Prince in the City [Harry Styles AU]

Chapter 20

I had spent the weekend thinking about Harry and wondering if it was a good idea to be with him, but eventually I decided that who cares if it was a good or bad idea? If it was something that I thought would bring me happiness, then I should go for it and screw any negative connotation that my mind could come up with. Sure, I didn't know Harry for too long, but what I did know was enough for me to like him a lot, and I don't think my feelings for him were going anywhere.

Fear of things getting complicated made me hesitant at giving things a chance, but ultimately I realized that was just me psyching myself out and giving me unjust reasons to not move forward with my feelings for Harry. For so long I had complained to my mother and friends that all of the guys I had been involved with were totally wrong and not what I was looking for, and here enters a boy who was too good to be true and an actual prince. It all seemed unreal.

Until I got it through my head that this was real and it was my reality, and that the Prince of England wanted to go on a date with me. Only, over the course of knowing Harry, I had quickly stopped seeing Harry as a prince and seeing him as just the man who lived in an apartment on the floor below me and had become a fast friend. When I realized he was just a guy who happened to have a big title, I realized that I had nothing to be afraid of. That's when I decided to give Harry—and myself—a chance and to say yes.

"Okay," Harry grinned, suddenly looking excited as he sat up, hands still lightly holding mine as he quirked a brow, "Tomorrow night sound good?"

I nodded, my own smile widening. Really, any night of the week worked fine for me because our office building was closed off due to termite infestation, so we weren't to go for a week or so. Instead of finding another place to work from, Teresa told us to take home any and all scripts we had, especially ones with deadlines coming up, and work from home. We were to drop off finished scripts at her home because she had a home office she liked to work out of, and although the situation was bizarre, it was better than relocating everyone with new office spaces.

"Alright, no more," I sighed in annoyance, closing the script I was working on and putting it on the coffee table where Harry had previously been sitting, shaking my head. "If I read anymore I think my brain will melt."

Harry chuckled in amusement, coming to sit down next to me as the couch dipped under his weight and my body involuntarily shifted towards his. I was pressed to his side as Harry's hands grabbed my legs under my knees, skin meeting skin, before moving them to rest on his lap, a smile appearing on my lips as his green eyes met my dark ones and asked, "How 'bout a movie?"

Giggling lightly, I tried not to think about the heat spreading across my cheeks at our proximity, picking up the remote and switching the television to Netflix as Harry's fingers lightly drummed on my bare legs. Guess I picked the right day to wear shorts.

We surfed through the many Netflix options for a little bit until deciding to watch The Babadook. Since I was sitting sideways on the couch with my legs on Harry's laps and our bodies pretty close, I leaned my left side on the back of the couch and rested my cheek against Harry's right shoulder, surprisingly finding the position comfortable as the scent of pine whatever shampoo Harry used filled my senses pleasantly. I couldn't pinpoint what exactly Harry smelled like, but all I knew is that it was quite an attractive smell.

The movie was watched in silence, both of us occasionally making comments about the characters. When the actual Babadook made an appearance, Harry's face scrunched up as he pressed himself back on the couch, muttering in a thick accent, "That's fuckin' creepy."