"Marley, will you... Umm... I mean do you want to..." Harry sighs. Squares hush shoulders. Tries again. "Would you, like, want to go to homecoming with me?"
He rolls his eyes at his own reflection. Marley is in his room, getting out her notes for their exam on the latest piece of literature they read in English class. And here Harry is, standing in his bathroom, talking to his mirror like he's never asked out a girl before.
"Marley Pa--Marr, will you go... To homecoming? ...with umm... me?" He licks his lips. "So, homecoming--"
Someone pounds on the bathroom door. "Harry, I need to pee!" It's Vivian.
"Use one of the other bathrooms in this house!" He yells back.
But she keeps banging on the door. So he sighs and let's her in.
"Good, I don't actually have to pee but you're being pathetic. Just go ask her." Viv smiles. "By the way sound echoes in bathrooms. Be happy I took the room next to the bathroom or Marley would have heard that whole thing." His sister motions toward him with her finger, and amused smile on her cheeks.
Harry blushes. Rolls his eyes. "Do you have to get in my business all the time?"
"No, but it's fun." She shrugs. "So, I do."
He grumbles under his breath as he walks past her and down the hall toward his room. Stopping in the doorway, he sees the girl of his dreams sprawled across his bed. Her hair fanned out on his duvet in golden swirls that look almost bronze when caught in the right light.
The book they read for the assignment is in her hands. Open to a random page. Her eyes skimming across the words.
"Good book?" He asks with a smirk on his pink lips.
She laughs. Rests the book beside her before sitting up. "I just got bored."
Harry pushes off the doorframe he was leaning on and crosses the room to sit next to her. She already kicked off her shoes which are laying in the middle of his floor, so he tugs off his boots and tosses them toward his closet, too.
Truthfully, the last thing he wants to do is study. But if it means having her here with her sock clad feet tucked under her as she sits in the center of his bed, so be it.
And he wants to kiss her. God damn does he want to kiss her.
"So, the book is about racism, obviously. But for the in-class essay I'm assuming they want something more in depth than that." She says, looking at a few of her notes, which the teacher had already told them they wouldn't be allowed to use during the exam. Her fingers are pressed against her mouth in thought as she skims the pages. And it takes everything in Harry not to pull them away just so he can kiss her. Kiss her and never fucking stop.
Harry lays across his bed next to her. Rests his head on the fluffy white pillows. "Do we have to study? It's an essay."
She looks up from her notes. "An essay worth twenty percent of our grade."
"So, we do a mediocre job and still pass the class with a better than average grade." He looks up at the ceiling. "We both have an A in the class."
"For now." Marley says. But sets her notes aside anyway. Turning to the boy laying beside her. "But mediocre isn't what gets people into college."
"You want to go to college?" Harry asks. They never really talked about future anything. Future Marley. Future Harry. Future Marley and Harry. Despite still having the rest of this year and the next, it makes Harry a bit worried as to where she might go after high school.
"Well, no. I wouldn't be able to afford it." She says. "But I assume you will. And you need good grades to get into good colleges. So, let's study."
"In a minute." He groans. Covers his eyes with his forearm, taking her notebook blindly from her grasp and setting it on the bedside table so he is between her and her notes.
They both laugh before going silent.
Marley eyes the slim strip of tan skin above his waistline that was exposed from him lifting his arm. Doesn't notice that she's biting her lip until her teeth are nearly drawing blood. She kneels beside him. Contemplating for a moment before swinging one leg over to the other side of his hips.
As soon as she does so, Harry's eyes snap open. His hand previously over his eyes finds her waist almost instantaneously. And with both hands he holds onto her hips as if to make sure she's real. "Marr..."
She acts as if she was simply getting her notebook. And smiles. But hides her face from him with her notes. "Quiz time. What's the name of the main character?"
Harry must be dreaming. This can't be real. Can it? He really fucking hopes it's real. He releases her waist with one hand only to pull the notebook from her again. "Marley..."
She rests her palms gently on his chest. "Hmm?"
"What are you doing to me?" Harry breathes. And he's not just talking about their position. Because if her current intention is to seduce him, all she has to do is ask. But no, he means what she's doing to his insides. To his hammering heartbeat that stills for a single second when their eyes meet. And to his soul.
And he wants to kiss her. So fucking bad. God damn does he want to kiss her.
