Chapter 31         Charlotte POV            Day 53 of Tour: New York City

I sat in the suite with my head against the headboard of my bed. I smiled at the laptop screen as Emily continued to ramble on about Bruno Mars and The Fray.

“-Love to see them in concert someday. You know?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

She raised a ginger brow. “Are you even listening to me, Charlotte?”

“Of course.”

The pretty girl smiled. “What’s on your mind?”

I stared into her bright emerald eyes. “Oh… you know… nothing much.” She looked at me doubtfully. “Okay I was thinking about Harry. And you. You and Harry. Harry and you.”

“Seriously? When are you going to drop that?”

“Never! He likes you, Ms. Marie. I promise.”

“I like my mailman but that doesn’t mean I wanna hook up with the old creep.”

I rolled my eyes. “Never mind. Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for work?”

Emily pointed to her perfectly naturally curled red hair. “I am ready. Well, I still have to put pants on but besides that.” I laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for a signing?” She asked me.

“Nah. They left without me. I didn’t really want to go.”

“You’re so lucky. You have no idea, Charlotte. People are crazy jealous of you.”

“You could be lucky too,” I leaned back onto the bed. “If you just got together with Harry.” Her usually brave and eager eyes looked to her keyboard. “Why does that scare you so much?” I asked her. “It’s just Harry Styles. He doesn’t bite… a lot.”

“It’s not him,” She sighed.

“The fame isn’t bad. Fans are nice.”

“No that doesn’t bother me.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

Emily looked up at me. “What if I… what if we… get serious?”

I blinked.

“Serious?” I repeated. “You’re afraid of falling in love?”

“God don’t say it like that. I sound like an idiot.”

I opened my mouth to reply but was silenced by an incoming call on my line. It was my mom.

“Go ahead and get that, I have to peace out anyway,” Emily said.

“You sure?”

“Yep.” Emily stood up and winked at me. “See ya!”

“Bye,” I waved and pressed the end button right after she did. A flash and a black screen later I was facing my mom. She smiled at me broadly. “Hey ma,” I said to her.

“Charlie baby!” Mom smiled. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” I replied with a shrug.

Mom looked at me with a funny face. “Did you run out of clothes?”

“No…?”

“Why are you wearing a boy’s shirt then?”

I looked down at Niall’s shirt and laughed. “Mom, Niall lets me borrow his things.” I tugged at the hem of the t shirt. “It’s more comfortable than anything I own.”

She raised a brow. “Okay then… if you say so.”

“Honey?” A muffled voice said from her line.

“In here, Matt!”

“Oh mom I should go…” I reached for the laptop lid.

“But Charlotte we all need to talk about the moving situation-”

“I don’t know what I’m doing yet. So I’ll call you later,” I smiled as sweetly as I could at the camera. “I love you mom.”

She sighed. “I love you too, Charlie Baby.”

I closed the lid just as a tall man came into the picture. His deep voice was cut off with a sudden dead slap of the laptop. I sighed and threw the thing on the foot of my made bed. I swung my legs out and landed on the ground. My bare feet paddled against the ground as I made my way over to the small seating area in the center of the room. I hoisted myself up into one of the oversized plushy white chairs and pulled my journal out in front of me. I picked up my pen and twirled it in my fingers. My teeth bit down on my lip while I thought hard. Suddenly a series of words started to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I grinned while I scribbled my thoughts down on paper: “She's not afraid of all the attention. She's not afraid of running wild. How come she's so afraid of falling in love?”

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Louis POV

Jason Mraz could be heard from outside of our door. I slid in my keycard and swung the door open. I stepped inside with all of the lads behind me.

“Hey weirdo,” I called out to Charlie Brown. Who, like her new nickname, was being rather weird. She was sprawled out in the middle of the floor with her arms and legs spread out like some sort of human starfish.

“I’m so alone,” She whined.

“Not anymore!”

Charlie smiled up at the five of us as we came walking in like the cool people we were. “Thank God. I hate being alone.”

“We know. But it’s good for you,” Zayn came over and nudged her limp body with his foot. “It builds character.”

“I thought spicy food was supposed to build character?” I tried to clarify.

