The Gambler

Elle Peters had never been one to believe in love. Growing up in a Detroit neighbourhood with a less than stellar reputation for crime made her hard and unloving. She never allowed herself to get close enough to people knowing that the chances of them ending up in the hospital, jail or the morgue was too high to risk feeling any sort of emotion for them. The only ‘man’ she had ever loved had been her father, a youth counsellor. Despite making numerous promises that he was cautious and completely safe, Elle still had to watch as he left for work one day only to be shot in the chest with three rounds by a troubled teen boy who her dad had worked with.

That left Elle with a widowed mother, Kate, who could barely support Elle and her older brother, Michael. Michael had been a recovering drug addict and had barely left the house, mostly out of safety though Elle knew it had a lot to do with temptation. Regardless, it was just her mom’s income that was supporting them for two years. She had grown up learning not to use too much water, that one loaf of bread could provide meals for a family for a week and to save every single penny she found. On a particular chilly December day, their hydro had been shut off meaning the heating wasn’t working in their house nor was anything else. They were wrapped in blankets to keep warm when a miracle happened.

Elle had played in numerous plays and concerts throughout her schooling, even singing the national anthem at a Detroit Tigers game once and had been struggling to be heard on a national level, so she started putting videos on Youtube. She had reached a fair amount of views, but knew most of it was just for fun to distract her from her harsh reality. What she didn’t expect was for a PR man for Universal Music Publishing Group to show up at her doorstep offering her a contract.

It had taken a lot of negotiating, reading tons of fine print and work, but she was signed within two months. After convincing her mom to leave Detroit behind, her family was moved to Santa Monica, California where she began to record her first album, Madhouse.

Flash forward one year later and she was the biggest female artist in the world. Her album had gone multi-platinum, received multiple Grammy awards along with an impressive collection of other awards and she had struck deals with the biggest companies in the world. Elle was the face of Chanel, had her own fragrance and a line of clothing. In a year, Elle had managed to do more than most people could do in a lifetime.

Of course, fame came with its downsides. The worst, she believed, was how she only saw her mom and brother only a handful of times in the year. Another bad side of fame was the constant attention. She couldn’t make it through the day without being followed by at least 20 paparazzi, and that was on a good day which was way she took whatever moment of privacy she could.

Elle had been ridiculously excited to be in the heart of New York City and go unrecognized. No paparazzi had followed her to the diver bar, mainly due to the fact that her publicist had leaked to the press that she would be at a club in the upper east side. Instead, she had sat in the bar happily drinking with her security guard and thanks to most of the men in the bar being middle aged working class men, they hardly recognized her. Though that didn’t pertain to every tenant in the building.

Another downside to fame resided in the boy department. Any boy she was seen with was instantly linked romantically to her. Regardless of the fact that the boy may be gay or barely even a friend, the pictures would be circulated around the internet talking about how in love she was. Each time, she simply shook her head and laughed. Elle Peters didn’t fall in love or even develop feelings for anyone. She was guarded and reserved. No one would make her feel that way ever.

Which was why she had been so shocked when he had approached her at the bar. Elle had recognized him instantly, he was a member of the popular boy band, One Direction. They had been her chart competition for the past couple of weeks and with their popularity growing in the USA, she knew it was just a matter of time before they became a real threat. It wasn’t the shock of his fame though that had shocked her, but rather the vulnerability she felt under his gaze. His eyes were piercing in the strangest way, but she felt compelled to stare into them while they spoke. Elle wanted to know him, even for just a minute.

She had, thankfully, snapped out of it and put her guard back up. Her heart was on lockdown and she’d be damned if she threw the walls down for the British heartthrob who was just as famous as she was. Elle had blown him off, in the nicest way she could, and knew she had to get the hell out of the bar. She didn’t know what she was feeling as she left, but she vowed never to see him again, though some things are made to be broken, this vow was one of them.

Elle saw him before he could see her and her heart faltered. The sight of his curly mop of brown hair was what caught her eye first and she looked away almost immediately to look for an escape route. Unfortunately for her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to leave the gala. It had been a last minute thing, but she had been dressed and shipped off to a charity event at the Met. So as she walked into the gala in her very expensive and elegant Elie Saab gown, she had gained attention immediately.

“Champagne, Miss?” A waiter asked her as he held out a tray to her.

She shook her head at him and was about to excuse herself to the restroom for a breather when she saw a hand reach up and grab two flutes from the tray, “Surely you could have at least one?”

The British accent was unmistakable and she bit her lip before turning around with an annoyed look on her face. Standing in front of her, looking incredibly handsome and charming, was Harry. His suit fit perfectly and the bow tie made her lips twist up into a small smile. His overly excited face didn’t help either and she rolled her eyes at him, “I should have known you would be here.”

“Aw, c’mon, love,” He said with a laugh, “You could at least pretend to be happy to see me.”

Elle sighed, “I didn’t realize you knew who I was.”

“Upon our first encounter, no. I had no idea who you were,” He paused before sighing, “That was until I walked back to my table that was overcome with laughter at you turning me down and then, Liam so kindly explained who you were.”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t even know you’re name until you told me.” Elle offered.

Harry shrugged and held out one of the glasses to her, “Take it. One drink won’t hurt.”

“Ah yes, it won’t hurt you,” Elle said before taking the glass and putting it down on the table beside them, “I, however, drew the unfortunate short straw by being a female and if any of these people here were to tell the tabloids that we were drinking, guess who would be put on blast?”

Harry nodded and held up his glass in a toast of sorts, “Touche. Though I’m not sure any of these people know how to contact the tabloids.”

The pair looked out to the crowd around them, all of them being over 50 at least. Elle turned back to Harry at the same time he looked at her and both of them burst into laughter.

Just then, two boys popped up on either side of Harry and then two more. Elle immediately recognized them as the rest of the members of One Direction, though she had no idea who each of them were, “Oh, hello.”

Harry looked on either side of them before he began the introductions, “Boys, this is Elle Peters. Elle, this is Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne.”

Elle nodded, waved and smiled at each boy as they were introduced, laughing when Louis pulled a face at her, “Lovely to meet you, boys.”

“And you.” Liam replied and smiled at her before continuing, “Did you and Harry call each other and plan your outfits?”

Elle looked down at the pale blue of her dress before looking to Harry. And although she had looked at his suit already, she had failed to noticed the pale blue shirt he wore under his suit that perfectly matched her dress. Even his suit was a navy blue that matched her nail polish and headband in her hair. Her face blushed for a moment before she narrowed her eyes, “Harry, are you stalking me?”

“Never!” Harry replied and laughed as she broke out into a grin. As the laughter died down, he stared directly into her eyes before replying, “Though we do look great together.”

Elle rolled her eyes before smiling and continued the conversation on with Harry and the rest of the boys. Though each time she spoke, she found herself making eye contact with Harry for a brief moment before she forced herself to look away. He watched her as if she was telling him the meaning of life and not a story about a crazed fan she had in Japan. The way he looked at her made her feel important, but not in the cocky sense, but rather that she knew he was clinging onto her every word and was truly caring about what she was saying. The thought of this brought on a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn’t help but smile about.

Even as the other boys began to leave the conversation and she knew she should mingle with other people, she found herself glued to the spot with Harry as they swapped stories about anything and everything. Laughter was a constant between the two and by the time the night was over, they had exchanged phone numbers due to Harry telling her he had to send her a picture of their hotel room just to prove that it did indeed have a bidet since Elle didn’t believe him. They parted ways hours later, Elle leaving to go get rest before performing at the Today show in the morning.

And without knowing it, the walls Elle had built up so tall and strong around her heart were beginning to shake and crumble.