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I stood up fast from my spot on the couch when I heard the doorbell ring, almost rushing to open the door, completely unaware of the stare my parents were giving me.

"Where are you going?" My dad said after having exchanged a long look with my mother, making me stop in my tracks and turn around quickly.

I sighed, letting the shoe that I was about to put on fall on the ground with a dull thud. "Out with Harry" I replied, hoping that they would've let me leave. That day had been more stressful than ever, considering my dislike for being the centre of the attention, and I had ended up texting Harry sometime around lunchtime, hoping that he would've come around and given me a reason to escape my parents' tender, but a bit too earnest, care.

My dad nodded. "Nice. I want to meet him" he said, instantly making my eyes widen in fear.

"Dad, I'm eighteen" I replied, hoping to dissuade him from that potentially destructive idea. I didn't want Harry to unnecessarily feel judged by people if I could avoid it, which, considering how he was, would've just risked to damage whatever was going on between us.

My dad gave me a hard glance, letting me know that he was completely serious. "I'm not kidding, Sierra. I never got to do it before because you never had a boyfriend, I'm so doing it now."

I sighed, giving a quick glance, knowing that I had to come to some kind of agreement, and do it fast, if I didn't want Harry to just live. "Can you please not scare him off today, out of all days?" I asked, knowing that I'd won in the second I'd mentioned my birthday. Little did my dad know how true my statement was. Knowing Harry, the simple idea of having to face a conversation with my father would've been enough to make him leave for good.

"Just because it's today" he replied, going back to the book he was reading, and I nodded fast, putting my shoes on fast and almost running to the door, hoping that Harry hadn't disappeared in the meantime.

I grabbed my coat and a scarf, putting them on quickly as I opened the front door. "Hi" I said quickly, leaning against the side of the door to catch my breath in what I hoped was the most nonchalant way possible.

He gave me a humoured glance, but decided not to comment on it. "Hey, Happy Birthday" he replied quietly, giving a wary glance to the inside of the house.

I turned around quickly, discovering that my father was very visibly staring at us from the entrance of the living room, and shook my head, stepping outside and closing the door behind myself. "Thank you" I said, putting my hands in the pockets of my coat to try to fend off the freezing cold. "And thank you for coming. I was looking for a reason to escape" I admitted quietly. "Can we do something?" I asked, starting to walk down towards the street with Harry by my side.

"What do you want to do?" He asked me softly, looking down as he spoke, the tip of his nose a bit reddened by the cold.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Something normal. Like, I don't like when people make a big deal of my birthday, it makes me uncomfortable" I shared before I could even decide if it was the case to do so.

He side-glanced at me, the corners of his lips slightly turned up at my words. "I guess it's bad that I got you something, then?" He said, surprising me. I would've never expected Harry to get me a birthday present, despite all the time we'd spent together. He just didn't seem like the kind of person that would've done something like that.

"You didn't have to" I said, surprise still present in my voice as I spoke. I'd never been the kind to get particularly excited about presents, but the idea of him having thought of something to gift me made me feel warm inside. He could've probably gifted me a rock and, as long as he would've assured me it was heartfelt, I would've been happy. For how ridiculous it may sound.

He gave me a little shrug, taking a small package out of his pocket and handing it to me. "I still did it" he told me softly.

We stopped in front of his car as I took it, carefully undoing the dark blue paper in which it had been wrapped, feeling something leather-like under the tips of my fingers. I furrowed my eyebrows, taking the paper off completely to look at the gift better, a little smile forming on my face when I realised it was a small black leather notepad.

"I noticed yours was almost finished, so..." he started, trying to justify his choice of gift, as if I could've even thought it was a bad one.

Before giving myself time to rethink it, I pulled him against my mouth by the collar of his black coat, feeling a sudden warmth spread through me as his lips moulded perfectly against mine.

"It's perfect" I whispered against his mouth when we broke apart, my fingers still wrapped tightly around the fabric of his coat, my heartbeat rushing against my chest. "Thank you."

He gave me a little smile, before straightening himself again and unlocking the car, walking around it to get to the driver's side.

I got in quickly, trying to escape the cold, and put the notepad he'd just gifted me into my pocket, along with my current one, that was of a warm shade of brown. I crumpled the wrapping paper up in a ball as I waited for him to walk inside - blushing slightly when he did.

