(No Control - 60. Illusion)

I'm awoken the following morning by Jess's phone vibrating.

"I have to go back to my own bed," she whispers in my ear, but I reach for her and pull her close to me and she snuggles against me and gives a deep sigh.

I jolt awake again when she sits up quickly, and decide I'll walk her to the bedroom door, in an attempt to be gentlemanly.

I'd better put some underwear on, I suppose.

I grab my boxers off the floor and stand up to pull them on, and catch Jess staring boldly at my crotch.

"Enjoy your eyeful?" I grin at her, and she nods seriously at me.

"Definitely," she affirms.

I can't believe we're having to resort to sneaking around like a couple of underage teens. And I can't believe we've pulled it off.

"You're amazing," I whisper, feeling a sudden rush.

She really is. She's funny and cheeky and feisty, and she knows what she wants.

"You're more amazing," she whispers back, with a shy smile.

"Yeah, I am, aren't I," I joke, and she pulls a face at me before opening the door and peering out.

We're good to go. Mission accomplished.

I put my arm around her and give her a quick kiss, but a movement to my right sends a sickening jolt through my body. Looking up I see Calvin standing in the doorway to his bedroom staring at us, his eyes wide and furious... but wait - what's this?

A tall girl I've never seen before walks out of Calvin's room and I realise with a barely-concealed smirk that he hooked up last night, and the result is staring back at me with her jaw almost on the floor.

Oh fuck. I'm probably the last person she expected to see here.

Please don't be a fan.

Please don't scream.

"Oh my G...," she starts to say, and all three of us cut her off with a loud, "Shhhhh!"

Calvin looks ready to cause me some serious harm, but to my surprise Jess stands on her tiptoes to kiss me right in front of him and crosses the hall to her bedroom door, whispering some excuse about having needed the toilet.

"Oh my God it really is Harry Styles," Calvin's girl says, clearly still in shock.

I'm very aware I'm standing here in a pair of tight black boxer shorts, and nothing else.

"Hi," I wave awkwardly.

"I'll see you in a bit, Squidge," Jess whispers, and opens the door to her bedroom.

Squidge.

What the fuck?

Calvin steps forward and the floor creaks noisily, causing everyone to scatter like insects. Calvin and his girl scurry past me, Jess leaps into her bedroom and I duck back inside my room, shutting the door behind me and getting into bed quickly.

A minute later Calvin comes back upstairs but goes straight to his bedroom and I breathe a sigh of relief, and quickly fall alseep.

I'm vaguely aware of the sounds of Jess's family moving around from around eight o'clock, and a gentle tap on my door permeates my light sleep. I roll over to see Jess standing in the doorway with one leg bent behind her. I can't help but smile. Just the sight of her gives me butterflies in my stomach.

"Hi," she says, with a shy smile.

"Hey, baby," I reply, and my voice has that not-spoken-yet huskiness. I clear my throat.

"I'm just going for a shower," she says, leaning on the door. "What time did you want to go to your mum's?"

"Whenever. We can leave mid morning if you like?" I suggest.

"Have you told them I'm coming with you?" she asks, after a small hesitation. Awww, she's nervous.

"No, but they knew I was trying to find you to sort things out, and that I would bring you with me if we did," I tell her, and she looks terrified.

"Oh. OK. Well I'll come and get you when I'm finished in the bathroom."

Before I can answer she scurries off, and a second later I hear the bathroom door shut with a click.

I grin after her for a moment, and then call Mum.

"Morning sweetheart," she greets me cheerfully.

"Hi Mum," I sing.

"You sound chipper this morning," she comments. "Did you sleep OK?"

"Like a baby," I grin.

"Oh well that's good." She sounds pleased. "Will we be seeing you today?"

"Yeah, I reckon we'll probably leave here mid morning and see you just after lunch?"

"We?" she repeats, and I can hear the smile and excitement in her voice.

I clear my throat. "Um, yeah, I was gonna bring Jess with me, if that's OK?"

