Harry Styles

Who knew a woman like Kensington would be able to surprise me day after day? I surely did not. Or maybe I just had the bar way too low on the ground. I wasn't sure.

But when she ended up agreeing to accompanying me to my cousin's birthday and I was so happy. It just meant another day out for us without anything work related. Well... technically, I tried to bribe her to come by saying my uncle's wife wanted to talk business – which I was sure would happen if Kensington decided to come – but that wasn't actually the case. My family had no idea I was going to ask her to come with me. For all I knew, they most likely expected one of my friends to come again.

That part wasn't a lie.

My family was a lot to deal with. Way too many personalities and strong opinions in one environment weren't too much fun to be around when things got out of hand but other than that, they were alright.

However, back to Kensington... with everything she did and every time we spent together, I began to like her more and more. Which was inevitable with me constantly bugging her and her never leaving my mind. It was kind of weird seeing as I haven't had a crush, or whatever the fuck people call it these days, in absolutely forever so to experience it with someone so different to me was something else. We weirdly vibed off of each other which was so much fun to see and live through, we clicked in a way I haven't done so before with anyone else and we also fought like I haven't fought with anyone else.

At least not in a while.

I liked it.

With each fight, I got a newer feel to her. A newer side which I wouldn't have ever gotten to had I not pissed her off. It worked. And yes, she may have been mad at me a lot and didn't want to open up right away, she didn't decline my moves, either. That boosted my ego and confidence greatly, it pushed me to carry on and led me to believe it was ok to go as far as asking her to come to one of my family things.

As per usual, she looked stunning when I went to pick her up. She didn't wear anything too extra – a simple pair of blue, high waisted jeans with a black long-sleeved top tucked into it then the whole outfit topped off with a pair of black high heeled boots. Her hair was down and some makeup accentuated her facial features.

She looked at me when she got in the car – she made me pick her up from her building because she still didn't want me to know where she lived – and sighed. It caused me to smirk because I knew why she gave me that reaction. She didn't know if she should have gotten a present or not and if so, then what, which I found amusing. The fact that she even wanted to get something was enough to make me like her even more. I didn't tell her that, of course.

"I still don't like the fact that I'm going empty handed," she let me know and I chuckled. She was definitely an over-worrier.

"You can hold my hand if you want," I joked. Kind of. I wouldn't have been against it if she wanted to. Then she scoffed and I knew it would never happen. Well, not any time soon, anyway. "Nah, don't worry about it. My cousin... he has literally everything he could want."

"Still. It is kind of rude to go without something."

"Alright... well," I mumbled as I opened the compartment between our seats. We stopped at a red light so it was safe to not look at the road. "I didn't write the card yet so you can come up with something and sign both of our names. Will that make you feel better?"

"Better than nothing, I guess," she sighed as she gave in. I passed her the pen and then placed my hand back on the steering wheel and moved the car. "Where is the card?"

"I haven't bought it yet," I admitted. "I thought we'd stop at the petrol station and get one. I doubt he'll be arsed about the card once he read it, anyway."

"Okay..." she said. She gave off a vibe I couldn't quite explain to myself, most likely because this was the first time, I had ever felt it around her. It was kind of... uncomfortable. Not for me. But she was.

"Are you nervous?"

"Do I have any reason to be? Other than you describing your family as 'too much'?"

"Well..." I dragged out the word as I wondered if I should have told her about my parents being very judgmental or not. I mean, I knew they wouldn't make a show but whenever my mother heard something she didn't like, no one could mind their business in peace until she let go of all of her thoughts through arguing with whoever pissed her off. My family was close, maybe a little too close to the point where no one was arsed about anything that was said.

"Am I going to find myself in some serious business and have drinks thrown at me?"

"That's a possibility," I nodded.

"Thanks for the headsup," she mumbled. Whether that was sarcastic or she meant it seriously, I had no idea. That kind of put me on edge. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable today. This was meant to be a nice little day out and away from work. Although, I probably should have just planned something for us two then. "Will there be wine? Please, tell me there'll be wine."

"It is my cousin's birthday which means our grandparents will be there, too. And they never go anywhere without their wine so – yes. There will be wine."

"Oh my god! Best news!" she sighed and I had to laugh. I wanted to be as important in her life as wine was. The damn beverage could make her feel so relieved and at peace – the simple thought of it – that I found it crazy.

