Always

Chapter 3

Note: Wattpad messed up the formatting of this chapter so I had to reload the contents, which means all the comments disappeared. Please comment as you read :)

I spent the rest of the day contemplating Harry and wondering how we could possibly make it through an entire evening of awkward forced conversation. I hoped that once he was no longer in school and we were on our own that he would relax a little bit. When the final bell rang, I gathered my things out of my locker, stopped to say a quick goodbye to Haley, and started toward my car. Digging around in my backpack for my car keys, I didn't even notice when Colt fell into step with me.

"Hey you," he said as we walked, slightly nudging my shoulder with his arm. "How's it going?"

"Fine, Colt. How are you?" I sighed. In the few instances where Colt sought me out specifically, I found it was best to play it casual rather than try to get him to leave. Being short with him never seemed to turn out well.

"Well I would be better if we could hang out after school, you know, like old times?" he said. This could have been an innocent enough statement, maybe meaning he simply missed me. But the suggestive kink to his eyebrow and leering look on his face suggested otherwise. He wanted to hook up, like we used to when we were dating and crazy about each other. We would rush home after school, making sure to beat our parents to have as much alone time together as possible and take advantage of the empty house. He hadn't been my first, but he was definitely the most frequent. You could thank our two year relationship for that, I suppose. If one good thing had come out of this relationship, it was that I definitely knew what I was doing. Although I couldn't deny our sex life had been great and from time to time, I did miss that aspect of our relationship, neither of those were strong enough for me to even consider his offer.

"No, thanks. I have plans anyway."

"Sure you do, doing what?" he replied, not believing me.

"Project for biology. I'm meeting my partner."

"Who would that be? I can promise they will not be as much fun as I am," he said cockily. I almost threw up.

"Does it matter? I have plans. I'll see you later," I said, finally having reached my car. I felt like I had bugs crawling on my skin after talking to him. The way he still looked at me after everything that had happened made me sick. The worst of it was, we probably could have still been good friends if he hadn't chosen to go screw everything with legs after we broke up just to spite me. And if he hadn't told half the school I was a bitch for breaking up with him. And for the way he treated people on a regular basis. Okay we probably wouldn't be good friends, but we could at least have been civil without me feeling like I wanted to vomit whenever I was around him.

My tires crunched as I pulled into my driveway and parked my car. Still creeped out from Colt, I grabbed my bag out of my backseat and slammed the door. I was nearly to my porch when I noticed him sitting on my front step, looking down at his hands with his backpack perched next to him.

"Hey, how'd you get here so fast?" I asked him. He just shrugged at me before standing up and grabbing his bag.

"I just left school like always. You ready?" he asked, clearly eager to start the work.

"Yeah, come inside."

He followed me as I unlocked the door and led him into the kitchen of my house, where I dropped my bag to the floor and headed to the fridge. "You hungry?" I asked.

"N-no, I'm fine," he mumbled, tentatively sitting down at the countertop, clutching his backpack to his chest. I ignored him while I poured two glasses of juice and put two brownies on a plate. I set it in front of him and leaned over the counter across the top. Grabbing a brownie, I nodded at the plate then looked back at him, inviting him to one. He stared at me for a few seconds before reaching out to grab one. I smiled, victorious.

"Knew you wouldn't say no to one," I said smugly. "Good, huh?"

"Mmhmm," he mumbled with a mouth full of brownie. I giggled and grinned at him. He swallowed his food and for the first time since we became partners, he looked me in the eye and smiled. It was a small, shy smile, barely showing any teeth, but it was still a smile, and it completely changed his face. For the first time, I noticed he had deep green eyes, usually hidden by his glasses, but lit up now by his partial smile. Also making an appearance were dimples in each of his cheeks, unknown before his change in facial expression. I was shocked when I realized he was actually really attractive behind his glasses. How had I not noticed that earlier today? He must have noticed me examining his face, however, because a self-conscious expression and a blush quickly replaced his smile, his eyes darting back down to his hands. "So, um, we should get started."

"Do you always wear glasses?" I asked him, ignoring his previous statement.

He blinked once, surprised by my question. "Yes," he replied. "Why?"

"Just curious..." I held myself back from complementing his eyes. He seemed anxious enough as it was. "I don't think I've ever seen you without them," I couldn't stop myself from adding.

"That's probably because I always wear them," he said dryly.

My mouth dropped open, surprised at his response. "Was that sarcasm, Harry?" I teased, a smile spreading across my lips.

He blushed a little bit before smiling shyly. "Maybe."

"Look at you," I said, positively amused now. His eyes darted up to mine again, making contact before grinning nervously. "You know you have no reason to be nervous, right? I don't bite or anything."

"I know that," he replied, looking no less nervous. He licked his lips, which I noticed were very full and dark pink, shaping gently around his words as he spoke them. Another thing I can't believe I hadn't managed to notice until now. "Can we start now please?"

I sighed and gathered up the now empty dishes, dumping them into the sink. "Fine fine, slave driver. Where did you want to start?"

"Well we should probably do some more research. Do you have a computer or anything?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Of course we have a computer. We aren't cave people. Come on, I have one in my room."

"Your room?" he gulped. "Do you have another one?"

"We-" I started to say, but stopped myself. We did, in fact, have three more. But the idea of this adorable flustered boy in my room made me smile. "Nope, not one that works. Looks like we'll have to go in my room."

He just stared at me, expression only not doing a very good job hiding his concern. "Um... o-okay."

"Great!" I smiled before spinning around and grabbing my bag off the floor. I smirked to myself as I led him up the stairs. I got to the top before I realized he was still at the bottom, crouching down to the floor. "What are you doing?"

"Taking my shoes off, I forgot to earlier," he said, as if it should have been obvious.

I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face. He was actually adorable. I watched as he slipped on shoe off then struggled to get the other, losing his balance a bit and taking a few steps to his left. He used his other foot to try and lodge it off, which only caused him to become even more off balance. I put my hand over my mouth and laughed silently, captivated by the clumsy boy at the foot of my stairs. By the time he finally had his shoes off and straightened up, my cheeks hurt from trying to hold in my smile. 

 "What?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Nothing. That was just the cutest thing I've ever seen," I said matter-of-factually.