Change // H.S.

16. Unexpected Visitors

*Dani's POV*

I made my way to my favorite café on The Ave. I could use a cup of coffee right now. I'm nervous about the psychology exam this week. The exam is 30% of my grade and I don't feel the least bit ready for it. I admit I've fallen behind in school because of Harry. Right as I'm about to open the door, I hear someone call my name. I turned around to see Josh. Great. Just great.

"Hey!" Josh exclaimed, running towards me. "I haven't seen you in a long time. I'm surprised I found you today."

"I've been busy with school is all," I told him. "Also, I'm not allowed to buy food for people anymore." I realized what I said was kind of mean but it was the truth.

"It's fine. I'm not hungry anyway. I have money, remember?" he said cheerily, grinning at me. I'm reminded of his job dealing drugs and I shudder at the thought. "So what are you doing?"

"I'm getting a cup of coffee and then I'm going to study in there for a while," I told him.

"Oh," he replied. I can tell he's disappointed. "Well I'll let you study. I hope to see you around soon?"

"Yeah," I told him. I gave him a fake smile. He always makes me uncomfortable but I'm too nice to tell him off. I'm glad he didn't follow me into the café. I really need that time to study.

We parted ways and I walked into the café. I ordered a cup of coffee and looked around the small café for an empty table. As I scanned the café, I saw Harry at a table with someone I didn't recognize. Harry's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he stared down at a piece of paper before him.

"Harry?" I asked hesitantly. I knew it was him but I had no idea why he was here. He looked up to face me. His eyes widened in shock and I got to see how beautiful his eyes were. They're a beautiful shade of green.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. I was slightly offended by how surprised he was that I was here. This is my favorite café! I come here all the time! I answered in my head. His friend looked at me in curiosity but didn't speak.

"What are you doing here?" I asked back. Harry laughed at my childish behavior.

"I'm catching up with a good friend of mine. He's helping me out with the interview. We're writing down answers to interview questions." I was caught off guard at how proactive he was about this interview. I thought I was the one who was supposed to help him with that. I guess I should be happy that I have one less thing to worry about. "So why are you here?"

"I'm here for coffee," I replied, holding up the cup of coffee in my hand for him to see. "I'm also here to study. This is my favorite café to study in."

"Same here," his friend finally spoke. "I'm Tom by the way. You must be...."

"Dani," I said, finishing his sentence. Tom's face lit up. It scared me how excited he was to meet me.

"So you're the one helping Harry out," Tom said with a smile on his face. How does he know? I turned to look at Harry in confusion.

"Oh! So Tom, this is Dani, and Dani, this is Tom," Harry said quickly. "Tom is a friend of mine. We've known each other since middle school. He let me stay at his place before I became homeless and had to sleep in the shelter." I didn't know what to say so I just nodded. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Uh...no, it's fine. I don't want to bother you guys. Plus I need to study," I answered. I wanted to sit down with them but I couldn't. Harry nodded in understanding and I swear he looked a little sad.

I found an empty table a good distance away from their table. I needed that separation to focus. My seat had a good view of Harry and his friend, but Harry's back was facing me. I can see how tense he is based on his back posture. Harry turned slightly to look at me. Once his eyes met mine, he quickly looked away. I cocked my head to the side at his strange behavior and then thought about what Rachel told me the other day. He can't be in love with me. I shook my head and took out my textbook and notes and sipped my coffee.

Harry and his friend are making conversation but I can't hear them. Maybe it was a bad idea sitting so far away from them. But then again, it's best if I'm far away so I can focus on studying. After a while, Harry got up to go to the bathroom. I took this opportunity to get a better look at his friend. I looked at Tom to find that he was staring at me as well. Awkward! Tom gave me a smile and I smiled back at him and quickly looked down at my notes again, blushing in embarrassment.

Coming here was a bad idea. I'm not getting much studying done with these two here. I have to read my notes over and over again in order for it to sink in. Suddenly something blocked my source of light and I looked up to see Harry hovering over me.

"Hey," he said, sitting in the seat across from me.

"Hey," I said back. "Why aren't you sitting with Tom?"

"I'll go back to him in a bit. I just thought I'd talk to you. You know...to keep you company." I blushed at how sweet and caring he was.

"You don't have to," I said.

"You don't want me to stay?" he asked, looking hurt.

"No! I didn't mean it that way. I don't want you to feel obligated to keep me company. We had no idea we'd see each other here."

"Right."

"On a side note, we need to order pizza tonight. I have a lot to go over for my exam on Friday so I won't have time to cook," I sighed.

"Sounds good to me," Harry smiled. "Good luck with your studies." With that, Harry got up to go back to Tom. Harry and Tom left soon after and I was left alone to study with no distractions. I got a good two hours of studying in before heading out to a pizza joint down the street.

I entered the pizza joint and realized that I didn't know what kind of pizza Harry liked. I fished out my cell phone and called my apartment phone number. It went straight to voicemail. Harry's not back yet? Where is he? I decided on Hawaiian and barbeque chicken and walked out the door to my apartment.

I got home to a still empty apartment. I frowned. The pizza's going to get cold! I waited 15 minutes for Harry to come home before deciding to eat without him. After that, I took a shower. Once I came out of the shower, I saw Harry in the kitchen eating cold pizza.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Out," he replied with a mouthful of pizza. "I had some errands to do."

"Oh," is all I said. What errands? A sharp knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts. I wonder who could be visiting so late. I walked towards the door and looked through the peephole. All the color drained from my face. It was my parents! Shit! They don't know about Harry. Why didn't they call me to tell me they were coming? I ran towards the kitchen. Harry looked up at me.

"What's wrong?"

"My parents are here!" I whisper shouted.

"What about your parents?" he asked, still clueless as to why I was panicking.

"They don't know about you," I whispered. I see the realization hit Harry as he put two and two together.

"What do we do?" he asked frantically.

"Hide!" Harry ran into my bedroom with a slice of pizza in his hands. I'd laugh at how funny he looked if I wasn't in this situation. Once he was out of sight, I took a deep breath before walking back to the front door. I opened the door to find my parents not looking the least bit happy.