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harrysballerinahouse · 1 year

Text

Sir.

Pt 2. Coming soon...

CEO/BossHarry x FemReader

A little bit of enemy’s to lovers. Fluffy 🥰

T/w: aggression, attempted assault.

*********

Pleasing.

One of the most wild and out there inclusive and sustainable brands of a generation. Also your workplace since it first opened. You came on to a temp position as a lawyer planning to leave once they found someone with more experience to fill the position permanently, which turned into your contract being extended which turned into being offered the permanent position as the legal executive anyway.

It wasn’t your typical lawyer job, the dress code was a little more relaxed compared to previous companies you had worked for, even to this day you couldn’t bring yourself to not wear heels of some description to work. You held yourself to high standards in regards to your appearance, particularly when you never knew when the CEO would pop in.

You had really only spoken to Mr Styles a few times, but that was enough for you to form your opinion of him, he was your least favourite person to roam the Earth. You had major differences of opinion to how legal issues should be handled, you had always been down the line and straight to the point and you had the results and reputation to prove that it worked majority of the time. However Mr Styles was of the opinion that things should be negotiated and that Pleasing should be the sweet side of the deal rather than get to the point which meant in a number of cases you spent a lot longer negotiating deals than you should have and was also resulting in the company losing money.

You knew this was fact because your best friend worked in marketing and things were slow for him at the moment because there wasn’t much money to spend on promotion. Just last week Joel had been given a four day weekend just because there was no work to be done.

******

Today was a big day for you, the quarterly financials meeting, these generally involved the heads of each department, yourself included as well as the CEO and a few key investors. These were also the meetings you hated every last second of because the CEO never agreed with you or even bothered to look at your reports on how much the company was losing just in law suits in a week. Mr Styles was oblivious and honestly, you thought sometimes he was living in his own fantasy land, just creating the company as something to fill in his time.

Taking your seat a few places down from where Mr Styles would be seated, you place your cup of coffee above the meetings agenda and reports that were stacked at each seat. The other department heads and investors begin to roll in before finally Mr Styles himself arrives “apologies for the tardiness everyone, small family emergency” he mumbles taking his seat at the head of the table, “let’s get started shall we?” He looks around rubbing his hands together. The COO Adam stands and starts going through the overall loss and profit margins for the last three months and surprise surprise the company was still running at a total loss of almost 2.5 million per month.

Each department head then goes over their own profit-loss margins working their way around the table towards you. When it was finally your turn you look over what you had prepared before standing just as the others had. “Mr Styles, I would like to bring to your attention a string of recent lawsuits against us from another major skincare and cosmetics brand. In the last month alone we’ve run at a 5 million dollar total loss in just settlements to this company, the way we conduct ourselves in legal matters is simply not effective. I understand our sales have improved significantly since expanding the collections however, if we continue on this type of trajectory our reputation will eventually take a hit, NDA’s won’t stop a company that we’ve already settled with from dragging our name through the mud”

Mr Styles sits and ponders your words for a moment “I don’t see an issue with how we handle our legal issues here, we’re going to run at a loss when it comes to settlements.” You felt yourself getting angry at his statement “with all due respect Mr Styles, we should be fighting these lawsuits harder, we have the resources and knowledge to be able to so why aren’t we?” You ask the agitation clear in your voice. “Miss Y/L/N” Adam scolds you shrug “I’m just telling it how it is, we run at a ridiculous loss in legal because of these lawsuits because we’re not allowed to fight what we know we can win, I want to change that then Pleasing will flourish, this isn’t about ego or status, it’s about keeping this company afloat, we have staff in other departments having three day working weeks because we have nothing for them to work on!”

Mr Styles has was resting under his chin glancing between you and Adam, who was seemingly hoping his glare would kill you there and then, “alright Miss Y/L/N, I’ll give you this next quarter do run legal the way you want, fight which ever battles the way you see fit and we’ll see who’s method works better” you nod “thank you Mr Styles, I’ll be sure to keep you up to date” you say before sitting down trying to hide the fact that you were quiet impressed with yourself in that current moment.

The final piece on the agenda was the annual company holiday party. This was often something that would occur in early November to beat the holiday rush that the company experienced later in the month and into December. Since you had begun at Pleasing a large majority of the planning for the holiday party was left to you. The last few years this party had been held in the function room of a local hotel, this year however you were changing things up wanting booking a local winery instead with gorgeous views and amazing wines and cocktails, just what you needed to get through a day of celebrations with colleagues and of course the snobby CEO.

Finally once the meeting is over your able to go back to your office shutting yourself away. You turn to walk towards your desk to find Joel already sitting in your chair causing you to jump, gasping “what the hell are you doing?!” You exclaim “you scared the life out of me!” You scold placing your papers on your desk “I was bored, thought I’d come and see what you were up to, Harry has literally nothing for us to do in marketing because we have no money” he sighs dramatically. Joel was one of the first friends you made here at Pleasing, he took the gay best friend stereotype to another level. You think about his words for a moment “Harry?” You ask confused causing Joel to scoff “are you insane?! The ridiculously hot man you just had a two hour long meeting with!” You glare at him to tone it down “you mean Mr Styles…get out of my chair” you pester needing to get some work done.

“Mr Styles and I finally sort of understand each other, he’s letting me run legal the way I want for the quarter” Joel sits in a chair on the other sise of your desk giving you a sly eye “maybe he likes a powerful woman” he winks “stop it. He’s our boss” you say sitting down to go through some paperwork “are we going for drinks tonight?” Joel asks swiping through Grindr on his phone “for the millionth time, I said I would be there” you say a little snappy causing Joel to look up “for the love of all things gay we need to get you laid, snappy exec isn’t a good look on you.” He chimes in standing up “I’m sorry, I just have a lot to do,I got really angry in the meeting, I want to prove to Mr Styles that things need to change around here for good” you sigh. Joel comes around to you hugging your shoulders, “you’re the best lawyer here, I’m sure whatever you need to prove, you’ll be able to do it, and if you don’t just flash him your tits or something, I don’t really know what straight men want” he shrugs letting you go walking to your office door “I’ll see you tonight, don’t be late!” He calls out as he walking out.

*****

By the time you left work it was 7pm, drinks were supposed to be straight after work at 5:30 but you got so caught up in a new lawsuit and then planning some more of the office holiday party that you didn’t even realise what the time was. You quickly pack up and rush off to find everyone already a few cocktails deep “I’m so sorry I’m late” you whisper to Joel with a pout he shrugs “it’s ok, we were just thinking of going to a different bar, look over in the corner” you look at him confused before looking over to see Mr Styles at a smaller table with a woman, presumably on a date “ugh, I agree with that, let’s get out of here, there’s a new bar just opened not far from my apartment, should we try there?” You ask starting to clear the table off a little to help the staff. The same group from work came here almost every fortnight so now you were all just in a routine of helping to clean up after yourselves before you left and it sometimes meant you got free drinks.

Heading out you glance once more in your bosses direction to see him already looking at you. You glare at him as his date clings to his side playing with the collar of his shirt. You roll your eyes before following Joel out the door. The group of you pile into an Uber and head over to the new bar near your place. Sitting down next to Joel you begin chatting to another of the girls from marketing as your first round of drinks arrive. You get a few rounds in before Joel nudges your side “my girl…what’s wrong?” He asks wrapping an arm around you, you shrug “I think it’s just work, that finances meeting took it out of me today” you sigh “I think I just need a night at home” you say softly spinning your glass in your hand glancing at Joel. He nods slowly “finish this round?” He asks and you nod breaking into a smile “of course” you giggle a little. You spent another twenty minutes or so with the group before you started to gather your things to go home.

Joel walks you out to the front of the bar pulling you in for a hug “look after yourself yeah? Please don’t work over the weekend” he sighs a little you nod hugging him back “I’ll try not to but lawsuits don’t sleep, see you Monday?” You ask softly. Joel nods “go get some sleep, love ya bitch” he smiles kissing your cheek before letting you go.

*******

The weekend went by slowly, but it was what you needed to reset. Sunday you had spent the afternoon sending off emails to vendors for the work party so that replies would come in early in the work week. You were lounging on the couch scrolling through Pinterest looking for decoration inspiration when your phone began to ring with a number you didn’t recognise. You glance at it for a moment before picking up “Hello?” You answer down the line waiting a moment for a response “Y/n? It’s Harr- uh, Mr Styles” you sit up a little “um Mr Styles Hi, what can I do for you?” You ask he clears his throat “I have a breakfast meeting tomorrow for a potential collaboration and I would be really grateful if you could come alone to go over contracts and everything?” He asks you process the question for a moment “Bess usually handles new contracts Mr Styles, do you really need me?” You ask “Bess has had a family emergency she can’t make it” he responds you sigh a little “yeah ok, I can fill in for her” he let’s put a sigh of relief “thank you so much, I really appreciate it, I’ll get the contracts and meeting details sent over to you and I’ll see you in the conference room at 7am” before you knew it he had hung up, you groan tossing your phone to one side giving yourself one last moment to relax before picking your phone up heading to your desk to look over the contracts overnight.

Spending most of the night going over the contracts and making changes to benefit Pleasing, you left your desk at 5am to start getting ready, having a shower trying to wake yourself up. Putting some makeup on around 6am your phone begins to chime with Mr Styles phone number illuminating your screen you quickly pick up “Good morning” you chime trying to sound enthusiastic and at least awake “Good morning, you’re up already by the sounds of things, have you had a chance to look over the contracts?” He asks hearing him clattering around in his kitchen “yeah, I looked over them last night and added in some proposed changes to benefit us, I’ll send them over to you now” you place your phone on speaker sending the documents off. “Did you sleep at all? This is an entire days worth of work” you giggle a little “after we spoke last night I got straight into the contracts, there’s a few more changes I wanted to make but it got to 5am and I figured I should probably get ready” the line goes silent for a moment “Wow Y/n that’s real dedication, are you sure your going to be ok to work all day?” Mr Styles asks “I’ll be fine, not the first time I’ve done long hours like that, I should probably get going, I’ll see you at 7 Mr Styles” you say before hanging up, wanting to end the conversation quickly.

Harry was honestly surprised at how dedicated to your job you were and he appreciated that a lot of the work you did was under the radar. On his drive in to work he stopped at one of this favourite coffee shops picking himself up his usual espresso and a latte for you hoping that he got your order right. He felt as though he had been a little tough on you, seeing that you were so dedicated to ensuring Pleasing was succuessful and even having the guts to make you opinions known in the finances meeting made him regret how he had treated you. Pulling into the car park Harry grabbed his bags and made his way up to his office dropping a few things off and picking a few up before heading to the conference room.

Heading down the hall Harry expected to be the first one there, but inching closer to the conference room he noticed the lights already on and the room essentially set up for the breakfast meeting due to start in half an hour. Walking in Harry finds you sitting at the table, head basically in your laptop still going over the contracts. “Morning” Harry smiles softly, you just about jump out of your skin partially due to sleep deprivation, but also not expecting anyone to arrive until closer to 7, “Mr Styles!” you exclaim trying to catch your breath “I didn’t expect you to be here so early” you sigh. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you, I actually came in to set up but looks like you beat me to it...I um I got you a latte I hope that’s ok” He says a little shy compared to how he usually presents himself. You look up from your computer smiling a little “thank you, you didn’t have to do that Mr Styles” He shakes his head placing the coffee cup next to you “Please... call me Harry.” You couldn’t help but blush a little at your boss asking you to call him by his first name. You were about to respond when some other lawyers and execs start to flow into the conference room.

The meeting ran reletively smoothly, both you and Harry managed to negotiate most of the changes to the contract, which for you, meant the night without sleep was worth while. Once everyone had left and it was just you and Harry you stretch in your chair, trying to hold in a yawn and failing miserably, you hear Harry chuckle off to the side “if you want the rest of the day off I wouldn’t be mad in the slightest, I understand now why we asked you to stay on permanently” he says softly moving closer to you.

