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I widened my eyes at his words.

"Like, a date?" I asked him quietly, feeling the need to get him to clarify what he meant before considering internally freaking out.

He pursed his lips, lowering his gaze to the table as he tapped his fingers on the surface for a couple of seconds. "I don't do dates" he replied, a thoughtfulness etched in his voice. "Will you?" He looked up as soon as the question left his lips.

I did my best to get the disappointment that washed over me as his cryptic answer not to show on my face, and nodded. "Sure" I replied quietly. It wasn't that his words took anything away from the fact that he'd asked me out of course, because I was happy he had. I'd just hoped he'd somehow clarify what we were doing, because I had no idea at all. I wondered if he did, or if he was just as lost as I was in that situation. I didn't even know if we could consider each other friends, let alone anything else. "When?" I asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that came over us after my short reply.

He shrugged, something in the way his gaze drifted to the wall behind me telling me that he hadn't expected to get that far at all. "Tonight" he said in the end.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Tonight?" I said questioningly. "Are you sure?" I couldn't help but ask, wondering why he'd want to go out while he wasn't feeling well.

"I'm fine" he replied, somehow managing to understand where I was coming from without me directly telling him. "So?"

I nodded. "Alright" I said, sitting back on the chair and glancing at him as he touched the side of the cup in front of him again, gently picking it up and sipping his coffee when he deemed it had cooled down enough.

I almost jumped on the spot when I suddenly heard the bell ring, not having expected time to fly that fast. I shook my head and made my attention go back to Harry, observing him as he finished drinking his coffee and put the cup down, slightly moving it to the side, to be returned later.

He sighed, his gaze moving to the entrance of the cafeteria. "Niall" he murmured. "I can't stand him like this."

I followed his gaze, discovering that the blue-eyed boy was marching in our direction, despite having a class he had to go to. I looked down when I saw the way he was glaring at Harry, immediately torn between finding a reason to leave the table before he arrived and staying right where I was to show support or anything like that.

I flinched again when Niall reached our table and slapped his hand on it hard, catching the attention of everyone around.

"How could you be so fucking reckless again!" He hissed, lowering his head so that we would be the only ones to hear what he was saying. "Mum was freaking out when you didn't come home! And I was that fucking naïve to believe you'd just gone to a friend's instead and now I find out you got fucking drunk again!"

Harry looked down, glaring at the plastic surface of the table, at his words, seeming to have no interest in starting an argument with the other boy.

"Why are you like this?! Don't you think of our family, how badly your behaviour reflects on all of us?!" Niall spat angrily. "Mum will end you, you know she will this time. I wouldn't be surprised if she forbid you from going outside or some shit."

Harry raised an eyebrow, finally looking up at the other boy. "Won't be an option, I'm going out with Sierra tonight" he replied calmly, in strong contrast to his friend, that was literally seething.

Niall's head snapped in my direction. "Is this true?" He said, as if Harry would've lied to him like that while I was sitting right in front of him.

I nodded, watching as the boy took in my reply.

"Alright" he said sharply, sending Harry one last glare before going away, leaving us alone.

"Still up for tonight?" Harry asked after making sure the other boy wouldn't have come back, and I nodded. "Good" he said quietly, before standing up and bringing the tray with the cup of coffee back.

•  •  •

My family had finished dining about an hour before the doorbell rang suddenly.

"I'm going" I said shooting up from where I was nervously sitting on the corner of the couch, almost rushing towards the door.

"Hang on, Sierra" my dad's voice said from behind me, making me stop in my tracks.

I slowly turned around, giving him a somewhat exasperated, somewhat worried glance. "What is it?" I asked, already starting worrying about the possibility of him changing his mind about letting me go out.

He folded the newspaper he had been reading, extending his arm to drop it on the coffee table, sending me a somewhat humoured glance that told me he was enjoying making me wait. "You haven't even told us the name of this boy."

At his words, my mother turned her head to look at me as well with a little nod, taking the remote to lower the volume of the TV, that was playing some kind of show I wasn't really interested in.

