Ours [harry styles] ✓

Tense Pancakes

I awoke to Nola's grizzling again, half expecting to find Harry stationed in front of her cot. His absence in the room made the night before seem like a dream, only it hadn't been the night before, it had been mere hours ago. Mere hours ago Harry had let himself into my shared flat, comforted our daughter in the moonlight and held me under my duvet. Mere hours ago Harry had gone to sleep on the sofa.

The sofa.

I pushed the covers back and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Nola watched from her cot, hanging impatiently off the bars as I darted across the room in search of a hairbrush and a bra. There was no way I was going out there in a just-got-up, let-it-all-hang-loose kind of fashion. Harry had been in my bed whilst I'd been in my pyjamas, but it had been dark and he hadn't been able to see the ogre-like creature I became when the sun went down and I took my make up off.

I dragged the bristles through the matted mess of knots and waves on my head, wincing when the roots threatened to rip from my scalp. Once it was more of a tamed mess than an afro, I slipped my arms out of the sleeves of my pyjama top and pulled my bra on underneath. Now feeling less exposed and more like a human again, I approached Nola's cot and swept her into my arms, silencing her grizzling.

"Enough of that silly noise." I told her. "What would your dad think if he could hear you right now?" Nola's eyes twinkled at the mention of her father and she wound her arms around me neck.

As I opened my bedroom door I was greeted by Harry and Elenore's voices drifting in from the lounge.

"So how is he really?" Elenore asked him desperately. "I mean, has he been ok?"

"He was fine when I last saw him, which was yesterday. Why - shouldn't he be?" I could hear the amusement in Harry's voice as he answered her question and I couldn't help but smirk. Elenore was a fool if she thought she was over Niall. Nobody else was buying her strong independent woman speeches.

"Well I'm ignoring him." She sighed. "But he hasn't actually contacted me in any way, so I don't think he knows I'm ignoring him." I wanted to face palm. Elenore needed to stop talking before she humiliated herself beyond repair. Harry burst out laughing, the deep sound echoing through the flat.

"Honestly, Ele." I groaned, strolling into the lounge with Nola clinging to my neck. Harry looked up at us and smiled, opening his arms and taking Nola from my grasp and into his chest. He was topless, wearing only jeans with a blanket draped scruffily over his knees. "How did you sleep?" I asked him, my cheeks flushing as Elenore raised her eyebrows at me expectantly while studying my appearance.

"Great, thanks. What about you? Are you feeling better?" He laid back on the sofa, positioning Nola so that she was lying on her stomach on his chest, the way she had been at the party. My lips twitched voluntarily into a smile and I nodded once.

"Yes, how did Mr Styles happen to select our sofa as his sleeping quarters when I'm pretty sure he was in Amsterdam only yesterday?" Elenore gave me a pointed look and I glared at her, warning her off the questions. Harry chuckled and turned his head in her direction.

"I just wanted to make sure Marnie was ok. She was pretty upset about her parents."

"Well a little warning would have been nice. If you hadn't been asleep you would have copped an eyeful." She shifted her gaze to me. "I strode through here starkers this morning, Marn. I practically had a heart attack when I saw him comatose and snoring on the sofa!"

"Hey - I don't snore!" Harry protested, the dimples popping in his cheeks. Nola giggled and hers did the same. I felt my knees go weak.

"I must say I'm liking the new morning look too, Marn." Elenore gestured to me while bringing her mug of tea to her lips. "Your boobs have never looked so perky in pjs." My jaw dropped and a strangled cry escaped my lips. Harry stayed focused on Nola, pretending he hadn't heard, but the smirk stretched across his face told me otherwise.