Chapter 9: The Date

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AN: Sorry for no update yesterday! I've been busy, I'll try to add another one today. Thank you for all the votes! ❤️

"Anita I don't want to wear the red lipstick, it doesn't look good on me!"

"Yes it does! And it matches the whole blue and white summer dress vibe. Especially with your curls right now, come on!!"

I pout at her as my sister Becca walks in my room, stopping at the sight of me, "Margarita Alicia Santiago is that you? No way, you're a fake, where's my sister!"

She looks around the room playfully, "Shut up Becca," I half smile throwing a hair brush at her, "What are you doing here freak and how did you get in?"

She lets a key hang from her finger, "I took mom's spare. So why are you dressed like that?"

"She has a date." Anita squeals and I widen my eyes at her. Telling my sister that I was going out with Harry wasn't exactly something I had planned on doing. At least not right now.

"Awww, you finally gave Charles another chance?" She teases me. Becca never liked Charles, he was too square for her liking.

"First off, it's not a date. It's a business meeting. Secondly, it's not Charles, and stop being mean about him."

"Right, cause that's what you wear to a business meeting. So, who is he? Spill."

Anita and I look at each other then back at Becca. Anita quickly changes the subject, "So yes to the red lipstick, okay, perfect."

She begins to apply it and when I realize I can't speak as she does, I also realize her plan is being executed.

"Maggie, come on, tell me!"

Anita raises an eyebrow at me and I shake my head.

"I hate when you two talk with your minds!! You always do this!" Becca pouts walking over to stand right next to us.

I take a deep breath rolling my eyes, turning to look at my sister, "You can't tell no one. And you can't freak out."

"Why would I freak out, it's not like you....you....Mags. Stop lying."

"I'm not lying." I stare at her waiting to see her full reaction,

"Harry?" She squeaks out.

"Yeah." I bite my lip.

She walks backward until her knees hit the bed and she sits down promptly after, "Mags, you lucky little bitch."

"Becca!" I widened my eyes at her.

"I'm sorry, but, how did that even happen?"

I make a small face, "Sorry I'm not Harry material?"  I shake my head, turning away.

I knew this was all a bad idea.

"No, Maggie don't be stupid. He'd be stupid if he thought you weren't Harry material. I just, isn't he dating Olivia?"

"Ugh, I'm just going to call and cancel." I say reaching for my phone.

"No!" Anita and Becca yell at the same time, Anita snatching my phone from me.

Anita looks at Becca with a half smile, "Look, he said it's complicated with Olivia. He agreed to it being a business meeting. Even if he just wants friendship, this is the first time your sister has been out with a man that isn't Charles so shut it."

"Ouch? I'm right here." I get up walking past Anita to look in my closet mirror, "And for your information, I've chosen not to date. Okay? And I'm perfectly fine with being alone."

Anita frowns a little before walking up to me and hugging my waist, "I'm sorry. I got over protective and said the wrong thing."

"It's okay Anita. And as for you," I turn to Becca, "It happened because he and I have sorta formed a friendship. That's it. It's a business meeting because I can get fired. I'm not allowed to date the talent. So no one can know Becca. Especially Charlie."

"But I thought it wasn't a date," she raised an eyebrow at me, smirking.

I stare at her taking a deep breath, and Anita leans in and whispers, "She definitely got that eyebrow thing from you."

Becca and I both turn to look at her and her face turns bright red.

I pulled my car into the valet, got out and handed my keys to the young man that came to take my car. I stare at the door for a bit, before taking a deep breath and walking into the Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills that Harry chose.

I approached the hostess, fully wondering what her reaction would be to my next words, "Hi, I'm meeting Harry Styles. He should already be here."

Thankfully she doesn't look at me like I'm crazy and instead smiles as she speaks to me, "Can you confirm your name please?"

"Yes, it's Maggie, Maggie Santiago."

She smiles and nods at me, "Perfect, right this way please."

I follow closely behind as she leads the way. As we reach the back she steps to the side and points to the table with her hand, "Mr. Styles is just there waiting for you, enjoy your dinner."

I smiled at her, "Thank you."

As she walks away I turn my attention back to where she had been pointing, and we spot each other at the same time. I smile at him as he begins to stand up. He's wearing a loose fitting black blouse, the buttons off the top undone, and skinny black slacks. I feel a rush of heat spread over me as I notice the way he stared at me. His eyes move to take me all in, and I can't handle his gaze, but there is no where to avoid it.

"Miss Santiago, you look really lovely tonight." He smiles at me, slipping his hand around my waist as he hugs me.

"Well you clean up quite nice yourself Mr. Styles," I say as he walks behind me and pulls out my chair.

I sit down, and hang my purse on my chair, placing the napkin on my lap.

"I thought before we went over my contract, we could at least have one drink? Is that fine Miss Santiago?"

"Harry, you can call me Maggie."

"No, no, business is business Miss Santiago."

I roll my eyes laughing a bit, "A drink is fine, Mr. Styles."

"Those eyes,"  He shakes his head and licks his lips before speaking again, "Espresso Martini?"

I nod, "Yes please."

I watch as he calls over our waitress and orders the drinks. She is obviously smitten by him, and who wouldn't be? His eyes appear extra bright with him in all black, and those dimples.

I really need to stop thinking about his dimples all the time.

I look down at my fingers, and take a deep breath. I know he keeps calling me Miss Santiago to tease me, but I don't want to keep the night like this.

"Mr. Styles?" I say as the waitress walks away.

"Yes Miss Santiago." He says, placing his elbows on the table and folding his hands under his chin, smiling at me.

