🎶 Songs for the chapter 🎶
God damn you're beautiful- Chester lee
Little do you know- Alex & Sierra
Thinking out loud- Ed Sheeran
Beth's POV
His arms are held tightly around my waist and I don't want him to let go. I feel myself tighten my arms tighter around him as I take his scent. I close my eyes and bury my face into the crook of his neck and I hear him chuckle and place a kiss on the back of my neck. I open my eyes to see Abby and Liam standing there looking at us with smiles on their faces. Abby claps her hands together and laughs while Liam smiles and waves at me before mouthing to me that they'll be inside waiting for us.
I can't believe he would do this. He giving me a prom? At least I think that's what this is. He didn't have to do this, of course I was upset about not going to the one held at the high school, but I was never too upset to the point where I would cry about it. I know he knew about how these small things are important to me though. I remember when I was upset and mad at him a couple nights ago when it was storming; he tried to clear up the awkward silence between us by mentioning prom. He must have noticed my look at the floor at his mentions of words.
He's wearing a suit.
Harry is wearing a suit.
I can still see the small patterns of tattoos going up onto his neck under the black fabric and I smile at how he must've hate to put this on.
"Are you okay?" He loosens his grip from around me and I finally step away from him to wipe under my eyes.
I let out a small laugh and look up at him. "I'm fine. I can't believe you're doing this."
"I told you I would make it up to you." He smiles wide, making his dimples pop out. I smile back at him and my eyes start watering up again. Gosh, I can never seem to stop crying!
I nod and play with the thin layer of my dress. "I know, but I didn't think you would do this." I wave my hand over him and then to the fancy restaurant inside.
"That's good! I wanted to surprise you." He puts his hand on the back of my neck and pulls me closer. His forehead is rested on mine before I finally reach up to him to press my lips into his. This kiss is simple and I pull back after a few seconds.
"Consider me surprised." I take his hand and rub my hand over his smooth inked skin.
"Do you want to go inside?" He points to the opened door that holds dimmed lighting and candle lit tables.
"Sure."
"Oh, wait!" He stops me as soon as we begin to walk. He digs his hand into his pocket. I really hope he didn't get me anything... "Two things."
The first thing he pulls out is a camera. It isn't the same camera that I have seen him have before and I push back all of the memories of me opening that box in the first place.
"Take a picture with me." He says and he takes me by the hand again to move us over to the corner of the balcony.
"Seriously?" I ask him and he nods.
"You have to draw it of course." He smirks and I giggle.
"Deal." I bring my hand around his back and he wraps his around my waist. "Do you want me to take it?" I ask him.
"Are you questioning my ability to achieve the perfect selfie angle?" He jokingly gasps and I playfully slap him.
"Well it seems like you're having trouble to me." I tell him and he pushes his eye brows together in confusion. "You forgot to turn the camera on, Harry." I try to hold in my laugh.
"Oh," he embarrassingly laughs and pushes the small button to turn the camera on.
The scenery behind us is perfect and the camera he holds in front of us will capture all of the colors of the sunset perfectly. He pulls me closer towards him and wraps his arm around my waist. We both smile at the camera in front of us and the flash blinds the both of us.
"Perfect," I cheer and he looks down and smiles at me.
"I still like the first one better." He shrugs and I pout a little but it goes away when he looks back at me. "But onto the second thing.." He goes back into his pocket and pulls something out.
His fist is still closed around whatever it is when his hand comes into view. "I don't know..if this is weird or too fast or whatever but-" he starts as he starts to open his hand and something starts sparkling as soon as he holds the object in between his thumb and forefinger.
"I mean, I know it's stupid." He continues.
"You got me a ring?" My jaw is slightly opened. My eyes move away from the gorgeous piece of jewelry to look back up at him. He's nervous and his eyes keep searching mine for any response.
"We'll I- I mean you don't have to accept it I know it's really stupid and you may think I'm pushing my limits here but I felt like this could be a step closer for you to trust me again. Or at least try and trust me again." He smiles nervously and it fades away quickly.
I look around us at the couple of people going into the restaurant. They glance over at us, seeing the contrast between the top of us and I notice the parents having weird looks on their faces while the teenage girl smiles at me.
