My Secret Summer

Chapter 3

I must have been staring at him for a really long time because he started to look really uncomfortable. 

"No! No, I mean, of course you can. Um," I stammered. 

Dear God Gabriella pull it together, I thought. I had spent such a long time watching the Styles', never considering the fact that I might, at some point, run into one of them. Silly, I know. But I went to a private school, while they went to the public school in town, and of course my mother never let me anywhere near them before. So I'd never actually seen them up close before. Now, Harry Styles sat right next to me, inches from my face. I couldn't breathe. 

"Are you okay?" He asked. "You look a little upset or something." 

The truth was, I wasn't upset, I just didn't know what to do. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said with a smile. Harry laid down on his back with his head resting on his hands, looking up at the stars. He seemed rather relaxed, as if he had known me for years. I, however, was tense and very aware of how close he was to me. It had been about 5 minutes, the two of us just sitting up there. I was beginning to think about how awkward all of this was, when I realized, I  really just needed to calm down. 

I hadn't realized how tight all of my muscles were clenched until I laid down next to him, finally relaxing. 

"I've seen you up here a lot," he said turning his head sideways to look at me. "I always wondered why you didn't just come over."

" I. . . I don't know," I finally answered. And that was the truth, I don't know why I never just walked over. My mother was part of it, I'm sure. But she wasn't around most days, as she had to work. Especially during the summer. Why hadn't I just gone over? 

"Well, your welcome to come over any time, okay?" He looked at me, with a concerned look on his face. Like he was worried about me.

I had always wished I was one of the Styles'. Their lives were so carefree and exciting. Watching them almost felt like I was apart of their family: jumping in the pool with Jase and Dan or watching over Sarah, just 9 months old. For a moment I considered taking Harry up on his offer, and maybe going over there tomorrow while my mom was working. But I knew I'd never have the guts to do it. 

I nodded my head anyways and looked up at the sky. For what seemed like just minutes, Harry and I laid together. Pointing out the big dipper and admiring how pretty the full moon was. It was a seeming-less perfect night, until I heard a knock on my bedroom door. 

"Gabriella! Are you in there? I thought I heard voices!" my mother yelled through the door.

I was in full-on panic mode. 

I sat upright and started pulling on Harry's arm. 

"You have to go! My mother's at the door, she'll kill me if she finds you here!" I whispered, tugging on the sleeve of his sweatshirt, pulling him down the ladder. He was almost at the bottom when he stopped.

"Wait! Promise me you'll come over tomorrow!" He whispered back. 

"Gabriella? Are you asleep?" My mother asked through the door.

"Just a minute mom!" I yelled. I turned back to Harry. "Yeah, sure," I hurried. There was no time to be making plans! What was he thinking anyways? He began back down the ladder and jumped to the grass. I was jumping back into my room when I heard Harry whisper as loud as he possibly could without my mother hearing,"goodnight Bella." 

I said goodnight quickly and ran to my door. My mom stood impatiently waiting. 

"I'm so sorry mom, I was ju-" I started to explain.

"Where you on the phone with Ruby?" She asked. Ruby had been my best friend since the fourth grade, and she was the perfect escape.  

"Um, yeah. We were just. . . " I trailed off. I looked at my mother with apologizing eyes, but she seemed less angry than she sounded a minute ago. 

"It's already 11 o'clock, and you have to work tomorrow. Get to sleep okay?" She closed the door and I fell on my bed, relief washing over me like taking a shower after going camping for a week. I climbed in bed but I couldn't stop thinking about Harry.

It almost didn't seem real. . . after all these years, he picked tonight to climb up here with me? I didn't fully understand it, but the one thing that got me the most, was that he already had a nickname for me: Bella. Nobody had ever called me anything but Gabriella, and certainly not Bella. We had never fully introduced ourselves either. Maybe, just maybe, Harry Styles had been as curious about me as I had been about him. 

I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot, and it felt like hours before I finally fell asleep.