Perks of being a harrie

When the dinner finally was completed, and the guests extinguished to their rooms after a hearty feast, all Y/N and Harry could be happy about was having one entire guest room to themselves.

They followed Anne to her bedroom, and only after making sure she was tucked in well, they walked over to their room.

There was no doubt a little tipsiness in their walk and words from the drinks as they stumbled into their room, and immediately fell to their bed.

A moment of silence passed as they lay side to side, arms flayed like a snow angel on the white sheets. It was impossible to guess if either of them had already fallen asleep.

It had indeed been a long day.

When Harry finally sighs out loud is when there is a subtle movement in the room, and all while lying in the same position, he says on his second breath –

“We should get changed first.”

To this, Y/N sighs herself, turning to her side without much thought. At once does she come in contact with his body, she curls up into a ball and tucks herself over his open arm, snuggling into his armpit.

His hand comes down automatically too, palm flat against the small of her back like holding a baby to his side.

“You go in first please. I’ll need another minute here.” She says, dragging onto her words in a lazy tone.

Another beat of silence goes by before he, with a groan, sits up on the bed and looks back down at her.

“Just two adult introverts absolutely exhausted after an entire day of socializing.” He says, locking eyes with her.

“An entire day.” Her eyes widen in humour and he snickers into his shoulder.

Falling prey to his urge, he comes down to press his lips on her cheek, and she curls into the mattress more as he begins snogging all over the right side of her face. His nose snuggles into her skin, lips purposely kissing everywhere with a loud smack.

She finally whines out loud when it becomes impossible to breath, and he gets up, chuckling after his accomplishment.

Not done yet, he manages to even slap her behind as he gets up to head to the bathroom. He hears her tsk out loud behind him and that adds up to his satisfaction.

He comes out in good ten minutes, dressed in a soft shirt and joggers, having washed up pretty neat. He passes her on the way to the bed as she stumbles into the bathroom and in ten minutes too she is out, having removed all the makeup and now dressed in a comfy night dress set.

He is on the bed when she looks at him again, his shirt off and his phone in his hand, scrolling through his feed.

“Harry.” She scolds, climbing on the bed on her knees. “Don’t strain your eyes now. You’re tired enough.”

His head immediately snaps out of his device and he looks at her, turning off all the tabs and ready to put his phone away. His eyes scan her get up and he smiles, eyes crinkling in a fond feeling.

“This is cute.” He comments, pulling her shirt’s sleeve.

She smiles back, putting the extra pillows away and with just one pillow to rest her head on and lies her head down on it immediately.

He slides from the headboard too, turning to his side and moving closer so they now face each other as they sleep, bodies just a few inches away.

Her eyes are closed and lips pulled up in a pout, and in a small voice she instructs him – “Please turn off the lights, baby.”

He uses the switch on his side and does so, quickly turning back to her and with the same big eyes, adoring her sleepy face.

“I can still see you so clearly even after turning off the light.” He tells her, his voice now a little quieter and hush in accordance to the setting.

“Hmm?”

“Yeah, the moonlight coming from the windows is really beautiful.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Don’t you wanna look at it too?”

“Hmm.”

“Open your eyes too, and look at me.”

Her humming this time is even quieter that even from such a proximity he does not catch it.

“Open your eyes, please.” His voice is softer than before. “Just this once.”

She stitches her eyebrows together and slowly, with a flutter, opens her eyes. Though the initial look is not very pleasing, when she finally roams her eyes all over his face, it all changes.

The moonlight as it comes through the drawn curtains over the tall French windows beautifully decorates their room, falling in the right places, and his face.

She smiles at his smiling face, bringing her hand to his face and cupping his cheek, running the soft pad of her thumb against it.

“Told ya.” He answers to her expressions in a proud smile, already aware that he roped her in for a good thing.

Her smile widens and she leans forward to plant a peck on his lips.

Though what was intended a peck does not remain one – he leans forward to her as she begins moving back from the kiss, and he captures her lips in his mouth again, drawing her back to him.

What is an exasperated, happy sigh is released from inside her as he moves closer to her body with his lips pressing more into hers; to the extent that when they pull away, his arm is circled around her hip and her is around his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” She chuckles, looking at his satisfied expressions.

“Kissing you?” With this, he plants another smooch on her lips.

“Okay…” She draws her word and that gives him another opportunity to kiss her. “But we can’t go any further than this you know.”

