My Little Bird

Just like every time Asher came back from doing something important, Eleanor was perched on the corner cushion of the sofa with a cup of tea, waiting very impatiently for her to return. Only this time, she said nothing, instead raising her eyebrows in curiosity, wondering if her cousin was still angry or if she had forgiven Harry, and by extension the rest of them.

Asher fell into the chair in the corner, running a hand through her hair as she chewed on her bottom lip. Eleanor was watching her carefully, nearly ready to burst with how badly she wanted to know what happened but she couldn't tell anything from the blank look on Asher's face. "Well I guess I should start off by saying I'm sorry."

The older girl's eyes widened, causing Asher's lips to curl into a small smile, and Eleanor jumped up from the sofa, setting her mug on the coffee table before falling into the chair with her cousin. "You've worked things out then?"

"I think so, yeah. I mean, I get it now. And I'm sorry about how I acted this week."

She smiled, throwing her arm over Asher's shoulders. "Sweetie, you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry that things happened the way they did. It was awful for you to find out like that."

"Definitely wasn't ideal," Asher chuckled. "But it's over with now. I just want to forget it and move on."

"We can do that! Now, would you like to go grab a bite for lunch? I was too nervous to eat until I found out what happened."

Asher grinned as she hopped from the chair and then pulled her cousin up as well. "I'm starving. Let's go somewhere good!"

Eleanor knew the perfect place for them to have lunch: somewhere that had delicious food, but was off the beaten path where she knew they wouldn't be spotted or bothered by anyone. After they'd had as much pasta and garlic bread as they could handle, they went back to the flat so that Asher could take care of some business. She knew she had some things to fix so she started with her sister first. Iris was in tears as soon as she accepted the video call and it took almost ten minutes for her to calm down long enough for Asher to apologize. After that, she promptly burst into tears again.

When Asher finally got off of skype with her sister, she sent separate texts to each of the boys, offering a quick apology with an invitation to come over and let her make dinner for them so that she could apologize properly to all of them in person. She arranged it for the next night because she knew they would probably be in the studio until well past dinner time and she didn't have time to go to the store before then anyway. Four confirmations came back immediately, followed by one unlike the rest. You really don't need to do that, Ash. We're the ones who should apologize.

Don't make me uninvite you, Styles. I've got four other people who've agreed to come already. We don't need you! ;)

Fine, you win. There's just gonna be a whole lot of apologizing going on at this dinner.

Oh well! P.S. Hurry up and get here. We have a lot of time to make up for!

Believe me, I'm trying.

+

It was almost two in the morning when she heard her bedroom door shut softly and she rolled over onto her back, rubbing her tired eyes as she watched Harry shrug out of his denim shirt and pull his white tee shirt over his head before shedding his jeans and sliding under the duvet, into the empty space next to her. He immediately scooted over to her as close as he could possibly get, his bare chest pressed against her shoulder as he snaked his arm over her waist and nuzzled his face in her neck.

"Did it take you that long to find the hide-a-key?" she mumbled, her voice still thick with sleep.

He chuckled lowly in her ear, planting a kiss to the spot just below her jaw where the dark bruise he'd left their first night together had finally faded. "I had to make up for all the time I wasn't in the studio yesterday. But I'm here now."

Asher sighed contentedly and pulled his arm tighter around her body, her fingertips tracing intricate designs on his warm skin. "Let's not fight again. I like this too much."

"Me too," he whispered, giving her hip a gentle squeeze before settling against the pillow. He smiled to himself, inhaling the familiar scent of cherry blossoms from the strands of her wavy hair tickling his face and as she continued making light patterns on the skin of the arm draped over her body, his eyes fluttered shut, letting him drift off easily to sleep.

Asher hadn't planned on waking up alone but when she finally opened her eyes against the bright morning sun and looked around at her surroundings, that's exactly what she'd done. Harry's denim shirt lay in the space where his body had previously been and on top of it was a slip of yellow paper, folded in half. She snatched the paper off of the shirt as she slid up into a sitting position and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before unfolding the note.

