Stage Lights || H.S.

the picture

"You told me to meet you there." I spoke to the phone pressed on my cheek. "Do you know how shitty it made me feel?"

"I'm sorry, honey. I had a business meeting and completely forgot." He repeated.

"Yeah, just forget about your daughter, it's fine. She's a shitty one anyway."

I sighed. Will had called me a couple times until I finally decided to pick up. He said he felt terrible and I wonder if he knew how much it hurt me, it's like an old wound opening again and again. This is why I leave, this is why I pack my bags and hop on a plane, this is why I go away for months without telling anyone my destinations. I'd rather be alone than getting hurt over and over again whenever I tried to let my guard down.

"I'll make it up to you, kiddo." I rolled my eyes. "I miss you."

"Sure." I hung up and threw the phone on my bed.

My head was pounding, my anxiety through the roof. I wanted to disappear, leave, go away. Maybe Florida, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia. I ran my fingers through my hair, tangled and messy from my sleep. I wanted to evaporate.

Amy walked in the room holding a mug and her laptop. Steam came up in the air and the smell of coffee filled the room. She had a curious look, her eyebrows furrowed, wrinkly forehead.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew Harry Styles?" She put the laptop down on my bed, in the middle of blankets and right in front of me.

The screen was bright and a picture pulled up on Twitter was shown. Harry's hair pulled back, white sunglasses on his head, obnoxiously patterned shirt, lips pressed together, he was almost frowning. The plants were hanging on the wall behind him, you could barely see my face, my hair looked wavy falling in my body shoulders, my back curved and my elbows rested on the wooden table.

"I-"

"Don't even try to come up with an excuse, Luna. I know it's you."

"I don't know what to tell you." She took a sip of her coffee as she paced around the room.

"Wanna start by telling me how you met? You why you were on a date? Or what food did he order?" She moved her hand in the air. "Gosh! I have so many questions."

"Date?" I giggled. "We-"

"That's what the whole internet is saying. Date with a mysterious blonde." I couldn't read her, her emotions were all over the place. I couldn't tell if she was happy, mad, excited. "Mysterious blonde! That's you!"

"Well, it was not a date."

"I don't care what it was. Your picture with Harry Styles is all over!" She put the mug down on my nightstand and threw herself next to me. "My best friend on a-"

"It was not a date!" I hugged my knees. "It was far from a date, and I would never go on a date with him. I don't date. "

"Yeah whatever." Amy looked at the computer screen one more time, her lips opened in a big smile.

The fact that the whole world was seeing this picture of me was kind of freaking me out. The thought of strangers creating opinions was terrifying. No wonder why Harry felt the way he did. Scared.

"Since when? How? I mean, gosh!" I pulled the computer from her hands and closed it.

"A few weeks ago. I don't know know him. My dad knows him, he works for him. Harry's signed to Columbia." She nodded. "My dad bailed on me and Harry was polite and invited me for lunch."

"And..."

"That's it. That's the whole story."

"Are you kidding, Luna? I could write a five paragraph essay just talking about a ten second conversation I had with him." I shrugged. "How was he? Was he nice? Did he hold the door for you? Did you kiss?"

"Can you please drop it. I'm sorry to ruin your fantasies but I don't know Harry Styles and I'm probably never seeing him again. Running into him three times was enough."

***********

Harry

"Who is she?"

The picture was on the phone screen that was held in front of my face. Luna's hair gave her away but no one knew who she was. A couple of low quality zoomed in pictures were out floating on the internet and everyone wanted to know who she was. Even Jeff, who was standing in front of me and looked really pissed off.

"Don't worry about it."

"Does she have a name? A boyfriend? A husband? I need to know before TMZ makes a whole article about it."

"I don't know. I don't know her."

"You went out publicly with her but you don't know her?"

I didn't know what else to say, or do. I knew people would start creating stories and dramas, that's all I wanted to stay away from. There was so much of it in One Direction, everyone created high expectations and we had a reputation to keep.

"I don't, I absolutely don't."

"I need to let Kate know, she's been calling me but I wanted to talk to you first." He sighed. "Who is she?" Jeff asked me once again.

"Her name is Luna. She's Will Davis' daughter." He nodded. "I don't know anything else, I mean, I guess she's 21 or a bit older, I don't know much about her except who her father is and that she puts ranch dressing in her salad."

"And what were you doing with Will's daughter, I mean... Is she a fan?"

"No. No!" I shook my head, almost laughing. If there was something I caught from Luna is that she seemed to despise my old band, our music and my new thing. "And you don't have to worry about it, I'm probably never seeing her again."

"Okay." Jeff started typing in his phone. "I'm sure Kate will just want to leave it as a mysterious girl and it'll soon blow off."