"Of course it is!" she exclaims delightedly. "That's fantastic! Will she be staying in your room?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," I reply. I know she doesn't mind, but I love how she also doesn't just assume our sleeping arrangements. I love my mum.

"Not at all," she says, and I can hear her beaming. "Your room's all made up for you. Will you be staying a while or...?" She lets the question hang.

"I'm not sure," I say truthfully. "I haven't really asked Jess what her plans are for the bank holiday. I guess she won't be working on Monday but I don't really know."

"Well you know you're both welcome to stay as long as you like. I can't wait to see you. And meet Jess."

"I know, me too. I think she's a bit nervous, though," I confess.

"Tell her not to be, we don't bite," Mum assures me, but I have a feeling no matter what I say, Jess will still be stressing about this.

Just as I'm hanging up she appears in the doorway, with her hair wet, wrapped in a pink towel.

Fuck, she looks amazing.

"You look sexy in a towel with wet hair," I remark, blatantly checking her out.

"Are you taking the piss? I look a state!" she replies, and holds a folded towel up to show me, before setting it down on the chest of drawers.

"You definitely don't," I insist, and I can't resist getting up and walking over to her to pull her against me. I shut the door with my other hand and lean down to kiss her.

She reaches up, sliding her arms up around my neck and letting the towel drop to the floor in the process. I push her back against the door and murmur softly into the kiss, as I press my crotch against her stomach so she can feel my hardening dick.

Her tongue slips into my mouth as she tightens her arms around me. My hands slip down her sides to her bum, and I give it a gentle squeeze, before slipping one hand around her front and between her legs.

She pulls away and pushes me gently back.

"We should stop," she whispers, seriously.

"Now who's being noble," I smirk, loving that I can quote her own words back to her, and I lean forward and brush my lips against her neck. I love having the upper hand.

"Hardly," she snorts. "If it was up to me I'd do you on the bed right now."

What the -?

I lift my head sharply. "Jesus Christ, Jess, what's got into you?"

My dick is throbbing now. So much for the upper hand.

No fucking chill.

"Sorry," she grins. "I'm just saying what I'm thinking. No filter."

"I like it," he murmur, as I gaze into her eyes and wonder if we could get away with a quickie right here, right now, against this door.

"Stop it," she whispers.

It's like she can read my thoughts. I can definitely read hers. I know she's turned on.

She quickly picks the towel up and covers herself, and I smirk at the knowledge that I've got under her skin again.

"So I told my mum I'm bringing you with me," I say. "She's really looking forward to meeting you."

"Great," she replies, but her smile this time seems forced. "I'll just go and get dressed. There's a towel there on the dresser for you." She reaches for the door handle and then turns to look at me, with worry in her eyes. "Oh my God what am I going to wear? I've only got a couple of outfits with me that I brought for the Big Weekend and it's not what I would want to wear to meet your family!"

As if she's worried about that.

"You could wear a bin bag and look amazing," I reply, and the look away as I realise how cliché this sounds.

"Thanks," she replies, and I look up to see she's giving me a grateful smile. "But that doesn't actually help."

Honestly. I can't believe she's worrying about this.

"Women," I mutter with a roll of my eyes, and she tries to smack me but I dodge it and she sails out of the room.

I wander nervously down to the bathroom with my towel and lock the door behind me. It takes me a minute to work out the shower, and then I drop my boxers on the floor and step in. Once I am fully wet I realise I am probably at my most vulnerable right now, aside from when I was asleep, and if Calvin decides to burst in with his gun right now I wouldn't stand a chance.

I wonder what he'll do about his little discovery this morning - will he corner me away from Jess and beat the shit out of me? Will he grass us up to her parents? I think she'd be rather forthcoming with information herself if he spilled the beans about us, but it doesn't stop me worrying.

Once I'm finished I check the coast is clear and dive across the hallway to my bedroom and quickly get dressed, and Jess comes in a minute later looking stunningly beautiful in skinny jeans that show off her slim legs, and a pretty little top with thin straps.

