leather journal / h.s

07

M A R Y

when i got back from making up another grand lie to tell my parents-- that a neighbor needed somewhere to park--, harry was still locked in the bathroom. i breathed out a sigh of relief, and carefully moved the journal into one of my panty drawers.

"sorry, you can come out now." i said, and locked the bedroom door so my parents wouldn't get any funny ideas.

he came out, a little confused but i could tell that he was relieved he had done his business. his eyes floated the bed warily, and i was glad that i had decided to move the journal.

"what did you tell your parents?" he asked, but he didn't seem as perky as he was before.

i didn't think much of it. "that one of our neighbors needed an extra place to park and that i let them use our driveway." i explained. "they bought into it easily."

he frowned. "it's not nice to lie to your parents, mary."

was he seriously telling me off for saving his butt? sometimes, there was such a thing as being too kind. and harry was a prime example.

"so... how do you want to start looking for your journal?" i asked, twiddling my thumbs. i was scared how extremely obvious i looked right now.

a look of sadness flashed across his features before replacing it with a smile again. what was going on with him, was something the matter? "actually, i think im just going to go home. file a police report for it."

my heart started beating out of my chest. i could already see the police knocking on my door with a warrant, barging into my house and putting me behind bars after finding the journal.

"no!" i said quickly. "i don't think that's a good idea."

something told me that he was on to me, but at the same time if he was i think he would've been more straightforward with me. he seemed like that type of person. instead, he just gave me a skeptical look. "why not, mary? that sounds like a great idea to me."

"how?"

"well, for one-- this journal has personal things about me in there." he frowned sadly. "i don't want anyone to get that kind of stuff out into the media."

i nodded in agreement. how ironic, because that was exactly what i had planned to do in order to make myself some money. ugh, why did i have to go and get myself attached to him? "but if you send out a search for it, if someone other than the police does find it you can bet your money they're going to keep it to themselves."

harry chuckled. "i have plenty of money to bet."

"that's not what i meant." i said, mentally smacking my forehead. was he just this dumb or was he pretending? "anyway, maybe tomorrow we should swing by the coffee shop and see if anyone picked something up."

he shook his head. "i think ill just talk to the mayor about getting the security camera footage from that day of outside the shop. that's my best bet."

he was being so difficult. i would have gladly handed him over to one of his fans.

"how about you text me when you get home?" i suggested, really wanting to get to say that i was texting harry styles.

he peeked up and pulled his glasses off his eyes. "about that, i just want you to be sure that you and pete don't give my number out. that'd be bad."

"pete?" i laughed. "it's penny."

he laughed with me, but soon his face returned neutral. "my bad, but im serious. do you promise?"

"i promise." i said, my eyes glimmering as they stared into his green ones.