As planned, we stopped to get a card and we wrote it as well. Kensington did, I mean. Her handwriting was nice. She took her time with it and as I watched her write my name, I kind of wanted her to write me something to get tattooed.

The rest of the journey was interesting. Mainly because we had a long conversation about random things that actually made so much sense. 

"Alright. Who am I meeting again?" she asked a little while after we just sat in silence. We were about two minutes from my uncle's.

"Everyone, basically," I sighed. I kind of threw her in the deep end of the pool with this.

"Any names I should know in particular?" she questioned. "I mean, I know your cousin is called Romeo but that's about it."

"Um. My mum's name is Amelia and my dad's is Leon. My sister is Olivia, my brother is Mason, my uncle is Dave, his wife is Vic, my nan from my mum's side is called Rose then my grampy is John..."

"Your who?" she asked back with a light chuckle. "Grampy?"

"Yeah...?"

"Ok, that's new," she hummed. "I never heard anyone call their granddads grampy."

"Yeah. Um, where was I?" I spoke to myself as I went back to naming my family members. "You're only meeting one set of grandparents of mine today. Then Romeo's siblings will be there, too, obviously..." but she wasn't listening. And I guess I understood why.

My uncle's house was crazy nice. Well. Mansion. It was a cottage, a massive one. It was stunning, really. I would have loved to live in something like that in the future. As I pulled up to the place, I saw quite a few cars. Family, friends, whoever else was attending. It was a massive party. As per usual.

When we got out of the car, the smell of food already hit my senses. I could tell the grill had been on since this morning. It wasn't too late yet, the clock just turned to half twelve so we arrived nicely.

"I love this place," Kensington told me as we walked up to the front door and I rang the bell.

"Yeah, it's pretty stunning, isn't it?" I asked with a smile. I kept my eyes on her as she faced away from the main door. She took in the whole scene, her eyes wide and curious. I loved looking at her. Especially from this close. Her skin looked so nice, her lashes long, eyebrows a bit bushy but nicely kept, pouty lips and defined nose. Kensington was absolutely gorgeous.

Suddenly, the comment that left my lips wasn't directed at the scenery but her. In my mind, anyway. She probably would have slapped me for complimenting her like that.

"Harry!" quickly, I turned back around and so did Kensington when I heard the familiar voice of my nan. She brought me in her arms right away and hugged me tightly. "It's wonderful to see you again, darling!"

"It's good to see you too, nan," I chuckled. "How have you been?"

"I've been fantastic!" she exclaimed. "Now, introduce me to your gorgeous girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," I stated right away. "She's just a friend, nan."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you teenagers call it these days," she stepped away from me. "Hello darling, I'm Rose."

"H-, I-, um, I'm Ren-Renleigh," she stumbled on her words which just led me to further believe she was nervous. It was very unlike her. She was always so confident in everything she did.

"Nan," I said a little louder and sterner. "May we go inside? We have all day to chat."

"Sure-sure, come on in," she said as she made her way back the house. She almost tripped over and I was quick to grab her arm. "Oh, godness, this stupid thing. I swear to god I'm going to... David!" she screamed for my uncle and I had to laugh.

She was long gone by the time I turned to Kensington, her eyes taking in the interior of the mansion. She looked kind of lost. She was also really quiet and just absolutely the opposite of what I usually saw and experienced on the daily when I was with her.

"Hey," I stepped closer to her after I put the presents on the table in the hallway. There was already so much shit for Romeo which made me shake my head. This boy was so spoiled. "You good?" I asked Kensington and she shrugged. A smile crawled on my lips as I pulled her in for a hug, her body tense against mine for the first few seconds then much more relaxed.

"That was only one person from your family... seeing all those cars outside, there are probably so many more I'm gonna come across."

"Do you want to go?" I asked her. If she wanted to leave, I would have taken her back home. There was no point in staying if she would feel so anxious and uncomfortable. The point of this day was for us to just... hang out. And chill. Again, with a family like mine, that was always difficult but I knew we would have managed.

"No... I don't want to ruin this," she sighed as she stepped away from me. I looked from her eyes down to her black boots and then back up. "So, she was the one who got the winery named after her, correct?"

"Precisely," I nodded. "Now, I know she can be a lot just right off the bat, but I suppose you'll get along with her just fine once you have had a glass of wine. Or two."

"I'm assuming she's very chatty."