He pouts and with the puckered-up lips, leans in for another kiss.

She is quick to block him, and leans up to his ears to say in a low tone – “We can’t get someone else’s bed sheets dirty.”

His frown intensifies when she brings her face in front of him again, and he breathes solemnly, rubbing his fingers in circles on the small of her back – his patent method to pushing her into anything and everything.  

“I cannot sleep right now though.” His voice is a sad whisper.

“Hmm…” She thinks. “Why don’t I tell you about my day.”

His eyes narrow in an expression of disbelief.

“C’mon.” She chuckles, obviously enjoying his desperation. “We hardly were together the entire day.”

A beat of silence he takes to think (or actually not) and then nods slowly. “Okay.”

“Alright, so, I was with Anne and we were walking around in the lawn outside – so this is about the time when it got a little warm; maybe 2-ish –“ She goes on and on about her day, literally.

Harry listens, smiling at the way she is happy to tell him about all the sunshine and birds of the day. But it isn’t quite very deep into the story when the hand which was placed on her lower back begins to slide into her shorts from behind.

She catches the action, but not his intention.

When his hand entirely slides in and his long fingers get a grip around the full shape of her butt, for him to finally squeeze it with full resolve, does her voice squeak in the middle of talking.

“What are you doing, Harry?” She whisper-screams at him, eyes widening at him as his become narrow when he grins back at her.

“What-?” He chuckles, showing his full teeth. “Don’t worry, just keeping warm.”

She gives him the eye, but he acts to not mind any such warning and asks her to continue with her whereabouts of the day.

She is talking again, trying to piece together where she had begun and left at. But it not very late before her breathing begins to pick up. She is taking longer, deeper breaths in and she knows what’s up.

His abrupt squeezing of her behind picks up a rhythmic pace. It’s very subtle at first, and as soothing as a massage but soon there is a tension which drives into it.

She stops talking entirely. Her body is pushed up in the bed in the same pattern of his hands moving around her behind, and she is pulled back and to him too leisurely to be any subtle about the undertone of it all.

She breathes heavy against his mouth, their lips coming together to touch but also to not.

“I am not done talking.” She manages the words out of her mouth.

His voice has picked up the rough tone, coming right from the back of his throat. “Then talk.” He tells her, pausing his action for a bit. “I’m all ears.”

“Mmhmm.” Her eyes close in all the feels as his hand resumes again, going up and down the way her butt curves.

His fingers wind all the way to her front and then retract. Repeatedly, he takes her to this edge and watches her wither under the influence.

“You stopped talking.” He reminds her, lips pressing against her chin softly.

She moans, titling her face up so he kisses along her neck entirely.

His lips come down till her collar bones in open mouthed kisses, leaving a trail of his tongue’s mark, making her insane.

“Talk.” He pesters her again. “I’m gonna have to stop if you don-“

“No.” Her eyes open. She finds his face right in front of her again, cheeks flushed red and warm like hers, and pupils dilated like a beast in the night.

She moves closer to him, grabbing his chin in between the thumb and index finger, and tilts his to the side to angle their kiss deeper.

Graciously, her picks her up to pull her to him from where his hand already is, his fingers pressing down firm against her clit.

She quivers into the kiss, and his fingers gather their pace, drawing circles on the newly found skin.

All hell breaks loose.

Her hand goes up behind him, clutching the back of his hair and she is bringing her tongue in for the kiss, releasing the held back moan finally into his mouth. Her leg lifts up on his thigh under the blanket, spreading her core more and she is grinding to the way his fingers move on her.

He pulls from the kiss, throwing her leg off of his thigh, catching her off guard. They are both breathing heavy, even after Harry pulls his hand out from her pants.

She slowly moves closer to him again, warm, as he brings his hand up between them. He moves his one finger to her mouth, watching as she licks all over and around it, and his own mouth reaches for the index finger pointed in his direction; and they are fighting for this too.

“How are you doing? Down there?” She asks him as his hand comes to cup her face next.

He looks down into the blanket on her questions, lips lifting in a snicker and he shakes his head.

She understands this very confusing gesture of his, and instantly, her hands reach under the covers to inside his joggers.

He swallows her gasp in a kiss that erupts as her hand gets a hold of his very active muscle inside the pants, his body shaking from the touch.

“Are we really doing this?” She asks him once he pulls his lips and hands from her face, and his hand goes down to the front of her shorts.

