*Alyssa's POV*
I felt a small smile tug at my lips when I saw the familiar, sleek, black car roll up to the side of VS Headquarters. The car stopped and I rolled my eyes when the passenger side window rolled down. I bent down and shook my head at Harry. "Need a ride, lil lady?"
I rolled my eyes at him again, but opened the door anyways. "You're such an idiot," I laughed, closing the door once I got in.
Harry shrugged and took off before I could get my seatbelt on. "Meh. You love me anyways."
"How'd you know I needed picked up?" I ignored his debatable comment.
"Texted El. I had just dropped Niall off at the airport and since it wasn't far away, I figured I'd surprise you and see if you needed a ride." He stopped at a red light and looked at me. "Speaking of surprises," I furrowed my brows when Harry reached into his back seats, "these are for you." I gasped at the pretty bouquet of pink roses he was holding out to me. "Happy birthday!"
"Harry!" I squealed, excitedly taking them from his hands. "These are my favorite flowers! How'd you know?"
Harry chuckled and put his foot back onto the gas when the light turned green. "I didn't know until two seconds ago."
"Harry, this is so sweet," I gushed as I shoved my nose back into the bouquet. "My birthday isn't even until tomorrow. You shouldn't have."
Harry laughed again, only it sounded forced. "Yeah," he took one hand off the wheel to scratch his scalp under his long, curly hair, "I shouldn't have."
The rest of the ride was full of comfortable and casual conversation, which after my day, I didn't mind one bit. I had to deal with annoying airheads with RBF all night and a new Brazilian girl by the name of Sabrina with orange skin and mile-long lashes. I was begging to get out of there by the end of the night.
"Thanks for bringing me home, Harry." I told him as he pulled up beside Cole's apartment. "And thank you for the flowers even though you could have dropped them off tomorrow. I'm glad you didn't, though, because they made my night." I laughed and Harry pressed his lips together in a firm line.
"Yup. Don't mention it, Ally. I'm always here to give you a ride if you need it." Something in his voice sounded off. I couldn't quite place my finger on what it was though.
"Are you okay Harry?"
"What?" For a split second his eyes left the road and met mine. "Yeah. I'm fine. It's just- been a long day and I didn't get much sleep." He laughed. "Yeah Niall- that kid doesn't sleep, lemme tell you. He kept talking and kept me up all night." He laughed again and shook his head as if I didn't know what he meant. I did. "He's a crazy guy. Good guy- but crazy."
I pursed my lips and nodded my head. He had only said a few things about Niall, but I really didn't want to talk about him anymore, so I just told Harry, "Yup. Good old Niall." When it fell awkwardly silent in Harry's expensive sports car, I took it as my cue to leave. "Well," I said, "thanks again for taking me home, Harry."
"It's no problem."
"I should probably get inside now. You know, before Cole flips out and calls me to ask where I am." I laughed hoping it would make the weird feeling in the car dissipate and cease to exist, but when Harry didn't laugh along, I decided it was time to go.
Right as I reached for the handle, I felt Harry's hand on my bicep. "Before you do, though," Harry said, "may I ask you something?"
I turned back to Harry and smiled, even though those words made my insides fall apart. Anytime anyone asked me that I'd always get this sense of anxiety. "Of course!" Obviously, I never let it show, though.
I watched Harry take a small breath before asking, "What's going on with you and Niall?"
Great. More talking about Niall.
I shrugged. "Nothing's going on between us. Why?" I knew something was going on, but I didn't want there to be anything, so I figured if I could lie about it and make it seem like it was no big deal, the problem would resolve itself. Even if I did want to talk about it, I didn't know what to say.
"Because you two's relationship is rather... odd."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "How so?"
"Because," he laughed, but it wasn't a funny laugh, "you bicker like you're lovers, yet you act like you hate him."
I narrowed my eyes at Harry. His eye contact never failed, however. "Who says I'm acting?"
"Ally," Harry tilted his head slightly to the side. "Come on, now."
"What?" I asked with a laugh. "I don't know what he's told you, but I'm not into him in any way, shape, or form. I mean... how could I be with our past encounters and all the lies he told?"
Harry tightened his lips into a thin, pink line and sighed. "I suppose you have a point, Alyssa."
I gave him a tight lipped smile back and then leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Thank you, Harry." I grabbed onto the door handle and pushed it open. Once I got out and had my things gathered in my hands, I went to close the door only to be once more stopped by Harry.