"You want some breakfast?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm starving," I reply. "I worked up a bit of an appetite last night."

Her eyes dart to mine as we leave the bedroom, and I give her a sly wink.

"Don't start that," she says warningly, and I grin at her back as she leads me downstairs.

"Morning you two," Martha chirps as we enter the kitchen, and Maddie blushes over the top of her magazine.

"Morning," we both reply.

"Help yourselves to whatever you want," she smiles, and I sit down to the left of Jess at the breakfast bar and pour myself some cornflakes.

"Was the spare bed comfy?" Martha asks.

"Yes fine, thanks," I reply, trying not to look guilty.

I stare down at my bowl, but have to look up when someone else walks into the kitchen.

It's Calvin, and he doesn't look pleased. He looks like he wants to kill me, in fact.

"Nice night?" Jess enquires with an exaggerated smile.

"Fine thanks," he says abruptly, but before he can terrorise me, Alan walks in and takes a seat opposite Jess.

"How was the spare bed, Harry?" he asks.

Not great for boning your daughter, sir.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

"It was fine thanks," I respond, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.

"It's a bit creaky isn't it," he says, sympathetically. "I heard you tossing and turning around 2am. I hope it wasn't too uncomfortable."

My blood runs cold and I fight to keep my face straight. I desperately want someone to intervene and change the subject so I don't have to answer, but no one does. I daren't look at Jess - that will just make me look guilty.

I clear my throat to buy me some time.

"No, it was fine," I say, eventually, and I sound like I've swallowed a violin or something.

Opposite me Calvin is barely breathing, but I daren't look at him either, and busy myself with another bite of my cereal.

"Speaking of 2am, I heard you roll in around then," Alan continues, turning his head to speak to Calvin. "Did you have company? I thought I heard a female voice?"

This man really does have supersonic hearing.

"Errr, nope, it was just me," Calvin says, looking unsettled.

"Are you sure about that?" Alan presses. "You know how I feel about things like that being conducted under my roof."

The condom wrapped in the sock dances in front of my eyes and I break out into a cold sweat. I need to dispose of that the minute I get the chance.

"No no, I was definitely alone," Calvin stutters, and I suddenly feel sorry for the poor guy.

"Yeah, he was," I pipe up, and wonder what the hell I am doing.

Everyone turns to look at me, including Calvin.

"I couldn't get to sleep," I lie. "I got up to go to the bathroom about 2 o'clock and almost bumped into Calvin in the hallway." I look Calvin in the eye. "Didn't I?"

Play along, you prick. I'm helping you out here.

"Err, yeah," he says. "I'd, er, just got home." He's a fucking shit liar. "I was a bit drunk though. Sorry if I was noisy."

"No worries," I shrug casually, and have another spoonful of cereal. He flashes me a brief smile of thanks, and ducks his head down.

"I'm going to the Tesco Express for a paper," Alan says, picking up a set of keys. "Anyone want anything?"

"No thanks," we all reply, but he returns to the kitchen about twenty seconds later.

"Harry, is that your car parked outside?" he asks. "There are about seven or eight girls hanging around staring at it, and it's partly over the end of our driveway."

Oh great. So much for showing Jess's parents I am suitable boyfriend material. Instead, I've brought my own mobile fan club.

"Did you tell your friends Harry was here?" Jess snaps at Maddie.

"No! I swear!" she protests. "Only Phoebe knows and I'm sure she wouldn't have told anyone else! She's not like that!"

Suddenly I have a feeling Calvin's lady friend has been a little loose-lipped.

"Well no one else knows he's here...." Jess is saying, and then she puts two and two together as well and lifts her head to glare at Calvin. He's horror-struck.

"I promise!" Maddie pleads, almost tearfully.

"It's fine," I tell her. "We believe you."

"Would you mind moving it?" Alan asks me. "I can't get my car out until you do."

Oh fuck, really? I'll get mobbed.

This is awkward.