"It's just a promise ring!" He adds when I don't answer. "Just a promise ring," he repeats and laughs nervously. "Not that I wouldn't want to marry you it's just that.."
"Harry-" I stop him and let out a smile. "It's okay." I assure him. "What exactly is it that you're promising me?" I try to hide my smile and I look back down at the ring.
It's beautiful. The small diamonds glistened off of the little light that is still present within the almost dark sky. My eyes never leave his as I wait for him to form his words.
"That I will never lie to you again. I'll never hurt you like I did, I promise you that. I know that I did was terrible and I hate myself every single minute of every single day for making such an idiotic mistake. If I could go back in time just to listen to Niall when he told me to stop the plan I would. But I am promising you that I will love you forever, I mean it. Nothing is going to change my feelings for you. I promise." He shifts of his heels and looks back down at ring.
I take the ring from his hand and hold it with both of my hands as I stare down at it. I notice a small engraving at the bottom.
"You are the reason I believe in love. -H"
I smile down at the small words imprinted into the ring and slowly slide it onto my right hand ring finger. It fits perfectly and I like back up at him and he holds a dimpled smile on his face. I step closer towards him and reach up to hold his face between my hands so I can kiss him.
"Thank you," I pull back and dap my eyes.
He rests his forehead on mine and starts to laugh a little. "I'm trying not to make you cry," he points out.
"Well it's hard when you keep doing cute and romantic things." I pull alway from him and he drops his jaw.
"I am not romantic!"
"You're kidding right?" I ask him. I can't help but have my fingers play with the ring that is on my finger.
He's obviously romantic. This right here, this restaurant alone he reserved for us just to give me the closest thing I can have to a prom. The bracelet that I used to wear that he gave me for my birthday. That Romeo and Juliet book that he remembered me reading in the library; he remembered exactly where I put it on the shelf and purchased it for my birthday as well.
And this ring...
As much as he would hate to admit it, he knows himself that he does have a romantic side.
"I can go find Adam and punch him a few times to remind you," he raises and eyebrow and I immediate shake my head.
"No! Don't." I warn him and he just laughs. "You don't have to admit it, I just know you're romantic." I shrug and he shakes his head.
"No I'm not." He argues.
"Yes. You are."
"Nope." He puts his hands in his pocket and smiles at me.
"Yes. Now let's go inside." I grab his hand and drag him towards the door. I hear him chuckle behind me and he brings his hands to my waist and tickles my sides to make me laugh.
When we walk in I'm surprised to see that the restaurant isn't all that crowded at all. I see over on the corner Abby and Liam sitting down at a table with a single candle placed in the middle of them. As we walk over to their table I look around at all of the detailing inside. White lights are all around the perimeter. My heels are lightly clicking against the sparkly, black tiled floor. On one side of the room, booths for family are placed while on the other half are tables for two where Abby and Liam are sitting.
Abby's eyes meet mine and smiles widely at me before she nudges Liam's are across the table. I give them both a small wave when we reach the table.
"Took you long enough," Abby rolls her eyes and I laugh. "I'm starving!"
"You didn't have to wait for us." I tell her as soon as we sit down. She waves me off and picks up her menu that I'm assuming the waiter already dropped off.
Harry and I decided to push out tables together with theirs and I sit next to Abby while Harry is sitting across from me just looking at me.
"You look beautiful, Bethany." Liam compliments and I thank him sweetly.
Harry's eyes flash over to the side of him to look at Liam with a smirk on his lips. "Watch yourself" he raises an eyebrow with his voice full of humor.
"You got a very protective one there," Liam rolls his eyes towards Harry and I laugh.
"He can be," I agree and they all laugh.
"But don't worry, Harold. I got my own pretty lady." Liam says as he grabs Abby's hand over the table before bringing it to his lips to kiss it.
"Makes me sick," Harry scrunches his nose and looks over at Abby waiting for her reaction. "You can do so much better Liam."
"Harry!" I swat his arm and eye him down.
I expect Abby to say something rude back to him but she doesn't, I just hear her laughing uncontrollably and Liam and I both look at her confused while Harry squints his eyes at her while shaking his head.
