Matilda | Harry Styles

FORTY

The day that followed, the news cycle remained eerily silent. Part of me had almost expected to wake up and my entire life would be over - it felt like it could've been that way, with how unsettled Harry had been last night.

I stirred to find him sitting at the end of the bed, his chin in his hand. He was looking toward the balcony, thoughtfully, and my eyes landed on the bare skin of his shoulders as they flexed to enable him to lean forward. I almost didn't want to tell him I was awake, yet; there was a sense of peace in just seeing him like this. The moments after I woke up sometimes felt like the best ones, where everything I was harbouring hadn't quite sunk in yet - for a moment, everything was fine - I wasn't trapped in my own head, torturing myself; I wasn't battling a million and one things. And then it hit.

"Hi, you," he turned to look at me, over his shoulder, a soft smile beginning to tug on his lips as he saw me. I saw, then, that his phone was resting in his lap again. I wasn't sure how long he'd been up, or if he'd heard any news, but I could see a faint solemnity in his expression. I pulled my head from the pillow and watched him as he stood up from the bed, setting his phone down on the end of it before ruffling a hand through his hair.

He took a step over towards where I was, and the bed dipped as he pressed his knee to it, letting him lean over towards me. He brought his body on top of mine, and I laid back to bring him closer in an embrace. His face buried into my neck, and my fingers found the damp curls of his hair framing the back of his head, his skin feeling fresh beneath my touch. I supposed he'd been up long enough to have showered, as the scent of the soap he'd used on his skin greeted me.

"You smell good," I murmured, tiredly nuzzling into his neck as my hands drew slowly over his back, his body still pressed on top of mine as he hugged me. He kissed below my ear, his arms winding around me. His body was warm as I felt it against my own, a comforting silence filling the room that was only broken by the faint whir of a moped engine passing the slightly open window. "Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Mhm," he hummed against my neck, as my fingers moved to push gently back through his hair again, stroking through it. He was quiet for another second, before he spoke again. "My security's coming."

I didn't reply for a moment, gently kissing his temple and feeling his shoulders drop a little bit of their tension. He stayed leaning on me, exhaling softly against my neck, whilst my fingers continued raking through his hair. His breath was warm and familiar against my skin, and I was tempted to close my eyes to relish solely in that feeling; to block out any and everything else, but I knew that I couldn't. I wish we could've stayed like this - without any sort of reality breaking in to ruin it - his, or mine.

He leaned back a little, to look at me, dropping his gaze to my lips for a moment - but instead of kissing me, he brought his thumb over my lower lip, as if lost in thought. I lightly kissed the pad of his thumb, watching a small, dazed smile pull on his lips, but it still held a faint sadness behind it that made my heart ache. It felt like there was more behind it than just what had happened yesterday, but I didn't dare ask, for fear I'd be forced to confront something.

"I talked to Stella this morning," he said, his thumb moving to trace briefly over my chin before he moved to lay his hand beside my head. "She said she couldn't find anything to intercept... any articles, any releases..." he trailed off, bringing his lip between his teeth. "She only found some minor rumours floating around... on social media, mostly, that I was here. Nothing about you."

"Just that you were in Italy?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Mhm. I don't know, it's weird," he said, his eyes locking back onto mine. "She thinks as long as we aren't photographed anymore, whatever yesterday was, will blow over. So we have to stick with the security, and the driver..." he trailed off, closing his eyes for a second in a brief, frustrated sigh.