Running Late For the Date

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It had taken me two hours to get ready for my date with Harry. An hour and a half had been spent sitting on my bedroom floor, wrapped in a towel, panicking about my fast approaching evening. Elenore had come in not long after, taken in my appearance and grumbled that I hadn't given her much time to work with. I'd been dragged over to my wardrobe, forced into an outfit and manhandled over to my dressing table. If it wasn't for the fact that Elenore had been wearing makeup since the age of eleven then I wouldn't have let her anywhere near my face. On the other hand, her makeup based plans hadn't won her any dates with Niall yet.

Somehow, in the space of a mere thirty minutes, she had me looking like someone who was going on a date. As opposed to a twenty year old mother who had spent all day on her knees scrubbing crayon off the skirting boards. I had to give it to Ele, she was pretty good.

"You look gorgeous, if I do say so myself." She smiled smugly and smoothed my outfit. I'd ended up in a jade dress, the kind that clung to you in all the right places. It was shorter than I would have selected myself, but Elenore had found it in the back of my wardrobe from my clubbing days and demanded that it was resurrected. Not to mention there hadn't been enough time to argue anyway. 

"Thanks, Ele." I told her, gripping the hem of my dress so tightly that I thought I was going to tear the material. "I'm not sure what I would have looked like if you hadn't come in here."

"Well, trust you to have a nervous breakdown and only leave yourself half an hour in which to get ready. To be honest I thought you have having another one of those panic attacks you told me about." She stepped forward and prized my fingers off of the bottom of the dress.

"That was just a one off." I told her quietly, turning to stare at my reflection. She'd done a good job with the make up too. It was simple and yet still so much more than I would have put on. My hair hung in loose waves around my face, a more refined version than how it sat naturally. 

"Well here's hoping you don't have one tonight. We don't want Harry thinking you're a total fruit loop." She studied my face for a moment. "Just relax, remember to breathe and have fun. Oh, and don't over analyse every little thing that happens. We don't want him thinking you're one of those girls." 

"What girls?" My voice went up an octave as I stared at her in disbelief. 

"You know, those girls. The ones who make a big deal out of the tiniest bullshit. That's a big turn off for a guy." Ele spoke as if she was Harry's brain itself, before tidying away the unsuccessful outfits that we'd flung across the room. I knew that I was a worrier, but whether I was an over analyser and therefore one of those girls, I had no idea. 

"I'm not sure this pep talk is making me feel much better, Ele." I gulped, clutching my stomach as it churned. The idea of being a big turn off for Harry had me on edge and now I was going to spend all evening over-analysing whether I was over-analysing everything. 

There was a knock on the door of our flat and I froze, staring at Elenore with wide, panicked eyes. She bit her lip before bursting into laughter. "Oh, Marnie, you've really got to get back in the game." 

"Sure." I swiped my bag and jacket off my bed before hurtling into the lounge. My heart thudded erratically in my chest knowing that Harry was just on the other side of the door, no doubt looking totally gorgeous and totally relaxed about our evening together.

Nola looked shocked when I walked through the middle of her game, dressed in an outfit she'd never seen before. Her teddy landed with a thump on the carpet as she stared at me, open mouthed and blinking rapidly. I noted how her eyebrows mashed together in confusion while I stumbled towards the front door in Elenore's heels, desperately trying not to trip over anything. The date was only moment's away. Harry was only moments away.

My mouth grew dry when I spotted him on the other side of the door. His silhouette through the frosted glass had the blood pounding in my ears and I ended up counting down from ten before I dared open it. I knew it was considered normal for a woman to be nervous about a first date, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that this wasn't just a first date. I wasn't just opening the door to Harry on my doorstep, I was opening it to the possibility of us being a 'thing'. Being an 'item'. Being a 'couple'. Being a 'something' for the media to write about. 

Being a family.  

My fingers curled around the door handle and pushed down, dragging a ragged breath from my lungs as they did so. Harry, of course, looked effortlessly flawless. He wore his signature black skinny jeans and chelsea boots with a loose navy checked shirt. My eyes roamed to the neckline where it hung open, revealing the ink on his chest. I gulped. I really hoped I wasn't a big turn off.

