SONG OF THE CHAPTER: SHE IS BY THE FRAY
http://youtu.be/_eF75YR5Ijw
HARRY'S POV
I pulled out a chair as I handed Liam one of the drinks in my hand.
"Thanks" he muttered before taking a sip. "I think I'm gonna be living off of coffee for the next couple weeks. From the looks of it, final exams are going to be intense. I'll need as much as I can get."
Liam and I had agreed to meet up on campus today. He suggested the cafe connected to the library since it wouldn't be a far walk for him to get to his next class and I agreed because I texted Riley earlier and she said she would meet me here.
"Final exams aren't for like a month, Liam" I grumbled settling into my chair. I was not in the mood to talk about what the rest of the semester was going to be like.
"Yeah, well I'm planning on doing well, as should you." He took another drink, looking down at his cup as he swallowed.
"I'll worry about it when it comes" I yawned.
"You should be doing more homework over the weekend, Haz. You know, get a head start on the week. Then you won't be stuck trying to finish it all Sunday night." He waited for me to make eye contact with him before he continued. "Where were you all weekend anyways?"
I readjusted myself in the chair, anticipating the look on his face when I answered him. I lowered my voice and avoided looking at his face, instead I was looking at the other people in the cafe.
"I was at Riley's."
"You were at Riley's?" He perked up in his seat.
"Yeah." I looked up to see the expression I predicted on his face. I knew he wouldn't be too happy with it since he was one of the first people to tell me not to rush into anything.
"You stayed the night there?" I nodded, hoping he'd drop it. "So you slept there? You were with her all weekend?"
"Yes, Liam. I was at her flat" I raised my voice at him. The fact that he couldn't seem to get what I'd said through his head and the conclusion I knew he was coming to had begun to irritate me. "And it wasn't all weekend, it was just one night" I corrected him.
"What the hell?" He asked socking me in the leg, making me immediately wince in pain.
I rubbed the spot he hit, trying to soothe the extra ache he had caused. "What?"
"You stayed the night there?" He asked and I ignored his repeated question as he took in just how much pain I was in. "What's wrong with your leg?"
"Other than you having just hit me?" I asked, trying to hold back the irritation from being heard in my voice. I glanced at him to see a stern look on his face, waiting for my answer. "I'm a bit sore."
"Sore from what?" he asked and as I opened my mouth to answer, he had already come to his own conclusion. "Oh never mind, Harry. I don't want to know. What happens between you and Riley stays between the both of you."
"It's not like that mate" I quickly stated. "Nothing like that even happened."
"Well?" He asked leaning in a bit, eyebrows raised and his mouth in a straight line.
"We went to a party and it had gotten late so she let me crash at her place. We didn't sleep together or even in the same bed." I watched for his expression to soften at my explanation but it never did.
"Okay, but that doesn't explain why you're sore."
Even though I knew that Liam's interrogations were never simple, I had hoped that I'd explained enough for him to stop pestering me.
"The next morning she said that she was going on a run because it's helps to prevent any hangover symptoms. And I joined her. But because I was still wearing skinny jeans from the night before and because I'm not much of a runner, I only made it like three blocks before I caught a cab back to our flat."
"Now that makes sense."
He leaned back in his chair, pride in his eyes at his ability to get all the details out of me. It wasn't all the details, seeing as I had left out the part where we made out and when she climbed onto the couch with me only to have me force her back to her bed after she woke me up from shivering at my lack of blankets.
But it was close enough to the truth and what he wanted to hear that I knew he would be done questioning me.
"She is quite fit" Liam mumbled to himself as he glanced around the cafe.
I decided to ignore his last statement and instead focus on the positives of the conversation.
"Anyway, you should be proud that I'm taking things slow, just like you wanted."
"I'm glad to hear you took my advice, but you shouldn't be taking things slow for me. You should be taking things slow for you." He sat up and returned his focus to me.
"I'm trying." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "It's just really hard when someone like that is standing in front of you."
For the first time in the conversation, Liam actually looked like he was listening to what I had to say, and taking in how I felt.
"You're really starting to like her, aren't you?"
"I am" I nodded. "She's different mate. I mean, when we talk she actually listens to what I have to say. I'm able to open up to her and feel comfortable talking to her about things. She makes being around her really easy and enjoyable, and you know as well as I do how difficult it is to find someone like that."
He glanced down quickly, taking in what I admitted to him.
We both knew how much of a struggle it was to determine whether or not people were trying to be your friend and get close to you because of who you were or because of what you had become. He looked back up at me, a half smile making its way onto his face.