"Sure," I nod, and hold my keys out awkwardly to Jess. "Would you move it? If I go out there I'll get mobbed, and it'll be all over Twitter in seconds."

She takes the keys from me hesitantly.

"Um, sure. Dad, can I put it in the garage until we leave for Holmes Chapel?" she asks, turning to Alan, who nods.

The way she says Holmes Chapel is really cute. And the way she remembers all this stuff about me.

"Audi?" she says questioningly, looking at the keys I've just handed her. "Where's your Range Rover?"

She even remembers what make of car I have.

"I took the Audi for a change. I thought the number plate would be less recognisable, but clearly not," I mutter.

She gives me a sympathetic smile and while she walks down the drive towards my car I hover in the hallway and watch, making sure I stay out of sight.

I suddenly realise I didn't warn her not to say anything. I didn't coach her on how to deal with the fans. I just sent her out there without a second thought.

There are only a handful of them, so I'm not worried for her safety, but under any other circumstances I would have been concerned about what might be said about me to the fans. But I just know, deep down, she's got my back.

I wonder if she's in love with me? I wish I fucking knew. Grimmy thinks she is. Louis and Lou think she is. I think I want her to be.

Fuck, I don't know.

I watch as she has a brief conversation with them before getting into the driver's seat, moving the car out of the way for her dad, and then bringing it up the drive and into the garage.

I duck back into the kitchen so I'm not visible as she opens the front door again, and I lean against the door frame in the hall, loitering with my hands in my pockets as she shuts the front door behind her.

She takes a deep breath, and then starts jumping up and down.

"Oh my God, it's Harry Styles!" she screams, and the look of excitement on her face makes me laugh.

"Is that what they said?" I ask.

"No," she says breathlessly, rolling her eyes at me (this makes my stomach flip). "It's what I'm saying. I'm having a Harry Styles moment, so I'm fangirling. It's what you wanted, isn't it?"

I laugh again as I walk towards her and wrap my arms around her shoulders.

"Is this a preview of how you're going to behave at our concert next week?" I murmur into her hair as I lightly kiss the top of her head.

"You mean the one in twelve days?" she clarifies, and then stamps her feet, making me laugh harder. "Magnify this by a thousand and you might be on the right track. I think you're going to regret wanting to see Jess the Directioner."

I never thought I'd be so happy to see her acting like a fan in front of me.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't like it all the time. But having seen her get so excited over Louis, but act completely unfazed by me, it's nice to be appreciated.

"Of course I won't," I assure her, and hug her more tightly.

I'm crazy about you, Jess. Don't you see?

"Wait until you see me fully in action before you make sweeping statements like that," she chuckles into my chest, and I grin over the top of her head at her mum, who walks past us and up the stairs, smiling broadly.

I hear someone clearing their throat behind us, in an obvious, get-away-from-her kind of way. I quickly let go of Jess and look over at Calvin, but he is glaring at Jess for a change.

"Been rifling through my pockets recently?" he asks, confrontationally.

"What?" Jess says, frowning at him.

I know exactly where this is going. Fuck.

"Let's just say there was something in the pocket of my jeans that I needed last night," he says, leaning towards her, "and when I came to get it, it wasn't there."

"I don't know what you're going on about," she says, pulling a disdainful face.

"There was a condom in the pocket of my jeans," he spits at her. "But somehow, between me leaving the house at 8pm and returning at 2am, it miraculously disappeared!"

"So?" she snaps.

"So where did it go?" he demands, his arms folded tightly across his chest, his biceps bulging.

Inside your sister, I want to reply.

Seriously, what the fuck?

"How should I know?!" she says in a bored tone. "Don't look at me - we were forced to sleep in separate rooms."

"You were coming out of the spare room at 6am!" Calvin hisses, casting a glance at me. I keep quiet - Jess is handling this perfectly fine on her own.

"Yes, and I told you why," she says, giving him a snotty look with one eyebrow raised. "It's your fault for not checking on me last night when you got in. If you had, you'd know I was in my own bed."

What is she talking about? She was with me.

