Harry
I ordered the two small bottles on the shelf in my living room in order of dimension. The smaller one on the left, the bigger one on the right, towards the window, making sure that the distance between one and the other was the same as every day. I looked at them with a sigh. Anything to keep myself busy.
I checked the time on the screen of my phone for the thousandth time. It was past midnight. I heard some footsteps in the hallway outside of my front door and I waited patiently until I knew for sure she had gone into her house. As I'd always done. I took my keys and went outside.
There was something of so fascinating in the night, for me, at least. Not in my house though, where the darkness lay upon me like a blanket, keeping me up, staring at a ceiling I couldn't see, thinking about things I shouldn't have thought about. Outside, though, it was different. The street lights enlightened my path, slightly flickering because of the electricity running through them. Dark and light, dark and light. They would've fixed them soon, though.
I stopped as I reached a closed playground. I jumped over the fence and landed on the soft grass on the other side. I looked around. There was a swing in the middle. I sat on it and gripped the chains on both sides, my hands coming in contact with the ice cold iron. I leant my head on my left hand and closed my eyes as a cold breeze swept through the park, making the swing dangle a little and freezing me down to my bones, since I wasn't wearing a coat. I had left it at home. As almost always, anyway. I knew I would've probably got sick because of that, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I also couldn't bring myself to care about the fact that going around alone in the middle of the night is what people would normally define as dangerous. I couldn't bring myself to care about a lot of things, actually. I guessed that when you reach that one point, you know nothing could possibly go even worse. I often found myself hoping to just disappear. It was like being in my own personal hellhole, in need of something to come take me out of there.
I stood up, the wind blowing right through my thin long sleeved shirt and dishevelling my hair. I looked up to the sky as I felt a cold drop hit my head. It was starting to rain. The moon was hiding behind those big, dark clouds. I sighed, and I went back home.
Grace
It was 3am, and I couldn't sleep. I had tried to, but I just couldn't.
On the kitchen table there were all the empty cups of tea I had made myself, on the nightstand lay a book I was tired of reading, still open, even though there was a bookmark in it. But I was still up.
I heard someone coming up the stairs with a stealthy step, clearly trying not to make noise. I didn't need to check to know that it was Harry. I wondered where he had been in the middle of the night.
I looked outside of the window, the rain was pouring down. I got up and opened it, making the sound become much stronger. The city was almost dead, I could see no cars or people around. I shivered as I felt a cold breeze come in, and closed the window again. I went into the kitchen, deciding to make myself another cup of tea before trying to sleep again.
I woke up suddenly when I heard a scream. I had managed to fall asleep around 4am the past night, or early morning, as you'd prefer to call it. I looked at my alarm clock. It was 6:27am.
I heard another scream break through the wall of my apartment, so I retrieved my flip-flops and got out as soon as I could. I knew it came from Harry's house. I started knocking on his door nonstop, hoping to get some kind of answer that could've helped me to understand what was going on. All of sudden I heard steps on the ground, and I stopped knocking. Harry opened the door soon after. He looked so tired.
"Are you okay?" I asked him noticing his glazed eyes, earning a few seconds of silence before getting an actual reply.
"I'm fine" he said. "I think I might've got a bit sick though" he added, noticing that I didn't look convinced at all.
I nodded slowly. "Can I take you out for breakfast?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had been created, still concerned about him.
He looked unsure. "Now?"
"Whenever you want. Today's my free day" I replied.
"You can, I guess. I'll just put something on" he said, looking out of the window of the hallway.
I smiled at him. "Just knock at my door when you're done, yeah?" I said as he closed his.
I went back into my house, wondering if I had really just asked Harry Styles to have breakfast together.
I put on a pair of black jeans, a cream white sweater and a pair of boots, and I sat on my couch, waiting for him to come knocking. After a few minutes he did, so I grabbed my coat and my bag and went outside, locking the door behind myself.
I looked at him. He had swept his hair back again, and he seemed to be dressed nicely under his brown coat.
"Let's go! I know a place that's just perfect" I said after a few seconds, and he nodded.
As we walked to the cafe the silence fell on us again. When we got there, I entered first, and held the door open for him.
"What are you getting?" I asked him as we made our way to a table near the big window.
"I'm not really hungry" he replied.
"Nonsense" I said. "Tea or coffee?"
"Tea" he answered without hesitating, taking off his coat and hanging it on the chair as I did the same.
I nodded and went to take our orders.
"A dark coffee, a tea, earl grey please, and two chocolate cupcakes."
"Takeaway?" The old lady behind the counter asked, remembering of the past times I had made the same order.
"Nope" I replied, paying for the breakfast.
After some minutes I came back to the table and put the food on it.
Harry took one of the cupcakes and stared at it. "So this is where you've been getting those cupcakes all this time" he said.
"Yep" I replied, and took a bite of mine.
"Actually they're pretty good, I have to admit" he continued, and took a piece from it with his fingers, eating it.
I smiled at him. "So what do you do?" I asked him, trying to make conversation.
"I'm a teacher. I'm on a bit of a break now, though" he answered.
"Oh, that's cool! What do you teach?" I asked again.
He looked down at the cup of tea and checked if it was too hot. "Literature."
"I think it's like, the only subject I didn't hate when I was at school" I admitted, and he laughed. "Why are you on a break?"
His eyes widened for a second, but then he just shrugged. "Don't know, felt like I needed it."
His fast reply made me understand that that topic was not to be touched, so I tried to cover up fast. "You're really young to be a teacher."
"I'm 25, I'm not that young" he replied with a little smile. "I used to be the teacher's assistant, but he had a bit of a predicament so I took over. He was quite old, so he just stopped working and I stayed there" he explained.
"I'm sure you're an amazing teacher" I told him, and he smiled.
"I hope so." He put his elbows on the table, leaning down on it, and his collar went lower, showing me the edge of some tattoos. I was quite surprised, I didn't make him out to be the kind to get tattoos. But then again, I didn't know him at all.
"What do you do, instead?"
I was brought back by the sound of his voice. "I'm a waitress, nothing much."
"That's cool. Now I get why you always come home at weird hours!" he joked, and I laughed.
"You know, I just adore to come back home after midnight" I said to make him laugh. His laugh was such a lovely sound.
"See it on the bright side, at least you get to sleep well right after you come back home" he replied.
"Yeah" I replied, omitting the fact that I hadn't slept good at all lately, and it was all because of him.
I looked at the time on my phone, it was 8am. Time had definitely flied talking to him.
"I really gotta go now, I have a cat to look after-"
I stopped mid-sentence when I saw the corners of his lips turn up.
"Don't you dare laugh."
"You won't get a sound from me" he replied. "It's been fun, by the way" he added, standing up.
I did the same and put my coat on. "I really enjoyed it. We should meet again sometime soon."
We went out and said our goodbyes before leaving.
I had just turned around when I realised something. "Harry! Wait!" I called him, and he stopped and turned around.
I got a piece of paper and a pen out of my and scribbled something down on it, giving it to him right after. "Here, this is my phone number."
He took it gently and smiled at me. "I'll make sure to text you, then."
"Bye" I said, and so did he.
I turned around and started walking to Niall and Liam's, much more content than what I'd been that morning when I had woken up. That day seemed to have just taken a turn for the best.