Work Text:
„Oh, lemme tell you some things, Zoe! Mum's being a prick again, and if that has to do anything with you, dear sister, let it stop! She's telling me to drop out of school, about moving back and getting back together with that dumbass of a Patrik. Literally, it's like she's going mad, and trying to tie me down, not caring enough I'm trying to build something there.“
Laura's day was a hectic one. But there were not many days unlike this one ever since she moved to England. At least, she was able to relax now. But even Laura had to admit that being on a jog and calling her younger sister was quite dangerous. She simply did not really have much time in between her school activities, and work, and sleeping, so this was the last resort of spending time with her through her lime green AirPods.
While Zoe was answering Laura's previous questions, Laura continued to run. Well, if it could be called a run. The roads in Holmes Chapel were sometimes quite steep, and she was mostly just trying not to walk.
“Yeah, yeah, I get you!” Laura answered her sister’s complaints about their parents, and tried to continue. “It’s like you’re trying to build a fine line between those things, and it just keeps going south. I get you, don’t you worry. Oh,-OH!”
Before the brown-haired woman could tell anything else, she was met with force right from her left side, meeting with the hard pavement almost instantly. The person who just accidentally took her down almost fell as well.
“Oh God, I'm so, so sorry!” she could hear a young man’s voice straightaway. When Laura realised what had actually just happened, she tried to get on her feet as fast as possible, totally ashamed. It wasn't like she was bumping into people coming from other directions daily, and totally not when she had moved to the town only a month prior.
“That's fine,” she shrugged instantly as if nothing happened, not even looking into the man's face. She was sure there was a blush on her cheeks, and it was not from the activity she was doing. Her hands went to fix her red cap, but as she was moving with it slightly for a better angle, she realised another thing.
Fuck.
Her headphones were gone.
And then, the kind (or not so kind, because, after all, he bumped into her) stranger was picking up two identical lime green AirPods Maxes.
“Oh, these one's are mine,” Laura could hear a little smile in his voice, as he was trying not to be embarrassed as well. She reached out for the ones he did not address, and smiled as well, finally looking at him.
The man’s eyes were probably the most vivid thing on his whole face. In the sunset, she could totally see all the green they hold. His smile was not wide, but still felt welcoming and he had something about his whole aura that said “this whole thing was a big accident” even though he was taller and built better than her. His eyes had something more in them, too, but Laura wasn’t able to decode the emotion or the thought that was on his mind. He seemed very familiar, and Laura had a feeling she probably saw him at the local marketplace she visited not so long ago.
“I’m very sorry that I didn’t notice you, I was having a conversation on those,” Laura explained quickly, pointing to her headphones.
“It’s me who should be apologising, I wasn’t the one who ended up on the floor, anyway,” he shrugged, smiling anyway. Laura smiled, too. What else was she supposed to do? However, she did notice that the thought or whatever was on the stranger’s mind disappeared as quickly as it occured.
“It’s fine, really,” she shook her head.
There was a silent pause between the pair, as nobody had anything else to say.
“I- I’ll go, then,” both of them said at the exact moment. Laura nodded, the stranger did as well and they slowly both parted their ways in different directions.
Laura started running before she putted on the headphones. Not that the man felt uncomfortable or anything, but she was heading home, and was on her last mile.
“God, sorry, Zoe, I just bumped into somebody, then fell. I’m fine though, no need to ask me if your dear sister survived,” she laughed a little after she put the AirPods back on. The road started to go downhill, which was way better than going up all the time.
“So, what was I talking about? Yeah, my built-up fine line is totally damaged because of mum right now. As if Patrik was going to look anywhere else than the money status. I felt like he would put price on every fucking emotion if he could, just to become more wealthy than his daddy already is,” Laura continued.
Her brown braids were steadily bouncing to her back, and she was glad she was going finally home. Well, if you could call her rented small house full of moving boxes a home. She was in quite a hurry, and did not have time to unpack everything out of the boxes.
The twenty-year old was ready to continue, when she heard a completely different voice than Zoe’s in the headphones. “Oh, sweetie, I think you probably messed up headphones with my baby.” She could hear a sweet woman’s voice on the other line.
