The following afternoon was spent above the Sunset Strip, at the house Harry was hoping to buy. Anne and Robin were yet to see it too, so we met an estate agent there just after lunch. Harry's enthusiasm for the place was clear, albeit low key in front of the agent, as he showed us the majestic rooms (including a home cinema, a gym and a master bedroom with an enormous glass wall that slid open onto its own rooftop deck.) The outdoor pool area was absolutely beautiful, and the entire property was hidden behind high walls and tall trees, guaranteeing Harry the privacy he needed. I tried not to show my disbelief at the luxuriousness of it, but I couldn't help my jaw from dropping at the incredible views from the deck, as Harry came up behind me and slid his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder and the side of his head against mine.

"What do you think?" he asked softly.

"It's....," I searched fruitlessly for words to sum it up, to do it justice. "I'm speechless," I finished eventually, turning to face him. "I think it's amazing."

"The only thing I would change is the bathroom," he mused. "It's a little on the small side, in relation to the rest of the house. But I've viewed another few properties and this one is by far the best, for the money. And I really like the feel of the place."

"The bathroom is gorgeous," I argued. "And honestly, how big do you need it to be? It's got everything you need."

"That we need," he corrected, and my stomach flipped.

"Seriously," he continued, looking deep into my eyes. "I know London is our proper home, but when you're here with me, this will be your home too. I want you to love it."

"I do love it," I told him, my heart pounding at this new step, further into commitment. "But I want you to choose somewhere that is perfect for you."

"Your opinion matters to me," he said softly. "If you said you hated it, I would reconsider."

"Would you really?" I breathed, staring at him, as Anne and Robin walked into the room.

"Of course," he murmured. "I wouldn't buy somewhere you really didn't like. I want you to be happy when you're here."

I stood on tiptoes and put my arms around his neck, catching Anne's eye over his shoulder. She smiled at me affectionately, and I pulled away from Harry to gaze into his eyes. "Well, I love it. So you have nothing to worry about."

He kissed me softly, and smiled. "What do you think?" he asked, turning to his mother, and she walked over to us.

"I think it's lovely," she replied. "If it's in the area you want, and you're happy with it, then I think you should go for it."

"I agree," Robin nodded. "And don't dawdle, if you've made your mind up. You don't want to lose it."

Harry nodded. "I have made my mind up." He took my hand in his, and we made our way back downstairs to where the agent was waiting. "Can we talk numbers?" he asked.

I chatted with Anne for a few minutes while Harry spoke to the agent and they agreed that Harry would speak to his solicitor to get the ball rolling, and the agent would speak to the owners of the property with regards to Harry's offer. I couldn't help but be in awe of the huge sums of money being discussed, and was reminded once again of just how different Harry's way of life was to mine. I had never asked him about finances - the nearest we'd come to discussing it was when we'd had the moving-in conversation, and had compromised over what my contribution would be. I never wanted Harry to think I abused his generosity, which was why I was so determined to pay my way whenever I could.

"You look thoughtful," he remarked, as we drove back home.

"Do I?" I smiled, and he reached across the gap between us to lace his fingers through mine. "I'm just thinking how incredibly surreal all this is. It's a different world."

"It took me a long time to adjust to it," he said, after a moment. "You're right, it is a different world. But I don't want you to feel for one second like you're not part of it."

"Sometimes I feel like I have no right to be here," I admitted, staring out of the front windscreen at the road. "I haven't earnt my place here. I haven't done anything spectacular that's made me loads of money. I'm here because I'm your girlfriend."

"Everything you're saying is exactly how I felt when One Direction started becoming popular," he said softly. "I felt as though I stuck out like a sore thumb at parties and gatherings and awards shows; an immature teenager amongst a load of successful musicians and actors, trying to swim with the big fish. It didn't feel real. It took me a long time to become familiar with how to be famous-" (he lifted his fingers from the steering wheel and drew air quotes) "-and even now I'm not entirely comfortable with the celebrity scene. That's why I choose not to be part of it very often. I'm happier being with my true friends, my family and you."

"Harry really struggled with it at first," Anne added from the backseat, and I turned to look at her. "But he loves you, Jess, and that gives you the right to be part of his world; because he wants you there."

Harry nodded. "What she said," he grinned, and I chuckled as Anne gently smacked his shoulder.

"This is why I wanted you to think carefully about going public," he continued. "I don't want you to feel insecure, or inferior to me. We are both human and we're both equal. A bank balance doesn't define your soul, it just enables you to buy more stuff."

I laughed at this simplified way of looking at the world, and Harry grinned over at me. "Don't over-complicate life," he said. "And don't take everything so seriously. I love you, you love me, we're a couple. That's all that matters."

"Well said," Anne agreed, and smiled at me when I looked at her.

