Ellie's P.O.V

I wake up in a strange bed. I take a moment to look around. Someone stirs in the bed next to me. I hesitantly flip around and see a mop of fluffy curls.

"Fuck," I yell without thinking.

Harry stirs and mumbles, "good morning to you too." 

Tell me I didn't just give my virginity away.

I peep under the sheets to see me wearing a t-shirt of Harry's. Double fuck. The odds of us sleeping together are high. Why else would I be wearing his clothes? God knows what my drunk self did last night. 

I look over at Harry and he seems to be asleep again. Before he can notice, I slowly crawl out of bed and grab my clothes. I leave with his shirt on. I don't have time to change or else I risk Harry waking up and actually confronting me about whatever we did. Lucky for me, his shirt is long enough to look like a dress, so I'm not exposing myself.

I wait for the elevator. With my (unfortunate) luck, Niall steps out when it opens.

"Oh, hi Ellie! What are you doing here?" He asks before noticing my apparel. I can see a flicker of disappointment, but he quickly masks it.  "Oh..."

"Hey, dude. Uh... this isn't what it looks like. Or maybe it is? I don't know honestly, I was drunk." I blabber, mentally telling myself to shut up. 

He furrows his brow, super confused. 

"Um, yeah. Anyway, I need to go back before anyone else sees me. Let me know if you find out though." I continue before stepping on to the machine. 

Let me know? I am the dumbest bitch out there. 

This is the weirdest walk of shame.

The door shuts and I let out a breath of relief. I seriously need to handle my problems better. 

~~~

Unknown: You're in the clear. Nothing happened last night. Xx- Niall.

I let out the biggest sigh. I figured Harry wouldn't do that, but I also feel like I don't know him as well as I thought.

Thank God for Niall. I never thought he'd be the one to tell me whether I lost my virginity or not.

Some twisted life I'm living.

Another day, another busy schedule. Today we have back to back interviews with different magazines. Who even reads those anymore?

I meet Harry in the lobby. 

"About last night..." he starts.

"What about it?" I ask curtly. "Nothing happened."

"You're kidding. You call that nothing? What has gotten into you?" He stops, grabbing my arm to stop me from walking. "You basically beg me to 'fuck' you and now you're ignoring me again?" He uses air quotes on the word fuck.

This catches my attention. "Did I actually?"

"What?" He gives me a confused look.

"Harry, I was basically black-out drunk. You'd think I'd remember th... oh fuck." I trail off, realization hitting me in the face.

I was in his situation. I asked him to have sex. If it were anyone else, they'd probably agree. 

The same thing goes for him. He was drunk and did something out of character. Someone asked him to have sex, and he said yes.

He wasn't aware of what he was doing at the moment.

Am I really justifying his cheating? Yes. Am I going to forgive him? Also yes. Am I going to keep fighting for our relationship? No.

I'm so sick of this. I just want a normal relationship with no pressure. I don't want the publicity, the camera, the fame, the drama. 

The money would have been nice though.

It doesn't matter. Moral of the story, I'm moving on. I'm done.

"Are you alright?" Harry snaps me out of my thinking. 

I nod, grateful for the topic change. "Yeah, let's go or we'll be late." We briskly walk to the car. The driver swiftly opens the door for us and I slide in, him following.

"Can you please make a note for tomorrow? I want my own car, no driver," he annoyedly glances at the poor driver. "I want to show you something." 

I write down a reminder on my phone. I don't ask why. I don't question anything he does anymore.

We arrive at the first location and Harry meets his manager. They begin talking about strategy. I've never met him in person, only over the phone, so I'm a little in awe. He seems professional, but laid-back. I can tell him and Harry work well together, even if they don't always get along. 

He notices me standing on the side and pauses his conversation. "Ahh, you must be Ellie. I've heard so much about you!" I awkwardly shake his hand, not sure exactly what he's heard. "She's a pretty one, eh Harry?"

Harry looks just as uncomfortable as me. He doesn't say anything in response. 

When he gets no response, he redirects his attention back to me. "I'm Tom."

"I figured. It's great to meet you! It's a great opportunity, thank you," I chirp, plastering on an over-enthusiastic smile. He's the man that pays me, you bet I'll fake being nice to him.

They resume their conversation, clarifying what he can and cannot say. I find an intern and ask her where the green room is. She leads me through a hallway and to a backroom. Harry's name is taped onto the door. I thank her and go inside.

It's a little bigger than the ones we've been in. There's a fruit and cheese platter in the middle of the room. I pick out a red strawberry and plop it in my mouth. 

Harry and his manager walk in, still discussing stuff. I acknowledge them and sit down on the couch. I don't really have much work to do here anyway.

Some time passes and then they call Harry out. 

They allow me to watch from the side. Since the show isn't live, they can reshoot any mishaps if necessary. 

I watch Harry be charming as ever. He answers each question realistically and makes sure to crack jokes, slickly avoiding the overly personal questions. 

His manager approaches from behind me. "He's really a people-person isn't he?" He asks, proud of his client. 

I answer without taking my eyes off him. "Yeah. He really is."

"Whoever he ends up with is a lucky gal."

I tense up. Is he hinting something? What does he know?

I just nod my head, agreeing.

Once this interview is done, we start packing up. I stand outside the room, letting them have their space.

A girl around my age approaches me. I notice she has a pass around her neck that says 'INTERN'. 

"So you're his assistant?" She asks innocently. I nod and she continues. "What's it like working with him? Is it as hot as the fanfics make it out to be?"

My eyes nearly budge out of my head. "What?" I squeak, caught off guard.

"You know. Is he all macho man and flirty? Have you guys had se-"

"No," I stop her before she can continue. "He's just my boss. Just an ordinary person." When I notice her sad expression, I bitterly add, "sorry to burst your bubble, but not everything's like a novel."

She gives me a tight smile, obviously disappointed by my answer. When he walks out of the green room, she blushes before scurrying away. 

"Everything okay?" 

"Yeah, let's just go," I sigh. Tom, his manager, follows us out and tells the driver where the next interview is taking place.