"It's okay," she shrugs it off. "He's just upset because you're wearing pink." She smiles widely and Harry sends her the middle finger.
"Because I'm wearing pink?" I question and she nods. "You told me to get pink just to annoy him? He hates pink." I know exactly why she did it now. Well, the dress is gorgeous.
"I had to," she giggles in between her words. "I knew he would be pissed. He told me earlier on the phone to make sure you didn't get a pink dress. Of course, me being a lovely step sister, did exactly what he didn't want." I can't help but laugh and Harry just continues to smile at me.
"Yeah, you're just so lovely." He smiles at her and then looks back at me.
He keeps staring at me. It's not an uncomfortable stare, I just don't know why he's doing it. He pulls one half of his lips up to smile at me and a raise one eye brow and do the same to him.
His mouths start to form words and I stare down at his lips. "I love you." He says and I go back to look at his eyes. Just before I can say it back, the waiter comes to out table.
"Hello, I'm Scott, I will be your waiter for the night." I look up at the boy holding a small notebook and pen in his hand. I look back over at Harry but his eyes are focused on the waiter. I pull my eyebrows together and look over to where he is.
It's stiff.
"Hi," he smiles down at me.
I can feel the awkward tension between The two of them. I haven't seen him since the night of that party and I know that it didn't end well..
"Hi" I politely say back with a small wave. I'm feeling a bit awkward and I can feel Harry's gaze moving back and forth between stiff and I.
Stiff holds a smile at me before returning his attention back to our orders. "So may I start you all off with some drinks?" He asks and Abby orders a shirly temple and Liam orders a coke. I end up ordering just a water with Lemon and Harry does the same.
"I'll be right back," he smiles again before putting his pen back behind his ear and leaving the four of us.
"You know him?" Liam asks me when there's a brief moment of awkward silence.
I clear my throat and play with hem of my beautiful pink dress I'm wearing. "Um, not really." I shake my head and look at Harry who just stares down at the empty plate in front of him. "I met him at a party last Friday." I tell Liam and he nods with my response.
I take a glance at Abby who holds a worried expression as she looks over at harry. She gives me a small smile when she sees me looking at her.
Stiff comes back shortly with our drinkswithout saying anything that'll put us into a full conversation. I respect that he has noticed Harry's reaction and decided not to push anything any further. We all end up eating our food rather quickly considering we were all pretty hungry.
Abby and Liam were telling me about the college letters that they received and being accepted into the ones they applied for. Liam tells me that he is still wondering if he'll want to attend local or go to Texas where the other school is at. Abby had told me that she has already been accepted into Juilliard and I start to think about how wonderful it would be if I got accepted into NYU this fall so we would be able to see each other a lot.
"We're going to dance. Are you guys coming?" Abby stands and takes Liam's hand and starts moving away from the table.
I look over at Harry who hasn't said a word since stiff, or should I say Scott, came and took our orders. He has been ignoring the small taps I made on his legs with my foot to gain his attention and whenever I would start talking about something he would show no interest in giving his thoughts about it.
"In a minute" I tell her and she nods understandingly. As soon as they leave the dining area and walk up the steps and into the party room I look back over at Harry who takes a sip from his drink.
"Are you mad?" I ask him and he doesn't say anything. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin this night. It was going so perfect and I'm in no mood for any type of argument.
Considering he isn't answering me, I pick at the already chipped nail polish on my fingernails and stare out of the window. The sun has completely went down and now the water glistens with the big, bright moon.
"No," he answers after what seems like forever. He still isn't looking at me and it's driving me crazy.
"Can you look at me?" I ask him and he finally does. "It seems like you are mad."
"I just don't like him," he looks away almost embarrassingly. "Maybe I don't like the fact that he gave you drugs, Bethany. He's an asshole and clearly doesn't have good intentions at all." He sounds like my father... "And the last thing I need is another person trying to take you away from me."
"You think that's going to happen?" I sit up straight in my seat and lean in closer so have him look back up at me.
"It will. Someday." He mumbles.
"It won't." I argue. "I don't want to ruin this night, Harry, but I am so tired of you thinking that I deserve better than you."