"That's something worth working for then, right?"
I sighed again. "Yeah, it is."
"Keep that in mind. It's gotta be tough for her too, I'm sure."
"Of course, I know for a fact that it's hard for her. Especially when she's worried about what everyone is going to think and how her past relationships have shaped her thoughts about dating now." I set my cup down on the table and rubbed my eyes. I heard Liam lean down to where my head rested in my hands before he started talking again.
"When Sophia and I first got together, it took her awhile to adjust to everything, and I knew her before all the One Direction stuff. She's able to deal with everything better now but to be quite honest, its still hard for her at times. Just imagine how it feels for Riley to be seen with you." I picked up my head and saw him lean back in his chair, glancing at his watch. "You gotta see it from her eyes. Show her your willing to wait, to take it slow. That you're understanding of her and how she feels about all of this."
"I know" I gave him a small smile. Liam knew how to talk a lot and how to give his opinion on every single thing you should do, but he was also an incredible listener and friend.
"Thanks mate" I patted his leg as I slowly sat back up in my chair. He smiled back as we both looked around the cafe and all the people passing by. I'd been so consumed in our talk that I'd forgotten we were in the library.
The thought of how openly we had been talking to each other with so many people around made me feel a bit uneasy.
"Speaking of Riley..." Liam started as he stood up, grabbing his backpack and coffee. I followed his eyes and saw that Riley had just walked into the library and was heading towards the books. A smile grew on my face just from the glance I got of her. "I'll see you later mate."
He gave a small smile and waved as he pushed in his chair and turned to leave. I waved back as I grabbed my belongings and made my way to where Riley had gone.
I found her, stopped in an aisle, looking intently through the books on the shelf in front of her.
Instead of walking up to her, I snuck around to the other side of the bookcase unnoticed. As she peered through the books on the shelf I followed her, looking through the creases of books on my side to keep track of her movements.
When her eyes slowly stopped searching, I pulled out a book on my side that matched where she was beginning to grab a book from her side. After pulling the book out completely, I cleared my throat to get her attention.
"Harry! What are you doing?" she yelled, her hand quickly shooting over her mouth after she realized how loud she'd been and where she was. I laughed hysterically as I made my way around to her side of the book case to find she was still trying to contain her own laughter and catch her breath.
I walked up to her, still smiling at the fact that I had actually scared her. Once I reached her I leaned in, putting a finger to my lips.
"Shhh. This is a library."
She shook her head as her laughter died down.
"What are you doing?" she asked again.
"Following you" I answered honestly, and because I knew it would make her laugh again. She turned and leaned up against the bookcase, holding her book to her chest.
"You could've just texted me. You're such a creep" she smiled.
"I think you meant to say 'you're so cute Harry'" I continued to mess with her, feeling totally different than I had been just a few moments ago when I talked to Liam. She shook her head, probably not even realizing she was grinning from ear to ear. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay?" she drew out the word and raised her eyebrows, like she was confused as to what I could possibly ask her.
"Do you and Gabbie want to go over to Niall's this weekend and hang out?" I saw a skeptical look come across her face and I stopped for a moment. "Riley, as friends, we are actually allowed to hang out. It's not like we'll be alone. Plus, Niall said he really wanted to introduce Gabbie to some new snack and that he needed advice from her about something."
She glanced to her right quickly, like she was looking for someone to be listening in. "That's not what the look was for."
"Well, what was it for?" Now I was the one who was confused.
"I don't really know if Gabbie will be up for it..." she grimaced at me.
"Why wouldn't she be?"
She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "Remember a few nights ago when we were... you know, and Gabbie came home and went straight to her room?"
"Yeah. What about it?" I continued to ask questions, not seeing how any of this could make her not want to do something this weekend.
"And remember how we thought it was because she brought Derek home and they wanted some privacy?" I nodded so that she could continue. "Well, when you left the next morning and I got back from my run, I asked where Derek was and she told me that Derek never came over. That she came home early because she walked in on him- I guess you could say- with another girl."
"Oh, shit. Are you serious?" I knew that we had our suspicions about Derek, but I didn't really expect them to be confirmed.
Riley frowned. "Yeah. It sucks too because things were starting to look up for her, but then he turned out to be a jerk. And it's not like she can avoid him either. They're dance partners until the end of the semester."
"That really sucks. She was really into the guy from the looks of it."I frowned at her, knowing that she was upset at how her best friend was feeling.
Poor Gabbie.
