Keep It Secret: Time Starts Now (Part Book 1) Page 6

  “You’ve got this all figured out already, haven’t you?” I reply with a smile.

  “Well, to be fair I have been planning to ask you the first moment I saw you at the airport. And over the last days, I figured out what excuses you could come up with to say no and that’s why I am already giving you all the solutions to the problems you might start thinking of,” Henry tells me looking really proud of himself.

  “Well, I guess in that case I don’t have any other chance, but to say yes,” I say smiling at him.

  “YES” is what Henry replies to that.

  We are nearly back to where Poppy and Tyler are.

  “Just for the record, I would have said yes anyway,” I let Henry know.

  “Of course you would have. I mean who could resist me?”

  “Seriously? I might rethink my decision.”

  “Nope, no can do. A yes is a yes.”

  Well, I guess that’s settled then. I’ll be going to London to visit Henry and I’m already looking forward to it.

  Back home we all watch a movie together, eat some food and then decide to go to bed. Without even asking, Henry takes me by the hand and leads me directly to the guest room. I guess I’ll be sleeping here then. We lay on the bed just looking at each other.

  “I don’t want to go,” Henry breaks the silence.

  “I don’t want you to go either, but I’ll be coming to London very soon,” I assure him.

  “When?” He wants to know.

  “Well, I have to work some things out with Poppy. We have a few meetings here, but we do have a meeting in London in four weeks anyway, so it would be perfect to combine it and just stay a little longer than planned,” I suggest.

  “Four weeks is way too long, but I guess I’ll have to live with that,” Henry answers.

  He leans on top of me and starts kissing me. His hand glides down my body and between my thighs. He kisses my neck and glides down. I enjoy every second. I let go completely. This is the only time I can completely turn off my head. When he comes back up, he pulls down his pants and thrusts into me. His hands meet mine. He thrusts into me harder and harder and by my squeezing of his hands, he can tell that he is doing it right.

  “I want this moment to last forever,” is all I can think of before again I feel my inner explosion, as does he, at the same time.

  We then fall asleep. Again me lying in his arms with my head on his chest. Feeling as safe as I have never felt before in my life.

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  Chapter 10

  Poppy

  I wake up with a weird feeling in my stomach. This is it! Today the boys are flying back to London and I’m going back home as well. It really was a fun couple of days and it’s sad, that they are over. I feel sorry for Ali, I know she doesn’t want Henry to leave, but there is something that stands between them and that something is called life. I don’t know how or if they will make it work out. I mean, of course she wants to move back to the UK anyway, but even if she would, Henry will finish his album eventually and then he goes off touring it. So he will be on the road worldwide for months and they will not be able to see each other. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how this turns out and if it doesn’t go well, be her shoulder to cry on.

  We are all ready to go and get into my car. Tyler is sitting next to me and Henry and Ali are in the back. It’s very quiet in the car. When I check my back mirror, I can see that Henry and Ali are all cuddled up. With one hand he is playing with her hair and she is holding on to his other hand. When we arrive at the airport we walk to the gate. It’s quite impressive how Henry can dress up. Even I wouldn’t recognize him and I’ve just spent the last days with him and saw him on a daily basis. Ali hugs Ty and tells him to give her love to the rest of their family and gives him a little gift she bought for his girlfriend back home. I say goodbye to Henry and assure him to look after Ali and to come visit him in London with her as soon as possible. I walk over to Tyler. He takes me in for a big hug.

  “Okay little one, look after yourself.”

  “I’m not that short, Ty, but I will and give my love to your girlfriend. Maybe next time she can join us.”

  “I will. Thanks Poppy.”

  I turn around and see that Ali and Henry are also hugging. This looks devastating. I can literally feel the energy. It lays heavy. They share a kiss and say goodbye. Ali and I stand by the entrance, in which the boys disappear through the security check in. When they are out of sight, I take Ali by her arm and lead her out of the airport. She doesn’t say a word. She is just trying to be strong and hold back her tears. I can feel that.

  Back in the car I drive back to Ali’s house.

  “Are you okay Ali?”

  “I’m fine.”

  I hear her shaky voice.

  “No, you are not. You can barely manage not to cry. Come on just let it out,” I demand.

  “Why? This is so stupid, Poppy, why the hell am I so emotional? I mean I barely know him! A couple of days ago I had no idea who Henry Green was and couldn’t be bothered and now? I mean, I feel like someone just ripped a piece out of my heart,” Ali explains both crying and laughing at the same time.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  “Because like I said earlier, this is so stupid! I’m not a teenager anymore. I’m laughing because I am crying and it’s just ridiculous, but I can’t help it.”

  Now I have to laugh a bit myself as well.

  “Well, but it doesn’t matter how old you are Ali. Love makes everybody a bit stupid.”

  Ali looks at me with wide eyes.

  “What? Did I say something wrong?”

  “You just said love. I never even thought about love.”

  “Well, it seems to be going in that direction,” I explain myself.

