You get me dizzy

Chapter 9

Leo has been thinking about ways to give the concert tickets to his sister for the past two hours, and to be honest, his mind is completely blank. He doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it by explaining to Lottie how and why Harry himself gave him those tickets and is probably expecting him to show up to the concert in two weeks, but he knows how his sister thinks.

She will make a big deal out of it and ask intrusive questions, and Leo isn’t even sure whether Harry even remembers giving him those tickets. It’s been a week since the festival and even though Harry follows Leo on i********:, he hasn’t received a single message.

It is what he expected though. He thought about it the whole flight home, about how Harry probably has hookups after every single show he performs and that he was nice enough to give Leo two tickets in order for him to not feel bad about not being interested in keeping in touch.

People have been speculating in the press about who the ‘mystery person’ (because apparently Harry was right and people just love talking and assuming about his love life) that Harry was seen at the festival with is, and if he’s the same guy Harry talked to while on stage (Leo’ name is still unknown). The rumors have died down for the past few days, ever since something else happened with the Kardashians that was way more captivating.

“Leo?”

Leo blinks at his sister, who’s staring at him over the table.

“What?”

“I asked you if you wanted the last pancake, I’m full.”

“No, thanks.”

Lottie shakes her head and then checks her phone before she asks him about this mysterious ‘special occasion dinner’.

“Oh, right. It’s your birthday dinner.”

Lottie frowns. “You do know that my birthday is in August, right? That’s like, still three months away.”

Leo nods. “Yeah, of course. But I’m not going to give you a present in August, because I’m giving it to you now.”

Lottie’s eyes light up. “Really? What did you get me?”

Leo digs his hand into the pocket of his jacket before he pulls out the envelope.

“Here you go.”

Lottie doesn’t waste one second before she rips up the envelope and pulls out the tickets. She turns pale, eyes wide, and then starts hyperventilating.

“Leo, are you serious?” she asks and takes her right hand up to cover her mouth.

“Yeah.”

She looks down at the tickets, turns them around to make sure they’re real, and when she looks back up, she has tears in her eyes.

“Are you serious? You can’t be. These are so…Leo.”

She gets up from the table and walks around it to give him a hug. He pats her on the back, smiling. “You’re welcome. Happy early birthday.”

“I’m going to meet Harry Styles. I’m going to hug Harry Styles and I’m going to hear him live. This is the best present ever!”

She wipes her eyes as she calls her best friend to tell her about it, and Leo thinks it’s pretty much settled that Lottie will take her friend to the concert. She hasn’t asked how he got the tickets, most probably won’t even bother, so Leo won’t ask her whether he can come with, because that would mean Lottie asking questions.

After she ends the call she starts cutting up her pancake, but then stops and looks at Leo.

“How did you get the tickets?”

Oh, here we go.

“Huh? Oh…yeah, I got them a few weeks ago.”

“These were sold out three hours after they were put on sale.”

“Right.” s**t, he didn’t think this thing through.

Lottie squints at him.

“f**k, okay. Harry gave them to me.”

“Harry Styles?!” Lottie asks and a few people around them turn their heads, so Leo shushes her.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Leo shrugs, trying to keep a poker face. “Oh, well you called me about a hundred times and he was there and I told him you are a fan. He wanted to be nice.”

“He wanted to be nice. I don’t-although…that does sound like him.”

It’s weird, hearing his sister say ‘that does sound like him’ when she hasn’t even met him. Leo can’t even say that he ‘knows’ Harry because he spent three days with him, but still, hearing a person who never met him talk about him like they know him feels weird. Although, and now it dawns on Leo, it would sound like something Harry would do. He’s polite and ughgh and the last part of Leo that doubted the fact that Harry was just being nice has just been destroyed.

“Why do you say it sounds like him?” Leo asks. Does he really want to get into this conversation? No, he probably doesn’t.

Lottie lifts a finger up as she takes a photo of the tickets and types something on her phone. “Yeah? What?”

“Why do you say it sounds like him?”

Lottie shrugs. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve watched a lot of interviews with him and he’s just a nice person. Very polite and charming.”

“Do you know a lot of stuff about him?”

“I mean, yeah, probably? I’ve been following him since the first year of his career, I’ve read every single magazine interview and I used to have posters of him in my room.”

“What? How have I not noticed it before? I used to buy you those magazines.”

“You didn’t really care.” Lottie laughs. “And you moved out for Uni before he even became famous, so you didn’t see the posters.”

“What does the press say about his…uh, relationships?”

Why is Leo even asking these questions, honestly.

“Why do you want to know?” Lottie asks, already getting suspicious. Her right eyebrow isn’t raised yet though, so she’s not that suspicious. Yet.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just curious.”

“Well, he’s been linked to a lot of models. Like, if he follows someone on i********:, half of the fandom starts assuming that he’s dating them.”

“What about the other half of the fandom?”

“The other half of the fandom believes that Harry isn’t really that straight to begin with.”

Leo’ eyes widen. “What, really?”

Lottie nods. “Yeah.”

“And…what do you think?”

“I think he’s definitely not straight. He’s not gay either, I think. He’s just… Harry. Putting him in a box and with a label on it would be a shame.”

Leo uncomfortably shifts on his chair. He doesn’t really like the whole ‘assuming sexuality’ thing, but the reality is that people will always tend to do that, even if they don’t voice it.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, Leo. During interviews for example, he has way more chemistry with the men than the women, and he’s been spotted at some gay bars over the years.”

Leo nods, taking all the information in. Wow, people really do love assuming everything about Harry.

“But…I think his management wants to market him to the female audience and that’s why people are inclined to believe he’s straight. It’s appealing to the fanbase and the media. To be honest though, I really don’t like talking about it that much, because I think that’s his own business and people shouldn’t talk about it as much as they do.”

Leo is kind of impressed by the way Lottie just explained the whole thing and is thankful that she’s one of the people who sees the bigger picture and is mature enough not to pry too much.

The waiter comes over and asks if they want anything else, to which Lottie responds by asking for the bill. Leo pays for it when it comes back two minutes later and since Lottie didn’t mention anything about who she’s taking to the concert, Leo assumes that he won’t be going. After all, he knew that it was a promise that was meant to be broken.

He clicks on the ‘lottietaylor tagged you in their story’ notification from i********: and opens Lottie’s story. It’s a photo of her holding the tickets, with ‘thank you @Leot91 for the best early bday gift ever! @harrystyles’ written over them.

They wait for the Uber outside when Lottie turns to him.

“Oh my God, Harry Styles just replied to my story. He sent a heart! LEO! HE SENT A HEART!”

It takes a few moments for Leo to realize what she just said to him.


“Leo, I love you, really. Do you want to go with me to the concert? Since you already met Harry? And I can’t choose between my friends, one of them will definitely get mad.”

Leo’ stomach turns upside down and his ears are hot. “Uh…yeah. If you want.”

Lottie hugs him just as the Uber pulls up in front of them. “Thank you so much, I’m so happy!”

Leo kisses the top of her head and then opens the passenger door to get in. Lottie tells him about something the twins did recently, but all Leo can think about is how he will see Harry in two weeks and how Harry maybe forgot or will think that Leo accompanying his sister will be desperate.