"Why don't we do this one?" Harry asks, showing me the song he has playing on his laptop again.
"Battle Scars?"
"Yeah. There's not many hip-hop songs that I know, obviously." He shrugs, looking over my shoulder at my screen.
"Greg, any luck?" I look over at my brother who has come over to help us choose a song. Theo is upstairs sleeping.
"All these songs are either two slow for a hip-hop dance or not about the right topic. There is a song by Eminem, though." He turns his computer and shows me the lyrics that are showing on the screen of a YouTube video.
"Mockingbird," I say.
"Yeh. It's not that slow, but not that fast either. The only thing; it's not about teen suicide."
"Ugh," Harry groans, pulling his hair out from the bun it was in. "this is hard."
"Now you know how I feel every week." Harry rolls his eyes and goes back to searching.
"Nic, don't you have any kind of metal band that sing songs like this? They talk pretty fast in those songs." Greg suggests, closing his laptop and placing it on the table.
"I don't know, actually. The only bands I think would work would be System Of A Down or maybe Crown The Empire..." I browse the large history of metal bands that have any songs that would fit this theme description.
"Oh no. Not more. I can't take any more of that," Harry begs.
"I'll be sure to choose a metal band just to annoy you," I laugh at his begging face. He tries to look like a puppy by widening his eyes and pouting out his lower lip but it's not working on me.
"Hey! That's my face!" Theo's voice cuts through from Harry's stairwell. We all look over at the three year old who is pulling the exact same face as Harry is trying to master.
"Harry's pretty bad at is, isn't he?" I joke with the little boy. He looks over at Harry again and nods enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I'm the best!" Theo giggles adorably and I have to refrain from cooing.
"Hey," Harry fake whines, crossing his arms. "you hurt my feelings."
"Aww, I sorry." Theo bounds over and throws his arms around Harry as he begins to fake cry.
"It's okay. I'm sorry I stole your face." Harry wipes away his invisible tears ad picks the boy up in his arms.
"I'm taking it you're hungry?" Greg asks the boy who is now laughing because Harry is holding upside down by his feet.
"Yeah!" His giggles are so cute and I can't help but laugh too.
"What are you in the mood for, little man?" Harry asks him lightly. It's so obvious that he loves kids.
"Figgers!" He yells out. His face is red as he tries to crawl his way out of Harry's arms.
"What's that?" I stand up and pull the boy away from Harry. Theo sticks his tongue out at Harry and cuddles into my chest.
"He's talking about chicken nuggets from McDonald's. Are you sure that's what you want?"
"Yes!" Theo says and wiggles around in my arms. Harry stands up and places his hand on Theo's shoulder and subtly wraps his arm around my waist. I step closer to him and look at the little boy. Harry's eyes are locked on me but I pretend I didn't notice.
Theo stares up at us with a wide smile on his face. I don't hear Greg's quiet, "You look like a proper family." I didn't hear about the picture he took until he left back to Ireland.
_-_-_
"Why don't we just-" Harry stops in the middle of the song as we're practicing.
"Harry," I complain. "we're never going to be able to practice if you keep changing everything."
"I'm not changing everything. I'm just trying to make things easier for you."
"Show night is in three days and we haven't come up with a full dance yet. Quit trying to change things."
"But-"
"No. We do it the way I first showed you. The only changes I'll make are if you can't handle a certain step."
"What about you, though? There's no steps that cause you pain in your foot?" This has been going on since I showed him our dance paired with the song. He automatically started asking for changes. At first, I thought some of the moves were difficult for him so I changed them.
After that he would start requesting changes that he thought were "too fast paced for my injury." Honestly, I haven't felt much pain since Wednesday so I don't understand why he's so adamant that I'm seriously injured and I haven't been feeling better at all.
"I'm fine."
"Are you-"
"Yes, I'm sure." I roll my eyes and pull him back to our starting positions. "Now, we're going to dance the whole way through in the exact way I taught you the first time. If you interrupt, I will cut your dick off, shove it in a blender, and make you drink it."
He rolls his eyes but agrees either way. I mouth the words as he counts out to eight. Right in the middle, Harry trips up a bit.
