Forever and Always (A Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

CHAPTER 16: Then

The good news was that my parents allowed me to see Harry one more time. The bad news was that it was to say goodbye before I left for Stanford the next day. I knew this wouldn’t be the last time we’d be seeing each other, but I wondered how long it would be until the next time we were together again. The doorbell rang, a light two-note tone that told me Harry had arrived.

“I’ll get it!” I shouted quickly, jumping up from the sofa and reaching the door before my parents could even react.

I threw the door open, grinning at Harry in front of me. He was dressed neatly in a red polo with light colored khakis, his curly hair seeming rather tame instead of its usual unruly mess. I knew he was trying to impress my parents because this was the exact outfit he wore when I first invited him to meet my family last year.

“Hey, handsome,” I said, laughing as Harry realized I had caught on.

“It worked the first time,” he whispered to me with a wink as my parents walked up behind me. He was right—they’d loved him, but it was mainly because of his charming personality, although his remarkable sense of style definitely helped. The more I thought about it, the more I believed that my parents really did like Harry.

My dad cleared his throat behind me. “Hello, Harry,” he said curtly, albeit in a polite tone. My mom smiled and gave a courteous nod in Harry’s direction.

Harry responded without missing a beat, addressing my parents by their titles with a sincere smile on his face.

“Mom, Dad, can I talk with Harry outside?” I asked them. “Alone,” I added pointedly as my dad began to step forward.

My dad let go of the door handle reluctantly. “Don’t take too long,” he said stiffly.           “Thanks,” I replied cheerily, and noticed a small smile appear on my dad’s face as I closed the door behind me.

“They don’t hate you, if that’s what you’re wondering,” I said to Harry as we walked out to the sidewalk. “No one can resist your adorable face,” I joked, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek as we stopped at the end of the driveway.

I had told myself earlier that I would try to be happy as we said our goodbyes, but I found it wasn’t so hard as I looked up at Harry, his face radiant under the rays of the sun in the bright blue sky.

“What’s making you so happy?” Harry asked, grinning down at me.

“You, of course,” I said, punching him playfully on the shoulder. “I thought that since I’m leaving early for Stanford tomorrow, we might as well be happy today, right?”

“Right.” Harry tilted his head slightly to the side and smiled, studying me carefully.

“What?” I said, brushing my hair out of my eyes and looking at him quizzically.

“I’m going to miss seeing that beautiful smile of yours,” Harry said, lacing his fingers in between mine.

“You won’t have to go without it too long, Harry. I promise.”

“I know,” Harry said, smiling. “Hey, I have something to give you.” He let go of my hands and reached inside his pants pockets, trying to find something. “Where’d I put it?” He patted his pockets, but whatever he was looking for wasn’t there. “Ah, I remember now,” he said mysteriously.

I stood motionless as Harry carefully reached his hand behind my ear and brought his closed palm back in front of my face. Slowly, he opened his fingers, revealing a ring in the shape of a curved infinity symbol.

“This,” he said, “is to remember me by.” He slipped the promise ring onto my left hand, fitting it perfectly around my middle finger. I watched as the light beams sparkled off of the silver jewelry.