Elsie POV
One week later
Ever since that crazy night in our hotel a couple days ago, I started seeing Harry and the boys more. We had to see them all in secret of course. Chris would kill us if he ever found out. Harry was actually a very sweet guy. He was genuinely interested in knowing about my life, as I was with his. Practice has been going great, just a lot of refining and cleaning up all of my moves for each event. I was in the gym when I received a text from Harry asking if we could hang out tonight. It was already late so I decided he could meet me here at the gym. When everyone started leaving, I told Chris and Kenzie that I was going to stay and work on my routines for just a little while longer.
"Are you sure you want to stay by yourself?" Kenzie asked. There are times when she worried about my well-being, this time being one of them. I blame her worry on Peter after he left me in the parking lot.
"Yea I'll be ok I'll be back soon. Don't worry," I reassured her. She gave me a skeptical look and was the last one to walk out of the gym.
After she left I went to my bag and got my phone out, turning my music to my floor song. I went to go plug it into the speakers and started the music. When the music started, I began my routine. When I started to dance, I forgot about everything around me and it just came. I set up for my first move. It consisted of an aerial combined with a back hand spring that ended with a back flip. I perfectly stuck my landing. After that I did some switch leaps and a few pirouettes. Then I went into my second set of flips which was a back tuck pike layout which was, again, landed perfectly. After another 30 seconds of my routine, I was finished. I heard a random clapping. My head snapped around to see Harry sitting off to the side. I instantly smiled.
"How long have you been there for?" I asked walking over to him.
"Long enough to know that, that was probably amazing," he said with a dimpled smile.
"Well, I do try," I said pretending to flip my dark purple hair over my shoulder.
"How was your day today?" he asked me. I told him my day was just fine and the conversation grew from there and we talked about some random things.
"You should do some more flips," he said cheekily after we finished conversing.
"You're such a cheeky little shit aren't you?" I said. "But if you insist," I said and ran onto the floor and did a round-off back handspring into a double back flip. Harry made his way over to the mat and took his shoes off before stepping on.
"You know I can do gymnastics too right?" He said.
"Alright Styles, let's see then," I said motioning for him to start. "Show me what you got." He stepped to the corner of the mat following my actions of concentrating. After 2 minutes he was still standing there. "I'm still waiting," I giggled.
"I am getting into my zone. What I'm about to do is the hardest gymnastics trick known to man. I need full concentration," he told me. He then proceeded to do a somersault. He ended by putting his arms in the air like every other gymnast does when they finish.
"Oh my god. That was so beautiful," I fake cried and rapid clapped my hands. "You landed perfectly and your form was amazing. I give you a 10."
"Ha ha ha. See, I told you I'm a natural," he smiled at me as he made his way over to the corner of the mat where I was sitting. "So I wanted to ask a question," he said and sat down in front of me.
"And what question is that?" I asked. He took a deep breath and asked.
"I was wondering if you would like to accompany me on a date this Saturday. Just you and me. No boys or teammates, just us." My eyes instantly widened in shock. I was not expecting him to ask that question.
"Let me think give me 5 minutes," I said while getting up and walking to the opposite end of the mat. I had to really think about this. We are going to train hardcore for the next week and a half and I had to stay focused, but I wanted to see Harry.
Harry POV
I watched her as she got up and walked over to the opposite end of the mat. I actually plucked up the courage and asked her out on a date. My heart was racing. What if she said no? I quickly grew feelings for her. After she had become completely vulnerable that night, I felt the need to want to put the pieces back together. I could tell she had something happen to her the night I met her at the club, but I didn't think it was that horrible. She did a wonderful job of hiding her feelings though, I mean you could tell that she was sad, but most of the time she seemed happy. After about two minutes she came flipping back towards my end of the mat.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked her.
"Yea, but first, I would love to go on a date with you. We just can't be out too long because I need to stay focused. But, what would you like to know?" She asked. My face turned up in a smile as she agreed to go out with me.
