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As soon as we entered the car park I spotted Niall leaning against a black car. I wasn't an expert in cars at all so I didn't recognise the model, but it looked nice, and especially, perfectly clean. There didn't seem to be a single grain of dust on it, and it made me suppose that it either got cleaned often or Harry took a great care of it.
He looked up when Harry cleared his throat loud enough for him to hear, detaching his back from the window fast.
Harry pressed a button on the keys he still had in his hand as we approached the car, unlocking the doors. "Niall" he said when we reached him, giving him an eloquent look.
Niall sighed and opened the door to sit in the back, making me understand I was to sit on the passenger seat next to Harry.
I got into the car in silence, putting my bag between my legs on the floor and carefully shutting the door not to do it too loudly. I took in the looks of the inside of the car as Harry sat next to me, the smell of his cologne hitting me as he shifted to put his seatbelt on. The cleanliness of the outside reflected the inside, making me understand that Harry really did take care of his car, way more than I'd ever seen anyone else in my life do.
I passed my finger over the black leather of the seat as Harry turned on the car, the engine coming to life in a low hum. While Harry looked into the rear-view mirror to slide out of the parking lot, a deep silence fell over all of us, that was broken only when the car stopped in front of a house about fifteen minutes later.
Niall slid out of the car, leaning down and looking inside before shutting the door. "I'll see you later if you come home before midnight."
I turned around to look at him as he opened the gate, searching for the keys as he walked down to the main door. I flinched in surprise when Harry started the car again, sliding out of the street fast and in the direction of my house. I looked out of the window, sighing in the silence, that was starting to become everything but comfortable. I'd always hated awkward silence, but I'd always been way too shy to even consider breaking it. So between my shy, uncomfortable self and Harry's apparent disinterest in having any kind of conversation, the silence remained.
I was almost caught by surprise when Harry stopped the car in front of my house, turning it off and sliding out the door easily.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before doing the same, shutting the door and scrambling to get the keys out of my bag as I approached the door, with Harry a few steps behind me. I quickly thanked whoever was above when my fingers wrapped around the cold metal, allowing me to break the somewhat awkward situation we'd fallen in.
I opened the door and stepped inside, taking a fast look at the entrance to make sure everything was in order as Harry closed the door.
I took off my coat and I hung it over another coat that was already there to leave the empty hanger to Harry. I walked up the stairs not waiting for Harry to take off his coat, hoping to eventually fix all the things that were out of place before he made his way into my room.
I walked into my room and turned on the light, noticing with a small smile that it was perfectly in order, before turning off the light and going back to the studio to take everything I needed. I found the drawing exactly where I'd left it the evening before. I looked at it in disbelief. I couldn't believe that less than a day had passed since Harry and I had started talking over text. It felt as if much longer had passed, and I blamed it on all the things that had happened since then.
I put all the stuff I needed together and I walked out of the room, almost dropping everything when I noticed that Harry was leaning against the door of my studio, an indecipherable look on his face.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm the fast beating of my heart, and slowly made my way towards him. He shifted to the side as soon as I was close enough, allowing me to walk out the door and following me as I made my way towards my room.
I left everything over my desk and I straightened the blanket over my bed, turning the pillow around again, before walking to the end of the room and opening the window to allow the same amount of light as always inside. I turned around and brought the chair of my desk closer to my bed, putting all the stuff over it, and sitting at the bottom of the bed, noticing that Harry had already lain down. I took my usual book, putting my drawing over it, and moved to sit next to his waist, my back against the cold wall.
I looked at the drawing at then at Harry to assess the situation, realising only then that he was wearing a sweatshirt of a somewhat dark blue shade, that seemed light in texture. It seemed way cosier than anything I'd seen him wear before.
I shook my head when I realised I was starting to get a bit distracted, looking back at my drawing and taking the blue colour I'd mixed the day before, determined to complete that drawing as fast as possible. I left the paper sheet with the colour on the white blanket next to me so that it would be within reach, making a mental note of being careful not to ruin the blanket. I started colouring what was left of the shirt, adding some black, dark blue and grey to add texture and do the shadows.
