Child's Play {Harry Styles AU}

Chapter 6

He stayed most of the night. In between bites of Chinese food and sips of wine, we talked. It wasn't the idle chatter that I've become used to with most people. We really talked. He asked me stupid questions. Questions that were so meaningless, yet without asking them, you couldn't really know a person. He asked me what the first movie I saw was, about my first pet and how it almost killed me when Fluffy, the mangy cat, ran away. But then there were deeper questions. He asked about where I grew up and when I said just outside of Boston in the burbs, he asked me everything about my childhood. And once he had seemed to run out of questions, I asked him some.

He had a sister named Gemma, who still lived in England with his mom. He had worked in a bakery when he was a teenager. He used to ride his bike up and down the streets and at one point had broken his wrist when he fell off. He played soccer with his friends in high school, even though he was absolutely awful at it. He made good grades in school, but especially in history. He loved traveling and had dreams of visiting historic battle sites in Europe.

On the rare occasion that we fell into an awkward silence he found something else to comment about. He asked about a painting I had on my wall, a lesser known Van Gogh painting that was one of my favorites. We could talk about art for ages.

We sat on the couch, a blanket over our legs. He'd thought of everything, including bringing a movie for us to watch and pajama pants for him to change into. He'd chosen Day and Night, a great Tom Cruise movie. I'd turned the lights of in the living room, the only light came from the glow of the TV. I leaned my body into his, his arm falling over my shoulder, his hand poised on my waist. My hand was on his chest. I couldn't help but look at his tattoos, which littered his muscular arms and I could just make out the edge of some, poking out from the collar of his shirt. He left around midnight. He stood in my doorway for a second before wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him, connecting his lips to mine.

"I'll see you soon, Piper-Jane."

~

"Ms. Kelley!" I looked over, snapped from my thoughts about Harry. Aubrey was standing next to me desk, raising her eyebrow at me. My heart jumped, she really was Harry's daughter, they shared the same expressions. "What are you thinking about?" I looked down at my notes to see I had doodled Harry's name on the corner of a page.

"Nothing." I threw my hand over the doodle, doing my best to cover it up. She raised her eyebrow. "What do you need?"

"I finished my book." She put her little picture book on my desk. The class had been reading for the past thirty minutes. It was their little quiet time after recess to get them to calm down. I nodded.

"Great job, Aubrey. You can pick another one off of the shelf."

"That's ok, I have books at home to read." She glanced down at my hand, which was awkwardly placed on my notebook, barely covering the doodle. She grinned before walking back to her desk and drawing. Did Harry tell her? Even if he did, did it really matter?

As I walked home, I contemplated that. I had only walked a block or two when I came to the conclusion that it did matter. Aubrey is a smart girl, surely she could at least grasp the situation to a degree. But if she did know, she didn't seem to be upset by it. I have nothing to lose but my job at least.

I took the elevator up to my apartment, swinging my keys around my finger. There was a note, taped to my door. My heart leaped in my chest, knowing exactly who it was from. I opened it carefully.

I'll pick you up at 7.
Harry
P.S. Look left.

I slowly turned to my left. Hanging from the hallway's lamp was a navy blue dress. What on Earth was he planning.

Harry's POV

It was 6:50 when I parked in front of Piper's apartment building. The door of the building opened just as I stepped out of my car. And there she was. Thankfully, the dress I had bought for her fit perfectly. She was perfect. she could wear a garbage bag and still pull off perfection. The dress hung from her shoulders, it hugged her waist before flowing toward the ground. Her hair looked like it was made of gold in the setting sun. It was pulled away from her face with the exception of a few curled pieces.

As she walked down the stoop, careful not to step on her dress, her leg occasionally peeking out from the small slit in the flowing fabric, my heart seized in my chest. My legs moved me toward her, like she had her own gravitational pull and there was nothing I could do. She stopped on the bottom step, just like she had the first time I had picked her up.

"So, Mr. Styles, what's the occasion?" She asked a dazzling smile on her face. I shrugged.

"Thursday." She smiled, looking down at her silver shoes. She stepped closer to me, doing a small twirl, showing off her dress.

"You look handsome." I put a hand in the pocket of my dress pants, using the other to push my hair back.

"I thought I was the direct one." She grinned, rolling her eyes. "You look beautiful." She blushed. "Now, come on." I pulled the car door open for her.

"Where are we going?" She asked as I got into the driver's seat. I shrugged. "That's a lie."

"It's a surprise."

"You didn't have to buy me a dress, you know? I own plenty of them." She said, fixing the dress over her legs.

"I wanted to. You deserve it. A gorgeous dress for a gorgeous girl." I started the car, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye.

"Well it must have been expensive. I noticed you cut the tag out so I couldn't look it up." She raised an eyebrow.

"Noticed that, huh?" She nodded and I smiled. She dropped it, knowing that I wouldn't tell her anything.

It was torture to keep my eyes on the road as I drove closer to our destination. We arrived within minutes at the Museum of Fine Arts. Piper looked at me and smiled, before staring up the curved drive of the museum, cars parked on either side of it. The path was illuminated against the dark grass by little yard lights. Piper seemed surprised when I put the car in park, right in front of the museum's steps, which had a red runner down the middle.

"Are you serious?" I nodded. "Is there like a gala or something?" I nodded again. Her face fell, looking worried.

"It's just people from the University, professors. None of which have children that go to your school." She nodded. "Besides, I have something else in mind." She smiled as I climbed out of the car, handing the keys to a valet. I held the door open for her and she slid out of the car. She stood beside me for a second before sliding her hand into mine.

People were milling around on the steps, but as soon as they saw Piper, they stopped. She was the kind of girl that caused people to do a double take. Not even because of how unbelievably gorgeous she was, but because of the way she held herself. She radiated in every possible way. Piper-Jane was the ultimate girl. She turned to me and smiled, my heart pounding against my rib cage. She had my heart and I was helpless.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys! Sorry that I've taken so long to update! School has been really busy with it being the end of the year!! So please please please comment and vote if you want me to keep updating!!! Thank you guys! xoxo

PS. I put a picture of what I imagined the dress to be just as a reference for you guys!! :)