You couldn’t help but smile a little at the compliment it was the first time that you’d felt appreciated in this role. You look up at Harry with tired eyes “I’ll be ok Harry, nothing a little bit of coffee can’t fix” he smirks a little “I’m sure your right but I’m concerned that that’s already your third coffee since we’ve been here, let alone the coffee you probably consumed before you got here” you sigh softly knowing he was right but not wanting to give in “Harry. I’ll be fine. End of” you retort. He holds his hands up in defeat. “Ok, I’ll leave you to it then, thank you for saving the day, I truely appreciate it, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you today” you shrug “no thanks needed, it’s what you pay me for” you smile softly. Harry only nods before making his way to his office.

The rest of your day dragged on, you got through a few contract changes and spent most of the afternoon on party prep to keep yourself awake. It was this weekend and everything was organised. Vendors has emailed you back with confirmations this morning, the last thing you had to do was find yourself something to wear. The company usually kept things semi formal for this particular event. You wanted to let your hair down a little and be a little more daring this year. You shoot a message off to Joel to see if he was free to help you pick something. Before he could reply your office phone began to ring. “Legal, this is Y/n” you answer not really looking at where the call was coming from “Y/n, it’s Harry, could you come to my office for a moment?” He asks you stammer a little trying to find your words “umm yeah ok, I’ll be there in 5” you hang up and collect a few things expecting this to be work related.

You make it to Harry’s assistance desk and smile softly at her “Hi, I’m just here to see Mr Styles” without saying a word she motions for you to head into his office. You walk towards the door and knock softly before opening it seeing Harry sitting at his desk on the phone. He motions for you to come in and take a seat. He finishes up with his phone call directing his attention to you “Hi” he smiles softly. He almost looked nervous and it made you a little bit giddy for him, which you weren’t sure how to feel about. “I just wanted to touch base and see how you were feeling, haven’t fallen asleep at your desk yet?” He asks you smile a little and shake your head “no, no unexpected naps yet” you giggle. Harry just smiles at you taking you in for a moment before realising himself that he was just staring at you, clearing his throat you bite your lip a little trying to hold in your awkward laugh “I um was hoping you had some time to talk to me about the company party? I know we touched on it briefly in the finances meeting but I’d love to know what you’ve got planned” Harry explains giving you his undivided attention “yeah of course” you spent about an hour going through all of your plans with Harry to which he hardly spoke and could barely take his eyes off you the entire time.

“This is amazing work, really thank you Y/n, a lot of what you do goes unrecognised because you never make a fuss or take credit for these things so thank you so so much” Harry smiles. All of a sudden you felt this wave of affection for the man sitting before you. You always thought he was some stuck up CEO when in fact he actually really cared for his company, it was nice that the feeling was mutual. “I should have let you run legal the way you wanted a long time ago, I’m sorry I’ve been so uptight” you shake your head a little “Mr Styles this is your company, you’re allowed to run it the way you see fit” he chuckles a little “even when I’m telling you your right you won’t take credit, be honest with me though, is it that bad?” He asks. You just nod “I think everyone tried to cover it, I just prefer to be brutally honest about it all“ Harry sighs softly “i really appreciate you bringing everything to my attention, I wish I’d been more open to listening to you in the first place...hey I usually have something at my place after the holiday party, I’d love to have you there this year...and you’re more the welcome to bring Joel everyone else brings their partners so you should to” his smile soon fades at the confused look plastered on your face “Mr Styles-“ you begin before he cuts you off “Harry” he says before letting you carry on rolling your eyes a little “Harry, you know Joel’s gay right?” Harry’s eyes grow wide and he begins to apologise profusely causing you to laugh “it’s fine, really it’s fine, quiet funny actually” you smirk. Harry’s cheeks has gone cherry red and was shaking his head to himself “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed anything, but either way the invitation stands” he says softly. You nod and smile “It’ll be just me, but I’d love to be there” you say softly causing Harry to smile “great”. You finalise a few other details for the company party before you head out making your way straight to Joel’s office.

“You will never guess what just happened” you giggle sitting down. Joel takes one look at you and speaks up “baby girl, have you slept?” He asks. You simply shake your head “no and that’s not what I was coming to tell you, Harry thought you and I were a couple” Joel breaks out in hysterical laughter “that’s the funniest shit I’ve ever heard, no offence sweetheart your adorable but even if I was straight your not my type” you pout a little “thanks?” You say softly not sure if it was really a compliment or not. “So it sounds like you and our hunky CEO are getting along?” Joel asks with a knowing look “I guess we are, he invited me to an after party at his place, he’s been really nice I don’t know what’s going on but it’s kind of hot” you sigh annoyed that you found yourself attracted to a man you usually despise.

“Don’t get too caught up ma’am, remember you saw him on a date like three days ago.” Joel reminds you. You tilt your head to one side for a moment thinking about his words “I guess your right, I hadn’t really thought of that” Joel shakes his head a little “babes you just need to get laid it’s been too long, what about that Tom guy from HR didn’t he ask for your number?” You nod “yeah he never texted me but maybe I’ll get drunk enough at this holiday party that I’ll make a move on him, but that’s a later problem right now I need your help to pick a dress can we go shopping after work?” You ask. Joel smirks “we could go now?” You glare at him “it’s only 4:30” Joel just nods and glares back “yeah and you’ve been here since 6:30 and been up all night and not had a lunch break so news flash sunshine we’re going” you groan a little “fine, let me go and grab my things” you say heading off to your office.

You head up to your office and grab your bags swinging by the legal receptionist desk “Hey Maria, I’m heading out for the day, just forward any of my calls to my mobile” you smile softly she nods before you begin to walk off “oh Y/n wait!” She calls out standing up coming after you “Mr Styles assistant dropped this off for you earlier” she says passing you an envelope you thank her before continuing back to Joel’s office. You open the envelope to find a note ‘consider this a bonus on top of your bonus, thank you for all of your incredible work, I’d be lost without you - H x’ you blush reading his note as you walk into Joel’s office. You pull out a cheque for five thousand dollars and gasp a little only expecting it to be a small amount. Joel looks up at you “what’s wrong?” He asks “Harry just gave me a bonus on top of my Christmas bonus…. And a note that’s ridiculously sweet” you pass it over to Joel who’s quickly reads over it and smiles “he’s got the hots for you, c’mon if your going to end up fucking the CEO after the holiday party the least you can do is look ridiculously hot”

******

Saturday morning. The day of the holiday party. It had both you and Harry all kinds of nervous. You and Joel had come to the venue first thing to help them set up before heading home around lunch time to start getting ready. “Do you really think Harry is going to like this dress?!” You call out from your walk in robe. Joel soon appears in the doorway “wow, now I’m no straight man but damn sweetheart you look fucking incredible, I’m so glad they had that dress in your size” his compliment causes you to smile a little looking yourself over in the mirror again. Joel had found the dress and you were initially a little skeptical that it was too much but you felt amazing in it.

The red fabric hugged your hips perfectly and the low back really complimented your shape, you pop some earrings in and some perfume on before grabbing a coat.

Arriving you see there’s already quiet a few people at the venue. You hand your coat over to the clerk before heading into the venue seeing several familiar faces. You take a moment to take the room in, everything was perfect. Joel nudges your side a little “you’ve outdone yourself….someone’s already gawking at you” he smiles “enjoy tonight please, I’m going to go and cause some trouble” he smiles heading away from you leaving you standing at the entrance. You look over towards Harry and see him staring at you not at all involved in the conversation around him. You decide to play hardball and head over to the bar first grabbing yourself a drink mingling with a few people.

About an hour passes you’d kept your eye on Harry and found him already looking at you almost every time you caught his eye. Next thing you know Harry is at the front of the venue with a microphone in hand. This was his usual every year, he would make a speech thanking everyone for another year of hard work. “Hi everyone, thank you all for coming out tonight, I’ll keep this short and sweet, I just want to thank you all for the hard work and effort you’ve put in this year, I just wanted to highlight a few that have gone above and beyond this year, Joel in marketing you’ve done some incredible stuff this year and boosted our exposure ten fold so thank you. Tania in development you and your entire team have put a lot of hours in and given us some of our best ideas this year and finally, Y/n our legal exec, Y/n goes above and beyond every single year with late nights, early mornings and sometimes missing out on sleep all together because the CEO is a bit of an ass” the room erupts in a sea of laughter as you smile a little watching Harry who was watching you “Y/n is also the reason we have a holiday party each year, she organises every last detail so on behalf of everyone thank you Y/n we appreciate you so much. And thank you everyone for coming out, now please go and enjoy your night blow off some steam!” Harry chuckles as everyone cheers as glasses begin clinking together as people toast.

You sip on your drink and glance over at Harry again noticing he was making his way over to you “Hi” he smiles softly “Hey” you respond “nice speech” you smirk trying to hold in your giggle. He chuckles softly “well you do way more than I expect of anyone you deserve the recognition” you shrug a little “the bonus check ontop of my bonus check was a bit much, but thank you Harry, I really appreciate it” you smile softly he chuckles a little looking at his feet “you deserve it and I would definitely be lost without you…” Harry pauses for a moment “you umm, you look stunning by the way that dress…wow” he sighs out. You blush and smile softly “thank you, you scrub up pretty well yourself Harry” from a corner you hear Joel calling out to you you sigh a little “sorry I better go rein him in, see you later?” You ask placing your hand on Harry’s forearm he nods smiling “of course” he says softly helping you off the bar stool you were perched on before leaning down to kiss your cheek.

You reach Joel who was just standing giggling at you clearly tispy “What the hell man, I was just talking to Harry and your big mouth just had to but in” Joel glares at you “excuse me Miss thing back that attitude up” you bat your eyes looking back at him “fine, I’m sorry, what’s up?” You ask “I was just talking to Harry’s assistant, that girl he was with at the bar when we saw him, complete doozy his assistant said she keeps calling him at work and he keeps screening her calls saying he’s not in or he’s busy” you look at Joel before scanning the room finding Harry chatting to Bess “ok, so?” You ask coming back to Joel “are you insane?! He gives you cute notes, bonuses and just talked about you like the sun shines out of your ass, he wants you dummy” you groan a little “but I hated him like a week ago” Joel grabs your shoulders “who cares? He’s got the hots for you and let’s be real you only hated him because of work crap, you actually don’t really know him they well, I’m not saying to have to marry him just go and have fun, let your hair down please” Joel begs you sigh and admit defeat, heading back to the bar for another drink.

Waiting for your order you hear someone slide in next to you, thinking it was Harry you turn and smile only to see if was Luke one of the office rascals, he did this to you at almost every work event, got up close and personal, making moves on you and using every derogatory joke in the book, you turned him down every single time. He’s appalling. You quickly turn away from him “awww c’mon sweet cheeks, got any love for Lukie?” He questions you groan a little not wanting to hear another word out of his mouth you feel him move closer to you and his breath that reeked of alcohol next to your ear “with an ass like that you’d have enough love for three of me-" he mumbles your drink arrives before he finishes his sentence. You walk away towards the bathrooms needing a moment to yourself.

Luke was the kind of guy that never took a hint so when you rounded to corner down the corridor to the bathrooms you turn a little and see him following you catching up to you quite quickly, “Go away Luke” you call out wanting to be left alone. He rounds you preventing you from making it to the bathroom “what’s wrong baby, we’re just having fun” he says inching closer towards you backing you against a wall “Luke leave me alone please” you beg scared for whatever fantasy he has going on in his head in one swift move he pins you against the wall your back slamming up against the brick kncocking your drink from your hand and some of your breath from your lungs. His knee moved between your thighs preventing you from kicking out against him his hands trying to make their way up your dress but trying to wrangle your arms as you try to push him away. “Luke get off me!” You yell as he leans in trying to connect his lips with any part of you he could get his mouth on.