After a while I stopped to look at the drawing, a little smile forming on my face when I realised that the only parts I had to do to complete it were Harry's hair and the shadows on the blanket. I took the paper sheet with the blue and stretched out my arm to put it over the chair, a faint bell ringing in alarm into my mind when I realised I couldn't reach it from where I was sitting. I pushed myself forward, trying to put it in its place.
I felt it before seeing it. My heart stopped for a second when I felt the paper sheet in my hand hit the side of the chair, and I watched almost in slow motion as the dark blue powder jumped up from the sheet and landed on my perfectly white blanket.
I passed my hand over it to try to clean it, but I made an even bigger mess of it, and the blue powder became a blue stripe. I hissed, putting the drawing on the side fast, making Harry jolt up in a sitting position equally as fast as I accidentally put it on his legs. I took a clean paper tissue and passed it over the white blanket while hissing insults to my carelessness under my breath, but it seemed almost impossible to get rid of the stripe, that was staring at me mockingly from the white of my blanket.
The bed moved as Harry stood up, and I glanced up at him as he took my drawing and put it over my desk, taking my chair and rolling it away from my bed.
"Stand up" he said lowly, and I did without asking questions, surprised by his actions. As soon as I was standing by his side he grabbed the blanket and pulled it off the bed, putting it in a ball and glancing at me. "Where's your bathroom?"
I nodded, understanding what he was on about, and left the room, walking towards the bathroom with Harry following after me, carrying my blanket.
I turned on the light and took the blanket from Harry, putting the part with the stripe in the sink and turning the water on to wet it. I leant over the sink as I watched it slowly get soaked with a defeated look on my face.
All of sudden I felt a sudden wave of cold air hit my neck as my hair was brushed back, feeling goosebumps rise on my skin as I felt Harry's hot breath against my neck. I turned my head to the side slightly, almost flinching in surprise when Harry's arm sneaked around my waist. He brushed his lips against the corner of my mouth, making my heart beat faster in expectation, before turning me around and pushing me back against the sink, breathing against my lips before leaning forward and closing the distance between us.
I put my hand on his chest with half the idea of pushing him away, but my resolution turned to dust when I felt his heart beat equally as fast as mine under my palm. A shiver ran down my spine when I felt his tongue wet my lower lip before he deepened the kiss, a sudden feeling of warmth spreading through me as his cold fingers tangled between my hair, his tongue delving inside my mouth. I put my hand on the back of his neck, standing on my tiptoes and pressing my body against his, his smell filling my senses and incapacitating my rationality as the feeling of his warm chest against mine sparked a sensation of desire mixed with impatience in me.
When we broke apart it was as if time had started ticking by again, and I was suddenly aware of the closeness of our bodies and the sound of the water behind me. Sudden warmth flushed to my cheeks as I realised what my reaction to his kiss had been, and I turned around fast, almost hissing when he didn't step back, and my back hit his chest.
I closed the tap, staring at the blue on my blanket. "I..." I started to say, but had to momentarily stop when I noticed my voice was trembling, too much aware of the way I'd surrendered to the warm and oddly comforting touch of his lips. I tried to gather my thoughts at best, and spoke again. "I should finish my drawing" were the words that left my lips, and I went along with it, deciding to take care of the blanket later, that suddenly wasn't as important as it had been. I looked up, meeting the reflection of Harry's mint green eyes in the mirror.
"I should go as well" he said equally as lowly. "Good luck" he added in a low hum, brushing his fingers against my neck. "Goodbye" he whispered into my ear, before giving me one last glance through our reflection and leaving the room.
I stood there, almost frozen in my spot, until I heard the sound of the front door being shut not too long after.
I let out an exasperated groan, and turned the tap on again.
• • •
On the next day, I knew I was up for questioning as soon as I entered my first class of the day.
Ella kept giving me weird looks for the entire class from where she was sitting next to me, but didn't actively mention it until the bell rang.
