a/n: hey babes. i missed you all.
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Harry and Harry pull away from their short embrace, and the blonde immediately turns to me, his face immediately lighting up.
"You must be Lili," he says excitedly, his hands fisting up near his chest, seemingly unable to contain his happiness.
"In the flesh." I smile.
"I've heard quite a bit about you." He chuckles, extending his hand for me to take a hold of. "It's great to finally meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," I say back, giving his hand a firm shake. I was honestly feeling a tad bit uncomfortable with how formal we were being. From what I know, Harry L. is less of a stylist and more of a friend to Harry.
"Is it alright if I hug you?" He asks hesitantly, bringing his hands back down to his sides.
"Of course!" I say enthusiastically, extending my arms out to initiate the hug.
"Alright." He clasps his hands together as soon as we pull away. He smelled very nice if that's not a weird thing to notice. He smelled very expensive but very clean. "What are we thinking?"
I look over at Harry, feeling my nerves buzz. I had no idea what I wanted to wear. I did know that I wanted to correlate with Harry, but I have no idea whatsoever what his fashion plans are for the event. I'm not even sure how many outfits he plans to wear for that matter.
Harry flashes me a smile of encouragement and I slowly and hesitantly turn my head so I was facing Harry Lambert once again.
"If you're unsure, that's perfectly fine," he assures me as if he read my mind. "That's what you're here for. As soon as I got a text from Sue here, I literally ran out the door to pick up a few things for you to try on...each one of them is completely different, just so we can get a general idea of what you're looking to wear. If you try on the things I ordered, and you don't see anything that fancies you, we'll measure you anyway, then do a little online shopping to find exactly what you want."
I inhale a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed by the information being thrown at me. "Okay."
"Sue," Harry L. turns to Harry, "I consulted with Ryan when he dropped off your outfits for the Brits, and he helped me decide what she should wear. He said he really wants to see you in the final look, but since you're here anyway, I figured you could try them on, just to make sure everything fits properly and...well, you know the drill."
"Of course," Harry takes a breath, turning to me. "That's alright with you, right?"
"Fine by me." I shrug, finding it a little odd that he felt the need to ask me if it was okay.
"You know what," Harry L. speaks up, "you two could try things on at the same time if you'd like. It'd even be easier to see how they correlate with each other. Are you two planning on going as just Harry and Lili, or Harry + Lili?"
"Meaning?" Sexy Stud Muffin, as I've been told to call him, says in a confused tone.
"Are you guys planning on wearing completely different things, or correlating your outfits together?" Harry L. explains.
I had thought about that, but I wasn't sure what Harry was wanting to do, so I stayed silent. Instead of speaking up when Harry L. turned to me, I immediately turned my attention over to Harry, waiting for him to hopefully answer the question for me.
"If you haven't decided that either, there's no need to worry." At this point, it honestly just seemed like Harry Lambert was some kind of style-god mind reader. "We can mix and match your options to find whatever you fancy."
"Great," Harry says, smiling.
"Alright," Harry L. says, turning around. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the back room so you two can try everything on."
H places his hand on the small of my back, giving me a gentle push as a way of telling me to follow Harry L.
"Now I will warn you, there's only one room. So hopefully you won't have too big of a problem with changing in front of each other." He turns around to shoot both of us a wink.
Harry L. turns back around, stopping once he stands in front of a black door with a silver handle. He opens the door, revealing a mostly empty room, though there was a large mirror mounted on one of the walls and clothing racks galore.
"Sue," Harry L says, walking over to a small rack of very neatly placed clothes. He sets his hand on top, his rings clanking against the metal bar. "These are your looks for the show. Everything should be in the exact order you'll wear it that evening." He lets go of the rack, walking around to the other side of the room, doing the same thing as before, but with a different rack. "And Miss Lili, these are yours. The same thing goes for the order if you decide you're feeling a little coordination moment. Now I do need to let you know, sizing is different for basically every brand, and Sue over there could only give me a generic size. When you're trying these on, they may be big, or they may be small, but everything can be tailored to fit you perfectly. So keep that in mind if you don't like something just because you feel it doesn't fit you properly. Alright?"
I simply nod my head in response, feeling oddly nervous. Harry L. flashes me a small smile and nods his head dismissively before making his way over to the door. He opens the door but stops just before walking out.
"I'm dying to see these on you," he says excitedly before finally walking out, shutting the door softly behind him.
"He's very sweet," I say to Harry, taking the first hanger off the clothing rack, my back facing him.
"He's one of my closest friends," he says back, as what I'm assuming would be a way of agreeing with me.
"How many outfit changes do you have planned?" I ask him, now just trying to make small talk so the room wasn't completely silent while we changed together.
