The Boxer

Chapter 13

A/N: If  you were wondering what Cryssy looked like this is her in the pic :)

     I may have taken the precaution of dressing a little nice for school the next day so that when I saw Harry, I wouldn't look like a hungover-bum-zombie walking around campus all day. Even my best friend Nina said I looked unusually pretty for school today when she picked me up that morning for our first class. It was the only class we had together, a writing course, because I loved to write and Nina was planning on becoming a journalist. She questioned me endlessly on my outfit choice, too. Asking who I was trying to impress, and if it was Harry. 

    She only knew who Harry was by my midnight call after the almost-rape Harry saved me from. She'd been saying for a while now that she wanted to meet him, but every time, it seemed like a nice time to let them meet Harry and I, we ended up fighting. But, it wasn't like we were dating, so she had no right to get upset over not meeting him. Yet, the excuse, 'I have the right to meet the man who saved my best friend twice' was valid enough at this point. Especially after telling her about the kiss, she was dead-set on meeting him. 

    "Why don't you two come over later and hang out at the pool? I can invite Louis and Eleanor, and I'll even invite Josh, so it's not awkward," she grinned. Josh was her boyfriend of two years, and Eleanor was the third musketeer in our little group. 

    "Then it'll be like some giant group date. Yeah, that won't be awkward," I muttered sarcastically as we approached our class. 

    "Well, El and Lou aren't a couple, so maybe it'll even things out, yeah?" I shrugged. 

    "I guess. But what if, at lunch today, it gets all awkward and he dosen't want to come over later?" I whined hopelessly.

    "From what you told me, you'll be dating by the time you come over, anyway."

    "Who said I wanted to date him?" I huffed. 

    "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's your freshly curled hair, or Victoria's secret perfume and freshly painted nails," she laughed. 

    "Shut up," I grumbled.

    "Oh, come on Cryssy. I know you better than anyone, and I KNOW you don't dress up for anyone unless you're going out. Especially not for school! The nicest you ever dress is when you wear that Blink-182 shirt, black skinnys, and your vans."

    "It's comfy," I mumbled. 

    "I know. That's how I know something's up when you get in my car in jeans and a cute belly top with your hair all done up, I mean, Jesus, I was expecting sweats, like, every Tuesday," she giggled. 

    "You just love making fun of me, don't you?" I huffed, resting my cheek in my palm as the professor set up his lesson. 

    "It's my job," she answered cheerily, and I groaned. 

    "Lovely."

    After my noon class, I hurriedly stopped by the restroom to check my cosmetics and hair before leaving the building. I had nearly fallen asleep in class, so I thought it had smudged but, seeing as I was okay, I made my way outside, hugging my books against my chest as I walked down the school's front steps. Harry occupied the same spot as yesterday, but today, a girl stood next to him, chatting away as he wrote on a piece of paper. I frowned, and traveled along the pathways to the pair, hearing the blonde yap away about how her brother loved his boxing. Harry smiled politely and thanked her for her compliments before handing back the piece of paper. I cleared my throat from his other side and he faced me, a shy grin on his face. 

    "Hey." 

    "Hello, and, um hi, Michelle," I greeted warily. Michelle was in my anatomy class, and had a nasty habit of glaring at me for no reason. She sneered at my greeting. 

    "Well, I'll see you later, Harry. Maybe we could get together sometime, yeah? Call me," she smiled, then waltzed away, making sure to brush past my shoulder. I watched her go, an eyebrow raised at her overly-swaying hips. 

    "Someone's trying a bit to hard," I mumbled. Harry heard, and laughed. "She's just trying to make up for having non-existent hips," I said casually, and he had to cover his mouth with his hand to stifle his laugh. 

    "She's a bit of a priss," Harry agreed with a sideways smile, and I couldn't help but smile in return. 

    "She's got an anger issue when it comes to other girls." 

    "So, she's like you?" My jaw dropped. 

    "You're such a dick!" I squeaked, slapping his arm. I hated when  my voice rose an octave like that, but I couldn't help it, and Harry and I both laughed. 

    "Sorry, Mrs.Chipmunk." My cheeks reddened, and I rolled my eyes. 

    "Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, and he laughed.

