Juneteenth was yesterday, "marking the day when roughly 250,000 enslaved Texans found out that they have been free for over two years" and I urge anyone who may not be familiar with the history of Juneteenth to do so! It's very important (especially for us Americans) to learn this history that we might not have gotten in our schooling here in America! <3
SIDE-NOTE: Lots of dialogue in this chapter!! & The song I attached is so beautiful, and if you'd like, I highly recommend listening to it over & over again while you read <3 It's Immortale by Wolf!
Norah
"Have you eaten?"
"Today?"
He gave me a narrowed, side-eye glance from the driver's seat. Even though it was in slight annoyance, he smirked. "No, smartass. In the past 3 hours."
"I've been at work since 3:30, so no. I did have a protein bar on my break though."
As if that would suffice for Harry.
"What do you want to eat?"
Jeez. We were only 5 minutes into our drive and he hadn't offered me aux and now he's forcing me to eat?
Oh, I'm only kidding. It was extremely endearing. But not the aux cord part. That needed to change soon. I could only handle mainstream radio for so long.
"I'm not that hungry," I told him. Now give me the aux.
"I'm feeding you, Nor. You've got to have some energy for what I have planned tonight."
Now it was my turn to give him a look from the corner of my eye. "Oh really? What do you have planned that requires so much energy?"
He chuckled. My eyes dropped to his hands on the steering wheel as he adjusted his grip. He glanced over at me. "You've got a dirty mind, don't you, love?"
I shrugged. "Maybe."
He snickered at that and merged onto the 101 freeway. At around 11 o'clock at night on a weekday, there wasn't much traffic. Just enough to illuminate the car with passing headlights every several seconds, giving me a glimpse of Harry's face.
"Talk to me." His voice echoed in the silent car, surrounding me.
"What about?"
"When we talked a couple weeks ago, you said you'd lost your job," he explained, his tone light. "You hadn't really told me anything about what happened."
Weeks had gone by since I'd been fired from Cid's. My ego had taken a beating, the job search had come back unsuccessful, and I'd achieved a complete adjustment to my weekly budget in order to accommodate my new income. Thus, I felt I was in the right state of mind to actually talk about the situation with Harry without feeling like I was drowning in anxiety.
"I had a second job at a pizza place on Friday nights and the weekend. My shifts were only a few hours, but the tips I made single-handedly my paid for a chunk of my rent. Anyways, my boss pulled me aside one night after work and told me he had to let me go. It was honestly for a good reason. His nephew needed the job and I worked the least amount of hours at Cid's so..."
"Norah, that isn't right."
"I know, but there was really nothing I could do. Mike is a dick anyways, and I hated working under him. The only things that kept me there were the tips and working with Sam." I let his name fly out before I could stop it.
"Your ex Sam?"
"My friend, yeah," I corrected. Thinking of Sam as my ex-boyfriend only threw me into a tizzy thinking about that hectic month where we'd tried things out as a couple.
Harry's lips pursed together at my statement and I swear I saw him give a quick roll of his eyes to complete the reproachful look.
I exhaled. "But I'm okay. I figured out my new budget, and I'm getting by. The night I called you when I was drunk, I was an emotional mess, so please just disregard that whole thing," I begged.
"Norah, if you need anything—"
"Harry—"
"No, I'm serious." His tone proved just as much. "I trust you when you say you're okay, but please tell me if you need anything."
This was the exact feeling I wanted to avoid. The embarrassment that followed Harry pitying me.
"I can take care of myself just fine." I shook my head, starring out the window. "I don't need your pity and I would never ask you for money."
His hand reached over and touched my wrist. "Love, I don't mean to upset you."
"I'm not upset. I—" I caught myself before I continued to lie to him. "I'm a bit embarrassed, that's all."
He sneaked a glance at me, his look sincere. "Norah, I know you can take care of yourself. Don't ever think that I don't know how smart and driven you are. But I can't help that the more I get to know you...the more I want to protect you."
Before I can respond and tell him that I most definitely don't need protection, he continued.
"Like today, when the fucking paparazzi were there...I couldn't let them know what you are to me. If I were to talk to you in front them, the video would go out, people would figure out your name, where you work, your social media...I will not let them touch you," he vowed.
His grasp on my wrist moved to my hand, our fingers lacing together. I starred at the embrace.
"You do know the more we hang out, the more likely they are to find out who I am. And...maybe that isn't a bad thing," I faltered.
His hand flexed in mine. He was starting to get worked up. "This isn't just a 'hey, guys, meet my new mate' kind of situation."
"It can be."