I sighed. "His name is Harry" I said, letting out the little information and regretting it right away, knowing that the more they found out, the more they would've wanted to know. "Can I go now?"

Thankfully, my dad nodded, for some reason deciding to let me go without any further questioning, so I shot out of the room and put on my grey wool coat fast, closing the buttons and fetching a white beret and putting it on fast, checking in the mirror near the entrance if my auburn hair was still slightly curled, before taking a white scarf and putting it on, knowing that it was cold outside.

I took a deep breath before sliding my hand in the pockets of my usual brown coat and putting everything that was in there into the pockets of the grey one I was wearing. I finally reached the door, opening it and happily discovering that Harry was still there.

"Hi" I said quietly, leaning against the side of the door, yet to take a step outside, and he looked up from his phone almost instantly, slipping it inside the pocket of his brown coat fast.

"Hey" he replied lowly, detaching his back from the white wall of my house and turning towards me as I stepped out of my house, turning around to close the door.

I looked up, meeting his green eyes, once I was standing right in front of him, the way his tongue peeled out to his lower lip making me almost want to kiss him, but I decided against it when a movement behind him caught my attention and I let my eyes drift towards the living room window, discovering just then that for some reason the curtain had been opened. I rolled my eyes as a little sigh left my lips, and started walking down the couple of steps in front of my door. "Where are we going?" I asked curiously as we walked towards his black car, that was parked right in front of my house.

He shrugged as he walked past me to get to the driver's side, unlocking the car while he reached it. "Is it really important?" He replied, not surprising me at all. It would've been weirder if he'd answered my question, honestly.

I got inside the car just as he did, buckling my belt as he turned on the engine. I glanced out of the window as he started driving. It was freezing cold outside - as you'd expect it to be in December - but the sky was clear, and the light of the stars was peeking through the blanket of darkness. Overall, it was a beautiful night, not quite what I'd expected when I'd woken up that morning.

"Did they get mad?" I asked all of sudden, turning my head to look at him, my fingers playing with the black hair tie around my wrist.

He gave me a quick glance before going back to looking at the street. "They didn't" he replied quietly. "They never do."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Then why did Niall get so pissed?" I asked him, observing the outline of his face as it was intermittently enlightened by the streetlights, before turning my head to look out of the windshield.

"They would get mad if it was him" Harry replied quietly. "But they know how I am."

I gave him a little nod, not knowing what to reply, a little smile finding its way onto my face when I realised we were close to the city centre, the twinkle lights and enlightened decorations almost everywhere being a dead giveaway. I turned to look at Harry when the car stopped all of sudden, realising that he'd parked.

"Come on" he said, opening his door and exiting the car.

I did the same, unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out before closing the door and rounding the car fast to reach him. "What are we doing?" I asked him as he locked the car, before starting to walk down the pavement with me next to him.

He glanced again at me, the corners of his lips turning up in a little smile. "Way, way too curious" he said quietly, making me blush slightly and look down.

We walked in silence for a while, in which I kept my gaze to the ground, trying to think of what his plans for the night could be. He'd said that it wasn't a date, but had he done that because it truly wasn't a date, or because he just didn't want to label it as such? Knowing him, both options were equally possible, and made it so that it was practically impossible to figure out what he wanted to do.

My breath hitched in my throat for a second when I suddenly felt Harry's hand graze mine. The touch went away as fast as it'd come, making me think that our hands had just accidentally brushed together, but I still couldn't help the way my heart almost skipped a beat, my hand almost frozen in place by his simple touch. I looked up all of sudden when the small touch came by again, but didn't go away as fast as the previous one. I felt his finger hesitantly slide up the back of my hand, and before I could even realise it, his hand had slipped into mine, intertwining our fingers.

I widened my eyes, but tried my best to keep the reaction to myself, knowing that if I'd made a big deal out of it, Harry would've never done it again. In my attempt to act nonchalantly, I took a look around, trying to find something to talk about and realising just in that moment that we'd arrived in the city centre. I bit my lower lip, looking at the enlightened stalls that were occupying an entire side of the street.