    "Ready for lunch?" I nodded, and, like yesterday, Harry took my books for me, so I shoved my hands in my back pockets to stop them from fidgeting. "Where do you want to eat?" he asked, and I shrugged. 

    "I picked yesterday."

    "Then, I want Mexican," he said, and I smiled. 

    "Yes sir," Harry rolled his eyes as we approached the truck, and I half-expected him to walk around to his side like normal, but instead, he opened up my car door and gestured me in. I smiled and thanked him, then waited him to enter the car. "So, when did you become such a gentleman?" I mused.

    "Since I got knocked out in a fight and only one person helped me out," he answered coolly, and  I felt my cheeks tint pink and a smile appear on my lips. 
 
    The restaurant was nice, although every restaurant Harry brought me to was. We had a cute waiter, but I could hardly notice with the way Harry's eyes never left me, until I would look over the edge of my menu, and Harry would quickly look down at his. It made me cautious about whether or not there was something on my face, but after pulling out my cell and examining my face, I found nothing. I was just genuinely confused. 

    "Oh my gosh. What Harry?!" I whisper-shouted after about the fifth time. 

    "You just, um, I . . ." I raised my eyebrows, waiting. It was so weird to see him trip over his words like this; normally it was Mr. Macho-I-know-everything, but the nicer he gets, the more I see him smile, laugh, and fumble over his words, and I could see his clumsiness that I never noticed before. He was becoming more open with me, but as soon as we were with other people, it vanished again. " You look different," he finally said, and I chewed my lip a little before answering. 

    "Well I'm wearing make up . . .? Normally I only do that when I go out but, I, uh, figured since we were going to lunch, why not?" He nodded, and the waiter came back to take our orders. Just like I guessed, Harry didn't fumbled once, telling the man what he wanted in a stern voice, with his eyes squinted, kind of like he was concentrating on not stuttering. When the guy left with our menus, we went back to talking. I noticed Harry had begun to wear rings, and I asked him about them. He shrugged. 

    "I just like them." I hummed in response, and reached over the table to grab his left hand that had two rings on his middle and pointer finger. The one on his middle was a small running man, and on his pointer, it was just a zigzag all the way around. Harry didn't seem to mind as I took the one off his middle finger and slid it onto each on of mine until I got to my thumb, where it fit perfectly. 

    "I like this," I smiled, wiggling my fingers to show him. He chuckled at me. "I don't normally wear rings," I mumbled pointlessly while taking his hand again, examining the other ring. 

    "If I gave that one to you, would you wear it?" he asked. My eyes traveled upwards, meeting his green eyes. His elbows were leaned onto the table, so I could get a better hold of his hand, and his back was tilted forward so we were closer. His curly hair pushed upwards in a sort of quiff, and I tilted my head to the side, questioningly. Why would he give me his ring?

    "Well, I guess. Yeah." He rolled his eyes

    "It's a yes or no question, love." 

    "Fine, yes. I'd wear your ring," I laughed, and he smiled. 

    "Then keep it."

    "You sure?"

    "Positive." I smiled slightly, and looked down at my hand, twirling the ring around my thumb dreamily. 

    "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" I asked. 

    "I was, uh, hoping we could go on a walk after this and talk about it?" I bobbed my head and took note of our food coming this way. 

    "Food's here, anyway," I shrugged casually, but on the inside, I was just aching to find out what he had to talk about. 

    After lunch, Harry payed and we exited the restaurant. He left his car and we headed for a walk. There weren't many people out and about at the moment, so we wandered aimlessly, just talking. It was purely a casual friend thing, except for when our hands brushed and my heart skipped a beat. The fourth time it happened, Harry took my hand in his, and I tried not to react besides looking down at our entwined hands. It was quiet for a while. The breeze was nice, and Harry's hand was warm on mine. I liked the way it completely covered my smaller one, and, after I got used to the feeling, I let my thumb rub against his hand slowly. It was a small action, but it let Harry know I was okay with the hand-holding. I could visibly see the stress fall from his broad shoulders. 

