When Harry Met Luna

I forgot to close the curtains.

That was the first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes early Saturday morning.

I groaned, cringing my eyes shut and pushing back into my pillow, hoping to avoid the tiny streaks of sunlight that were burning into my closed eyelids.

The second thing I noticed was the severe pounding against my forehead, which now felt exceedingly heavier then I remembered.

Ah, yes. Now I get what’s happening.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a true hangover.

I pulled the covers close up to my chin and turned away from the window. I don’t remember drinking that much last night. I do remember the shots part, and maybe a sip of Mallory’s beer, but after that everything else seems fuzzy. My head started to throb even harder as I tried to put the puzzle pieces of last night together.

While plotting the quickest route to the downstairs bathroom to grab a tylenol extra strength and a bottle of water, my forehead hit something hard beneath the covers.

At first, I thought I hit my laptop and just forgot to put it back on my desk before going to bed last night.

But then it moved.

Something moved in my bed and it wasn’t me.

My eyes shot open.

The second my eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight in my bedroom, I found a mess of his infamous brown curls and a sleepy smile that would have probably made just about any other girl convulse, melt or grin.

But not me. I shrieked and jumped backwards with absolute terror, resulting in me completely falling off my bed altogether.

“HOLY MOTHER OF-” I gritted my teeth, rolling over and grabbing onto my left knee that was now aching after hitting my tremendously hard wooden floor. “Fuck, balls, tit and ass that hurt.”

I heard shuffling from above where I was lying on the floor. I looked up to see Harry peaking over the edge of the bed. His sleepy eyes blinked. “Shit, you alright?”

“No I’m not alright! Are you kidding me!?” I angrily whispered, trying desperately to stand up. When I finally did, I noticed Harry was completely shirtless. I gulped. “What the hell are you doing here!?”

“You asked me to stay!” He responded coolly, stretching his hands high above his head as he stretched. “And I’m sure glad I did. Luna, did you know your bed is made out of clouds and was most likely assembled by little Sandman elves?”

“Oh my God, you have got to get out.” I answered hurriedly, picking up his button shirt from the floor and throwing it at his face. “If my dad finds out you slept over, he’s going to ki-”

“Luna!” I was cut off by Beth singing my name from a distance. Both Harry and I whipped our heads around to my bedroom door. Before I could even react, the door swung open revealing an already dressed Beth. “Your father asked me to wake you up so we cou-Oh my.”

She finally spotted Harry, who was still sitting shirtless in bed. My bed. She then looked over at me, mirroring the same facial expression I had: complete and utter shock.

“I’m so sorry. I should have knocked. I-Uhhh.” Without another word, she closed my door shut as quickly as she had opened it five seconds ago.

“Oh no. Oh no no no.” I ran over to my door and swung it back open, breaking into a run in order to catch Beth before she told my dad.

“Beth!” I grabbed onto her elbow and spoke to her in a hushed whisper. “Please don’t tell my dad. It’s not what it looks like, I promise. Nothing happened, he brought me home and we both just fell asleep. Please don’t-”

“Don’t worry, love. I hear you loud and clear.” Beth smirked and gave me a huge wink.

“Thank you so much.” I breathed a sigh of relief but then remembered I still needed to sneak Harry out of the penthouse. “Where’s dad? I need to get Harry out before he sees him and possibly kills him.”

Beth’s face immediately adjusted from a grinning fool expression to a solemn one, as if she just went into super stealth mode. “Say no more. I’ll go distract him while you get Harry out of here. You have five minutes, tops and that’s IF you move quickly.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I don’t know what came over me, but I immediately wrapped my arms around her torso and squeezed. It was meant to be a hug I guess, but it was so quick and unpredicted that she didn’t even have time to react to it.

Without another word, I ran back to my bedroom and found Harry already dressed and tying up his shoelaces.

“Ready to haul ass?” I asked.

“I could actually go to bed for another three hours-hey, watch it!” Harry complained when I marched over to him and yanked him out of my bedroom. “Why are we rushing?”

“If my dad catches you here, he’ll skin you alive and auction it off piece by piece to the highest bidders.” I whispered while I stopped us in the hall way. I peered past my bedroom and checked the opposite hallway that led to my father’s bedroom. The coast was clear. “Thats why.”