Thrashing and panting in his arms trying to break away from his hold one of his hands starts to move up the slit in your dress, tears sting your eyes your lip trembling about to accept what was going to be your fate when all of a sudden it was as though Luke’s body weight had never been upon you. Without even thinking you drop to the floor covering your face sobbing into your knees trying to cover as much of yourself as you could feeling overly exposed. All you could hear was two men yelling at one another and the echo of fists making contact with skin rung through the corridor until finally everything stopped. All that could be heard were your sobs, you felt someone kneel down next to you causing you to shudder and hold yourself tighter. “Hey hey hey” the voice whispers reassuringly “it’s just me” you recognised Harry’s voice, but you didn’t want to look at him in your current state he places his hands next to your elbows trying his best to comfort you “c’mon, let’s get you out of here for a moment” he whispers.

Very slowly you stand still not wanting to make eye contact with him, with either of them, once you’re upright he slips his blazer off placing it over your shoulders “is there anything I can get you, do you want Joel instead of me?” He offers politely. You simply shake your head not really wanting to talk or even think. Harry begins to guide you outside to get some air. You weren’t sure who he was speaking to but you heard him talking to someone “make sure that piece of shit never steps foot in my company building again, he’s not welcome to pack his desk either, there will be nothing left of it” Harry’s tone was stern but very reassuring, he had your back right now and its exactly what you needed.

Sitting down outside your still hadn’t worked up the courage to look at Harry he just sat with you in silence ready to listen if you needed him to. You eventually break the silence when Harry hands you a clean tissue from his pocket “thank you” you whisper, quieter than you’d ever been, you soon follow up “I’m sorry” you glance up a little to look at Harry who was looking at you with a red mark to his jaw but with nothing but concern for you “please….don’t apologise” Harry whispers in reply “none of this was your fault, he’s a tool” Harry whispers taking your hand in his rubbing the top of your knuckles softly “is there anything I can do?” He asks shaking your head you move to rest your temple on Harry’s shoulder the come down from all the adrenaline making you sleepy.

You stay like that for what felt like hours, not speaking, just sitting “I think I want to leave” you say softly hugging Harry’s blazer closer to you taking a deep breath in “want me to take you home?” He asks it was evident in his voice he felt more uncomfortable about leaving you alone after what he just witnessed. You nod a little “yes please”. Harry wraps an arm around you hugging you a little “need me to grab anything for you?” He asks softly “I- I left my coat inside….but please don’t leave me Harry” you beg you voice beginning to shake. Harry scoops you up holding you to his chest rubbing your back “it’s ok, you’re ok I promise, I’m not going anywhere” you both stay put until you calm down again “how about, we walk around to the front of the venue and get your coat so no one sees and then we can go?” He asks you nod softly in his chest “thank you” you whisper softly.

Harry helps you to your feet before guiding you around to the front of the venue you go to walk up to collect your coat when you stop “I’m sorry Harry” he shakes his head “please y/n don’t apologise, he was being an ass hat” you shake your head “I’m sorry that he hit you” Harry let’s out a huff, when you look up at him he was smiling at you “I’d happily take a few hits if it means stopping him from getting to you y/n, please don’t apologise for his shitty behaviour” he says softly holding a hand out to help you up the steps to the front entrance to collect your coat. Taking Harry’s hand you felt safe so safe that once you made it back into the venue you didn’t want to let go. Harry let you hold his hand to collect your coat, walk to his car even on the drive home he never once asked you to let him go. Pulling up outside of your apartment you just stare at the building not wanting to get out Harry gives your hand a squeeze “why don’t you stay in my guest room tonight?” He asks “I want you to feel safe” he adds you look over at him and nod “please” you whisper Harry just nods and smiles.

Harry came up to your apartment to help you grab a few things but in reality you just didn’t want to be alone. You sit in silence on the car ride to Harry’s. Making it up to his penthouse he helps you get settled showing you the guest room and bathroom. He lets you get settled and into some comfy warmer clothes while he makes you both something to eat as you make your way back to the open living and dining space Harry makes his way to you with a cup in hand as the smell of eggs fills your senses “hot chocolate?” Harry offers you nod smiling a little for the first time tonight “thank you” you take the mug from Harry’s hands and sip the warm liquid. “Are you hungry? I’m making omelettes” Harry offers you nod a little “yes please.”

You follow Harry back to the kitchen and sit at the kitchen island watching him cook “thank you” you say after a few minutes after you sat down “I’m sorry I haven’t always been the nicest employee ever” Harry turns a little smiling at you “you’re probably one of the only employees who’s is completely honest with me and I really respect that and appreciate it, so I should be thanking you” you couldn’t help but blush a little.

You and Harry ate together and chat for most of the night, you happened to glance at your phone and see it was almost midnight “Harry weren’t you supposed to be having an after party here?” You ask. He nods “I actually decided to cancel, my staff as individuals come first, especially when without them I’d probably be broke” he jokes you smile a little “I’m sure on the back of such a successful music career it would take a while for you to go broke” Harry chuckles before you reach out rubbing your thumb over the growing bruise on his jaw “y’ok?” You ask softly Harry nods taking your hand in his “I’m ok, I want you to be ok though” he says softly you shrug a little “I’ll be ok, I think it just shocked me more than anything I didn’t expect it to happen” Harry’s brows crease “you shouldn’t expect it to happen, no one should expect for something like that to happen to them” you sigh looking down and yours and Harry’s hands “I don’t even know why I reacted the way I did” you let out a shaky breath trying to hold your tears in “because it’s never happened before? Because I should be able to provide you with a safe workplace” you let out a little scoff as some tears slip “I wish I could say it’s never happened before” Harry sighs standing “shit” he mumbles softly pulling you into his chest “I’m so so sorry” he holds you close as you give in letting your tears fall staining Harry’s white dress shirt with your tears and makeup.

After what felt like forever you calmed down and collected yourself, looking up at Harry you see him trying to hold back his own tears “I’m so sorry that happened to you, I’m sorry for every shitty man you’ve ever had to put up with, no one deserves to go through that” Harry places a kiss to your hair still holding you close “thank you for looking after me” you mumble sighing out, “Anytime” Harry whispers softly.

*****

Once you had both collected yourselves Harry got you set for the night in the guest room, but part of you didn’t know what to do, you felt too disgusted to even think about sleeping but you were more tired than ever. Then there was the fact that you were at your bosses place in his guest bedroom in your underwear. Harry had really gone above and beyond for you in the last few weeks and you had been so tough on him prior to that. You felt terrible.

At around 4:30 your usual alarm started sounding from your phone you rolled over groaning a little turning it off sitting up a little, you sigh a little and drag yourself out of bed to the bathroom before heading out to the kitchen for a glass of water you head out to the couch and sit down watching as the London breeze moves the trees in the park across the road. You sigh softly you pull your knees up to your chest it wasn’t long before the kitchen light flicked on. You turn in your seat looking over to see Harry in track pants, chest bare.

You sit just watching your boss making coffee, it was such a mundane activity, you’d never really thought of him doing these things himself, you figured he had a whole team of people that did a lot of these things for him. “Morning” you say loud enough for Harry to hear. His head pops up looking in your direction “Hey” he smiles, “I thought you’d be asleep still” you shrug a little “I couldn’t really sleep” you sigh getting up to sit across from Harry at the kitchen island. “Coffee?” He asks, you nod slightly “yes please” Harry passes you a cup before coming to sit next to you. “I won’t stay long I’ll just have this and order an Uber” you say softly glancing over at him “don’t rush please it’s only just gone 5am, besides it’s nice having company” he starts before sipping from his cup.

“I’d love to hear more about you, and how you plan on helping me run Pleasing permanently” Harry’s statement causes your ears to perk up. You look over at him confused as ever “what are you talking about?” You ask softly he just grins “I don’t need to wait for the rest of the quarter, you’ve proved to me this week that I’ve been doing things wrong, and I’d love your help to fix it, Adam gave his notice Thursday his family want to move back to the US and put their roots down permanently I had a month to find someone to fill the position but I think I’ve already done it” Harry says glancing at you trying to hold in his smile.

“Is this a joke?” you ask not believing Harry completely he just laughs before turning to look directly at you “Miss Y/L/N, I would like to formally offer you the position as the new COO for an immediate start….please say yes, the CEO’s been on my back about this” he whispers the last part causing you to giggle before nodding biting your lip softly “Ok…I’ll do it” you smile, Harry just about jumps out of his seat “are you serious?” He asks, you just nod giggling a little “yeah I’d love to” you smile Harry jumps off his seat pulling you into a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you” Harry whispers kissing your head softly.

You pull away looking up at Harry who was already smiling down at you. You reach up running your hand over the bruise that had popped up on Harry’s jaw from the night before you sigh a little. Harry moves to cup your cheeks shaking his head a little “it’s ok” he whispers. He leans down a little to rest his forehead against yours but hesitates “sorry, I should have thought about that more” he pulls away a little.

Before you even thought about what you were doing you pulled Harry back down to you connecting you lips to his in a quick kiss. Harry stumbles back a little shocked at your actions. He looks at you wide eyed panting a little you feel the heat rise in your cheeks embarrassed at what you’d done. “I- I’m sorry” you whimper hastily making your way back to the guest room ordering an Uber while you pack your things. Harry waits a moment trying to process what had just happened “y/n” Harry’s says softly standing in the doorway “I’m sorry Harry, I’m- I’m just going to go” you say softly pulling your bag over your shoulder pushing past Harry heading to the front door “y/n wait please” he sighs trying to head after you. Before Harry could go after you you’d slipped outside and into your Uber.

******

You spent the better half of the rest of the weekend feeling like that dumb cliche employee. Monday morning rolled around and you were dreading it more than ever. You’d have to face Harry and more than likely face the millions of questions to where you disappeared to on Saturday.

Parking your car you sigh a little just sitting for a moment trying to hype yourself up enough to go inside. You hadn’t heard from Harry all weekend Joel had tried to text and call but when you never replied he stopped. You wanted to talk to him about this in person and God knows he’ll be sitting in your office waiting for you when you finally make it up there.

You drag yourself inside and head up to your office. You should get into betting, just as you expected Joel was sitting in your chair waiting for you when you walked in the door “Hi lovely” he says giving you a sympathetic look. “You already know?” You ask “I think everyone does” he says softly you groan a little sitting across from him “but I do have some questions, where did you go? After I tried to call and you didn’t answer I went over to your place and it looked like there was no one there but your car was in your spot” you bite your lip softly knowing there was no talking yourself out of this one. “Umm, Harry let me stay at his place for the night, I didn’t want to be alone”

Joel’s eyes go wide as he grips the edge of your desk “I’m sorry ma’am he let you stay with him? I don’t want to break away from the main issue here but that a big thing for even you to be ok with” you shrug “he did literally everything to help me feel safe, then I fucked it up Sunday morning by giving him a peck on the lips and then running out of there like a 15 year old girl” Joel sighs running his hands through his hair “I’ve known you for a while now, whatever is going to happen with you and him will happen, and I know you’ll work it out, I was honestly just coming to make sure that your ok” he says standing up coming around to hug you tightly “I will be I promise” you mumble into his shoulder hugging him back “text me if you need anything?” He asks you nod before he lets you go kissing your temple before heading out.

Sitting at your desk sighing softly you felt guilty. Like you’d just left out a major detail of the weekend where you would essentially become Joel’s boss, well, everyone’s boss really just a step under Harry. You get settled in for the morning working through the piles of papers on your desk. Just before lunch your office phone rings. You jump a little before picking it up “legal, it’s Y/n” you say softly pushing some papers away “hey, it’s just Harry, have you got some time to come up and talk about your new contract?” He asks. You suck your teeth for a moment “umm yeah, sure, I’ll be up in a few” you say softly.

