a/n: i found this picture the other day so enjoy
please tell me y'all get the upside down reference by nowð
* * *
I sit on Harry's couch, the tv softly playing some random sitcom in the background. I wasn't even sure what show was playing, my mind was buried way too deep into my phone.
I had yet to text Noah back. But what do I even say to something like that? I've read it over a thousand times since he sent it...but I haven't sent a response. He said his "messages weren't going through" so he got a new phone. Did that mean he got a new phone because I blocked him? But he did say he had to get a new one anyway.
I'm not sure whether I'm just being paranoid or the whole this is actually as sketchy as it seems.
My phone buzzes in my hands and I look up at the top of the screen to see a text from Harry.
Harry: I'm getting in the shower, care to join me?
With absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, I spring up from the couch, shutting off the tv before quite literally running up the stairs. I walk swiftly down the hallway, bursting through the bedroom door.
"You made it up here quick," Harry says with wide eyes, popping his head out of the door to his closet.
"Gotta save water," I say pulling my shirt over my head. I hear Harry chuckle before he emerges from his closet, holding two piles of identical clothing in his hands.
"Can we wear our matching pajamas tonight?" He asks, grinning brightly.
"Sure." I laugh, walking over to him. He hands me one of the piles and I place a kiss on his cheek.
Just as I was about to turn away, he purses out his lips and I roll my eyes playfully, stepping up onto my tiptoes to plant a kiss onto his lips. I finally turn around wandering over to his dresser where I retrieve a pair of clean underwear.
As I'm doing so, I hear the shower turn on. I make my way into the en suite to see Harry stripping down.
"Need help with your bra again?" He asks, chuckling as he removes his pants that now flooded around his ankles.
"If you'd like." I shrug, turning around.
Within a matter of seconds, I feel Harry's warm hands against my back, unclasping my bra. I turn my head to look in the mirror where I see him smirking behind me as the straps fall down my arms and the whole thing falls to the floor.
* * *
Harry and I stand in front of the still slightly fogged up mirror, drying our hair. I was fully dressed now, but Harry had still yet to put his shirt on. He claimed it was too hot to wear it the bathroom, but I'm convinced he just wanted to show off his toned torso.
"I've been meaning to talk to you," he says, scrunching his towel in his hair to dry his curls a little.
"About?" I ask bending over and wrapping the towel around my hair. I bend back up to see Harry opening up a drawer in front of him. He pulls out his toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.
"London," he states simply. He turns on the faucet, dipping his toothbrush under the running water. He then proceeds to open up the tube and squeeze a small glob of toothpaste onto his toothbrush. The fact that he had a pink toothbrush was oddly endearing to me.
"London?" I furrow my eyebrows, resting a hand on the edge of the countertop so I wouldn't have to stand up straight anymore. Harry wets his toothbrush under the water once again, making sure he turns off the faucet when he's not using it. "What about London?"
He dips his toothbrush into his mouth, beginning to brush his teeth. I didn't really understand why he would spike up a conversation with me and then start brushing his teeth. But then again, I don't understand half the things he does anyways.
"When I flew home from Florida, I didn't exactly plan for your arrival," he mumbles as his mouth fills up with bubbles. "I'm grateful you came, don't get me wrong...But, I was only supposed to be home for a day, then fly straight to go to London for The Brit Awards. I'm supposed to be on that plane right now, actually."
My eyes widen as I watch his head dip down to spit out the foam in his mouth. "Then why didn't you leave?!"
"Well I can't just kick you out of my house, now can I?" He says, his words still mumbled.
"Um, yes you can," I argue. "If you need to be in London, then you need to be in London. I don't want to get in the way of your job."
"But that's all I ever do to you," he says under his breath. The words were hard to make out, but I managed. He sighs before continuing, "I don't really need to be in London tonight, I just had a flight booked. The Brits aren't until the 18th of this month, but I wanted to..." He bends down, spitting once again into the sink before running his toothbrush under the faucet. He turns the faucet off but doesn't put the toothbrush in his mouth. Instead, he turns to me. "I wanted to go home to see my family for a while. I haven't seen them since Christmas and I was going to be in London anyway, so I figured I'd pay them a visit."
I felt like this was a way of him trying to politely ask me to take Jess and go home. And if it was, I would happily do so...my flight home was booked for tomorrow anyways.
"And I'm sure you're thinking 'Why is he bringing this up?'... 'Is he asking me to leave?'" He says as if he was reading my mind. "But that's not why I brought it up."
"And you brought it up because...?" I say after he was silent for a moment, leaving me on a cliffhanger.
He takes a deep breath. "I'm allowed to bring a plus one to the show...and I already asked Gemma to be my date because I wasn't sure whether you would say yes or turn me down." He lets out a sigh. "But now I just feel guilty because I should've just asked you first, instead of making assumptions."
"Harry, I only took three days off and-"
"Just...let me finish." He closes his eyes. "Please." He reopens his eyes after a moment and I nod my head. I press my lips into a thin line, swallowing sharply, regretting I said anything in the first place. "I know you're going to say you have to go home to work or some other excuse. And I know not to take it personally, because you're doing it for Jess because you feel guilty that you quit your job and aren't making as much money as before...I can tell."