“Oh, really? You don’t sound like Zoe, so sorry, madam!” Laura answered immediately, almost swearing when she realised that she had to run up the hill again, but quickly realised that the stranger’s mum was probably on the phone. “We definitely messed up the headphones, I’m gonna get back and give those to the man, sorry for interrupting your conversation,” Laura apologised promptly, changing her course, and running after the man.
“That’s alright, young lady! You seem sweet. Don’t let your mum dictate your life, however. Us mothers always want the best for our kids, but we don’t always see the things that are going on behind the stage,” the woman said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Laura nodded, not really knowing what to say next. “Sometimes it’s just hard, you know. He was a git, and just because I’m a woman, that doesn’t mean I don’t get to go to college and stuff! He wanted me to stay home, while he was going to go study economy. My Ma doesn’t want to understand, ’cause she ended up the same. No, thank you, I’m happy with my biochem major!”
Laura said those things lightly, just so she would not need to listen to silence. Also, she was still pissed on that situation.
“Well, in that case, you did the right thing. Intelligent women don’t deserve to stay home when they want to achieve big things,” she could hear the smile the woman had on her.
“I think I see the man, you’ll get him right back!” Laura said promptly. “Sorry for interrupting, once again.”
“Oh, that’s nothing! I was only telling Harry what we did not finish before he left the house a few minutes ago. If you’re from around here, I’m Anne,” the woman laughed. “Maybe we have met a couple of times, Holmes Chapel is not so big as it seems.”
“Definitely,” Laura nodded. “I’m Laura, nice to.. hear you. I moved here a month or so ago, I don’t really know anyone from there. Thanks for your words, I probably needed them,” she smiled. “I’m going to go now, he has noticed me, bye-bye!”
“Good night, sweetheart!” the woman said, and Laura took off her -well, his- headphones. The kind stranger was already facing her direction, with her headphones on his head, definitely listening to Zoe, as he laughed a little.
When he noticed the woman, he also said his good-bye and took the headphones off.
Laura had to smile a little when he smiled at her, waving with them slightly.
“Hello again,” she laughed, when she stopped in front of him.
“Well, hello again, as well,” he answered immediately. “I think I made a mistake in being so sure of which headphones were mine,” he smiled, and gave her her headphones back. She did the same as well.
“That’s fine. I had a nice conversation, and by your laugh, you did, too.” Laura blurted out.
“Oh, sure! Was not expecting something like this, let me tell you,” he nodded.
“Don’t know if that was your Ma, but she said some smart words I think I needed to hear. So, thanks for that,” she said once again, taking a step back. The stranger did, too.
“Your sister is as pleasant as you. Even though I had not needed to bump into her, unlike in your case. Sorry for that, again.”
Laura shook her head. “That’s nothing. Okay, um, bye? It was nice meeting you, maybe we will bump into each other some other day, too. And maybe I will not end up on the ground that time.”
“Oh, I’m sure we will.” The man laughed. “Nice meeting you too. Bye, stranger.”
Both of them waved to each other, parting their ways.
It was only a couple of seconds later that Laura putted her headphones back, when she heard a loud scream coming out of her headphones.
She was wondering if something has happened to her headphones again, but then she heard Zoe’s swearing, and she knew it was fine.
At least the thought to.
“LAURA YOU JUST BUMPED INTO HARRY FUCKING STYLES, DO YOU KNOW THAT?” Zoe screamed, supressing her sobs. Was she really crying?
Oh shit.
“I did what?” Laura asked confused.
“Oh god did you not notice the similarity between the man in front of you and the posters on my walls?” Zoe screamed into her ears once again.
Oh.
“Oh.” Laura said. She did not think that that was one of the five boys her sister was obsessed with. “Did they not break up a few years back, though?” she asked anyways.
“THAT DOESN’MATTER, I JUST SPOKE TO HARRY STYLES,” her sister sobbed. “Oh god, and I seemed cool. I did not scream at him, at all.”
“I spoke to his mum, I think,” Laura replied. “He’s from around here, isn’t he?” she asked again.
“Hell yeah he is, I knew why I found you a house to live in there,” Zoe replied. “His mum’s name is Anne. Was she named Anne?” she asked, totally not-fangirling. Laura wanted to laugh.
“Yeah, yeah. She said that intelligent women don’t deserve not to achieve great things or something like that,” Laura shrugged.