    "Do you know how hard it is to find the right words to say when I'm with you? It's so frustrating because I wanna say the right thing, but then I end up just making you mad and that makes us fight. I really want to say the right thing now, but I can't quiet come up with them and I hope you can be patient with me 'cause the last time I was in a real relationship . . . it just didn't work." I stared up at Harry as he spoke. He was looking straight ahead and, with the way the sun hit the side of his face, he looked like a god. 

    "Okay," I responded quietly, and we kept walking until we were in a park. Harry brought us to one of the vacant benches and sat down. He turned on his side and brought his leg up so that he was sitting half-Indian style, and I sat legs crossed in front of him so that I could face him. 

    "I like you, and you know that. I don't normally like people either . . . I don't care about people,  but I care about you," he said, and I continued to just stare into his bright green eyes. He was trying so hard, and it was so adorable, but I had to keep my thoughts to myself until he finished. "I want to protect you and be there for you. I want to kiss you when I want and hold you when I want and it's been a long time since I've ever wanted that, and I'm not sure if you'll like it or want it, but I want you. Even though we fight . . . I just . . .I need you, Cryssy." 

    Harry wasn't amazing with words, but when he tried, he knew exactly what to say, and he said everything right. In fact, he said everything perfectly, and as I pulled his hand from his lap and into mine, I couldn't help but smile. "I like you too, Harry. I like your smile, and your laugh, and how your hand's twice the size of mine when you hold it. I like your dimples and your green eyes. I like how you talk to me when no one is around, and you're really yourself." I looked up into his eyes again and continued. "I like the way you protect me and make me laugh. Harry, I really like you, and if I'm being honest . . .I need you, too." The smile that graced Harry's lips was more than I could ever ask for. 

    "So . . . can I kiss you?" he asked. I laughed and nodded. 

    "Yes, Harry. You can kiss me." And he did. 

    He reached over with one hand and cupped my cheek, pulling me closer to connect our lips. As his lips hit mine, his hand slipped further back towards my hair, where he let the curls slide between his fingers and I hummed against his lips. My own hands slid in to place to the curls at the nape of his neck. It was perfection at it's best. 

~

    "So, did you guys DTR?" 

    "When did this become a TV show?" Nina rolled her eyes, handed me two lemonades, and I laughed. "Yes, yes, we did."

     "Well?!" she squealed as we started to walk back to her pool.

    "Guess who has a boyfriend?" I grinned.

    "Oh my gosh! Yay! He's so cute! You both are perfect ugh. Why can Josh be that way with me," she huffed. I rolled my eyes as we entered her backyard area. Harry was laying out on one of the pool chairs, messing with his phone and blabbing about last night's football game with Josh. It was a miracle I even got him to come, and an even bigger surprise to see him acting civil with Josh. Nina and I brought over the lemonades, ignoring the squeals coming from El in the pool. El and Louis seemed to hit it off, and now they were having a little flirt fest in the pool. 

    I handed Harry a cup and let him peck my cheek before sitting on the foot of his chair. Since he was sitting up straight, he had his legs on either side, and I took the opportunity to slip between his legs and lay again his chest. Since we were a couple now, I decided to take full advantage of all the girlfriend perks. Plus, Harry was still bruised from his last match all along his torso, and I didn't like Josh questioning Harry about work, especially when Harry had just gotten a concussion from his last fight. 

    "What do you say to a little wrestling, Haz?" Josh offered when I tuned back into their conversation. 

    "How about no," I answered for him. Harry scoffed. 

    "What are you, my mom?" I swiveled around so that I was facing him, and got on my knees so I was his height, even though he was sitting.

    "No, but I am your girlfriend," I smirked before pecking his lips. 

    "Ah, don't be just a kill-joy, Cryssy." I set down my lemonade and flicked Josh off, all while continuing my kiss with Harry, placing both my hands on his cheeks to keep the kiss going. I could feel Harry's hands on my bare skin near the string of my bikini bottoms as we kissed, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. 

    "Jesus, give him a blowjob, why don't you," Louis hollered from the pool. I pulled away from Harry to glare at Louis. 

    "Shut up!" I turned back to Harry and pouted, earning myself a laugh. 

    "It'll be fine, babe," Harry promised, pecking my cheek before standing. Obviously, Harry didn't know his temper like I thought, and I was well aware this wouldn't end well.