"Wow, Marnie." Harry breathed as his eyes raked up and down my body. I felt my cheeks flush and looked down, suddenly self conscious. "You look absolutely amazing."

He stepped into the flat and kissed me on the cheek, leaving my heart fluttering madly as he headed into the lounge and scooped our excitable daughter up into his arms. Nola shrieked with delight as Harry whirled her around the room, pretending to be her very own private jet. Elenore kept her distance, watching from the dining room and glaring at me whenever I tried to pull my dress down.

"Marnie looks great doesn't she, Harry?" She cooed. Harry looked up from his game with Nola and smiled at me once before turning to Ele.

"That's an understatement. She looks gorgeous." He lifted our daughter into the air and pressed his lips against her cheek. "Which must be why you are absolutely gorgeous too." I watched in awe as Harry said all the things I wanted to hear. Part of me wanted to call Elenore over and get her to pinch me, just to ensure that this wasn't a dream. The fact that I was going on a date with Harry Styles seemed absolutely surreal. 

"Anyway, you kids better get going." Ele stepped forward and took Nola from Harry. "I'll text you when she's asleep, Marn." I gave her a quick nod of thanks before kissing the top of my daughter's head and turning to my date. 

"Ready?" He said, with a grin plastered across his face. Ready as I was ever going to be.

"Ready." I echoed and followed him into the hallway. Elenore smacked my bum as I stepped out of the flat and I struggled not to blush or burst out laughing. Harry was totally unaware, hurrying ahead to open the door that led us out of the building. I tried to thank him as I passed but my words caught in my throat when I spotted the flashy black Range Rover parked only metres away. I'd forgotten that he had such a bold vehicle. The possibility of being recognised had my heart racing. 

"Everything ok?" Harry asked as we climbed into the car. He put the key in the ignition and brought it to life, my thoughts drowned out for my moment by the gentle humming. 

"Getting in here is no joke in this dress." I huffed, pulling it down frantically as I settled into the passenger seat. I knew I should have put my foot down when Elenore selected it from the wardrobe. It was in no way at all practical and the more I thought about it, the less it suited Harry's criteria of wearing something 'comfortable'. He smirked as he pulled away from the kerb. 

"I didn't mean that." He chuckled. "You paled the minute you saw my car."  My stomach churned and Elenore's word about over analysing and being a turn off echoed in my head. 

"Oh, that. I thought I'd forgotten something. But I hadn't." I rambled and stammered at the same time. I looked at him in the corner of my eye; he had an eyebrow raised but he didn't look suspicious. Unless that was his totally turned off face of course. 

"Right." He pursed his lips and fell silent, concentrating on the road instead. 

Neither of us spoke much for the duration of the journey. I was too busy trying to control both my heart rate and my anxiety to even comprehend forming a string of words. I was an absolute mess and it was quite frankly embarrassing. I wondered if perhaps Harry was nervous too. Occasionally he would glance at me before returning his focus to the road, smiling whenever I caught him looking. It seemed stupid really, considering we'd already done everything backwards in terms of sleeping with one another and having a child first, and yet here we were going on our first date, both totally freaking out.  I had just about returned to normal when Harry pulled up outside a restaurant. 

"I've made us a reservation for here." He explained, blushing slightly. "Our bar is just around the corner, I thought we could go there afterwards?"

I loved how the bar we'd originally met at had become 'ours'. We had two of those things now. A daughter and a bar. I took a deep breath as Harry climbed out of the driver's seat and walked round to open my door. I took his hand as he offered it to me and stepped out, pulling my dress down as soon as my feet landed on the concrete. I was about to boldly loop my arm through Harry's when he released a huge sigh. It didn't take long to locate the cause of his irritation. 

"Harry! Harry, how are you?" My mouth fell open as a paparazzi popped up from nowhere, thrusting his camera in mine and Harry's faces. "Are you back together with the mother of your child?" Harry's arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me tightly into him as he led me to the entrance of the restaurant, muttering under his breath. He was angry. 