“God, I’m gonna die. You just spoke to Harry Styles. You have his DNA on you. Did he smell good?” Zoe continued.
“Oh, I don’t.. know. We didn’t really have time for that.”
“GOD! I though my Harry-Styles-training was successful. You were supposed to be ready for something like this.” Zoe sighed. “He did not fall in love with you, did he? You probably don’t even have a messy bun on your head right now, like I taught you.”
“Sorry, baby, I’m on a run. Harry Styles definitely doesn’t need a girl like me, so your fanfiction dream is not happening today, or tomorrow.” Laura laughed. She could hear Zoe’s disappointment. “No need for you to book wedding venue,” she added quickly.
“I can’t believe I let you move here without proper training. It should have been me, if it were me, I would have had his number in my phone already.”
“Well, Missy, you can come here and get it during the holidays,” Laura rolled her eyes. “And I’m sure he would appreciate some normalcy in his life, without crazy little girls like you. Maybe he wants to have nice summer holidays here, who knows?”
“You can bet your ass I would have his number by now, definitely,” Zoe repeated. “I’m totally his type, and you’re the total opposite, so-”
“Yeah, sorry girl, next time I’m gonna meet a celebrity, I’ll call you and you’ll prepare me,” Laura replied, annoyed.
“You bet your ass you will!”
There was a small pause, and then Laura could hear another sigh.
“I still can’t believe you bumped into Harry Styles and did not recognise him. I’m so, so disappointed in you!”
Laura had to supress a laugh in her.
“Don’t know if you heard what our convo was about, but I implied that I hoped we would meet again, though,” Laura added after a while. “If that will calm you down, he did not disagree with me on that one.”
There was silence on the other line.
“That’s good, right?” Laura asked, not really confident in herself for a moment.
“I’m going to faint, I think,” Zoe replied after a while. “Laura, I can write about that to my friend, right?”
“Are you mad?” the woman replied instantly. “God, Zoe, I’ll kill you if you will! That man lives there, how crazy will I look if your friends will write a Tumblr post about that kind of thing? I spoke to his mum, you can’t just write about stuff like that on the internet!” Laura exclaimed.
“Oh, right, I suppose. That would not look good if you’ll be his future girlfriend,” Zoe agreed. Laura wanted to sigh. She was not going to hear the end of this.
“Yeah, sure thing,” she just replied.
“I’m still fucking angry at you for not taking a picture with him, though. You’re such a big, big disappointment to me, Laur. Not knowing Harry Styles!!”
“Yeah, yeah, sorry. He would totally appreciate if a twenty-year old would ask him for an autograph in his hometown, at nine o’clock in the evening after he was at his mum’s house. Totally normal evening.”
“Well, he is a superstar! But now I kinda get you.”
“Yeah, I’m glad,” Laura laughed. “Listen, I’m already home, so I’ll go, alright? Fine line, remember? Gotta keep a nice lifestyle, being the next Marie Curie,” Laura said, before stopping at her house while she took out her keys.
“Yeah yeah,” Zoe nodded. “It would be a nice song name, you know. Fine line.”
“Oh god, stop it,” Laura sighed. She truly was never going to hear the end of this encounter.
“If you’ll meet him again, you need to tell him that idea.” Zoe continued, clearly not listening to her sister.
“Yeah, sure. Fine line will be such a nice song. What will it be about, a sad little girl crying to him about her shitty ex-boyfriend that bottled up his emotions?” she said, ironically.
“You know, maybe he has a shitty ex as well. You could bond through it,” she suggested.
“Of course. I’m going to go now, it’s late in your country. Bye-bye, and don’t text anything to anyone about that, or I’ll kill you, Zoe!” Laura said, finally turning on the lights in her house.
“I’ll kill you first, for not recognising him. Bye-bye. Still disappointed in you. So, so, disappointed. Anyway, bye-bye! Enjoy your new boyfriend!” Zoe laughed, and ended the call before Laura could say anything.
“Oh God, that girl will be the death of me,” Laura sighed, putting off her headphones. Before she could do anything else, her doorbell rang. She quickly opened the door, not really ready for the sight in front of her.
Right before her front yard was standing a very familiar man, with headphones in his hands.
“Oh, hello again, not-stranger anymore,” Laura smiled. “Did we mischanged anything else?” she laughed slightly.
