K A T
"What time is dinner?" I asked Harry on the way to his house downtown, in the suburbs. I was nervous-- well, that would be an understatement.
"Seven." Harry stated, his eyes fixed on the road. His tongue swiped over his bottom lip and he pursed them, giving the road his full attention. I wouldn't be able to make much conversation with him, as seriously as he was taking driving.
I fiddled with my fingers, tugging at loose strands on my cardigan. I was wearing a glittery gold cardigan with a black tank top and denim short shorts. I hoped that his parents didn't take modesty too seriously.
"We're here." he said, as calm as could be when we pulled into a driveway. It was a four story house, and the yard was covered in plants that could be used for eating. A stone path paved the way for visitors and from where I sat I could see a small decoy pond with a fish inside.
"Nice house." I managed to say, and Harry just laughed before leading me out the car and down the path. When we got to the front porch I announced, "Im nervous."
Harry smiled at me with ease. "Don't be. My parents are really laid back, and so is my big sister."
"Big sister?" I choked out.
Gosh, this was going to be harder than I initially thought.
Harry opened the door with a key that he had been holding the whole time, and I fixed my clothes and hair out of vanity before stepping in.
The house smelt of fresh linen with a hint of peppermint, and it made me feel insecure about how mine smelt. In the main room was a chandelier light over a sofa that made a "C" shape, and a flat screen was mounted on the wall.
"I'm home!" Harry yelled rather obnoxiously, which didn't fit the scene at all. He kicked off his shoes to show his plain white socks. "Mum, Des!"
I frowned and took my converse off as well, revealing my mix match socks. I wondered if I looked misplaced in this kind of scene.
So this was the house that Harry went home to every day after school.
Before I could even register it, a woman who looked familiar to Harry came striding in. I could tell this was her mom, and she looked friendly enough to me.
"Hi." I said warmly, a nervous smile on my face. "I'm Katrina, Harry's friend."
His mother gave him a weird look. "That's a bit odd, considering how much Har--"
Harry chuckled nervously. "That's enough, mum."
What was she about to say that Harry didn't want her to?
"Anyway, it's nice to have you here, dear." she smiled warmly and brought me in for a nice hug. Maybe hugs ran in his family, because I was sure getting a lot of them. "You're very pretty, you and Harry would look nice together as I could imagine."
Now I was confused. "Excuse me?" I asked, not because I wasn't comfortable with the idea but because it was weird how she was talking like we were a couple.
She waved her hand with a laugh. "Just kidding." she dismissed it, and I could almost swear I heard Harry let out a sigh of relief. She added, "We're having fettuccine alfredo for dinner."
"Okay." I nodded awkwardly and offered a smile. "Thank you for having me over. I really appreciate it."
She shrugged. "Don't worry too much about it, dear! I cook for all Harry's friends. But usually they're men. This is diff--"
"Mum." Harry said sternly, glaring her down. She stopped in her tracks and let out an exasperated laugh again.
"I'm Anne." she said to me, "And that's what you can call me."
She gave me one last hug before disappearing out of the room, and I expected another family member to pop in and make things awkward again.
I turned to Harry. "Why did you keep stopping her?" I asked him. "That wasn't really nice."
Harry almost looked embarrassed. "She was making fun of me."
"Why?" I half smiled.
He looked around the room nervously, making me feel a bit suspicious about what he was holding on to.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, he chimed, "Let's go up to my room!"
*
His bedroom was on the third floor, which if you did the math was two flights of stairs of agony.
Me, being out of shape as I am, had to take a break in between.
When we got there, I was astonished to see how neatly kept it was. The walls were a deep shade of blue, and the curtains were a shade lighter. There were no stray clothes and everything had its own place. The carpet was spotless.
"Want to play Mario kart?" he asked, and jumped on his bed. I wondered how he could keep his room this neat all the time. My room wouldn't have lasted one day like this.
"Sure." I grinned nonetheless and jumped on the bed next to me. He pulled us some pillows that we could lean on, and grabbed two remotes from under the bed. "Your room is neat." I said, after he turned the television on.
"Thanks." he said plainly. "My mom likes me to have things neat for when people come over."
I nodded. "How often do they?" I asked, "You know, come over."
He turned on the gaming system and hopped off the bed in search of the disk. "About every other day. Well, they used to."
"Does your mom know you're in a gang?"
"Yes." he answered slowly, like he wasn't enjoying playing my version of the third degree. "She was upset. Crying even. So we moved to get away from it but I'm still technically in it. They won't leave us alone."
"Us?"
He nodded and put the disk in the system before jumping back on the bed next to me. "Last week my mom was in her car and someone had planted a beehive in there. She barely got out before they started stinging."
I gasped. "That's horrible. Louis needs to know when to let up."
He shook his head. "That's Niall who did this one. I can tell when it's a Niall prank and trust me, it is."
"Were you close with anyone else in the gang?"
He nodded again. "Louis, Liam, Niall, and Zayn. Zayn left the gang by killing his mom. Well, everyone thinks. She just disappeared. She isn't dead, though."
I frowned. It didn't make sense how someone would want to throw themselves into a world of trouble so easily like that. I would never have joined a gang for anything in the world, because that would be my life down the drain already.
Soon enough Harry perked up. "I'm gonna beat your behind at rainbow road." he bragged, taking his bandana and tossing it perfectly into a drawer full of other ones that I had just noticed.
"Wait." I said before he started the game, and stood up off the bed. "You have a whole.. drawer of bandanas?"
He nodded proudly. "My prized possessions."
I looked through the drawer and saw the one that he had been wearing the first day I met him. The bandana that was the horrible shade of green.
"I want this one." I said boldly. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Take it." he finally cracked a smile. "I want you to have it. I have two of those. We can match on Monday."
The thought made me smile like a dork. Like Harry. "Alrighty." I giggled and took the bandana out, making sure to shut the drawer. I tied it around my head and used it as a headband.
"You look cute like that." he said carelessly, patting the area on the bed next to him. I jumped up and sat, where Harry immediately started the game.
I lost, as Harry predicted, and that called for Harry rubbing it in my face as I expected.
"We gon' party buckwild!" Harry yelled with his best American accent, jumping on the bed. I joined him, my hair flailing everywhere. Usually I would scold him for using that word, but I decided to let it slide-- just this time.
After a few minutes we tired out and stopped jumping, sitting on the soft material of his carpet.
"You know, on the first day of you coming to Eastern I didn't think we'd end up like this." I hummed, meaning to say it to myself but the words came out louder than intended.
Harry snuggled up to me. "Me either. You always confused me, especially me when you yelled out in front of the class to me. They're so judgmental."
I rolled my eyes. "Tell me about it. I've been going to school with most of them for about four years. And it's sucked."
Harry chuckled. "I can only imagine."
There was an awkward silence. Harry and I were staring into each other's eyes, only making the situation more awkward and intense.
Something was rebelling against my better judgement, because something inside of me wanted nothing more than to kiss Harry. And not on the cheek, either.
Maybe I wasn't the only one; because Harry was slowly but surely leaning in. And gravity was pulling us together.
They say gravity only pulls you down, but maybe that's not the case. What if gravity were just pulling us toward the center of the earth instead?
So it made sense why I was slowly being pulled towards Harry.
He was becoming the center of my world.
I tried to speak up. "Har--"
He stopped me, "I know what you're going to say." he whispered. "Don't."
And we kissed.