Piper's POV:
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"Hi Louis." I grin at the rather short boy before my eyes as he opens the door for me to enter his and Harry's shared flat.
"Why hello there!" Louis replies, stepping out from behind the door and holding his arms out for me to hug him. Rolling my eyes, I walk into the flat and step into Louis' arms. "I haven't seen you in forever!" Louis grins, pulling back from the hug and looking me in the eyes.
"It's been two days, Lou." I tell the man-boy in front of me, my eyes landing on the stubble running along his jawline and chin.
"Still too long." Louis smirks matter-of-factly, drawing my eyes back up to his aqua-green ones.
"Right." I nod, the corners of my lips tugging up into a full on smile as Louis shuts the door behind us and looks at me expectantly.
"So, what brings you to my headquarters?" He asks, placing his hands in his pockets as he ambles down the hall, past me, causing me to follow him to the kitchen.
"Harry wanted me to come over." I shrug, though he's not even looking at me to see my actions.
"I see, and why's that?"
I blink in response, "Because you guys are leaving for America tomorrow." I reply, unsure whether or not it was a joking rhetorical question.
"Oh, right." Louis turns to face me, his fingers landing on a bottle of beer sat on the counter, obviously one he had previously been drinking from and left out on the counter to answer the door as the bottle is only half-full of the alcoholic beverage.
My eyes flicker back and forth from the drink which is now pressed to his lips as he takes a swig from it, to his eyes as I cock my left eyebrow up at him questioningly.
"What?" Louis asks, actually perplexed at my half-questioning, half-serious gaze.
"Should you really be drinking that the night before you leave early in the morning for tour?"
"It's just one, Piper." He shakes his head, his eyebrows going up for a second as if mocking sass. "Plus, getting wasted is not exactly something I plan to do tonight."
I shrug, sighing in mock defeat. Louis merely chuckles in response.
"I'll drink responsibly." He assures me, cracking a smirk before adding while nodding in direction of the hallway. "Harry's upstairs, packing."
I smile, nodding a 'thanks' to the boy before turning around and making my way over to the staircase to Harry's room.
"He best not be sore when the lads and I work with him tomorrow!" I hear Louis' amused tone call down from the kitchen, causing me to freeze on the staircase in complete and utter horror at the boy's comment.
"Louis William Tomlinson!" Harry's voice shouts from his bedroom, sounding slightly muffled from behind the door, obviously having heard the Doncaster boy's words as Louis' entertained snickering is discernible.
My eyes are still wide in embarrassment and my cheeks having a tinge of pink on them, blushing crazily as a door from upstairs can be heard opening and Harry's head pops out from around a corner, looking down at me, not a trace of embarrassment on his features.
"'Allo." Harry greets me in what can only be thought of as an Australian accent as he walks out from behind the corner.
I continue my way up the stairs, still madly awkward and uncomfortable, my eyes avoiding Harry's as I presume a smirk is playing on his features as he watches me in unmistakeable amusement that I don't even have to look at him to sense.
"Don't take Lou seriously," Harry murmurs in a still playful expression, pretending as if it's a piece of information that needs to remain secret between us two.
I smile awkwardly, dimples making their way onto my blushing freckled cheeks.
We make our way into Harry's room and I seat myself on his desk chair, next to his computer which has a whole collection of articles about himself open in the web browser.
Harry continues to pack up his bag as Louis told me he was doing so as my eyes scan over the miscelaneous Sugarscape stories in slight amusement, completely forgetting my embarrassment.
"Bit self-centered, are we? Reading articles about ourselve's?" I chortle, causing Harry's gaze to wander over to me.
I can feel him making his way over to the computer, leaning over my shoulder and glances at the screen. "Yeah, I just like to keep up with the articles about me." He shrugs as though It's no big deal.
My eyes wander down the list of suggested articles on the side and one of them catches my eye.
'Sharpie Tattoo on Piper Rosenwood?'
My heart practically skips a beat as realization hits me. They've found out. Out of all the ways I've covered up the one thing that used to keep me going, it wasn't enough. They've found out.
"Something wrong?" Harry asks curiously, looking down at me, eyebrows furrowed.