“Why is he so against us being in the same vicinity?” Harry whispered back while I led him towards the stairs. I originally had my hand wrapped around his wrist when we were stepping down the stairs but after Harry said that, I felt him shift my grasp so I was now holding onto his hand.

Like, our palms were actually touching.

My breath momentarily caught in my throat with surprise. I pretended like it didn’t affect me by continuously dragging his ass down the steps. I will admit though, the touch of his warm palm against mine left an odd sensation. It also left me wondering why he felt like he needed to do it in the first place?

My moments of pondering were short-lived however, when they were interrupted by the loud voices of my dad and Beth coming from the upstairs hallway.

Dad was on the move.

I jumped the last step and practically hauled Harry across the floor in order to get him to the front door before my dad would catch him. There was only so much time before he would come down those stairs and explode the second he sees Harry in our foyer.

Or better yet, Harry in our foyer, holding hands with me.

When I opened the door, Harry let go of my hand and walked out into the hallway. I looked behind me to make sure my dad didn’t make a startling appearance. “Do you have everything?”

Harry nodded and smirked. “Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed, partially naked.”

“Yeah hey, speaking of, what the hell?” I asked angrily, shoving his shoulder for emphasis.

“Aw, the little lamb doesn’t even remember.” A low, evil chuckle left Harry’s lips.

The word ‘Lamb’ was all I needed to hear to make most memories of last night come rushing back to me. Bumping into Harry at the bar, disappearing into the crowd, being groped by a creepy guy, almost getting raped by said creepy guy and then Harry coming out of nowhere to save me.

Holy shit, Harry almost got into a fight because of me. I couldn’t believe it.

“I am so so-” I was about to apologize for all of last night but before I could even finish my apology, I heard my dad calling my name. I immediately panicked and reached for the door. Before I closed it, I told Harry to go. “I’ll text you later!”

The second I closed the front door shut, my dad appeared in the hallway. My heart started racing.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“Uh...” I awkwardly froze, racking my extremely sore brain for answers. “Getting the mail?”

I was toast. My dad was one of the quickest people to catch onto one of my pathetic lies, and this one was no different. I swear to God, sometimes I was convinced the man could read my thoughts.

He raised his eyebrow at me, looking confused. “You know that Wilfred already brought it up to us about an hour ago, right?”

Wilfred was an employee of the building, who has been attending to just about our every need for as long as Roger has. He had arbitrary duties that ranged from taking our cars to car washes and picking up dry-cleaning to keeping inventory of my dad’s expensive artwork collection and picking up the mail.

And of course, I forgot that Wilfred always picked up the mail and brought it in every morning so my already useless lie got even more useless.

“Oh yeah!” I tried to play dumb by making a ‘duh’ face and slapping my forehead for emphasis. My head ached in response. “Sorry, I’m still trying to get back into the swing of things.”

Beth, who had been absent this whole time, finally joined us in the foyer. Her eyes were wide and darting around the room like a nervous tick. I wanted to face palm so hard. She couldn’t be more obvious.

“How goes it?” She asked, leaning back slightly to peer into kitchen.

“What is the matter with you two?” My father was now adjusting the black tie around his white collared neck. He looked back and forth between me and Beth. “You’re both acting strange.”

I shrugged innocently. “No idea what you’re on about. How about some coffee?”

When my dad agreed and turned on his heel to head into the kitchen, I let my clenched shoulders drop with a sigh of relief. Beth, who noticed this, smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled back in return, this time it didn’t feel forced or fake. I returned a genuine smile. Maybe she was starting to grow on me a little - key word being little.

For the majority of the morning, I was in a daze. While my dad sipped on his coffee and read his morning newspaper at the breakfast bar, I took the seat opposite him with my own large mug of coffee and an old book that I rented at the library a while ago. As much as I wanted to continue reading my novel and enjoy what little time I had with my dad before he went back to the office, I was stuck on the same sentence on the same first page for the past fifteen minutes. The thing is, I couldn’t stop thinking about how last night unfolded.

My plan last night was originally innocent. I just wanted to dress up, get drunk and have fun with Mallory.

Not almost getting raped by strangers and ending up in bed with Harry Styles.