"Sorry," He apologizes quickly after I help him regain his balance. I just wave it off and move us back to the beginning of the move recent count. He counts aloud again while I continue to mouth the words. We trip up again at the same point.
This continues a few more times. We started over from the beginning a few times and I've since stopped mouthing the words. Every time over we do it again we do it a little bit worse. Finally, when we get to that certain part, I'm unable to keep Harry upright and we both go tumbling to the ground. Harry lands right on his back and I land just to the left of him and I'm sure I've crushed his arm under my weight.
Harry groans, frustrated, as I pull him from the ground. "I told you we should have changed it."
"It's just one part. Here, lets try it with the music and maybe we'll do it better."
"You serious?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah. It usually worked with all the other people I danced with in previous seasons." His face contorts and he pulls me over to our starting position.
"Let's do it then." He waits quietly as I pull my phone out and look for the song. "No, I want you to sing it."
"What?" I laugh a little, thinking that he's kidding. When his facial expression doesn't change and he takes my phone from me my smile drops. "I don't sing."
"Bull shit, I hear you singing all the time."
"Under my breath, yeah, but not loud enough so anyone can hear."
He scoffs, "I hear you, though, and you're pretty good. And really, doesn't the dancing start at some random point in the middle. We would have to pinpoint exactly when to start when we could really just manual set it by singing it."
"Why don't you sing it, then?"
"I don't know the words." I roll my eyes at his simple explanation and look back down at my phone.
Suddenly, my phone is pulled from my grip right as I was about to click the song. "Hey!" I say, reaching for my phone. Harry is holding it straight into the air where he knows I can't reach. I try jumping to grab it, but he jumps at the same time I do so I'm unable to reach it.
"Just sing! C'mon, it's not that bad. Only one time and then we can go from the recorded version."
I huff and get down from my tip-toes. "I'm thinking you just want to hear me sing."
"Now, where would you ever get that idea from?" He asks sarcastically.
"Fine." He fist pumps the air. "Just this once, though. I still have that dick chopping, shoving in blender and making you drink it idea so don't push it." He smiles widely and begins the first count off.
_-_-_
"For the first time since the season started, I'm actually not that nervous." Harry smiles at me with his arm around my waist. We're the second to go on this night and Harry has been all smiley for some reason. I don't know if I should be glad or worried.
"Good." I smile back at him either way and hug him back. We look up at the screen as they begin to play our practice throughout the week. It shows how we fall and how Harry pressures me into singing. It's very quiet, but audible nonetheless. I send a glare at Harry while he smirks at me.
The video ends and we're introduced, "Dancing Hip-Hop, Harry Styles, and his partner Nicolette Horan."
The starting notes begin before the singing actually begins. Harry begins the count as I mouth the words to him.
"If all we are is just machines, then let's become a miracle and break free from these chains."
The song ends with both of us breathing deeply. He picks me up after a few moments of just the cheering of the audience and our heavy breaths. He spins me around a bit and smiles at me with sparkles of adoration in his eyes. I've never seen this look on anyone's face when they look at me, but I've seen it on my mother when she looked at me when I ordered for the first time alone at a restaurant, back when I was real young. It's a loving look.
He carries me over to the judges table and places me down lightly. Tom and Harry talk a bit and joke around before he directs our attention to the judges. We start with Carrie-Ann who holds a bright smile.
"I just need to say this first before anyone else; I loved you. I loved the affection and emotion you both put into your performance. I was honestly surprised to hear the song choice. When I first heard it I thought you were crazy to think you could make a hip-hop dance and that song work, but you did. It was amazing. I hope you know that none of us were expecting anything like that." She uses wide arm gestures, never losing the smile.
We move onto Bruno. He says something very similar, only he uses much bigger arm motions and doesn't sit down until we move onto Len. "Well, I've seen a lot of hip-hop dances in the time I've been judging and I can promise you that I've never seen anything like that." He pauses for a second and waits for the audience to quiet down. "The steps were original, along with the song. It was put together quite nicely. Good job."
