~Annabel's POV~
I pulled the straightener through my hair one last time, and switched it off. Fixing any weird parts of my hair with my fingers, I stared at my reflexion in the mirror, wondering why Harry would pick me, of all people. I wasn't really a special sight, in my own eyes. There were prettier people than me out there, and Harry could get any of them, from what I heard, the first time I saw him.
I sighed weakly, and pushed myself off the white chair, just to grab a bottle of sweet-smelling perfume. I sprayed some on my wrists, and rubbed them together, only to pat them onto my neck lightly. I applied a light coat of mascara, and a thin line of liquid eyeliner on my lid, before walking into my closet. I ended up choosing a black dress that buttoned all the way down, with a cute layer of lace underneath the solid fabric, and on the back of the dress. I clicked the home button of my phone to check the time, and it was 5:29. I began to head down the stairs, just as the bell rang.
"I got it!" I yelled out to my family. Smoothing down my hair with my hands, and taking a deep breath, I twisted the lock, and opened the door, exposing Harry, dressed quite nicely, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He looked up as the door opened, and smiled once his eyes locked on mine.
"Hey," He grinned, accentuating his dimples.
"Hi," I smiled, tucking my hair behind my ear and moving aside. "Come in." He stepped into the house, and I closed the door behind him, as my mother approached from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.
"Harry, it's good to see you again." She said, reaching up for a hug. She kissed him on the cheek in a motherly/friendly way, before wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You too, Mrs. Shaw." He smiles. "These are for your family," Harry awkwardly holds out the beautiful bouquet of colorful carnations.
"These are absolutely beautiful!" She gushes. "And call me Madeline, remember? Dinner will be ready shortly, so make yourself at home in the meantime." She adds with a warm smile.
"Thank you... Madeline." Harry nods. We both stay silent until my mom is out of sight.
"Those flowers are beautiful, thank you for those." I speak.
"They were gonna be for you, and you only, but I didn't want to show up without anything for the rest of your family." He explains.
"Well I'm sure they're grateful for them." I laugh.
"You look beautiful," Harry compliments, looking me up and down, in a non-offensive way.
"Thank you, so do you." I smile, fixing the collar of his plain dark blue polo.
"You don't think it's too much?"
"Not at all, my parents will like it, especially my mom, but she already seems to love you." I chuckle.
"Thank god, but now I have to get your dad to like me."
"I think he already does." I giggle.
"Good, because even if they didn't, I'm afraid I'd still have to date you anyways." He grabs me, and puts me over his shoulder, causing me to shriek out in surprise.
"Harry, put me down!" I yell, laughing as he does the same.
"Annabel?" I look behind me, over Harry's shoulder, at the front door, and there stands Josh and Cameron. Harry slowly lowers me to the ground, and I straighten out my dress and hair awkwardly.
"Josh," I clear my throat. "This is Harry, my boyfriend. Harry, this is Josh, my brother and his girlfriend Cameron."
"So this is the famous Harry," Josh smiles holding out a hand.
"Hey," Harry smiles back, shaking it, with a strange look in his eyes.
"I've heard a lot about you. Annabel talks about you a lot. So much, it gets kinda annoying."
"Josh!" I exclaim as a cue to get him to shut up.
"It's true," I hear him whisper to Harry.
"Dinner's ready!" My mother's voice travels to us. I slip my fingers through Harry's and we walk into the large kitchen together, as my mom puts down the last bowl of food in the middle of the table. My father walks out of the office, and greets Harry with a firm handshake, and Cameron with a hug. We all sit down at the table. I am next to Cameron, and Josh is next to Harry, while my mother and father sit at opposite ends of the table; at the heads of it.
"Alright, everyone dig in!" My father announces, and everyone begins to add food to their plates.
"So, Harry, how old are you?" My father asks. I kinda choked on a piece of chicken at this question. He was so straight foward, and blunt about it.
"I'm 20, sir." Harry seems unphased, thank god.
"What do you do?" He asks.
"I go to a special college every Tuesday and Thursday, for classes, sir."
"I see, and what classes are you taking?"
"Culinary classes, sir. But I haven't been attending recently. The chef is gone at the moment. Has been for a while." That surprised me. I didn't know Harry could cook- or, well, was learning to. I couldn't judge his cooking or baking yet, since I haven't tried anything he's made.