"Oh, most definitely," I laughed which caused Kensington to smile. The urge to pull her close and give her a peck on the lips grew in me. Like, badly. Every moment that passed, I just felt this tension between us – which may have had been one sided but I felt it there – and I had no idea how to deal with it. I had no idea how long I would be able to keep myself from actually acting out on my feelings.

We walked out to the back where the rest, or perhaps most, of my family were. Right away, we ran into Mason who wiggled his eyebrows at me then quickly pulled his lips into a smile when Kensington looked back at him from scanning the backyard.

"Long time no see," she told him. There. She was back. She sounded sure of herself, she joked around and it was sarcastic. That was because she knew my brother and felt comfortable around him.

Note to self: never leave her on her own. Always make sure she's around you or your brother.

"Didn't think I'd see you so soon," Mason replied. They were almost the same person. Very impulsive, very sarcastic, very strict on themselves, perfectionists. I kind of liked that. "Not that I'm not happy to see you. It's actually much better than having one of his," he nodded towards me with his head. "friends here to take the piss out of me constantly."

"Heyy!" I spoke up with a bit of fake offence in my voice.

"Hmm," Kensington hummed, her smirk still on her face. "I'm just overall better, I suppose."

"Oh, you are so gonna fit into our family," Mason laughed and mentally, I had to agree. Big personality, big ego, big... everything. She was the perfect fit, honestly. Then I realised what my brother really said and...

I didn't even want to deny it.

But I had to.

I could tell Kensington wasn't as invested in me as I was in her therefore Mason's comment most likely made her feel a little... strange. Then again, it was strange that my brother could see her in our family.

"Alright, Mason, stop that," I laughed. "Nan already freaked her out enough."

"She didn't freak..."

"You met nana Rose?" Mason asked her. "Oh, god, she was necking a bottle of wine literally not even five minutes ago. She gets a little too lively when she's pissed."

"She was shouting for Uncle Dave because she almost tripped over. Oh, and she called Kensington my girlfriend. So, I would say everything makes sense now," I said. From the corner of my eye, I saw a very well-known figure approaching us and I could barely hold back the sigh that was about to escape my lips.

"Harry, son," my father's voice flew in my ears and forced a smile on my face. Mason dipped almost right away and I kind of wished he would have taken Kensington with him. A forced smile appeared on my face as he hugged me for literally five seconds. "Good to see you."

"Is it?" I asked curiously. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Five fucking months.

"Indeed," he nodded. My father was a ridiculous bloke. His attention travelled from my eyes to Kensington's and I so badly wanted to step in front of her so he couldn't look at her. It wasn't that my dad was a disgusting human being. He just didn't particularly deserve to know her. I kept a lot of my life away from my parents. They had the tendency to ruin things. Good things. "I believe we haven't met yet."

"That would be the case, yes," Kensington said flat out. My smirk. My damn smirk was about to pop out. But I had to contain myself. So, instead, I coughed a little as I cleared my throat and shoved my hand in my pocket.

"I'm Leon Styles, as you may have probably guessed. I'm Harry's father."

"I'm Renleigh Kensington, as you may have probably guessed. I'm Harry's rival."

My dad laughed, but not because it was funny. More like because no one clapped back like that when speaking to him. I know I didn't. I couldn't. He was my father, I had to respect him no matter how much of an asshole he could be. He... well, he was one of the people who decided to invest in my company. It was his idea. He wanted in but not to help. It was more so to keep me under control, under his fingertips so if I did something wrong, he could easily squash me. I worked really hard on not needing him anymore, my links were much better now than they were at the time. I knew it was only a matter of months before he wouldn't be under my investors.

"I'm afraid I haven't heard of that name before," dad replied. Of course, he did. Him and mother were on top of stuff like this. Especially him. He had a weird obsession with knowing everything and everyone.

"What a shame," Kensington sighed. "I only heard so much about yours."

"Good things, I hope," dad smiled.

"I have yet to hear good things, actually," she said with a little something to her voice. God. No one ever dared to talk to him like that. Most people licked my dad's arse. They wanted his approval just in case they would end up working with or for him in the future. Or just cross paths. But Kensington didn't give a fuck. I could tell she didn't like him very much.

"Ah, not even from my son?" he tried.

"We don't really talk about family, so no," she ended the conversation. "It was lovely meeting you, though."

"Please, the pleasure is all mine," he smiled at her. All throughout this conversation I just stood there and waited for it to be over. Then again, my dad was better than my mum. I knew I needed to drink before she would approach me.

We watched him walk away after he excused himself and I sighed heavily.