“No its pain. Pain builds character,” Liam added.

Harry flopped himself down on my bed. “You’re all wrong. Sex. Sex builds character.”

Charlie Brown grimaced behind a low giggle. “You’re such a sicko, Styles.”

I laughed with Zayn and Niall. Liam smirked.

“Anyway, we brought food,” Liam tried not to giggle. “You up for some chicken?”

Charlie nodded and stood up. She gave Harry an eye roll before she went to give Niall a hug.

I nudged Harry. I joke whispered loud enough for the two love birds to hear, “I think they’ll be doing some crucial character building tonight, if you know what I mean.”

“Louis!” Charles whipped her head to me. She couldn’t help but crack a smile.

Damn I was funny.

As we all went to the table to grab our food we made small talk about the day’s events. Zayn talked about the crazy dude who tried to tackle him in the bathroom. I was proud to announce that I had successfully made it through the entire signing without any serious causalities.

Charlie Chaplin sat down in a seat next to me and Harry. “How was your day?” Harry asked her.

“Eh, kinda low key,” She replied. After she took a bite of her food she continued. “Oh I did talk to Emily this morning.”

Harry almost choked on his chicken. “That’s cool.”

“HARILY,” I coughed into my arm.

Harry shot me a playful glare. “How is she doing?”

“Oh she’s great!” Charles smiled cheekily.

“That’s good.” Harry stared down at his plate and tried to appear expressionless.

Charlie looked at me with a frown. We were both rooting for team Harily. If only that boy would grow a pair and make a move. But he liked her too much to mess it up. He wasn’t one to get nervous or shy… but that just showed how different this girl was to him.

I rolled my hand forward, egging her to continue.

“We talked about you,” Charlie went on.

Everyone stared at Hazza as he stared at his chicken. “That’s nice.”

Nothing.

Charlie the Unicorn rolled her eyes at me. I shrugged. He was a stubborn fella!

But Charlie wasn’t going to give up. “Why haven’t you called her?”

Harry rubbed his chin. “I just haven’t. Kinda busy, if you haven’t noticed love.”

“Well you should. Because she likes you.”

Harry set his fork down. His bottle green eyes scanned the table to reach her face. “It isn’t that easy, you know? I can’t just ring her up and be like, ‘Hey wanna be my girl? I’m not internationally famous or anything so there’s nothing to be scared about! And why’ll I’m at it let me just try to explain how I have no fucking clue what to do when I like a girl this much.’”

Charlie’s jaw dropped a little.

We all sat there in silence.

“Oh my god…” Charles started.

Harry stared up at her irritably. “What? What now?”

A smile started to play across her lips. “Tell her that.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No! I’m serious,” Charlie used her hands for effect as she poked Hazza’s chest. “You need to call Emily and tell her what you just told me.”

“I was joking. It’s called a joke.”

“Duh I know that! But it’s what she needs to hear. Emily needs you to tell her she’s not the only one who’s scared here. Tell her you get it and you can both work through it together.” Charles cupped her hands together under her chin as she sang out, “As a couple!”

Harry stared at her through the narrowed slits of his eyelids. You could hear a pin drop as he considered what Charlie had just said. “Fine. Fine I’ll do it.”

Charlie grinned at me like mad. We shared a loud high five.

“TEAM HARILY!” I shouted.

“Don’t make me change my mind,” Harry tried not to smile. “There’s still time to change my mind.”

“No there’s not,” I said. I held up Harry’s phone that he had set on the table. “Because her line is ringing.”

Harry looked like a scared little bunny as he stared at the glowing screen. “No you didn’t.”

“Oh yes he DID!” Zayn said.

I grinned devilishly. “Yes, yes I did.”

“Shit,” Harry mumbled. He stood up from the table and snatched the phone from my hands harshly. Harry held the receiver to his ear as he walked out of the room. He shot a final glare at Charlie and me as he closed the front door behind him.

“Whelp,” Charlie said with a proud little smile. “I feel good about that.”

“Me too,” I held up my soda for a cheers. “Me too.”

She clicked her can against mine before we each took a swig.

Operation Harily was now complete.