a kiss on the cheek, and Mitch a pat on the back.
“So,” Mitch starts, a mischievous smirk playing at his lips, “you and Harry? Finally eh?”
“Oiiii,” the simple exclamation has Mitch putting his hands up in defence, a sense of accomplishment creeping on him when he notices Harry give him the stink eye as his cheeks tint a shade of pink.
And Harry should have seen that coming. Mitch has been utterly blunt since day one, but it was instinct to stop his friend from saying too much. Don’t take him wrong, he doesn’t mind getting teased about liking Y/N when she’s not around, but when she is, he feels like a child for hiding his feelings from her.
Y/N doesn’t think too much of it, just nods her head in amusement and intertwines her hand in Harry’s when he offers his palm a top the table.
“We don’t really get t’hang out with you guys much,” Clare comments as she stands up from her seat and leads the group out of the restaurant.
“Yeah, cos you guys are all so high and mighty, always hanging out with the big names. Barely have time for me,” Y/N teases.
Sarah isn’t far behind to put the blame on someone else, “well tha’s because your boyfriend here is tryna take on the world.”
“Didn’t hear ye complainin’ when we booked Shanghai,” Harry shoots back, eyebrows quirked as if asking for her to retort.
“Oh okay, Mr. I-wanna-go-back-home-to-my-Y/N.”
Harry can’t help the lopsided smile that creeps on his face, “shut it.”
He ignores Y/N’s confused look, wraps his arms around her instead when he notices her shivering from the cold despite having her coat on and smiles to himself when he feels her nuzzle into his neck and wrap her arms around his torso.
“How’s about we head over for a few pints then?” Adam pitches, nodding in the direction of the pub across the street.
And Harry doesn’t know if it’d be too much to keep up appearances any longer. Thinks maybe Y/N’s had enough of lingering kisses and hand holding for the night. But there’s a part of him that hopes she says yes. A part of him that wants to keep holding her hand and kissing her and hugging her, cause if he’d be able to admit, it feels quite normal. Like he’s meant to be doing all this couple stuff with her, even if it’s all pretend, he can’t help the feeling of wholeness he feels in his heart when she looks at him a certain way. And when she rests her head on his shoulder, or feels her body lean closer to his, he’s thankful he can reciprocate the affection - even under the circumstances.
He looks down at her for any sign of approval.
“Could go for a drink,” she chimes, “maybe it’ll help me warm up a bit.”
“Ye sure?” He asks. Maybe she didn’t m want this to end quite yet? Harry sure doesn’t.
“Mhm,” she smiles up at him, “maybe I can get a nice guy to buy me a drink.”
“I’d like t’see someone try,” Harry contradicts, throwing his arm around her shoulder as they begin to cross the street, “drinks on me,” he hollers to the rest of the group walking in front of them.
It wasn’t long after that Harry spotted Grimmy making a complete fool of himself out by the bar. Already half drunk, he’d nearly thrown himself at his friend in excitement when the group of men approached.
“Oi, Styles. Thought I would be the first ye’ would tell,” Grimmy sure knew how to be a drama king, waving his pint left and right, drink sloshing around the glass almost spilling onto the floor.
Harry had nearly spewed out the beer from his mouth, in fact, he had to wipe his chin of the bitter liquid as his ears processed what Adam was gonna to say before he said it. Leave it to him to open his big mouth and tell the whole world. How is he going to get out of this one? It’ll only be a matter of time till Grimmy rings up his mum and tells her. Pretending Y/N was his girlfriend was only supposed to be for dinner with his band mates. But now that he thinks about it, how was he going to explain to Adam and Mitch and Sarah and Clare that Y/N and him had broken up. Broken up a relationship that was made up to begin with.
“Was about time, ‘Arry. Ye’ been pining over the girl since the day ye’ met her.”
Was it really that noticeable?
“Grimmy,” he wasn’t so much surprised that he knew, rather that he’d never said anything in regards to it before.
“Wha? Were ye’ tryna hide it, mate?”
Harry looks over to Mitch for support, but his friend merely smirks and holds his hands up defeatedly.
Harry rolls his eyes and nods his head in amusement, the thought that maybe he does like Y/N as more than his best friend sending shivers down his spine. And it crosses his mind that maybe, just maybe, they don’t have to fake break up at all.
“Ye’ think she likes me back?”
It’s a question he’s been too afraid to ask. And it throws off his friends some. They’ve always seen Harry as a sort of superman. By the looks of it, the guy can take on the universe and be scared of little. He walks around like it’s his world and they’re just living in it. It’s utterly confusing to think Harry would ever worry about someone liking him back.
He ignores the weird looks he’s being given, the question resonating in his brain.
It’s not until he feels Adam’s hand colliding with his back in a light pat that he snaps out of it, “reckon she does, mate. She said yes t’ye’ for Christ sake.”
“Oh, please. ‘Ave ye’ seen the way she looks at ye’? S’like-” Grimmy pauses to take a chug from his pint, a hiccup emitting from his body before he continues, “-ye’ hung the moon or summat. Knew she was smitten with ye’ since day one.”
