"Yeah, this'll work fine, thanks," Harry remarked, giving a quick smile to the waiter as he took his seat next to his er, beautiful blonde date, Emily.
Though they had not had hardly been with each other five minutes in the car ride to the restaurant, it was enough for Harry to tell that this date was probably going to be one to add to the fail pile. He silently cursed Zayn for setting him up on so many blind dates with such ridiculous girls over the past few weeks. I mean sure he was the only one of the boys without a girlfriend at the moment, but that didn't mean he wanted one. It also didn't mean he was even remotely lonely enough to even consider dating the um…lovely, Emily who seemed to be constantly enthralled by everything but Harry.
"So," he said, pulling his chair closer to the table and resting his elbows on top. "Emily. You mentioned you were going to UCLA. How is that?"
From the across the table Emily hadn't seemed to have even heard Harry as she had developed her full attention to the dessert menu in front of her. Harry cleared his throat loudly.
"Oh," she said, looking up for only an instant before looking back down at the menu. "Yeah it is really nice out today."
Harry nodded slowly before slipping his hands down to send Zayn a nasty text. He half wondered if by the way this girl was salivating over chocolate cake if she wasn't instead meant to be set up with Niall.
"What can I get you to drink?" a male waiter asked, walking up to their table, pad in hand.
"Oh um," Harry fumbled for the wine list. "I'll have the reisling please and a glass of water would be great."
"Perfect," the waiter said, nodding down at his notepad. "And for you, ma'm?"
Emily however had not heard him, now enveloped in a seemingly miraculous and life changing text message.
"Ma'm?" the waiter promted, still yielding no response from the blonde opposite Harry
Harry let out a loud sigh. "Emily?" he asked, shaking the table a bit.
The silence continued for about 20 seconds before Harry began gathering his belongings.
"She'll have your best dessert," Harry said, handing the waiter a $20 bill and slipping on his coat. "Don't expect much reaction from her," he said, patting the waiters shoulder and giving the greeter a quick nod before exiting into the cold winter air.
Harry shivered as he stepped into the dark parking lot. He had expected it to be cold, but it was much colder than he had anticipated. He quickly pulled his beanie and his gloves from his coat pocket and begun his way across the full parking lot to his car. As he approached, he noticed there seemed to be someone moving around the car next to his. A women, he guessed by her stature. She seemed to be fumbling around with something in the driver's door of her car, which Harry could tell as he got closer, didn't seem to be in very good shape.
Finally, within about 10 feet of the cars, Harry stopped. He could see her much clearer now, but she was still vaguely more than a silhouette under the dim parking lot lights. He could tell she had very long, brown hair which seemed to have been at some point curled, however it was now nothing more than a loose wave. She was wearing a long black trench coat over what appeared to be a waitress's uniform, similar to the one the man whom had waited his table had been suited in.
He stood a moment, pondering whether he should speak to her or not. For all he knew she could be a crazed fan and seeing as he was alone with no bodyguard or help in sight, he would be taking a big risk. She didn't give off that vibe though, Harry noted, if she was pretending to be a frantic damsel in distress she was an impressive actress.
"Excuse me," Harry said, trusting his instinct and taking a small step closer to the cars. "Do you need help or something?"
The woman looked up from the car door and stared at him. For a moment she said nothing, almost as if she had recognized him, Harry thought, but just as quickly, she went back to fumbling with the handle.
"No thanks," she said, kneeling down to the key hole and peering in. "I'm fine."
Harry was a bit taken back. To be honest, he wasn't exactly used to being rejected by women, whether it was just to offer them help or not.
"With all due respect, it doesn't quite seem like you are," Harry promted, taking a few more steps towards the door where she was standing.
The women let out a loud sigh. As Harry got closer, he could see that she was young, probably around his age he guessed. She had black pumps lying next to her as she worked barefoot, flashing bright blue toe nail polish.
"Well I guess I'm kind of…well I'm kind of fucked," she said, clutching the door handle one last time before squeezing her eyes shut and collapsing on the back of her knees.
"Oh…" Harry said, now hovering right above her, wondering if he should help console her. "Well…I'm sorry about that, but…is there anything I can do to help?"
The girl let out another sigh before looking up at Harry, the same look on her face as she had before. She titled her head slightly to the right and stared for a moment, brushing her hair off her face briefly. "What is your name? You look off ally familiar."