He glanced at me, seeming about to say something when all of sudden the sound of an upcoming message was heard. He cleared his throat, taking his phone out of his pocket and checking it quickly, a frown finding its way on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked him when he put the phone down, perfectly knowing that I was risking him ignoring me or getting pissed at me for asking too personal information.

He just shrugged, putting the key in the ignition and starting the car. "Liam and Zayn want to hang out" he simply replied, and I nodded.

"We can do it... if you want" I suggested quietly, side-glancing at him as he got out of the parking spot. "I meant it when I said I don't want it to be a big deal. If you want to take me along of course" I said, quickly adding the last sentence. I didn't want him to think I was trying to tag along uninvited, but I especially didn't want him to feel like I was coming between him and his friends.

"Okay" he said, typing a reply quickly before going back to driving.

The ride there wasn't long, and before I knew it he had already parked a few streets away from my house.

I unbuckled my belt, waiting for him to exit the car before getting out as well, quickly walking in front of it to reach him. I waited patiently, even though I was freezing, next to him as he locked the car, before finally walking into a cafe a couple of feet away from where he'd parked.

As soon as we entered he gave a fast glance around, quickly managing to spot his friends sitting at a table next to the wall before walking towards them, taking me with him.

Harry sat down, taking off his coat and scooting a bit more towards the wall so that I could sit on the bench next to him, side-glancing at me as I quietly took off my coat under the attentive stare of his two friends.

"Liam, this is Sierra. Sierra, Liam" Harry said when I was finally settled, making the official presentations.

Liam nodded. "We met once, if you remember" he told me, and I nodded.

How could I have ever forgotten that day? I was sure I would've never done that, the memory of what had happened fresh in my mind even though it'd been way over a month.

Liam nodded as well, sending me an eloquent glance, before clapping his hands and straightening himself. "Alright, I'm gonna go order. Harry, your usual?" He asked, standing up and glancing at the boy next to me, making me realise that he had to know him pretty well, to know the kind of coffee he liked. "Zayn, do I get you something?" He continued, asking to the raven-haired boy, that just shook his head. "Sierra?" He said in the end, looking at me.

"Oh, just a cappuccino please" I replied, and he nodded, quickly disappearing in the direction of the counter.

Zayn finally looked up from his phone, focusing his gaze on me for a second before turning to look at Harry. "Surprised you didn't want to go get a beer or something like always" he commented, catching Harry's attention, that had been focused out of the window.

He just shrugged, letting him know that he had nothing to say about that, before going back to what he was doing, his hand grazing mine under the table.

Not too long after, Liam came back with everybody's drinks, quickly putting them on the table before sitting down again. "Did I miss something?" He asked, glancing up.

Zayn shrugged. "Just asked him why we're drinking coffee here instead of the beer down the street" he simply replied, without lifting his stare from his phone.

"Well, I think it's quite obvious" Liam said, all of sudden giving Harry an icy look, leaning back against the cushion, his cup of coffee momentarily forgotten on the little table in front of him.

Harry stopped stirring his, instantly looking up when he recognised the saltiness in his friend's voice. "What do you mean?" He asked, a slight hint of confusion in his voice, as if he had already supposed what the other boy was referring to, but was waiting for confirmation.

Liam shrugged, his penetrating glare not leaving Harry as he spoke his next words, as if he was silently challenging him. "At least you know not to mix drugs and alcohol this time."

Harry's confused look quickly turned into a glare, so icy that I wondered how Liam even managed not to look away. "What?" He said, his tone short and clipped.

"I talked to Niall" his friend replied, leaning forward to share his second sentence in a fast whisper over the coffee table. "I know you decided to take on cocaine for some reason."

Harry's green eyes widened as betrayal flashed through them for the shortest second. "I didn't-" he started saying, but was rudely interrupted by Liam.

"Save it, Harry. We both know you don't have a clean record when it comes to those things" he said snappily, drinking his coffee and putting the cup down so harshly that I feared it would've broken.

"It wasn't mine!" Harry hissed back in reply, seeming more interested than his friend in not making a scene. He straightened his back, his jaw clenched, clearly pissed off at the other boy, his reaction being way more quiet than what I would've expected from someone as impetuous as he was.

"Stop lying!" The brown-eyed boy replied, sounding as if he was seconds away from starting to shout. "Zayn, say something" he said quickly, turning to look at the raven-haired boy sitting next to him.