"I did," Calvin says, uncomfortably.

What??

"So then you know I was in my room!" she protests, and I am so confused by this whole conversation. "It wasn't a fucking optical illusion!"

What wasn't?

"Don't judge everyone by your own standards!" she snipes at Calvin. "And while we're on the subject, your little friend has blabbed about Harry being at our house! Thanks for that!"

How has she managed to turn this around so Calvin is getting told off?

"I told her not to," Calvin mutters, looking at his feet.

"Well she obviously didn't listen," she retorts, furiously. "And Harry covered for you and your little indiscretion this morning! I think you owe him."

"Yeah thanks, man. Appreciate that," he says, looking at me briefly.

"It's fine," I assure him.

"So lay off, Calvin," she finishes in a whisper as Martha comes back downstairs.

Calvin looks at me again and after a small hesitation, gives me a nod.

I know that nod.

It means, I'll always hate any man who dates my sister, but we'll call a truce for now, until you fuck up.

I smile back at him to let him know I've understood, and he looks away.

For the record, I'm still terrified of him, truce or no truce.

"So your night was unsuccessful then?" Jess probes once her mum is back in the kitchen.

"Hardly," Calvin snorts. "She was very eager to please, if you get what I mean."

Meaning, he got a blow job.

Way to go, Calvin.

I smirk at this piece of news, and I catch the briefest of smirks on his face as Jess punches him gently in the chest and berates him for being disgusting.

~~~~~~~~

We spend an hour or so chatting in the lounge over a cup of tea with Jess's parents, mostly waiting for the fans to leave. Jess closed the garage door so my car couldn't be seen, but they're still out there patiently waiting.

"Does this happen to you a lot?" Martha asks, peering through the net curtains at them.

"Um, yeah, sort of," I reply, uncomfortably. I don't want to sound like a tosser, but I also don't want to lie.

"Really? People camp outside your house?" she asks incredulously.

"Yeah, they're worse for it in London," I tell her. "And sometimes they hang around my mum's house in Holmes Chapel if they know I'm at home."

"Oh you poor love," she says sympathetically, and she gives my hair an affectionate ruffle. "That must be terribly restricting for you. It must drive you crazy."

"Sometimes," I admit. "I don't like my mum being hassled."

"What time do you want to leave?" Jess asks. "I don't think they're going anywhere for a while."

"May as well get off now then," I grimace, and we head upstairs to get our stuff.

I shove all my clothes in my holdall and make the bed neatly. I hear a phone ringing, and I look around the room, only to notice Jess's phone on the floor by my bed. She must have left it in here when she snuck out of the room this morning.

It's lit up and ringing, and it says "Mum and Dad."

Before I can wonder why it's ringing, the call disappears and the screen shows one missed call and one new message. The preview of the message is on the screen:

Adam Plan B: Hi Jess, it's Adam. Just wondered if you fancied coming on a date...

The rest of the message is hidden.

My heart is pounding, and the blood is rushing in my ears.

Adam is the guy her friend set her up with. He's the one I thought she'd hooked up with when she went out with Grimmy and her friends.

She said she didn't sleep with him. She fucking promised she didn't.

Has she been lying this whole time?

With shaking hands, I attempt to unlock her phone to read the text, but there's a passcode on it.

The rational part of me knows this is because most people have passcodes on their phones, and with Jess being my girlfriend this is a must, to protect not only my privacy but hers too. But the insecure, jealous part of me (which is now taking over) is wondering why she's put a passcode on there, and what she's got to hide.

I feel sick.

I hear someone coming along the corridor, and a second later the door opens. I know it's Jess, but I don't look up.

"I've been looking for that," she says, and I presume she means her phone. She must have been ringing it from the landline to locate it.

I can't look at her. I don't want to overreact, but I can feel the questions rising in me and I don't know how to stop them.

"What's up?" she asks, uncertainly.

I look up at her, so I can read the expression on her face when I ask her what the hell is going on.

"Who's Adam Plan B?" I ask, as calmly as I can.