Great.. Here we go. "Harry," he said, quickly. "Um, my name is Harry. Harry Styles"
She nodded her head slowly, studying his face. "Harry," she repeated staring again for a moment before shaking her head quickly. "Doesn't ring a bell."
Harry couldn't help but smile at this, looking down to adjust his gloves. "Yeah I don't believe we've met before."
"You do look very familiar though, Harry," she said, hanging her head slightly. "Strange." She stared at him for a moment and looked down his length. She looked only for a moment at his face before looking down to his scarf and then to his gloves where she hovered for a moment and then quickly looked down.
It appeared as if she was shivering.
"Do you want my jacket?" Harry asked quickly, already pulling one arm out of the sleeve.
"No, no," she answered quickly. "You're fine, but… you can sit if you'd like." She patted the space in front of her lightly, looking Harry straight in the eyes.
Harry looked at the spot and then looked up at her again. This girl could potentially be crazy and there was really no way anyone would hear him scream from the restaurant. He could just leave now and go on with it. He could go home right now and finish commending Zayn on his impeccable taste in women. He was sure management would like it much better that way, along with Paul and the rest of the security staff.
With this, Harry took a seat next to the mystery girl and crossed his legs. "What's your name?" he asked, smirking slightly.
"Charlotte," she said. "Charlotte Dailey," she completed, reaching out her hand towards Harry.
"It's lovely to meet you Charlotte," he said, taking her hand, while trying to remember when the last time he shook a girl's hand was and making a mental note that Charlotte's hands were very soft.
"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Styles," she said, taking her hand back to her lap and looking down. "Sorry about the whole fuck thing earlier, by the way, I'm just kind of…really frustrated," she said, patting the car door next to her, and looking up again.
"Is there something wrong with it?" Harry asked, grazing over the rusted paint on the bumper.
"Oh there's a ton wrong with it, the questions is what's wrong with it today. And the answer to that is that the driver's seat door, which might I add was the only working door in the first place, refuses to open."
Harry pretended to study the car for a moment, but found himself quickly distracted by Charlotte's profile, who was lightly brushing her fingers in circles around the side of the car. Even under the dim light, he could see that she was very attractive, but not in the way he was used to. She didn't appear to have much makeup on, aside from a bit of smeared mascara. Her lips were plump, but not overly so. Her eyes were her most prominent feature though, appearing to be a bright green. She was overtly naturally beautiful.
"Oh," Harry breathed, remembering that she was waiting for a response. He supposed she was expecting a little more of an answer, but he wasn't quite sure what to say.
"Yeah," she said, rising to her feet again and offering Harry her hand once she had straightened up. "So I'm not sure there's much you can do to help me," she said, helping Harry to his feet. "Unless you happen to have the jaws of life with you." She smiled as she said this, flashing gleaming, straight, white teeth.
"Can't say I do," Harry retorted, dusting off the back of his trousers, still not quite able to take his eyes off of her. "I do have a phone though," he said, reaching to his back pocket for his iPhone. "If there is someone you would you like to call…maybe to pick you up or something?"
"Thanks, but there's not really anyone I can call to be completely honest. I just moved here so I really don't know anyone. I'll probably just end up walking to the bus stop," she said, gathering her purse and shoes that were still on the ground. "Thank you for your help, though Harry. I do appreciate it," she stood for a moment, the same look in her eyes as earlier, lingering on Harry's eyes and again bringing her attention to his gloves. "It's very nice to meet a gentleman now and then," she said, snapping out of the trance as quickly as she had entered and looking back up to Harry's face with a quick smile.
And with that she was off, already almost 20 feet away before Harry could say goodbye or offer her anymore assistance.
"You don't need a ride or something?" he yelled, fumbling for his keys in his pocket. She stopped for a moment and spun around, only to answer, "It was lovely to meet you Harry," before turning around and hurrying down the street.
Harry stood for a moment, wondering if he should go after her, but soon decided against it. He had to be up early in the morning and he knew the bus stop was little more than a couple blocks away.
"It was lovely meeting you too Charlotte," he whispered, still staring at the corner she had just turned.
A shiver soon reminded him of the cold and he rushed to his car, cranked up the heater, and began his way home, wondering the whole night whether she got to the bus stop alright.
That was the first night he dreamt of her.