“Even your mom knew Harry,” Mitch cuts in, “truth be told, man. We all knew you guys would end up together.”
“Yeh.” Harry smiles to himself at the sound of it all.
Could his Y/N actually have more than just best friend feelings for him?
“S’really nice seeing you two happy, y’know?”
Y/N smiles over at Sarah, the comment coming practically out of nowhere.
“He’s always talked about ye’ like you’ve got the stars in your eyes-“ she continues, elbow on the table and hand supporting her chin, “and his face always lights up when he talks about ye.”
“Do you notice how he looks at you?” Clare adds.
And Y/N really doesn’t know if she wants to be hearing all this. A part of her is wishing it would all be true. Maybe Harry really does have feelings for her - but then, why hasn’t he ever said anything?
“When we met Anne, she told us she doesn’t think he’s ever looked at anybody the way he does at you. Of course Harry had cleared up that you guys weren’t dating at the time, but that’s how we knew you two would end up together.”
At that moment, Y/N looks over to Harry, and she’s beginning to think it’s never been a coincidence how whenever she would look at him, he would appear to have already had his own eyes on her. And she notices then, how brighter his face gets when her eyes meet his, dimple prominent and in full display as his smile widens.
“I’ve got myself a keeper then.”
She watches as he turns back to the guys and says something before he’s setting down what’s left of his drink and waving off his friends.
Her tummy knots at the sight of him approaching their table.
“How’s m’favourite girl doing over ‘ere? Sarah and clare treating ye’ well?”
He leans down to kiss the top of her head, and Y/N’s sure the look of pure adoration Claire and Sarah give her are what cause her face to go read.
“Reckon we like her more than you.”
Harry’s eyes go wide at Clare’s comment, his hand on his heart as he feigns mock offence.
“M’actually not hurt by that at all. Everyone does.”
After plans for Y/N to join a couple of tour dates because ‘we’re outnumbered and we would really like for you to visit us on tour so we can do girl stuff’, Y/N and Harry make their way out of the bar.
When Harry opens the door to the bar, the sudden wave of cold air hits Y/N like a freight train, and though she’s got her coat on, she shivers and shrink into herself, instinctively gravitating towards Harry’s warm body.
He gives her a chuckle as he wraps his arms around her shoulders, and when he thanks her for how great of a fake girlfriend she was tonite she feels herself deflate. Feeling self conscious about the situation - and the sudden reminder that Harry’s been so touchy feely simply because he had a roll to play - she wiggles herself from his hold, offering a weak smile before she begins the walk across the street where his car’s parked.
Harry notices the shift in her mood, and he knows if there’s ever been a time to take a chance, it’s now.
He stalks up to her as quick as he can, taking her arm in his hand the second she’s in reach, and spins her around.
He pulls her in close by the waist, looking down at her, he moves a hand to her lower back, his palm applying the gentlest of pressure, but enough that he closes the space between their bodies. And he looks into her eyes only for a small moment before he’s leaning in, something about this particular moment sending shivers down his spine.
She feels his warm breath on her skin, his half hooded eyes flickering from her eyes to her lips, and when she finally gives him a small smile, his eyes close, lips attaching to hers in a what starts as an innocent peck. When she wraps her arms around his neck and takes a fist full of his hair, Harry can’t suppress a moan from slipping. He’s dipping his head forward in a desperate attempt to capture Y/N’s lips fully, and her back arches enough that Harry has to bring around his other hand to rest on the middle of her back to keep her in place. Meanwhile she takes his bottom lip in between her own, and she can feel her body reacting to Harry’s needy kiss when she feels his tongue slip past his lips and over hers in one swipe.
It’s when she starts feeling a burning sensation in her lungs that she breaks the kiss, Harry’s lips ghostly following hers as she pulls away to breathe.
“Ready t’go home, angel?”
The drive to her place has been silent, the sound of cars passing and the occasional car honking being the only sound that echoes in her ears as they pass street lights.
But all Y/N can think of is how Harry’s touch lingers everywhere he’s put his hands or lips on. How it looked so natural to have his arm around her. How it felt so natural.
She doesn’t know whether to bring up what Sarah and Clare had said to her earlier in the night.
What if it’s nothing? She can’t be the only one that seems to brighten him up, right? And talking so kindly about her? It’s a Harry thing to do, because that’s who Harry is, so Y/N can’t possibly think she’s the one that changes it all. And what about that kiss outside of the bar? Was that really Harry wanting to kiss her? Or did he do it because they were still in Clare and Sarah’s eyesight and it was the last hand he could play to actually sell their act?
“Something on your mind, angel?”
Harry’s been silently worrying in his own head about how the after math would affect their relationship. He wouldn’t want it to be weird, doesn’t want her to pull away if she realises it all felt too real on his part.
But how could it not? He loved kissing her cheek, or her temple randomly, squeezing her hand in the process as he talked with his friends. At one point, he was doing it all absentmindedly, and it wasn’t until he saw Clare and Sarah smiling at them from his peripheral view that he realised it.
She gives him the fakest smile she’s ever given anyone.
And at that moment, neither of them know just how much their silence has shattered two hearts.
This hurts me. But sometimes, silence is our worst enemy.
