H A R R Y

3 WEEKS LATER

I WAS ON my way out of the office I shared with a couple other people when I heard someone call, "Hey, new guy!"

I turned around and raised my eyebrows expectantly when I found the owner of the voice looking back at me. His too perfect of a posture, too bright of a toothy grin, overly friendly personality and that stance of his that comes off as cocky rather than confident, that all seemed too fake for me to actually warm up to him, unlike everyone else.

"Hey."

"Styles, right?" Blondie says.

"Yeah, Harry Styles. And you're..." I waited for him to say his name.

"Anderson," He quirked an eyebrow at me as if he doesn't believe I don't know him already. Proving my point. "Hugh Anderson."

"Right," I tossed him a polite smile and looked at my watch, hoping he'd get the hint.

"So," Hugh started again, smiling as if I'm actually interested. "Me and the rest of the guys are going out to this pub right after work tomorrow. I thought we'd invite the new guy to celebrate his first week here! Introduce you to the best pub in the city, where all the coldest booze and hottest girls are!"

I watched him warily as he nudged me with his elbow, like I'm his pal or something ridiculous like that. I nod and throw him a light, dry chuckle.

"Cool," I shrug. "I don't think I'm gonna be free tomorrow, but we'll see."

"Sure," Anderson winks at me and I resist cringing. "See ya tomorrow, newbie!"

I faked a smile when he did, but rolled my eyes when his back was facing me. What a tool. I continued my way to the elevator and out of the building, spotting my car and heading over to it immediately. It took a while for the cargo company to settle my car shipment, but it was finally here and I was grateful for it. Ben has assumedly had enough of me taking advantage of his Audi. And with how crowded the streets are, it's almost impossible to get to work precisely on time.

I started on the job training on the second week of January and started on the actual job just a week ago. Needless to say, I was thankful for that distraction when it came. Ben was busy with work, Kate and the Ball her family had and I politely declined to attend. And given I didn't know a single soul in this huge city, I was stuck at my new, large and empty flat all by myself, thinking back to memories I had at this time of year two years ago. I had to watch too much TV including an unhealthy amount of science fiction movies to distract myself.

But now, at least, I could feel myself falling into a routine these past two weeks.

Wake up, go to work, get back home, have takeout dinner, watch TV to sleep. Repeat.

As strange as it is, it feels good to fall into that routine. Because at least it's a change from my other routine.

Wake up, mope around, go back to sleep. Repeat.

Just when I'm a few feet away from my apartment door, the door to the flat across the hall opens. My gaze lingers on the girl coming out of it for one single reason: her hair. She had wild curly hair around her head, giving it triple its size. I instantly look away when I see she'd caught me.

She says, "Oh, hey! You're the new neighbor, right?"

I insert the key in the lock of my door, muttering under my breath about everyone calling me new in London. It's been about two to three weeks at work with Blondie and I've grown sick of it already. Besides, I've been camping in my flat for about a month and she was just seeing me now, but technically I wasn't really new anymore.

I look over my shoulder and nod at her dismissively. "Yep, that's me. Have a nice day," I say before I open the door, get in and close it behind me, not failing to catch her saying something about me being rude.

I sigh in frustration and shake my head, going straight to the bathroom to take a steaming shower. I let the hot water unclench my muscles and loosen my stress and nerves. I've been having a good couple of weeks, busying myself in work and more work. I even volunteer to do extra shit that aren't even included in my job.

I can't not notice the stress I'm deliberately forcing onto myself, inti my system. Ben has been begging me for ages to go have a drink with him, but I didn't believe it would be a good idea. He had, as well as myself, lowered his alcohol intake rate. Not willingly, of course, Kate had something to do with it.

As for me, I do dumb shit when I drink. Memories I don't want to dig up start surfacing and the rest is history. I'd be lying if I said I didn't crave a cold, shivering bottle of beer, but I knew it wouldn't make me 'forget.' In fact, it would do the exact opposite.

Later on in the day, Ben came over and talked to me about the shit hole I was digging myself into.

"I'm telling you, you need to make some friends!" Ben urges. "Blondie whatshisname? Yeah, go out with that crew-,"

"The fact that you're calling them a crew just discourages me even more."

"If he's the popular dude there, it should get you some company."

"I don't want to kiss his ass for company," I frown, slouching back on the couch and continuing to flip through TV channels.