So sorry, love, but Liam, Niall, and I had to go in to the studio for a bit.
Should be finished by noon. See you then xx

Glancing over at the alarm clock told her that it was already almost ten so she jumped out of her bed and went to take a shower before coming back to her room to pull on some shorts and a tank top. She slipped her arms into the shirt Harry had left her, pulling it up over her shoulders and rolling up the sleeves to her elbows. She smiled as she adjusted the collar, inhaling his familiar scent of cologne and peppermint.

Louis and Eleanor were sitting on the sofa together when Asher reached the bottom of of the stairs and he started grinning like a fool when he spotted her. Obviously Eleanor had told him the whole story and whatever she didn't know he had probably learned from Harry. She had barely made it into the living room with them when he scooped her up in a bear hug.

"Long time, no see," he chuckled, setting her back on her feet.

"I know, I'm sorry."

" 'S alright, babe. I imagine that was probably a lot of information to swallow."

"That's an understatement," she replied with a small smile. "But everything's okay now. You'll be here tonight?"

"Of course. Though we may be a bit late. I've got a birthday surprise for my girl that's waiting at my house so we're going there after we have lunch."

Asher scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ew I don't need to know about that."

Louis laughed loudly and dropped his hand to her shoulder. "Wasn't what I meant, but I'm sure there'll be that too." Eleanor let out a gasp from the sofa as her cheeks turned bright pink and both Asher and Louis laughed at her.

"Well, I'm going to make lunch for Harry when he gets back from the studio and then we're just going to hang around here."

"Make up for lost time, eh?" Louis smirked suggestively at her but instead of getting flustered, she just smirked right back.

"Definitely. Do you know how many times we could've done it in four days? I've been missing out and I'm not happy about it."

His eyes widened in surprise and he laughed again. "You just keep surprisin' me, Ash. But hey, be careful. No glove, no love, yeah? Wrap it before you tap it and all that."

Asher rolled her eyes at the cheeky grin on his face. "Yeah, same to you. We don't need any little Tomlinsons running around just yet." Eleanor's cheeks only blushed more and she shook her head, slapping her hands over her face as Asher let out a laugh. "Get out of here, you two. I have things to do."

"Of course. You have to prepare for your wild afternoon. Let's go, babe," he said, holding out his hand and pulling his girlfriend from the sofa. He leaned in to kiss Asher's cheek as he passed and Eleanor did the same before they walked toward the door hand in hand. "Behave yourself now," he called after her. "And remember: Don't be a fool, cover the tool."

"You should totally work for a condom company, Lou. Your slogans are just top notch."

He laughed, making guns with his fingers and pretending to shoot them at her before giving her an exaggerated wink and shutting the door behind him. Asher shook her head and headed to the kitchen to see what sort of food they had that she could make lunch with, but when she looked in the fridge and then the pantry, she found little more than a quart of milk, a bag of potato chips, and a jar of peanut butter. She went back upstairs to grab her bag and sunglasses, sending Harry a quick text before she left the flat and headed down the sidewalk toward the closest supermarket.

Was gonna make lunch for us before seeing that there's nothing in the flat to eat. Running to the store now, but I'll be back soon, just in case you get there before I do!

It wasn't odd to her that he didn't respond right away; after all, he could have been recording at that particular moment. She tossed her phone back into her bag as she walked into the store and grabbed a basket. Her memory served her correctly in finding all the items she needed to make lunch with and she was standing in line to pay less than thirty minutes later. Only one register was open and the woman working it was bordering on elderly, operating at a pace that was slow even by a snail's standards. Finally, the man in front of her went up to the counter with his items and Asher was next.

While she waited, her eyes scanned over the bold titles of the magazines on the rack next to the register, and of course it was only a few seconds before she found something with Harry's name plastered across the front. What she didn't expect to see below it was a picture of her, not with Harry, but with Olly. She set her basket on the floor by her feet and snatched the magazine off the rack, immediately tensing as she took a closer look at the photo. It had obviously been taken at the park and it happened to be the exact moment that he had wrapped her in a hug. The bright yellow headline read "Harry Styles Cheating Rumours (It's not what you think!)."

She quickly flipped through the pages to get to the article and she felt like she was going to be sick right in the middle of Tesco when she glanced over the two page spread. The elderly cashier called her up to the register but she just left her grocery basket where it was, handing the woman a five pound note for the magazine and hurrying out of the store without waiting for change. She clutched the magazine tightly in her hand as she pulled her sunglasses out of her hair and back down over her eyes, hot angry tears leaking onto her cheeks as she walked.

