the social experiment // haylor au

three // opening up

Harry's own smile faltered a little bit, but he said, "Working helped a lot; it's got me through a lot."

At that moment, their waiter came back with Harry's orange juice and Gemma's lemonade and they placed their food orders. He went away and they didn't really have the heart to resume their previous conversation, so Harry dutifully started a new one.

"I actually called Mum and Dad yesterday, they were pretty surprised. Really happy to hear from me."

Gemma almost spat out her mouthful of lemonade at his words. The Harry she knew would never call their parents voluntarily when it wasn't one of their birthdays. Harry didn't like to waste time on emotional attachments that weren't her, and so this was a huge surprise to her.

"Wait, is this all Taylor's work?" she asked, eyes wide and smiling.

"Partly," Harry said curtly, hiding the blush that bloomed across his cheeks at the mention of her name. He was bright red, possibly because she had been on his mind so often and it was a bit weird for her name to be said out loud instead of in his own head.

"Well, I'm glad if she's helping you express your feelings, Harry," Gemma said, and squeezed his hand in that way that made him calm down immediately and feel as if he wasn't so alone.

-

When Harry showed up the next day to Taylor's house he'd though about her in passing five more times. He assumed that it was just something friends did when they hadn't seen each other lately and brushed it off.

When he knocked gently, the door opened and Taylor was standing there, right in front of him, real and everything. And something tugged inside his chest and he thought for a second that he might be having a heart attack, and then laughed slightly at the thought. She's smiling as usual, drawn up to her full height and almost as tall as he is, in tight blue jeans and a black crew neck sweater with a ridiculously big cat on the front.

"Hey Harry," she said, but it was slightly muffled because her lips were buried in his coat as she hugged him close. Harry didn't know what to do with his body at first when she latched on, because oh God, this was his psychologist. But she was also his friend who he'd been thinking about for the past week and that he'd maybe missed her company. And with that, his body began to relax and his arms, that had been pinned to his sides slowly wrapped around her torso at a calculated position – not too low around her waist, but not high enough to make it awkward.

He counted three seconds and pulled away from the hug at the same time as Taylor did and she beamed at him. He was about to walk into the study where she saw patients most of the time when he felt a warm hand on his chest, and it must be Taylor's but he didn't process the contact immediately.

"Not, yet. We're going to go play in the snow."

"Uh, I'm sorry what was that?"

"You heard me. Spontaneity is the spice of life, Harry," she said, pulling on a coat over her outfit and slid her sock covered feet into boots.

Harry heaved a sigh, and thought about how Taylor would be the death of him – when he had arrived ready for literally anything on the list she'd given him, she completely turned the tables and added snow to his evening.

Taylor was opening the front door again when Harry surprised both of them, by reaching for her arm and pulling her back towards him.

Their faces were centimetres apart and he cursed himself for pulling her back with too much force. Her breath fanned across his face as she stood stock-still, face close enough to his to see the small scar on his chin and the slight stubble on his upper lip. Taylor shot him a face that was equal parts confused and startled at his sudden movement.