~~~

The day is finally over. I can't wait to go home and dress comfy. The heels I decided to wear are finally taking effect, making my feet ache. 

Yeah, never again.

When I get to my room, I see Harry's shirt lying on my bed. I should probably give it back before he takes a wrong hint.

I grab it and head up to his room using the keycard. I knock, and when he opens the door and sees me, he looks puzzled.

"You're not drunk, are you?" He teases, making sure I'm sober.

I roll my eyes. "Haha, very funny. I brought your shirt back." I hand him the gray t-shirt.

He looks a little hurt, but takes it. "Come in, please." He steps aside. "Only if you want to," he adds after noticing my hesitation.

I shrug. Couldn't hurt. I walk past him and I can feel his grin burning a hole in the back of my head. 

He tosses the shirt into his closet and follows me in. Of course, always so messy.

I plop down on to the couch and he does the same, keeping a little distance. 

"So..." I begin, at the same time, Harry blurts out "what are we?" 

We both stop and look at each other. I nod, giving him permission to keep going.

"Are you mad at me? I can't figure it out. You're sending mixed signals."

"I'm not mad anymore," I admit. It's time to put it past us. "I was hurt for a long time, but it's okay. I'm over it." I only put myself in your shoes and realized that your actions may have been justifiable. Of course, I have way too much pride to admit that. 

His smile goes up to his eyes. He grabs my face and leans in. Before his lips can touch mine, I give him the cheek. He lets go and frowns.

"What?" He asks.

"Harry, just because I've forgiven you doesn't mean I want to pursue our relationship. Quite frankly, I'm done. I cannot handle the stress of being with you. The drama that surrounds you... it's suffocating." Okay, that was a little too harsh. I get up and he follows suit. "I'm sorry that I gave you the wrong impression. I shouldn't have come inside." I mentally pat myself on the back for being upfront and not backing down. 

He grabs my wrist as I go to leave. "El, don't do this. We both know this connection between us is undeniable. It's too strong." I almost want to punch him because of his denial. I know he hasn't been rejected before, but he needs to start taking a hint. 

"That may be true, but I can push it aside. I advise you to do the same. I don't want anything to ruin our friendship." I put emphasis on the last word. He lets go of my wrist, but I see the determination in his eyes. He isn't going to let go so easily. 

I walk out of his room, proud that I stood up for myself.

As if fate has a curse on me, the elevator doors open to reveal Niall once again. 

He smirks when he sees me. "So, we meet again."

"Hey, at least I'm dressed this time," I tease. He looks at what I'm wearing and smiles, impressed. "Besides, from now on everything is strictly business."

He nods as if he doesn't believe me. I get on the elevator and press my floor, waving bye as the doors close.

Harry's P.O.V

Another knock comes from my door. I jump up, thinking it's Ellie changing her mind. Of course, it's just Niall. Again.

"Mate, I swear every time you show up, Ellie abandones me." I scoff. He comes in, pushing me aside. 

"Ahh, yeah. Just met her outside."

"How did she seem?" I pry. I just need to see if she's being serious or if she's messing with me. If she's trying to psychologically torture me, it's working. 

I can't keep up with her mood swings. First, she rejects me, then comes with me to England, then gets angry, forgives me for doing a shitty thing, then rejects me again? 

"Why? What happened?"

I groan. Why can't he just answer the question without being nosy? "Nothing. She just told me something and I can't tell if she's being serious."

"Oh yeah," he says in an exaggerated accent. "She seemed pretty serious to me." 

"Shut up," I mumble. 

He takes comfort on my couch. I huff, go to the minibar, and pour each of us a glass. He thanks me and begins sipping. 

"Now Harry, what seems to be the problem?" He pats me on the knee.

"What are you, my therapist?" I scoff. He ignores my joke and is in full serious mode. Well, might as well confide in him. "Okay, doctor-patient confidentiality right?"

He eagerly nods, excited that I'm playing along.

"Well, there's this girl. She's beautiful, amazing, and much more."

"Aweee!" Niall coos.

I give him a dirty look and continue. "Anyway, I did something fucked up. I hurt her really badly. We aren't dating or even exclusive, but my actions were wrong. Especially because it put me two steps back. She is the best thing in my life. She just told me that she forgives me for my actions, but doesn't want any relationship with me whatsoever. And we've played this game before, dating others and not being serious, but I know in the end it was always me. Suddenly, it doesn't feel that way anymore. I genuinely think she wants to move on, no matter how strong our connection is." 

"Hmm," Niall hums. "I see."

I wait for him to give me good advice. 

"Well, normally I would say to move on." 

I groan, unappreciative of that answer.

"Hold on, I'm not done," he scolds. "Since I know this girl, I know she's worth it. I can see what you have with her and it's special. You never act this way with anyone else."

I nod, totally agreeing. I'm truly a different man with her. She's changed me for the better. 

"I think you start from square one. Reintroduce yourself. Act like it's your first time seeing her. Make her fall in love again. And if I'm correct, you only have a few weeks to do this." 

He's right. I need her to see why she fell for me in the first place. Sure it was the soulmate thing that brought us together, but it was me who made her stay.

Ecstatic, I grab Niall and kiss him on the head. "Mate, you're a genius!"

He chuckles. "I know. Now, what's your game plan?"

I know exactly what I have to do.