John doesn't ask questions when I get into the car alone, he simply drives in silence back to my apartment. It's a rather long drive, and it feels that much longer when I'm in the backseat alone. What's been made clear to me over the course of this evening is that Harry has gotten under my skin. He can knock down my confidence in a matter of seconds without even really trying. I thought I could push my feelings for him aside and be what he wants me to be, but I don't think that I can.

I can't be so hot then cold all the time. I don't want to be constricted by rules and terms in a contract. I get it, I signed the damn thing, but I didn't know what this would become when I signed. This was such a stupid idea in the first place, I have no business agreeing to be in this sort of relationship. This is my first relationship after all, jumping into a situation like this was only going to end bad.

"Have a nice night Miss Graham" John breaks me out of my own head as he opens my door and helps me out of the car. I hadn't realised how tired I am. I guess emotional conflict can be exhausting, I've had quite the day.

"Goodnight John" I manage a smile as I head up the stairs into my building. It's not too late as I finally make my way into my apartment and dismantle my alarm. However I can barely keep my eyes open as I scrub off the make up from my face. It takes three rounds of cleaning to finally get rid of it all, my face feels rough and looks red from all the scrubbing I've done.

I collapse into bed after I shake and comb out the majority of the gold flakes in my hair, vowing to wake myself up with enough time in the morning to have a shower before my shift at the cafe. I'm asleep within minutes, dreams filled by the man with brown curls kissing my neck and telling me he wants more, when I have no more to give.

Work is slammed, we definitely don't have enough waitresses to be covering these weekend shifts. I hope they are looking to hire more people when I leave, or else this place is going to go under. Ryan is having to be both in the kitchen and on floor serving customers as Beth and I are struggling to keep everything running smoothly on our own.

"So I see you had a fun date last night?" Ryan says in a brief moment of calm as I drop off orders into the kitchen. His comment confuses me, and I haven't been able to talk to him yet after his and Harry's confrontation. I hadn't been looking forward to it at all.

"Sorry?" I ask him as he walks back around out of the kitchen to the counter and places down a section of the newspaper in front of me.

Oh god, it's me

A picture of Harry and I entering the ballroom last night is plastered across the page amongst a collage of other people who were also in attendance. I didn't even realise they were taking the photos, I guess maybe I was too focused on not falling over on the way in to notice. There is a small bit of writing underneath the picture.

Hotelier Harry Styles attended the ball with a mystery brunette by his side.

Mystery brunette huh? I guess they could have called me worse so I'll take it.

"This is in the paper?" My eyes widen as I ask Ryan, picking it up to examine it more closely. I have to say it's not a bad photo of us at all. We are both smiling as Harry holds my arm to help my climb the stairs.

"Yeah, society pages. Didn't realise he was such a big deal" Ryan mumbles. A loud clatter from the kitchen brings me back into reality and I turn around to pick up some plates and deliver them to the correct tables. My mind is swimming, I hadn't been prepared to see myself in the society pages. I knew it was probably going to happen at some point, Heather had told me that it was going to happen, but I wasn't ready. At least they hadn't printed my name, maybe a lot of the people wouldn't recognise me.

I'm back at the counter as I see Beth delivering an order to the kitchen. She glances down at the page with our picture and her eyes go wide with glee.

"Oh my god that's you! Elena! You look amazing!" I nudge her arm in an effort to make her quiet down, I don't want everyone in the cafe to recognise me.

"And that's him, the guy by the window. No wonder he asked me if you could serve him" I furrow my brows at her before she points towards the window. Harry is sitting in one of the seats facing the counter, his eyes focused on the phone in his hand, tapping away. What on earth is he doing here? I sigh softly as I collect my notepad.

"You don't seem too happy to be seeing your boyfriend here" Ryan states quietly as I move to walk around the counter. I decide not to comment as I take a deep breath and walk over to Harry's table. His eyes are lifted off of his phone as I approach.

"Morning 'mystery brunette'" He gives me a gentle smile and places his phone down on the table as I arrive by his side. I try and suppress the smile on my face, I'm busy and I don't have the time to be dealing with this today.

"Hi" I mumble. "Look I don't have time to talk I have a lot of tables to look after" I quickly tell him. He leans back in his chair smiling softly up at me. He looks good; the warm sun from the window lights up his face in a soft glow, he's wearing a clean white T-shirt and a pair of dark jeans.

"I'm not here to talk, I'm here to keep an eye on that prick" Harry gestures over to the other side of the cafe where Ryan is carrying a tray of dirty plates on his way back into the kitchen. I roll my eyes and look back at Harry.

"Really? Surely you have better things to do with your time" He nods his head.

"Yes I do, but this is priority one. He's hanging around you like a fly on shit" I glare at him as he finishes his sentence.

"So that makes me the shit then huh?" I watch as his eyes widen as he realises what he's said, he starts to shake his head.

"You know I didn't mean it like tha-"

"Can I start you off with something to drink?" I cut him off and take out my notepad. I'm not going to get told off by my boss for chatting to him for too long.

"Elena..." Harry sighs and leans forward in his seats.

"We have coffee, tea, smoothies, juice..." I continue.

"Elena" Harry interrupts. I sigh and look up at him. "You know I didn't mean it like that" he frowns up at me, but I nod. I know he probably didn't, my ego is just bruised from our last encounter.

"I don't like him, and I just want to make sure he doesn't try anything with you. Especially since we are, well, you know, not exactly in the best place" he stumbles his way through the reasoning. He's right, we aren't in the best place, that doesn't mean that I would let Ryan flirt with me.