"You do, Bethany." He scoffs. "You're trying to tell me that you haven't once thought about how you deserve much better than an expelled, tattooed, shitty life, short tempered guy?"
"That's exactly what I am saying." I keep my voice low and i'm surprised he does too. "What do I have to do to make you realize that?" I ask him and he doesn't answer. I take the napkin off of my lap and toss it onto the table before standing up and walking away.
"Beth" I hear him call out to me but I don't answer him. As childish as it may sound, if he wants to not answer to me then I will do the same.
I spot the sign that says restrooms in the corner of the room and I stride over to there.
I go into the largest stall and click the lock so that even if Harry decides to come in, he won't be able to come in hear unless he climbs through the bottom. As soon as I hear the bathroom door being forcefully opened I know it's him.
"Beth," he calls me again. "Come out of that stall." I can tell he is right outside the stall and I can picture him leaning his head on the black metal. He taps the door with his fist making the lock jingle. "Open up."
"I'm not arguing with you." I lean my body against the wall.
"Neither am I" he says. "Please just open up. I'll climb under if I have to."
I knew he would consider that..
I let out a long huff as I go over to unlock the stall so I can go out. He moves back a little so I can open the door but before I can move past him he walks into the stall, locks it, and blocks the way out.
"What are you doing?" I ask him.
"Making sure you won't run off again." He slightly smiles and I cross my arms over my chest and lean back against the wall again. "I'm sorry,"
"Okay."
"You don't believe me, do you?" He rolls his eyes. "I am. I don't want to ruin this night for you. I just hate feeling like I'm in some type of competition to keep you. I see the way people look at you." He waves his hand in the air gesturing over to me.
My eyes never leave the floor as he speaks.
"I see the way people look at me, I see the way people look at you and I see the way they look at us together." He says and I shake my head. "I don't blame them." He adds.
"Harry," I look back up at him. "I don't care what people have to say or think. You shouldn't either."
"I know."
"And you're most certainly not in a competition ." I clarify. "Can you just do me a favor?" I ask and he nods. "Just please stop saying I'm too good for you. It hurts my feelings that you think that way. I deserve you as much as you deserve me,"
"I won't anymore." He leans his head back against the door and I do the same against the wall.
"Thank you." I smile and he sends me one back. "Can we leave the bathroom now? You aren't even supposed to be in here. Someone can come in"
"No one is coming in." He sends me a dimpled smile. "I locked the door." He makes his way over to me and kisses me cheek.
The immediate touch of his skin against mine send chills down my entire body. The small bumps rising on my arms, legs and neck all giving me a love-hate relationship.
He sends kisses down my neck and he makes a small stripe with his warm tongue. "I love the effect I have on you." He breathes into my neck. His other hand holds the back of my neck while he continues his soft kisses along my jawline.
He shifts his hips so that his lower Region touches my leg. I can already feel the bulge through his black dress pants. "This is one of the effects you have on me." He whispers and I gasp quietly. His hand trails up under my dress and I grab ahold of his wrist. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I pant. "Just not here" i look away somewhat embarrassed for some reason.
"I'm not going to have sex with you." He chuckles. He still sends kisses down my jaw and I shiver each time his tongue gently slides over my smooth skin. "Yet." He adds.
"If you keep doing that something more will happen." I admit. "Can you wait until we get home at least?" I ask him and he nods.
"Just give him a minute to go down." He says and I turn back around to look at him confused.
"What?"
He points down to the growing bulge inside his pants and I start to laugh and I look away again.
"You call it a 'him'." I laugh and he just smiles.
He laughs with me and tells me to be quiet.
--
The rest of the night is consisting of Liam's funny dance moves and Abby telling me about how he's been trying to teach her some of them other than her Ballet moves.
"Everything okay with you two?" She asks me as her head follows to Harry who continues to push at Liam every times he bumps into him with his obnoxious swinging arms he calls dancing.
"Yeah," I nod. "He doesn't like that waiter very much,"
"I could tell."
"He's scared that I'll leave him. For someone better," I tell her and she looks over at me with a frown. "I just want him to know that for me, he's the best I can get. The best that I want and the best that I need." I smile and she does too.