Before I can look away from the screen, his pupils follow my line of vision to the link of the article. Without saying anything, Harry reaches for the computer mouse, clicking on the story, curiousity etched on his features as the page loads.
I bite the nail on my thumb nervously, unsure of what I'm supposed to do. It's not a secret I've meant to keep, but I never told Harry about the five letters marked on my skin, and I've certainly never advertised the lettering to anyone else.
"Sharpie Tattoo on Piper Rosenwood?"
'It's no secret that Harry Style's girlfriend, Piper Rosenwood, is not an open book when it comes to the public eye. Though there are a few fans whom have had the great fortune and luck to meet the beauty -they've said that she's absolutely lovely, though a bit shy and reserved- it's still rather difficult to tell much off of her personality due to the fact that the only material there is of her is videos of her with fans and her YouTube channel in which she only uses for posting videos of her singing. (In case you're wondering, her channel name is 'PiperRSings'.)
We, ourselves, have never had the pleasure to meet the lovely YouTuber, and girlfriend of one of our favorite hotties out there, though we have found a stream of slightly interesting photo slips which fans have taken with Rosenwood. No! Not those kinds of slips! We're speaking of multiple slips in photos where her left hand wrist had cursive writing on it. It's assumable that the ink isn't permanent as in some pictures, it looks thicker or more italicized than in other photos.
In one specific shot of Harry and Piper walking out of a local restaurant from last week Wednesday, a glimpse at the marking is quite obvious.
'Strong.'
Strong is the word of choice Rosenwood has chosen to mark on her left hand wrist.
Though for some this may not be considered 'news worthy material', it certainly is a fascinating in-look on what could be a hint at a big part of Rosenwood and her life.
What do you guys think? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!'
Harry finishes reading the article and without a second's thought, he reaches over to my left hand where he tenderly pulls down the few bracelets covering up the permanent marker ink.
His mouth parts in wonder and confusion, his brow furrowing, absolutely bewildered for a second before his beautiful green irises travel up to meet my own brown ones which are wide in half-horror, half-relief that he's taking it so understandingly.
"Strong."
The word rolls off his tongue as naturally as my name; though somehow, in this sense, the word sounds so alien and foreign to me.
His long eyelashes bat down slowly as he blinks thoughtfully, green eyes boaring into my own. "You are so strong, Piper."
Next thing I know, his arms are wrapped around me, tight.
"Did you ever..." He whispers in my ear, his intention of the question clear.
"No." I shake my head, eyes filling up with warm, salty water as I bury my nose into the crook of his neck, closing my eyelids..
"Did you think of ever..."
Wordlessly, I nod slowly causing Harry's hold on me to grow tighter as he exhales warm air onto my skin through the thin material of my shirt.
The next words that Harry says echo around my head, leaving me wordless.
"Don't ever."
~*~
My eyelids flutter open in the semidarkness.
I must've fallen asleep during the movie.
Harry and I had been watching '17 Again' as to spend the last evening before he heads off to tour together. Looking around, I realize that Harry must've tucked me in under the duvet of his king sized bed, making himself comfortable on the opposite side, leaving a respectful distance between us two.
Smiling at such a subtle yet kind gesture, I sit up groggily, my eyes still heavy from sleep.
Looking at the sleeping boy next to me, I watch tiredly as his chest rises and falls slowly. His deep and slow breathing the only thing audible in the absolute silence of the room. I lean my head against the headboard, closing my eyes in thought.
Harry's leaving. Whether it be tomorrow, or technically today as I'm not sure if it's dusk at the moment, he's leaving.
I'll be seeing him in a few weeks time, in America.
I can't wait.
Leaning forward off of the headboard of the bed, I open my eyes, looking down at the sleeping boy next to me, looking as peaceful as ever.
I run my fingers through Harry’s signature curls, the only light in the room being provided by the sun rising outside as it’s now becoming dusk. His chest rises and falls slowly and at a steady pattern. His eyelashes flutter ever so slightly in his sleep, his mouth parted a little bit for him to breathe easily, causing his warm breath to escape his mouth onto my cold skin.
I place a breathy kiss on his forehead as to not wake the sleeping boy.
He has no idea how much I love him.
~*~
Thoughts?
Hope you liked the chapter!
-Sydney
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