Chapter 14: Late Night Talking

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The one good thing about being on probation is leaving early. I finish my work for the night and gather my things, turning off the light and locking the door behind me. I can hear the concert still going on, the sound of Harry's voice echoing through the halls.

I bite my lip and quickly make my way down the hall. When I'm about to reach the exit, Anita walks out of the restroom.

"Maggie," she says softly, looking at me with sad eyes.

"Wait, I thought you were out sick?"

"Well I got sick while here, I was too scared to drive home and throw up on myself, I've been knocked out on my office floor."

I nod and we stare at each other for what feels like years.

"I'm sorry," we both say at the same time, and laugh a little.

I quickly pull her in for a hug and she squeezes me tightly, "You okay Mags?"

"No. Not at all," I cry softly and she rubs my back as we stay hugging.

I pull away, wiping my tears and shake my head, "I just, I miss this. And you, and Rog and Ha..I just miss it."

She bites her lip, "He misses you too. Everyone has a bet how long you're going to keep him outside your door. You've made a lot of people rich so far."

I roll my eyes laughing softly, "Well I'm glad at least someone is having fun."

"He told me you weren't buying him his dried fruit."

Anita shakes her head, "Nope, and then the little punk in pink added it to his rider. I finally stopped being mean to him this past Tuesday."

"Aye Anita." I laugh softly.

"She hasn't been here you know? At any of the shows since. I heard Mike telling Roger that she tried to come in one night and they didn't let her."

I nodded, chewing the inside of my cheek.

"Sorry, I won't bring her up again."

"No, Anita, it's fine, I just don't know what to say. It's not like it can be anything. I don't want to get fired."

She nods, and whispers, "Have you talked to Charles?"

"Nope. Not happening. I had Becca uninvite him from my mom's birthday barbecue tomorrow. My mom and I argued about it, but I don't care," I looked at her and smiled, "You're still invited by the way."

She smiled big, "Becca had told me to come, that you would get your head out of your butt, but I didn't want to push."

"Well you aren't, so I'll see you tomorrow okay? I gotta go buy the asparagus I need to cook in the morning for tomorrow."

"Okay Mags," she said, hugging me again, "I love ya!"

I let go smiling at her, "I love ya too."

I got to the store an hour before closing, which was nice, because usually I would have to run in with fifteen minutes left to get whatever it was I needed.

I grabbed the asparagus and seasonings and then just wandered around the store. I got some chips, a thing of Oreos and my favorite frozen CPK BBQ Chicken Pizza to eat for dinner tonight.

I finally made my way to pay, and headed home.

Once I got to my apartment I started to preheat the oven, and put the rest of the groceries away. I popped the pizza in, setting a timer for my oven to shut off when it was done, and tied up my hair to take a quick body shower.

When I'm done, I slip on some biker shorts and pull out one of Charles' old white T-shirts, slipping it on. I can't help but feel disappointed that it doesn't bring me comfort tonight like it normally would. I feel so hurt by him, I know that his jealousy towards Harry made him react the way he did. My Charles wouldn't jump to conclusions. He would have let me explain, but that's the thing, he wasn't my Charles anymore, and I think he finally came to that realization too.

I sighed walking over to my kitchen, pulling out the pizza from the oven and placing it on the stove. I poured myself a glass of wine, and took a small sip. I loved the hint of raspberry it had. I looked at the time on the oven, it read 11:30 and that meant Harry would be wrapping up the concert soon. I grabbed my laptop from my living room, and settled with my pizza, wine and work at the breakfast nook. I opened up my laptop and took a bite of my pizza. To my surprise the end of the day notes were already in my email. Harry actually started his show exactly at 8 today and finished by 11:05.

I opened them up and cringed at the mess that Roger created in the notes and quickly began copying everything over to the notes I had formatted. I added a couple reminders and sent it back to the team before closing my computer. As I did, I heard a knock on the door. I looked back at the clock, it was 11:40, who could be here this late. Another knock quickly followed and I unlocked my phone, opening up the ring app.

I felt myself freeze as I saw Harry in the camera knocking again. I felt so still, yet my lips moved, before I could even try and stop them, "Coming." I yelled out. Yet, I didn't move. Why was he here? How did he find out where I live?

I got up quickly and made my way over to the door. I took a deep breath before opening it slightly and leaning against the door frame. I looked at him briefly before avoiding his gaze, "What are you doing here Harry?"

"I,...I missed you. I needed to see you."

"How did you even find out where I live?" I roll my eyes at myself, "Anita?"

He bites his lip, "No, the last I saw of her today, she was trying not to throw up in the dressing room."

"Who was it then?"

He raised his hands up next to him, "I'm sworn to secrecy."

I take in a deep breath, finally meeting his gaze again, before pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping to the side, "Come in then."

He walks in, and I can sense his hesitation. I close the door and lead him over to the kitchen.

"Oh you were eating, I'm sorry..."

"It's fine. Do you want a slice, I can take off the chicken?"

Harry's POV

I smile softly at her, "Sure."

I watch as she gets another plate, adding a slice of pizza. I watch as she chews on her lip, peeling off pieces of chicken from my slice.

"Maggie. I'm sorry about the probation."

She takes a deep breath sliding the plate to me, "Do you want water, I have some red wine also, that's about it."

"Wine is fine, thank you."

She quickly grabs the glass, pours me some, before grabbing hers and topping it off. She begins drinking from the glass and I can't help but see her brain going at twenty miles per hour. Her eyes shifted from left to right with every thought.

"Maggie."

She snaps back to reality, half her glass of wine has been drunk, "Sorry. I'm just in shock a little. With you being here."

"I got tired of talking to a door."

