Damaged » h. styles au

Chapter 78 - Scarlett

                                                                     78.  

                                                             ●•Scarlett•●

I’d never seen Harry smiling so much, honestly. He had this sincere grin from ear to ear, his hands gripping mine as if I was going to disappear if he let me go; as if this was some sort of dream and he was holding on to it with all he had before he woke up and went back to reality.

This was reality, though. I was next to him and it was something near 1a.m., and we were walking back to his flat as if the whole world was not falling into frozen flakes around us. The streets were covered in white in a way our feet sank into it, the cold wind hitting our faces, but somehow, that was not what I was paying attention to.

I was paying attention to the way his arm was placed securely around my waist, how he seemed to fit perfectly on my side, how our curves seemed to be made as puzzle pieces: different, but complementary. Wherever we were touching, I couldn’t feel the winter. It was summer, warm and comfy, kind of overwhelming sometimes, but still, the sweetest touch.

I was paying attention to the way how our legs moved in synchrony – even though his were maybe a bit longer (just a tad bit) than mine –, and to the way he pulled me closer each time I unconsciously stepped a bit farther away from him.

During all the time, he was smiling. After a while, it turned into a sweet, discrete smile, but it was still there. For so long I thought the cold had actually plastered it to his face and into his features. He looked beautiful, though, the small dimple more prominent on his left cheek, his green eyes sparkling with content.

And I couldn’t help but think that’s how he should look every single day of his life.

“You’re staring like a freak,” he said after a while, and I hadn’t noticed I had been smiling as well, pushing that bad feeling in my guts deep inside me, burying it where I wouldn’t bother with it anymore. I had left Tyler and it would be hard for him to deal with it, yes, but he could do it. I’d done the right thing.

He had more friends now than what he had eight years ago, and he had boxing now, too, so he would be just fine, with time.

“You look beautiful,” I said as a response, poking his dimple as he made his best to accentuate it even more. For a brief moment, he closed his eyes and sighed, stopped walking and wrapped his other arm around me as well. Before I could do anything, he was pulling me closer until our bodies melted into one, and he kissed my forehead. “What the hell are you doing, Styles? It’s freezing, keep walking.”

“Shut it and let me enjoy this,” he admonished, keeping his eyes closed as he bent down (I really felt sorry for his back) and rested our foreheads together. They were both cold, but his hands were warm, and so who really cares.

“We can have you holding me like a maniac in your flat, okay? You can enjoy whatever you’re enjoying once we’re not being covered by snow, if you don’t mind,” I said softly, patting his cheek and trying to pull him away, but he tightened the grip he had on me, and started walking backwards until he hit some wall. “Styles!”

“Scarlett, please shut up, will you?” were his following words, stopping me from protesting once his lips found mine, gentle pecks only, but it was a burning feeling nonetheless. “My flat is fuelled with idiots that are probably making dirty assumptions out of our little walk, and when we get there there’s no way they’re leaving without knowing why I was out of my own flat with a girl I’ve been talking about nearly for the past whole year.”