It sat there taunting her. The ticking of the clock counting the minutes away as Ava sat on her couch and stared at the laptop's black screen. She knew that she had to buckle down and get down to business. Harry was not there. She was alone and needed to get her shit together. There were no more excuses or a brown headed, green eyed sex god to distract her. All that remained was a distraught Ava, piles and piles of discarded notes and open text books, and a pile of leftover Thai food.

She stretched her tired limbs and straightened her sore back. The laptop was warm against the pillow that laid against her legging clad legs. She cracked her fingers and turned the computer on.

As the main screen came to focus, she was met with a photo of her. She had forgotten that Harry had mad her his desktop background. Her head was tilted back in mid-laugh. They were sitting on a blanket at the beach. She remembered that day. The weather had been chilly and they were high on caffeine and gelato. Harry had made a joke causing Ava to burst into a fit of giggles. He took it as a prime opportunity to capture her in her purest form. Her nose scrunched and hair  flowing in the mid-winter wind.

That day had been one of her favourite dates. They spent the day exploring the city. While taking on the title as tourists for they day, they hit up every attraction they could think of. The night had been ended with a merciless amounts of Americanos and mango/vanilla gelato.

It had been a perfect day, spent with her perfect guy.

She giggled to herself as she thought back to that day while clicking on to a new document. Her eyes scanned over the papers that were flung around. She reviewed her notes attempting to come up with the right words to start her paper. "How does media affect young women today?" This topic had fired Ava up in ways that she didn't realize were possible.

At first, the topic of women and media seemed cliche. Many women in particular have found it in their womanly duties to discuss the ever increasingly effects media had on this generation. But as cliche and over done the topic may be, Ava couldn't help but be intrigued. When she had been given the option to write about the topic, she jumped on it right away. The more research that she had done the more worked up she got over the subject. She stretched her arms above her head once more and cracked her knuckles. Her fingers gracefully laid against the keys as she began to write. 

"In today's day and age, society and media have become highly influential. It had once been something that barely affected society, is part of the every day life. As media has grown, it has developed opinions and stereotypes for the human population. In particular, media has created a stereotype of how women should dress, act and be. Things like television programs, magazines and the internet, create an ideal on how women should be. This in turn has given a pressure for young girls.

Young girls are the highest group to be influenced by the media. Magazines have become geared towards this particular group of teenagers. Young girls look at magazines, and internet websites like tumblr to influence how they dress and act. Todays generation -" As she was about to write the next sentence, a message pops up on the screen.

"You have 1 new message."

Curiosity getting the best of her, she clicks on the read now button. Harry's inbox opens up and the message is revealed.

"Dear Mr. Styles,

We have been in discussion over your book and cancelled East Coast American tour with East Side Publishing. The publishes here at the California offices have been discussing the offer your publishers offered."

California offices? She thought to herself. What could he be talking about?

"We would be pleased, and extremely honored, to take your offer and grant you a west coast California tour over the summer. We have read Haunted and believe that it will in fact be the next big Romantic best seller.

We are pleased to be a part of this journey.

George Rompkins
President
East Coast Publishing, Los Angeles"

Ava quickly shut the email. Her mouth was slightly opened and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Not once had Harry told her about this tour possibility. She was hurt that he would hold something so important from her.

At the same time, everything started to make sense. The way he would avoid talking about the summer, or how he seemingly grew less anxious about being in a long distance relationship. She was shocked that he would pull something like this. As happy as she was that he would be close to her, a major part of her was disappointed.

It was hard to explain why. Perhaps it was because he didn't tell her, or because he wasn't going to be experiencing LA on her own. You would think that she would be seemingly more happy and excited that her boyfriend went through all this trouble to guarantee they stayed close. Yet, she couldn't find the excitement inside of her. It had been replaced with a sense of betrayal and anger instead. Anger that he would go all this way for her.

She loved Harry and was well aware that he loved her too. It felt, however, that he was putting his love for her over his own dreams and life. Ava didn't understand why he felt this way for her. She didn't deem herself worthy enough for this type or sacrifice and love.

The more she reread the letter the more frustrated she felt. As she sat on her couch, laptop in hand, a few quick knocks sounded at the door. She looked at the neon numbers on her DVD player informing her that it was seven at night. She knew that her and Jacey had not made any plans for tonight. That left the only possible suspect to be behind her wooden door had mesmerizing green eyes and an alluring British accent.

Her mind was telling her to ignore him, but her heart was shouting to open up. Listening to her heart, she slowly walked over to the door.

Sure enough, Harry stood on the other side with a wide smile and a box of pizza. Going in for a kiss, he was met with a wall of hair. His face fell automatically.

"Babe, what's wrong?" He gently pushes past her, walking into her apartment and towards the kitchen to place the box of pizza onto the counter. "Did something happen?" He asked as he turned to face her.

"I hear a Bon voyage is in order." She stated. 

Harry's eyebrows furrow as his face turned to confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, Harry. Why don't you tell me?" He reached his hand out placing it on her shoulder carefully. She pulled away quickly. She noticed the sadness that washed over his features but ignored it.

"I don't get what you're talking about, babe."

"I'm sure you don't." She replied coldly. 