Heading up to Harry’s office you couldn’t help but hesitate to knock on his door. You knock softly and instantly cringe realising how awkward this was going to be. Harry calls out for you to come in. You smile softly as you walk in and Harry looks up from his computer “hey” he smiles wide standing up “how are you?” He asks leaning against his desk you blush a little “I’m good Harry, what’s up?” You ask, “I have something to show you” he smiles “follow me” he says softly heading out of his office. You follow suit heading away from Harry’s office to another. “I thought you might like an upgrade” he smiles softly motioning to the door with your name and new position on it “wow, you work quick here Styles” you giggle softly. “Well I wanted to make sure it was perfect” he smiles softly opening the door letting you in first you smile wide at the newly decorated office.

The walls were a light grey but still crisp and relaxing a timber accent wall behind your desk to lighten the room up. Harry had even decorated with a new, bigger desk than the one you already had, a new desktop and some plants scattered around your office “I um, noticed you had some plants in your office I thought you might like some more” he says softly from behind you “Harry, thank you so much I love it” you smile turning to face him to find him already staring at you.

Biting your lip softly you speak up “Harry I wanted to apologise, for Sunday morning I shouldn’t have done that” you say softly. He shakes his head “it’s ok, honestly. I was actually going to ask if you were free for dinner tonight?” He asks nervously letting out a breath that he felt he’d been holding in forever. You glance at your feet before nodding a little “I’d be ok with that” you smile softly. Harry tried to hide the childish grin plastered across his face “great, I’ll come and find you later?” He asks. You nod smiling a little “oh feel free to move into your new office whenever you’re ready, Adam decided to work from home for his last week so this is all yours whenever you want” Harry says softly stepping closer to you.

“I just wanted to say thank you, you really saved my butt on this, I think we’ll make a great team” you look up at Harry your breathing unsteady as Harry leans down to peck your cheek. You blush a little before there’s a knock on the door making you both jump stepping away from one another.

“Mr Styles there’s a phone call for you” his assistant calls out. Harry steps closer again his hand slowly falls to your waist squeezing a little “take a message please” he calls out softly looking into your eyes “happy?” He asks softly you nod moving your hands to rest on his chest “very happy” you smile softly as Harry’s hands snake around your waist. “Y’know I kind of didn’t like you when I first started here, but you’ve grown on me really quickly H” you admit glancing up to Harry’s eyes seeing him chuckle a little “hmm, I love being called H” he smiles before letting out a shaky breath “is this ok? I don’t want to push anything or go to fast I-” you cut him off before he could finish “Harry it’s ok, I trust you” you whisper.

Harry smiles widely leaking down kissing your forehead softly before pulling you in for a hug. You sigh softly relaxing into his chest, it was only a few moments of complete relaxation before your phone began to ring. You slowly pull away from Harry’s warmth glancing at your phone “it’s Maria…I should probably answer it” Harry smirks a little “probably just passing a message on from your boss, I hear he’s hard to please” he smiles as you release from his hold to grab your phone.

“Hi Maria, everything ok?” You sit at the end of your new desk as you talk to Maria, she soon brings up a job you’d be working on for a few weeks you move to the desk chair logging into the desktop phone held to your ear with your shoulder as Harry just watched you. After around twenty minutes and a few transfers of the call it finally ended and Harry was still patiently waiting for you sat on the sofa smiling at you.

“What’s that look for Mr Styles?” You ask trying to hold back your smile to hide how much you enjoyed this. “Just thinking about how glad I am that you said yes to this job, you’re perfect for it” Harry smiles you blush and giggle a little “I’m glad I said yes too” your phone begins to ring again causing you to sigh a little “I should get back to my old office, but I’ll see you later?” You ask standing up Harry following suit “definitely” he smiles you come over kissing his cheek softly.

******

The rest of your day flew, you hardly got a chance to look at your phone the rest of the day. When your finally caught up with everything it was almost 6:30 and you hadn’t heard from Harry yet, everyone else had started to head home you wanted to try and get as much work done before you moved out of this job for good. You go so caught up the next time you checked the clock is was 8pm you started to pack up your things to head home when your office phone began to ring. You recognised the extension as Harry’s office you pick up smiling a little “Hey Harry” you sit down again “Hey, so I was thinking considering I’ve left it pretty late to go out for dinner, how about I order in for us? Maybe I could help you move office tonight as well?” He asks you blush and giggle a little you felt like a giddy teenager “that sounds great, I’ll start packing some stuff up” “I’ll meet you in your office in a few” Harry responds you nod a little “sounds great H, see you soon” you smile before hanging up.

Harry felt genuinely nervous to spend some time alone with you that wasn’t after a traumatising event. He really wanted to get to know you better but didn’t want to go to fast. Harry ordered some dinner for you both setting it out in your new office before heading to your old office finding you still working “Hope your boss pays overtime” he smirks leaning against the door frame “he’s buying me dinner so I can’t complain” you wink as he walks in “c’mon, it’s only Monday and you’ve been here for 12 hours dinners in your new office” he smiles holding a hand out to you.

You gladly take it looking around your office a little “mind grabbing a box?” You ask look at them all scattered around your office “of course” he smiles picking up a couple of boxes stacking them on then each other. You grab a box of your own a few other bits and bobs. You walk with Harry in silence to your new office “it’s kind of scary only being down the hallway from you instead of on an entirely different floor” Harry chuckles “I didn’t know I was that scary” he glances in your direction “I wouldn’t say scary, maybe a little bit intimidating, but I think I’ll get used to it” you smile up at him turning into your new office seeing Harry had set dinner out already “H….you did all this already” you say softly looking around placing the boxes in your desk. “Thank you” you smile as Harry places the boxes he had next to yours and kissing your cheek on his way back up “my pleasure” he says softly cheeks a little red.

*******

Sitting down to dinner with Harry was honestly a little…awkward to say the least but in a good way, in a goofy way. The last time you sat down together in a work environment like this you basically argued about how legal should work. But this was a nice change, a mundane change. “So..” Harry starts “tell me more about yourself, I know where you went to uni and I know what you do for work so tell me about siblings, home life all that fun stuff” He finishes sipping from his water as you kick your heels off tucking one leg under the other on your seat. “Ok, I’m the oldest of four kids, my siblings Jared, Nick and Ashlinn think it’s crazy that I work for you. Grew up on a farm outside of Cheltenham then moved to Oxford and you know the rest” you say softly glancing at Harry. “Wait” Harry chuckles “why do they think it’s crazy?” He asks “well because you’re you, Harry Styles had, or still has, a successful music and acting career and is CEO of multimillion dollar company.” Harry hides his grin “well their sister is quiet impressive herself” he says glancing up at you as you try to hide your red cheeks.

“Tell me something no one knows” he says softly you giggle a little “like what?” You retort, Harry just shrugs “there has to be some deep dark secret there that no one knows” he says grabbing some more food you think about it for a moment “oh here’s one….I had a major crush on you growing up, when you were on x-factor……I don’t know why I told you that, it’s kind of embarrassing”. Harry laughs scooting a little closer to you “that’s actually really sweet, can I ask what changed? We’ve had a rocky work relationship the last few years.” You ponder Harry’s question for a moment “when I started here I loved it, and I still do now but in between I think I felt a little like the legal exec at the time was taking advantage of my commitment to the job which meant I resented you because he always blamed you, I think I just needed to see that young kid with curly hair in the CEO that I work with now, and I have, and he’s one of the nicest people I know here” you smile a little “you’re too nice to me Y’know that” you giggle a little “you just grew on me, I guess especially over the weekend, I’ve never felt so supported until that moment so thank you.”

Harry shrugs “honestly you’re my favourite employee I trust you more than anyone here m’glad we’re getting along better, m’glad I offered you the legal execs job, that’s not the first time I’ve been told he was hard to work with, I’m sorry some of my staffing decisions haven’t been the best” you start shaking your head “don’t apologise Harry, jobs interviews are basically just trying to judge someone character is half an hour it’s hard to do” you giggle a little turning your body to face Harry more your knees touching “what about you H, tell me about you and your family” he shrugs a little “there’s probably not much you don’t already know, I’ve got mum and Gemma they’re both really supportive….I’ve always found this really difficult trying to get to know people when they already know everything about me.” Y/n was giving Harry her undivided attention she understood where we was coming from because he was right she already knew a lot about him.

****

You and Harry finished up dinner and moved the rest of your office before moving back to the couch sitting next to one another “I haven’t told anyone yet, about the job offer, not even Joel” Harry glances at you “are you worried?” He asks softly you shrug moving to rest your head on his shoulder lightly “a little bit, it’ll be ok right?” You ask, your anxieties really coming to light. Harry nods wrapping an arm around you “your going to do great, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think you could do it” he says softly placing a kiss to your hair you hum a little snuggling into him a little more a wave of fatigue coming over you “we should get out of here, it’s almost 1am” you mumble trying to stifle a yawn. Harry chuckles a little “c’mon, I’ll walk you to your car” he smiles before standing up.

Harry holds his hands out to help you up which you gladly take. He pulls you up a little too quickly causing your tired body to jump into Harry’s. His hands move to your waist to steady you “y’ok?” He chuckles looking down at you. You nod rubbing your eyes a little “y’too cute” he smirks you smile a little “your not bad yourself Styles” you say wrapping your arms around his neck edging him closer towards you. Harry begins to slowly edge his lips closer to your and then back a little as if he was having his own internal struggle “you wanted to know about me?” He asks softly referring to your earlier conversation. You nod a little as Harry sticks your hair behind your ear, he pauses for a moment letting out a shaky breath. “I was harsh on you on purpose...” he starts “because I find you really attractive…I didn’t want to let myself get too caught up if you had a partner or if you weren’t looking for anything but I think working closer with you these last few weeks seeing how compassionate you are and how strong you are-“ even though he was pouring out his feelings to you, you couldn’t let him finish because you knew how you felt about him already. You wrap your arms around his shoulders pulling him in for a kiss, nothing to extravagant just enough for him to realise you didn’t need to hear anymore because you already knew.

His hands automatically drop to your waist pulling you closer to him you smile on his lips Harry hums against you one hand moving to cup your cheek softly. He slowly pulls away looking into your eyes trying to read how you were feeling and where the sudden confidence came from to kiss him. Harry grinned at you like a kid “sorry” he chuckles a little “I didn’t mean to just stare at you” he pulls away a little seemingly catching his breath. “It’s ok” you say softly “we should get home…” Harry says softly, you shrug a little “Honestly we have to be back here so soon we may as well just sleep here” Harry looks at you a crease present in his brows “why’d I get the feeling you’ve done that before” he says softly you shrug a little “I won’t confirm or deny” you knew Harry could read straight through you in that moment. You’d done it before on several occasions in fact.

“Well if you’re going to be too stubborn to go home then it’s only fair I stay here too” you giggle a little “c’mon then I’ve got a spot” you take Harry’s hand leading him to the elevator “it goes without saying, this is kind of my secret spot, not even Joel knows about it but as my boss please don’t get mad at me” Harry wraps an arm around your shoulder as you lean into him “not making any promises” he says softly before kissing into your hair, you glance up at him “I’m joking” he chuckles “your dedication is what keeps this place going half the time I don’t think I could ever actually be mad at you, frustrated, maybe. But not mad” he smiles softly as the elevator dings to the very top floor.

It was smaller than all the other floors, which is why it was used for storing spare furniture, sometimes you came up here just for some peace and quiet, it also had the best views in the building, Harry thought it was his office, but he was wrong.

The nights you stayed too late were the nights you ended up sleeping up here and using the office gym to shower and change to make it look like you had been home. “What are we doing up here?” Harry asks as you lead him towards one of the offices that you’d basically turned into a bedroom “this is my little spot, for me” you say softly opening the office door to reveal the makeshift bed, with blankets and pillows and an overnight bag on the floor holding a spare change of clothes and some comfy clothes for you to sleep in. “Ok” Harry says softly “I’m not mad, but I am a little concerned to how much overtime you probably haven’t been paid for since you worked here, sweetheart be honest with me, how often do you stay the night at work?” Harry asks dropping your hand to look at you properly. You shrug a little “once a week sometimes twice, it just depends really, on really bad weeks I’ve stayed up to four nights, I go home on my lunch breaks to get more clothes.”