"Wow, that's pretty neat. Cooking?"
"And baking, sir."
"Are you any good?" My father chuckles.
"I'd like to think so." Harry laughs.
"Do you watch any sports, son?" My father asks. He has this thing where he calls people 'son' even when they're not related to him.
"I do, I enjoy watching football."
"Really? What team do you root for, in football?" My father asks.
"Mostly Manchester United." Harry responds.
"That's a soccer team, son." Dad laughs, like Harry doesn't know anything.
"Dad, they call soccer, football in England." I interrupt.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot. Sorry," He chuckles.
"No worries, sir. But I do enjoy American Football. I like the Greenbay Packers." He answers. They converse about sports and other things for a little while longer, and I zone out, until my father says something that catches my attention.
"Harry, are you gonna take good care of my little girl?" My head shoots over to look at my father.
"Yes sir." Harry nods.
"You do know what you're dealing with, correct?" My father raises a brow. "Ow!" He yelps, before Harry can respond. I look over at Josh, who gives me a look that I deciphered as an- I got this look.
"Brad, let the poor boy eat and stop asking him questions." My mother speaks through clenched teeth. I'm too embarassed to make eye contact with Harry at the moment, even though I feel his eyes calling me to look up from my plate.
"Is everyone finished with their meal?" Josh asks, breaking the awkward silence.
"I got it," I barely speak, pushing my chair out. I walk around the table, gathering the empty plates, as everyone else gets up to leave.
"I'll help." Harry offers, collecting the empty dishes that held the different foods. He sets them on the counter by the sink, and stands beside me.
"Sorry about my dad," I sheepishly smile.
"It's nothing to be sorry for." He assures me. I begin running the water, and I start to grab dishes. Harry reaches over and grabs a plate as well, and helps rinse them with me, before placing them in the dishwasher.
"What do you want to do tonight?" I ask.
"You can come over?"
"Okay, that's fine."
"You should bring some clothes over as well." He chuckles.
"I will be sure to do that." I laugh, turning off the water. I shake off my hands, to remove any extra water, and Harry splashes the extra water from his hands, in my face. "Harry!" I gasp.
"Sorry, I just couldn't resist." He laughs. I turned on the faucet and stuck my hand under quickly, and flicked my fingers at Harry's face, mimicking his previous movements. "Hey!" He laughed, grabbing both my wrists. He tugged me forward, and I stumbled closer to his body. He tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear, and slowly caressed my face, before his hand came back down to my waist. "I love you, Annabel." He whispers.
"I love you too, Harry." With these words, he slowly leans down, and our lips touch softly, almost as if it was our first time kissing, and he was moving slowly, incase I decided to refuse or pull away.
"Ahem." A voice called. We stepped away from each other in a quick move, and looked to my right.
"Josh, why do you always find me at the worst times?" I groan, causing him to laugh.
"Sorry. Can I just talk to you really quickly?" He lowers his voice.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"We'll be right back," Josh smiled at Harry.
"Okay, take your time." Harry responds. Josh tugs at my wrist and pulls me away, out of anyone's sight.
"You know, you should really thank me for saving your ass out there, when Dad was about to expose your secret."
"Thanks for that," I laugh quietly.
"Annabel, I think you should tell Harry."
"No!" I whisper-yell.
"You love him, don't you?"
"Of course!"
"Then, why won't you tell him? What're you so afraid of?" Josh urged.
"Nothing, I just don't feel like it's the right time to tell him. I will eventually!"
"Yeah, when?" He asked, unconvinced. "If you're afraid of him being mad, he's just gonna be more mad if he finds out himself-"
"I'm not afraid of him being mad, Josh." I roll my eyes. "Just give me time, okay? It's my decision, not yours." I say defensively, walking away. Harry is sitting at the clean dinner table, on his phone when I come back.
"Hey," He smiles.
"Hi, let's go gather my things." I say, draping his arm over my shoulder as he kisses my temple.
"Okay," He agrees.
_________________________
Hey guys! My first day of highschool was today, and let me tell you- it sucked.
Anyways, I don't really know how long this story will be. I don't want to rush things, because it could mess up the story, but I don't want to make it agonizingly long either! So if you could leave a comment here, telling me how many chapters you'd be willing to read, it'd help a lot! Thanks!
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR 1K READS IT THRILLED ME!