Ignition [h.s]

14 !

"You're never usually a gentleman, but you tried." Niall smacks my shoulder mockingly and I grumble, climbing into the empty taxi. Harry appears suddenly by the driver's window, resting his tattooed arms on the ledge and peering down at the man. His arms are toned, but not muscled. He clearly works out well, but he doesn't overdo it either. Harry's a health nut, minus the mild smoking problem, and proportions are important to him.

He tells the driver the address and then walks back off to his car.

"Do you guys know what business Harry has to do in Texas?" I ask casually once Harry's car speeds past the taxi, leaving the rest of us behind.

"No idea, but whatever it is it's probably not good." Niall sighs, clicking in his seatbelt.

The drive there takes around twenty minutes but we eventually roll up to a dainty holiday home with glass front windows and sloping wooden roofs. It's on a pretty empty street, surrounded mostly by trees and fields but there are a few other houses dotted around in the distance. It looks remote, lonely, even but the rising sun casts an orange hue over everything making it feel infinitely warmer. Exactly what a holiday home should be really—private.

Niall pays the driver and he slowly rolls back down the driveway as we huddle in a group, glancing up at the house in admiration. Harry gives Elise a hand climbing out of his car which is parked in the driveway, she has a small limp from her injury.

We reconvene as a group and Elise edges forward silently. Her breath seems to catch as her eyes survey the building in front of us, I think she said she hasn't been here before so it's just as foreign to her as it is to the rest of us.

Her eyes seem glossy with tears for a moment, but she blinks them away quickly and she walks up the driveway, moving a plant pot filled with wilted flowers over to the side. Below it is a small, golden key which she picks up and slots into the front door. "My mom always told me it was there." She says softly, smiling over her shoulder at Harry. He smiles back in reassurance, stepping up the porch and following behind her like he knows something that the rest of us don't.

✧

The house is truly beautiful inside—the colour palette comprising of mostly creams and greys. The ceilings are high with exposed wooden beams, the window-spanning walls allow in lots of the golden morning light and the furniture is vintage but classy. It looks like it's been peeled right from the pages of a magazine, with tastefully filled bookcases and a white grand piano in the corner. Some parts of the wall are exposed brick giving it a modern look, whilst others are cream to match the futon couches and coffee tables. The carpets are interesting Aztec patterns and—

"Holy shit, it's dirty as fuck in here." Zayn shoves his way past me, deeper into what must be the living area. He waves his hand through the dust filled air—whilst the home is beautiful, he's right. It clearly hasn't been taken care of or cleaned for a long time; layers of dust so thick across surfaces that one could mistake it for a spine of books.

Elise's top teeth plunge into her bottom lip as she looks around, trailing one lonely finger along the edge of the couch and then over to the walls harbouring artwork. "My mom died a while ago," she explains to us quietly. So quietly it could have been mistaken for a gust of wind. "I'm guessing nobody's been around since she, um..." Her voice gradually trails off to silence and she's clearly unable to say anything more. It's kind of a surprise she just gave up such sensitive information to us like that.

Harry walks behind her, placing a hand on her neck. He massages the skin there, bending down to press a soft kiss to her temple?! My eyes bulge out of my head but I don't know if anybody else saw that. Am I hallucinating? Harry Styles being affectionate? With Elise?