We move onto Julianne who bears the biggest smile. "Was that ending move part of the dance? The one where you lifted Nicolette into the air and spun her?" Harry shakes his head no with a small blush. "It should have been. It was emotional enough to fit in the dance. Anyways, I only have one word to describe what that was and that word is beautiful. There's an obvious connection between the two of you and this dance portrayed it perfectly. I will be expecting some equally as heart-wrenching performances in the future, I hope you know."
Harry and I walk away with smiles his arms are tightly wrapped around my waist as I pull us towards the stairs leading to the Skybox. Half way there, Harry pulls away and takes my hand. He spins me a bit which I try to perfect as best as I can with the little bit of knowledge I have for what he's intending to do. The move is sudden so my feet try to keep up with his mind as he hugs me. I hope the camera got that.
We reach the top of the stairs and head into the marked spot of where to stand as everyone claps around us.
"That was cute. You turned a serious issue into something cute. How do you do it?" Erin asked us with a smile.
I shrug while Harry explains, "Some things can be serious to her and she likes to make people laugh so they forget about the serious issue even if just for a second."
"What about you, though, Harry? I mean, that upright cuddle you shared was enough to make even the angriest of people crack a smile."
I nudge him and look up with a smirk. He blushes. "I was proud of us. Proud of her, I guess. She made me happy that she could do this dance even after the injury so I did, well, that."
"Speaking of the injury; Nicolette, how has that been bothering you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I smile. "It was just a muscle strain. I felt better be Wednesday. This one, though, thought I was on the verge of death so he tried to make me change things around in the dance for me." I jab Harry in the stomach with my elbow.
"Well, that was sweet of him."
"And annoying. I didn't let him change anything to suit me. Any changes - which there actually weren't any - are made to help him."
"I did get her to sing, though." Harry grins proudly and plays with my hair.
"Yeah, we saw that! You're a good singer, Nicolette. But I can say I'm glad you chose the dancing road instead of singing. We're glad you're part of the Dancing With The Stars family."
A few of the dancers pat my back from behind me and I smile. "I'm glad I chose the dancing road too."
Erin says that we will be getting our scores now. All three of us turn towards the large screen and wait.
"Carrie Ann Inaba,"
"Nine," Harry's arm tightens around me.
"Len Goodman,"
"Nine,"
"Julianne Hough,"
"Nine,"
"Bruno Tonioli,"
"Nine." Harry picks me up again in his arms and hugs me tightly. With his hands underneath my thighs and my legs around his waist, everyone around us begins to cheer and congratulate us. It's not the best score out of everyone this season, but it is the best score we have ever received.
Erin begins to explain that we still need the votes if we want to make it to next week. Harry and I have no eyes or ears for her, though, as Harry holds me tightly in his arms. My chin is on his head as he kisses my neck at the awkward angle.
_-_-_
By the end of the night, Harry and I come in third place on the leader board, only two points behind Demi and Louis who are in first.
Harry has invited me over to sleep over at his house. I'm kind of exhausted so I agree. Greg tags along also after Harry tells him that he should come too. I'm not sure if he did it for my sake, or because he knows that Greg is leaving tomorrow and I won't be able to say goodbye.
"Uhm, I didn't actually think this through." Harry laughs awkwardly as he shows us into the house.
"What do you mean?" I ask, slipping off my flats.
"I forgot I only have one properly made guest room. All the other rooms are used for something else," He scratches the back of his neck with a blush forming on his cheeks. I refrain from laughing at him.
"I'll sleep on the couch, then." I offer, already heading towards the living area. It's not as bad as he thinks because his couch is more comfortable than my own bed.
"No, why don't you sleep in my room?" Harry grabs me by the wrist and pulls me back. I face him and we share a stare before Greg speaks up.
"Don't make it difficult. Just sleep together and you'll be fine." Greg shifts the sleeping Theo in his arms. I know he wants to head to bed because he has to wake up early tomorrow, but he doesn't want to be rude and just barge into Harry's guest room.
"But-" Harry and I both begin the protest.
"C'mon, it's not like you'll be doing anything bad. You'll be sleeping and that's it." After Harry and I share an awkward glance, Greg continues. "Look, I need to get him in a bed before he wakes back up. I'll take the couch if you don't want to sleep together."
"No, I couldn't ask either of you to do that. Ni, just sleep in my bed." Greg raises his eye brows at Harry's use of my old nickname.
