Illicit [Harry Styles]

Chapter 25

"Guess I'm staying a bit longer, then. I've been here all day, I suppose I may as well move in soon?"

I turned my nose up at him and left the room as quickly as I could, leaving him in my room and waiting to hear his footsteps following behind me on my way downstairs.

During dinner - a rather high class meal of chicken nuggets, canned spaghetti and potato waffles - my life was not made any easier when Harry sat down opposite me. I wanted to ignore him as much as possible but he made it clear he wanted me to suffer - he would keep nudging my leg with his foot underneath the table and slyly grinning to himself when he saw how agitated it made me.

As usual, Niall was nosy and asked me for every detail about our trip today, so unfortunately I was centre of attention at the dinner table for the most part, avoiding meeting the pale green eyes that were peering at me from across the dinner table. I felt like if I looked at Harry I would combust.

Upon finishing, we all took our plates out to the kitchen and I was on dish duty, meaning I had the delights of scraping off the leftovers into the bin and loading the various plates and cutlery into the dishwasher. I could hear my mum and Niall chatting about something or other in the living room when I felt a body behind me and a hand pinch at my waist, making me jump and spin round to be met by those same eyes that'd been tormenting me all evening.

"Stop it! Get out, now," I whispered frantically, making Harry laugh quietly and grip my sides with his palms. Luckily I managed to shoo him away from me just as Niall entered the kitchen.

"Me an' Harry were gonna go out and get a coffee at McDonald's or somethin'. You wanna come, Jess?"

"A coffee at McDonald's?" I repeated, both confused and amused by the idea.

"Yeah, somethin' to do, isn't it? Not like there's any coffee shops open this late."

"I suppose," I shrugged.

Once I'd finished loading the dishwasher, I nipped upstairs to grab a jacket and a pair of shoes before meeting my brother at the front door.

"We'll take my car and Harry'll take his, that way there won't be any need for either of us to drop the other home later," Niall told me, shoving his feet into his own shoes and picking up his keys on the way outside. We climbed into his car and set off, music on full blast as always.

"You've been seeing a lot of Harry recently..." I pointed out casually, hoping to try and understand the peculiar friendship that seemed to have risen out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I guess I have. He's a cool guy."

"Really? You don't find him at all... obnoxious?" Luckily my brother was too naive to actually think too much into what I was saying. Even with Harry, he probably doesn't see him for exactly what he is because he's not as complex of a person as to pick up on people's underlying flaws. You could probably tell him to jog on and he'd still think you were a 'cool guy'.

"Nah! He's just... opinionated. He likes things a certain way and he sees things for what they are, it's the way he's been brought up probably." Quite a complex thing to say, for an uncomplex person, but no way was it Harry's upbringing that made him the way he is. I'd been to his house and met his mother; there was no way she'd taught him to be like that.

"I doubt it," I muttered, thinking Niall wouldn't hear it, but to my surprise he turned to me briefly with one eyebrow raised.

"What d'you mean?"

"His parents - they wouldn't have raised him like that."

"And you would know this... how?" he challenged, eyebrow still quirked in humour.