"I'm really sorry." He grumbled, closing the restaurant door behind him and glaring at the woman behind the front counter. She hurried forward and closed the slats of the blind hanging over the glass. 

"Harry, it's fine."I told him, my voice wobbling slightly. I'd always thought Harry enjoyed a lot of the attention that came with his career. "Calm down." 

"Table for two under the name Styles." He told the startled woman, before turning to me. "I just really wanted you to feel comfortable tonight. I don't ever want you to feel pressured or harassed when you're with me. I get that you're a shiny new thing to them, but I'd hate for you to feel like you're just a bit of gossip. They really are vultures."

A warm feeling spread through my stomach as Harry's protective side oozed out of him. I reached over and slid my hand into his, squeezing it lightly to assure him that everything really was ok. He smiled a dimpled smile and guided us towards the table that the woman had wandered over to. Like a proper English gentlemen he took my jacket and pulled the chair out for me. I'd never seen this side to Harry. It made me feel special. 

"Don't get me wrong, I love what I do," he sighed, filling our glasses with the jug of iced water that had been placed in the centre of the table. "But sometimes it's really hard to pretend that you're completely fine with all these people sticking their noses into your private life. I told them about Nola because I wanted that to come from me. I didn't want 'rumours' of her to be the big reveal. I just wish they'd respect that sometimes there are parts of our lives that need to come from us, not from their headlines or photographs." 

"I think you handle it really well." I smiled at him across the table and picked up the menu. As my eyes scanned the list of starters and my mind started over analysing whether Harry would consider me greedy if I had one as well as a main and potentially a dessert, I became vaguely aware of giggling coming from somewhere in the restaurant. I peeked over the top of the menu at Harry who was staring at me guiltily. 

"Sorry." He mouthed, just as three girls appeared at our table. They all looked between fourteen - sixteen years old, grinning manically and blushing profusely. Their eyes were fixed on Harry in a gooey manner, the same way that you would stare at the back of your high school crush's head in class. 

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but can we have a photo?" The tallest girl asked. None of them payed any attention to me, gawking at them from over the top of the menu. It felt as though they hadn't even noticed I was there. I looked between Harry and the three of them, anticipating his next move. He turned to them and grinned, nodding his head enthusiastically. 

"Of course you can. How are you girls today?" They squealed and blushed further as he spoke to them. It was amazing what a few words from Harry's mouth could do to a group of girls. As they fumbled for their phones and posed beside him, they continued to ignore me. I wondered if they'd even registered that Harry was sitting with someone else, or if they even knew how rude they were being by interrupting him like this. Somehow I believed that if Nola had been here too, I would still have been ignored. 

"I can't believe you're here...and we're here...and oh my god." One of them cried before bursting into a round of hysterical tears. I looked at Harry, wide eyed and feeling slightly overwhelmed despite not having any involvement in the situation whatsoever. He carried on snapping shots with them as if he hasn't seen me. A waitress began making her way over to our table, but upon seeing the girls crowded around it she backed off and visited another couple waiting to order instead. 

"Are you ok?" Harry asked the hysterical one, putting his hand on her shoulder. The way she looked at him, I thought she was going to faint. Her friends clutched their chests and covered their mouths in shock, before fanning themselves in order to calm down. I felt my eyes narrowing as I watched them, wishing they would just turn their heads slightly and acknowledge my presence. 

Jealousy

I could almost hear Elenore's voice in my head, pointing it out immediately. There was two kinds of jealous here though. They were ignoring me because they were jealous. I was glaring at them because I was jealous. They didn't like the fact that I was dating Harry. I didn't like the fact that they were stealing all of his attention and acting as if I didn't exist. I wanted to kick myself.

I was over analysing. 

"Thank you so, so much, Harry." The taller one gushed, choking on sobs. I felt myself relax at the sign they were planning on leaving.

"No problem. I hope you enjoy your evening." He smiled at them all once more before they turned and stumbled back towards their own table. As Harry's head raised to meet my eyes, I lowered my gaze, pretending to be engrossed in the menu again. It wasn't long before a single finger curled around the top of the menu and pushed it down, ripping away the barrier between us. "I'm sorry, Marnie."