"OK," I nodded. "Duly noted. But you know how I overthink everything. You may have to remind me every so often."

"Yeah, well we're all guilty of that sometimes," Harry said knowingly. "It's a good job you couldn't read my thoughts when we first got together. You would have dumped me in about three seconds. I was embarrassingly uncool."

"What do you mean?" I asked, grinning.

"Let's just say, if Louis had said the words No Chill one more time to me while we were on tour, I would have shoved my fist in his face."

Everyone laughed at this, and Harry's fingers squeezed mine gently.

"I'll be asking him to elaborate on that next week when we fly home," I chuckled.

"No don't," Harry said, looking mortified all of a sudden as he turned to meet my gaze. This only made me laugh harder. 

"OK, I won't," I fibbed, and his shoulders visibly relaxed as he faced the road again, and I made a mental note to force Louis to spill the beans the second we were alone.

~~~

Harry and I headed over to Kendall's house the following day, and if I'd thought Harry's new house was luxurious, I was rendered almost mute as we entered the Kardashian estate. I had never seen anything like it before (and I had never really watched Keeping Up With The Kardashians, so I'd had no pre-warning. Even if I had, I don't think anything could have prepared me for seeing it in the flesh.) We hung out in a huge lounge, with sumptuous sofas and an enormous fireplace, and Kendall kept us topped up with drinks and snacks as we watched TV and chatted. She had apologised nervously to me over Yachtgate as soon as we had arrived, which I brushed aside with a flick of my hand and a hug. From that moment the atmosphere was relaxed and fun, and it was almost midnight before we said goodbye and left, with promises that she would see us the next day (Harry's birthday.)

We arrived back home and crept into the house so as not to wake Anne and Robin, and headed straight to the bedroom. I glanced at the clock, and saw it was now past midnight, therefore Harry had officially turned twenty-two. The new underwear set I had bought in Selfridges still lay untouched in my suitcase, and while Harry was brushing his teeth in the bathroom I quickly pulled my clothes off and slipped the bra and knickers on. I pulled Harry's thin black dressing gown off the hook on the back of the door and put it on, fastening the cord just as he came out of the bathroom with his hair tied back, wearing nothing but a pair of tight black boxers.

"Mmmm," he said, grabbing me around the waist and attempting to pull the cord open. "You look great in my dressing down."

I held onto the knot and twisted out of his grasp, heading in the direction of the bathroom. "I'm just going to brush my teeth," I said, darting through the door and shutting it behind me. I quickly did the necessaries, and then ran a brush through my hair and pulled it forward over one shoulder, in the way I knew Harry liked. I checked my reflection one last time, and then opened the door to the bedroom. Harry was lying in bed on his back, with one arm hooked behind his head, watching the Late Late Show with James Corden. I switched the bathroom light off and made my way slowly towards him and he looked up at me as I crossed the room.

"So," I began, with one hand on my belt. "I don't know if you noticed, but it's officially your birthday."

He glanced at the clock next to him, and then back at me. "Well, so it is."

"So I was wondering if maybe you might like to open one of your presents now?" 

He raised one eyebrow and the corners of his mouth twitched into a smirk. "That sounds interesting."

I undid the tie around my waist and let the sides of the dressing gown fall open, revealing part of the ice blue bra and the front of the knickers. Harry's smirk disappeared as his eyes swept down my body and back up to my face. I approached the bed, and carefully shrugged the dressing gown off my shoulders and let it drop to the floor. Harry watched, without a word, as I climbed onto the bed on all fours and crawled up his body, coming to a stop to sit astride him.

"Hi," I breathed softly.

"Hi," he murmured back. "Well this is a game changer."

I leaned down and kissed him, and he released his hand from behind his head to cup the back of my neck and pull me closer, his other hand trailing lightly up my side and coming to rest underneath the cup of the satin bra. His thumb gently traced the delicate fabric and he gave a soft huff of approval as his hips twitched slightly up off the bed. 

His lips broke away from mine and he pushed me back slightly to survey my attire. I sat up again, looking down at him as he took in every inch of me, his mouth curling into an appreciative smile. "You look fucking incredible," he stated. "This underwear set.... fuck." His hands gripped my waist and squeezed gently, and his hips nudged upwards again so I could feel something hard in his boxers. 

"Are you going to unwrap your present?" I teased, as he pulled my face down to his again. Our lips touched again, igniting the passion between us as his length nudged against me more urgently and his hands ran up my body to stroke my breasts through the satin.

"It just seems a shame to remove such beautiful wrapping," he breathed, in between kisses. "I think I'd like to leave it on for the time being..."

