Angel

soixante treize

Harry tapped the side of his thumb against the steering wheel, moving his finger to the rhythm of the song that played on the car' radio.

He hummed to the mellow tune of Led Zeppelin', Ramble on , occasionally murmuring the lyrics under his breath. The plodding traffic coalesced perfectly with the orange and magenta haze in the evening sky from the sun starting to set. Harry had his head rested on the head restraint, every so often applying pressure to the gas pedal, whenever the car in front of his drove up an inch further and bringing Harry closer to the exiting route.

Ten minutes later, the traffic had ultimately cleared up and once off of the expressway, he continued his drive back home. He breathed out a heavy sigh upon pressing his foot on the brake when coming up to a stoplight. He glanced towards the left of the road, flitting eyes coming to an abrupt pause when landing on a cluster of small, secluded shops.

There was a jewelry shop with a large, GRAND OPENING, banner attached to the top of the establishment.

He couldn't break his eyes away; the only that had instantly appeared in his mind being one sheer word, one that would inevitably change his life forever.

Ring.

The word made Harry' heartbeat quicken, his throat closing up slightly, with too many emotions for him to discern coursing rapidly through his veins. He didn't have any time to wrack his brain of the sudden thought any longer when his eyes were ripped away from the building upon bringing himself back to the present due to the driver behind him honking their horn. He realized that the light had turned green, signaling for him to continue driving. Though, this time, he didn't take the route that lead him closer home. Instead, he did a swift left turn into the shop's parking lot.

He would be a bit late going home today.

Harry found the nearest parking spot, in front of the shop, and turned off the ignition before discarding himself of his seatbelt. He slid his phone from out of his back pocket to send Louis a quick text that consisted of, gonna be home a bit late today, baby. Some extra work at the office. I love you.

Generally, the mere thought of lying to Louis — let alone pursuing the action — would have left Harry feeling unsettled and repentant. Except, this time he didn't, since he had the perfect reason to do so.

A broad, dopey grin plastered itself across the man' face when his phone alerted him of the text that Louis had instantly replied with. Okay, be careful driving home. I love you! God, he was so fucking cute.

The sound of Harry' car locking behind him was heard, as he walked up to the glass door of the shop. When he walked in, a little chime emerged from above his head. The alarming noise signaled to the jeweler, stood behind the long glass case at the front of the shop that someone had entered. It was an elderly woman, with curly, grey hair and streaks of dark brown scattered through it.

She looked up from her spot on a newspaper, eyes slightly going wide with delight when they reached Harry. "Oh, hello. Good evenin', dear." She greeted, warmly. Her frail hand slowly pulled off her glasses, the golden chain attached to them dangling upon dropping the glasses at her chest.

"Hello," Harry greeted back, politely, despite the sheepish smile on his face. "Hope I didn't startle you. Saw your sign outside." He disclosed, chuckling.

"You aren't the first person 've heard that from today," The woman laughed. "You didn't startle me, honey. The more customers we get, the merrier. So, what brings you in here today?"

"Well, uh..." Harry breathed out another chuckle, nerves kicking in, once again. "M'looking to buy a ring. Hoping, actually." He walked forward, going to the glass case that the woman had been standing behind. "It's just that, I've been looking for a ring for a couple weeks, now, but I haven't had any luck. Every day, I try my hardest to find go to different shops, hoping to find something that's similar to the ring that m'looking for, but still nothing, and it's been stressing me out, 'cause there's nothing that I want more than to propose to my baby, but—"