The Gambler

Elle sat in the back of the big black SUV, her newly manicured fingers intertwined with one another as she fidgeted in her seat. She hadn’t talked to Harry in three days, despite his numerous texts and phone calls. She was avoiding him, mainly because she felt like she could barely contain her feelings around him. It was the way he looked at her like she was goddamn saviour of the earth. Or at least, that’s what she thought he was doing. For all she knew, he thought she was absolutely mental and was only talking to her to be nice because that’s the type of guy he was.

Elle shook the thoughts out of her mind and looked out of the window. Judging by the sudden increase in crowds, she knew they were close to NBC Studios. Despite avoiding his every call, she was going to keep her promise to watch them perform on SNL. She attributed it to the fact that she had promised Louis, but really, deep down she knew she just wanted to see Harry again. And that’s what bothered her the most. That despite all of these walls that she had put up, he had found his way to scale to the top and peer over at her. He had found his way into her mind with that stupid smirk and his laugh.

“We’re here, Ms.” The driver spoke quietly as they pulled up to the busy building.

Elle nodded and watched as her security guard gave him a tip before he jumped out to open her door. She got out quickly and kept her head down to avoid being recognized. Luckily, the hood on her coat was able to hide her face and she entered the building without any screaming or photos being taken. Thanks to her call ahead of time, she had been led up to the green room area without any problems. The usher directed her to the furthest room on the left and she nodded her head before walking slowly towards the door. She was nervous, as if she were just about to perform to a giant audience, yet she was positive she wouldn’t be as scared as she was now.

Harry sat in the greenroom, checking his phone every minute for a new message. He waited for her name to flash across the screen, just to give him some sort of communication. Even if she texted him saying she didn’t want to talk to him again, it would give him some peace of mind. He hadn’t talked to her since their adventure in the park and he was beginning to think he had scared her off. When Harry had a crush or any kind of feelings for someone, he tended to go overboard sometimes. When he loved, he loved hard. And while his feelings for her weren’t love at this point, he felt like he wanted to know Elle for the rest of his life.

He was taken aback by his own thoughts, but was oddly comforted by the thought of having Elle by his side as he grew older. It was all rather insane, since he knew she wasn’t going to show up tonight. And unlike the other boys, he wasn’t nervous about performing. He was nervous about what would happen if she didn’t show up.

Niall’s head snapped up to the direction of the door and Harry soon followed his gaze.

He swore his heart stopped for a moment.

There, standing in the doorway looking as lovely as ever, was Elle. She had a small smile on her face as she looked around the room before she made eye contact with him. Her smile grew a bit wider when she looked at him and she took a step forward into the room and breathed out, “Hi.”

Harry stood up to go greet her when she was blocked from his vision by Louis who had attacked her in a hug. She let out a laugh as he picked her up and twirled her around and Harry fought back the ridiculous jealousy he felt as they began to converse happily to one another. Harry’s hands slid into his pockets as he stood just to the side of Louis. She was wearing a beautiful dress, her hair cascading in loose curls that framed her face perfectly. Her heels were ridiculously high, yet she stood just below his chin. She was the picture perfect girl.

Elle laughed at something he said before she turned to look at Harry, “Hi Harry. Nervous?”

Yes, but only because of you. Harry let out a tiny laugh and shrugged, “A bit. It’s good to see you, I thought you weren’t going to show.”

Elle smiled and looked down for a moment before she looked back up at him, “I made a promise that I’d come.”

“Haz, don’t just let her stand there, welcome her in.” Liam’s voice chided the younger boy.

Harry rolled his eyes which made Elle chuckle and he turned his body away from her slightly and spoke evenly, “Come in, we’re just sitting around until they tell us it’s time.”

Elle walked ahead of him and headed to the empty couch across from Zayn who was laying on a couch. She laughed at him, “Comfortable?”

“Completely.” He replied with a small laugh before he sat up and stood up. He leaned in to hug the girl, “How are you then?”

“I’m great!” She replied hugging the thin boy.

She was aware that Harry had sat down beside her and she relaxed ever so slightly as she began to talk with Liam and Niall, the two members of the band she had talked with the least. She soon learned that Liam was the most sensible one with a hint of boyish charm. Niall was boyish in his very own way, yet charming nonetheless. He was adorable and Elle decided that although Harry was the youngest of the band, Niall was definitely the baby of the group.

Conversation flowed easily between the group and loud laughter broke out often. They got into a lot of heated debates that usually resulted in everyone screaming at each other in a friendly manner before a moment of silence followed by laughter. Elle enjoyed the company of the boys, it wasn’t often that she was able to hangout with people her age and she was absolutely loving it. As the night progressed, it didn’t go unnoticed that she and Harry had slowly gotten closer together on the couch. Their knees touched one another’s now and she leaned against him as she laughed at something Louis was explaining about a fan in Sweden.

“One Direction, we’re ready for you on stage.” A crew member said with a small knock on the door.

The boys immediately straightened up, their laughter dying down as their face were etched with nervousness, panic and what looked to be nausea on Zayn’s face. Elle let out a small laugh and rubbed the boy’s back, “Hey, you guys will be amazing.”