Harry stares at you in awe “why did you never tell anyone?” He asks genuinely shocked by what you were telling him “it’s my choice Harry, I truely love my job, but it takes sacrifice” you say looking down at your feet. Harry sighs softly kissing your forehead “thank you” he whispers softly “for every single thing you do I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough” he says wrapping his hands around yours bumping his nose to yours “thank you” you say softly “this is kind of my favourite place, look at the view” you tug Harry’s hand a little.

“I already like the view” Harry says pecking your lips softly you giggle against Harry’s lips “I’m serious you goose” you say after he pulls away you tug Harry’s hand again causing him to turn to look out the window “wow” he exhales looking out at the London sky line “I’ll never get used to being home all the time” he says softly you snuggle into Harry’s side a little “cold?” He asks softly you nod it wasn’t very well heated up on the top floor “c’mon let’s get tucked in….umm, do you mind if I sleep in my boxers?” He asks nervously “no not at all” you smile up at Harry kissing his cheek before grabbing your bag taking out some clothes before slipping out to the bathroom leaving Harry to get comfortable.

Arriving back Harry was snuggled into the makeshift bed with just about every blanket and throw over him waiting for you he smiles in your direction an oversized jumper covering a quarter of the way down your thighs. “This is quiet domestic of us” Harry’s says softly pushing the covers back for you. You giggle a little climbing in next to him “it is, I hope it’s comfortable, half the time I’m so tired by the time I get up here I just fall asleep” Harry smiles a little turning to you “it’s surprisingly comfortable” he says softly you raise an eyebrow at him “ok it’s not the most comfortable thing ever, but I’m not worried about comfort” he says smiling a little.

“Do we need a pillow wall?” You ask jokingly. Harry chuckles “I think we’ll be ok don’t you?” He asks you nod smiling “I was joking” you giggle. Harry smiles as you lean over to kiss his cheek. “Goodnight Harry” you whisper softly snuggling down into the covers already becoming groggy due to current lack of sleep. “Goodnight y/n” Harry whispers before you fall asleep.

*****

Waking up the next morning the weather was less than pleasant, you were almost hugging the side of the bed trying to keep some distance between you and Harry. It had been a confusing 72 hours to say the least between kissing Harry, accepting a new position and now sleeping in the same dodgy ass bed with him you didn’t know what to think about any of it. You sigh a little rolling over expecting to bump into Harry but finding nothing.

You sit up looking around the room seeing no one else there you sigh a little look at the time seeing it was only 6:30 you drag yourself from the bed packing everything up before grabbing your overnight bag heading down to the work gym you shower and get yourself ready for the day. Heading down to your car to drop your overnight bag in the trunk you see Harry pulling in. He steps out of his car coffee and breakfast in hand a Pleasing hoodie hugging his torso.

“Good morning” you say softly causing Harry to jump “Hi” he smiles before glancing at his watch “it’s early, I thought you’d be asleep still” you shrug a little “honestly this is like a sleep in for me” you giggle a little Harry just smiles looking you up and down “I love that sweater” he chuckles referring to cream coloured knit with lemons on it. “How does coffee and breakfast in your new office sound?” He asks beginning to head to the elevator to take you both back inside “I would say you know how to keep a girl happy H” you smirk glancing in his direction.

You both climb into the elevator Harry hands you your coffee kissing your temple “I hope I didn’t wake you this morning, you looked so peaceful” he comments as if it wouldn’t just make you melt you just look at him smiling trying to find your words eventually giving up lifting your jaw to close. You make your way up to your office with Harry beside you in silence you sit down together stealing small glances at one another every so often. 8am rolls around and everyone else slowly starts to flow in meaning both yours and Harry’s phones soon started ringing yours first with Joel’s name illuminating your screen “sorry I should grab this” you say softly picking up the device sliding across to answer the call. “Hey you, wha-” you didn’t even get to finish before Joel was booming down the line “what the fuck?! Did you quit?!” He almost screams “What? No why?” You ask “your office is empty” he says genuinely sounding disappointed “oh my goodness honey no, I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet, I’ll be right down don’t move” you say before hanging up.

Looking at Harry the crease in his brow present “is everything ok?” He asks softly you nod “I haven’t told Joel about the promotion and he thinks I’ve left because my old office is empty” you say softly standing grabbing your phone “I’m sorry I’m running out on breakfast” Harry shakes his head taking your hand “it’s ok y/n do what you need to I’m here all day” he smiles a little standing as well grabbing his things “I’ll see you later?” He asks softly, you nod as he pulls you closer checking the coast was clear before pressing his lips to your causing hands to rest just under Harry’s jaw “don’t get us a caught Harry, dunno what the boss would think” you hum against his causing him to chuckle and smile “you’re so cheeky” he chuckles against your lips pecking them a few more times “let me know if you need anything ok?” You nod slowly peeling away from each other.

*****

Racing down to your old office you find Joel sitting in the new bare office “hey” you say softly he looks up at you and you couldn’t read him at all, he looked angry upset and confused all at once but you couldn’t pin point one. “Let’s go talk” you say softly “just tell me one thing…are you leaving?” He asks you shake your head smiling a little “no sweetheart, I’m not leaving” you say “c’mon I have something to show you” he follows you up to the CEO floor, “what are we doing up here?” He asks. “Going to my new office” you smile as you make it to your office door with your name and position printed upon it. Joel looks at the door then back at you then back at the door “that….that’s you, it…it says COO” you nod giggling a little “yeah it does” you say softly letting the information sink in yourself.

“Are you serious? Babes that’s amazing! I’m so proud” he smiles pulling you in for the tightest hug you’ve ever had “thank you” you giggle a little hugging him back “we need to celebrate!” He says pulling away holding your shoulders “drinks Friday night to celebrate you?!” You nod “I would love that! Come in, there’s more to tell you” you say softly opening your office door for Joel. You chat for about an hour and tell him everything about what was going on between you and Harry.

Once you had finished Joel just looked at you a little shocked but also processing everything still “invite him along…on Friday, we can all hang out together and try and sus him out for you” you nod “ok, but hear me out for a second, I like him, he’s actually really sweet, I’d love to spend time with you guys and with him all together it’ll be great” Joel stands coming to hug you “I’m so proud of you, I’m glad that you guys are doing whatever it is that your doing, you’d make a cute couple, and freakin hot power couple I mean look at this, working on the same floor just down the hall from one another” Joel smiles giving you a squeeze causing you to giggle “ok, ok calm down” you laugh. “I better go, my best friends my boss now I don’t want to upset her” he chuckles you pout a little before saying your goodbyes.

****

You spent a large majority of your week on zoom calls with Adam trying to fill in the gaps for the COO job and trying to find someone else to pick up the leftovers in legal now that they were one down. You and Harry had kept things pretty relaxed most of the week you had texted on and off throughout and he had arrived with coffee for you both almost each morning. Starting the morning ritual of coffee a kiss and a little catch up on the main issues for the day. Neither of your had brought up that fact that you weren’t sure what was happening just that you were enjoying being around one another. You didn’t want to leave the little bubble you had created it was comfortable and it felt incredibly safe, just what you needed.

Joel swung past your office Friday afternoon double checking you were still on for the night you assured him for what felt like the 10th time this week that you and Harry would be there on time, with bells on.

At 5:30 you had for once managed to get everything done for the day, you took yourself down to Harry’s office his assistant already gone for the day, you knock softly and hear him call out. You let yourself in smiling softly “hey you….almost ready?” You ask softly moving towards his desk. Harry stands “just finished up, what a day, I didn’t realise how hard my job was going to get when I have such an attractive COO, it’s hard to focus with you walking past all day, especially in those jeans” he teases as his hands move to hold your waist “can I steal a kiss before we go for drinks?” He begs pulling you closer. You giggle wrapping your arms around him “mmm I’m sure I can spare some time for you” you say softly before pressing your lips to Harry’s.

Harry pulls you closer his hands moving lower to grip your rump your hands move to his chest grinning on his lips “can I tell you something?” You ask. Harry nods pulling away for you to look up at him “I kind of missed you this week” you say softly causing Harry to smile “I missed you as well” he sighs softly pulling you back to him kissing you again. After a few more minutes you pull away “c’mon we don’t need to be late, Joel will destroy us both” you say softly. You walk out with Harry keeping a bit of distance between you both you didn’t need investors seeing you all cuddled up to one another.

The walk to the bar got you thinking about what you would say if someone asked what you and Harry were doing. “Hey H” you say softly glancing over at him, he simply hums in response hooking his index finger around your pinkie “what are we going to say if someone asks what we are? We’re not exactly great at keeping our hands off each other” Harry glances at you sucking his lips in “that’s a good point, what would you like to tell them?” He asks you shrug a little “I don’t really know, I know I like you” he takes your hand properly giving it a squeeze, “I’m the same, I don’t really know what I want to tell them but I know I like you” he smiles softly pulling you into him kissing your temple softly you blush a little as you walk up to the bar.

Joel had organised an courtyard table knowing that Friday nights closer to the Holiday season got stupid busy and that you and your work mates liked being outside in the fresh air after being in the office all week. You guide Harry through the crowd of people until you make it outside to the courtyard seeing Joel, Kim and a few other work mates sitting around a table. Joel sees you first, coming over to give you a hug that you gladly accept “I’m so glad you made it” he says softly “me too, I hope you guys haven’t been waiting long” you smile a little pulling away “obviously you know Harry” you giggle a little as Harry smiles at Joel before Joel yanks him in for a hug “look after her, us gays may seem sweet but we’re vicious” he says just loud enough for you to hear. Harry just chuckles “no intension of going anywhere or hurting her” Harry says smiling in your direction staring at you in awe, you blush a little and kiss his cheek once Joel lets him go you head over to sit down with the rest of the group.

You were all pretty squished up on the picnic style benches and the others couldn’t really stop staring at the fact the CEO was there sitting at the table as well. Joel helps you to get the conversation flowing and after an hours and a few rounds everyone was having a great time, the other girls partners had arrived and Joel was getting you all to help him find someone on Grindr for the weekend. You all ordered some food for the table and being a few drinks in you were getting a little clingy to Harry’s delight it seemed, he had wrapped an arm around your waist pulling you into his side kissing your head causing Kim to shriek “hold the fuck on” she says pointing at you both “wait…are you guys… y/n?” She asks you giggle a little shrugging “we like each other it’s as simple as that” you say shutting down whatever else was going to come out of her mouth next. You look up at Harry who was simply smiling down at you trying to hold in his laugh. “Well I think you two would be adorable together, full on power couple right?” She says looking at Joel who then looks at you “she’s not wrong you know that” he just smirks you nudge him a little before Kim continues “I’m just saying, you know that Dan and I met at my old job and we both really liked each other, poor thing didn’t ask me out until that day I was leaving to work at Pleasing and it’s all worked out we’re engaged now” she says flashing her ring more towards Harry than you, given this was information you knew already.

Harry just reaches for your hand giving it a squeeze not wanting to put any pressure on you about whatever you were both doing you peck the corner of his lips “thank you” you whisper softly you sit around for a while before Harry squeezes your hand again holding up his phone “I gotta take this” he sighs softly you simply nod moving in to kiss his cheek but Harry moves to catch your lips instead smirking when he pulls away “just missed you” he smiles “I’ll be back in a few” he says softly pecking your lips once more. You giggle a little as he walks away to take the call, turning back you find the rest of the table staring at you.

“You have to tell us everything” Siobhan pipes up, you giggle a little and tell them most of what happened at the holiday party the weekend prior “Harry’s hardly left my side all week, it’s kind of comforting knowing he’s just down the hall too, I feel safe with him around, I feel terrible that I used to think he was horrible, he’s actually one of the nicest people I’ve ever met” you groan a little covering your face with your hands “I really really like him” the others were just looking at you giving you their undivided attention “oh my god she’s got the feels” Kim’s partner says you smile a little “I kinda do don’t I? I’m just scared it’s a little too quick I’d love to date Harry but I wanna get to know him better first” you say softly before taking the last sip of your drink “anyone else want another round? Must be my turn to buy?” You ask.

