2 - For One More Day

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Thanks for the amazing reactions to the sequel so far! I'm glad you're all so happy the story is continuing! Keep the comments coming, I love reading them all!! :) xx

----****----

"How are you?" Karen asked.

"Insulted that you think I believe you care," I snapped. "Cut the bull, what do you want?"

"Look Jess, I'm sorry if you think we got off on the wrong foot," Karen began. "I never meant for that. I just have the boys' best interests at heart and I meet a lot of people who just use them for their own gain. I'm sure you can understand that."

She paused, and clearly this was my cue to make sympathetic noises and agree. I stayed deliberately silent, just to make a point.

"Anyway," Karen continued, clearly thrown by the awkward atmosphere I'd created on purpose, "um, it's my job, among other things, as you know to, um, protect the boys' public image." She cleared her throat and I gave a loud sigh and looked at my watch, and then remembered she couldn't see me. "I need a favour from you, Jess," she said brusquely, back to business again.

"No," I said.

Karen faltered. "I haven't even told you what it is yet."

"I don't care what it is. The answer is no."

"Jess, I know you're angry, but please hear me out."

"Karen, you don't know the first thing about how I feel, so don't pretend you do. I distinctly remember telling you not to ring me again. Yet here you are, three days later, asking me for a favour! It's a joke!"

"If you ever loved Harry, you'll hear me out," she said, with the air of someone playing their trump card way too soon in the game. It worked though.

"Fine," I growled. "You've got about ten seconds left."

"Those photos of Harry in New York have caused a media storm. Coupled with your public rejection -"

"What public rejection?" I demanded.

"The Twitter unfollow."

"Oh for God's sake," I said in disgust.

"It's made everyone think you dumped him because he was unfaithful."

"So?" I snapped.

"Well... That's not strictly true is it?"

"He slept with a matchstick behind my back!" I shouted, and Amy on Reception looked up in confusion.

"Yes but... technically you didn't dump him, did you? It was..." (She had the decency to sound uncomfortable.) "It was the other way round."

"Did you actually just go there with me?" I said in disbelief.

"Harry's getting bad press for something that didn't actually happen," Karen bulldozed.

"No, he's getting bad press because he couldn't keep it in his pants," I argued.

"But it's worse because you unfollowed him. You practically announced to the fandom that you're not together -"

"Hold on - we never announced that we were together!" I interrupted.

"- and that's not how things are done in our world."

"I'm not in your world," I reminded her. "Your fake, pretentious and superficial world, to quote your client." I literally spat the words at her.

"I need you to be - just for one more day," she said in a rush.

"What do you mean?"

"I need you to be seen out with Harry, one more time, just to show the world he isn't as bad as they all think, and that you don't hate him."

"Are - you - having - a - laugh?" I breathed.

"Do I sound like I'm laughing?" Karen snapped, and I couldn't help but smirk that I'd finally got under her skin.

"No, you sound like you've lost the plot," I said. "I am not going anywhere with Harry, public or otherwise. As you so delicately reminded me, he dumped me. After he cheated on me. So I don't see how he is in any position to be requesting favours from me!"

"He isn't asking. I am."

I let out a long breath. "This just gets better. So you mean he doesn't even know you're ringing me?"

"No," Karen said shortly.

"Well, that's something I suppose," I said. "At least I don't have to add 'selfish prick' to the list of names I call him in my head these days."

"Do you really hate him that much?" Karen asked softly.

Her tone threw me, and I was horrified to feel the burn of tears at the backs of my eyes. I didn't answer. I couldn't.

"Look, Jess, just think about it. Please. If Harry ever meant anything to you, just consider it. It wouldn't have to be for long. Just a brief sighting; enough for the press to think you're still together - enough for them to doubt he cheated - and then you never have to see him again."

"No," I said, through gritted teeth, and I was furious to hear the waver in my voice, even in that one word.

"Sleep on it. I'll ring you again tomorrow. Please answer - even if it's just to give me another mouthful. But think carefully about what I've suggested. Whatever Harry's done, he doesn't deserve the whole world hating him. And if you decide to help, we need to move quickly on this."

"I'm not doing it," I choked.

"I'll call you tomorrow." And she was gone.

I pulled the phone away from my ear, my hands shaking. Of all the things I could have imagined her to say, that was not one of them. How dare she ring me up and ask me to pretend to be Harry's girlfriend just to get the lying, cheating scumbag off the hook.

Had anyone thought about my public image in all of this? How would it look to the fans and the press if I just accepted what he had done and let him back into my life? It sent out completely the wrong message: if you're Harry Styles you can do what you want, shag who you want and treat people how you want and there will never be any consequences. I was sure there were fans out there who would gladly let Harry do what the hell he liked if they thought they would have a chance with him - Christ, I probably would have done if someone had asked me a few months ago, but a lot had happened since then. I'd finally realised Harry wasn't just a pop star, he was also a normal person like the rest of us. And if I wouldn't accept that sort of behaviour from a regular boyfriend (for want of a better expression) I sure as hell wasn't going to accept it from Harry Styles.

And we'd never confirmed we were together. We'd never even been pictured holding hands, let alone kissing. So what exactly was Karen thinking it would accomplish apart from more stupid rumours? Oh God - would I have to kiss him in public?

It doesn't matter because you're not doing it! my subconscious scolded, and I mentally shook myself.