“Listen,” He breathes, heavy, as his fingers slip inside her thin panties. “I do not know how thin or thick these walls around us are – so let’s play it safe, alright? Let’s just…keep it low.”

She grins, nodding.

They both go into work together.

Her hand wrapped around his dick get on with pace, feeling his entire length at once in an up and down stoke and thumb coming up to flick the tip in a tease. He curls more into her, their foreheads touching and breaths mixing with all the work.

His lubricated fingers are quick to feel her up; his forearm pushing her leg up his hip to spread her out more. He slides his fingers up her core, biceps flexing with the pressure he builds up inside her with his fingers curling and thumb pressing on her nub.

They’re both easily worked up within the few early minutes. After having to hold back their frustration and desire to moan and release the tension, their climax is sooner than they thought.

Together, they feel it coming.

Their eyes meet, fiery and understanding, face red and hot. Harry slides his other arm under her neck and pulls her to him. Her face lands on his shoulder while his goes on hers, and they are breathing out their hot, annoyed breaths on their skins.

He takes the liberty to bite her shoulder too, as with one last pumping of their fingers and hands, they both come undone, an absolute state of bliss and cold air surrounding them at once.

It doesn’t end there.

When they pull their hands back up, they wind it around one another, faces burying in each other’s neck and for a while they hold each other. Their breathless effort to trying to catch their breaths again ends at once, and they relax, feeling pure and together in this at once.

When they face each other again, Harry still has her neck on his arm while the other hand comes to position her face and end the night with one final kiss.

They turn their faces up to the ceiling, watching the exquisite cut work of the top and the next thing they know - they burst out laughing. Why?

“I am laughing because we literally cannot stop. Ever. Can we?” She says.

“I am laughing because…” He pauses to laugh some more. “Because we’ll have to clean now…and what if – what if tomorrow morning at the breakfast table too.”

He says and watches her eyes turn wide in horror while his own palm comes to slap his face.

“Just don’t say that. Please.” She consoles him, reaching over to give his tummy a rub and pepper his skin with kisses.

“Let’s begins a little clean up now?”

“In the shower?” She adds for him.

Their foolish smiles are the same.

The plan is a vain excuse to carry on talking to one another as Glenne drives over to pick her friend up. They both know, in fact Glenne more, how terrible Y/N will get once she lays eyes on her boyfriend after a long tour.

And, the fact that it is always true makes Glenne pinch Y/N’s butt as they enter the house and Y/N blocks everyone’s way as she stands staring at her beau in awe from across the room.

They shake their heads at each other and while Glenne like a good friend touches up on Y/N’s look the last minute, Y/N spends this time to go over how she would react in front of him.

She doesn’t get much to play around with, however, because Harry himself is already walking up to her and this clearly had no part in her day dreaming.

His smell makes her knees go weak on the first sniff as he wraps his arms around her. The way his fragrance, his aura wraps her entire body at once and takes her back to all the good times. She cannot think of anymore reasons to want to pull away from him and act all cold (you know, as planned).

“Fuck,” He whispers a soft moan in her hair as he rounds his long arms more and more around her figure, peppering her hair with long, big smooches. “Fuck.”

When they pull apart, his hands immediately go up to cup her face in them while her arms circle his torso.

No matter the make-up, her eyes sparkle and become more expresses when she looks at him like that. A ghost of a smile show with the crinkles around her eyes and her soft hold enough is to make him escape this party for a minute.

“That sounds like a very regretful curse, baby. Are you sorry about something?” She teases him, her voice a tired, relaxed tone to his ears – like finally after long she is putting down her guard to someone.

His reaction to her teasing is another natural one: he snickers lowly, brushing his thumb against her cheek delicately.

“Baby.” He echoes her nickname, both of them reflexively falling closer to bring their lips on one another.

The worst is to just have to pull away after two long smooches on their lips. This tests her patient beyond comprehension, and when they pull in for a hug again, she is pulling at his blazer as if ready to tear it apart.

Of course, their moment is broken apart then and there – a bunch of friends come over to see Harry.

Harry slickly removes himself from her hold to greet his friends and their friends back in a hug. She is aware of the chances that they would circle around him one way or another and push her out of his circumference (a very common occurring for her and her famous boyfriend now).

So, without much thought, she fights her way through clinging onto Harry’s side, clutching onto his hip like a twin. His arm naturally comes to fall around her shoulders and by god’s grace, they stay in this position for the long that people wish to talk to him.