"The Christmas market?" I said, not being able to stop a little smile for showing on my face. I absolutely loved Christmas and its atmosphere, but I'd never told him that, so I wondered how he'd found out about that.

He gave me a little side-glance, a little smile on his face when he recognised the excitement on mine. He shrugged, pulling me a bit closer to him by our intertwined hands. "Figured you'd enjoy it" he replied quietly, and I nodded.

"I love it." I leant my head on his shoulder for the shard of a second, catching myself right after and separating myself a little bit from him, still not daring to leave his hand in fear he'd never held it again.

I glanced around as the smell of something sugary hit my nose through the cold air, immediately glad that there weren't too many people around and we could still enjoy the atmosphere. I pursed my lips as I realised that the majority of the people surrounding us were either families, couples or small groups of friends. For a brief second, I wondered as which of the last two we classified as, but then I shrugged it away, realising that there, in that moment, where we were surrounded by Christmas lights and the faint perfume of sugar and chocolate in the air, I didn't really care what Harry saw me as. It wouldn't have made everything any less special.

Without noticing, I'd started walking a bit faster than Harry, and I was now in front of him. I only realised it, though, when he pulled me back by our still intertwined fingers, leaving my hand to wrap his arm around my waist when I was pulled back towards his chest.

I looked up into his green eyes, debating what I was supposed to do for a couple of seconds, biting my lower lip in a nervous motion, right before standing on my tiptoes and leaving a fast kiss on his lips. "Thank you" I whispered to him as we parted, another little smile on my lips.

He gave me a little smile at my words, barely showing his dimples before suddenly clearing his throat and straightening himself up, moving me to the side so that we could go back to walking, but not removing his arm from my waist. "Let's get something to eat" he whispered into my ear, his warm breath hitting my cheek in the cold air.

"Like what?" I asked him, glancing around. We were in the middle of the stalls, and there weren't many options between many different kinds of candy and Christmas balls. Not like it was necessary, after all. Following Harry's explicit request, I'd already had dinner, and so had he.

He stopped us in front of a stall, that seemed to sell many colourful and sugar-based things. "What do you fancy?" He asked me, a little smile forming on my lips again at his choice of words.

I took a quick glance at the stuff in front of me, just to realise that I didn't have any kind of personal experience with the majority of the sweets. I didn't go out often, so I hadn't been at the Christmas market for over seven years. I looked up, realising that Harry was still waiting for my answer, and that the middle aged man behind the stall was patiently waiting as well. "Surprise me" I said with a little shrug, taking a step back.

Harry gave me a little nod, the corners of his lips slightly turned up, a concentrated look finding its way into his eyes as he looked at what the stall had to offer. I smiled slightly at the way the warm yellow light hit his face from above, the shadow of his eyelashes on his cheekbones, making the green in his eyes almost shine of golden shards as he looked up and started talking to the man.

I subconsciously took a step back as, wanting to  remember that moment, I took my notepad out of the pocket of my grey coat, instantly being glad that I'd taken it from the other coat. I opened it quickly to a new page, taking the small pencil and starting to sketch Harry fast while he made his order, completely unaware of what I was doing. I drew the basic lines of the stall in front of him, biting my lower lip concentratedly as I sketched his profile, making sure to get the way the corners of his lips were slightly up and the way his dark curls came out of his grey beanie around his ears. I drew the line of his black coat and his slim legs, starting to shade everything quickly.

I stopped what I was doing in the second Harry turned to look at me, white bag in his hand, making me realise that he was done.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly, a somewhat confused look into his eyes, even though he knew perfectly what I was doing. He'd spent enough time with me to know what me holding my little notebook and trying to balance it on my left hand so that I could draw meant.

I shook my head, not wanting him to see it. I hadn't finished it yet, and besides, it would've been quite awkward to admit I was drawing him. "Nothing" I said quickly.