"Who said you were? He invited you to hang out with his...group or whatever. Have some drinks, Harry, enough with the moping!" Ben sighed and shook his head at me after a while. "I thought you wanted to move on."

"I am moving on," I shrug, gesturing around my flat. "What do you think I'm doing in London?"

"You keep telling yourself that," Ben muttered.

"What the hell is your problem?" I give up on the TV, tossing the remote aside as I give Ben a good look. He stands up, shaking his head as if refraining himself from saying something.

"I don't have a problem, you?" Ben raises a challenging eyebrow at me. I frown deeper, waiting to see where he was going with this. "You're making yourself the problem. Harry, get your arse up and move the fuck on with your life, mate. Stop waiting around the fucking corner for her to show up!"

I'm not looking at him anymore. I'm scowling at the black TV screen, clenching on my jaw so hard before I say the wrong thing. I can't say the wrong thing, because I know he's right.

"I'm trying," I say defensively.

"Try harder," Ben says without missing a beat, his tone solid but not harsh. "You're going out tomorrow. You don't have to get pissed. Just do something instead of watching soap dramas on your fucking television."

"Okay, I get it," I snap at him.

"Good," Ben frowns. He waits for a few beats before he reaches for his coat, putting it on. "Call me when you get your shit together."

And he's out the door. A breathy sigh escapes me and I helplessly fall back onto the couch, replaying Ben's words over in my head.

Stop waiting around the fucking corner for her to show up.

Stop waiting for her to show up.

Stop waiting.

Try harder.

It's about time Ben loses his shit with me. I honestly can't blame him. I would've dropped my ass a long time ago, if I were him. He's stood by me a lot, a lot longer than I expected him to, to be honest. Everyone left and Ben stayed. Well, and Josie, but she kind of had to, didn't she?

On instinct, I dial Josie's phone number. It rings briefly before she picks up. "Little Harry!"

I chuckle and smile in relief at the familiarity of her voice. I've been busying myself in London and it slips my mind to call and check on her every so often. "Hey, J. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm better now that I've heard your voice, darling. How's work? James is saying that the board is happy with you so far!"

"I'm enjoying work, I'm glad I have something to do. A full-time job was a good thing for me."

"I'm happy to hear that!" Josie sounds the happiest she's been in about a year.

The conversation doesn't last very long and I have to go before Josie spills any tears. I couldn't take any more drama today, I've already had my fair share.

I collapsed on the bed with a sigh, unlocking my phone and squinting at its brightness in the dark. I scrolled through my feed for a while, trying to think of something else other than my ruined day, but couldn't. I opened my music playlists and froze on a certain one.

Clicking on it, I chose the option to delete playlist. The phone asked me if I was sure, and I tapped yes. Then I closed the music app and moved onto videos. There was one I had filmed to mess around with Luella when we were studying together back at my dorm. Her hair was falling around her face as she sat on the bed, examining the paper in her hand.

"What's so hard about this question, Harry? You've got to be kidding me. You only need the basic gravitational rule to-," She'd looked up and noticed the phone in my hand. She narrowed her eyes, looking warily at me behind the camera. "Are you filming this?"

"Yeah?" I heard my voice say.

"Why? Harry!" Luella whined. "You have an important quiz tomorrow, come on!"

"Okay, mom!" I'd chuckled teasingly.

"You're still filming! Give me that, I'll show you-,"

I deleted that video.

And the one before it, and the one after it. It took a while, but I held my breath through it. The pictures, I took a bit to contemplate it. They weren't too crazy like a video, but they were a lot. And a lot of those were just Luella, when she wasn't paying attention. They looked too real.

I shook my head, deleting the pictures, too. But before I could go back to sleep, I restored them from the backup deleted folder.

THE NEXT DAY
03:52PM

"Isn't it too early for a pub right now?" I asked the guys as we gathered outside the office. One of them-Tyler, I think his name was-nodded in agreement.

He said, "Actually, I'm famished. How about we get a bite to eat before we head off?"

With that suggestion, all of the men in suits agreed, patting their tummies. I'd noticed I was one of the younger men at the office. Most of them talked about kids and their wives and spendings. But others closer to my age helped me feel a bit like I wasn't completely out of place.