I sighed, idly stirring my spoon in circular motion around my coffee. There were still parts of last night that remained fuzzy to me. I couldn’t remember how Harry actually ended up in the apartment. There is no way drunk me could of thought that was a good idea. However, Harry did say this morning that I asked him to stay.

My cheeks turned pink at the thought.

I don’t know what was wrong with me. Thinking about that sleepy smile I caught a glimpse of this morning was making my stomach do tumbles. It was hard to say whether that was the hangover kicking in or something else...

My stomach did another tumble after registering the fact that I was going to see him again tonight at the company event.

“What's on your mind, Poppet?”

I looked up from my coffee to see my dad peering over his opened New York Times Newspaper.

“Nothing, really. Thinking about tonight.” I answered semi-truthfully. “No clue what to wear.”

“You have a closet full of just about every piece of clothing under the sun. Why don’t you start there?” My dad smirked while he took one last sip of his coffee. He closed the newspaper shut and folded it neatly before standing up and re-adjusting his jacket and tie. “I bet you did a great job getting everything ready for tonight. It’ll be fun as long as I have my flask of old whiskey hiding under my jacket.”

“Dad.” I snorted, shaking my head. If there was one thing my dad hated, it was company events that forced him to be social with the people who worked for him.

He beamed. “Right, I’m off to work. Can’t let Roger wait any longer. I’ll see you tonight!”



The dining hall was ear piercingly quiet. It was so quiet that I could hear my own heart beat pounding against my chest and in my ears.

Janet told Mallory and I to come to the event space two hours prior to the event. I found this completely pointless because everything was already perfect after spending at least a solid nine hours in this place yesterday, but I followed her orders regardless.

Getting here earlier meant getting ready earlier too, which surprisingly worked out in my favor since I received a prematurely wake up call this morning anyways. Since I had nothing better to do for the rest of the day, I spent a little more time in getting myself prepared. Being back in London, especially after my messy break-up, I didn’t really care about how I looked - you know, the usual ‘I’m not impressing anyone over here’ spiel. Tonight however, I wanted to feel like me again. Typically I loved getting dressed up and going out. It was the best part of my weekends, especially back at college in the States.

So after three hours of putting hot rollers in my hair, extending the black eye-liner over my smokey-eye make up and carefully filling in my crimson-colored lip liner, I wasn’t even close to being nearly finished.

It took me an addition hour just to pick out a dress. Sound 360 was condemned a cocktail attired event, which could be interpreted in many ways, if you asked me. I was looking for a dress that was appropriate enough to be worn around my father, but also had the ‘wow’ factor. Let’s not forget, the VIP list is more intimidating than making a six minute speech in front of a room full of 300 students - which is something I had to do once at UCLA.

I eventually tracked down a delicate emerald lace dress that curved in at the waist and stopped right above the knee. The detail was beautiful and subtle with tiny sequins sewn into the the flower pattern throughout the whole design. Miraculously, I managed to find a pair of simple dark teal heels with a thin ankle strap that somehow complimented the color of my dress.

Now, I was here, I was ready and apparently, really nervous. I blamed it on the fact that the majority of my dad’s clientele would be in attendance tonight.

I walked around lazily with the clipboard that held the seating chart. Janet was now making me check, for the third time that the name cards on the white linen covered tables were in the correct places.

“Hey! There you are!” I looked across the prolonged dining hall to see Mallory standing at the double doors. She looked amazing with her black and blue hair perfectly straightened with a simple black dress and heels to match. “I just spent the last twenty minutes getting the bands set up on the roof for sound check. Bloody mess, that is.”

“How much longer until people start arriving?” I asked, reaching over Adele’s name card and straightening it.

Mallory looked at her watch. “My guess is within the next hour. They still have the whole red carpet event downstairs before they start filing in here.”

I nodded my head, letting a yawn escape my lips. I was still partially hungover from last night. Beth made the greasiest english breakfast after my dad left for work this morning which did help a lot, but the minor headache was still there.

Mallory grinned after catching my yawn. She followed me around the tables. “So did you finally bang the hell out of Harry Styles last night? You absolute legend.”

I gave her a dead-pan stare. “No, Mallory.”

“Not even a little downtown action?” She continued. I gave her a disgusted look. “Come on!”