I hate that I felt like he was almost...calling me out. I know he wasn't doing it intentionally, but that didn't make it hurt any less. I felt like he knew why I'm always so hesitant to drop everything and travel around with him, didn't really understand. And I would've expressed that to him...but he told me to let him finish. So I stayed silent.
"But I want you to put that all aside for a moment," he says, stepping closer to me. He looks down at me, making me feel intimidated, despite the soft and caring look on his face. "What would you say if Jess wasn't in the picture?"
"Are you going to kill her?" I joke, laughing. Harry rolls his eyes playfully, cracking a smile.
"Just answer the question." He chuckles, unable to keep a straight face. "I'm serious."
"Okay, okay." I grab his hands, simply because I wanted to hold them. I think for a second, my lips pursing together. "I would say..." I look up, still thinking. "God I wish I had a best friend."
Harry groans, rolling his eyes once again.
"Well, I don't know what you mean!" I say defensively. "What would I say to what...if Jess wasn't in the picture?"
"Say...hypothetically...I asked you to move in with me," he says, looking up. His shoulders shrug once. "Or asked you to be my roadie on tour. And Jess said it was okay and encouraged you to go. Then what would you say?"
I furrow my eyebrows as he changes the scenario...I thought she wasn't in the picture. But now she's here and encouraging me. I was really confused, but I went along with it.
"I mean, I'd have to find a job to pay you rent but..." I trail off as Harry bursts into laughter in front of me, his face lighting up as if I had just said the funniest thing he's ever heard.
"You really think I would ever make you pay rent to live with me?" He asks and I feel my cheeks heat up. It was a dumb thing to say...which I'm now realizing. Harry wraps his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest. He brushes his hands softly over my damp hair. "You wouldn't even need a job if you lived with me...let alone pay me rent."
"I would feel kind of guilty though...I don't want to take advantage of-"
"Did you make me pay rent when I stayed with you?" He asks and I draw my head back away from his chest to look him in the eyes. I shake my head. "Then I wouldn't expect you to either. Especially if you lived with me."
I look down, feeling so dumb at the moment.
"But it was just a hypothetical question," he reminds me, shrugging. He releases me from his embrace. "No need to stress over it."
"You're right," I mumble, nodding as I look down.
"Another hypothetical question," Harry says, causing my head to snap back up. He looks up, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Say...I was able to pull a few strings to get an extra ticket to The Brits. Then I talked to Jess and she said she would force Jackson to take care of her if you and I happened to want to fly to London. Then say, and this is all hypothetical of course, I booked us both flights to London tomorrow afternoon so now there's no backing out for you. Then what would you say to that?"
"Then I would say you're crazy." I feel my heartbeat pick up, getting the undeniable feeling that what he was saying wasn't actually hypothetical.
Harry pulls me into a hug yet again, his head resting comfortably on top of mine. He places a kiss on the top of my head, my left cheek resting against his bare chest.
"Well..." He says in a soft voice. "Then I guess you're going to have to deal with sitting next to crazy for 10 and a half hours straight."
I quickly pull away from him, mostly to see if he was smiling, indicating that he was joking. But there he stood, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips, making it hard to tell if he was being serious or not.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask nervously.
"Okay, so maybe that wasn't all hypothetical," Harry says in a higher-pitched tone.
"Harry, you didn't," I pull away from him completely. Instead of responding, he smiles crookedly...almost like a cringe. "And you already bought the ticket?"
"Yes, but I already talked to Jess about it earlier and she said she was totally okay with it and she wants you to go," he says quickly, continuously trying to convince me that this was a good idea.
"But what about my job Harry? I've already taken like four days off... I can't just call in and say 'Hey, I need an extra however many days off?'" I tried to stay calm, but I was very frustrated that he did this all without asking me first.
But I knew exactly why he didn't ask me. He knew if he asked me first, I would've said no.
"Remember what we were talking about yesterday...on our date?" Harry steps closer to me. "How you said your biggest fear was being a waste of life...and living that boring life where all you do is work?"
The look he gave me made everything click in my head. I was living out my biggest fear. Anytime Harry every asked me to do anything...I always said no because of work.
And the worst part is...it was never for myself. It was always out of fear that Jess would somehow feel like I was taking advantage of her well-paying job.
I'm on the road to the boring life I'm deathly afraid of.
"That's what I'm doing," I admit aloud, looking up at Harry, fear in my eyes.
"I'll make you a promise." He reaches down to hold my hands. "We go to London, and we stay there for a few weeks. I will pay for everything-"
"I can't let you do that," I cut him off, shaking my head vigorously. He gives me a stern look and I press my lips back together, shutting myself up.
"I'm not finished," he says. "Anyways, I have a house in London. It's big, it's warm, it's cozy...and we can stay there. And if at any point, you want to go home, I will buy you a ticket to the first plane back to Colorado."
I stay silent but still look up into his eyes, not wanting to break eye contact.
"And if you're up for it," he continues, stepping even closer to me. "We can pay a visit to my family together. I can give you a formal introduction to my mum and sister, this time not as a fan."
I smile softly, nodding. "I'd like that."
"So is that a yes?" He asks hopefully, holding back a smile.
"You're too persuasive, Styles." I roll my eyes.
I hated how he knew all the right things to say to get me to do what he wants.
* * *
a/n: before y'all say you were robbed. there was no shower sexð
p.s. if you haven't caught on...the upside down is london
p.s.s. i didn't edit this hehe