"Can we study, now?" Marley blushes. She didn't really think this through. She can practically see the look in his eyes, telling her his thoughts.
"Fuck, studying is the last thing on my mind right now." Harry shakes his head. Holding on tighter to her bony hips as if he's worried she may pull away any second.
But Marley realizes she kind of likes this. She's not vulnerable in this position. In fact she has the majority of the control. And it makes the heightened sexual tension between them a little more thrilling and a little less unnerving.
So after a short moment of contemplation she leans down and kisses him. He reacts similarly to her straddling his waist; with quick movements and strong hands pulling her closer to him. Their chests touch as Harry wraps an arm around her back, pulling her in.
He groans into her mouth. "Marr..."
Suddenly she pulls back. A devilish smile on her freshly kissed lips. "So... Studying?"
"Nope." Harry laughs. He dreamt about things like this but almost assumed they would never happen. Yet, here she is, on top of him as they lay in his bed on a cloudy Monday afternoon.
Something shifted between them on that camping trip. And Harry almost wants to thank Vivian for talking him into taking Marley. Almost.
Marley bites her lip. Feeling a bit vulnerable once again but somehow it's different with Harry now.
Harry's gaze locks on the lip between her teeth. Officially thinks he's dreaming. He pulls her in for another kiss. Their mouths molding together again.
"Go to homecoming with me."
It sort of just slips out between their mouths. Escaping into the air where he can't take it back.
And for a split second he is terrified she will say no.
But Marley smiles against his lips. Pulls back for a moment. "I was waiting for that."
He is momentarily in shock. She knew he would ask her. But how?
"Sound echoes in your bathroom." She grins. Reading his expression.
"Oh, God." Harry laughs. Covers his face with both hands. "I'm such a loser."
"No you're not." Marley laughs. Rolls off him and onto her back beside him. "You're cute."
He just mumbles something indistinguishable into his hands.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
Marley sighs. "I'd love to go with you."
Maybe it's their previous position playing over and over in his head. Maybe it's her saying yes to homecoming. Or maybe it's the fact that she used the words 'love' and 'you' in the same sentence. But Harry's heart feels like it's going to beat out of his chest. He drops his hands from his face and smiles at her. "Really?"
"Umm.. Yeah..." Marley's lingering discomfort with being too open shows through as she glances away, "so, studying..."
Harry smiles. Rolls over her with one knee between her legs and his hands beside her shoulders. "Can't we just make out some more?"
"Hmmm..." Marley pretends to contemplate. Stares army the neckline of his black shirt. "Good grades are really important you know..."
"Not that important." He insists. Leaning his head in closer to hers but not letting their lips touch. Harry knows it's a big step for Marley to be this open with him. And he wants to make sure she doesn't feel pressured because that's always what makes her push him away.
Marley's eyes drift closed. Feels Harry's breath fanning across her cheeks.
"Hey kids do you want some tea?" Harry's mother reaches the doorway in time to see the teens scrambling away from each other. Trying to look like they weren't just having an extremely intimate moment.
His mother gives Harry a look. She clears her throat. "Tea?"
"I'm fine, thank you Mrs. Styles." Marley says politely. Tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. And tries to hide the flustered blush of her cheeks behind the novel in her hands.
Harry glances at her before looking back to his mother. "No but thanks, mum."
"Mhmm." She shakes her head, smiling as she walks back down the hall. "The door stays open!"
They wait a full five seconds before simultaneously bursting into laughter. Marley falls back into the pillows behind her. Throws both arms over her face as her laughter fills the room along with his. Harry lays next to her, resting the book he grabbed over his eyes.
They stay like that for a while. Their laughter most definitely heard down the hall but that doesn't matter. Not really.
"What just happened?" Marley says aloud. Resting her arms at her sides.
Harry tosses the book toward the foot of his bed. It bounces once before sliding off the end and onto the floor, but he doesn't care. His smile grows wider as he looks at the girl next to him. "You agreed to be my date for homecoming. That's what just happened."
That she did. And Marley couldn't be more overjoyed. Or terrified. Kind of the same thing.
_____________________
I LITERALLY WROTE AND REWROTE THAT SCENE SO MANY TIMES BECAUSE I WANTED IT TO BE PERFECT BC EEEEEEEPPPPPPPP.
okay carry on.
QUESTION...
How do you think people will react to them going to homecoming together? I.E. Acacia or Troy or the camping trip crew...?
-Lena xx