You Looked Lost (Narry Lifeguard AU)

Chapter 4: Part 2

“Let’s take your car.  I want to see it.”

I bit my lip nervously, but nodded my head anyway.  I hoped he wasn’t gonna be disappointed.

We weaved our way through the room and I waved to a couple people; Craig, Drew, Natalie.  It felt good to have people to wave to.

We made it outside and I took my time walking to my car.  I knew Harry wouldn’t make me feel bad on purpose, but I was sure he wouldn’t be able to mask the expression on his face when he saw it.  Disappointment and probably pity.

I spotted my car and a bundle of nerves arose in the pit of my stomach.

“Is that it?” Harry spoke from next to me, startling me a little.

I stopped in front of it and gave him a sheepish look.

“It’s not much-”

Harry cut me off as if he hadn’t even heard me speak.

“A Gremlin?” Harry looked at me with a startled expression, but he didn’t act how I’d expected. “This is so cool.”

I tried to hide my surprise.

“This thing must be ancient.  What year is it?” Harry asked as he trailed a hand along the side of the car, as though it were covered in more than just faded paint.

“It’s a ‘77,” I answered, still cautious of his reaction.

“Wow,” Harry looked at me with a wistful smile. “I wish…”

He didn’t finish, instead just shaking his head and looking away.

“Anyway, let’s go,” he said, opening the passenger door, not even flinching as it screeched.

I was a little dumbfounded, but made my way quickly to the other side, climbing in and praying that it only took one try to start the engine.

It took three.

I looked over at Harry who was smiling like he’d won the lottery.  Not a trace of pity in his expression.

“Sorry, it always takes a few tries…” I trailed off.

Harry ignored the comment and started talking about what ice cream he was gonna get.  I pulled out of the parking lot, grateful for his rambling because I wasn’t sure what to say right now.  He’d been the opposite of disappointed, which made no sense to me.

I wondered for a moment, why Harry was hanging out with me when he had so many other friends.  He’d worked at the waterpark for a couple summers, yet he was hanging out with someone who’d just started.

Harry turned on my radio, messing around with the dial until he found a station that was actually playing music.  Fancy by Iggy Azalea came on, prompting Harry to start dancing once again.  It seemed that he didn’t like to be still for too long.

I tried to hold in my laughter, but he was being quite a distraction to my driving.  I was tempted to ignore his obvious attempts to get my attention; that is, until one of his flailing arms hit me in the face.

“Harry!” he paused, and turned his head towards me. “You do realize that I’m trying to drive, right?”

“Yeah, so?” Harry gave me a teasing smile.

I shook my head, but left him to it.

 

Harry and I were leaning against my car in the parking lot, eating our ice cream leisurely.  It was actually quite a peaceful night, one of the only sounds being the crickets.  Cars would drive past every once in a while, their headlights illuminating the night around them momentarily, before disappearing.