"Sorry about him..."

"That's fine. Nothing I couldn't handle," she told me. "But now, I'd like a glass of wine. Only met three, technically two new family members, and I'm already drained."

"I think I need one as well," I laughed.

"Is your mum as... persistent as your father?"

"What do you mean?"

"Will she want to know if I know her as much as your father did? Because... damn."

"Maybe. But let's not think about he-... hello, little one," my attention quickly averted from her as I noticed my sister run towards us. I placed the glass back down on the table and opened my arms for her to run into. She wore a dress, one with a massive brand logo in the middle and I knew my mother dressed her.

"Hal!"

"Livvy, I've missed you so much!" I told her as I kissed her cheek and she giggled. "How are you?"

"Happy!" she told me excitedly and I laughed at her response. That's all I ever wanted her to be.

"Good, I'm glad. Now... I'd like you to meet someone, yeah?"

"Oh! Who?" she asked curiously. Her eyes already looked away from mine as my back faced Kensington so she had the perfect view of her.

"Livvy, meet Ken- Renleigh. Renleigh, this is my best friend, Olivia," I introduced them to each other as I turned around. Kensington swallowed the wine in her mouth and smiled at my sister. Her eyes seemed to have softened as she looked at her and my head kept snapping between them.

Why did I find her interacting with my siblings the best thing ever?

"Wow, you're really pretty," Livvy complimented her and I felt my own cheeks go warm. "I love your hair! Mine's curly and when I want to make it flat it never happens."

"Thank you, lovely," Kensington smiled. "Aw, I really like your curly hair!"

"You do?" she asked her, almost in disbelief. "Yay! My friend told me it wasn't pretty."

"Well, tell your friend that she should be supportive. There's already too much hate in this world. Next time you see her, compliment her," she told my sister who listened carefully, still in my arms.

"I never tell people bad things but only nice things. I tell them if they are pretty but if I think they look sleepy I just smile and then talk about something else and when she told me my hair was funny, I didn't like it because I really liked it," Olivia kept going on about the story and Kensington just inhaled every one of her words.

"I'm sorry, darling. I really do like your hair, it's lovely!" she said with a smile. "I've always wanted curly hair... look, I put curls in mine the other day because I wanted it so much!" Kensington pulled her phone out and showed my sister a picture where she had curls in her hair.

"Wow... how? Your hair doesn't look curly today..."

"I didn't have time to make it curly unfortunately," Kensington sighed. "But both of your brothers have curls in their hair today."

"Oh! That's right," I laughed and they both looked at me. God. Two of my favourite girls. "Renleigh is absolutely right, little one. You're perfect the way you are."

"Thanks!" she grinned. "Now, put me down please. I want some cake. There's a strawberry flavoured one... and coconut. Renleigh, what cake do you like?" 

"I absolutely love anything coconut."

"Really?" Olivia's eyes quite literally lit up as she looked up at my competition. I brought the glass of wine closer to my lips and took a sip of the beverage. The rich flavour of the drink soaked my tongue and left a slight tingly feeling behind as it slid down my throat and disappeared into my stomach. "No one likes coconut, just me and everyone says it's disgusting but I love it so much! I'm so happy you love it!"

"I'm so happy you love it too!" Kensington exclaimed happily and they shared a high five before my sister promised to bring a slice of cake over for both of them.

"How is it that you love my siblings more than me?" I asked her with a smirk on my lips. I didn't even bother to correct myself when I said 'love.'

"They're much more tolerable than you are," she shrugged. "This wine is fucking amazing," she mumbled as she drank some more of it.

"You are fucking amazing," I found myself mumbling as my eyes stared right in hers. It was quiet enough to be not heard by everyone but loud enough to be heard by her. She didn't respond verbally but her smile was enough for me.

• • •

a.n.
soooooooooooooooooo my week has been TIRING as hell so far idk how i'm even awake rn and it's only 4pm lmfao i've already been told i have an assignment, a presentation and an exam to prepare for and i've only been back 3 days oh and i have an assignment due on friday which i am nowhere near done with wow love this for me xx

but anygays . henleigh are w harry's fam and they will be in the next chapter as well hehehe that one might be one i'm REALLY excited for you guys to read and feedback on!!! ugh i don't wanna spoil it so i'm gonna shut up lmfao

be sure to vote and comment on this one bc u all know i love replying to whatever yous put hehehe

see u sundayyyy x