Dust Bones [Harry Styles]

024

        And every time, he caught me watching him.

        I went to raise my gun again, holding it so tightly as if to not let it drop. Both of my hands were placed in the necessary places I've learned before.

        I narrowed my eyes at the target, about to press onto the trigger with my index finger, when Harry appeared behind me. 

        His arms crossed over his chest as he lowly murmured, "Don't be so tense. You're straining. You'll never get a clean hit that way." I sighed to myself as I watched his hands touch either mine, his fingertips brushing over my knuckles. "Don't hold too tight." He added quietly, raising the gun higher than I had aimed it. 

        I felt his soft, thick curls tickle against my temple. With an intake of breath, I faltered under his touch and began to blush. I felt him press his own index finger over the trigger, and of course the bullet soared into the air before me. And maybe a quarter of a second later, it shot right through the middle of the target. 

        Of course. 

        The feeling of his chest pressed against my back was more prominent than the rest, with the exceptions of his slightly harsh hands placed over mine. I nearly became a panting mess just at the contact. Inside of my chest, my heart fluttered and my stomach turned and churned. 

        And I absolutely loathed the feeling that he summoned inside of me. At first, I didn't want to give it as much thought.

        I said I was curious; that I was attracted to him, and being a stupid seventeen year-old girl, it was expected of me to feel this way about him -- a twenty year-old man with an appealing everything. I stereotyped myself, and in all sense to avoid saying that I might not just be attracted to him.

        That there must be more there. 

        Maybe there was. I looked at the ground when he moved away from me. Harry's lips moved, but it was like I had impaired hearing. Nothing would make it through my ear-drums. I fought myself against the thoughts of being emotionally attracted to Harry. 

        My arms dropped and I placed the gun on the old table where Harry kept most of his guns. But these weren't all the guns. I'm sure he had a few around the house. 

        "Did you hear what I said, Catalina?" Harry asked with his eyes piercing through mine. 

        As if hollow, I stared back with my thoughts still circling my mind. "Uh...yeah, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

        "I asked if you were hungry." He muttered dryly with his eyes averting to his hands, unloading the guns on the table one by one. The clicking noise ticked like a slow bomb in my brain. 

        I shook my head. "Not really." 

        He began to nod slowly. "Alright. Well I'll be upstairs in the kitchen. I suggest you don't wander off into the yard again. I would feel more at peace if you'd stay away from any serpents." 

        I watched as he walked up the stairs of the basement, into the hallway light from above. My arms crossed over my chest and I sunk down against the wall to the floor. A loud sigh escaped my lips. 

        How can I just...begin to feel something for a man so heartless and clueless to what emotion is? Someone who can just go from calm to angry within seconds. He pays no mind to me, but if he offered it, I'd take his attention in a heart beat and I hate it. 

        I should learn to quit getting attached to those who want nothing to do with me. I despise the way he looks at me and the way his gaze makes me burn underneath it. He grabs my attention so easy, and even sometimes manipulates it with or without realizing it.