I can't help but laugh and shake my head, "Can we postpone the review of your contract, and just have a nice, informal dinner, as friends. As the winner and loser of the Forum tic tac toe championship?"

He removes his hands from under his chin and sits back in his chair, as he does his shirt opens up a bit, and he tilts his head at me a bit.

"Hmmm, I thought you would never ask, Maggie."

We both smile and then laugh at each other. I can't help but shake my head.

"You really do look lovely tonight Maggie. Color suits you."

I smile at him, "Interestingly enough, you seem to be wearing my work uniform better than me."

He smiles, fixing his shirt on his chest, "Thank you."

Our drinks come and we begin looking over the menu, "Have you been here before?"

"No, Jeff recommended it to me."

"Ooo, pesto gnocchi! Well my decision has been made for me."

"Potato pasta, two of the best things out there."

"I buy the frozen ones from Trader Joe's like I'm feeding a family of twenty. Dedicated section in my freezer for them."

"You know, I think I've only been to that store once? A long time ago."

I peek my eyes up at him, "So to add to the list, I have to show you why Harry Potter is a Christmas movie, and I have to make sure you go to Trader Joe's before you leave. Got it."

"A list of plans, I like that." He smiles softly at me, and I feel the flush about to start, quickly looking down.

I can feel him still looking at me and I bite my lip, "So what are you getting?"

"The shrimp pasta, with the garlic cream sauce."

"That sounds delicious."

"Mhm."

"Mhm." I mimic and he half smiles half chuckles.

"So how did you end up working at the Forum, or in your position?"

"Well, I started as a runner. Literally, the forum is so big we have to run everywhere. Then I got moved up to being Charles personal assistant when she quit. During that time I was learning a lot, since I was basically shadowing him, he encouraged me to apply for the production assistant position, so like Roger? And then when Charles got promoted, he promptly moved me up to his old one, so the position I have now."

"Hmm, and you dated him that entire time."

I shifted in my seat a little, "Um, we started dating after I wasn't his assistant anymore. We hid it for a while, because he's my boss, so it's not allowed, but eventually people found out, and no one really cared cause we were professional about it."

He nodded, "So then you don't have a problem breaking the rules." That smug smile spread on his face, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Harry, stop. This is different."

He bites his lip, "How so? I'm technically your boss." He raises an eyebrow at me.

I can't help but throw my head back and laugh, "Wipe that smug smile off your face, Harold. You are not my boss."

"Hmmm, I beg to differ."

Before I could say anything the waitress came to take our order. Surprisingly she pays extra attention to me as she takes our order.

Once she leaves, Harry says, "So, question?"

"Ask away." I smile at him, happy the "boss" conversation has ended.

"Are you allowed to attend the concert, and all that, not working, just as an audience member?"

"Yeah, just have to ask for the night off and let Charles know what seats I would like."

"Well what if you just ask for the day off, and let me decide what seats you get? And you can hang out with me backstage, without having to get me anything."

I smile at him and tuck my hair behind my ear, "I can definitely do that."

"Perfect, next week, just pick the date."

I nod, "Could I bring my sister? I think she would kill me if I didn't let her meet you."

"That's fine." He smiles at me.

"Thanks Harry."

Our food comes and Harry and I get lost in another game of 21 questions. I learned about his mom, Anne, and his sister Gemma. I get to question him on why he once said the Packers fascinated him, informing him he did not have good taste in American football. I explained to him I wanted to move up to Charles' position either at the Forum or elsewhere. He tried to ask about my dad, but I told him we would save that conversation for another time.

We finished our dinner and I thanked the waitress as she took our plates.

"Are we getting dessert?" She smiled at us.

"Oh no I'm so full, thank you."

"I'm good as well, just the bill please." He smiled at her.

"Thank you for dinner Harry." I smiled at him.

"You're very welcome Maggie," he bit his lip fiddling with the table cloth, "Um, would you like to come over? For a glass of wine?"

Yes, yes and yes.

"Harry, I can't. Like, no one can know about this dinner. Except Anita. Because I tell her everything. If Charles finds out, I could get fired, or put on probation."

He nodded, a soft look on his face, "I understand."

I feel slight guilt in my chest, especially with him knowing about Charles. This is different though, I have to remind myself that this is different.

"I'm really sorry Harry." I look down and now I'm the one fiddling with the table cloth.

I look up as Harry reaches over and puts his hand over mine, moving my fingers away from the tablecloth, "How about a rain check? Three weeks from now."

I can't help but smile, knowing his residency at the Forum will be over by then, "You'll really wait that long?"

"I'll start chilling the wine tonight. It'll be extra cold." He laughs a bit.

"You're funny. Okay. Rain check."

"But the concert, is that going to get you in trouble?"

I shake my head, "No, just last month Billie and Finneas also did the same thing for me."

"Okay good," he smiled, both of us realizing his hands are still on mine, pulling away at the same time.

"So, I swear I'm not trying to get rid of you," he added, running his hands through his hair, "but you should start going ahead while I wait for the bill. Just in case someone called the paparazzi. No trouble here."

"Okay," I say as I begin to stand up, he does as well, "Thank you again Harry."

"You're very welcome Miss Santiago," he says as he moves closer to me.

I roll my eyes at the use of my last name, and he slips his hand on my waist, "Those eyes Maggie."

He feels dangerously close to me, and chills are sent up my spine when he says my name. He closed the gap and hugged me close to him, I found myself wrapping my arms around his neck. We pulled away and we smiled at each other, before I removed myself from his hold.

"Bye Harry, I'll see you Tuesday."

"See you Tuesday." He smiled as I turned and walked away.


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