I shook my head and laughed at her. “No, Mal. For the fiftieth time, nothing happened and nothing ever will happen.”

“I disagree entirely.” She flipped her hair back while she walked around the opposite side of the table to face me. “You and Harry Styles are two very beautiful people. When two beautiful people come together, they bang. They bang numerous times and they sometimes even snog a little. And guess what? It turns into a romance, Luna. It’s science, my friend and you can’t deny the chemical equation.”

I looked up from the seating chart. “Will you quit? I’m not even looking for any sort of romance right now and I probably won’t for the next fifteen years.”

“The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, babe.” Mallory put up a finger while she spoke, like she was reciting the law. “Everyone knows that. You know that. Even God knows that.”

I shook my head in protest. Before the conversation could continue, Janet appeared in the hall, looking frazzled. “Ladies! Get up on the roof, now. We’re having problems with sound check and I’m going to fucking lose it.”

Mallory and I shared a bored look before heading up the one flight of stairs to the roof area. As Janet went off on one of the members of the event staff we hired, I stood idly behind her, thinking about what Mallory just said.

My stomach did another flip.



“Oh my God, just look at him.” Mallory sighed heavenly, resting her head against her propped up hand. “John Mayer, just several feet away from me, in all of his glory. What I would do just to get a just a little touch...”

I shared a look with William, who was sitting in the seat next to Mallory, before smiling and shaking my head. “How do you put up with her?”

“Booze. Lots and lots of booze.” He stated simply, taking another sip of his beer. Mallory playfully punched him in the shoulder in response.


I gingerly sipped on the champagne in front of me while Mallory and William argued over John Mayer. The event was finally in motion. Everyone who was invited, had walked the carpet out front, taken pictures, socialized, and were now sitting down for our five star dinner. The dining hall looked spectacular now that the lights were drawn low. Every table in the room had some intricate flower/light combo display that reflected a warm luminescence on everyone’s faces. The ceiling, which I could see properly now that the lights were turned down, was my favorite part. The chandeliers, full of crystals and complex designs, were accompanied by a ceiling full of twinkling lights that mimicked a starry sky. I found myself looking up and admiring it quite a bit.

I also found myself looking over at One Direction’s table more than I would like to admit.

I don’t know why I wanted to keep checking over there. The last thing I cared about was trying to get Harry’s attention, but for some reason, it was really bothering me he hasn’t tried to find me yet. The event was already an hour in. I thought, maybe at this point he would walk around until he’d spot me. Or at least text me.

I checked my phone for the third time. No text messages were waiting to be read.

I sighed and took another sip of champagne. I was still on my first glass. After last night, I was still sore over drinking any other type of alcohol tonight, and possible ever.

“Why the long face, Monet?” Mallory asked, looking at me with curiosity.

I gave her a smile that didn’t reach the corners of my mouth. “Nothing. Just tired, I guess.”

“Why don’t you go take your incredibly sexy arse over to that One Direction table and say hi to your knight in shining armor.” Mal smirked, reaching over and flicking one of my 1920’s inspired curls. “You curled your hair for Godsakes. Go!”

“Fine.” I pushed my chair out and stood up. “But only because if I hear another second of your baby talk to William, I will barf up the delicious fillet mignon I just ate.”

“Charming!” I heard Mallory call after me sarcastically.

One Direction’s table was literally all the way on the other side of the room so walking there felt like I was walking the goddamn Sahara desert. As I passed Foster The People and Adele’s table, I started to feel by body heat up. Suddenly, this emerald dress felt too tight and my throat was constricting. What was wrong with me? I was getting nervous over nothing. All I was doing was saying hi to my friend. I think I was psyching myself out for no reason.

But just as I passed John Legend’s table and accidentally bumped into Barbra Streisand (and tried to kick the fangirl within me back into the closet), I stopped walking. I was only several feet away from the One Direction table when I noticed Harry was talking to a girl in the seat beside him. I could of sworn she wasn’t there five minutes ago. She was blonde, busty and unfortunately, stunning. Harry had his arm draped across her chair, talking animatedly to her while she threw her head back and laughed at whatever he was saying.