His eyes darted over to mine for several seconds before returning to the road, taking his hand back and putting it on the wheel. He pondered on my words, that's for sure. The longer he stayed quiet, the longer I sat anxiously contemplating what I'd said.
Was I ready to be outed as Harry Styles' friend? To be ridiculed by the internet? Hated simply because I was close to him?
"I'll talk to Jeff and my publicist about this. But just so you know, if I thought of you as only my friend, I wouldn't be doing this. Hypothetically, I wouldn't care about what anyone may think because you're only my friend..."
"But?"
"But you aren't just my friend."
"No?" My heart felt like it was in my throat.
"I don't make it a habit to kiss my friends, Norah."
I bit down on my lip. The angry insecure monster that lived deep within me clawed its way to the surface, reminding me that he was still a superstar who could have anyone he wanted.
But he wants me.
I think?
"Well, we've only kissed a few times," I goaded. "I think that may still be friendly territory."
God, why couldn't I just be serious for a few seconds?
Harry's mouth dropped open and he raised a daring eyebrow. "I'll pull over right now and assure you that we are most definitely not in friendly territory, sweetheart."
I did my best to reign in the grin that wanted to spread across my face. Now, that was a threat I most certainly would welcome.
"Oh, really?"
He nodded. "With your permission, of course."
"With my permission, you would assure me we aren't friends?" I smirked.
"With your permission, I would properly ravish you, yes."
Holy hotness.
I crossed my right leg over my left just as he adjusted his position in his seat. I'd bet on the fact that we weren't both just trying to get comfortable so much as we were reacting to the sexual tension that had built up between us.
I inhaled deeply. "Okay, I believe you."
"We're non-friends?"
"Yes, we're non-friends."
He smiled triumphantly, and I, per usual, followed along.
"Now, my non-friend, shall we get on the 405 or stay on the 101?"
"Get on the 405," I laughed, happy to see we were heading back to casual territory. Despite the fact that I would be more than happy to get into the hot-and-heavy zone, I would much prefer that zone to take place somewhere other than the shoulder of a freeway late at night.
Harry went to change lanes, but instead, the car jerked as Harry noticed a car was in his blind-spot. The move was sudden and the Mustang he'd almost cut off flew by us, honking their horn.
"Oops," was Harry's only response. Meanwhile, I began laughing my ass off.
"Who says 'oops' to almost killing us?" I spoke through my fits.
"I didn't almost kill us!"
"Uh, I beg to differ."
"I'll have you begging alright," I heard him mutter quietly. God, that rasp.
I gasped. "Harry. Styles."
Back into hot-and-heavy we go.
"What?" He feigned confusion with an adorable smirk.
I just rolled my eyes and leaned over to turn on the radio. He knew what he was doing, and I needed something to distract me from relinquishing more of these dirty thoughts, or God forbid I'd act upon them.
When the sound of Stevie Nicks came over the radio, Harry began singing along to Leather and Lace under his breath. I wasn't familiar with the song, but I got lost starring at him as he tapped his long fingers along to the beat and lulled his head from side to side.
This man was truly an enchanting being.
He caught me gazing at him and, to my dismay, stopped singing. "What are you looking at?"
"You."
I don't know what had come over me to get me to say something so forward like that. He continued to stare at me with his molten hot gaze.
I point ahead. "Look at the road!"
He smirked, looking away from me. "What? I want to look at you, too."
"I don't think that's a smart idea while you're driving."
His smirk grew into a grin as he raised a single eyebrow. "Yeah? Well, we'll have to change that."
Before I can question what he meant by that, he takes his time switching lanes, ensuring that he does not nearly kill us like he did minutes earlier, and gets on the off-ramp for North Hollywood.
"I'm scared to ask you what the hell you're doing," I managed to say when we took a left, sending us into a residential neighborhood. He immediately pulled over against a curb and put the car in park.
"This isn't me ravishing you, love," he smirked, guessing my trail of thought correctly. "One, I would ask your permission first, remember? And two, I have no idea where the bloody hell we are, and I'm not about to risk your safety by getting it on in some random neighborhood, yeah?"
I silently nodded my head.
"Now, you have your license with you, right?" He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned on the interior lights.
Oh.
"You trust me to drive your car?" I asked incredulously.
This was a Range Rover. It costed nearly the price of my parents' house! It didn't matter what Harry's answer was. Did I trust myself to drive this thing was the real question.
"We'll see," was his simple answer.
I watched as he opened his door and climbed out. Harry stood at his open door, presumably waiting for me to do the same. Per usual, he had a cheesy smile adorning his lips. One that was incredibly contagious.
Fuck it. I'd been driving for nearly 6 years now. A 2015 Range Rover was no different than my old as shit Ford Focus.
