And You Let Her Go

“Please just tell me what to wear,” I whined into my phone. I had called Emily for help, catching her right on her break.

“I have approximately 12 minutes to pick out an outfit,” I added, staring at the hangers in front of me.

Emily groaned into the phone, “How about the new gray sweater you got with the pug outline from Abercrombie? And high-waisted shorts? It’s girly and you can still wear your awful white converse…”

“My Chucks are not awful!” I defended my favorite shoes. “And thank you, that will be all,” I hung up on her, grabbing the gray sweater and shorts from my shelf.

After spraying a bit of Sea Salt spray into my blonde waves, I grabbed my Tory Burch messenger bag and ran out of the door, almost forgetting my phone. I spotted the black SUV a couple cars down with one of the boys’ bodyguards leaning against the passenger door.

Running towards him, he waved and opened the back door.

“I still don’t know why I need to be there this early,” I muttered.

“The band thought you wanted to see them rehearse and help get ready,” he answered blatantly.

Alrighty, then… And with that, we were off.

*****

“Fuck me! Ow!” My palms throbbed as I attempted to stand up, getting tangled again in the cables on the ground. There were so many I was stupid enough to trip on them, nearly landing on my face…sorta.

I felt arms lift me by my elbows, “You should be more careful, love,” Louis shook his head, “I never pegged you for a klutz,” he smirked down at me. Nowadays I noticed everyone seemed to tower over me.

“Hello to you too, Lou. It’s lovely to see you. Why yes, I would love a tour of backstage,” I raised my eyebrows at him and he laughed, linking him arm through mine.

“Right this way, miss,” we walked side by side and I saw numerous people I had never met before. Louis turned right and we stopped at a table filled with fruits, donuts, cookies, bottled water, and every other snack you could think of, where Paul and Rob were talking nearby. They looked over at us and Paul grinned.

“Charlie!” he squeezed my shoulder, “back so soon?”

“Unfortunately, you can’t get rid of me just yet, Paul,” Louis snickered beside me and grabbed a glazed donut.

“Hopefully no one will go missing this time…” Paul narrowed his eyes at Louis and he put his arms up in defense.

“For the last time, I was getting a cheese pretzel!” he protested, literally stomping his foot.

“Did you just stomp your foot?” I turned around to meet the deep voice asking the question.

Harry was sporting black skinny jeans and a black, short-sleeved button up shirt with white hearts. Was there anything he couldn’t pull off?

“He does like to be a diva…” I smacked my lips and Louis narrowed his eyes at me.

“Alright! I’m going to eat this donut in peace,” He turned on his heel and left us, two donuts in hand.

I chuckled at Louis’ reaction and looked up at Harry. He was smiling.

“I’m really happy you’re here. Having friends and family at a concert is the best,” he ran a hand through his hair and I nodded. Suddenly this just got very awkward….

Harry opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted with a platinum haired woman tapping his shoulder.

“Harry! I have to fix your hair! You always do this…” she shook her head, already pulling him away. Saved by the bell, I thought.

He gave me weak smile, “Niall and the rest of them are on stage if you want to say hi.”

The woman stopped and reached her hand out, “I’m so sorry, I’m Lou, the boys’ stylist. That was incredibly rude of me,” she blushed.

I smiled, “No, no, don’t worry. I’m Charlie,” I shook her hand.

“We’ve been best buds since I bumped into her several months ago!” Harry piped in.

Lou gave me a warm smile, “I’ll have to hear the story some time. Alright, Harry, c’mon,” she walked away with Harry following behind her.

I tried to find my away around the giant black curtains in front of me to get to the stage. It was easy to find with the taped arrows on the ground, and I immediately heard Niall’s laugh a few feet away.

I peeked my head out and couldn’t help but laugh when I saw Niall and Liam singing opera and Zayn pretending to be a ballerina. I started clapping, walking towards them.

“You truly are wonderful. I think it’s time you left the band,” I shrugged, grinning at the three goofballs.

They immediately ceased their antics and stood up straight, hands in their pockets.

Niall chuckled, walking towards me with arms outstretched. I leaned into him effortlessly.

“Missed me in the last hour, did ya?” he whispered in my ear.

I pulled away, laughing, “Always,” I winked.

Louis and Harry emerged from the curtains, pushing each other jokingly.

“Finally! Let’s get this going,” Liam rubbed his hands together and John, Josh, and Sandy appeared in their marked positions.

“Charlie, sit over on the front of the stage!” Niall pointed towards the front and I walked to where he was pointing, sitting Indian style.

The boys started out with “Kiss You”, a new personal favorite of mine. When I got home that day from the auto show I found a playlist of their songs on youtube to listen to while showering. I figured I couldn’t go to their concert not knowing any of their songs…

Niall started singing his solo and walked towards me.

“Oh I just wanna show you off to all of my friends, making them drool down their chinny-chin-chins…” he did his trademark chin stroke and I screamed, feigning the perfect fangirl.

The boys joined together in the middle of the stage to sing their chorus. I started singing along, remembering the main lines. Harry stepped forward, signaling the end of the song.

“And let me kiss you,” he winked, staring right at me.

