BEAUTIFULLY UNFINISHED novel Chapter 29

TWENTY-EIGHT

M I R A N D A

Louis: Dinner is still on tonight, yeah? :)

I smile as I stare at my phone.

Me: Yes. Of course. Change venue. I'll meet you at 15 East? Can't wait to get some Japanese foods already for tonight!

Louis: Alright! But how about I'll pick you up at your place? That'll be better.

I smile.

Me: You're making sure I won't ditch you this time. Don't worry, I won't. :) But alright, pick me up then. Thanks!

Louis: Sort of. Haha. Cool. So how's seven? Will that be okay with you?

Me: Seven is perfect. See you.

Louis: Right. See you and Ben! :)

Ben?

He wants me to bring Ben tonight? Well that isn't a bad thing to do but I was expecting it was only me and him. I thought it was a friendly dinner for two.

I slipped my phone inside my pocket and went out of the staff's lounge. I began to gather some orders from table to table and I didn't know working as a waitress is a not so difficult job. Not unless your customers are snobby, bossy and very impatient. I know there are customers like that. But I've dealt with tons of patients in the past and I think I can handle this job pretty well.

So far so good.

But the only thing I hate about this is job is Fatima. She's been very hard on me after what she saw yesterday when I got into Harry's car. Even if I try so hard to avoid her, I can't cos she pops out of nowhere. Even to the tiniest detail of what I'm doing and to the single strand that lands on my face, she scolds me. She observes from a far and waits for me to make a mistake and I know that if I make a major one, she'll make it a big deal. I heard from the other employees that she was a crazy Harry Styles fangirl before.

I sigh.

Harry, I still wonder if the decision I made last night upon not seeing him again is the best thing I should do. Just by the thought of it makes me want to text him and tell him that I take back what I said.

But he's gonna get married. He's gonna start a family soon. He's gonna have kids with Audrey. So how am I gonna tell him? No, the question is, should I still tell him?

Argh! Can't even get my thoughts right when I think about it. Some days I want to tell Harry that he's the father to Ben and most days I just think that I'm not ready for it yet. But I always wonder when am I going to be ready? I always ask myself about it and I even practice my speech to tell Harry when that day comes but when Harry is with me, I can't say a word. My mind goes totally blank. And you can't blame me for taking this agony too long, I've been hiding the truth from everyone else and it's really not easy. If I tell Harry the truth, how am I going to explain to Ben? Lives will change if I tell Harry the truth. Lives will change forever.

"Table 6 Randy." I hear Fatima.

I glance at her and she was looking at me while her arms were crossed together.

"Stop daydreaming and get your ass back to work." She spits.

I snapped.

"Yes." I answered right away.

I served a few more tables and got a few more orders. By four in the afternoon, my shift was finally over and I quickly got off from my waitress uniform.

"Hard day?"

I glance at my side and saw Jean, my co-worker, also getting ready for her shift.

I smile. "Not really."

She smiles back. "I heard Fatima has been rude to you. Did something she didn't like?"

"She was starting to be a bitch to me when Harry Styles was the customer in here and he asked for me than her."

Jean laughs softly. "Fatty is such a small brain sometimes."

Fatty. I grinned.

I think I have someone on my side.

"I heard Harry picked you up yesterday when your shift was over. You two close friends or something?" She asks.

"We're friends." I answered awkwardly while thinking back to what happened last night at his penthouse.

"Cool. So you're his friend huh? I saw your pics online. You were that girl he's always with when he's in New York. Isn't he dating this supermodel?" She asks while she ties her burgundy hair into a ponytail.

Why does she know about that? Did she take time on googling it? Is she stalking me? Or she a fan of Harry Styles too? But for whatever reason she has in mind, her brown eyes were looking at me intently and I think she's trying to read my mind.

"Yeah he is. I met her last night and she's very nice." I lied.

I acted like we were friends with Audrey so she won't notice that I'm secretly hoping me and Harry would work out.

Jean nods. "Well good talk. I think I should get to work before Fatty Fatima sees me slacking."

"Alright." I say.

I watch Jean as she heads out of the employees' lounge and I have a bad feeling about her. The way she approached me and asked me questions like that were a bit strange in some ways.

•••••

H A R R Y

"How about this one?"

I hear Audrey saying but I was focused on my phone. I haven't received a text from Miranda and I have been having this urge to text her again. But she said not to text or call her anymore. Was she really hurt cos of what I did? Did I really lead her on? I didn't mean her to think that we were going to be something and that I was making her feel special cos she knows I already have a fiancée.

"Harry!" Audrey calls out.

I moved my head to her, "Yes hon?"

She arched an eyebrow. "I have been waiting for you to answer me. Why do you always look at your phone? Waiting for someone?" She asked.

"Some clients." I lied.

"But didn't I tell you before that when you're with me I don't like you holding your phone. I want you to focus only on me when we're together." She answers while flipping the pages of the wedding cake designs booklet.

I sigh. "Sorry. What were you trying to say to me again?" I slipped my phone inside my pocket.

"This cake. I love this cake." She points.

I stare at it. "Honey, didn't we already picked a wedding cake back in England?"

"I know. But I don't want to have only one cake." She answers. "Plus this one will look very good on our wedding. Don't you think hon?" She asked and looked at me.

I stare at it again and it was one huge ass cake. I don't know what's inside Audrey's head and she's ordering too much foods for that day. "Yeah. I think. You want to have that too?"

She gasped then quickly throws herself at me and hugged me. "You do love me. Yes! And thank you honey!"

I smiled at her as she pulls herself away.

After we get a hang of the cake tasting, we headed out of the shop and a few paps were around us. They were quickly taking photos of me and Audrey. I've gotten used to it but Audrey always loved the attention that the paps give her whenever she's with me. She shows the world that we are both okay. She shows her fans and my fans that we were really going to get married.