I swung my bag over my shoulder and took my coat before following her out of the door, a fast glance to my side to discovered that Harry was still standing next to his desk, talking to Niall. He looked up as soon as he felt my gaze on him, and I turned around fast as soon as his eyes met mine. I slid out into the hallway quickly, shaking my head at how much things had changed. Just two months before, Harry would've never willingly looked at me. The only time he'd met my gaze had been by accident, and he'd seemed throughly annoyed by it. But at that point, I didn't seem to be able to look at him without him noticing.
"So you left with Harry yesterday" Ella said all of sudden while we were walking side by side.
"Yeah" I simply said, not feeling like going into the matter in that moment, and especially not with her.
"Are you two close?" She asked again, ignoring my lack of interest in pursuing the conversation.
I thought back of what had happened the day before. Harry didn't seem to be able to get the hint I didn't want to be close to him in that way, but at the same time, it was as if I myself couldn't get the hint. Whenever he kissed me, I promised myself I wouldn't have let it happen another time, but as soon as he stepped closer to me I felt as if I no longer was in control of my thoughts, and I couldn't help but linger into his touch, despite knowing I would've got hurt in the end. His simple presence made me feel braver and more careless than I'd ever been, and I didn't know how to handle it. But that wasn't for Ella to know.
"Wouldn't say so" I only said, making her nod as we entered the cafeteria.
We sat down at a table, but she stood up right after.
"I need to get something, I'll be back soon" she said, right before leaving me alone.
I sighed, but shrugged her odd behaviour away, opening my bag to take my notepad and a pencil, and starting to sketch the first thing that came to my mind.
I was that distracted that I didn't even realise when someone sat in front of me, until they tapped their finger on the table in front of me to get my attention.
I looked up, meeting the chocolate brown shade of Aiden's eyes. I pursed my lips, suddenly realising that Ella had left me alone to allow him to step in.
"So, how about that date?" He asked cheerfully, and I sighed.
"Aiden, I don't really feel like going out with you" I told him, surprising myself with how straightforward I'd been.
His eyes widened in surprise. "What? Why?"
I put the pencil down on the table and closed the notepad. "You're kind of obsessed with Harry, it doesn't make me feel comfortable" I said truthfully.
He nodded to himself. "So you won't go out with me, but you have no problems with spending a lot of time with him?" He asked, distaste clear in his voice. "What, do you have a crush on him? Or even better, has he maybe kissed you, made you feel like you're oh so special?" He passed his fingers through his blonde hair in distress. "He doesn't care about you that way, Sierra. He is a player, he will have fun with you until he'll get tired of you!" He leaned forward, speaking lowly. "Just because he's good looking it doesn't make him perfect! You're just another girl." He shook his head. "You aren't special. Do you want a proof?" He asked, the hint of a laugh in his voice, looking at something behind me. "You just need to look behind you."
I turned around at his words, my heart stopping for a second as I took in the scene behind me.
Harry was leaning against the wall of the cafeteria, Janette's fingers curling in his hair as she planted her lips on his in a heated kiss.
I felt a sudden weight drop down onto my chest, making it a little harder to breathe, and detached my gaze from the scene.
I looked at the table, my eyes wide, trying to hold myself together because I knew Aiden was just waiting for my reaction, but at the same not even knowing how I was feeling. I felt hurt, but at the same time, to lessen the pain, there was the cold knowledge that I wasn't surprised. I knew someone like Harry wouldn't have wasted their time with someone like me. I'd anticipated it, and now I was feeling it. He was too much for me, I'd always known it.
I took a deep breath. "I wonder what makes you think Harry and I ever did anything" I said lowly to make sure my voice wouldn't tremble, momentarily finding a small reason to rejoice in the way the small satisfied smile on his face fell at my words. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." I put the notepad and pencil into my bag and swung its strap over my shoulder, standing up from the chair and quickly walking in the corridor, leaving the cafeteria behind me.
Only when I was leaning against the wall outside I allowed myself to react to what had happened, sliding down to the floor with a shocked look on my face.
If it was indeed a game, he'd played me so well.
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