"Yeah, she was" she looked down at the ground and shrugged. "So, anyway, I don't think she'll be up for a weekend out. Even if it is with two of the five" she chuckled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Hey, you never know. Maybe that's just what she needs. Some food and a couple of friends. You convinced me to go out last weekend, I'm sure you'll have no problem getting her to come."
"All we've been doing for the past two days has been talking shit about how stupid guys are and what a waste of time dating is. Do you really think it's a good idea to bring her along when there's a chance that some of that might slip out?" She looked at me, eyebrows raised.
"Yes." I joked. She kicked my shoe, but the smile on her face never wavered. "Please come."
"I don't know Harry..." she moaned as she looked between my eyes. I took a step closer to her and stuck out my lower lip in a pout.
"Please" I begged again. "I really want you to."
She squinted her eyes at me and I could tell she was trying really hard not to cave. I took another step towards her as I waited for her to break down completely. Right then, a girl came down the aisle of books we were in, slowing her pace when she saw how Riley and I were standing.
"Sorry, ex-excuse me" she stammered.
I moved in closer to Riley so that she could pass by us, the girl thanking me and hurrying down the aisle. After she passed I remained in front of Riley, peering down into her eyes and waiting for her to answer me.
"Please come" I begged once again, setting my hands on her hips and dipping my head down by her neck. "You know I'm not going to see you for the rest of the week because you'll be comforting Gabbie. At least let me see you one day" I pleaded.
She sighed as she wrapped the arm that wasn't holding her book around me, and I knew I was slowly unraveling her.
"Hey... Riley" someone called out to our left. She looked up and over to where the voice came from.
"Hey, Jake " Riley answered, pulling back from me and removing her arm. I looked at him and recognized that he was the guy from our intercultural communication class, the one she studied with last week.
He looked between the two of us awkwardly before continuing.
"Are you still coming to the study session?" he asked shifting on his feet.
I looked away from him and back down at Riley. She was blushing a bit at our stance, since I hadn't removed my hands from her hips. It was obvious she was still not used to being affectionate with me in public.
"Yeah, I'll meet you there" she answered, tilting her head back so she wasn't as close to me.
I continued to observe her, entertained by how she was handling herself and my nearness to her while having a conversation with someone else. I felt a smirk ease onto my face. I was able to have an effect on her even though we weren't really doing anything.
I wanted to make sure Jake knew how close Riley and I were. I looked up from her and over at him, waiting for his reaction.
"Oh, okay" he replied, a slight smile on his face. He looked from her to me and nodded once, as if he was acknowledging my presence. He walked away and Riley looked back up at me.
"Someone's a bit touchy today aren't they?" she asked, and I didn't even think she realized she was beaming up at me. I knew trying to hold back was killing her too, and she was just too stubborn to admit it and too naive to not let it show on her face. I squeezed her hips once before letting go.
"This is not being touchy" I started, as I moved in to her cheek, but she pulled away like I thought she would. "This is being friendly. And that's what we are, right? So it's okay."
She rolled her eyes as she leaned in to give me a hug. "Bye, I gotta go study."
I hugged her back, taking in the light scent of her hair.
"So about Niall's?" She pulled back and gave me a devilish smile, as she untangled herself from my grip and started walking away. "Riley?" I called after her. It sounded almost like a whine.
She looked back over her shoulder and paused, a slight smirk making its way onto her face.
"See you Saturday."
*************************************************************************************************************
"Harry, stop" Riley whined as she tried to push me off of her.
"No."
"Come on! We need to go back. They're gonna think that we're doing something" she continued to struggle underneath me.
"I don't care" I shot back.
We'd gotten to Niall's about an hour ago, and I had convinced Riley that I needed to show her something in the room I usually slept in when I stayed over at his flat. But in the ten minutes we had been back here, I had wrestled her onto the bed, pinning her down underneath me as I laid across her stomach, the two of us forming a human plus sign. After laughing about me having tackled her onto the bed and arguing over who was stronger, she'd started to become restless.
"Can you at least get off me? Please?" she asked again, only this time she had given up trying to push me off.
"No."
She let out one big sigh, giving up on convincing me to move. "You told me you needed to show me something in here. So far all you have done is crushed me."
"I lied. I just wanted to bring you in here alone." I answered, making myself as comfortable as I could on top of her. My torso was on top of her stomach and my legs dangled off the bed while she remained in a normal laying position, her head on the pillow.
"For what?" She started to play with my hair as her body began relaxing under my weight.