She didn't know where else to go. Three of the boys were in the studio and Louis was somewhere having lunch with Eleanor. She only had one option left and she just prayed the whole time she was walking that he would be home when she got there. Getting to the complex usually would have taken much longer, but she was in a hurry, as well as raging mad. She rang the doorbell and stood back to wait patiently, counting the passing seconds in her head. Just as she hit twelve, the door opened and Zayn was standing there, his hair disheveled and his eyes squinty and confused like he had just woken up. "Ash? I thought you'd be with Harry."

"H-he's in the studio and I didn't know where else to g-go." She hiccuped as she pulled her sunglasses off her face and that's when he noticed how upset she was.

"Whoa, what happened?" he asked, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her inside. She just shook her head and handed him the magazine in her hand, now wrinkled from how hard she'd had it clenched in her fist.

"Page seventeen," she muttered, slumping down on his leather sofa. He sat down next to her, flipping the magazine open to the correct page and his eyes immediately darted around to all the pictures before focusing on the words in the midst of them.

HARRY STYLES GETTING A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE?

Ever since One Direction member Harry Styles split from actress Abigail Prentiss a few short weeks ago, there has been speculation that the reason was one Miss Asher Maxwell, the American beauty who's been hanging around Styles and his band mates since early May. Multiple sources confirmed that Styles and Maxwell had a secret relationship behind the blonde actress's back and when she found out, she broke things off. Reps for Prentisss could never be reached for confirmation, but the boybander's management team denied the rumours, stating that Maxwell was "good mates with all five boys."

Just this Monday, Styles and Maxwell were spotted leaving the exclusive nightclub Alpha hand in hand after partying with the rest of the band in celebration of the birthday of 1D member Louis Tomlinson's girlfriend, who is also Maxwell's cousin. They have not been seen out together since that night and sources close to them said that the pair were spending some time together out of the spotlight. But then-- what's this?

Maxwell was seen out in Regent's Park on Friday afternoon with an unknown bloke, with whom she appeared to be quite cozy. According to reliable witnesses, the two spent about an hour talking in the park before leaving together, and at one point, they were even seen in an intimate embrace. Meanwhile Styles was seen that same day, out in Primrose Hill alone, looking sullen. Is Maxwell cheating on her famous boyfriend? Is Styles getting the same treatment he dished out to Abigail Prentiss not so long ago? Who is this bloke that a girl would give up a teen heartthrob for? Turn the page for more!

Zayn only briefly glanced up at Asher as he turned the page, already knowing where this was headed before he even saw the next page. He had immediately recognized Olly in the photo that had been taken in the park. The picture looked innocent enough, them sitting side by side on a bench in the shade talking. Harry did look rather upset in the photo they'd used of him, but Zayn knew it was only because he felt guilty about what had happened Monday night and because Asher refused to talk to him.

Well you wanted answers! We caught up with the mysterious lad seen pictured with Maxwell and got his side of the story! He's twenty year old Oliver Dawson, a Kensington native and Leeds University student, who met Maxwell only a few weeks after she arrived in London when she came in for dinner to Finch's, the cafe where he works. The pair hit it off instantly and even went on a few dates before she broke things off to engage in a secret affair with the One Direction pop star, according to Dawson.

"She must have been really happy with him, cos she ignored me for some time. But then on Friday she just showed up at the cafe to see me. We went for a walk, had a nice conversation, then we went back to my house." What does this mean exactly? When we asked, Dawson only chuckled and politely declined to answer. Interpret that how you will, readers!

Surrounding this article were more photos. There were two more from the park; in the first one, Olly's hand was near her face as if he were brushing his fingers over her cheek and in the second, he had both arms wrapped around her in a hug. Even though she didn't have her arms around him in return, her face was buried in his chest, obviously accepting of the hug. Below that was a photo of them in what Zayn guessed was Olly's house; from the angle, it was obvious that he had taken it. Asher was asleep on a massive navy blue pillow and he was leaning in close to her to get himself in the frame while still trying to look candid. The rest of the photos were Asher with Harry, mostly paparazzi photos, but one was the photo of them with Louis and Eleanor that had been taken at her cousin's wedding. Yet another photo that Olly must have taken directly from her phone.

