a/n: y'all already know i can't just not give you a visual of her outfits.
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"Hey Lils," Harry says to me as I apply mascara in the bathroom, his voice muffled by the walls that separated us. He told me I didn't need to put on makeup, but I honestly felt the need to. If I was going to be meeting anyone, and I would be associated with Harry, I wanted to look my best.
"Yeah?" I holler back, drawing myself away from the mirror for a second. I had enough mascara on, I was just trying my best to perfect it now.
"How can you wear one of these every day?" He asks, his voice seemingly coming closer. I furrow my eyebrows, confused about what exactly he meant.
"Wear one of..." I begin to say, but slowly trail off. Harry appears in the doorway, holding one of my bras in his hands. My cheeks heat up as he stares down at it intently, examining every inch of the undergarment.
"Like how is this not uncomfortable?" He continues, bringing the bra up so the pads cover his eyes like sunglasses.
"Harry!" I gasp. I quickly set the mascara tube and wand down on the counter before reaching over to snatch the bra out of his hands. He chuckles as soon as I take it away from him. I hold the scrunched up bra against my chest, embarrassed.
"Oh, relax," he says, smiling lazily as he takes a step forward. His hand travels to my waist as he looks down at my much smaller figure. "It's not like I've never seen you in a bra before." He takes a breath as he tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "And it's also not like I've never taken one off of you either."
I feel my cheeks burn bright red as my eyes widen. He laughs at the response, wrapping his arms securely around my waist. I squeal and wrap my hands around his shoulders as he lifts me up off my feet, taking me by surprise. He sets me down on the bathroom counter, causing me to laugh out loud.
He lets go of my waist now that I was sitting on the countertop. A bright smile was on his face as he looks at me, his cheeks rosy.
"I think I have a pair just like these." Harry pats my thigh as a way of gesturing to my pants. I look down at them, giggling.
"I'm sure you do," I say, looking back up at him. "They look like something you would wear."
"Yeah, probably." He laughs, nodding. We're both silent for a moment before he speaks up again. "You look beautiful," he tells me with a crooked smile.
"Thank you," I say appreciatively. His smile was insanely contagious, and I couldn't help but smile back. "You look incredibly handsome."
"You had to add the 'incredibly' in there?" He chuckles. "Just to one-up me... I see how it is." He nods, desperately trying to hold back his smile in order to act angry... but we both knew he wasn't. "You could be a model, you know."
"I don't want to be." I laugh, shaking my head. My fingers gently sweep away the hair that was getting close to falling onto his forehead. I didn't think it actually would, I just wanted an excuse to touch his hair.
"And why's that?" He questions, looking up, trying to look at my fingers running through his hair.
"Too stressful," I say simply with a shake of my head. "Having to constantly look pretty all the time... as a job? Don't think I could do it."
"You wouldn't have to work too hard." He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "You look effortlessly beautiful every single day...might as well get paid for it."
"Thanks but...I don't think I'd have the confidence," I say, my bottom lip slipping between my teeth. Models are gorgeous, and I don't really see myself to be.
"Well, then I guess that's just something we will have to work on." He intertwines his fingers with mine, looking down at our joint hands. He lets out a soft sigh. "God, I missed you. You know that?"
"You did?" I ask, genuinely surprised. He's been so busy whilst being gone. And sometimes when you're busy, you get too busy to miss someone. It's not necessarily that you don't miss the person... your mind is just in a different place and far too crowded to have room to miss someone. But I guess Harry's brain somehow managed to find a way to squeeze me in there.
"Every second," he assures me, nodding. "Let's not ever do that again. We went straight from spending all day every day with each other, to not seeing each other at all and hardly talking." He takes a deep breath and before I'm able to say anything, he speaks up. "I'm really sorry about that by the way. I don't want you to think I was ignoring you or avoiding you on purpose... I was just really busy and couldn't be on my phone very much. Then by the time I was done with my workload for the day, it was almost 2 am, and I figured you would be asleep."
"I haven't really slept," I admit to him sheepishly. "When I'm not working, I get so bored that I have nothing better to do than take a nap. Then once I take that nap, I'm up all night."
"I haven't slept very well this past week either," he admits, giving me a half-smile. "But I relearned that pillows don't really do the job when you feel lonely and want something to hold."
His comment made me frown. He missed me way more than I ever expected him to, and I found it flattering. It also helped to make me feel a little saner since I felt so dumb for missing him before.
"Was it at least nice to be able to stay in your own house? And have a wider variety of outfits to wear." I chuckle. The entire time he was staying with me, he had the same change of clothes, other than the few shirts he bought for himself. He never complained, but I'm sure it drove him insane. I wouldn't be able to stand it, honestly.