Some people approach her too but her little smile and nod here and there is all they get. Somehow, she is not in the mood to interact at all with anyone – which mostly she is not but right now especially.

With this little trick begins the series of how clingy Y/N could be.

Harry is surprised but also amused.

She does everything to make him at least hold her hand as he walks around, following behind like a lost puppy. He entertains her once in a while with a little shoulder rub, back rub, kiss to her temple and most, another peck to her lips. She is nowhere satisfied with this at any cost though.

And so, they go around and about the house together, stuck at the hip.

“What are you doing?” Harry chuckles and asks her as he finally pulls to a quiet corner in the middle of it all.

She only whines with a frown, pulling him by the collar of his shirt so that now he pins her to the wall.

His arms go around her again and he pulls her lower body to his while her shoulders stay stuck to the wall. Her arms immediately go around his neck to leverage support.

They are both a chuckling mess as his lips ghost overs her teasingly and as she struggles to pull them to her.

With the final touch of their lips, they are both moaning relief into their mouths, arms struggling to maintain a composure. Their lips lap over one another in a languid, slow rhythm, tongues breaking an even more messy angle to the romancing.

Everything, nevertheless, feels so perfect.

The mellow grinding of their hips on one another, the slow music in the background synchronizing with their groans and moans and the mismanaged, confused positioning of their arms who just want to be everywhere.

His palm curls her hair up on her head in one big fist as his fingers open to massage her top. She opens her eyes once to breathe and then she goes back into kissing him with a greater passion once she looks at him this indulged.

There is no better feeling reciprocated than when the one you missed had missed you back equally.

With all these thoughts and emotions, it is easy to ignore everything around you.

But thank you to the creators of phone ringtones for making them so loud; such a moment can only be interrupted by these devils.

“Are you kidding me --?”

She watching with big eyes as Harry pulls away to bring his phone in his hand and watch it light up.

“Damn it.” He curses in a low tone. “I think they are looking for us.”

“For you.” Her tone is so bitter that he looks up at her immediately, all concerned.

“Baby.” He pouts. “I promise we have all the night, the days. Let me just wrap this up as soon as I can and then there’s nothing coming for us.”

“Hmm.” She sighs loud, looking away from him in a savvy look.

He kisses her turned cheek. “Wait for me at the end. We’ll drive back in my car.”

He winks to her, and with a pat to her hip he runs after to complete this little obligation as soon as possible.

-

He is on his stomach, lying on the bed. His palms hold his chin up and his long legs are crossed in a position like a little child lazing in front of the tv.

She appears before him, sliding the doors of her walk closet open – her body in a sleek lacy set lingerie. She poses for a moment at the door, one arm sliding up the sill while the other curves on her hip.

He pounces out of the bed in just one twitch of his body reacting to her and is immediately scooping her body in his arms as their lips meet.

She is like jelly in his hold – letting him squeeze, massage, feel around as he likes and however he likes; and when he comes down to pick her up in his arms, it is the easiest task in the world.

She clings onto his upper body equally well as her legs wrap around him; and he is swaying her in his arms as he carries her to the bed, erupting a bunch of playful chuckles between them.

“We should do this more often.” He sighs so when once they are through with rounds after rounds in the night and finally laying calm and comforted beside each other.

She is covered and comfortable wrapped in the duvet beside him, laying on her stomach with sleep drooping eyes. Her face still glistens with the tiredness of their activities but the glow from her contentedness is beyond anything else.

He watches her as he lays to his side, one hand running slowly up and down her back delicately.

“Do what more, Harry?” She fakes a troubled tone.

He snickers under his breath. “You know, the missing each other too much sometimes.”

“Mmhmm.” She nods, sleepily. “I miss you always anyways.”

“Hmm?” He muses.

She smiles and lifts up on her arms, shoulders perking up in the air. “I miss you even when you are in the city; even when I have seen you the night before; or even when you walk out of the door to work every morning –“

She counts on her fingers along too.

He cannot help the goofy chuckle come up again. “That’s a little obsessive, you know.”

She gasps exasperatedly, jumping to him to pull him to herself by his neck. “That’s how I love!”

His laugh is contagious as they wrestle around in the position for a bit, ending up getting tickled and jumping away from one another at once.

“This is what you chose.” She reminds him, a big teasing smile on her face.