She followed them to the stage, walking side by side with Harry. His fingertips were shaking as he took his microphone in his hand and Elle put a hand on his arm. He looked over at her with worried eyes and she smiled softly at him, “You’ll be fine. Now go rock the shit out of it.”

Harry nodded and paused for a moment. He was contemplating what to do and Elle just stared back at him with as much intensity. She opened and closed her mouth, at a loss as his green eyes stared intently at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but Louis was soon pushing him towards the stage. Elle shook herself out of the daze that she was in and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched from the stage door. Sofia introduced them and they began to perform.

It was the first time she had ever watched them perform and couldn’t help but smile widely at their antics. While she was sure they weren’t as crazy as they usually would be, they brought an energy to their performance that she hadn’t quite seen before, even in her own concerts. More so, she was entranced by Harry’s every move. She watched him, a smile spread on her lips and even as the song ended and the lights turned off signaling the end of their first performance, she couldn’t tear her eyes from him.

They were suddenly dashing towards her and she quickly focused on the first boy who reached her, Niall. He threw his arms around her quickly before dodging past her, mumbling something about calling his mom. Liam followed suit and ran after Niall. Zayn wrapped his arms around her rather heavily and placed a tiny kiss to the side of her head which she laughed about. Louis picked her up again, just like when she first came in before pushing Zayn down the hallway.

Elle looked up at Harry as he stood in front of her and he quickly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Elle leaned into him, hugging his waist. She turned her head and breathed out, “See? You were amazing.”

Harry felt her breath on the hollow of his neck and tried to fight the feeling in the pit of his stomach. He simply nodded his head before he spoke, “Thanks for coming tonight.”

“Of course.” She said and pulled away from the hug. They turned to walk down the hallway together and she bit her lip, “I’m sorry for not texting or answering your calls. I felt kind of awkward about the other day.”

“No worries.” Harry replied quickly, “Listen, we’ve got a skit to do in a couple of minutes and another performance. But would you stay? You said you’re leaving tomorrow, yeah?”

She nodded and recited what her manager had told her, “8AM sharp.”

Harry was quiet for a moment before he continued, “The boys want to go to the after party, but do you want to go do something? Get a super late dinner and just-I don’t know.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Elle nodded again and a wide smile graced her lips.

The pair continued down the hall and Harry was soon being ushered out of the room again to get ready for their skit, so Elle sat on the couch and watched the broadcast on the TV. She laughed at every scene, but especially when she saw the boys come on in their costumes. Her hand slapped up to her mouth as she closed her eyes with laughter at how ridiculous yet amazing they looked.

Before she knew it, their last performance and the show was over. She waited for the boys to come into the room and played idly on her phone. She opened Twitter up and typed slowly.

Elle_Peters1 SNL was fantastic tonight.

The boys came in then and short of jumping on her, they were bouncing all around the room on a complete high. They had done an amazing job and could finally celebrate and relax. As four of the boys began to discuss the after party, Harry quietly walked over to Elle and held out his hand to her, “You ready to go?”

Elle nodded and said a quick goodbye to the boys. Harry was off to the side talking to Louis quietly while the other three were getting her phone number to text her while she was on tour. Soon, she was walking beside Harry yet again as they headed for the exit where his own ride was waiting for them. He stopped just short of the doors and turned to her, “If there are paparazzi outside, how should we play this?”

Elle replied by putting her hood up on her jacked. She pushed her hair underneath and buttoned her coat up to the top. She tilted her head down low and the hood fell over her entire face making her resemble the grim reaper, “This good?”

Harry laughed and nodded, “It’s perfect.”

The doors opened then and Harry was relieved to see zero paparazzi though there were a few fans who began to scream his name. He waved at them before climbing in the car after Elle. She kept her hood over her head until they were driving away and Harry laughed as she sent him a frazzled looked.

“It could have been worse.” Harry said with a chuckle.

Elle laughed and pushed her hair behind her ears, “It could have been.”

“Where to, my love?” Harry said putting on a posh twist to his accent.

“Gentleman’s choice.” Elle replied with the worst accent Harry had ever heard. The pair broke out into laughter before Harry directed the driver to a restaurant in the upper east side.

They saw in a comfortable silence as they drove, Elle choosing to stare out the window while Harry stole glances at her. As the lights from the street shone on her face, she had such a serene expression on her face. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and Harry found himself wanting to reach out and hold her hand. It was pathetic really, how much he just wanted to have such an innocent form of contact with her.

Elle could feel Harry’s eyes on hers as she studied the buildings they passed. It took everything in her not to turn and kiss him. Her feelings for him were so strong that it scared her shitless. She couldn’t do this, she had to get away from him. Tomorrow morning, she’d be across the country from him and even though her mind told her it was the perfect escape, every other inch of her body had a sense of panic. She didn’t want to leave him, leave this strange flirty friendship they had. She didn’t want to leave and forget the way he looked at her. Elle wanted to be by his side everyday and it scared her.

So as they both sat in the back of the vehicle, millions of emotions were coursing through them while silence rang through the car.