"3," he tells me as I slip my white sweater up over my head and begin to unbutton my back jeans. "Red carpet, musical performance, and then one that I'll wear for the show itself."
"Does Gemma know what she's wearing?" I ask. I felt a little annoying, but again, I didn't want the room to be silent.
By now, I had already changed my shirt and just barely pulled up the sparkly purple pants that were previously displayed on the rack. Price tags were still attached, but I couldn't bring myself to look. I was afraid the length of the number would make me sick to my stomach.
"Yeah, actually, she does," he tells me and I turn around to finally face him. He changed pretty quickly - even faster than I did - and he was almost fully dressed, slipping his brown blazer up over his shoulders. "She's wearing a black suit with an off-white ruffle top underneath."
"Sounds cute," I say, reaching behind me to take the blazer to the first outfit off of the hanger.
I slip my arms through the sleeves of the sparkly blazer, then pull it up over my shoulders, completing the outfit...minus shoes obviously.
"How do I look?" I ask Harry, who finally turns his head to look over at me.
He tilts his head to the side as if to get a better look at me in the suit. His lips pursed together in thought as he continuously eyes me up and down.
"Do a spin," he tells me, twirling his index finger around in a circle. I do as he says, an awkward smile on my face as I turn around one single time. "I like it." She shrugs.
I look to my right at the mirror mounted on the wall, trying to get a good look at myself in the outfit.
"Need me to come stand by you so you can visualize?" Harry asks and I turn to him, laughing.
"Please." I smile. Harry makes his way over to me, stopping right by my side.
I look at our reflections in the mirror, Harry about half a foot taller than me. I honestly didn't feel like the looks matched very well. Mine seemed slightly more extravagant than his, but only because the suit was entirely made out of sequins.
"You don't like it, do you?"
"Is it that easy to tell?" I ask him, a weary look on my face.
"You're just a little too easy to read." He shrugs.
A knock on the door causes me to turn around quickly. It swings open just after Harry tells whoever the knocker was that they could come in. Just as I had predicted, Harry L. enters the room, emitting out a large gasp of excitement.
"I love it!" He exclaims, pure joy written all over his face.
I plaster yet another fake, awkward smile on my face as Harry L. inches into the room, staring the both of us down.
"Sue...looks amazing. Everything fits perfectly, I. Love." Harry L. then turns to me, staring me down. Well, more specifically the outfit I was wearing. "I like it...but if you're wanting to look like you've coordinated the outfits together like you're going to the event together, then you may want to pass and look at the others. But if you're wanting to go as completely different people, then I say it's perfect. You will most likely draw a lot of attention to yourself, so that's a good thing to keep in mind if that would be something that makes you uncomfortable."
Harry saying that automatically made me dislike the outfit. I'm not going as Lili, I'm going as Harry's plus one, (or even his plus plus one).
"Keep looking," Harry L calls out as he leaves the room, shutting the door once again.
"I think you look beautiful," H adds in a sweet, soft tone, melting my heart.
"Thank you," I say, genuinely appreciative.
Once again, just as before, I strip off all my clothes (besides my undergarments of course...need to keep those on), but this time I hang everything back up neatly on the hangers.
Harry and I change into the next outfits and take out positions in the mirror once again.
This outfit I felt more of a connection with. It was simple but cute, and I feel like it won't draw too much attention to me. Harry was dressed in the "Falling" outfit he described to me not too long ago. I loved the look, and he wasn't lying when he said it was a Prince-inspired outfit.
"You look incredible," I compliment him, honestly just pointing out the truth.
"You think?" He asks, turning around to try to get a glimpse of the backside, which seemed to be very difficult for him to do.
"Yes. You look amazing," I assure him. He turns back around to face the mirror once again.
"Falling again, falling," he sings under his breath, still staring intently at the white, laced fabric he was wearing. He inhales a deep breath before letting out a sigh, craning his head to look over at me once again. "I think it fits."
"I do too." I let out a laugh just as another knock sounds on the door.
The same thing happens, just as it did before. Harry tells the person to come in, it ends up being Harry L., he gushes over Harry's outfits and then turns to me.
"Hmm," he says, holding his chin up with his hand, looking the outfit up and down. "I like this one. Definitely more than the last one, I feel like it fits you better. But I'm not too sure if it matches Sue's outfit as well as I had pictured."
He continues to observe the outfit, Harry and I both staying silent so he could concentrate and hear his own thoughts clearly.
"Let's change," he finally says, clapping his hands before leaving the room.
"God, I haven't seen him this excited since SNL," Harry says a few seconds after the door shut, causing me to let out a laugh.
I returned to the clothing rack to take a look at what I had to try on next. The only thing left to wear was a yellow dress. It was very plain, but very cute at the same time.