He agrees, moving forward to kiss her in reminder of the fact.

“All your talking’s kind of got me all hard again.” He says close to her face.

She releases a fake cry and groan, rolling onto her back. Harry is quick to grab her side and pull her as he muses in her little act. Of course, if he’s up for another round, she cannot say no. The entire night won’t be enough to compensate for all the missing this past month.

So, much convinced with the idea, Harry is the first to announce loud to the walls and furniture of the room:

“Y/N.” He calls out, not realizing it, and later feels that his calling happened to have alarmed her even more.

She hurriedly snatches the top of the sheets and dashes for the bathroom, grabbing her clothes on the way. Harry falls back on the bed, defeated and closes his eyes shut to process everything from the night before.

What a disaster it was to bring to their friendship.

With the same lingering thought in her head, she changed into her clothes and came out of the bathroom.

Harry is already outside waiting for her, clad in only his boxers and he immediately jumps to his feet on seeing her.

“Y/N…”

“Last night…” She begins.

“I meant it.” He says before she gets to finish her sentence. She looks up at him from the ground, flushed. “I meant everything, I swear.”

Her mouth parts but the loss of words makes her retract back. She feels weak in the knees as she throws the sheet she had carried with her on the ground and takes a deep breath.

“How did we even end up doing that?”

He cringes at her choice of words. “I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “I really don’t. But it means a lot to me-“

“Oh, for god’s sake please stop saying that!” She raises her voice. “It is not making me feel any better, Harry.”

He gulps, looking away. “I am sorry.”

She takes a deep breath, crossing her arms over her chest. “Well, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know.” He says, looking at her again. “I think you take some time to think this over. To go through whatever you felt last night – just think about them again.”

“I-“

“I really thought it would be easy to just be your friend. Just let you go on some occasions, to let you not give me time but – but, I don’t think I can do that.” He breathes. “I don’t want to be just your friend, Y/N. I don’t want to be just a part of your time; I don’t want you to choose anybody else but me; and I don’t want to have to lose you to somebody else.”

Her heart shakes frantically inside her.

“Y/N, I want to be something more to you than just your – your friend.” He finishes, shakily breathing himself. “And I won’t put you through any pressure. You can think over this, I swear. As much time as you want, as many days as you’d like – all my time is yours now. I promise.”

She looks away from him, not ready to absorb all that he has said. Why is there a hesitation now? Why can she not speak up at all? Where is her resolved mind on this?

“We have a flight to catch.” She finally says. “I’ll see you there.”

--

She left the room right after.

Harry shed some meaningless tears thereafter, not sure what was it that was making him cry so much as he stood under the shower, reliving the night. He packed his luggage then and he also packed her purse she had left behind in the check-in luggage, clearly with no resolve to return it to her soon.

He cannot believe he said everything to her. He places his hand on his heart now and then, feeling it beating for real and comes to it that it really was no dream.

He really meant everything he said, everything he did. He has never experienced this panic and anxiety in a long time as he had when he saw her be so cold and not feel comfortable with him. Why was this discomfort? Was it because of the line they had drawn on their relationship? Of just being friends?

He thought of their life if they weren’t just friends but something more. Though the thought of always having her around and them being together always felt a little obsessive in a way but he did not ever want her compromising and being with someone else.

When they were seated in the airplane after a lot of running around and checking in, their eyes met when she was walking past his seat to the hers.

They locked eyes but she spoke nothing with them either. She appeared shaky and confused and she rushed past, and in that moment, another thought occurred to him.

What if she did not feel the same way as him? What if the amount of happiness and love she has shown and given him, he hasn’t been able to give her the same? He thought of the other people she could be with and if they would give her happiness she truly deserves and he undermines his ability to give her the same.

The sullen thoughts keep him up the entire flight. He does not turn around to look out for her; he does not get up even once thinking he might crash into her and shake her resolve – which could also be to not be with him.

And he accepted how things were until she would herself want to come around.

--

She extends her legs up to where her seats allow, breathing out loud as if she has been tired for so long. She hasn’t let her mind think over too much – all she did was pack her stuff in, rush over to the airport with the others and check in as soon as she could and be home.

But now in the dim lights of her the airplane, she feels her mind kick back in all that happened to her. And not just memories of last night and this morning but all and everything that her life has been this past few months.

Meeting Harry, spending that one night together just getting to know each other, becoming friends without the spell of that uncomfortable confrontation, The entire tour, private photoshoots, cooking for each other, drinking, laughing and finally yesterday.

