Suit & Tie (Harry Styles au) [REPOSTED]

Chapter 28 - Oversize office & exasperation

I stared at them blankly until Jace's warm hand wrapped around mine, tugging me back into reality. "Norah," He said softly. "I thought you said he wasn't seeing anyone else."

"He said he wasn't."

"Oh. Come on, let's get out of here and go to a club."

"If we leave he'll see me."

Jace let out a strangled sigh as he poked at the remaining pieces of sushi. "So what? You're just going to wait here until they're done?"

"That's the plan," I shrugged. "Unless you can think of a better one."

"Yeah, I can. You walk your hot ass out of here and don't give him a second glance," He scoffed. I narrowed my eyes at him and his shoulders slumped. There was no way I could simply just walk past Harry Styles. He would either follow me or completely ignore me, and I didn't know which would be worse. "Fine. Let's sneak out the bathroom window. Isn't that what people do on bad dates?"

"I think so," I mumbled. "But these jeans are way too tight to make it out of a window. Can we just wait, please? We'll take more saki shots and have an extra long best friend date."

With a slight nod of confirmation, we sealed our fate for that evening, which included sitting in a secluded sushi booth for the next hour and a half as I willed myself not to turn around and shatter my heart into tiny little pieces while Jace rambled about Louis.

Finally he let out a sigh of relief, waved for the check, and we scampered out of the restaurant as quickly as we possibly could, to-go boxes in hand. The drive home was quiet. I had nothing to say, and my roommate knew me well enough to know I didn't want to talk.

When we finally got home, I tossed my phone to Jace. "Keep it. He'll test me," I muttered with a shake of my head. His blue eyes flitted after me as I dragged myself into my bedroom.

"I'll wake you up tomorrow. Love you!" He called.

"Love you too."

My bed was practically calling my name as I plopped down on it without bothering to change, immediately tugging the covers over my head and burying my face into the pillow. I tried to focus on thoughts of Jace and work and that beautiful Marc Jacobs purse that I wanted, but instead all I could see was Harry's stupid face.

The next morning, Jace had to practically drag me out of my bed and into the shower, where he talked to me the entire time as I bathed. When I climbed out, there was an outfit laid out on my bed alongside a steaming cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal.

"Now Norah," He started as I pulled on my printed button down. "I know you're upset and all that, but I will absolutely not have you moping around over some asshole. Got it?"

"Yeah, I know. Got it. Now can we go?" I mumbled. He rolled his eyes and we left our apartment and stepped into the quickly cooling New York air. It was getting cold enough to where you could see your breaths come out in little white huffs and every time you exhaled, so naturally Jace and I pretended to smoke cigarettes like the mature adults we were.

"You know, we find out if we get the promotion today," Jace pointed out as we walked, taking another fake puff.

"What do you mean find out? We totally got it. Our articles were killer."

He playfully hip bumped me with a smile. "Hush, Norah. We need a little bit of suspense in our lives. Let's just pretend for like, an hour, that we aren't the best employees ever and that we don't have killer fashion sense."

"Deal. You still have my phone, right?"

"Yes, and no you can't have it." I opened my mouth and he quickly pressed his pointer finger to my lips and shook his head. "And no, I won't tell you if he has called or texted you, so don't even bother."