I quickly slipped out of the dress I currently wore and exchanged it for the yellow dress. After doing so, I turn around to see Harry still dressing. He'd already put on the pants and was now struggling to button up the purple polka dot shirt he would wear underneath the vest and blazer of the suit.
His brows furrowed together in concentration, a frown on his face as he increasingly grew frustrated with his inability to button up the shirt.
"Need some help?" I offer, letting out a laugh as I walk over to assist him.
"Please." He lets out another sigh of frustration as he moves his hands out of the way so I could button his shirt for him.
My hands are much smaller than Harry's, making it a lot easier for my small fingers to slip the buttons through the buttonholes.
"You might have to help me at the show too," Harry says, his chest rising up and down below my hands.
"I would not mind doing that for you," I tell him truthfully, shaking my head. "How far up are we going?"
"To the top, my darling," he says, tilting his head to the side to look past my hands.
I reply with a simple nod, now well over halfway up the blouse. The fabric was soft and silky under my fingertips. I knew Harry would be comfortable with this.
"This dress looks amazing on you, by the way," he compliments me as I reach the buttons around the line of his collarbones.
"Thank you." I feel my cheeks burn sheepishly as I finish up the last three buttons. "There you go."
"Thank you, love," Harry says appreciatively before turning around to grab a yellow vest off one of the hangers.
Since I was already wearing the dress, which was fairly easy to slip into - and somehow zip up myself - I figured I could take the time to check my phone. Harry would be a minute longer while he buttoned up his vest and I could've sworn I heard it buzz while I was assisting him.
I walk over to where I set my bag down before I started changing and kneel down, pulling my phone out of the small purse.
I didn't have many notifications, only a single text from Jess. I quickly turn to look at Harry behind me, only to see that he wasn't much farther along than when I had decided to check my phone.
I turn my attention back to my phone and open the text I had received from Jess, mentally groaning once I saw the length and unintentionally skimmed through the message.
Jess: Okay, so I had a really freaky dream last night and at first I wasn't going to tell you about it because I didn't think it was a big deal. But then I was scrolling on my Instagram explore page and I saw a quote that said "tell them". So I knew that HAD to be a sign from the universe telling me to tell you about my dream. So here goes...Harry got seriously hurt and almost died. I think he got like stabbed or something. But the only reason he didn't die was that you came at the very last second and saved him. So I feel like this is somehow a sign that you need to protect him. Idk...I would just keep an eye out.
I roll my eyes. Though Jess has almost always been right when it comes to her little 'predictions'...it's always been based on a feeling, never a dream. She tells me about her wacky dreams all the time, and only one of them has ever come true.
Harry will be fine.
An expected knock on the door causes me to quickly shut my phone off and shove it back into my purse. I quickly stand to my feet, smoothing out any wrinkles that could have possibly been on the dress.
Harry tells Harry L. to come in and he bursts through the door. I loved his vibe, so happy and so eccentric...he was a nice person to be around, to say the least.
"Oh, would you take a look at you two," he gushes, his permanent smile widening. He gestures for Harry and I both to move into the middle. "Stand closer so I can get the full glory of this."
I look up at H as we both walk towards the center of the room, growing closer. He flashes me a warm smile, his dimples on display for the world to see. As soon as Harry and I stand side by side, I hear Harry L. let out a gasp.
"Now this...is iconic." He points the palms of his hands to the floor. I love how he loved his job this much and I couldn't help but smile. "I think this is my favorite combo. Wait...where's your ascot?"
At first, I thought he was talking to me, and I was confused because I didn't see an ascot anywhere. But I finally caught on once I saw Harry walk shamefully over to his rack, then return with what looked like a piece of purple tulle. He quickly ties it around his neck and Harry L. gives him a nod of approval.
"Much better," he says. He then turns to me. "Have you made a decision?"
My bottom lip slips between my teeth nervously just before I inhale to answer. "I like the last two I tried on...a lot. But I'm just not sure which one I prefer."
"I'll tell you what," he says, "you go home, sleep on it, and then have Sue call me in the morning to let me know what you decide. There isn't really much to do overnight anyways, since basically, everything fits you fairly well as is. I would like to take some measurements though, just so we can be sure everything is perfect."
"O-Okay," I stammer, nodding vigorously.
"Great." He clasps his hands together. "If you two will change, I will be waiting out in the other room."
And with that, he leaves the room. I turn to Harry, an instinct I guess, and he quickly takes the purple ascot off.
"I hate this fucking thing," he says, clenching it in his fist. "But he's insisting I wear it."
I let out a laugh and shake my head, pulling the zipper of the dress smoothly down my back.
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a/n: here are the outfits in the order she tried them on: