Artwork [h.s]

five

The doorbell rang, and I rushed down the stairs to get the door. I froze when I opened it, finding Harry on my doorstep. I glanced inside at the kitchen clock, just to discover that he was perfectly on time. Not one minute sooner, not one later.

"I didn't think you'd come" I whispered, noticing only too late that I had said it out loud.

He didn't say a word, of course, simply glancing at me until I moved to the side to allow him to come in. He stepped into the room gracefully, giving a fast glance around before focusing on me again.

"It won't take long, I promise" I said, "Come upstairs? There's a studio."

I walked up the stairs with him following suit, opening the first door on the left and revealing a bright white room. He took a step forward as I opened one of the windows, checking if the light was coming in in the right way.

"You can take off your jacket and put it there" I told him pointing at the chair in front of a desk on one side of the room.

He did, revealing the plain black button up underneath with the first few buttons undone, the thin silvery chain of a necklace against his chest, and draped his jacket over the back of the chair.

"Great" I whispered to myself, staring at him.

He looked down for a couple of seconds, leaning against the wood of the desk, his tongue coming out to wet his lower lip. He looked up again, his green gaze scanning every single corner of the room we were in, seeming completely uninterested at the same time. In just a couple seconds, his presence had surrounded the room, along with his faint perfume.

"Uh, I need to get something... in my room" I said, eager to leave for some minutes. "I won't take long."

I exited fast and entered my bedroom, that was right next to the studio. I sat on my bed, glancing at my reflection in the mirror at the other side of the room. Come on Sierra, I told myself, you can do it.

I sighed and stood up, looking around to find something I could've brought in the other room not to look like a total fool. I spotted one of my notebooks on my nightstand and I took it. I had long finished that one, but Harry didn't know, so it would serve its purpose. I walked out of my bedroom and I went back to the studio.

I gave him a glance as I came into the room. He was sitting on the little stool I had put in the middle of the room for the occasion beforehand, an impassible look on his face as he waited for me to say something.

"Uh, the teacher wants a better photo and I don't really have any ideas so... surprise me I guess" I said before turning around and kneeling in front of the light wooden dresser in the corner of the room to take out a camera to make sure I would get a better quality picture that time as well. I heard a shifting sound, and glanced over my shoulder, widening my eyes when I saw what had happened.

He had taken off his shirt, that was pooled messily on the floor a few feet away from the stool he was sitting on. He sat in only his dark jeans, one of his feet propped up against the wooden leg of the stool, his legs open. He was leaning on one of his hands, that was gripping the stool between his legs, the other hand on his bicep. From where I was standing a few feet away from him I could see the dark designs swirling on the skin of his left arm, and the shadows of more on his chest.

"Uh" I only managed to say, and he looked up, his dark hair falling messily over his eyes. The camera in my hands, I took some hesitant steps in his direction, stopping when I was right in front of him. "Can I touch you?" I faintly asked him, almost biting my tongue right after at how weird it sounded. I really didn't seem to be able to think whenever he was around.

He said nothing, but the defensive look that always was in his eyes dropped, making me hope it would've been okay for me to do that.

I slowly put my index under his chin, feeling my senses almost melt at the contact with his warm skin, and lifted his head up a little bit, involuntarily making our gazes meet. He didn't divert his from mine, his green eyes staring me down as if he was towering me, and not sitting below me.

I dropped mine and scurried away, reaching almost the other side of the room, next to one of the windows, to snap a picture of him in the right light.

I leant against the wall to stabilise myself, hoping to get it done as fast as possible. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy his company- if so it could even be called, but he intimidated me, more than I would've liked to admit. All of sudden, just as I was lifting the camera, a sound came from outside, making him turn his head in the direction of the window next to him with a curious glance. The look on his face was genuine and for a couple of seconds his defences dropped, allowing me to see him more relaxed than I ever had.

Without thinking twice, I snapped the picture, right before he turned his head in my direction again at the sound of the camera.

Deciding to look at them all later to see if they were any good, I took another, his eyes piercing mine through the lens.

I slowly walked closer to him, starting to circle him to see if I could get any other good angle. He gave me a sharp glance, following me with his gaze until he no longer could. The sound gone, the silence in the room had started to become overwhelming, weighing over me as a suffocating cloud.

"So" I said after a few seconds when I was standing in front of him again, desperately wanting to make conversation, "Are you gay?" As soon as those words left my mouth, my eyes widened in surprise. Of all the things I was thinking of saying in that moment, I really had gone ahead and said that. To be honest, I wasn't even thinking about that one, and I had no clue where it had come out of.

He sat up straighter, looking coldly at me. "I don't see how my sexuality is any of your business" he said roughly, his voice deep and with a raspy edge being directed to me for the first time.

"I'm so sorry, uh, I just heard you and Niall talking once, so, uh, yeah" I stammered, perfectly knowing that my reply was just as inappropriate as my question.

"I think I've overstayed my welcome. I'm going" he said coldly before standing up and taking his shirt, putting it on in one fast move.

"You don't have to go" I replied, my voice small as I was intimidated by his almost perfectly tamed anger.

He passed his fingers through his hair in a frustrated move, making me watch him in even more amazement than before. It was as if every single thing he did was perfect, even frustratingly so. It was concerning how he could fascinate me when he wasn't even trying to.

"I want to. I'll show myself out" he spat just as he left the room.

After a few seconds, I heard the front door to my house slam shut.

I rushed to the window and moved the white thin curtain to the side, looking at him through the glass as he crossed the road in fast steps, not even checking if there were cars passing. A few seconds after he reached a corner and rounded it, disappearing.