Endlessly (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 7

Casey could vaguely hear the crunching echo of leaves being stepped on as she made her way home crossly. Part of Casey was indebted to the other person on the uninhabited road, especially since she had plenty of alcohol in her system and wasn’t as acquainted with the area as she would like. The other part of her was fuming and muddled as she rounded the sidewalk toward her small two-bedroom corner house. She turned on her heal and came face to face with the silhouette standing in the grass behind her.  Harry stood nearly a head and a half taller than her, however her spitfire and confident nature screamed a minimum of 6'0". 

"You don't need to be following me." She said bitterly. 

"I wanted to make sure you got home safely." Harry shrugged almost innocently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 

Casey could scarcely trust she heard him properly. Every man she had ever dated, had a fling with or simply spent a rough evening of casual sex with hadn’t ever cared about her safety. The idea of someone who she was currently annoyed with, concerning himself with her well-being virtually repulsed her.

"Well I'm fine. You can leave now." Casey grumpily folded her hands over her chest.  "Besides, I'm not sure we have even met properly. So trying to 'protect' me isn't going to impress me."

She didnt quite understand the reasoning behind her words simply that she was embarrassed and her pride was bruised. So since Harry was there she chose to lash out at him, dumping her frustrated anger out on him. She was slightly embarrassed that she knew his name but doubted he had learned hers yet. 

"I'm Harry." He shrugged. "And I wasn't trying to impress. I just didn't want to be responsible if you get hurt for being stupid."

"So I'm stupid now?" Casey said fuming. "Great way to introduce yourself. "

"I didn't say you were stupid. And are you going to tell me your name?" Harry walked toward her and cocked an eyebrow at the stubborn girl. 

"Casey." She said meeting his eyes.

For the first time he took note of the iridescent coloring of her eyes. They shone a bright golden rod under the pools of moonlight encompassing her face. As he stared down at her he found himself being lost in the radiant mixes of gold and green; a faint blue ring licked the edges of her pupils.

"Nice to meet you Casey." Harry's said huskily not taking his eyes from hers. 

Her breath hitched as Casey realized their close proximity. Harry’s hand reached up and tucked a strand of wavy black hair that fell into her eyes. She blinked twice before making a slight movement away from him. Something happened in her chest and it scared her, so she shut it off.

“How does it feel to have the tables turned?” Harry smirked earning a glare from Casey.

The door opened and her mother alighted from inside the house.

“Casey, it’s time to come in. Tell him goodnight.” For once Casey was thankful her mother but in.

“’night Harry.” Casey began walking backwards before turning and heading into her house.

“Goodnight Case, take care now.” Casey turned at her door to look at him smirking in the dark.

“Don’t call me that.” Casey grimaced but then smirked before shutting the door.

She leaned against the wall next to the door as she shut it. The peeling wallpaper cooled her flushed face as she filled her lungs with air before releasing it. She banged the wall with her fist frustrated that she had let him get to her like that, mentally swearing it wouldn’t happen again.

“Thanks for saving me out there.” Casey grumbled walking past her mother toward her bedroom.

***

The chime of the doorbell rang as Casey walked into the small whole in the wall coffee shop. After waking up and heading to the kitchen, the avid coffee drinker had found that there was no more coffee in the house and ended up walking down the street at the ungodly hour of 6:30 in the morning for her supply of caffeine. She had been up for a good hour before falling asleep, thinking about everything the curly hair boy had done that night. His attitude seemed to plague her thoughts even as she walked into the café. Casey stood waiting for her latte looking at all the gadgets and the array of packages of snacks lining the counter. She marveled at the lack of security precisions almost as if they were tempting her to pocket them. Stuffing her hands into her leather jacket Casey battled the idea of sneaking one of the sweets right from under the cashiers nose.

 Casey had promised herself she wouldn’t give into the temptations again. Even though they brought on all kinds of good feelings, she was determined not to get into trouble this time. She wanted to stay in this town and not move again. It was her goal to finish out senior year without moving midyear. Every time they had moved before it was due to one of her arrests. Last time she ended up in juvenile detention. She couldn’t afford that kind of mistake again.

But the temptation was there and Casey couldn’t say no. Her hand reached out and craftily took the small package without anyone seeing. She slipped it into her hidden pocket inside her jacket, having fashioned it months earlier.

“I saw that.” A gruff voice said behind her and she turned around.

“See what?” She asked defiantly playing it cool.

“Come on Casey, don’t do that put it back.” Harry rolled his eyes.

“Fine.” Casey growled slipping the package back into its spot.

“Excuse me miss?” The cashier who had been standing on the other side of the counter materialized beside her. “You need to pay for that.”

“Oh….I was just putting it back.” Casey smiled innocently.

“I saw you take it.” The boy was adamant.

“Tommy, mate I got this one. I asked her to grab it for me and then I decided I didn’t want it.” Harry shrugged.

After talking a bit more with Tommy Harry was able to convince him to let Casey off the hook.

“Why do you feel like you have to stick up for me all the time? I have it under control.” Casey growled in frustration.

Harry shrugged.

“You don’t even know me anyway.” Casey turned to walk away after grabbing her latte of the counter. Harry impulsively grabbed her arm.

“Then let me get to know you. Let’s sit down.”

Casey instinctively peeled his fingers off her arm with her other hand. Her natural response to this sort of confrontation was flight but the look in his jade eyes told her it would be worth her while to stay.