If only he could have straight away asked her what she felt and not guilt tripped her this way. Why was she even taking time? She has loved him for all this while and now when he is admitting it to her, what in the bloody hell is holding her back?

She bites her lip in the sudden spur of excitement. God, everything he does to her can never not make her feel like electricity sparking through her. Even right now.

In the aftermath of it all, she decides to tell him everything when they off of this flight. They will start afresh and they will start all bright.

“Gahh, I’m done.” Sameera, one of the management faculty and a close friend, sighs beside her as she shuts her laptop down. She had been working on and on since they had departed, going about writing mails and what not and up till now, Y/N had not thought to ask what it was.

“Finally…” Y/N drawls in the same tone as her. Sameera chuckles and puts away her laptop and stretches her legs.

“It’s gonna be hectic once again when we get to London. I can’t really sit straight, can I?” She grunts.

“Why?”

“Ah, just management stuff, man. There is never just one thing I am dealing with – it all just comes plummeting down.”

Y/N gives a pat to her shoulder. “You’ll be fine, babe. And let me know if I can help with anything. I would, I swear I would.”

Sameera gladly smiles and places her head on her shoulder. Then she opens her laptop and begins to work again. Y/N reads over certain words looking over her head and her curiosity perks up.

“Can I ask you what the assignment is on?”

Mindlessly, Sameera answers back, too indulged in her work. “We’re hooking Harry up with a name. You know, pretend to be involved and stuff. It helps keep the tour in the news and of course, Harry’s name too.”

“Hooking him up?”

“Yeah, like fake dating. But Harry does meet them up and many a times he’s liked them and been with them too for a while.”

Y/N’s silence makes Sameera explain a bit more.

“It’s just PR stunting. It’s been a part of the cycle for some time now. Harry’s okay with it too now I think. He meets them, likes them so hangs out with them or dislikes them and we try to shake off the rumour within a month or two. It’s just how it is.”

There is no more information shared. Sameera is on her work for some time and then she naps away the rest of the flight.

Y/N stays up, too shaken by the reality thrashing her in the face. She was taking chances by betting to be with a star – someone always in the limelight, always living for the limelight. She doubts if she will be able to hold up amidst all this glamour; and hurting one another is the last thing she would want to happen.

She closes her eyes and waits for this time to pass too.

--

It was close to almost a week since they had returned. The concerts scheduled thereafter were in two days from today and things were very hectic.

She was called in throughout rehearsals and back stage shooting. She would do her work and leave.

He would come over and do his part. He, however, would leave with a longing heart.

It wasn’t easy at all to ignore him. They would end up speaking a few words here and there but the silence that filled right after was impossible to be shaken. The walls that she had begun to build around herself to protect both him and her were starting to bother Harry more than he could imagine.

She saw him shrink more and more into himself and she only hoped he would understand her without having to say anything.

But, he finally loses patience and calls her up today.

When she reaches his place after the call, she is only carrying her camera bag and nothing more, and she rings the bell.

“Come in.” He tells her at the door, walking into his house and leaving her outside.

She closes the door on our way and follows behind him, entering the balcony.

“Let’s get started.” He purses his lips, clasping his hands together.

She nods, placing her camera on the nearby table to her. Sighing, she looks up at him.

“Why are we doing this again?”

He chuckles, humourless. “We always did this – informal photoshoots. Just you, me and you camera.” He throws him arms exaggeratedly towards her camera.

She hesitates, breathing shakily. “No, I meant…why now?” Beginning to unpack her stuff, she continues. “You have your show in like 2 days, why get into this hassle now?”

She watches as he turns his back on her and stretches, all out of restlessness. She gulps and decided to shut up.

“Okay, I am ready-“

His chuckle again makes her stop. “Funny how things we previously did for fun now seem like a hassle, do they now?”

He stands by the railing of the balcony, leaning on it with his arms spread to his sides and gives her a sad look. She cannot say a word to him and only looks him in the eyes with the same look as his.

He takes his eyes off immediately and breaks the tension.

“Let’s get started.”

The shoot is simple. He is in a soft cotton shirt with a few unbuttoned buttons on the top and bottom, and the light wind in the balcony flows around the light material, matching the lost, dewy look of the shoot.

