mia

  Throughout the entire night, all I did was toss and turn. There were periods of time that I would go up and use the bathroom, but after a while Harry's grip on my waist grew too tight for me to even move around.

  "Harry," I whispered around four in the morning. "You gotta let go, I have to pee."

  "Mmmph." Harry mumbled. "No."

  I huffed and pried his hands off me, despite the burning desire to stay and let him hold me. I felt antsy; I needed to get up and move around or else I would just lie here thinking about all the different outcomes of the current situation.

  On my trial was Cat, who pawed at my fuzzy socks and rolled on the ground; wanting to play. I threw her one of her small toys before proceeding into the kitchen to grab a glass of pulp free orange juice. In the pantry I found an oatmeal cream pie, which I nervously scarfed down in three bites.

  "Mia?" A deep, sleepy voice said from behind me. I spun around on my heel, oatmeal cream pie still stuffed in my cheeks. "What are you doing awake at this hour?"

  "Uhh.." I finished chewing my food. "Couldn't sleep. Go to bed, I'll join you soon."

  "No." Harry frowned sleepily. "I need you with me to sleep." 

  "So the twenty years that you have lived without knowing me you haven't been able to sleep?" I retorted. "I promise, I'll come back to bed soon. I just have... a lot on my mind. I'm gonna take a Benadryl, or something."

  Harry closed the space between us, tugging on my arm while rubbing his sleepy eyes. Although he looked incredibly adorable when he was sleepy, I couldn't give in. When I hesitated, he sighed and cupped my face with his large hands, forcing me to look up into his eyes. 

  "It may be four in the morning, but something is clearly bothering you." Harry said. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"

  "It can wait 'till morning." I said. "Really, it's okay." 

  "Come back to bed and we'll talk. I'm not going back to bed until you're feeling better about whatever it is, okay?" Harry tried. I nodded, letting him guide me back into bed, with Cat trailing along behind us as always. I didn't know how to tell Harry; I had planned on coming up with an elaborate speech but he had caught me off guard and I was going to have to spill at least some of the truth to him. I would spare details, of course, for the sake of us both. 

  The covers were still warm and Harry's body was incredibly comfy. He turned on the lamp that was perched on the desk on his side of the bed and looked at me, as if he was awaiting some explanation from me. I exhaled loudly, eyes wandering around the room as I tried to figure out the right words to say. 

  "So... this was going to wait until morning, because I didn't want to worry you or anything before bed." I rambled. "Uh, okay. When you got in the shower, I was reading through work emails- because I still own a branch of the family company and wanted to see if there was anything urgent that I was missing out on."

  "Oh no." Harry groaned.

  "It gets worse." I assured him. "There was a message from Matthew, and from colleagues that were sort of all the same, and one from my dad. He basically made threats to me that eventually I'll have to come back home or else something bad will happen, but for now he said that you and I both have to stay out of the tabloids or something... really, really bad will happen... to us both." 

  "Wow," Harry scoffed. "Well, alright."

  "I never wanted to get you involved in this mess." I said honestly. "My family situation.. it's pretty messed up, and my intention was never to get you added into it. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that you some how wound up in the mix of this."

  "Well we can work something out, can't we?" Harry tried. "I have authority, can't we use that to our advantage?"

  "Possibly, but my dad has authority as well." I chewed on my bottom lip. "He's a multi-billionaire that has connections with practically everyone. We need to work as hard as we can to keep everything we do private, or we could be paying. My dad can find ways to get stories written about the both of us that will torment us both until he gets what he wants, which is for me to go back to them."

  "But he's your father! He can't do that!" Harry argued.

  "He can and he will." I admitted. "Business and money sits high above family in his list of priorities, unfortunately. I've seen him do this thing before."

  "How?" He asked. "Surely we could just go to the police and get everything sorted out, right? They can't take something like blackmail lightly." His fists clenched and unclenched as he grew more and more angry, a side that I had rarely gotten to see from him. 

  "Again, connections. Even with the police. I've seen him use these same tactics when he began cheating on my mom, he blackmailed people into not saying anything and that's how the story dissolved so quickly in the press." I rubbed my temples. "I've just been up all night, I feel so horrible that you even have to be a part of this. Harry, I'm so sorry."

  "Don't be." Harry pulled my body into him and held me close, kissing me on the forehead. "We can work through this, alright? It sounds like it won't be easy, but I'm not one to give up so quickly. In the morning I can talk to my most trusted management members about options and then we work from there, alright?"

  "They can't say anything." I reminded him. "Any little slip and things could go very wrong."

  "Of course." He nodded. "As soon as we wake up in the morning, I'll give them a call. We can get this sorted."

  "Good." I sighed. "I'm sick of my dad controlling my life and he's taken it way too far this time. I'm sick of feeling helpless compared to him."

  "That has got to come to end, and so does his superiority." Harry insisted. "You should never feel afraid of anything or anyone, especially someone who is supposed to love and take care of you." 

  "Right." I nodded with a yawn. "Sorry for waking you so early, I'm not really good with timing."

  "It's okay." Harry smiled. "I don't mind staying up as long as it's with you."

  I gave him a look at his cheesy one-liner. We still had plenty to figure out concerning the situation with my father, but I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder. At least Harry knew about what was going on and I had someone to confide in about everything. He was, in a way, like my rock that seemed to protect me from all of the negative shit that came my way. It made me want to open up to him about my forced marriage to Matthew, but I felt like that was enough four a.m family drama for one night. 

  Harry kissed me gently, mumbling to me that everything would be okay and work out in the end, and I was finally able to fall asleep in peace; knowing that whatever came our way, we would face it together.