"I don't know. Just to talk." I laid my head to the side so I could look up at her.
"What do you want to talk about then?"
"I don't know. Anything. I haven't seen you all week. Get me caught up on your life." I lifted my head and held it in my hand as I waited for her to talk.
"Okay well, Thursday we had a test in my Media Effects class and-"
"Okay let me correct myself" I cut her off, dropping my head back onto the bed. "Anything but school, please. That's all Liam talks about."
"Fine. Um, let's see" she started as she looked up at the ceiling. "I talked to Ryan yesterday and he was telling me how he went and got a tattoo for our birthday last week."
"Oh yeah? What'd he get?" I asked picking my head back up and looking at her.
"He got something on his chest. To be honest, he explained it and how it went with all his other tattoos, but I didn't really understand because he has so many" she half frowned, guilty for not really paying attention to her brother.
"Yeah?" I remember in the first picture I saw of them at her flat he had tattoos on his arms, but, other than that I couldn't really see what else.
"Mhm" she hummed as she twirled a piece of my hair in her fingers. "His best friend, AJ, you know the one in that picture you saw last week? He's a tattoo artist so, we get discounts and-"
"We?" I stopped her from explaining.
"Yeah?" She matched my inquisitive tone.
"What do you mean 'we'? You have a tattoo?" I rolled off of her so I could watch her eyes.
"Yes" she spoke quickly, avoiding my gaze.
"Where? I want to see." Last week when things got a bit heated, and I had taken her shirt off, I remember scanning her skin but I don't remember anything catching my eyes.
Then again, I was kind of distracted by her lips.
"No, I'm not showing you. It's not visible anyway" she answered.
"You cheeky girl" I snickered at her. "Where is it then?"
"It's not bad, and it's not in a dirty place, it's just not-I don't want to show you" she finally stuttered out.
"Come on, let me see. You've seen mine" I tried to reason with her.
"So..." she grinned up at me.
"So, it's only fair if I see yours. Come on" I reached for the bottom of her shirt before she swatted my hand from pulling it up.
"That's not gentleman-like Harry Styles. You do not pull up a lady's shirt" she joked, trying to look serious.
"Can you at least tell me what its a tattoo of? I just want to know" I continued to pressure her.
"Maybe one day" she teased. My hands were still placed on the hem of her shirt and I slowly started lifting it up, her eyes on me the whole time. She glared at me once as I started pulling it up an inch.
"You're not gonna stop me?" I grinned at her.
"No. You're not gonna find it by taking my shirt off anyway" she answered back, with a tone that made it seem like she didn't care.
I couldn't tell if she was lying to get me to stop, like reverse psychology, or if she was telling the truth. I shrugged and started inching it up a bit more to see if she'd crack when my pinky swiped her skin, the texture making me stop and break my gaze with her.
I looked down and just to the inside of her hip bone was a smoothed out scar, about three inches wide.
"What happened here?" I asked as I let my pointer finger slowly trace over the length of the uneven skin.
I hadn't noticed the scar the other night either.
She sat up and looked down to where my finger was pointing before her eyes widened, like even she had forgotten it was there. After touching the scar herself, she looked back up at me, pulling her shirt back down to hide it.
"I had surgery a few years back, nothing too dramatic." She shrugged her shoulders, her attitude of the scar, which looked pretty intense, made it seem like it was nothing. Her vague answer only made me more curious.
"That's a massive scar for nothing to have happened. What was wrong?" I asked, noticing that the whole mood had changed so suddenly.
"I had some health problems a few years back, really it's not that interesting of a story for me to explain. I'm fine now" she sighed, laying back down on the bed. I followed her lead, placing myself across her stomach again.
"Did you get your appendix out?" I asked.
"No."
"Kidding stones?"
"No."
"Riley, did you swallow an inedible object?" I raised my pitch and looked over at her.
I felt her stomach tense up under me as she laughed. "No, Harry. I did not swallow a coin or a rock."
"I'm a really horrible guesser, so unless you tell me this could take hours." I lifted my head to look back up at her.
"Look, you didn't want to talk about school and I don't want to talk about my scar story. So we're even."
"Okay, talk about school and then when you're done tell me how you got the scar." I tried to reason with her again.
She lifted her neck so that she could see my eyes, scrunching up her nose as she shook her head defiantly.
"Come on just tell me" I began to whine. "You can either tell me about your tattoo or about your scar. Your choice" I gave her a closed mouth grin. I could see her smiling as she rolled her eyes because I had just given her a choice of what she wanted to tell me.
