Endlessly (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12

“How could I be so stupid?” Casey muttered to herself, pressing her palms firmly against her forehead.  She had but a fleeting second of solitude before the back door creaked open behind her.

                “Case?”  Harry called out, swiveling his head around locate her in the dingy light of the back porch.  She looked over her shoulder, standing tall and shutting her eyes momentarily before delving further into the darkness of the backyard.

                “Casey,” he called after her again, finally spotting her as she tried to dip beneath the pools of moonlight that were mulling around her feet.  “Stop trying to hide from me, I need to talk to you.” 

                “You don’t need to explain yourself, Harry,” her voiced tore through the night sky.  He squinted and craned his neck forward, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness.  After scanning the length of the backyard twice over, he finally made out the silhouette of Casey’s body; taking in the curves of her entirety, he smirked and bounded towards her.

                “You know I can still see you out here, right?”  He said; Casey could feel the grin in his tone.

                 “You don’t have to be so smug about it, Harry,” she said, standing her ground.

                The sound of his name as it fell from her lips sent shockwaves throughout his entire body.  That had been one of the first times she’d uttered his name and, for some reason, he liked the way it sounded; there was something about the melodies of her voice that filled him with serenity.  She still stood confident in the security of the darkness; the disappointment written all over her face was the last thing she wanted Harry to see, and the black of the night succeeded at concealing it.

                He peered down at his feet, his smug grin fading into a frown.  He dug the tip of his Converse into the patch of dirt as his feet and traced circles until there was a distinct pattern in the earth.  “I can tell you’re upset,” Harry asserted.

                “I-I don’t know…what you are saying.” Casey was taken aback by the gentle accusation in his deep melodic voice. Her heart physically constricted and for once she had been ousted at her own game. No one had been able to tell she was hurting before; even her own mother was completely in the dark when it concerned Casey’s feelings or emotions.

                “I didn’t want to kiss Des-“Harry was cut off by Casey’s timid interruption.

                “You don’t need to explain Harry.” In the moonlight he could make out the rippling emotions that faded and reappeared on her face like masks.

                “Case, please just let me though.” Casey winced as she walked past him toward the door.

                “Don’t.” Casey’s stomach fought to keep down the building pressure, something that she assumed to be hurt feelings. It was an emotion she was unaccustomed too and she remembered why she doesn’t ever let people in: it hurt.

His lengthy fingers reached out toward the moving figure and snaked around her bony petite wrist.  The touch on her wrist stopped her from leaving and she breathed in, feeling Harry move around to face her. She looked at the ground, not wishing to give him the satisfaction of seeing the hurt in her eyes. There was a moment, it was a slight millisecond that her head screamed to grasp the opportunity and run. But she was tired of constantly resisting him, and in that moment of weakness, she allowed his touch to lift her chin to face him.

Using his thumb to caress her chin he spoke softly to her, “You don’t have to push people away all the time.”

Casey let a shallow breath out before glancing down again, not saying anything to dispel or encourage him. It was as if she was testing him, seeing how far he would go before she stopped him. Cautiously he ran the pad of his thumb over the fullness of her bottom lip.  She was slightly taken back from the electricity in his touch, and all the nerve endings in her body seemed to respond to his delicate hand.  Her eyes flickered down to his lips, wanting to taste them again.  Even though she had only gotten the opportunity to kiss him just moments before, she longed for the chance to do it again; only next time, she wanted it to be on his own accord.  Harry looked down at her countenance and took in the way her eyes lingered on his lips.  The brief flicker of her golden eyes was all the encouragement he needed to press on.