Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Nine.

Harry felt extremely nervous as he sat at home, knowing time was ticking and he soon would be out with three people he didn't know very well at all. He waited upstairs in his room, sprawled out atop the king sized mattress that sat in the middle of the wall between two windows.

He had a lot to think about. He wondered if it was a mistake to agree to go, he worried about his mother finding out, he stressed over the fact that he'd lied to his parents by telling them he'd be with Liam for the night. He'd made Liam promise he would back up his lie, which took loads and loads of convincing to do. Thankfully he'd managed to get him to go along with it, and he was grateful he had a friend like Liam to help him avoid getting in trouble.

His legs hung over the end of his bed and they swung freely, his bed just a little too high for his feet to be able to touch the carpet. Winnie laid on the bed with him, though she was asleep with her head right next to his as he gently rubbed behind her ear. He kept his eyes on the clock, watching the minutes pass until their agreed time of seven o'clock came before he moved.

He tried not to wake Winnie when he got up, but her eyes fluttered open to watch him shuffle around the room to grab a plain black zip-up hoody to wear in case it got cold and head out the door. He was glad she was too tired to follow. He slipped out the front door without saying goodbye and began walking down the street in the direction of the corner he and Aubry usually met up on. That's where they'd agreed to pick him up.

He waited near the streetlamp and shuffled around on his feet, keeping his head down to watch the rock he passed back and forth between them. Time passed, he checked his phone for the time a few times and they were ten minutes late. He was patient, he didn't let it bother him. He sort of enjoyed it because he was still feeling anxious and the longer they took, the better.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes had passed that be grew bored and sat on the curb. He was getting paranoid that he'd get caught waiting on the corner, because he technically was supposed to be with Liam. His worries were settled when a car silver car pulled up in front of him and the back door popped open, "Sorry we're late, it's Aubry's fault."

Niall was in the drivers seat and Louis was in the passengers, while Aubry leaned back into her own from opening the door for him in the back. He stood, "It's okay."

He climbed in behind Louis and his feet stepped on the garbage on the floor, creating a crunching sound. "Don't mind the junk, Niall's a slob," Aubry spoke from next to him as he pulled the door closed and buckled himself in.

The interior of the car was littered with fast food bags and empty soda cans, clothes, and a bunch of random items that looked to have been just pushed off the back seats to make room to sit, but still left very little leg room and a pile of stuff in the middle between him and Aubry.

"Hey, it's not just me," Niall defended. "Louis is responsible for some of this too."

"Barely," Louis disagreed. "I think the only thing in here that's mine is this," he reached into the back and picked up a sweatshirt from the floor to show him.

He glanced at it quickly as he drove before saying, "That's mine."

"No, it's mine."

"No, it's mine," Niall argued. "You borrowed it from me and never gave it back."

"Exactly, it's mine." Louis placed the sweatshirt down on the floor near his feet and to drown out any further argument from Niall, he turned the radio up.

They ended up driving out of Northwood to the town just outside of it. Harry remained quiet throughout the entire drive, keeping his eyes out the window to the passing scenery. The town was much more run-down than his own, the buildings were quite shabby and the sidewalks were dirty, littered with discarded cigarette butts and stray empty aluminum cans. There was graffiti on brick walls and in the dark alleyways, making him feel like he was in a bad area he probably shouldn't be.