iMate

Eden had watched Harry get ready for countless dates. She’d always been the one to tell him whether or not he looked good, but he didn’t need that anymore. When he became an international heartthrob, it was like he suddenly learned how to dress himself, so when he walked out of his room already for his date, Eden wasn’t surprised that he looked perfect, but she wished that he didn’t.

She had watched Harry leave for dates more times than she could count, but this was the only time she wished that he wouldn’t actually go. His hair was so perfectly curled, his shirt hit his muscles in all the right places, and she just knew that whatever girl he was about to go with would be his forever. She wouldn’t be able to resist the charm that was Harry Styles, and she’d be hooked on him like Ke$ha and autotune.

“Are you gonna be all right here by yourself?” Harry asked, as he picked his phone up off the counter. He’d be gone in seconds and as much as Eden hated it, she knew she had to let it happen.

“Of course,” she chuckled. “I’ve been alone before.”

He rolled his eyes. “I meant, here, in my flat. Are you going to be okay alone, in my flat?”

“If you want me to leave so I’m not here when you bring your date back to shag, just tell me,” she said, pursing her lips at him, with her eyebrows raised. She was trying her best to be the Eden he knew, and she figured she was doing quite well.

“Okay, smart ass. Don’t wait up.”

“I never do.”

The second Harry left the room, Eden felt all of the pep leave her body. It was like he’d just taken all her energy and walked right out the door with it. She knew she was destined to spend the night on the sofa watching Sex and the City reruns and drowning her sorrows in a bucket of ice cream. It only seemed right, seeing as the person she was destined to be with was going on yet another date with another girl that he could possibly fall in love with. The odds really weren’t working in her favor.

All Eden knew was that if Harry was going to bring a girl back to his flat, she didn’t want to be around when he did. Unfortunately, she didn’t have many other places she could go, and Louis was on a date with Eleanor, so asking him for a ride was out of the question. She could walk somewhere, but that seemed to complicated and she was sure she’d get lost.

Bringing her phone to her lap, she shot Harry a quick text, hoping it would make him hold off on bringing his date back.

I’m dead on the sofa. Make sure you and your date don’t trip over my body on your way to the bedroom.
-Eden

She smiled, thinking her text would get the point across without sounding too pushy. It was a very Eden text, anyway, so Harry should have expected it from her.

Her phone vibrated just seconds later and Harry’s name flashed across the screen. She grinned, but quickly pushed it back.

Are you sick? Do you need me to come back?
-Harry

Eden’s heart began pounding in her chest, and her fingers were shaking an unhealthy amount. She hadn’t meant that she was sick, but he thought she did, and she suddenly saw a way out of the predicament she’d gotten herself into.

If she lied and said she was, in fact, sick, then Harry would come back and she wouldn’t have to worry about him bringing his date home, and more importantly, she wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that he could possibly fall in love with her.

Lying was a terrible thing to do – she knew that – but she was a desperate girl and desperate times called for desperate measures.

Sighing in defeat, she shot him another text, her hands shaking the whole time she sent it.

I should be okay. I just have a migraine and you don’t have any medicine.
-Eden

There was a special place in hell for people who told lies like she was doing, but it was worth it to keep her soulmate from falling in love. At least, that’s what she was telling herself.

Don’t move. I’ll pick some up. Be back in 10.

Eden’s eyes shot open and he lunged forward on the sofa. She had ten minutes to make herself look as sick as possible, so he would have no choice but to stay, but she’d never had a migraine before and she had no idea what people looked like when they did.

She spent the entire ten minutes dabbing water on her forehead to make herself look sweaty and rubbing her cheeks to make them look red. She thought she looked sick enough, and she only hoped she could pull off the role when Harry got back.

Taking a deep breath, she collapsed onto the sofa, balling herself into the cover she’d pulled out of his closet. She was probably making a bigger deal out of a migraine than a normal person would, but her heart was at stake, so it really wasn’t her fault.

When the doorknob turned behind her, she bundled herself further into the covers, willing herself not to laugh or smile like she usually did when she lied.

“E,” Harry whispered, as he tiptoed through the door. “Are you sleeping? I brought you some medicine.”

“I’m over here,” she said, peeking her head out from under the blankets. He moved over to her, pulling a pill box out of a paper bag, along with a bottle of her favorite sweet tea. He opened each of them, before passing them over to her with a soft smile.

She took one of the pills with a swig of the tea, hoping it wouldn’t cause her to overdose or anything of the sort. She hadn’t been having very much luck recently.

“I’m sorry for making you miss your date,” Eden whispered, before sinking back into the sofa. He reached over and tucked the blanket under her chin.

“That’s alright,” he said. “We just rescheduled for tomorrow. You’re lucky she was free.”

Eden rolled her eyes, hoping she looked more playful than as angry as she felt. She didn’t want Harry to know how much that it pissed her off, because it wasn’t supposed to.

“You aren’t planning on sleeping on the sofa, are you?” he asked, as he took her tea and set it on the coffee table. She nodded her head. “That’s nonsense. You can’t sleep on the sofa when you’re sick. You take my bed and I’ll sleep here.”

“Oh, Harry it’s alright. I really don’t mind –”

“I insist,” he interrupted, pulling the blanket off of her. “My bed is much more comfortable.”

Eden smiled at him, unsure whether or not she should be happy that he was being so sweet. Of course, she loved that Harry was being nice to her, but it only made her feel worse about lying to him. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He flashed a smile back at her and at that moment, it hit her. Harry didn’t want her to sleep in his bed so she’d be more comfortable. He wanted her to sleep anywhere but the living room, so his date wouldn’t see her when she slipped through the door.

She groaned, slapping her hands over her face.

“Dammit, Harry! You just want me out of the way so you can bring that girl back here.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed, while he cocked his head to the side. “Do you really think I’m that awful of a person?”

"Yes?"

He glared at her, before placing on arm beneath her knee and the other around her waist. He lifted her into the air in one quick movement, before she had any time to object. His toned arms easily carried her from the living room to his bedroom, where he plopped her against his bed. He looked down at her with his tight eyes and his lips pursed, before rolling his eyes.

“Now, you,” he said, pulling his blanket over her. “Need to stay in bed. If you need me, I’ll be out in the living room. Alone.”

He walked away before Eden could say anything, and she let out a deep sigh. She knew, of course, that he wasn’t mad at her for what she’d said. They said things like that to one another all the time. But she wasn’t sure about whether or not she believed him.

He had seemed genuine enough, and he knew he wouldn’t want to risk her walking in on him like their freshman year, but bringing a girl back to the flat was a very Harry thing to do, so she expected it from him.

The one thing she was certain of was that she’d spend all night in his bed wishing he was in it with her.