Zayn looked up from the piece of table he had been staring at the whole time, raising an eyebrow as he realised that the other was trying to drag him into the argument by his side. "Let him do whatever he wants, it isn't a big deal" he replied calmly to the boy's disappointment before sitting back against the bench and giving me a quick glance, something that I couldn't recognise in his eyes. He looked away quickly, resorting to staring out of the window as Liam went back to the issue.

"It is though!" He hissed fast, his voice raising a bit. "I just don't understand you, Harry! You have so many people that care about you, but it's like you give no fucks about it at all! You just care about nothing but how you're feeling!"

I cleared my throat, trying to make the boy sitting in front of me realise that we were in the middle of a cafe, but he completely ignored me, and I didn't dare to say anything, considering he was basically a stranger to me, and he did have a point, after all. It was as if Harry didn't care about taking risks as long as he managed to achieve the rush he so desperately searched, and it was starting to worry me. How long would it have been before he accidentally put himself in harm's way again?

I looked down to the part of the cushion that Harry's hand was inadvertently, but harshly, gripping as he took in the words of the other boy. I didn't think I could've gone through risking to lose him again, especially after how close we'd got. I cared about him, and it was scary to know that he didn't care about his own safety as much as I did.

For the shard of a second I felt like taking his hand and intertwining our fingers, but I decided against it as soon as I took in how on the edge he was in that moment. I didn't want him to accidentally lash out and put distance between us because he was stressed by an outer situation, and I knew that, despite how much he liked to be comforted when he was sad, when he was angry he preferred to be left alone.

"Liam-" Harry tried to speak again, a frown on his face showing that the situation was starting to affect him, just to be interrupted again.

"Don't you even dare Harry!" He spat angrily, slamming his hand on the table between us hard enough for the cups that were on it to tremble. "I'm tired of worrying about you all the time while you just don't give a shit! It's draining me." He gave him a glance so disappointed that it urged me to look away.

I sighed, looking around to hopefully find something to distract myself with, my gaze quickly finding its way to the table in front of me when I realised that the two girls sitting at a table a few feet away from us were staring it us, probably made curious by the tone in Liam's voice.

I took my cappuccino and sipped it just to pretend I was doing something, the bitter taste making me scrunch my nose. I side-glanced at Harry, stopping myself right before sighing again. That wasn't exactly how I'd expected to spend my eighteenth birthday. I knew I'd been the one to tell Harry not to make a big deal out of it, but I hadn't quite expected him to start arguing with one of his friends just like that. It made me uncomfortable to listen to their conversation, especially because it made me realise how little of him I truly knew, but I wouldn't have dared to stand up and leave, knowing that it would've hurt him.

"Why are you so selfish?" Liam suddenly said, catching my attention. I glanced up, giving him an alarmed glance, discovering that Zayn was still sitting next to him, apparently not caring about what was going on.

"They weren't mine, Liam!" Harry finally blurted, letting his annoyance show. He turned his head fast to look at me as soon as he did, regret flashing in his green irises as he too realised the same thing I had.

Liam pushed his cup to the side, standing up so fast that he hit his knees against the table. "As I could fucking believe you!" He snapped loudly, making a few people turn towards us.

I looked down, feeling a sudden embarrassment bubble up inside me. I'd never liked to be the centre of everyone's attention, so in that moment, when I was sitting next to Harry and partially hiding him from view, I absolutely despised the stares people sent us. I didn't even dare to think of how humiliating the situation must've been for the boy sitting next to me.

I was that caught up in the embarrassment and humiliation of it all that I only realised one of the people that worked there had come our way when he spoke calmly from where he was standing next to our table.

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave, Sir."

Liam turned his head to look at him as soon as he spoke. "I was leaving anyway!" He hissed at the poor boy, even though he'd done nothing wrong, grabbing his coat and putting it on quickly. "You know what?" He said lowly when he was done, his gaze going back to the boy sitting next to me. "You can go out with her all you want, it won't make you any less of a mess in people's eyes."

I looked up at him, my eyes suddenly widening when he brought me into the argument for apparently no reason. It wasn't like Harry had decided to go out with me to clear his image or something, was it? He'd never seemed to care about what other people thought, anyway.

The brown-eyed boy sighed, shaking his head in disappointment when Harry didn't say anything in reply. "Bye, Harry. Go back to destroying yourself, I'm tired of fighting for your own safety alone" he said, before grabbing his phone from the table and making his way out of the door of the cafe.