I guess we were doing this.
I jumped out and looped around the front of the car. As Harry met me in the middle, his hand came up to the side of my neck and he planted a kiss to the top of my head in passing. Before I could do anything else about his endearing gesture, he was hopping into the passenger seat.
My face aflame, I secured my spot at the driver's seat and closed the door behind me. I took a moment to adjust the seat and mirrors since I was most definitely not a 5'11" male who was all legs.
"Don't be nervous," Harry chirped.
"How do you know I'm nervous?"
"You're gripping the wheel like it's about to run away from you, babe."
"Well, maybe I'm just testing out how it feels," I stammered.
"I hope you don't use that method for everything."
It took me a second to register what he meant by that and when it hit me, I laughed. "I can't believe you just said that."
"Hey," he shrugged his shoulders and rolled his wrists on his lap so his palms faced the ceiling, "the subject matter has been pretty dirty tonight. I might as well keep it up."
My mind went back to focusing on the logistics of all the gadgets in the vehicle. Harry explained briefly where most of the signals were and how to use the cruise control and a couple minutes later, we were off and back on the freeway and belting the words to Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know".
+++
The night ended in nearly the same manner it did the last time we took this drive.
After about an hour's worth of karaoke hits, Harry took over driving again and brought us through a McDonald's drive-thru. It was one of the only places open this late at night, and I was craving some hotcakes.
Harry got me my hotcakes and I convinced him to get an apple pie by challenging him to eat something in my presence that didn't involve kale. He was eager to defeat that challenge and was even willing to share a bite.
We sat and ate our food in the parking lot for around 30 minutes before beginning our trek back to Yogurt Island, where my car was.
Yet again, I'd fallen asleep at some point during the drive home and was awoken by soft caresses on my cheek. I blinked my eyes open and looked at the clock on the dashboard.
1:45 AM.
I met Harry's gaze. "We're back," he spoke quietly, continuing to softly stroke my cheek with his thumb.
My eyes shut as I smiled at the feeling of his hand on me. His thumb brushed over my lips, tracing my smile.
"Are you okay to drive?" He asked, still at a whispered volume.
My eyes opened to his watching me closely. I'm sure he thought that I'd closed my eyes again simply because I was sleepy rather than because of how heavenly his touch felt.
"Yeah, I'm okay," I reassured.
He stroked my cheek one final time before leaning back into his chair, and instructing, "Stay there."
He proceeded to climb out of his car and I tracked his steps all the way to my door. He opened it up, reaching in to unbuckle my seatbelt.
"I could've done that, you know," I sassed, but let him unbelt me.
He stood back up, and I wondered if he was going to commence in the "ravishing" he previously mentioned.
Having one hand braced on the car doorframe and the other on the side of my seat, he inched closer. I was so distracted by the sensual look in his eyes that I almost missed his question.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"I have work from 11 to 6."
"Can I take you out for breakfast tomorrow?"
"You're going to take me out?" I questioned.
His smile grew, showing off his dimples. "In a way, yes. If that's alright with you."
I was too excited to question what he meant by "in a way". All I heard was confirmation that he was taking me out.
"That's alright with me if it's alright with you."
"Oh, darling," he chuckled, brushing his lips against my forehead. "It would be my pleasure."
I twisted my legs to the side, stepping out of his car. He moved back, allowing me to do so. It hit me that I was still in my work uniform. Lovely. Definitely super sexy.
I reached into my purse for my keys and unlocked my car. Harry opened the door for me.
"Drive safe. Text me when you get home."
"You, too. No cutting off any angry Mustang drivers," I cautioned with a playful glare, pointing a warning finger at him.
He smirked and grabbed it out of the air, pulling it to his lips and placing two kisses to the finger. "Yes, ma'am."
Be still my beating heart. You've gotta drive us home before you give out on me.
I slipped into my car, tossing my purse onto the passenger's seat. He closed the door for me once I was inside. I started the ignition and buckled my seatbelt before looking back at Harry who stopped halfway around his car.
"Text me," he mouthed, wiggling his thumbs in front of him.
I nodded and honked my horn twice, startling the shit out of him and making him jump. A part of me felt terrible for scaring him so bad, but I still folded over my steering wheel in laughter while he threw a hand to his chest in disbelief.
I blew him a parting kiss and watched his shoulders shake with laughter as he got back into his car.
Boy, I could not wait until tomorrow.
...
trying to remember that this is 2015 Harry makes my brain hurt but there's gonna be a time jump in the near future...just a warning...🤭🤭
Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter!! I'm looking forward to simping tonight over your comments🥺
Love you all & stay safe <3