~~~

It was past nine o'clock by the time we got up on the morning of Harry's birthday. He spent an hour downstairs in the kitchen with all of us, opening his presents and having breakfast, during which time his phone pinged repeatedly with messages from friends and family wishing him a great day. By the time we were both showered and dressed it was after ten thirty and we sat in the lounge having a brew.

Harry was fiddling with his phone, smirking to himself, and looked over at me a couple of times while I talked to Anne about where we were going for his birthday lunch, as though he were waiting for a pause in the conversation.

"What is it?" I asked him eventually. "You look like you've got something up your sleeve."

He grinned. "Maybe I have."

"Oh God," I groaned. "What is it?"

He leaned forward on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees, apparently barely able to contain himself. "I want to run something by you, to make sure you're OK with it."

"OK..," I said uncertainly. "What is it?"

"Well, you know how Taylor Swift likes to get digs in about me whenever she can... songs, interviews et cetera..."

"Yes," I said warily, as Anne looked at Harry with mild confusion.

"And you know how I never respond to any of it, except once when I put that line in Perfect, which was Louis' idea anyway..."

"Yes," I said again, wondering where this was going.

"Well," he said, brimming with glee, "I've had this one up my sleeve for a couple of years, and I've bided my time with it, waiting for the perfect moment to use it, and it's finally here."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, completely confused, glancing at Anne who wore the same expression as me.

He handed me his phone, grinning wider than I had ever seen him grin. "Don't press anything - just read what's on the screen," he said.

I looked down at his phone, which was open on Twitter, composing a new tweet: 

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22. 

My mouth fell open as I looked up at Harry who raised his eyebrows, pressed his hands together and gave me a look of thinly veiled hysteria, his mouth smiling so wide that pretty much every one of his teeth was showing.

"Can I tweet it?" he begged. "Would you be offended?"

"Offended?!" I spluttered. "I'll press the button to send it myself! It's brilliant!"

He beamed at me as I held his phone out to him. "Be my guest," he nodded, inclining his head towards the screen.

"No," I said, grinning back. "That pleasure can be all yours."

He chuckled and took his phone back from me as Anne asked, "What's going on?"

"Oh Mum, it's just so fucking beautiful," he said ecstatically, as he tapped the screen with a flourish. Then he frowned, and tapped it again a couple of times until he finally got the tweet to send. "I've been waiting years for this day, and it's finally come."

As Anne reached for her phone I picked mine up too, and opened Twitter. I searched for Harry, loaded up his profile and grinned at the tweet, which already had over nine thousand retweets after only a few seconds. 

"Oh Harry," Anne sighed indulgently, and he returned her gaze, turning his palms skywards and shrugging his shoulders as he grinned back.

"What?" he asked innocently. "What?!"

I stared down at his profile on my screen and was overcome by a jolt of recklessness. The tweet had gone viral in a matter of seconds, and would obviously be the subject of discussion across the majority of One Direction update accounts for the next few days until something else exciting happened. If ever I wanted something on Twitter to slip under the radar, now would be the time to do it. I hesitated for only a split second, before tapping Harry's follow button, my heart pounding.

"What are you grinning like that for?" Harry asked, smiling at me as I realised I was beaming stupidly and my face felt unnaturally hot.

I looked at him innocently, pretending to be confused at his question. "I don't follow," I frowned. "Or maybe now I do..."

He stared at me for a moment, and then his eyes widened. "Oh my God - did you just... do you...?"

He looked down again at his phone, and began tapping the screen, his face serious. After a few seconds he looked up at me, a smile breaking on his face. It was so beautiful.

"You just followed me again on Twitter!"

"Well, it seemed churlish not to, considering we're in a relationship," I said casually, but was cut off by him launching himself onto me, knocking me onto my back on the sofa, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist and his face buried in my shoulder. I laughed delightedly and Anne beamed at us.

"I think that's the best birthday present you could have given him," she said, and he squeezed me a bit tighter.

"It really is," he murmured into my neck. "I love you."

"I love it when you fangirl over my Twitter follow," I teased, but he cut me off again, this time by lifting his head and pressing his lips to mine.

"I know you're enjoying playing it so damn cool," he murmured when he finally broke the kiss, and I cupped his face in my hands, grinning, "but I also know that you fully understand how significant this is, for both of us. So for once just shut up, and let me enjoy the moment."

---***----

Happy new year!! Hope you all have a great 2017. Anyone doing anything fun for NYE?

I have finally planned out the last chapters of this book, and at the moment there are 9 more left. This may change, depending on how they turn out as I write them, and they're already causing me problems as I attempt to work out what needs to happen and when, to make the ending flow! I should have learnt by now not to mess with my own writing process but apparently not! I will give you warning once we're down to the last 2 or 3 updates.

So... do you think this story will have a happy, sad or dramatic ending? How would you like to see it end? Comment here and let me know! xxx