  The next morning was filled with phone and Skype calls to Harry's management team. They were all very kind and helpful, but as the morning went on and on it got a bit boring. One of them would come up with a solution to the problem, then another one would shoot them down, and then all over again. Harry and I would occasionally send each other wary glances. 

  "We need to come up with a solid decision soon." Harry said. It was already eleven thirty. 

  "Agreed." Sonja, the main female on the management team, responded through the computer. 

  "I think the only thing we can do for now is lay low." Henry, another management member, spoke up. "Harry and Mia, both of you need to stay out of the media. Going to NASA is still on the table because that's a completely private trip, but after that I would stick with very secluded places."

  "Like what?" I asked. 

  "We can cross that bridge when we get there." Sonja sighed. "For now, Mia, if you could get in contact with your dad- possibly through video call. Get to the bottom of what he wants, then tell us what he said and any proposals that he's made." 

  "When do I have to do that?" I hesitated, afraid of the answer. The last thing I wanted to do was see my father and talk to him face-to-face.

  "As soon as possible." Sonja clarified. "In fact, we can get off this conference call and you should call him right away. You too, Harry, you can be there to back her up if need be. Just get to the bottom of what he wants." 

  Immediately it felt like a panic attack was coming on. The thought of seeing my father for the first time since the day he was supposed to walk me up to the altar sounded mortifying, and there was also the possibility that he could spill something in front of Harry that I hadn't let him in on yet and ruin things even more. But that was what he was good at; sabotage and ruining things. 

  "We'll do it." Harry said for the both of us. His hand was on my thigh, rubbing circles to try and let me know it would be alright. "Afterward, I'll touch base with you briefly and we can talk again, this time tomorrow?"

  "Affirmative." Sonja nodded. Before we could say bye, she logged off her Skype and her face was off of our screen. These people really didn't like to waste time, I learned. Harry sat next to me, just staring at me as I tried to avoid his face just like I did when we had our four a.m conversation.

  "You can do this." Harry encouraged. "We call him, maybe he doesn't even pick up. Keep it casual, ask him what he wants, ask him how soon he wants things. I know you can do this, alright? We need to get inside his head, it's the only way we'll get an advantage on everything." 

  I sighed shakily and nodded as Harry scrolled through my Skype contacts, landing on my father's name. I gulped. He clicked on my father's name and his profile picture icon, the company emblem, appeared on the screen as we waited for him to pick up. I felt like I could throw up my insides with how nervous I was, but I told myself that I needed to do this; not just for me, but for Harry.

  Unfortunately, father picked up.

  "Mia?" His face appeared on the screen. He was behind his desk at his office, as per usual. I awkwardly smiled. "Strange to see you." 

  "Uh, yeah." I scratched the back of my neck. "I got your email." 

  "And this must be the rockstar lover, correct?" He laughed bitterly. Harry waved sheepishly, both of us staying quiet. The conversation was more awkward than I had imagined it would be. "Does he know how much the two of you have ruined the company?"

  "I'm not here to talk about that." I spoke up for myself. "I want answers." 

  Shock was written on his face for just a few seconds. There had been times that I had talked back to him, but they all could be counted on one of my hands. He recomposed himself, wearing a smug look, as he laced his fingers together. 

  "Very well, then." Father sighed, like I was just wasting his time. It made me want to cry. "Ask away."

  "You mentioned me coming back to the family." I began. "When? And how long does this period of Harry and I hiding from the public have to last?"

  "In good time." My father remained very closed off. "As for staying out of the public, it should last until you two part ways. The media attention- negative, I should add, that both our company and the Miles family company has received since your stunt, has been outrageous and cannot continue. And you and I both know what will happen if I find the two of you in tomorrow's papers."

  Harry shot me a sideways glance. This was the part that I had left details out on; the picture that my father had sent to me. It broke my heart to even think about showing Harry these pictures because it was my fault he was even involved and he was completely innocent.

  "Is there a bit of confusion on your end?" My father laughed. "Surely you've told the boy about the photos, haven't you?"

  "Mia, what is he talking about?" Harry tried to be quiet about it, but my father had definitely heard over the speakers of the computer, because he was laughing. My face felt hot- something like this was exactly what I wanted to avoid. The short time in between our conference call with Harry's management team and calling my father hadn't been enough to fill Harry in on some of the gory details.

  "No, I haven't." I clarified through gritted teeth. "Our morning had been pretty busy and I didn't want it to come to that. Do we really need to be this hostile? The picture is completely out of context." 

  "Welcome to the business world, Mia." My father chuckled. "You play as dirty as you can. And with the photos of Harry holding the pills, it is enough evidence for my people to release a story and we will if you fail to oblige with my commands as they come."

  "What photo?" Harry asked. His face had grown pale. On my father's end, a photo of Harry holding the pills that his friend had tried to drug me with was clear as day. "Mia..."

  "We need to go." I said to my father. "But as for now, you want us out of the media and we will stay out of it. As for me returning home, that I would like to negotiate because-"

  "I'm out of time." My father sighed, bored. "Nice chatting with you."

  And with that he hung up. The conversation was not enlightening, productive, and it dug me in a deep hole with Harry. I knew that it was his business to know what my father was plotting against us, but I didn't want to hit him with all of this information about my father and then drop him with a "hey, by the way, my father could potentially sell pictures of you with drugs in your hand to the press". That seemed cruel. But now I realized that would have been much more suitable than facing Harry in this moment, who was giving me an extremely angry look. 

  "We need to talk." 

  a/n: oh no! i feel like they don't argue and fight enough, so i had to add that in. but harry styles seems like the person to be hot when he's angry, so i guess that's a plus for you guys.

  also, has anyone else been watching AAO1D 3? i feel like it's going really slow and i'm not as into it as i was with the other ones. idk :-/

  happy thursday, stay safe!!

  -delilah