  Ali looks out the window and turns silent. I can see her head rattling.

  “What are you thinking about, Ali?”

  “I don’t know if I want this. Love is something big. And I don’t have the best experience with it.”

  “Ali, you can’t live your life going out with men, having fun, but turning them down as soon as you realize you like them. You can’t live your life like that.”

  “I guess you are right, Poppy”

  “Yes, I know. I always tell everybody, you should listen to me because I actually am always right!” I answer and smile at Ali.

  She smiles back and then shortly after that, we arrive her house.

  I pack all my stuff together and Ali helps me to load everything in my car. We hug and say goodbye before I drive off. On my drive home, I think about the last days and how amazing life is. How things can change so rapidly. It only takes one moment to change everything. I knew with Ali and me finally starting our business, which we have been working towards to for years, we will start a new chapter of our lives, but I never could have imagined this. It is important for us to work hard and focus now. I’m grateful to know that Ali wants this as bad as I do and I know she will never let anything come between that.

  I finally arrive my house. I unpack my stuff and call my mum. She invites me over for dinner, so that I can tell her all about the last couple of days. We are very close to each other, so I gladly accept the invite and a couple of hours later, I am already on my way over to my mums house. I tell her about all the fun stuff we did. The zoo, the hike and the swimming in the lake in the black forest. Of course I tell her about Ali and Henry. My mum can’t help herself, she googles Henry immediately. She is very excited for Ali. I tell my mum that I feel bad because I had the thought of losing Ali.

  “Poppy dear, you and Ali have been best friends for over a decade now. You are two peas in a pod. Nothing will ever come between you two and especially not a man. No one and no situation ever has. You two have been through so much together, that I assure you, you two will never ever fall apart. Who knows, maybe you will meet someone too soon?”

  “I hope you are right mum, seeing Ali so happy and crushing on someone really
made me realize how much I want that too.”

  “Of course you do, nobody wants to be alone forever and you won’t be.”

  My mum takes me in for a hug. After dinner I’m really tired so I say goodbye and go back home.

  When I’m home I lay on the sofa and watch TV, I have my computer on my lap and am working for our business. We have quite a few important meetings coming up and I am trying to create a schedule that makes sense. My phone rings and it’s a video message from Tyler and his girlfriend where she is saying hi and thanking me for the greetings, I had Tyler send her from me. Again, I am being reminded how happy couples are. I decide to put my computer aside and close my eyes to dream. I dream about meeting someone special. The things I would like to do with him. I really want to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Los Angeles someday, so I dream of doing exactly that with someone special. I mean, why not focus on that and attract it in to my life, if I obviously can. Whilst visualizing about meeting my specific other, I drift of and fall asleep. When I wake up, I decide it’s time for me to go to bed. So I go to the bathroom and get ready for bed. I can’t wait to go to bed and hope I can continue my dream because it was so wonderful.

  The next days just fly by. Ali and I are working really hard. And everything is starting to come to fruition. We have so many new designs. I can’t wait for our trip to London, where we will meet up with the tailoring company, which will tailor our collection. Oh, speaking of London, Ali and Henry are texting constantly and face time at least twice a day. It’s so funny to see her like that, she always was so tough and strong and couldn’t understand girls or women who couldn’t wait for a guy to text them. Now, she does understand it completely. She is also looking forward to London, but I think there is a different reason for that. I’m wondering how this will turn out because we are going to stay at his house. I didn’t say anything to Ali because I didn’t want to concern her, but Ali told me more than once that she has absolutely no interest in being in the public eye because of her relationship. I think if they become serious, in time she will have to, but for now she is absolutely against it. However, I’m pretty sure the press and his fans know where his house is, so I think it’s kind of dangerous for us to stay there. Henry knows that and he knows that Ali wants to stay private, so I guess he will have taken care of that. He’s been in the business long enough to know how to act. I don’t know anything about it so I guess it shouldn’t be my concern. I just have this gut feeling that something is going to go wrong. I don’t know why, but that’s just how I feel...

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  Chapter 11

  Alison

  I’m sitting in my office. The last weeks went by so fast. Somehow. I mean workwise, I had so much to do. Poppy and I are working really hard. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day, when you have your own business, especially when you start. Thank goodness, there are two of us. I don’t know how we would manage otherwise. In regards to missing Henry, it feels as though time stands still. I can’t wait to see him again. Thus it is a good job that I have so much to do as I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t permanently distracted.

  Henry texts and calls me every day. And my heart races every single time I see his name flash up on the screen of my phone. I’ve never felt like this before. He is also very busy writing songs for his new album and recording them. I got a few sneak peeks and everything I’ve heard so far I just love, but then again I think I’m not really impartial.