I sucked in my bottom lip and pressed my teeth down hard. Well, there goes that idea.
Without another second to waste, I turned on my heel and headed in the direction of the bathroom, hoping it didn’t look obvious that I was failing. Hard.

When I arrived in the ladies room, it was thankfully empty. I let out a heavy sigh of defeat, leaning against the sink. As I starred at my complexion in the mirror, I felt a weird mixture of anger and woe.

It felt kinda like...jealousy.

Alright fine, I was jealous. I was really freakin’, unnecessarily jealous. Seeing Harry with someone else, who looked like a goddamn Maxim model, really pissed me off which was something I definitely wasn’t expecting. I think I was just getting a little too used to his attention. I felt stupid for letting myself get even the tiniest bit attached. After all, the guy was a freaking superstar and I was just the intern friend.

When I gathered up enough confidence and dignity, I let myself out of the bathrom and headed back to my table. I told Mallory what happened, leading her to tease me for the remainder of the night.

“Ah, the green dress could not be more relevant to your life right now.” Mallory snickered. “My plan is working. Everything is happening the way it’s suppose to!”

I ignored her and continued to drink the left over champagne in my glass.

After the dinner portion of the night, the guests were free to go up to the roof for the music/dancing part of the night. We arranged for three bands to play on the rooftop, two new signed artist from the past year and one old band that’s been signed with us for quite a bit. This year, The Neighbourhood, Rita Ora and The Temper Trap were playing.

The rooftop was just as beautiful as the dining hall, especially now it was night time. Continuing with the starry night theme, we hung up strings of lights from one side of the roof top to the other. The stage sat on one end of the roof, where the crowd was now gathering and dancing, while on the other side, there were tables and chairs as well as an open bar.

For the first two bands, I stuck around in the light box with Terry, who was working the light show on the main stage. He was much older than me and sported a bright red up-do. We spoke briefly when we were setting up earlier in the day, and ending up becoming fast friends. I didn’t want to look pathetic and watch the show by myself, and I certainly didn’t want to hang around Will and Mal, who were seriously upping the baby talk game with one another so I offered Terry to help him with the lights. Besides, the view was much better from here.

By the time the second band finished, it was nearing 11 o’clock and my lack of sleep was starting to affect me. So while The Temper Trap were setting up, I told Terry I was getting coffee and left without another word.

Maneuvering through the crowd of beautiful people was proving difficult now that everyone had a little more alcohol in them. I carefully made my way towards the bar in the back, smiling at the people I made eye contact with.

“Ah, Luna!” My dad cheerfully called me from the group of people he was standing with. He excused himself from the conversation before walking over to me with a gin and tonic in hand. “This event is outstanding. You did a great job putting it together.”

“Thanks Dad.” I replied. “Did you like The Neighbourhood? Mallory and I were the ones who found them!”

“When they bring in the money,” My dad placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. “then I’ll love them.”

I rolled my eyes. “Did you know there are other things to life then money?”

“It’s a business, love. It’s what I do.” He finished off his gin and tonic. “Beth and I are probably going to head home soon. I’m too old to stick around for the after-party. See you at home?”

“Sure dad.” I smiled back. I pointed at his glass. “Hey, was there coffee from wherever you got that?”

He nodded and pointed back to the bar before heading off in the opposite direction to probably find Beth and Roger.

I finally managed to get my coffee around the same time The Temper Trap started playing. I could hear the loud cheers coming from the large crowd that was now jumping and singing along to the song they were playing. I took this as an opportunity to walk over to the vacant sitting area and to look over London’s alluring skyline. I walked up to the balcony portion and rested my arms against the cold cement. The Big Ben clock tower looked magnificent and bright as it towered over all the other buildings that looked diminutive in comparison. It was breathtaking.

I closed my eyes briefly as I enjoyed the crisp wind against my face. I loved that even in the summer, it was still possible to experience cool weather in the city.

“Well that dress is a lot more conservative from the one you wore last night” I opened my eyes and smiled when I heard his voice. “And that gives me something to complain about.”

I turned around and faced Harry with a confused expression. He was wearing a loose grey tank top that hung dangerously low on his chest with an unbuttoned maroon colored blazer over it. He matched it with his usual skinny black jeans and brown wingtip shoes. It was possibly the weirdest combo of clothing I’ve ever seen on a man, but somehow it worked on him.