"It's your house." I point out, trying to head over to the couch again. Harry's fingers slip down to my hand, gripping around it. He tugs a bit on it, making me turn back around.
He stares into my eyes with a small frown on his face. I eye him up as he silently pleads me to take up his offer to sleep in his bed. I glance over at Greg who is busy staring down at our hands. Theo then yawns and begins to complain he's cold.
"Guys," Greg says, bouncing Theo slightly.
"I'll take the couch." Harry says. Before I can stop, he walks into the lounge and plops down on the couch. Greg shrugs and reaching for the light switch for the stairs.
"Second door on the right." I nonchalantly direct him to the guest bedroom while staring at Harry trying to get comfortable. He nods before wishing me goodnight.
Harry lays flat on the couch, stuffing his hands up under one of the throw pillows. I roll my eyes and walk into the lounge. He opens one eye and sends me an annoyed look.
"Just sleep in my room, Nicolette. It's no big deal." Harry closes his eye again.
I shake my head, even though he can't see me. My feet carry me towards the loveseat that's against the wall. It's just as comfortable as the couch, only a bit shorter.
Harry opens his eyes again when he hears me sit down. "What are you doing?"
"Going to bed, obviously." I smile at him innocently as he groans. I refuse to sleep in his bed. My parents always taught me to take the lesser of the choices when I'm a guest because it's polite. Whether it be the guest room, couch, or the floor, you take what's there.
It's one of the few policies I live by that was taught to me by my parents.
"Nic, don't do this." Harry sits up with a sigh.
"Hey, I don't care if you sleep in your bed or not. Either way, I'm still the guest. The couch is fine for me. I was actually originally planning- what are you doing?" I stop when Harry stands and walks toward me. He ignores me; instead, he picks me up the way he did after we danced tonight. My legs wrap around his waist as if on instinct.
Harry carries me from the living room up to his bedroom, where he pulls the comforter, under blanket and sheets back before placing me in a laying position. I whine when he covers me up and asks if I need another pillow or if I'm hot or cold under the sheet and blanket.
"Harry," I say. "stop."
"I'll be right downstairs if you need anything. Don't refrain from waking me if you-"
"At least stay with me." I interrupt.
"What?"
"If it's necessary that I sleep in here, then you must sleep in here too." My fingers are wrapped around his wrist since he tried to walk away.
"Nicolette-" He tries to argue.
"If you don't, I'll go right back to that couch." I threaten. He sighs, looking back in the hallway. He pulls his hand from my grasp and walks toward the door. "Harry," I try, already sitting up out of the bed. I stop moving, though, when he closes the door to the point where there's just a crack.
He comes back to the bed with a frown. He eyes me up before pulling back the sheets and face-planting into the pillow. I laugh a little, lying back down.
He faces me. "I hate you,"
I laugh a little, closing my eyes. "No you don't."
He chuckles too, whispering something inaudible for me to hear. I fall asleep within a few minutes, not knowing that Harry was watching me sleep.
_-_-_
Later on in the night, while I'm still sleeping, Greg knocks on Harry's bedroom door lightly. Harry is still awake so he whispers that Greg is allowed in.
"Looks like you took my advice." Greg points out.
"What advice?" Harry tears his gaze from me and looks at my brother.
"To sleep in the same bed,"
"Yeah," Harry chuckles, "she's a stubborn one."
"Yeh, been like that ever since we were kids." Greg plays with his fingers for a second, looking down at his toes. "Hey, can I talk to you?"
"You already are," Harry points out, trying to hide the wave of worry that overtakes his body at Greg's serious tone.
"Alright, smart-ass. I mean in private. Don't want her waking up," Greg motions to the door behind him with his head. Harry looks over at me for a second before pulling the quilts off his body and following after my brother.
Harry is nervous as Greg settles himself down on the couch. Greg motions Harry to sit next to him, but Harry walks into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water. He feels he might need it in case there's a moment when he needs to think about a reply.
"Do you want anything?" Harry calls from the refrigerator. Greg calls out that he's fine and that Harry should really come sit down already.