"Don't get me wrong, I love your place...but I have to admit it was nice. Especially the part about the clothes." He nods vigorously, but slowly. "I keep the majority of my clothes at my home in London, but I still have quite a few pieces in L.A. It was nice to be able to change up my style a bit."
"I see." I nod knowingly, taking in a deep breath. "What time are we supposed to leave? I wouldn't want you to be late."
He pulls his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. His eyes widen before he quickly clicks it off and puts his phone back in his pocket.
"We better get going. I'm supposed to be at soundcheck by 6," he says. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Umm yeah," I say, quickly picking up the mascara I set on the counter, twisting on the top and tossing it into my open makeup bag. I briefly adjust my hair in the mirror before turning to face Harry. "Do I look presentable...enough?"
He takes a step back, tilting his head and pursing his lips together as if to get a good look at me. He squints his eyes in concentration before the corner of his mouth tilts up.
"What did you think I was gonna say? I mean honestly." His shoulders shrug as he laughs. "Come on, Lils. I can't find a single flaw you have."
"But have you really tried looking for any?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips. I could bet him a million dollars if he searched for a flaw of mine, he would easily find more than one. And I would win that bet.
"Let me rephrase that," he says, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Everyone has flaws...no matter who they are. I have them, you, of all people, have them. But there are some people that you just...find beauty in their flaws. You learn to love those flaws as if they were their best features." He flashes me a soft smile, his lips pressed together. "Everything that makes you imperfect, makes you even more beautiful in my eyes."
His words made me feel like I could break down crying on the floor. He knew just the right words to say to make my heart melt right out of my ribcage.
I had to press my lips into a thin line, my eyes squinting as I try to hold back tears. This may have been the sweetest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever said to me. When someone tells you they think the things that make you insecure are beautiful, you can't help but want to give them the world.
"Don't cry," he coos, laughing along with his words as my eyes well up with tears...just as he told me not to do. "Well, if you're gonna cry, at least do it on my shoulder so I feel better about it."
He opens his arms, inviting me in for a hug. With no hesitation whatsoever, I wrap my arms around his waist and he does the same. My face rests against his chest as he rubs my back in the most gentle manner...so soft I don't even think he was doing it intentionally.
After a short moment, I pull my head away from his chest briefly to look up at him. "Didn't you say we had to leave?"
"Oh shit, you're right." He releases me and I take a step back, giggling softly. "This isn't over though," he tells me in a serious tone, pointing a finger at me. "We're cuddling as soon as we get back tonight."
"Hmm, I don't know," I tease him, sighing to add a dramatic touch. He frowns at my words. After I don't budge, he pouts his lip out, giving me puppy eyes.
"Please," he whines.
"Hmm," I hum again, tapping my chin.
"Pretty please?" He begs like a child. "With a cherry on top?"
I scoff and roll my eyes playfully, even though I was never planning to actually say no to him.
"Fine," I pretend to cave, folding my arms over one another. His mouth opens in a happy smile, his dimples popping up despite the stretching of his cheeks.
"Yay!" He says enthusiastically. "Now..." He reaches over and grabs ahold of my hand, his grip firm. "Let's go meet some people and sing a few songs, shall we?"
"Let's," I say happily. He leads me out of the bathroom and I quickly grab my purse off the table sitting next to the door.
* * *
I look up at the screen in the car. It said it was 71°F outside. 71 degrees...I haven't been in that kind of weather since Anguilla. And before then, it hadn't been like that since mid-October.
As my mind is focused on the idea of the weather, Harry turns his head, looking over at me. I feel his eyes on me and turn my head to look at him as well. He smiles toothlessly for a brief second before his brows furrow together.
"Did you do something different with your hair?" Harry asks, reaching out to gently hold my hair in the palm of his hand. He takes a closer look at it, examining all the way from the root to the ends.
"Yeah, I got it done the other day," I say, looking down at it as well. "I wanted it to be just a little blonder...less yellow I mean."
"I noticed it looked whiter earlier," he tells me. "Did you cut it too?"
"Just a couple inches. My ends were dying so I wanted to freshen them up," I explain, shrugging. "Do you like it?"
"I love it," he says quickly. "I just noticed it looked different and wanted to know if I was going crazy." He chuckles, placing my hair back where it sat on my shoulder before. Every move he made was so gentle. He's such a...soft person.
"Thank you." I smile at his compliment, happy he liked my hair. "Did you get a haircut?" I ask in return, reaching up to run my fingers through the front fringe.
"I did." He smiles as well, flipping his imaginary hair. "I'm glad you noticed."
"When?" I ask out of curiosity.
"Just the other day...like two days after filming Watermelon Sugar or something." He shrugs. "It wasn't even that it was getting that long, I just wanted it to be all freshened up for my show tomorrow."
"How thoughtful," I say, tilting my head back against the car seat, looking at hi with lazy eyes.
"Always thinking," he says in response, copying my previous motions, but closing his eyes.
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