We had really delicious-and a bit too pricy-meals at some restaurant I can't pronounce the name of. It got pretty dumb when I realized everyone was trying to compete who could flex and pay more. AOT Enterprises' employees were paid a good sum of money, but they had low IQ, especially for people whose jobs are related to my field.

But I plastered a smile on my face. I tried to prolong my patience with them. I was trying, I was trying harder. Ben was right, I was telling myself I'm moving on, but I was lying to myself.

And now I'm not.

Now, I'm walking into a huge bar in London, with Wanderlust spelled out on the huge sign outside in bright neon lights. I'm walking into Wanderlust, with my new work colleagues, going out for a couple of pints.

Tyler nudges me when I slow down as we enter the pub. "Hey. Harry was it? So, are you single?"

I'm a bit taken aback at first by his question. I look at him up and down and take a subtle step away from him as we continue walking more into the place, music playing some beats to the people littering around through the speakers installed everywhere around the place. I can see a dance floor in the middle of the floorboards, but every floor seems to be to dance here.

"Yes, and I'm also straight," I tell Tyler. To which, he bursts out laughing and shakes his head quickly.

"Oh, no, no, that's not what I meant!" His laughter ceases only a little. "It's just, you look miserable. So I thought-"

"Nah, I'm fine," I wave him off. He nods and takes it I'm not up for conversation, so he leaves. Hugh Anderson, however, decides to beckon me over.

"Newbie!" He calls.

I grit my teeth together and show him the fakest smile I could muster. "I have a name, Anderson."

"Alright, newbie?" Hugh chuckles and I try hard not to let my smile falter. "You need to get yourself one of those."

"What?" I blinked at him, but he was already pointing at a few girls huddled together by the corner, eying us warily and giggling. I looked back at Hugh and patted his shoulder. "I'll pass. Thanks for the offer."

"Come on, ne-"

"I'm sure Tyler will be interested," I cut him off before he had to continue that bloody word. God knows I've had enough of it to last me a lifetime.

Thankfully and finally, but with a slight grudge, Hugh Anderson shrugs and leaves me alone. Before anyone else can approach me, I retreat back to the bar and take a seat on one of the tall stools, putting my head in my hands.

Go out, Ben said.

It'll be fun, Ben said.

Fuck that, I'll say when I see him.

Don't get me wrong, work was great. I loved the job I had. What I do has been my dream ever since I held my very first phone and touched my very first PC keyboard. But the people at AOT are snobby and too dumb for my liking. They act like they like each other but I could bet my life on it they just like to boast to each other.

I thought I was just blindly judging because I hated the idea of them, but now that I've actually spent more than two hours with them outside of work, I could see I was right. Their personalities were ugly.

The fact that I had to hang around them to distract myself from the burning pain inside my chest makes it swell even more. I feel it sting my insides as I rubbed my eyes in frustration with the palms of my hands, aggravated and irritated. Aggravated and irritated at myself, for everything I've put myself through. Everything I've ruined and lost.

"Hey, handsome."

The sigh, that was on its way out, ready to tell the girl that had just approached me to piss off, was sucked out of me, along with all the air that my lungs had had encompassed. At the sound of her voice.

The sound of Her voice.

Her voice.

The Her that I've ruined and lost. The Her that has been driving my life like a car swerving off a bridge, just to end up colliding with its fate and shattering into a million pieces.

No, it can't be.

Not after all that time.

"Hey, handsome."

She wouldn't say that. She very rarely called me babe and I was her boyfriend. And why would she be at a random bar? In London?

But it's her voice.

I know it. I've memorized it. I have it engraved in my memory. I almost got the sound wave of it tattooed on my forehead, one drunk night. I know her. I know the velvety coat of her voice. I know the pitch of it. I know her.

But it can't be.

I must be imagining things. I've listened to her voice for too long. I've been thinking about her for too long. I've gotten so fucking madly crazy about her that I'm now imagining her voice.

I slowly move my hands away from my face, my palms that have been rubbing at my eyes pulled down and I look up.

I look up.

And my broken world picks itself back up and breaks all over again.

••
note:
double update!!
sorry for this major cliffhanger, but i'll have to leave you with it till next chapter. ik, i'm evil like that.
remember to follow, vote and comment!
seeing that you're loving this sequel so far really puts me in such a motivated and productive mood to write more.
all the love, ness. xx