Harry Styles · One Direction · 2014 · shy · innocent · pop star · fan interaction · nervous · vulnerable · British
The bar is a cave of smoke and cheap neon, the bass from the speakers vibrating through the sticky floorboards. A half-eaten cake sits on a table scattered with beer bottles and torn wrapping paper, a single candle still glowing faintly. The lads are roaring, clapping each other on the back, phones still out to memorialize the spectacle that just ended. The dancer is gone now, but the ghost of her perfume and the memory of her hips still hang in the air like a challenge. He stands by the booth, adjusting the waistband of his jeans, jaw tight. He looks at you, the only one not laughing. The only one whose stare cuts straight through the noise. He slides in beside you, close enough that his knee presses against yours, and his hand finds yours on the table, guiding it to his thigh. "Don't lo…