"And Alyssa?" He called.
I sighed and laughed at the same time, but still ducked down to look at him. "Yes, my dear best friend?" Being outside immediately made a thousand pounds fall off my shoulders. The tension in car evaporated into thin air.
He paused and just stared at me. "You should really think about giving Niall another chance." He didn't even give me a second to respond. "I know he fucked things up the first time and lied to you and kept shit from you, but he's still the same guy you fell in love with."
I politely smiled at him and nodded once. "I'll consider it." Harry's smile widened. "But only because you asked me to, Harry. I'm not expecting anything special out of him."
"I know, I know, Alyssa." We smiled in each other's direction for a few more seconds and we both physically looked a lot more comfortable then we did a minute before. "Goodnight, Alyssa."
"Night, Harry."
With that, I finally closed the door and walked inside with my flowers. They were just so pretty that I couldn't stop staring at them or smelling them. I chuckled softly to myself when I got into the empty elevator. I couldn't believe that Harry just so happened to pick my favorite flowers without actually knowing they were my favorite.
When I got to the apartment, I unlocked the door and stepped in only to see Holly and Cole cuddled up on the couch in the dark living room while watching some horror show. Apparently it wasn't too scary though, because Cole was knocked out and using Holly's chest as a pillow. When I closed the door and walked in more, Holly's eyes caught mine and she smiled. "You got flowers," she noted.
I looked down at them again and then looked to her. "I did. They're a birthday present."
"Oo." She giggled and then slowly moved Cole off of her so she could get up. He fought her a little bit but eventually traded her for a pillow to cuddle with. "I'll put them in a vase for you," she laughed as she took them from my hands and smelled them. "I'll bring them to your room in a minute."
"Okay," I laughed and then slipped my shoes off. "I'll be in the shower."
The harsh beads of water felt amazing against my stiff muscles. Posing all day and holding a pose can be more painful than someone thinks. It doesn't matter if the pose is uncomfortable. You just have to stay like that until the photographer gets a good shot from a good angle.
Either it was that, or I was just stressed. Whatever the reason was, I was just glad to have hot water massaging me. I loved it so much, I spent the next 45 minutes in there. It was just a nice feeling after my crazy weekend and hectic Monday.
When I finally returned to my room, it was almost ten o'clock and both Holly and my brother were out cold on the couch. I turned off their movie and threw a blanket over the two of them. I couldn't help but smile at their sleepy bodies- as creepy as that sounds. They looked so content and comfy and just... happy. Valentine's Day was over a week beforehand and Cole surprised Holly with a romantic night out. Holly made sure to give me all of the details when they got home. She went on about how he surprised her at work with a bouquet of her favorite flowers and then took her to the pier and then they went to her favorite restaurant and then walked around the part of town they grew up in and met in and just everything. It was nice and I was absolutely happy that she was happy with Cole, I just couldn't help but wish I had someone to share moments like that with. I knew I didn't need a boyfriend, but sometimes it just felt like I'd be happier if I were able to find one guy that I could trust and love with everything I had like Holly did.
I went straight to bed after that and smiled at the flowers sitting on my nightstand. It was such a nice thing for Harry to do. He was the best guy friend a girl could ask for.
I woke up the next morning to someone knocking on my door. I groaned and grabbed my phone to see I still had ten minutes until my alarm was supposed to go off. I glared at the silhouette in my doorway. "Happy birthday!" Holly's voice sang as she walked in. I was ready to curse her out for waking me up before my alarm. "I made you breakfast." And suddenly, I didn't care that she woke me up early.
I shielded my eyes when she turned on my light. "It's your favorite! Biscuits and gravy with a side of cinnamon sugar toast!"
I opened my eyes and saw her walking in with a steaming red plate in her hands. "Wow," I said in my groggy morning voice. "Thanks, Holly. I haven't had breakfast in bed in a long time." My mom and dad used to make me breakfast in bed every year, but after my mom died, my dad stopped the yearly tradition. I didn't tell her that, though.
She handed me the plate and then sat next to my knees. "Those are really pretty." She nodded her head towards the flowers on my nightstand.
I briefly glanced over at them and then dug into my first biscuit. "Uhuh," I agreed. "They're my favorite kind." I shoveled bite after bite of the delicious gravy covered biscuits into my mouth without a single thought.