This whole idea was insulting to say the least. I would not be letting the world think I was in any sort of relationship with Harry Styles - platonic or otherwise. As far as I was concerned that chapter of my life was well and truly over.

I silently fumed at my desk for the rest of the afternoon at Karen's audacity - not only for ringing me up asking me for favours, but for doing it behind Harry's back. Who the hell did she think she was, meddling in his life like that? Who was she kidding, making out like he would be OK with this when he found out? I would have been willing to bet money on him hitting the roof when he got wind of it. I could just imagine his mouth setting into a hard line and that dark expression crossing his face. He would cross his arms over his stomach, resting his fingers on his sides and...

"Jess?"

"Huh?" I snapped back to reality to see the office emptying and Sarah standing by my desk. The clock read 17.01.

"You're not staying are you?" she asked.

"What? No, um, just logging off now," I smiled, switching off my laptop.

"I'll wait for you," she offered. "In case the paparazzi are still out there."

I groaned. "I'd forgotten about them."

"I don't think I'll ever forget it!" she laughed as I stood up. "This kind of intrusion must drive celebrities crazy. Imagine not even being able to sneeze without someone having an opinion on it. Photographers waiting for you wherever you go, wanting to know who you're with, what you're doing, what you've said... It must be horrendous."

"Yeah," I agreed as I grabbed my bag. I followed Sarah out of the door and down the steps, and saw one photographer standing with a journalist.

"Jess!" the journalist called, hurrying towards us with a small voice recorder. "I've been waiting for you all afternoon! How are you and Harry after the latest rumours? Will you be seeing him anytime soon?"

"Excuse me, please," I muttered as I stared at the ground and tried to walk around him, but he blocked my path. The photographer was happily snapping pictures.

"What happened between Harry and Sara Sampaio?" he pressed. I tried to dodge him again but he walked backwards, still preventing me from getting past.

"If you don't move out of my way I will scream so loud it will burst your eardrums," I said through gritted teeth, and managed to slip around him as he recoiled in shock.

"I just want to put your side of the story out there, Jess!" he called, and thrust his arm in front of me with his business card.

I took it out of his hand without even looking at it, ripped it in two and dropped it into the litter bin as I walked off.

"That was slick!" Sarah said gleefully as we marched off. "Louis would be so proud!"

I couldn't help but grin at her - I felt a bit proud too, and truth be told I'd had the same thought about Louis as I'd let the pieces fall in the bin.

"He taught me everything I knew," I joked. We walked up the road to the tube station and as we began to walk down the steps I blurted, "Karen wants me to be seen out again with Harry so the press stop hassling him about cheating on me."

Sarah stopped dead and stared at me for a moment, and I thought she was going to start ranting about how unreasonable this was, but after a second she snapped her mouth shut and gave a resigned nod. "Yeah, I suppose that isn't a real shock."

"What?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'm not saying it isn't completely out of order, but everyone will be on pins at the moment because you didn't sign that contract. They'll be terrified you'll start yelling from the rooftops about Harry being a cheat, and that won't look good will it? And this happens to all the famous celebrity couples when they split. The public is always the last to know. That Karen will be fuming that she isn't in control of this breakup, at least in the public's eyes, anyway."

"I'm not doing it," I declared. "I never want to see his smirking face ever again. I'm not going to be the pathetic girlfriend who stands by her man when he's been shagging everything in a skirt."

"I hear ya," Sarah replied. "I wouldn't want the world to think I was a mug either. It must be horrible having everyone judging your decisions, assuming they know how you feel. And worst of all, when you make a mistake the whole world knows about it and has an opinion on it."

I swallowed hard. I knew Sarah was referring to me with her words, but I suddenly I could only see this from Harry's angle. "Yeah," I said weakly.

"Good on you for sticking to your guns," she said as we walked down the last of the steps. "See you tomorrow."

"See you," I said, and we went our separate ways to our platforms.

I boarded my train and stood by the door, deep in thought. I could look at this from two ways:

One - I was the victim in all this. Harry had treated me like dirt. He'd told me he loved me, then cheated on me, then decided he wasn't in love after all and dumped me. He clearly didn't give a stuff about my feelings in all of this, and was every bit the arsehøle the media were making him out to be.

Or Two - Harry had been in the spotlight for the last five years, unable even to go for lunch with a female companion without it being front page news that he had a girlfriend. He had hurt me, but did he deserve the whole world berating him for something they knew nothing about, and that thousands of people probably did every day, only the world didn't know about it because they weren't famous?

If I hadn't unfollowed Harry on Twitter would this whole situation even have come up? I wished to God I had just deleted Twitter altogether. It would have been far simpler.

I sighed in annoyance and folded my arms huffily. At the end of the day, Harry wasn't my problem anymore. He'd walked away from me when I'd said I was willing to try and work through what had happened. He'd thrown my compassion and understanding back in my face and hurt me even more. Why on earth was I even considering helping him? It wasn't my fault he was famous. It wasn't my fault he'd got caught red handed. He'd known what he was doing, no matter how drunk he'd been at the time, and now he was having to deal with the consequences, for the first time in his life.

Well good, I thought to myself. Let's see how he likes that for a change.

I just wanted him out of my life so I could move on. And meeting up with him again, staged or not, was not the right way to go about it.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net