I stared, shocked, after him, still trying to take in everything that had happened. Out of all Harry's friends, I would've expected Liam to be the one less likely to lash out like that, but apparently I was wrong.

Zayn looked up from his phone, seeming to realise just in that moment that Liam had left. "I'm sorry, man. You know how Liam gets. I'll see if I can lend him a smoke" he said calmly before standing up and disappearing out of the door as well, leaving Harry and I alone at the table.

I quietly side-glanced at the boy next to me, wondering if it would've been too soon to say anything, a hint of worry in my eyes.

Harry was looking down at the table, his eyebrows furrowed as he let out a slow breath, trying to let out the anger and disappointment he himself was feeling.

The unnamed guy, that had too been left standing there, turned around and walked away with an awkward cough, leaving us to sort the mess out.

"Harry" I murmured, hesitantly putting my hand on his shoulder after some seconds. I squeezed lightly, feeling the warmth of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt, hoping that it would've been of some kind of reassurance for him. But it was only when he spoke that I discovered that was truly eating him away in that moment wasn't the argument with one of his closest friends, but something else.

"Sierra, I'm sorry" he said faintly, glancing up from the table to look at me, regret showing in his eyes. It was clear that he was rethinking his decision of bringing me to hang out with his friends, and of arguing with one.

I let my hand fall from his shoulder, shrugging. "It's fine, it isn't your fault" I replied, even though I knew it was only a half truth. The argument he'd had with his friend, right in front of me when we were supposed to be quietly celebrating my birthday and have fun, had upset me, but I knew perfectly well that, if it had been his decision, he would've let it go before it had even started, so I wasn't necessarily mad at him.

He sighed, looking down again, nervously playing with an empty sugar packet that had been left open next to his untouched coffee. "I'm still sorry. I fucked up, didn't I?" He asked quietly, a hint of repressed anger in his voice.

"You didn't" I replied fast, sliding out of the bench and grabbing my usual brown coat, putting it on quickly, giving him another little glance while I did so. I most definitely wasn't mad at him, but it didn't mean I had enjoyed what had happened, I knew he knew that. "I want to go home" I shared quietly as I wrapped the warm scarf around my neck. I didn't really feel like celebrating anymore, I just hoped he would've understood the reason behind that, and that he wouldn't have just thought I was dropping him - because I wasn't. I just needed some time to think.

He nodded quickly, seeming just as eager as I was to leave, standing up as well and easily putting his black coat on. "Let me pay first" he said, putting his hand in his pocket to get his wallet, but I just shook my head, letting him know that my plans for the day and his didn't quite match anymore.

"I'm going alone" I said, trying to ignore the look Harry gave me. We stood there, silently staring at each other, as we both took in the words that had just left my mouth.

"I can drive you home" Harry stated quietly, seeming torn between asking me to stay and letting me go, but we both knew that sentence wouldn't have changed my mind.

I looked to the side, not being able to stand his gaze anymore. "I just..." I started saying, but stopped right after, as soon as I realised that wouldn't have been the best way to approach the whole thing. "I'd prefer to take the bus" I quickly recovered, sending Harry a fast glance just to feel a sudden tightness in my chest as I took in the hurt that flashed in Harry's gaze.

He looked down, his fingers nervously playing with the black wallet in his hands. "Okay" he said in the end, deciding not to push.

I gave him a little smile. "Thanks" I said quietly, appreciating the fact that he hadn't tried to force me to change idea, as I was pretty sure someone like Aiden would've done.

I was about to turn around and leave, but his fingers wrapped around my wrist suddenly, making me stop in my tracks. "Sierra?" He said, calling my name softly. "I truly am sorry."

"It's fine, Harry" I replied, hoping that he would understand that I truly meant it, and wasn't saying it just not to make him feel bad about it all. I bit my lower lip, hesitating a bit, before standing up on my tiptoes and wrapping my arm around his shoulders in a quick hug. "Bye" I whispered into his ear, in hopes that it would've been enough for him to know that I wasn't mad at him.

He was taken by surprise by my action, but he cautiously wrapped his arm around my waist anyway. "Goodbye" he said quietly in reply.

I gave him a faint nod, letting go before finally turning around and walking out of the cafe, stopping when I was out of the door and turning my head, just to see Harry walking towards the counter, wallet still in hand.

Artwork hit 800k! This is absolutely incredible, it means so much to me! Thank you so much!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter x

Miki

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