"How is it that you seem to handle everything in your life so easily?" I asked her. "Like when I watched you do your floor dance, it looked like it just came to you and you looked so happy. I mean your father is gone and you seem not not let anything get to you."
"Well," she sighed. "That is certainly not true, but when I do my routine, I just let everything go. I let go all the bad shit that has happened in my life and use it to flip through the air," she giggled.
"That's amazing. You're going to do great. I'll be rooting for you, you know," I told her.
"Uhh, you better be! You just saw my whole routine! Plus, I'm the fucking best," she said then did a backwards somersault into a handstand. When she stood up she smiled at me.
"So I have another question for you?" I asked.
"You are so curious today, but what's up?" she said.
"Have you ever had a boyfriend before?" As soon as I asked her expression changed. "I can tell I have hit a nerve, so if you don't want to answer that question..." We made our way over to her gym bag.
"Harry, stop talking," she shushed me by putting her finger to my lips. Electricity. Everywhere. "I knew at some point I you were going to ask, so out of honesty, I will tell you." She removed her finger from my lips.
"Alright, just know you don't have to," I reminded her.
"Well, about 4 years ago I dated a guy named Peter. He told me anything he could to get me to date him. So, since he was my first boyfriend I was completely clueless," she told me.
"Where did you meet him?" I asked.
"One of the girls threw a party a long time ago and I met him there," she said. "But he was a really bad guy. When he would get drunk, he would hit me. One night he drove me to an empty parking lot. He tried to put moves on me and I tried to fight back, but the next thing I knew I woke up in a hospital bed...again. Kenzie swore that if he ever crossed her path, she would beat his ass." I stiffened at this information. "That's why I didn't give you my number that night at the club. I was scared."
"Elsie," I started to tell her. "I know you have probably heard this from Peter, but I am not like him. At all. He took advantage of you and didn't cherish what he had. When I look at you I see a girl who uses her past to feed her future, but I also see a girl who needs fixing. I want to fix you," I told her seriously. I lifted my hand up to her cheek and let my thumb stroke it. Her skin was so soft and beautiful. And just then, she wrapped her arms around my torso in a hug and her sobs were muffled by my tshirt. I just held her. This girl was so beautiful, so strong, yet so broken at the same time.
I don't know how long we stood there, but it was pretty damn long. I just let her cry and I rubbed her back in comfort.
"Harry," she looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy and her face was soaked with tears.
"Yes Elsie?" I replied.
"Please don't be like him," she sniffled. My hands cupped her cheeks and my thumbs wiped her tears.
"I wouldn't dream of it," I told her. "And I mean it."
"I'm sorry I have been such a downer lately," she told me.
"I know just the thing to help with that," I said with a smile. "It's a secret so you can't really tell anybody. Not even Kenzie."
"If it's ice cream, you best believe I won't tell anybody. I love ice cream, I'm just not allowed to eat it," she told me and we started walking out of the gym.
"How did you figure out my secret?" I playfully asked her.
"Wild guess," she giggled.
I drove us to this little ice cream parlor in downtown London, and Elsie loved it. While we ate we talked about almost everything and never ran out of things to talk about.
"So what color thingy are you going to wear when you perform?" I asked her.
"Ha ha ha!" she laughed so loud. "It's called a leotard Harry!"
"Alright then. What color leotard are you going to wear when you perform?" I asked her again.
"Red, white, and blue. Duh!!" she said. "Gotta show my American pride when I win. Oh man, I can seriously taste the gold."
"Well I think you are going to do wonderful," I told her with a smile.
"You think so?" she asked me?
"I know so," and we finished our ice cream while still managing to make conversation.
I didn't get back to my flat until about 12 that night. I didn't want Elsie walking the streets of London alone at night, so I drove her back. I laid down on my bed, still trying to take everything in that she had told me at the gym that day. I couldn't fucking believe someone had the audacity to treat Elsie the way that Peter treated her. After hearing that story I wanted to shove his face into a brick wall. I swore to myself that I was never going to treat her like that. She deserved the fucking world and I was determined to give it to her.
A/N: hey guys I hope you like chapter 3. It was my favorite one to write!