"Stop putting this off. You need to have this conversation with someone, and chances are you'll never meet our parents so I'm your next best bet." Harry begins sweating at Greg's words. It's obvious that Harry has had this crush, but he never expected for Greg to pick up on it so quickly.
Harry goes back into the living room and sits on the opposite side of the couch. Greg rolls his eyes and leans back onto the armrest.
"So," Greg starts with a cough. "you like my sister."
Harry takes a drink from his water bottle a little too quickly. He starts coughing, a bit of water splashing out of the bottle as he spasms. Greg scoots over to Harry and takes the bottle from his hands. He then starts to pat Harry on the back.
Harry calms down a few seconds later, breathing in deeply.
"Uhm, I-"
"It wasn't a question." Greg cuts him off. "I know you like her. Seriously, I don't know how she hasn't noticed. It's so obvious."
Harry looks down and plays with the wet spot on the couch. His other hand lies limp in his lap, currently useless.
"I don't know how long you've liked her for, but I know it must have been a while because you get jealous so easily."
"Well, I mean..." He trails off, still picking at the couch. "I knew there was something different about her even before we met."
"Different? What do you mean?" Greg leans forward, resting his elbow on his knee.
"I-I don't know... something just drew me in, I guess."
Greg leans back again, releasing a sigh. He knows that I wouldn't dare tell one of the Stars I've danced with. I'm only stuck with them for, at most, 13 weeks. That's not long enough to be able to reveal my kind of secret unless I was really open with who I once was.
"You're right." Harry looks up at my brother, raising an eyebrow. "About Nic being different. She's... a lot more different than you've ever thought."
"What do you mean?" Harry lowers his voice, as if there was someone listening in on there private conversation.
"Nothing. How did you know she was different?" Greg changes the subject quickly. Harry eyes him up but doesn't comment on it.
"I don't really know. I've seen videos of her dancing before I was offered the opportunity to actually go on the show. I actually wasn't going to be on the show until they told me that she was my partner." Harry smiles slightly, as if he's reminiscing on something. "The way she danced was just... captivating. She puts everything in every dance each and every week. And then the way she would teach the person she was with. She is strict, I have to say that. She doesn't like when I refuse to do something or when I fight her on a certain move. She pushes me to my limit. Is it bad that I love it?"
"Kind of, yeah." My brother laughs at the fond smile and embarrassed blush that has overtaken Harry's face.
"She kept me interested. I saw the way that... that some of the Stars she once was paired with didn't like how she taught. It's weird with her; she'll come into work wearing a sweat-shirts and baggy clothes, but she never made it look like she rolled out of bed. She's usually wide awake and sometimes hyper, and I don't think many liked that." Harry's face contorts into a scowl.
"You sound so smitten with her. It's disgustingly cute." Greg smiles a little before a frown overtakes his features. "Look, Harry..."
"Yeah?" Harry's scowl turns into a frown also at Greg's tone.
"Nicolette... she's much different than you think. She's gone through so much, so much more than you think. She puts her all into dancing for a reason."
"Yeah," Harry sighs. "I know."
"You do?" Greg asks incredulously.
"Yeah. I've figured out that she only knows how to express herself when she's dancing."
"Right," Greg says. He's quiet for a moment before carrying on. "Harry, there's something important that Nicolette isn't telling you."
"Well, I figured as much." Harry bites his lip.
"No, I mean... something really important. The reason why she hasn't come home in seven years. The reason she only expresses herself through dancing. The reason she wears baggy clothes."
Both Harry and Greg lean forward into each other. Harry has sucked in a breath that he's hoping to let out when he's told that this really important thing isn't anything life-threatening.
"I..." Greg goes on. "I cannot tell you what it is." Harry huffs childishly and releases the breath. "I can, however, give you my blessing."
"Y-your blessing?"
"To date my sister." Greg takes Harry's hand and shakes it. "I trust you to keep her happy."
Harry nods slowly, acknowledging Greg's one-way handshake. If he had a hat, he would tip it in Greg's direction.
"Hopefully Nic will tell you, one day."
_-_-_
When I wake up the next day, not knowing of the conversation from only hours before, Harry's arm is wrapped around my waist and his chest presses to my back from behind. Greg is already gone.