  Henry wants us to take our relationship to the next level when I come to London. I mean, I don’t even know what he means by that. We already agreed on being committed to each other. And we literally just met. I think it’s great and refreshing, I enjoy when things move fast but I think he may want to make it public and I already told him I don’t want to do that. That was the first argument we had. I can’t see myself going public as the girlfriend of Henry Green the singer etc. ever! I’m way more than just a plus one. And I sure as hell cannot see myself going public after a couple of weeks. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be the poor woman who got dumped by a celeb. Or I’m just the gold digger or the woman who wants fame because I’m not in this industry. Either way, I don’t think I’ll have anything positive coming out of it. Not to mention the millions of teenage girls that will hate me and probably want my death because they think he belongs to them and the fact that I’m four years older than him doesn’t make it easier.

  Henry is right though. We can’t keep it a secret forever. I’m aware of that. And although I know, I can buy myself time now because he still understands why I’m not ready, there will be a time when he won’t understand it anymore. And to know that I will have to make that decision sooner or later freaks me out! So I try to bury that thought as deep as I can in the back of my head.

  I’m currently looking through the material options the tailoring company sent us when my phone rings. I see Henry’s name on my screen and my heart jumps. I quickly check myself in the mirror because it’s a face time call and of course I want to look cute. I pick up.

  “Hey beautiful, what are you up to?”

  “I’m working. Currently looking at some of the material options. And you, babe?”

  “I’ve just been in the studio. Spent the entire morning on a bench in the park writing. I have so many ideas, but I need to sort them out so that it’ll all make sense.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be able to do that, babe,” I assure him.

  “Do you have any plans for tonight?”

  “Yes, actually I do. I’m going to meet a friend for dinner. Do you?”

  “A friend? And does this friend happen to be male or female?”

  “He is male, babe, and no need to worry. Are you actually jealous right now?”

  “No, of course not, I trust you. But I don’t trust other men.” I laugh about his reply.

  “I assure you, he is a nice bloke. And he doesn’t have any intentions whatsoever.”

  “Why are you laughing?” Henry asks me.

  “Because you are acting jealous. It’s adorable but really unnecessary.”

  “So, do you have any plans for tonight?” I ask again.

  “Well, I was planning on staying home, but now I’m thinking, I’ll probably ask one of my female friends to go and have dinner with me instead,” he says challenging.

  “Okay, have fun then.”

  “Are you jealous yet?”

  I start laughing and say “No, should I be jealous?”

  “Maybe a little bit.”

  “Fine then, I’m a little bit jealous. Are you happy now?”

  “Well, I can’t say I’m not.”

  “Do you know what?”

  “No, what?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about you. And I have decided that it’s still way too long before you come to London.”

  “Henry, I’m coming in three weeks.”

  “I know, but it’s already been two weeks since we’ve seen each other and now another three?”

  “Well, with your job we have to get used to that. When you go on tour, I can’t come with you all the time. I will definitely fly out and come see you as often as I can but still.”

  “Yes, you are right. Ugh, I hate this,” Henry sighs.

  “I don’t enjoy it either, I miss you, too, and though seeing you on the screen makes it better, it’s definitely not enough. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it though.”

  “This sucks,” he says disappointedly.

  “Okay babe, I have to go and get ready because I have to head out in half an hour. Do you want me to call you when I’m back home?”

  “Yes, do that love, I’ll be staying in anyway.”

  “Oh, so you’ve decided not to go out for dinner with one of your female friends after all?”

  “Nope, I’d rather stay in and fantasies about you,” he replies in a kinky voice.

  “Don’t start anything you can’t finish.”

  “Oh, don’t wo
rry, I’ll finish,” he lets me know with a wink. I laugh, say goodbye and hang up the phone.

  I get ready and hurry out. I hope I’ll make it in time. I hate being late and I usually never am. When I arrive at the restaurant, I can see Kurt is already there I’ve known Kurt for a while now. He has been one of the first friends I’ve had when I moved here. He is extremely wise and intelligent and he always gives me the best advice in whatever area. If I need help, I always know where to turn to and he has never disappointed me.

  “Hi Kurt, have you been waiting for long?” I ask him as I approach him.

  “Hi Ali, no I just got here.”

  We take a seat at our table and order our food.

  “So, anything new Ali?”

  “Well, you know I told you about Henry, right?”

  “Yes of course.”

  “So a couple of days ago we had an argument. We are fine now and it wasn’t that big of a deal, but he was really upset about me not wanting to go public.”

  Kurt listens carefully.

  “Okay, but it’s not like you don’t want to go public ever it’s just now in the beginning right?”

  I look at him and he reads my face.

  “Really, Ali? How do you think this is supposed to work? I mean I totally understand why you don’t want to do it now, but at some point, you’ll have to.”

  “I know, Kurt, and I never said that I won’t, it’s just I don’t know. The thought alone freaks me out!”

  “What are you so concerned about? What do you think will happen?” Kurt asks me.

  “That the entire world will have a wrong impression of me. That they will make me into something I’m not. I wish I could say I don’t care what people think about me, but I do. Just imagine getting a lot of hate. You know how social media is nowadays. I don’t know if I could handle that. Also, what if it negatively affects Poppy and my business. I can’t do that to Poppy.”