You get everyones order before heading inside to place it. While you wait you check your work emails to make sure nothing major had come up since you’d been out, when a strong pair of arms wrap around you and an all to familiar scent filled your nostrils. You smile a little wrapping your arms around his leaning into his chest “your supposed to be having fun not working” Harry whispers you giggle “says you taking work phone calls in a bar” you retort Harry just smirks placing a few dainty kisses to your neck “wrong Miss Y/L/N it was actually my sister, she was just checking in we do it every week at the same time because we’re both so busy” you turn in Harry’s hold smiling a little “H, that’s so sweet, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have assumed it was work” he shakes his head “it’s ok, I can understand why you would think it’s work, we are there a lot and it never stops” he says as you wrap your arms around his neck “I like your friends” Harry’s whispers his lips a mere inch from yours “really?” You asks smiling he just nods “they’re really fun, and I like that they’re ok with us not labelling things” you hum smiling a little “but, they got me thinking a little bit” Harry continues “I would love to take you on a proper date…if you’d like that?” He asks.

You pause teasing Harry making it seem like you were thinking about his offer “I’d love to H” you smile as Harry pulls you in close “you’re so cheeky sometimes you know that” he smirks before kissing you softly hands squeezing your waist as the bartender placed all the drinks you ordered on a tray for you to carry back out. “Do you guys do this every week?” Harry asks helping you to carry a few drinks back yiu shrug a little “we try to do at least once every two weeks but sometimes it’s more sometimes it’s less just depends on what we all have on, why?” You ask glancing at Harry for a brief moment “I was just wondering, seems like it’s good for morale” as soon as the words leave him mouth glare at him “don’t go all boss on me Styles, don’t overanalyse things, we do it for fun and to blow off steam if we’ve had a hectic week. It’s nice to just socialise with one another outside of work” you say softly making it back to the table placing the drinks down.

Harry moved to take your hands turning you towards him “hey,” he says softly “I’m sorry babe, I didn’t mean to read into it too far” he cups your cheeks kissing your nose before chuckling a little “you look so cute like this” he smiles you shove his chest a little trying to hold in your smile “you just called me babe” you smirk a little Harry jaw drops open to argue back before he stops himself “I guess I did, are you mad about it?” He asks his hands dropping to grip your hips you shake your head “not at all, I kinda like it” you wink smirking up at him before pulling him down til his lips meet yours in a needy kiss, you run your tongue across Harry’s bottom lip before realising your still with all your friends your pull away giggling a little “sorry” you smile seeing Harry looking all flustered he shakes his head a little dropping his head to your ear “what are you doing to me sweet girl” he whispers causing goosebumps to erupt on your skin. You look up at Harry with innocent eyes “stay at my place tonight?” You ask Harry nods leaning down to kiss you once more before you both sit down.

*****

Gathering your things to head home with Harry felt a little odd. Harry had said goodbye to everyone already and was headed out to flag down the Uber he ordered for you both. You did the rounds giving everyone a hug as they all started to collect their own belongings so they could head home too. You make it to Joel and hug him tightly “I was skeptical about this thing with you and Harry, but seeing you with him you look so happy sweetheart and he hardly took his eyes off your tonight, I have a feeling this is more than just liking each other and screwing around for fun” Joel smirks raising an eyebrow you smile a little “well I don’t want to jinx it, but I think that too, he’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more and he’s so damn supportive…he asked me on a proper date because of you guys, so thank you” you smile hugging him once more before saying your goodbyes and heading out to Harry “Hi handsome” you smile walking up behind him kissing his arm he turns to look at you smiling a little phone to his ear he leans down kissing your head softly taking your hand giving it a squeeze you rest your head against his arm as the Uber pulls up.

Halfway to your apartment Harry finishes up his phone call he leans over pecking your cheek placing his hand on your thigh “we have a problem” he sighs softly you look up at him with worried eyes “Luke’s suing for wrongful dismissal….says he didn’t do anything wrong and we had no right to terminate him.” You felt the anger rising and your blood rushing in your veins, you sit up instantly feeling sober “are you fucking shitting me?” You look at Harry already getting angry enough for tears to begin brewing.

“That’s not everything…he’s suing me personally as well and he’s trying to get me with an assault charge for punching him” your jaw drops you felt so incredibly guilty, “Harry I’m so-” he cuts you off before you even begin to apologise “No, please don’t do that pet, he did the wrong thing, we’re going to fight this” you sigh kissing Harry’s cheek hiding your face in his shoulder to hide your tears that we’re trying to escape “what do you we do H?” You ask softly “we’ll he’s trying to make it look like we planned everything down to him coming after you, so my lawyer said we just need to limit our public contact with one another and keep it professional at work, we’ll be ok sweetheart, I promise” Harry says grabbing your hand squeezing it as the Uber pulls up at your apartment. “I should go home” Harry sighs softly “need to do some damage control” he says pulling you in close to hug you you whimper some tears slipping as you nod. “Hey, we’re going to be ok, this isn’t forever he’s just a small problem, c’mere” Harry whispers lifting your chin whipping your tears kissing your head then moving to connect his lips to yours, resting his forehead to yours he sighs softly “I wish I could just sneak you home with me” he smiles a little.

You giggle a little sniffling “me too” you peck Harry’s lips again “I’ll call you in the morning” Harry says placing little kisses over your face “thank you” you smile a little before collecting your things getting out of the Uber you wave a little as the car pulls away.

You turn to your apartment and sigh as your lip begins to tremble again.

Why did this have to happen now.

#Harry Styles #harry fanfic #harrys house #harry styles pleasing #pleasing #ceo harry #harry fluff #harry #one direction #harry fic #harrystyles harrystylesimagines #harry angst #imagine

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ianalizz · 5 years

Text

To the Moon and Back

Disclaimer: If you like surprises, please do not read blurb!

Two past lovers encounter each other once again. While trying to distinguish the new boss and employee relationship they find themselves in strange encounters. Explosions and retaliations are the residue left over from their past. Both Mila and Harry wish to move on in order to work in a tranquil environment. The only way to acquire said wish is to talk out their past, but it seems like they can never get on the same page. Will they ever move on? Or will they shove the past in to the back of their minds in order to work harmoniously? One question that strides to Mila's mind is why did he come back? Short story! Hope you like it 🖤

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Would I lose myself in him or would he enhance the better parts of my writing? Mila always wondered what would happen if the right guy swooped her off her feet. Now it seems so distant since she’s distracted. She doesn’t have to worry about guys now with her new job promotion being just in reach. It took three years to get (or almost get) to this point of her life. She is not going to let anyone ruin this for her. Not even the clueless barista at the coffee shop her boss loves. “Is this four pumps of caramel and one shot of coconut because I saw you do two caramel and two coconut. I’m going to need another iced coffee. I beg of you please make it right this time, my potential job depends on this order.” Her brown eyes pierce into the teenager and he simply nods and scoffs while taking her order back and replacing it. She mouths a loud thank you and walks out of the crowded coffee shop with a huge smile. As she says good morning to bystanders, they feel warm and can’t tell if it’s the well dressed brunette or the summer sun.

Mila makes her way into the tall glass building in the middle of New York City. The famous building is owned by Jeff Finn, one of the most famous writers in the country. The security guard greets Mila with a wave and she waves back rather aggressively while entering the elevator. Her excitement cannot be contained. She knew she was getting the job the minute it was presented to three interns: herself, snoring Steve, and Kelsey. Let it be known that Kelsey has been on maternity leave for three years and no one has heard of her since. There’s a rumor that she died, but according to her Facebook status she’s just... inactive.

The elevator dings on floor three and she leaps out while looking at her watch. Just in time, she thinks. Just in time to be early. A whole hour and seventeen minutes early. The front desk lady, Denise smiles as Mila leans over to say hello. “Hi, sweetheart. How are ya doing?” She asks with great concern.

Mila finds this confusing because it is obvious that she’s doing great. “Um amazing! How can you even ask me that Denise? Mr. Finn will give me the promotion and I’ll finally have,” She breathes deeply and almost tears up, “benefits.” She bites her lips and does a little dance showing her enthusiasm.

Mila slowly stops when noticing Denise’s facial expression. She reaches out of Mila’s arm, “Oh no. I thought someone would have told you.” Her thumb rubs Mila in a comforting style, but Mila jerks away slowly.

“Told me what? Don’t say that snoring Steve got that position! He talks out of his ass.” Mila’s voice grows into a whisper as Denise points toward the doorway revealing Steve. “G-good morning… man” She nervously says with a false smile.

Steve pulls out one of his apple air pod headphones and responds with a, “Huh?” and Mila thanks God silently.

She turns her attention to Denise, going back to their previous conversation. “Mila, no one is getting a promotion anytime soon. Jeff died last Friday.” Denise’s sorrowful eyes matches Mila’s. “I’m sorry, hun.”

Mila tries to make sense of this, but it hits her like a moving truck. “S-so... no benefits?” Denise’s shocked expression makes Mila feel the need to defend herself. “What? No one liked the guy.” Denise hits Mila on the hand like a child. “Ow! Okay, okay. I do feel for him and no one deserves that. No matter how rude and despicable they are-- were.” Mila recalls the times Mr. Finn would come to her cubicle and drop papers just to watch her pick it up and the amount of times he called her Mimi makes her gag to this day. She could have simply quit, but the pay was good and it will take more than a man to make her quit her dreams in being a published poet. Her current job was only phase one in her seven year plan. Let’s include the fact that we are in year 3 and still on phase one. Phase two was the editor position, but that dream quickly crumbled. “Iced coffee?” She hands the four pumps of caramel and one shot of coconut to Denise.

At work, she can’t get her mind off the editor position that’s still open. There has to be a way to get it. Part of her thinks it’d be easy to just pretend she already got the job and the other part of her doesn’t want to risk it. I mean, it would be easy. Just go in the editor’s office and start working. I’m perfect for the job. No one will have a clue. Except maybe for snoring Steve. She glances over to Steve who seems to be asleep and drooling. Okay, maybe he won't even notice. She gets up, careful not to wake Steve because if she does she’ll have to again hear the story of how his grandmother ice skated naked eight years ago on New Year’s.

She takes the elevator to the fourth floor where all the editors are. The last office on the left is where she believes dearly that she belongs. The only obstacle that was in the way was that Mr. Finn’s office would be diagonally next to hers, but now that doesn’t seem like a problem anymore. She walks in and her white heels clack on the dark hardwood floor. Her heart beats as she floats toward the desk, letting her fingers dance on the fine dark oak and slowly makes their way to the black plush chair. Her eyes envision her clients seated right in front of her desk and on the leather seats. She sits down on her dream chair and spins while laughing a little.

Suddenly, she hears Mr. Finn’s office door open and she ducks down under the desk. She hears footsteps approach the desk and she remains frozen in place, hoping it isn’t the ghost of Mr. Finn. The footsteps come to a stop right in front of her. The figure crouches down to her level of eyesight. The man’s green eyes locks with her as their faces are merely inches from each other. His grin turns into an even bigger smile when he notices her eyebrows raise. “Need help?” His British accent as thick as the tension in the room. He extends his hand.

Mila takes his hand and rises to her feet with the help of green eyes. “Thank you.” She lightly says while brushing off any dust on her blazer.

“No problem.” He says. He scratches his head before saying, “S-so, um. How have you been?” His face bright red and sweaty hands deep in his pockets.

