crooked love {h.s au one shot}

autumn

"It's an awfully lonely road to walk alone,
But as I searched your flashing indigo eyes, it echoed true
That I loved you,
That I loved you."

Stumbling out of the back hallway of a pub trying to get outside for a smoke was when Lane realized that maybe she shouldn't have had that last whiskey sour. Her head felt a little bit hazy and her ankles wobbled slightly on the heels she had insisted on wearing. Cold air hit Lane's warm skin, sending goosebumps all over her bare legs. Now even more desperate for something to warm her up she emptied her bag onto one of the tables out back, the contents spilling out until she found what she was looking for. Pulling a cigarette out of the pack she placed it between her lips before narrowing her eyes in confusion.

Her lighter was missing.

Spinning around her eyes darted all over the ground to see if it had fallen off the table. There was nothing.

"Need a light?"

Jerking her head up, Lane swayed on her heels just slightly before a hand shot out brushing against her side to steady her. When her eyes finally focused she saw who the voice had come from.

She recognized him. He had been the boy playing up on the stage earlier that night before everyone in the pub had gotten too drunk. The one with the smile too big for his face and all that floppy hair. Lane had been with some of her friends in the back, they had all been chattering away knocking back their drinks for the night ahead. But Lane had been watching him. A smile tugged at her lips before she blurted out, "I know you!"

"You do?"

"Well yeah, not like, know you know you but..." Lane trailed off waving her hand around a bit, "um you were the one playing earlier yeah? It's Harry right?"

"Yeah it's Harry," he told her, flashing the smile of his. She watched his eyes light up with the idea that someone had paid enough attention to him playing to pick up on his name, and actually remember it. "Still want that light?"

Lane knocked her head to one side, not understanding what he was asking until he pointed to the cigarette she had in her hand. It wasn't until then that Lane realized his hand had still been resting on her hip.

"Mm yeah I do."

She watched him carefully as he flicked the lighter, a flame bursting between the two of them. Putting the cigarette between her lips she leant forward towards Harry, both of them keeping their eyes on each other. The end began to burn brightly as Lane inhaled deeply, letting the warm smoke fill her body before she opened her mouth to let some of it curl back into the cold air.

For a moment the two of them just stood there out in the cold, no words spoken between them, just the sounds from inside the pub and the world around them. Everything felt still. Lane wasn't sure if it was the one too many whiskey sours or the way Harry was looking at her but she felt like she was in some kind of dream. The smoke and their cold breaths made the air between them hazy, Lane could taste the sweetness from the whiskey she had been drinking on her lips and Harry seemed to have something burning inside him. It made Lane's head spin and she didn't know what to do, but she could feel it drawing her in.

"Do you want one?" Lane lifted the cigarette, noticing that Harry didn't have one.

"Nah I don't smoke."

Lane let out a raspy laugh, "what? You just carry 'round a lighter to keep with that indie rocker vibe then?" She gave him a pointed look, arching an eyebrow at him in a well-practiced manner. Harry's laugh filled the air around him, everything he did seemed to fill the space they were in Lane thought.