I frown and shake my head. "Harry, I cant get into a conversation right now. I have to get back to my other tables. You've already got me to quit my job I don't want to get fired. Please just order something"

"Black coffee, please" he mumbles before I walk back to the counter and hand the order to Beth before one of the other tables in my section calls me over to order their food. My head swims, but I have to keep focussed on my job. Is Harry seriously here to keep an eye on Ryan? I know he doesn't like him and all but I didn't think that on top of all the issues we had that him not trusting me was one of them.

"You okay?" Ryan pokes his head out of the kitchen as I hand in the new order of food to him. I nod my head and tuck some of the loose hair that has fallen onto my face behind my ear.

"I don't mean to get into your business" Ryan says as he appears out of the kitchen with a tray of food ready to deliver. "But he seems like a bit of an ass, he won't stop glaring at me" He cracks a smile before he leaves to take the food off to the tables. Beth hands me the tray with Harry's coffee and gives me a sympathetic smile before I carry it over to him, feeling his eyes on me the entire time.

"What's that fucker talking to you about" Harry asks as I drop off the coffee to him. I can't help but smile gently, they are both so riled up by one another, over little ol' me. It's pretty ridiculous.

"He doesn't like you, thinks you're glaring at him. Food?" He smile softly and nods.

"Please let him know that the feeling is mutual, when does your shift end?" He asks, ignoring my own question as he takes a small sip of the coffee. I check the watch attached to my wrist.

"Just under an hour. Would you like to order some food?" I ask him again. This time he picks up the menu and looks through it before he puts it back down.

"Eggs Benedict, take your time" He gives me a gentle smile as he hands me back the menu and I retreat back to behind the front counter.

"He's hot, how long have you guys been going out?" Beth asks as she steams some milk at the coffee machine beside me. I can feel the blush rising in my cheeks but I try and keep it under wraps.

"It's rather new" I say.

"Where did you meet?" She presses on, not taking the hint of me trying to shut it all down.

"A bar" I reply after a few moments of hesitation. I was trying to remember the story that Harry told those people last night at the ball but I can't remember for the life of me. People meet in bars, especially people my age.
I hate how complicated this whole thing is, it shouldn't have to be like this.

"Now I can see why you're quitting, who needs a job like this when your boyfriend is that loaded" her tone is light and not accusatory at all, but it makes my heart pound rapidly in my chest. I'm about to give her the lie I've been telling everyone else before she disappears back into the kitchen. I sigh to myself before I'm interrupted by a table of people approaching the counter to pay for their meals.

I don't get the chance to go over to Harry's table again. The other tables in my section keep me too busy so Beth takes over; delivering his food to him and keeping his coffee topped up. She seems only happy to do it, and I can't help but feel the sting of jealousy as she bounces over to his table every 7 minutes or so.

"So, guess you're off to hang out with Mr Money Bags then?" Ryan asks me as I start collecting my things from the back room. I guess Harry has a nickname now, a simple google would probably tell you just how rich he is so there's not much I can do about that. He must know that him being here was going to cause a distraction, especially after he and Ryan met and the picture of us in the paper.

I roll my eyes and smile. "You can just call him Harry, and yes I am" I reply as I place my bag on my shoulder and head for the back door. I can hear his footsteps behind me as I push open the door, he must be on break. Of course, Harry is waiting outside for me, and he doesn't seem pleased to be seeing Ryan out here with me. Oh boy.

"Hi love" Harry's cool soft tone surprises me as he approaches us, leaning down and gently pressing his lips against mine. All my thoughts, and fears and anxieties seem to melt away when he's like this. When he's soft and sweet and gentle, but I know he's only doing it because he's trying to prove a point to Ryan. It sours the moment for me a little bit, but I can see it has had the desire affect on Ryan. He shifts on his feet behind me and coughs slightly.

"I'll see you later Elena" he mumbles to me as I turn my head back to him. Harry smirks beside me and slings an arm over my shoulder and gives him a wave. A wave, that when the door closes, becomes a middle finger.

"Oh stop that" I frown and push his hand down, walking out of the parking lot with Harry trailing behind me. And he calls me the child.

"Couldn't resist" he cheekily grins as we both stop on the pavement. I have no idea where I'm going, whether he wants me to go with him or what he wants to do. I don't even know what I want to do.

"How was the rest of the night?" I ask him as I gently pull my hair out of the tight ponytail, brushing my fingers through it as it's released. Harry watches me for a moment before I raise my eyebrow.

"Yeah yeah it was fine. Look, let's go talk about this" His tone is soft as he stands close to me, green eyes pouring into mine. I know I should probably say no, that I need time to think about this whole situation and what I want to do about it. That would be the smart thing to do.

"Please Elena. There's a park nearby, we can go for a walk and talk about it." His big eyes are getting to me, they're pulling me in. He wants to sort this all out, I do too. I really want this to work. But it's not really a question of wanting it, it's whether or not it will actually happen. Throughout my life I've read hundreds of romance novels and seen maybe a thousand romantic movies. Some work out because it's undeniably true love, some work out just for the sake of the plot and some end in disaster. From the ups and downs that we've gone through in just this short time, I don't like our odds of working out.

I sigh and nod my head, threading my hand into his as he intertwines our fingers. We begin to walk down the street headed towards the park. I may not like the odds, but I don't want to end our story here.