Zayn finally let out a heavy sigh, dropping the magazine in his lap and leaning back against the sofa, running his hands over his scruffy face. Asher curled her feet up under her body, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of Harry's denim shirt as she sniffled. "You can say 'I told you so' now."

"Why would I say that?"

"You all hated him and begged me not to hang out with him anymore. You knew he was bad news and you tried to warn me, but I was angry at all of you so I went to see him out of spite. I asked for it. I deserve it."

"That's bullshit. Nobody deserves this."

"I do though. I only went to see him because I knew it would upset Harry. I wanted to get back at him, and the rest of you, for lying to me. It's all my fault, Zayn. I brought it on myself." She reached for the magazine, holding it up to look over the second page again. "God, he's such a pig. He made it sound like I just randomly sought him out to sleep with him! Do you know what we actually did when we got back to his house? We watched Doctor Who until I fell asleep from boredom! I'm just sleeping on the goddamn couch in this picture!"

Asher shook her head as more tears slipped down her cheeks and she pointed to the photo of her with Harry, Eleanor, and Louis from the wedding-- Harry's arm around her waist and her arm around his, both couples smiling happily. "This is my picture. Eleanor had my cousin take this at the wedding and she sent it to me. It's on my phone and hers, that's all!"

"He must've taken that one from you too," Zayn said quietly.

It wasn't until she registered the 'too' he'd just spoken that she finally realized. That was how the photo of her and Harry (and Niall who had been cropped out) in her bed got out and posted to the internet. She immediately thought back to any time when Olly would have been alone with access to her phone. Obviously he had taken the second picture from her phone while she was sleeping not three feet away from him. The only other time she could think of was when she left her phone on the nightstand and went to take a shower while Olly sat in her room, using her laptop.

"He's been playing me all this time, just to get a story."

Zayn nodded solemnly. "Looks like it."

"Why do I always have to be so naive about everything? First, you guys and now this? God, I'm such a fucking idiot!"

"C'mere," he said, holding out his arms. She immediately crawled into them, letting him wrap her in a hug as she buried her face in his black tee shirt. He didn't really have any words of encouragement for her so he went for the next best thing, stroking her hair while she cried into his shoulder. She was so sick of crying but she just couldn't seem to stop herself.

Neither of them heard the front door open, but when a figure appeared in the foyer, Zayn immediately looked up and his dark eyes locked with a pair of green ones. He cleared his throat, loosening his hold on Asher and sliding his hands down to her shoulders to push her back just enough to look down at her. Her face was splotchy and there were fresh tear tracks down her cheeks from her bloodshot blue eyes. She sniffled, having calmed down enough that she was no longer actively crying. "What is it?" she croaked, looking up at him.

Zayn only nodded toward the foyer and she immediately turned her head to find Harry standing there, his face completely void of emotion. She wiped her palms over her cheeks as Zayn got up from the sofa and excused himself to his kitchen and Harry took a few more steps toward her. She just watched him as he paced slowly back and forth in front of her.

"I'm just going to ask this once," he started, his voice even and eerily calm. "Is it true?"

As if some switched flipped inside her, Asher was immediately on her feet, giving him a look that was a mixture of incredulous and furious as she crossed her arms tightly across her chest. The sadness, guilt, betrayal, and everything else she was feeling instantly disappeared only to be replaced with anger. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"You were with him all day and you two look very cozy in the photos. It isn't a huge leap, Asher."

"After all the complete bullshit these assholes have printed about you for the past three goddamn years, you actually have the nerve to ask me if that article is true? This is the same fucking tabloid that just last week printed a story saying I'm sleeping with Niall!" She watched his face as her words sank in, but instead of him finally realizing the ridiculousness of what he was asking, his eyebrows only furrowed as his jaw clenched and he balled his fists at his sides. "Oh, Jesus Christ, really? You really think I'd do that to you? That Niall would do that to you?"

"No," he muttered, shaking his head. "I know Niall wouldn't do that to me."