"Are they?" I could hear the surprise in her voice so I nodded my head since my mouth was stuffed. "Huh."
"Yeah," I told her with a mouthful of food. I chewed it a bit more and then finally swallowed so I could talk normally. "Harry didn't know either until last night." I plopped another big bite in my mouth.
"Harry?" Hearing the confusion in her voice, I looked up at her. She had one eyebrow raised and looked lost.
"Yeah," I swallowed the bit that was in my mouth and then cut up a third piece. "He got lucky in choosing flowers, I guess." I laughed and shook my head.
"I was about to say that I'm surprised Niall remembered what your favorite type of flower is since it's been so long." Holly spoke slowly and clearly, but I was still sure I misunderstood.
It was my turn to be lost. I dropped my fork and knife on the plate and looked up at Holly wondering what she was talking about. "Niall?" I asked with my mouth still full.
She nodded her head. "Yeah, Niall. He got you the flowers."
I set my plate next to me on my bed and swallowed my food. "No," I told her while sitting on my knees. "Harry got them for me. He gave them to me after he dropped Niall off at the- wait a minute..." I sat there and let everything process. I was beyond confused.
After a moment of me looking dumbfounded, Holly spoke up again. "Didn't you read the note that came with the flowers?"
My eyes snapped to her. "What note?!"
I quickly flipped over and looked at the vase on my nightstand. "There was a note in the flowers," Holly said. "I assumed you saw it."
My mouth fell open because when Holly put the flowers in a vase, she also took the note out and stood it up on my nightstand. My hands were shaking when I reached for it and picked it up. There on the note, just as Holly had claimed, was Niall's handwriting. I still remembered it from reading Happily. His left handed letters looped everywhere and had a slight tilt to them.
Happy 20th birthday, princess! I hope these are still your favorite flowers.
Love, Niall
"Son of a-"
"This was wrapped around the bottom of the stems, too," Holly cut me off while opening my top drawer. "I didn't know where your wallet was so I just stuck it in here for now." Then, she pulled out a twenty dollar bill- the same one I gave Niall the night he paid for my meal at Casa de Mama.
I lowered my eyelids at no one in sight and grabbed the money from Holly's hand. "I'm going to kill him," I growled while crumbling the bill up in my palm.
Holly laughed and patted my knee. "You have fun with that." Then she stood up. "I'm going to go give your brother his breakfast in bed before he wakes up. His funfetti pancakes are going to get cold."
I almost forgot that it was Cole's birthday, too. It felt weird sharing my birthday, but I didn't mind.
I reached back over and yanked my phone from the charger. Before I even had the chance to blink, I was holding my phone up to my ear waiting for Harry to answer his phone. The phone was clearly ringing, but Harry wasn't answering. The first time I called, he didn't answer, so I called him right back. It rang again, and I could feel myself growing more impatient with him by the second. Finally, he answered right before it would have hit his voicemail. "What?" He groaned.
"What the hell, Harry?!" I didn't waste anytime laying into him.
"I could ask you the same thing." He made more groaning noises as I assumed he sat up. "I mean, it's not even seven in the morning yet."
"Why didn't you tell me the flowers were from Niall?!"
"Oh." He sleepily sighed. Shifting could be heard on the other side. "Because I knew you wouldn't accept them if you knew they were from Niall." He was almost impossible to understand in his thick British morning voice.
"But-"
"Aye," he cut me off, "you know you love those flowers. And you said you'd give him another chance last night."
I growled through the phone. "I said I'd consider it."
"Well," he yawned, "consider your mind made up for you. Those flowers ought to get you started."
"Harry!"
"I'm going back to bed, now. Happy birthday, by the way." He yawned again and I could hear him moving around some more, probably getting comfy again.
"Harold, I swear to God, if-"
"Love you, Alyssa. I'll text you later."
"Harry!" No response. "Harry!" Then I heard a beep beep beep, signaling to me that the call ended.
I sighed and threw my phone to the other side of my bed, only for my 7:00 alarm to go off on it a few seconds later. I groaned and laid my head back against my pillow as hard as I could, but the pain wasn't satisfying enough. Too lazy to get my phone and turn off my alarm, I dealt with the irritating tune and just sat back up. I looked at the flowers again and then read the note a few times over.
I guess Harry made my mind up for me, then.