I watched as she nodded, taking her hair out of its bun, shaking it out with her fingers. Her dark hair framed her face so beautifully, small curls remained from earlier in the day, her bare face always seeming to glow at me.

"Yeah, I was wondering when you would give it up."

"Well if you don't talk to me after today, I'll be right back there on Tuesday."

"Harry."

"You can't tell me it will get you in any more trouble. Charles already knows I'm not allowing him to pull that crap again, and Jeff knows I will cancel shows if you get in any further trouble. The fans will understand, and I have the money to pay back whoever I need to."

"What about Olivia?"

"I can't do anything about that for another month. We have press all next month for her movie, and then I can move on."

"Why did you even agree to this, can't you just say no?"

I can't help but laugh, "If it's that easy do you think I would be in this predicament?"

"Well I still think it's stupid." she says scrunching her nose so cutely as she takes a bite of her pizza.

"Because it probably is."

I can't help but feel slight relief when I see the smallest smile appear on her face.

"So are you going to admit you miss me?" I say.

"Nope." She says, but the smile on her lips tells me otherwise. I know she has her guard up with me. As everyone seems to keep reminding me, I'll never be Charles; and I don't want to be.

"So what were you going to do with the rest of your night before I rudely interrupted." I said taking a bite of the pizza and sipping some wine.

"I was going to watch trashy reality tv."

"My favorite."

"That's too bad, cause you can't join me." She smirks at me.

"I'll sit far away. Hands under my legs the entire time."

She laughs and I can't help but smile at her.

"Okay, but you have an hour and then you have to go home."

"Better than nothing."

Maggie's POV

We sat on my couch, and as promised, he sat on the opposite end of me, his hands on a plate with chips and Oreos. We were on our second bottle of wine, and he kept laughing as I explained to him who the different housewives were.

"They literally just sit around talking about each other."

"I know it's entertaining. It's either this or Love Island, but only the UK or Australian version. I swear the US one is so cringe."

"Like so so cringe." He mimicked me and I threw a chip at him and he laughed.

"You get no more wine!" I smiled grabbing the wine bottle and placing it between my legs.

"Maggie, but I'm almost empty." He points to the glass with his shoeless foot.

"Awww poor baby," I pout at him laughing.

I watch as he places his plate down on the coffee table and narrows his eyes playfully at me, "Rules are about to be broken, Miss Santiago."

My eyes widen and grab hold of the bottle, "Hands to yourself Styles."

He shakes his head before pretending to lunge at me, and I burst out in giggles, holding the bottle close to me, "Harry no. It's mine."

"Sorry Miss Santiago, I don't know who Harry is."

I roll my eyes at him, "You're so annoying."

"What did I say about those eyes Miss Santiago." He smirks, a different intensity behind his eyes as he leans down and tickles my sides, and I let go of the bottle as my laugh turns into a full on cackle.

He stands and waves the bottle at me, "That's not fair," I say getting up and trying to reach it. If anyone saw this they would laugh at my sad attempt to reach anything with my small frame against his tall frame. I watch as he uncorks the bottle putting it to his lips and taking a giant gulp.

"I think I win." He smirks down at me, poking my nose with his finger. I scrunch my nose at him and roll my eyes. "I'm serious about those eyes, Miss Santiago." he half smiles, placing his hand on my waist, wrapping it around to my lower back.

"What eyes? These?" I say rolling them again, and he shakes his head, pressing me closer to him. I feel my body warm all over, and my stomach does a flip as I feel his face getting closer to mine. I quickly look down, and push against him softly, "Harry, I can't. I'm really sorry."

I look up at him, quickly, then back down, chewing on my lip, "I'm going to clean up. You can stay here on the couch. You shouldn't drive, you've been drinking."

"Let me help you," he says, helping me gather the plates and wine glasses.

I place my glass and plate in the sink, I hold on to the counter, my shoulders feel heavy. I feel as he walks up behind me and places the plates and glass in the sink as well. He lingers behind me and kisses my shoulder softly, "What's scaring you?" He whispers softly, his breath on my shoulder giving me chills.

"I just, I don't trust the Olivia of it all. I don't want to get hurt. It's just overall really hard for me to trust. Men especially." I say softly, starting to wash the plates.

I felt as he slipped his arms around my waist, kissing my other shoulder softly, "Can I know why? So I can understand?" I felt myself relax slightly.

I took a deep breath, continuing to wash the dishes, placing them on the dish rack to dry, "It's just a lot. I don't know if I want to talk about it tonight," I say in almost a whisper.

"Okay, that's fine. I just want to understand." he whispered against the skin of my neck and the warmth took over my body again. I turned in his hold to face him. I got a good look at his face for the first time in a while. His green eyes looked so soft today. His face was free of stubble. The dimples from our laughter earlier still imprinted on his skin.

"I'll tell you, okay. Just not tonight," I smiled softly, whispering the last part, "I missed you."

A smile so big spread across his face, such a sweet Cheshire smile, "I'm sorry, you what?"

"Harry stop, I won't say it again." I said resting my forehead on his collarbone as he laughed slightly pulling me in for a tighter hug. I gave in, and allowed my arms to wrap around him as well.

"Fine, fine." He rested his chin on the top of my head.

"I need to go to bed, I have to be up early tomorrow." I let go of him and he does as well, "I'll get you some blankets for the couch."

I walk over to the hall closet  getting everything he needs and place it neatly on the couch. He walks over and looks at me, smiling dumbly.

"What?" I said, biting my lip.

"Nothing, you missed me."

I roll my eyes, "Good night Harry." I turn to walk to my bedroom before he can tell me anything about me rolling my eyes.

"Good night Miss Santiago."


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