"But I would?" She scoffed as she ripped the oversize denim shirt off her body and took a few steps toward him, shoving the fabric roughly into his chest. "It all makes sense now. Everything you said yesterday - those excuses you made - it was all bullshit. You just don't trust me! That's why you didn't tell me who you were, isn't it?"

"Don't make this about that!" he snarled, tossing the shirt over his shoulder into the chair behind him. "It has nothing to do with it! If you shagged that prick, I think that's something you should tell your fucking boyfriend!"

Before she even realized what happened, she found herself right in his face, so close that their noses would have been touching if she were a few inches taller. She was breathing heavily as Harry just stared down at her in utter shock, his fingertips slowly grazing his left cheek, which was now a deep red. Her arms hung limply by her sides, her right hand stinging and prickling from the contact, and she looked just as surprised as he was that she had just slapped him.

They both stood there in silence until finally her shock wore off and she took a few steps in the opposite direction, putting some space between them as she turned her back to him and instead faced the wall where one of Zayn's graffiti pieces hung on the wall in a nice black frame. She stared at the mix of yellow, blue, and deep red hues but she could feel his eyes boring into the back of her. "How dare you," she finally muttered as the tears she'd put on pause when he arrived came flooding back again.

"Fuck, I'm sorry," he replied immediately. "I didn't-"

Asher spun around to cut him off, her blue eyes bleary and bloodshot and her cheeks as wet as if she'd just dunked her face in a bucket of water. "You have no idea how fucking happy I was for those-" she paused, clenching her jaw as if the very words she was saying tasted bitter on her tongue- "two days we had together. The most amazing time I've had since my best friends died."

Harry grew visibly pale and his eyes dropped from her face, unable to look directly at her after he realized just how royally he had messed up. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard and his chest began to rise and fall at a faster rate as he tried to hold back the tears now threatening his own eyes. He was sure there wasn't a nineteen year old boy in the whole of England who had cried as much in their lifetime as he had in the past week. And 99.9% of it was because of his own doing.

"But then came the paparazzi. And the tabloids. And that fraction of your fanbase who are fucking insane. What we had for those two days was.....perfect. What we all had this entire summer was the best. But now it's ruined. And to answer your question, no, it's not true; I didn't sleep with Olly. He was playing me this whole time just like you were. The difference is I'm not in love with him." She shook her head and sniffled, swiping her hand over her cheeks quickly. "Maybe I was better off not knowing about you guys. Maybe on some level, you knew I couldn't handle it and that's why you kept it from me. And maybe you're right; I can't handle it. Maybe I should just go back home to Florida now."

He wasn't successful in holding back for very long. Hearing what she was saying was enough to push him over the edge, but the pain with which she said it was beyond what he could handle. Tears filled his eyes as he crossed the room to her, grabbing her hands in his and clutching them to his chest. She could feel his heart thumping rapidly under his white tee shirt and she tried to pry her hands out of his but he held them there tightly. "No, don't," he begged, his voice cracking with emotion. "Please don't go home. I can fix this. I promise I'll fix this."

Her eyes closed and her face twisted up into an expression of pain as she let out a quiet whimper before she could stop it. "Maybe it's not fixable."

His grip on her suddenly loosened and her hands slid down his chest before dropping to her sides. He stared down at her, looking absolutely forlorn, but she didn't meet his eyes. She couldn't meet his eyes. Her tongue ran over her bottom lip before she let out an almost inaudible sigh and she crossed her arms over her chest as she moved right past him, hoping that if she was more compacted then he wouldn't be able to stop her as easily. Thankfully, it worked; he tried to grab her as she walked away, but she was able to dodge his hands and continue on until she was safely in Zayn's first floor bathroom with the door shut and locked behind her. She sat down on the edge of the tub and put her head in her hands, a new wave of tears coming.

There was a soft knock on the door about ten minutes later and she had a feeling it wasn't Harry so she got up to turn the lock the lock then backed away as the door was slowly pushed open and Zayn's head of dark hair appeared in the open space. He took in her state for only a brief moment before he pushed it open further and stepped inside, a sympathetic look on his face as shut it back and leaned against it. "Well?" he asked cautiously.

Asher shook her head sadly and sniffled. "Well, it looks like I'm going back home to Florida."