Early Morning Glory | Harry Styles AU

/03/ who wins

*edited 2020

 I woke up to the sound of my alarm which was set to two o'clock; I had just enough time to get ready and eat dinner (or breakfast—my body clock has been destroyed) and maybe get some work done before heading to the shop.

I found out pretty quickly that the night shift didn't really leave much room for a social life. I went to work around 7pm, got off at round 4:30am, a full eight hours brings me to 2pm—that's five hours left to socialize. This new schedule was really messing with my norm and I wasn't handling it very well. I felt like I hadn't had much human contact since it began because my friends seemed to be getting off work when I was just starting and I was starting to feel slightly disconnected from everything around me. I was pretty irritable most of the time and my work was starting to suffer due to my bad attitude. I really couldn't believe Ryan willingly worked this shift.

Neither Harry or Niall had been in since a few nights ago and I still hadn't called him. The idea of calling some guy I barely knew to come and keep me company in the middle of night just felt—weird. So I've spent the past few nights in almost silence, the fingers on keyboards and rustling of books the only sounds around me. I always brought headphones with me but never used them because I was irrationally worried about being the victim of a sneak attack.

I spent way too much time in the shower sulking under the burning water and once I got out, realized if I didn't rush I was going to be embarrassingly late. I threw on a white t-shirt and my trusty black-straight leg jeans (just because I was working at night didn't mean I couldn't look cute doing it) and my blue fabric mules, making sure to grab a pair of socks to shove on later when these got uncomfortable.

"I'm here!" I called while barreling through the door.

"I see that." Lily laughed. "Why do you look like you just ran a marathon?"

"Considering the distance between here and my apartment, it might as well be." I pulled my water from my bag and took a sip.

"Honey, the day I see you run a marathon will be the day pigs fly."

I pouted, "I could run a marathon."

She patted a hand on my back and completely ignored my defense, "We got a bunch of new books today, maybe you could read them?" I nodded my head 'yes'. Brand new books were a rare occurrence in the shop and I definitely wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

"Alright, well, I'll be on my way. Don't have too much fun without me."

"I could never!" I called to her as she walked out the door. I dropped my bag on the counter and made my way to the back of the shop and entered the small office.

I had only been in there a few times before and I swear every time I went in the space grew smaller and smaller. I searched around the messy room for what seemed like forever before I saw the cardboard box underneath a pile of papers. Once I ripped it open and saw what was inside I wasn't disappointed. I shuffled through the books, seeing names like King, Scottoline, and Anderson. These were definitely more contemporary works but I wasn't complaining. It might actually be nice to read something from this century for once.

I grabbed the first three novels on the top and went back to my desk.

***

I had just finished my fourth book of the night, and it turned out to be a real tear-jerker. I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand and yawned so big my bottom lip split. My eyes were sluggish and by the end of that book I felt like I was seeing double; they were tired and so was I. I remembered to pick up more coffee before my shift yesterday and was in need of a very large mug of it. I knew the machine needed a new filter so I made a quick detour to the office to grab new ones. When I finally located them underneath the small desk, I reached into my back pocket for my apartment key so I could tear open the package but my fingers met with something soft instead of the cool metal I thought was back there.