"It's not a problem." I said quietly. pulling the menu back towards myself. 

"Are you mad at me?" He sounded worried. My eyes flickered up to his and I shook my head. 

"Of course not. I'm on a date with Harry Styles, it was to be expected." Harry frowned at my response but didn't comment as I turned my attention to the menu once again. "Are we going to order?" 

We didn't speak to one another while choosing and ordering. I decided against the starter as the flock of girls had put me off my appetite somewhat. It hadn't helped that the waitress had been flirting shamelessly with him, leaning over and revealing far too much cleavage while collecting his menu. Mine had been snatched from my hands in a swift movement and I realised that the other girls and I weren't the only ones with jealousy issues. Harry's starter arrived, complete with a wink, and I couldn't help noticing the waitress had reapplied her lipstick. A hysterical laugh bubbled up and burst through my lips. 

"What?" Harry froze, mid-chew, and stared at me.

"It's nothing." I smirked, looking down at my lap. 

"Have I got food around my mouth or something?" He sounded like a child at dinner time. His hand twitched towards his napkin.

"No, Harry. You're fine." I assured him and reached for my glass of water. 

 "Right. You could have had a starter, you know." He told me after swallowing." I hope you're not one of those girls who doesn't eat in front of guys."

Oh god. Harry knew about those girls too. 

"I, I wouldn't have been able to eat my main." I stammered, my voice coming out a higher pitch than I would have liked. Harry nodded and took another mouthful of his prawn cocktail. 

When our main courses came out, we ate in silence too. I could practically taste the awkwardness with every mouthful of my lasagne. Harry started to look extremely uncomfortable and kept trying to say something, but ended up reverting back to offering me more water every time. I was quite relieved when the waittress took our plates away and Harry denied the offer of dessert. I wasn't sure how much more awkward silent eating I could take. 

"Just the bill thanks." He said to her, not taking his eyes off me. "Then we'll head to the bar, shall we?" 

"Sure." I nodded enthusiastically, pulling my arms into my jacket. Harry went up and paid at the counter while I hovered next to the door, trying to peek through the slats of the blind. 

"Brace yourself for this." He mumbled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders again. He twisted the door handle and exposed us to the public, making a beeline for his car. Unsurprisingly the paparazzi had tripled in number, all desperately trying to get that high paying sought after shot. Word had clearly spread about Harry's appearance at this restaurant and I could just imagine the headlines that would be online tomorrow. They bumped into us from every direction, shoving their cameras in our faces and attempting to prevent us from getting away. I blocked out their desperate pleas and allowed Harry to hoist me into the passenger seat, before slamming the door and hurrying around to the driver's side himself. 

"They're wild." I told him, my heart racing as he shut the door behind him and brought the car to life. 

"Tell me about it." He pulled away, stopping only minutes later outside the all too familiar bar. 

When the taxi had dropped us outside two years ago, I hadn't thought anything of it. It had looked like a bar. Just an average London bar. I had never been there before and so it held no memories or was of any significance to me. Now things were entirely different. Because of this bar, I was now a mother. Because Harry and I were in this same place at the same time, we were parents. 

"This is where it all began." He chuckled, placing a hand on my leg. I let out a nervous laugh as my phone buzzed in my pocket. 

Nola's asleep. Hope you're not over analysing! Have a good night. xoxo

"That's Nola asleep." I said, still staring at the bar. I wasn't sure if I was talking directly to Harry or just out loud to cover up how nervous I was to be at this place again. 

"She's a good girl." He said, removing his hand. "Marnie?" Reluctantly, I turned to look at him. He was staring at me with a curious expression. 

"Yes?" I breathed. 

"I'm sorry about before. The paps, the fans. Just all of it. Let's go in here and have a good time, ok?" There was a hint of desperation in his voice and my heart melted at just how much he really wanted this date to be perfect. I leant over and squeezed one of his hands.

"Of course." He brushed his thumb over the back of my hand once before exiting the Range Rover and helping me out of my side. My heart raced as he slid his fingers

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