“You know we’ve hung out too much when your sexual comments towards me no longer feel like harassment but more so protocol.” I replied cooly, however I could feel my body start to tense up.

He grinned his usual toothy grin and joined me at the balcony, copying my position by resting his arms on the cement. “I’ve been looking for you all night, ye know.”

“I seriously doubt that.” I laughed. “I would be a little distracted too if a model with perfect boobs was flirting with me.”

“Oh what, Tara?” Harry looked at me with a revolted expression. “You’ve got to be jokin’ me. That bird is a train wreck. She’s been trying to hit this since 2006.”

“Wow, never short of self-admiration are you, Styles?” I felt some sort of relief when he said it but chose to ignore it.

“And you’re never short of the intelligence of a private eye, little Lamb” He looked over at me and winked.

I groaned with utter distaste. “Please stop calling me that. I’d rather you call me shitdick or even twotface than ‘little lamb’”

He laughed at my name suggestions. “Why do you hate it so much?”

“Because it makes me sound too innocent.” I answered. “Like a child or something.”

“Oh, so now you’re not innocent?” Harry looked genuinely interested at where this was going.

“Far from it.” I replied with a smirk.

“Well I think it’s endearing.” Harry responded seriously. Just when I was about to look at him, he quickly diverted his eyes over to the view of the London skyline.

I studied his profile and had to refrain from touching it. His jaw was sharp and so linear that it caused me to swallow back the sudden nerves I felt in my stomach. I wish I would stop reacting like this. “I’ve been meaning to both apologize and thank you for last night.”

He finally turned his head back to gaze at me with his piercing green eyes. I had to swallow back another set of nerves. “I mean, you know, if it weren’t for you, I’d probably would have made a lot of mistakes. Really bad, drunk-related mistakes.”

A loud noise of excitement and cheers briefly interrupted our conversation, making both me and Harry look back at the crowd that was watching The Temper Trap. They started playing the only song I knew by them, “Sweet Disposition”. The opening riff of the guitar started to travel across the roof, complimenting the swinging string lights above us and the cool wind that just whipped a loose curl into my face. I cringed and caught the curl, delicately placing it back behind my ear. My face turned red when I caught Harry watching me.

Ugh. Stop it, Luna.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Harry finally answered me while I stared at the buildings below us. “That dumb twat from the club was taking advantage of you so I had to set him straight.”

I couldn’t help but let a smile appear on my lips when I saw how defensive Harry was getting over me. In a word, it was a adorable.

“Well, thanks anyways.” I nudged him with my elbow to get his attention. When he saw my smile, he smiled back. “You’re a really great friend.”

“You know I would do just about anything for you, Luna.” Harry’s smile vanished after he said it. I could feel my cheeks burning red and my heart skipping a beat. “Literally anything.”

It was such a tender moment. Harry was staring at me, I was blushing and the most romantic song was playing in the background. I didn’t know how to handle it, it had all become so overwhelmingly too much.

So naturally, I panicked and stood up straight. “Well, as much as I’d love to stick around and talk, I actually have to get going.”

I grabbed my coffee and avoided his eyes by stepping away quickly.

Harry looked confused. “Where are you going?”

“Uh, I have to go-” I pointed behind me, although I’m not entirely sure where I was pointing. “Downstairs to the kitchen. To meet Janet, my boss. Yeah, she wanted me to help downstairs with everything. See ya!”

I didn’t let Harry ask anymore questions or even say goodbye because I immediately turned around and hurriedly walked away. My throat was tightening once again and my breathing had become unavoidably heavy. I ran down the flight of stairs that led to the now emptied dining hall, ran past the unoccupied tables and through the swinging doors that led to the kitchen.

I momentarily scared the chief and cooking aid people when they saw me dash in but I chose to ignore them. Instead I slumped against the tiled wall and covered my eyes with my hand. I was feeling so inconceivably embarrassed and foolish for ruining a good moment with Harry. Apparently, this was now becoming a trend. But I couldn’t help it. He would say something really nice to me and would somehow bewitch me with those damn irresistible green eyes.

But I refuse.

I absolute refuse to fall for someone that is mischievous and a womanizing flirt like Harry Styles.