I screamed, placing my hand over my heart. “Encore, encore!”

The boys bowed, except for Louis who attempted a curtsy. Liam started singing “Over Again,” and I leaned forward on my elbows, listening to their beautiful voices.

*****

6 hours later

The boys came running off stage, leaving the screaming crowd of thousands of girls to somehow pick up where their lives left off before the concert.

I hugged each one of them, leaving my arm wrapped around Zayn.

“You guys were incredible! Seriously!”

“Aw, Jensen, you’re not just saying that?” Harry flashed me his crooked smile.

I poked his side, “Yeah, I am just saying that. You were awful tonight. I don’t know what you’re doing with your lives.”

Harry looked down, pretending to be heartbroken, “So the truth comes out…”

I shrugged, laughing at our exchange.

“Okay, I’m starving. Let’s EAT!” Niall sang, disjoining our circle and walking towards the food table. The rest of the boys laughed, following in Niall’s footsteps. Harry stayed, his green eyes boring into my blue ones.

“So you really liked it?” he asked, hopeful.

“’Course,” I nudged his elbow. “Tonight, you officially gained another fan,” I confessed. “You should expect cardboard cut-outs and posters in my flat now,” I shrugged.

He scoffed, “Only if they’re all of me.”

I shook my head, laughing at his lame comment.

“You should just come to all our concerts then, Jenson,” he said jokingly.

“Oh, definitely. I’ll buy some band t-shirts that say ‘Mrs. Harry Styles’ on them as well,” I held my hand under my chin.

Harry’s smile suddenly vanished and he gave me a stern look.

“What?” I asked, bemused.

He cocked his head to the side, “You should come though. To all of our concerts.”

I raised my eyebrows at him, “Sorry?”

He took a step towards me and a huge grin spread on his face, “You should come on tour with us. You’re already really close with everyone here, Paul and Rob love you, and you’ve already met Lou so you’ll be able to get to know her even better! You know this is a brilliant idea!”

I stared at him wide eyed. This is not what I was expecting him to say.

“Harry, I… I don’t…”

“Okay. Wait, don’t answer right now. You can sleep on it, or think for a couple hours at least. Yeah.” Harry turned around abruptly and left me standing there with possibly the biggest decision I have ever been faced with.

I said goodbye to Paul and Lou on my way out the backdoor of the venue. I walked very slowly, still trying to process the conversation I had had with Harry only moments ago.

I arrived at home thirty minutes later, discovering that Emily was still at work. I forgot to ask her when her shift ended so I decided to have a loner night, and ordered some pizza—even though it was now 11:30 at night.

Harry’s words played over and over again in my head as John Bender yelled at Brian Johnson on my TV.

I weighed the pros and cons of going on tour with the boys, and the biggest con was of course, leaving Emily on her own and me quitting my job. I had looked for a really long time for the ideal writing job and now that I finally had one, I was given an amazing opportunity… Of course God would do this to me now.

“What are you going to do now, Charlie?” I muttered.

My phone vibrated next to me with an incoming text message.

From: Nialler your BESTEST MATE EVER <3
I herd you and Haz talking. Come on tour please please please.

I sighed and put my phone down as it started vibrating again.

From: Nialler your BESTEST MATE EVER <3
C’mon Char you know you want to.

I groaned, thinking of the best way to reply. But as nothing came to mind, I put my phone on silent and turned my attention back to “The Breakfast Club.”

The doorbell rang, signaling that the pizza delivery guy had finally arrived.

I opened the door, wallet in hand.

“So how much will it—“ my jaw dropped, “Harry?”

Harry stood with the same skinny jeans and shirt, holding a box of pizza.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again.

He awkwardly shifted on my doorstep and pushed past me into my flat. “I was on my way to see you and the pizza man arrived at the same time, so I payed for it and here I am,” he shrugged, looking around.

“Okay. But, what are you doing here, here?” I asked again, pointing at the ground.

“Char… the guys really want you to join us on tour,” he began.

“Niall texted me,” I sighed.

“See! I talked to the boys, I talked to Paul, and everyone else who had a say, and they all agreed that having you would be the perfect balance for us. We would be able to hang out all the time, you could see how working with us would be like, you can meet the rest of the crew…” he realized he was still holding the box of pizza and set it down on my coffee table.

“Harry, what about my job? And Emily? I can’t just leave everyone and go.”

“Niall texted Emily right after you left. She thinks it’s a brilliant idea, and that you need a break from being around the people you see everyday. And as for your job, you can write for us! You can document what we do on tour and write whatever you want. Well, not whateeever you want, but you know,” he blushed.

“Char, please. The guys need you there, I need you there. We’ll be going to France first, and then all across Europe, and then Aus—“ I cut him off… with my lips.

I felt his body freeze in shock as I kissed Harry. Oh my god. I pulled away first, my hands immediately touching my lips.

I hesitantly opened my eyes and was met with Harry’s blank expression. But all of a sudden Harry leaned down, crashing his lips into mine. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer against his chest. Our lips moved together slowly until I pulled away for air, our foreheads touching.

“I’ll go with you,” I whispered.