Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Six.

A solid week passed by with the two of them spending time by the lake as they wrote after school, excluding Saturday and Sunday of course. It became a routine, they met up at the corner and would head off together. Harry didn't even have to ask anymore. On Tuesday, he ran a little late and Aubry even waited for him. It was like a silent agreement. No talking, just writing. Though Harry still didn't do much writing. He did, however, accumulate a list of notes.

She twirls her hair around her finger when he thinks.

The way she chews on her bottom lip absentmindedly is endearing.

She always uses blue pen here.

She hardly ever looks at me.

Her eyes look blue when she wears blue.

She still doesn't hate me.

She's still beautiful.

Most of the time he spent peeking over at her and scribbling around on the pages to make himself look busy. He didn't think she knew, but she wasn't stupid and had caught a glimpse or two of the hearts and smiley faces doodled in the margins of his otherwise empty pages.

She knew he didn't come to write, he came because she did. She thought that was kind of cute, knowing he really only wanted to be near her even if it meant sitting in the grass and pretending he wasn't staring at her the whole time. She wasn't as clueless as he thought she was, she could sense his eyes on her and she wasn't blind to not see how quickly he'd turn away if she were to look over at him. It didn't bother her, really. He never tried to pester her, he just watched silently and mostly minded his own business. If he was content just sitting and admiring her, then she was willing to pretend she didn't notice.

Harry was laid out on his stomach in the grass, elbows dug into the ground with his journal opened up in front of him. He kept himself busy by drawing a little rocket ship in the corner of the page, which he realized came out more like a penis and he crossed it out. He doodled planets and stars instead.

That was the way his afternoons went, he drew random things and peeked over at the girl next to him. Aside from Tuesday, anyway. He had been exhausted because he'd stayed up too late the night before studying for a test, he'd skipped lunch to head to the library to study some more, his bus had broken down on the way home from school which was why he was late to meet Aubry, and he wound up falling asleep with his face buried into his journal. He was woken up about an hour later by Aubry lightly shaking his shoulder and telling him it was time to go home. She chuckled when he lifted his head and had creases on his face from the book he'd used as a pillow. He had been completely unaware that he'd fallen asleep and he apologized, to which she replied, "Hey, sometimes you just need a nap." Which was true, because as soon as he got home he climbed into bed and went back to sleep.

His doodling was interrupted by some sloshing sounds he heard coming from the water that caught his attention. When he looked up, his gaze was met with the sight of a family of ducks that consisted of a mommy duck and six little ducklings following behind. He smiled and glanced over to Aubry to see if she'd noticed too, but she hadn't. She still had her eyes cast down to the book in her lap, scribbling away inside it.

He considered it an appropriate reason to break the ongoing silence that they sat in everyday. "Aubry."

She looked up at him questioningly and he simply pointed over to the ducks and her line of vision followed. She smiled when she saw them, "How cute."

He watched the way her eyes lit up as she watched them swim, never once looking away to return to writing. She seemed more interested in the birds, which he found interesting because nothing else had ever managed to hold her attention like that.