Damaged » h. styles au

Chapter 78 - Scarlett

I choked on air for a moment, because.

“It’s not been one year since we met, is it?” I asked then, furrowing my brows at him. He smiled.

“Not yet, but in two weeks it’ll be.”

And then I was frowning even harder, because how the f–ck would he memorize the exact day we met? Was he planning everything from the very first moment? That would be creepy as hell.

“How can you be so sure?” was the first thing that came out of my mouth, and he laughed at it, as if guessing my thoughts.

“Don’t worry I’m no stalker or anything,” he assured with a smile, pressing a light kiss to the tip of my nose. It was so cold his touch felt like fire against my skin. “S’just that the day we met, was at the mall.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, why. Thanks for pointing that out, genius. That I knew.”

He completely ignored my statement. “And that day I was hanging out with the boys to celebrate my birthday,” he shrugged as if it wasn’t anything much. I widened my eyes. We met at his birthday! His birthday was in two weeks! What would I give him? “February 1st,” he mumbled nonchalantly, placing kisses all over my face. “It was the best birthday present I could get, even though I didn’t know that yet. I kind of hated you a bit.”

I snorted at that, giggling into his shoulder right after.

“I hated you more.”

Harry smiled wider, pulling away so he could look at my face.

“Why don’t you say that when I say I love you?” he wondered, voice serious, glance scanning all over my face to guess my reaction. I pursed my lips together because I was about to make a joke, and he would punch me, probably. Then he softened a bit. “I love you,” he whispered, locking our eyes.

Ok. I had to.

“I hated you more?”

And he did punch me, but slightly, on my shoulder. “You idiot,” he murmured between gritted teeth, still laughing, though. “You know what I meant.”

I stood on my tiptoes, wrapped my arms around his neck and pecked his lips, once, twice, before he pulled me in and turned it into a proper kiss. And just maybe, I had forgotten the whole world around us was freezing. Because I was burning, and he was burning, and it was just perfect.

“I know,” I said when we pulled apart.

He wanted to hear something else, I knew it, but he understood it. And I meant it. And we were fine.

It was a chorus of ‘hallelujahs’ and ‘there you go, boy’ once we stepped into his flat. All of his friends – four of them, I counted (including the girl – Leigh – I’d liked) – were sitting on the couch, most of them shoeless, with beers in their hands. The fact that was extremely cold, and it made no sense at all, was just put aside, because soon enough Harry was pulling me towards them by the hand, and I couldn’t think of anything else.

The guy, Mark, already hated me – or something like that – and probably all the others would, too. I couldn’t even imagine what Harry had told them about me, but I was sure it weren’t praises, only. I’d always been aware I wasn’t the nicest girl to deal with, and Harry had gone through tough times with me. He had to have someone to complain to.

“Scarlett, this is Dave – you probably remember him from the office –, and this is Sava-”

“I know you.” I said calmly, arching an eyebrow at the girl Harry was pointing at. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but you’re the girl whose clothes ended up in the back room at the club, aren’t you? I remember giving them to this perv right here,” and then I pointed at Mark, who was grinning evilly at me.