"Please, tell me what you are talking about. I'm lost over here." 

The first time since letting him in, she looked him in the eyes. "I read the e-mail. I know you dropped the East Coast tour so that you could go to LA."

His eyes turned from confusion to slight relief but quickly fading to anger. "You went into my private e-mails?" He exclaimed, his voice raising with each word. 

"It popped up when I was writing my paper." 

"Oh." He breathed out. "I don't get why you're mad then." 

She let out a frustrated breath of air. "You're joking right? You kept this from me! You put your whole career into potential jeopardy for me. How stupid was that?!"

"I didn't put my career into jeopardy."

"Really! You had no idea if you were going to get the west coast tour. That was a stupid move, Harry."

"But baby," he walked closer to her treading on water lightly. "I got the tour! We should be celebrating this, not fighting over it."

Ava steps away not trusting his close proximity. "Please explain to me why you're so upset."

"You delibertly hid this from me. I'm angry that you never told me!"

"I wanted to make this a surprise."

"Well, good job. I'm damn surprised."

Harry was still confused at the way she was reacting to him. He knew that there had to be more behind her anger towards him.

"And," she continued, "You lied to me."

"Wait. I didn't lie to you!"

"You withheld this information from me. It's the same thing."

He ran a frustrated hand through his unruly curls. His thoughts were going a mile a minute trying to put everything that was going on together.

"Ava, this is ridiculous."

"I am entitled to my emotions, Harry."

"I get that. But, there is no reason for you to be so mad about this! Any normal girlfriend would be thrilled to know that they would be spending their summer with their boyfriend. Fuck, Ava! Why are you being so god damn stubborn." He was now yelling, his frustration taking over his usual calm demeanor.

"Wow." She looked at him shocked. "I'm sorry that I'm not a normal girlfriend. I'm sorry that I am frustrated that my boyfriend who always talks about trust and having open communication kept this from me. I'm sorry that I care about your career enough to know that you shouldn't be throwing it away for me. I'm not worth it!" She walked to the door opening it up. "I think you should go." 

"No." He stared at her. "You are going to sit down and tell me why the fuck you are so worked up over this." The truth was, Ava didn't understand herself why she was getting so worked up over it all. She knew that she should be happy about this. She also knew that she was annoyed that he didn't tell her right away and that being this angry was a bit excessive. Yet, she still felt frustrated at him. She still felt betrayed and lied to. The more she dwelled over these feelings, the more she didn't want to be in the same room as him.

"You are being ridiculous Ava."

"Go, please. I need to process all of this."

"I love you. I'm so fucking in love with you, Ava. Don't you see that? I did this so that we could be together. I'm so fucking scared that we would grow apart being away from each other this summer. I lost the most important girl to me before, I'm not going to let that happen again." 

She looked at his eyes. They were defeated. She felt a ping of regret as she looked at him. She was beginning to regret her outburst, but her pride was stopping her from saying or acting otherwise. "Please take your computer with you." 

"No, I know you're not done your paper."

"Please just take it." 

He looked at her in the eyes, his own showcasing how frustrated he was feeling. "Stop being so damn stubborn and keep the god damn laptop until you are finished." 

"Fine." She whispered once more. "But take your pizza."

"Have you gone grocery shopping?" 

"No," she said. "It's fine though. I have some frozen peas-"

"Keep the pizza." His voice growing softer once again. She nodded, not trusting her voice. He had to leave. Bringing her arms around her body, she hugged the pain away. She couldn't stand having him so close. The way that he stood in the middle of her apartment, confused and annoyed, he still looked god sent. 

He walked over to her slowly. He lifted his hand. He placed his hand gently on her chin bringing her eyes up to his own. "Are we okay?" 

She didn't answer him at first. She honestly did not have an answer for him. 

"I don't know." She whispered.

He stepped back, his face falling, and walked out of her apartment without saying another word. 

She locked the door and the tears that she held back began to fall down. 

Harry stayed on the other side of the door, not moving an inch, only looking at the closed door. He was lost. He didn't understand her sudden outburst and why she had taken the news the way that she did. He knew that he should have told her sooner. He felt like the biggest moron for not doing so. But now, he only felt frustration. He wanted this to be a happy moment.

The plan was to tell her the news tonight. He was going to tell her over pizza. He imagined her expression to be shocked but for it to turn into a massive grin. In his mind, he pictured them snuggling on the couch while planning their summer-life in the sunshine state. They were going to look up apartments, plan dates for when they had the days off, and just enjoy the moment. Instead, he was met with an argument and a potentially no-more relationship. 

He could feel his heart break. He didn't want to lose Ava. He was in way too deep in this relationship to lose her. He was in this deep. He also knew that he screwed up and he was kicking himself in the ass for doing so. Fuck it, he thought as he began to storm out of her apartment. 

"If she is going to act like a baby, then so be it." He said to himself as he felt his walls begin to build back up.

--
A/N: Well folks, we have officially hit the middle of Winter Air and the major conflict of the story. What do you think? Are Hava over?! I sure hope not. 

Vote + Comment because it makes my day when you do! Let’s get the votes up! You are all the dream readers. Thank you for your feedback from my previous authors note. I will be waiting until the end of this story to post Adore.
Love!