“Fine. Yourself?” Her arms crossed and eyes are now attempting to burn him or make him disappear like in her poems she’s written about him, but it isn’t going to be that easy. “Good, good.” He runs his fingers through his curls and out of his eyes, gaining the confidence to say, “Look Mila,”

“Save it.” She cuts him off quickly while turning to exit, but in the back of her head she needs to know; why is he back? “W-what are you even doing here Harry?” Her lips press together as she cocks her head to the side waiting on his answer.

“Well, I…” She cuts him off again.

“Why would you think for one second I would want to see you again?”

“I didn’t mean to,” There she goes again.

“To what? Leave without telling me? Move to a whole other country without telling me?” Her voice bounces off the walls.

“Mila, I…”

“You what?” Just let him talk! Oh sorry. I’m getting too into this.

Finally, once Mila is ready to hear his excuses as to why he left two years ago, a knock appears at the door. The pair looks at Mr. Finn’s assistant, Griffin, as he pops his multicolored dyed head into the room. “Mr. Styles, you have a meeting at eleven with the board and where would you like the interviews held for the new editor position?” In between his flamboyant words Mila makes the connection as to why Harry is here.

Harry clears his throat and says, “I’ll be out in a minute.” With that Griffin closes the door and the pair regain eye contact.

“You’re replacing Mr. Finn aren’t you?” Mila questions with her shoulders hanging low. Although she is really vexatious due to the fact he left, deep down she wanted him to say he had come back for her. He nods his head while walking toward the door, opening it for her. She glances back in to the editor’s office longingly before kissing her seven year plan goodbye.

Walking back to her cubicle, she runs in to Denise who notices that Mila is nervously picking at her nails. “Oh so you didn’t hear yet?” Denise smiles.

“Hear what?” Mila shrugs her shoulders, but maintains her distinguishably sad posture.

“The new boss flew in last night and is rescheduling the editor’s position interviews! Isn’t that great? You’ll get benefits!” Denise starts to happy dance and notices that Mila isn’t doing so, therefore killing the vibe. “Uh uh, nope. No moping. You’re a shoo in for that job.” She states convincingly while wagging her finger at Mila.

“I don’t think so. It’s Harry.” Mila mutters.

“Why do you still have that asshole in your mind? It’ been two years.” Denise says throwing her arms in the air, but whispering yet shouting.

“No, Denise. The boss is Harry.” Denise’s eyes widen and she looks at Mila with such sorrow once again.

Mila has no choice but to drown herself in work. It distracts her from thinking of Harry and the fact that she might not even have an intern position by next week. Yelling at the boss on his first day isn’t really… recommended. The only thing keeping her going is the fact that she already paid the next three months rent in advance. At least that’s something she did not have to worry about. She’s also looking forward to the full moon tonight. Something about that circle in the sky always intrigued her.

The thoughts of Mila and the snores of Steve are interrupted by Griffin. “Steve!” Steve awakens belligerently with a low groan. “Boss-man would like to see you,” Griffin says. Is Harry interviewing for the position now? Mila thinks. She can feel her heart frown as well as her lips.

“I thought he was dead.” Steve says while wiping the crumb out of his eyes.

“New boss. Now wipe that drool off your face and look somewhat presentable. See you up there in 5.” Griffin says as he shoots Mila a small smile and Steve one more glare. Steve does as told and gets up, possibly to rob Mila of her temporary dream job.

Steve hasn’t come back and it’s already past clock out time. Mila has to do last minute touches before she can leave her desk. She skims the window to take in the scenery of the sun setting. The yellows, oranges, and pink mesh together to create intangible beauty, humans barely deserve to look at it. She looks at her reflection and notices that she isn’t the only one there. She turns back swiftly and sees Harry yet again. “Oh hi?” She questions more than says.

“It’s 5:37. What are you still doing here?” He questions while leaning on Steve’s desk.

“I just had to do some work before the... before I leave.” She packs up everything on her desk and grabs her purse.

“Before the full moon?” His voice, light, almost hesitant. “I remember you wanting to finish everything so you can focus on your writing under the moonlight.” He smiles to himself losing eye contact with Mila.

This small talk and walk through memory lane breaks Mila’s heart all over again, but she can’t be mean to her new boss. “Yeah. Anyway, I must go. Good night.” He looks at her directly one last time before moving out of her way.

“Good night, Mila.” She passes him and walks out, not looking back. He stares at her, hoping for one more dose of her brown eyes, but he is left craving.

Now in sweats, fuzzy socks, a Southern Connecticut State sweater and no makeup, Mila sits on her fire escape waiting for the muse of the moon to unleash the breathtaking and wishful words. C’mon moon. Give me something. How about her eyes danced as she searches for… Nope. Human nature is… No. Two years is a HUGE AMOUNT OF...Nada. She can’t seem to focus. All she can think about is how her ex boyfriend is now her boss and she might possibly have to find a new job. Maybe I can work as a barista. I’d be the best damn barista in the… Nah. As if on cue, an unknown number calls Mila. Maybe talking to a tax scammer can clear her mind. “Hello?” Her monotone voice earns a familiar chuckle from the other side.

“Glad you haven’t changed your number.” Harry mumbles over the phone taking Mila back a little. He had saved her number all this time. “Listen, I wanted to apologize if it seemed like I ambushed you with my presence today.” His voice is dim. There is a pause between them. Harry’s side of the phone captures the pops of his fireplace. Harry can also hear the wind howling through Mila’s side. “I’m also sorry that I left.” Those words takes Mila’s breath away. “It was selfish and I can never forgive myself for hurting you. It was never my intention. Seeing you today took me back to before and it,” he gulps before saying, “and it tortured me all day. I just hope we can work past this. Good night.” With that, Mila is left with the dial tone and inspiration.

Her fingers cramp up begging her to stop typing and editing, but she has to or else the moment will be gone. She can see her reflection on the laptop screen and her smile is ear to ear as she finishes up her last line. The moon came through for her tonight like it always has.

The next morning, dreadful. The elevator doors ring as they open up to the third floor revealing Griffin. “Mila! Yes, Mr. Styles has been looking for you! Go upstairs and meet him right away.” He chimes pressing the fourth floor button and walking out, barely giving her time to acknowledge him or even breathe.

She does as told and walks slowly toward his office, and of course she can’t help, but to take a peek into the new editor’s office to see if Steve really got the position. As she peers in, her eyes spot Harry sitting on the desk with his legs up revealing his Chelsea boots and his phone in his hands. Confusingly, she enters capturing Harry’s attention. “Mila!” Taken off guard, he stumbles back with the chair and falls over.

Mila rushes to his side in a fit of laughter. “Oh my God. Are you okay?” She asks in between giggles. Harry joins her with a chuckle that’s infused with a groan of pain. She looks at him and extends a hand, “Need help?” She questions. Harry smiles and accepts her kind gesture.

As soon as the chair is back into place, Harry commands Mila to sit in it. She awkwardly does as Harry goes around to the leather chairs across the desk. “How do you feel?” He asks while sitting down slowly.

“I think I should be asking you. Are you sure you’re okay?” She now seriously asks. He nods and points to her with his hand, directing the question back to her. “Well, I feel pretty good. Why?”

Harry can’t hide the huge smile any longer and says, “I’ve considered deeply who deserves this editor position and you earned it.” Mila’s face doesn’t know if it should smile, roll her eyes or frown. “I thought you’d be happy.”

“I am. I would love this job, but I can’t help but think that it’s because of our history. Therefore, I do not want it if it’s coming from you.” She wants to earn this job and she genuinely believes she did, but it seems so given to her if it’s by an ex.

Harry stands up, flabbergasted at what she just said. “Mila, look it was between you and Steve. Kelsey doesn’t work here so we ruled her out. Steve? Snoring Steve?” He knows about that? “He was fired yesterday because of the five hour security footage of him sleeping in the janitor’s closet.” He comes closer to Mila’s desk and leans over, using his arms to balance him leaning over Mila’s face. “You were the only who came close to earning this position. If you even think for one second it was magically handed to you because of some past feelings, you’re wrong. This is a business, so do your job.” Harry says sternly and turns around slamming his office door. Mila believes that she has earned this job after what Harry said, but how he said it makes her feel a fire in the dark places of her heart. He didn’t have to scrutinize her in such an impassioned form. I’m taking this job, she thought, and then I’ll take his. Whoa there, Mila, what happened to the plan?

The next few days involve work and longing looks between Harry and Mila that morphs into rolls of eyes and scoffs. They haven’t spoken since Harry’s big blow up and to be frank, Mila doesn’t mind not talking to him. She’s done it for two years, she can handle it. You know who can’t? Big boss man Harry. He can’t stand watching her and not being able to speak to her, so he enters her office. “Yes?” She acknowledges him without looking directly at him. He hasn’t step foot in her new office since he gave her the job and now realizes that she has made it her own. The original poetry on the wall he recognizes from times Mila would read to him at night. The empty shelves were now stacked with her favorite books from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee to Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell. On the pale gray wall there are wooden picture frames that matches her desk with her family in them. She looks up when she realizes that he hasn’t said a word and it is because he is in awe of how much this empty room changed within days. “Yes?” She asks once more.

“Oh, well I was stopping by to apologize.” He says nervously playing with the sleeves of his button down.

“You’ve been doing that lately.” Mila puts her pen on the desk heavily to place her attention on him.

“I didn’t mean to explode like that. I just don’t want there to be a problem between us because of our past. I owned up to my mistakes and you still treat me so cold. Can we both grow up and put this behind us just to have this a decent place to work.” He says, finally letting go of his sleeve and making direct eye contact with her. He can almost feel himself burning from the inside out with the look she’s giving him.

Mila sucks her teeth and contemplates before she nods her head toward the door, signifying him to close it. He does as so and turns to her as she walks around her desk and sits on it. She crosses her legs and let out a breath. “I would love to, but in order for that to happen we must clear the air. Talk about everything and then leave it behind. It’s the only way I can move on and I’m betting the same thing goes for you.” She feels proud handling this so maturely. It’s true, she wants to get along for the sake of their jobs.

He inches closer and sits on the leather couch. “Do you want to start or should I?” He looks up to her gaze and fights the urge to remove the strand of loose hair covering her eyes.

“Well…” She elongates the well and raises her voice high and hops off the desk walking toward the window wall that has the most perfect view of the busy streets and billboards hoping the flashes of light and speeding cars would distract him a bit.

“What did you do?” He tilts his head while his eyes dilate.

Mila hesitates before saying, “I was just so angry at you and I-I…”

“Mila,” He warns.

“I called the board and said that you called me on my personal phone late at night and I found it completely inappropriate and I’m sorry.” She rushes her words and turns to Harry, who practically jumps off the chair causing it to scrap the floor.

“You what?!” Harry snaps and looks at her in disbelief. He inhales deeply and exhales loudly.

Mila can feel her face heat up because of the embarrassment of her retaliation toward Harry’s outbursts. “We can fix this. All I did was leave a message, they probably haven’t heard it.” She says.

“It’s useless.” He whispers putting his face in his hands. “Hopefully I’ll just get a warning or something.” Harry knows a warning is far from reach. Calling an employee of the opposite sex late at night and suddenly giving her a job promotion in his first two days isn’t really a great impression. Harry knows his job was on the line, but he doesn’t want to worry Mila.

“No, no. I have a plan.” She has that determined look in her eyes that Harry is all too familiar with. He begins to protest, but Mila’s brain is already calibrating. There is no stopping her now.

They both make their way to the elevator and head toward the second floor where the board member's offices are. Mila ignores Harry’s pleas to stop her from getting him in anymore trouble. “Okay,” Mila says. “We can’t let them see us or they will know somethings up. We have to crawl past front desk and see where they forwarded my call.” Mila knows her plan sounds strange, but 78% of the time they work, which are good odds for her.

They did as so. Mila leads the way and Harry follows her past the front desk. Harry respectfully attempts to keep his eyes toward the floor and not toward Mila. Mila’s positive that Harry’s tight pants would have ripped by now. They continue to crawl until they are out of sight. “How do you know they won’t be in their office?” Harry questions with a whisper.

Mila tries to come up with a softer way to say, I called again today to report you, but the front desk said they would be in a meeting until eleven. “Not important.” That works, too. “Now check those offices on the left and I’ll check the right ones. We’ll cover more ground.”

There are five offices Harry and Mila must check and only seven minutes to do so. The first office for Mila was dark and only lit by what she assumes was a blueprint mistake. The light source is a small and narrow window place awkwardly on the far left corner of the office. Mila tries to keep her mind on the plan, but the multiple cat painting hanging on the wall distracted her just a tad. Focus Mila. She tells herself over and over while nearing the phone. She picks it up and dials 1, which automatically directs her to the voicemail box, but no luck. The second one for Mila is also a dead end, but Harry’s second one is the winner. He feels the need to listen even though the little voice in his head tells him not to. Which is me. DON’T DO IT HARRY. IT ISN’T GOOD. He ignores and listens to the message.

Hello, I would love to speak to a board member. My name is Mila Castillo and I’d like to report one of your employees. My new boss and I have history. I tried to keep it out of my mind, but I can’t. Especially with him calling me at an unreasonable hour on my personal phone. It was completely inappropriate and I’m hoping you can deal with this. Thank you. Call me back.

Harry’s breath feels like it’s been punched out of him. He deletes the call and walks over to the door, but upon opening it, Mila runs in and shuts the doors. “Board members! Hide!” She whispers. Harry opens the supply closet filled with coats and brooms and grabs Mila by the wrist, pulling her in with him. As soon as the door closes they can swear someone entered. Mila and Harry have no choice but to stand chest to chest in this small supply closet. Mila looks up at him, “Did you find it?” Harry only nods and looks away from her eyes. “And you listened, didn’t you?” Mila wants him to shake his head no, but based on his current expression she already knows the answer. He nods again. “Look, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking and I…”

“You were right.” He announces in a faint voice, cutting her sentence short. He moves back into some coats, maintaining a few inches from Mila. The silence in the closet makes Mila want to wish herself out of the situation, but wishful thinking can only go so far. Once Harry realizes there isn’t anyone in the room he leaves in a hurry. Mila stays in the closet a little longer hoping to catch the next elevator up.

Harry has been in his office all day with a closed door and Mila feels guilty. She can’t help it. Harry’s words keeps entering her mind as she tries to work; Can we both grow up and put this behind us just to have this a decent place to work. They echo repeatedly until she finally builds up the courage to knock on his door. A deep, “Come in.” is her cue to enter and so she does.

She walks into Harry’s office slowly and sees him looking out the gigantic window that matched Mila’s. He turns to her and offers that false pressed smile that no one wants. Mila closes the door and it vibrates the whole room. “That’s a heavy door.” She says chuckling the awkwardness away. Or so she thinks. Little did she know her chuckling summons more awkwardness. “Okay, I still think we should talk in order for us to work.” She speaks her mind and only hopes he would do the same.

He looks at her and nods, “I do too.” Mila grins, but it soon turns back into a straight line when he says, “When should I schedule our appointment.” He sits down on his chair and pulls himself closer to the desk to take a look at his calendar. “I’m free tomorrow after lunch.”

“Appointment? This isn’t some business deal, it’s about us.” Mila argues.

“You were right. On the phone. It was completely inappropriate and I’m your boss.” He says with such conviction. Mila cannot believe what she is hearing. She scoffs as she turns around and walks right out of the door, slamming it harder this time.

At home, all Mila can do is lay on her bed and think. She looks up to the white ceiling and throws her pillow up then catches it. The bed squeaks every time she uses all her force to throw the fluffy pink pillow up with both hands to the ceiling, but it fails to touch it every time.

Once she gives up, she grabs her phone. She looks at her recent call list and looks for the unknown number Harry called from nights ago. She presses it and breathes out preparing to have the talk with him. Unfortunately she gets his voicemail; You’ve reached Harry Styles. Please Leave a message: “Hey, hi. Listen, um. I’m sorry. I know what I said on the voicemail must have affected you and I didn’t mean them. I was just mad. I get mad and retaliate, you get mad and explode. We’re not perfect. I’m still getting used to this boss and employee relationship and still trying to figure things out. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times I sat on my fire escape and contemplated if quitting would work, but you’re right. We both earned these positions and the only way to get through this rough patch is to talk it through and leave nothing in the air. So schedule me for tomorrow after lunch please.” Mila giggles at that last part and hopes that Harry can find it in his heart to not leave her guessing in the dark on where they stand.

The night falls and the moon isn’t as radiant as when it’s full. Especially with the fog and the rain. Mila thought the pitter patter on her window would help her focus, but tonight lightning accompanied with thunder ruined the mood. Mila blames her horrible writing on the night sky. She attempts to write on paper, but soon realizes why she hated it. Crumbled pieces surround her on the gray covered bed and hardwood floors. Her mini trash can from five below overflowed with loose lines of poetry. Her mind yearns for a break from this depressing session. She finally agrees and goes into her kitchen to grab a water bottle from the fridge. As she chugs it down, she grabs her phone from the kitchen charger and realizes that she has 2 missed calls from the unknown number. She curses under her breath and attempts to call him back, but it goes straight to voicemail. She hangs up and regrets her willpower and rule of no phone while writing.

Unexpectedly a knock appears at her door. She goes to open it and reveals a drenched Harry. She takes a moment to figure out her words, but Harry comes in abruptly. “I can’t wait until tomorrow at lunch.” He says dripping on to the floor. Mila didn’t care that he’s making a mess at this moment. She closes the door and turns to him. “We need to talk and you said fire escape in your message so I was hoping you still live here. Can we please talk?” He says breathlessly. She nods and drinks the rest of her water to calm her sudden dry throat.

After Harry changes into Mila’s extra large SCSU shirt that she would normally sleep in and her brother’s basketball shorts that he left the last time he was here, she lit the fireplace and gave him a blanket to get him warm. He protested on all of that, but Mila was not letting him get hypothermia on her watch. After putting his clothes in the dryer, she finally sits on her plushy couch, joining him. “So,” She starts off, “let’s talk.” She leans her head on her hand which rests on the top of the couch.

Harry admires her soft features he hasn’t seen in years. The fresh face girl has rosy cheeks and plump pink lips that are foreign to him now and he can’t take it anymore. What other reason would he have to walk in the rain than to tell her his feelings that he has been fighting the moment he saw her again. “I,” He says barely audible. He looks at her eyes getting more than a dose and he’s suddenly in a trance. Mila snaps her fingers in his face returning him back to reality. “I left.”

In a flash, Harry remembers the day particularly. Mila and him were a few months in to their relationship and were at a good place. They were never in love, but almost there. Harry and Mila started working straight out of college as interns in a publishing office. It was exciting, adventurous, perfect. Almost like high school where the principle can’t catch you sneaking around. They were both hard workers though and that did not go unnoticed. They were both recommended for the manager position in Eastern London. Harry was the one that got it. Mila would have been supportive of her boyfriend, but what Harry doesn’t know is that Mila dropped out of the running so Harry can have the opportunity of a lifetime. She believed their relationship was strong enough at this point to overcome obstacles such as distance, but she wasted a wishful thought. Unfortunately, what Mila encountered was Harry leaving without telling her. Slowly they became emotionally distant to complement the physical distance. It was simply easier to forget about each other.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mila’s eyes become glossy as they relive one of the most heartbreaking part of both their lives. The tears threaten to come down, but she puts her chin up and tries to gain control again.

Harry can’t look at her because he knows if he does, he’ll break. His eyes stare at the warm flames trying to distract himself, but once he hears her gasp through the tears, he crumbles. “I knew you gave up that job.” He admits. She looks at him with such confusion. “That’s why I left, because I knew that you giving up that job meant…” He can’t finish that sentence because the fear of him being wrong all these years haunts him and it just can’t be true because leaving would have been for nothing.

Mila sniffles as she calls his name for the first time since she found out she was his employee, “Harry?” He shuts his eyes moments before turning toward her and having a tear stain his pale cheek. “It meant I loved you.” She confesses. Their eyes now can’t look away from each other. “You were scared that I loved you?” She questions.

Harry nods and bites his bottom lip trying to fight back anymore tears before saying, “And I didn’t know if I loved you so, I left.” The truth behind his words makes Mila feel peaceful inside. She isn’t wondering what she did wrong anymore. It feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Harry finally feels like he can breath thin air. “And I’m really sorry. Walking into your office today, I noticed that a lot can change in a short amount of time. You decorated it and it look unrecognizable. Maybe we both are too.” He says removing a piece of hair that always manages to cover her eyes. She takes her hand to return a favor and wipe his tear with her thumb gently.

“Maybe it’s good. A fresh start. It seems like we need it.” While their hands touch one another slightly, they never want to let go of each other or the moment. “So,” Mila chuckles lightly, this time comfortably with no awkwardness at all, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Harry smiles and tells her to go on, “I know you’re my boss and everything, but can I not call you Mr. Styles. I mean it’s weird, isn’t it?” He laughs along, placing his free hand to his chest as if he’s having a laugh attack.

“Harry is fine.” He smiles at Mila and lets go of her hair finally

While waiting for Harry’s clothes to dry, the romantic comedy, The Kissing Booth, played on her living room TV, keeping them busy. Mila decides to grab her laptop and give writing another chance tonight. She sits with Harry on the couch and types away. “My God Mila, don’t you ever take a break?” Harry teases. Mila retaliates by throwing him a throw pillow. He lets out a whine, “Hey! Just because it’s in the name, doesn’t mean you should throw it!”

Just then, the dryer buzzer goes off and Mila puts her laptop on the ottoman. Harry watches her walk to the hallway with a smile plastered on his face. His eyes look down toward the laptop which has her files open. He doesn’t mean to pry, but if a file had your name on it, wouldn’t you? He grabs the laptop and open the Harry files. The last update to it was 5 days ago, when Harry called Mila. He opens the document and the little voice returns; HARRY C’MON! DON’T DO IT, but Harry doesn’t listen.

Bitter green eyes.

Ones that burn you from the inside out.

You disintegrate and put your molecules back together.

Just to be broken again.

Pall pink lips.

Like all the others.

You melt and become lost at sea trying to find yourself.

Just to be lost again.

-Mila Castillo

Harry cannot fathom what he just read. He turns as soon as he hears a creak coming from behind him. He makes eye contact with Mila and she automatically knows what he’s done. “Were you snooping on my laptop?” She puts the basket of his clothes down on the dining table and places her arms crossed against her chest.

“Did you really mean those things about me?” Harry stands up still utterly shocked at her piece. He walks toward her. “Mila, what was all that about? Bitter green eyes? Pall pink lips? Is that really how you felt about me just days ago?” He questions towering her now.

Mila maintains her position and her eyebrow furrow as she states, “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, but that’s my priva…” Harry’s lips connect with hers, cutting her off. Surprised, Mila’s eyes open wide, but closes slowly as she melts into the kiss.

Harry grabs her waist pulling her in closer and Mila wraps her arms around his neck playing with his brown curls, pulling him closer also. She feels the kiss activating every single part of her body from the hairs standing up to the tingles in her spine. Harry pulls apart gently leaving Mila begging with her eyes, but keeps their foreheads connected as he whispers, “I guess your poetry is fictional.” They smile at each other for a little bit before reattaching their non pall lips.

In that moment Mila realizes that the full moon isn’t her only source of power. The words to describe this sensation of warmth between their bodies run through her mind as she pulls him closer by the hem of the shirt. She might have loved him at one point and this kiss may be epic, but the truth is she is living in the moment and hoping to forget it tomorrow when Harry is her boss once again.

Harry, drunk off the kiss, stumbles a bit trying to secure his balance. He pushes Mila into the wall gently to help him obtain good footing. Although, this is taking lots of focus from Harry’s part, he can’t erase the fact that he left something out of the story. He came back and the only reason he would ever come back is because he still loves her.

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