"Sierra" he replied, tilting his head and taking a step towards me, a little smile on his face, and I let out a little chuckle, hiding the notebook behind my back.

"Nope" I said, my gaze still focused on him, barely seeing the middle-aged man on the side, that was watching our exchange with an endeared look in his eyes. I took a step back as Harry took another towards me, squealing when he wrapped his arms around me all of sudden, both my hands flying up to cover my mouth.

Keeping the arm with which he was holding the white bag around my waist, he took the notebook that my fingers were holding right in front of my face with his free hand, giving a fast look at the page it was still open to before closing it and slipping it into the pocket of my coat with a little smile on his face.

"That was hardly fair" I whispered, knowing that he would've heard me anyway because of our closeness.

"Do you really think I care?" He whispered back, the shadow of his dimples appearing on his cheeks for just a second, a playfulness I'd hardly heard before in his voice.

"You look great together, keep it up."

My head shot in the direction of the man behind the stall, that was offering us a kind smile, making me realise just then that we weren't alone, making hotness run to my cheeks.

Harry suddenly let me go, detaching himself from me of a little, his gaze falling to the floor as he offered the man a small nod before starting to walk away, leaving me to rush after him. He slowed his step when he realised I was having trouble following him, offering the small white bag in my direction. I pushed my hand inside it, catching something between my fingers and taking it out, not being able to figure out what it was in the dim lights of the street, but catching the sugary scent almost instantly. I hesitantly put the candy into my mouth, pressing it on my palate and feeling it melt on my tongue.

"This is good" I commented, and he nodded, popping one into his mouth.

"I know" he murmured, changing the hand that was holding the white bag and finally wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me towards him again.

I took another candy from the bag, putting it into my mouth and quietly munching on it as I glanced around, letting myself be absorbed in the Christmassy atmosphere, but at the same time way too aware of his arm around my waist. "Tell me something about yourself" I said all of sudden, glancing up at him, hoping that he would've replied. I knew he didn't like talking about things regarding him, but at the same time I hoped that the general question would've allowed him to share anything he wanted to share, without feeling forced to.

He gave me a side-glance at my words, eating another piece of candy before talking. "What would you want to know?" He asked quietly, a somewhat detached look in his eyes, as if he expected me to ask him something incredibly personal.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Anything. Like, when's your birthday?" I asked, not missing the way he seemed to relax all of sudden.

"The first of February" he replied quietly, seeming to think a bit before adding something else. "And yours?"

"December 21st" I said, looking down at our feet for a second as I realised we were already in December. Time really did seem to fly sometimes.

He hummed. "It's soon" he commented, voicing my thoughts, and I nodded.

"Something else?" I asked him, looking at him again.

He glanced at me. "You know what, you ask way too many questions" he said, letting me know that he didn't feel like sharing any further.

I shrugged at his words. "Make me stop, then." It was only when his head snapped in my direction, a somewhat surprised look in his eyes, that I realised how my words had sounded.

"Okay, then" he said, stopping us on the side of the street.

"I didn't-" I started saying, but I was cut off as his lips landed on mine, his arm still around my waist.

I surrendered against his body, figuring out that it wasn't a misfortune after all, my hand flying to his cheek, cold because of the freezing air around us, as he deepened the kiss, the sudden taste of sugar invading my mouth. I stood on my tiptoes, putting my other hand on his shoulder as he held me tighter, the hint of a smile curving his lips against mine.

"You taste like sugar" I whispered against his lips, breaking away from the kiss for just a second before he pressed his lips to mine again. With a fast movement, I took off his grey beanie, holding it tightly against his shoulder to make sure it wouldn't fall to the ground, to allow my fingers to tangle in his dark curls, not missing the way he slightly smiled against my lips at my action.

We broke apart after what felt too short of a time, our breaths mingling together and forming a small white puff in contact with the cold air of the winter night.

"You do too" he whispered, making a small laugh leave my lips. "Let's keep walking before angry parents start complaining" he added, and even though I couldn't help but find it funny, I knew how true it was.

