Buses & Bunk Beds (Zarry)

Chapter 13

Dunn dun...duuuuunnnnn duunnn...dunn dunn dunn dunn...

The theme song to Jaws was the first thing I heard the next morning. I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head. I could still hear the ringtone sounding relentlessly from my phone downstairs, but there was no way in hell I felt like talking to anyone from management right now. Not when I could stay curled up with Harry in bed instead.

I moved my pillow back to its original position and looked over at him. He was still asleep and had his body wrapped around my own. His cheeks were flushed and his perfect mouth was slightly open. I could feel his breath against my shoulder, and I relaxed back into the sheets as I relished the feeling of his weight on top of me.

I gently stroked his cheek, feeling a little guilty about how rough I had been with him the night before. He had pissed me off so bad, yet my anger had been nothing compared to the hurt I'd felt. The jealousy too had been overwhelming, and I didn't know how to handle the depth of my feelings towards him. I wasn't sure if it was because I'd already cared for him before all this started or if it was because Harry was simply irresistible, but I was falling fast and hard.

As I stared at him I realized that we hadn't told each other that we loved each other since before our first kiss. Since before the kiss that had turned my world upside down. I felt a twinge of unease, knowing that this lack of verbal affection was unusual for us. All us boys were close, and we'd never hesitated to tell each other that we loved each other before. We all knew how much the fans ate it up when we were sweet with each other, but the truth was that we were generally the same way with each other in private. We weren't doing it to fuel all those bromance rumors. We really did love each other. Well, most of the time anyway.

I wondered if Harry hadn't told me that he loved me lately for the same reason that I hadn't said the words to him: it just meant something totally different now. I was pretty sure that Harry liked me, but I didn't know if he loved me; if he was actually falling in love with me. For as well as I knew him, he was so very different from me that I rarely knew what was going on in his head. Harry was everyone's cup of tea, while I was more like someone's shot of whisky. Plus, he was a people pleaser through and through, so as much as my heart trilled hearing his speech last night, the insecure part of me wasn't sure if he hadn't just said it because he knew that it was what I wanted to hear.

One of the things that I loved most about Harry was also one of the traits that annoyed me the most. One of the things that I knew would make us being an "us" even more difficult going forward. He wanted to be all things to everyone he met, and he hated to disappoint anyone. I was fairly certain that he'd never turned down a fan asking for an autograph or a picture, and while that was admirable, I felt that he often did it at the expense of his own well being and sanity. He was just so good, deep down to his core, though sometimes I suspected that he might be happier if he could just be a little more selfish. A little more like me.

My phone started going off again and I saw Harry's eyelids begin to flutter. He rolled onto his back as he stretched, a smile spreading across his face before he even fully opened his eyes. "Good morning," he murmured, his voice raspy with sleep.

"Morning babe. 'Bout time you woke up sleepyhead."

"Mmmhmm. I was having a wonderful dream." He opened his eyes and looked into mine, bringing a hand up to caress my stubble. "I think I might still be dreaming."

I smiled and leaned forward to give him a small kiss. He returned it before climbing out of bed and stretching fully. I couldn't help but blush at the sight of him standing unabashedly naked in front of me. Would I ever tire of being able to stare at him like this? I couldn't imagine ever wanting to look away.