"Fine. It's from-"
"Hey guys?" Niall asked form outside the door, knocking on it a few times.
"Yeah, come in" Riley yelled. A look of relief on fell on her face.
Niall shook his head from side to side really quickly as he took in our position. I'd become so comfortable laying laterally across Riley that I didn't take into consideration how we actually appeared to someone else. It almost looked like we were in a dog pile that consisted of just the two of us.
"What are you guys doing?" Niall asked as he took a cautious step into the room.
"I have no idea" Riley laughed under me. "Ask him."
Niall's eyes went from her to me and I just smiled at him, as if what he walked into wasn't really that weird.
"Alright, well, we're bout to finish off the hot dogs. Are you sure you don't want any?" he asked, trying his best to not look confused.
"Is that a serious question?" I asked him knowing that I had the same confused expression on my face. He knew that when he first explained to us that his new snack was a a cross between a traditional hot dog and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that we wouldn't be interested.
"Uh, yes...?" he looked between the both of us.
"Don't be rude" Riley slapped me on the back. "No, I'm good. Thank you though, Niall" she answered as she sent him a polite, cheesy smile before squinting her eyes at me.
"Yeah, mate. I don't want one, but thanks." I sent him an equally dramatic smile back before turning to Riley and sticking out my tongue.
"Okay good" he started as he began walking back out of the room. "Yeah, Gabs we can finish him off" he yelled as he closed the door.
"That's so disgusting" I sighed as I resumed my previous position.
"He's your friend" Riley laughed. The movements from her stomach could be felt on my chest.
"And Gabbie's yours" I shot back and she chuckled. "It seems like she's feeling a bit better, right?"
She stuck out her bottom lip in contemplation. "I mean, she hasn't cussed out the only two guys here, so I'd say things are looking up." She smiled down at me. "Let's go see what they're doing."
"No, not yet. Let's just stay here please. They're not missing us, they're practically on a date." I wasn't ready to go back out there and be subjected to Gabbie's glare whenever I so much as touched Riley.
"No, they aren't" she argued back.
"Yes, they are. I mean if we weren't here, they would be. So we're doing them a favor by hiding out in here." I played with a loose string on the comforter as she shifted underneath me.
"They are not. Weren't you paying attention to their conversation earlier?"
When we first got here, Niall was talking to Gabbie about something, but I was so focused on what I could say to Riley to get her to come back here with me that I didn't pay them any attention.
"No" I sing-songed.
"He was asking her if she could teach him some type of partner dance because he wanted to take some girl out on a date. That girl's name not being Gabbie, but Chelsea" she explained.
"Oh, did he?" I must've zoned out when that conversation happened."I guess I was distracted. They'd kind of be a cute pair though, don't you think?"
"I mean looks wise, yeah. But they're too similar to actually date. She even told me herself after the last time we were here that even though she's a "Niall girl", she'd rather be friends with him, because sharing food with her boyfriend is not something she'd be willing to do" she chuckled.
"What's with you Americans and wanting to be friends?" I asked taking a quick glance at her.
"I didn't say that's what I wanted. I just said that's what we should do" she sighed, her stomach rising and falling harshly under my torso.
"You know, we are allowed to be dating without taking things too far or actually being in a relationship? That's what the whole middle step of dating is about" I explained as she started drawing with her pointer finger on my back.
"But do you really think that's gonna work, after what happened last weekend?"
I remained silent because I knew she was right. If we were dating, I'd be doing much more than just laying across her.
"Let's just keep getting to know each other, at least until the end of the semester and we'll see where it goes from there. That could be your reward for getting through the semester" she joked.
"My reward for getting though the semester?" I asked trying to clarify her meaning.
"Yeah. You know how when you were younger, your parents would buy your favorite toy if you got all A's or would take you out for ice cream? It can be like that."
"So, if I pass this term, because let's be honest, straight A's are out of the question" I began before she started laughing again. "If I pass this term, you'll reconsider this whole friends deal?"
"I mean, yeah. That's a good amount of time to get to know each other. And by then, we can actually hang out without worrying about schoolwork. But don't think of it like that. You should still try to pass without the idea of us becoming something. You should want to do good for you."
"I will" I reached up and grabbed her hand. "But knowing you're waiting for me will definitely make me try harder."
AUTHORS NOTE
I wrote this chapter and watt pad deleted it and when I tired to rewrite it nothing came out good. So here it is. If it sucks I'm sorry. Love you
FTSIO
-M