She keeps on going clicking pictures. He almost would always tell her when to stop but today he doesn’t. He lets her keep doing her job as much as she can, telling him to pose, to look somewhere else and everything. She has no clue to how ask him if he is done.  

The sun sets in the background. The natural light that they had depended on now turns to dark and this makes the perfect excuse for her to step back.

“Guess we are done.” She says, pulling her camera to herself to preview.

“No.” Harry ascertains, making her look up once again at his somber tone. “Try with the flash this time.”

She gulps, letting out a dry chuckle, tired with the brutal behavior of his.

“Harry, please.” Her voice is low and tired. “Let’s stop.”

His fists ball at his sides. He feels all the pent-up emotion, the remorse, the pain come back to him and he takes two long steps towards her to now stand right with just an inch of a distance between their noses.

“Stop what?” He grits through his teeth. “Stop even being friends? Even talking and being as we were? Why?”

She steps back one, shaky with the proximity. Her mouth opens to speak but he cuts her to it.

“Scratch that. I want my answer. I want to know what do you want from this and what it meant for you to be in my arms that night, kissing me, touching-“

“Harry!” She cries. Her face softens as their eyes meet – his rage and angst all making her heart pound.

She turns on her heel and scurries back inside the house, picking her camera bag from the floor.

He is trailing right behind her. “Y/N –“

“I just don’t want to hurt any one of us.” She turns around to face him again, putting a little distance between the two of them.

“And what about this? Is this not testing enough?!” He cries back at her.

“Harry-“

“Okay, no, no, wait.” He walks over to her. “You told me you love me that day. You told me you love me – didn’t you?”

She closes her eyes, nodding. “I do, I love you so, so much.”

He cracks a half grin. “Then what is it? I love you too, so much. More than you can imagine.”

“You don’t get it.” Shaking her head, she continues. “We are so much less involved in each other’s life when we are friends. You realize being together would complicate it all so, so much.”

“What is the complication for? It is all in your head.”

“Harry!” She puts him down with one raise of her voice. “Please. Understand this; you live in this bubble around all the glam and you have things to do that you are bound to – there is no way you can avoid them.” She pauses. “I am a simple girl. All I seek is small things, sought out things – simple things.”

He shuts up then. His voice holds no longer the desperate tone. He is confused, severely at that, and now all he wants is answers.

“What is it about my life? You’ve been with me for the entire tour, Y/N. I don’t think I did anything for you to feel that my life could be any complicated -“

“Harry, I was with you but always from a distance. You have your commitments, your duties as an artist that you’ve got to fill –“

“You’re going round in circles, saying the same thing over and over again, Y/N.” He cries out.

She takes a deep breath and squares up to spill the truth. “I do not understand this whole thing about going from dating one person to another.”

His eyes squint in surprise. “What-“

“Yes, you’ll have to be with multiple people at times, all through the year and you’ve done that in the past too-“

“Have you ever tried to understand this whole thing or are you just making assumptions –“

“It is the truth, Harry, and that is what gets to me every time I think –“

“Will you let me explain what this whole thing is and how it goes or –“

“No, Harry!” She shouts this time. “This is how you guys are. You go around jumping from one person to date to another – what would you do with being with a commoner? What good would she do to you? Will you get the same kind of promotions, be in the same way in the news, will remain as popular as ever?”

He opens and closes his mouth, her words hitting like spikes to his heart.

“Okay, okay.” She takes a breath out, calming. “Just give it a thought, you know – think a bit logically and realistically. You will need to think about your career at the end of the day. I get it, I get it, there is feelings and all but if we do get together, neither of us would be happy because – because our professional lives and image would keep clashing and –“

Both of them know she is blabbering like a mess now.

He takes a step back from her, rubbing his hands over his face. “Yeah, yeah –“

“You understand me, right? You get it too.” She tries to look him in the eyes.

“Yeah!” He says to loudly and quickly. “I get it. Absolutely. Perfectly.”

They both takes long breaths and look at one another. Their eyes blood shot red, and their faces show the tiredness and hopelessness. They both know this is in no way sought out.

Finally, with the same expressions on his face, he tells her, “Now, get out.”

She feels an invisible force push her steps back to the door. She accepts the defeat and the end and she nods.

“Trust me, this is for the best, Harry.”

---

Hope everyone’s keeping well and being safe. My wishes and love to you all. 

Look forward to part:5 coming soon and show some love to this write up too!

Thank you for the love and support! 

Big looove

- Shri <3