We went back to walking in the middle of the street, my gaze drifting from the boy next to me to all the fairy lights and decorations around us, already knowing deep inside my heart that I would've never forgotten that night. I took another candy from the bag, popping it in my mouth, hesitating a bit before grazing Harry's hand with mine, pretending to be looking straight ahead while my attention was completely focused on him instead, trying to understand what his reaction was as I hesitantly intertwined my cold fingers with his again. He didn't have any visible reaction, and I would've almost thought he hadn't even noticed my action if it wasn't that he squeezed my hand lightly all of sudden.

"Uh" he said all of sudden, making me glance at him. His gaze was down, an unreadable expression on his face. "I lost my mother when I was eleven" he said all of sudden, making me feel as if a sudden weight had fallen on my chest. It took me a couple of seconds to realise that he was answering to the question I'd asked him before we'd kissed. "It was... weird" he continued after a couple of seconds. "I don't think I realised it at first. I still expected her to walk in at any second, even though I knew she wouldn't have. My dad never talked about it with me. He'd never been that good with children. He thought I was too young to understand, that I would've just... forgotten it, after a while. But none of us did."

I squeezed his hand lightly, moving closer to him and leaning my head on his shoulder, something telling me that there was nothing I could've said that could've helped him in that moment.

"It wasn't that fun to live with my dad" he said quietly. "He was there, but I was always alone. He never spent time with me, he hardly did when my mother was there too, to be honest. It's easy to feel things... slip away, in moments like those. I wished he'd lied to me about what happened to my mother, at least I would've had hope to bring me forward, for how fake it would've been."

I didn't even realise we'd stopped walking until he wrapped his arms around my waist while we were standing on the side of the street again. Without thinking about it twice, I turned towards him and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a hug. After a few seconds, he wrapped his arms around me tightly, resting his cheek on my head.

We stayed like that for what felt like a minute at least, before letting go and going back to walking in the middle of the Christmas stalls. He kept quiet for a while, his arm still around my waist, and I did as well, wanting to give him how much time he needed to think. After a while, I opened the white bag again, that I'd somehow ended up holding, offering it to him. He gave me a little glance before taking a candy out and putting it in his mouth, the shadow of a smile forming on his lips at my action.

The mood of our date picked up from that moment again, and we kept walking around until it was ten, sharing candy and having minor conversations about many unimportant things, but that somehow felt relevant enough in that moment to be talked about.

He drove me back home and, when we arrived, he got out of his car to accompany me to my front door. I stopped in front of it, my keys already in my hand, turning to look at him.

"Thank you so much" I whispered to him, standing up on my tiptoes to kiss him when I realised that my parents had closed the curtain again at some point during the night.

He wrapped his arm around my waist tightly, deepening the kiss, but keeping it fast enough not to risk being discovered by my parents. "Thank you" he murmured quietly as we parted. "Goodnight" he whispered against my lips, slipping something in my hand before walking back towards his car without waiting for me to reply, leaving me to stare after him.

It was only when his car drove away that I looked down, realising that I was now holding the white bag again, that contained one last candy. I smiled to myself, opening my door and walking into the warmth of my house, putting the last piece of candy into my mouth and taking off my coat, leaving it on the hanger along with my white beret and scarf. I put my black boots in their rightful place before walking upstairs, spotting my parents still in the living room, watching the TV.

As soon as I got into the bedroom I threw my phone on my bed and got into more comfortable clothes, before sitting on my bed, my legs crossed, and taking the phone to send a last message to Harry.

I furrowed my eyebrows when I realised I'd got a message from an unknown number during the night, and clicked on the notification, becoming even more confused after I read it.

Do you really trust him?

I shrugged, figuring out that someone had got the wrong number, ignoring it and opening Harry's chat, typing a text fast.

To Harry: Goodnight

I sent it and locked my phone, throwing it back on the bed.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Personally, it's one of my favourites x

Miki

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