"He has changed so much." She tells me, "you really have a strong impact on him. You made him a better person. You had to see when he came over to the house just so he can talk to his mother about the problems you two were having."
"He told her?" I gasp.
"Yeah, and he never asks for advice. Especially from his mother." She laughs. "Anne was pretty pissed about what he did but she would always stick by him. Any mother would for her child." She tells me and I nod.
"He's always been incredible. He just needed to find himself I guess." I shrug.
I feel Abby's hand touch mine as she brings it up to view. "What the hell is this?" She smiles widely.
"Oh," I smile. "He gave me a promise ring." She stares at it and let's it sparkle in her eyes.
"Wow." Her face holds so much shock. "Do you think that ring will be replaced one day?" She smirks while taking her straw of her drink between her lips.
"Replaced?"
"Yeah, Like with an engagement ring. Wedding ring?"
"I haven't thought about any of that. We've only been together for eight months." I remind her.
"Well obviously not now." She laughs. "My cousin had a promise ring once. She said that they're mainly used for keeping promises to people, obviously, but those promises meaning forever. And then she told me that they're also meant to say 'I will marry you some day'. Harry had never talked about his future but judging by that ring, he's thought about a pretty damn good one with you." Her eyes find the ring again as she midges me arm playfully.
I never thought about a future that so far ahead. I mean, I know eventually I will want all of that, kids and all but I never fully spent the time to think about doing that. I would want so much more to happen before I take that huge step. No doubt in my mind tell me that it would be Harry. I wouldn't love for him to be my husband...Someday.
Abby ends up leaving to dance with Liam and I stand alone before harry walks over to me.
"Done with girly talk?" He jokes and I nod. "Do you wanna dance?"
"You? You.. Want to dance," I point at him and he smiles widely.
"Yes. No promises that I won't step on your feet though." He warns and I playfully nudge his shoulder.
"It's a slow song so it should be easy." I tell him and he tells me that those are the ones he's mostly bad at.
Harry only ends up stepping on my feet a couple of times but after a minute through the song he finally gets the hang of it. His hands are on my hips as I connect my hands around his neck.
"You're the prettiest girl in this room." He whispers into my ear as I lay my head on his chest. "Everywhere you are." He adds and I smile.
"Thank you." I kiss his chest and I hear him let out a deep sigh. "You didn't have to do this." I tell him.
"It's the only way I can at least try to make Myself not feel like shit all of the time. You deserve to be happy and that's what I am trying to do." He kisses the top of my head.
"Thank you," I snuggle more into his warm chest. "I love you."
"I love you."
--
When we finally get into the apartment we are both tired. I immediacy take off my heels and rub my eyes. I forgot I had the glitter eyeshadow on and I curse to myself for having it all on the back of my hand now.
"You don't need that shit anyway." Harry says with a scrunch of his nose.
"Abby was trying to make more time. Apparently we were done before you and Liam were so she had to waist time somehow."
"It ended up perfect though right?" He pulls me into his chest and grips my waist.
"Absolutely. Thank you again." I lean up to kiss him.
"You don't have to thank me." He grabs ahold of my ponytail and twirls it in his hands.
"Well I am." I pull away from him and walk to the bedroom to start to take my dress of. "can you help?" I ask him as I find it hard to reach the back zipper of the dress.
His cold fingers rake against my spine and he does it rather slowly. "I see goosebumps." He teases and I go to swat his arm.
"Stop it," I move away from him laughing while I slide down the dress and walking over to the closet in my underwear to hang it up , reminding myself I was will need to get it dry cleaned.
Harry changes out of his clothes and I have to beg him to put them in the hamper to be washed instead of leaving them on the floor. He stays in his boxers and walks over to me.
I rub my eyes again, only for more glitter to go onto the back of my hand. "Go to sleep," he tells me while he tugs at the comforter.
"Are you sure?"
"Am I sure?" He looks up at me.
"Well, I mean in the bathroom we sort of started.. To you know.." I begin but can't seem to finish.
He chuckles lightly and places his hair on top of his head in a wave. "You're tired, it's fine." He waves it off. "But I will gladly fuck you in the morning."
(I'm sorry if you thought this might of been boring but the next one will definitely be better :)
I at least hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Please vote and comment!😊💜)