“Oh, no, no, nothing like that. I-I just saw you, right as I was crossing the street over there?” he pointed at the end of the street. He probably saw her when they crossed paths while she did not notice him, too busy with Zoe.
Laura tilted her head to the side, and nodded.
“And- and you know, my Ma’ said that you were probably going through some shit right now, well, uh, not shit, she doesn’t curse, uh, with you moving there not so long ago, and- uh,” he totally stammered.
Laura was waiting for what he wanted to say. His free hand went to his hair, as he was finding the words.
“I was just wondering if I could get your number, maybe? I could show you around, you know? In a, a totally friendly way. I go for jogs quite often, too, so maybe I could show you my route?” he smiled. “There’s a nice lake that only locals know about, and, hm, I don’t know,” he ran his hand through his hair once again.
The girl had to smile. “Oh, sure. In a friendly way,” she nodded as she closed the door behind her, walking through the front yard to him. She opened the small fence and he immediately took his phone out.
“I’m Laura, by the way,” she smiled, as she typed her number into the phone.
“Oh- my mum told me so,” he nodded immediately. “It was her idea, actually. To- to show you around. I’ll be there for quite some time, so..” he shook his head, as he realised something. “I’m Harry, be the way. Sorry, I don’t usually just.. knock down strangers, and then ring their doorbells, and.. you know..”
“That’s fine, I don’t mind,” Laura shrugged, clicking on the profile picture on his phone. The camera quickly appeared and she pointed the phone in front of her and the man. He laughed a little.
“Oh, so we’re on a phone pic basis, now,” he commented, and stuck out his tongue. Laura smiled and did as well.
“You almost made me lost my hearing, so I think that much is nice,” she shrugged. “My sister had a total panic, and screamed at me for not recognising you. I’m not going to hear the end of it,” she sighed.
Harry next to her laughed. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s fine. You know, we need to keep a fine line between things. I’ll get through it. You just need to go on some paparazzi photoshoot, and she will have another new thing to drool about. Maybe I’ll gaslight her into thinking that thing never happened, and just won’t tell her about this conversation.“ Laura laughed.
The man next to her nodded. “Okay, don’t worry about that. I’ll post something on Instagram or something,” he laughed.
“Oh, really?” Laura looked at him. “She screamed at me for not having a messy bun, and not screaming at you.”
Harry grinned at her. A nice silent moment was there for a while, when none of the pair had anything to say.
“I like braided hair more, so it doesn’t really matter. I have an older sister, so I know how much work always goes into it,” he smiled kindly.
“Why, thank you!” Laura chuckled loudly. “So you’re a Katniss Everdeen type of a guy?” she tilted her head.
“Yeah, my sister was totally obsessed with the series a few years ago. I had to learn how to do that hairstyle for her.” he nodded.
“Well, you can braid my hair sometime!” Laura smiled. “I loved The Hunger Games when they were released.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “Listen, I’ve gotta go now, but.. I’ll text you, alright?” he assured her. Laura smiled, and nodded.
“Sure thing. It’s cold, anyways. I don’t need you to catch a cold or something. Then I’d loose my tourist guide.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go,” he nodded. “So, bye.”
“Good night!” Laura said as well, as she went back into her house. She could see that Harry already went away.
When she made herself a cup of tee that night, she went to look at her phone. There was already a text from an unknown number.
Xxx to You: Hey, it’s me, your tourist guide. Hope you remember me.
However, before she replied to him, she went to read Zoe’s texts. The girl was already spamming her about her encounter, totally fangirling once again.
You to Zoe: Hey girl, I hope you’re already asleep. But you’re not gonna believe what happened. I’ll call you tmrw, fine?
Before Zoe saw her message, a notification popped up, iniciating that Zoe posted something on Twitter. She clicked on it, waited till the app loaded, and then had to laugh. A tweet written in all caps lock was clearly posted because of something Harry added to his Instagram.
Laura quickly clicked on the photo, so that she could see the whole picture. A picture of lime green Airpods Maxes was immediately on her screen along with a nice caption.
The girl had to grin while she sipped from her fruit-flavoured tea.
Did not think I could mix up my headphones. Ever. Guess that doesn ’t apply for the ones that are owned by a girl that is similar to Katniss Everdeen with the same exact ones.