The Middle | Hemmings + Styles AU

35. heart on my sleeve

The space next to me was empty, and Harry's arm was gone. "Harry?" I mumbled, my eyes barely open.

It was morning. Just light enough filtered through the room for me make out Harry's back facing me from the end of the end. I could hear the smile in his voice as he said good morning.  "Sorry for waking you, go back to sleep. I'll be back soon," he whispered. My eyes were already completely open now.

He was sitting on the end of the bed, pulling a pair of Nike's onto his feet. For what seemed like the first time ever, he was wearing shorts. He had the most lovely knees I'd ever seen. "Where are you going?"

"Yoga," he said casually, finishing up the laces on his shoes.

"I never knew you did yoga."

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

I sat up in bed, drawing the sheet up over my body because I was still naked underneath. It wasn't like he hadn't seen it already but it felt different in daylight. 

I felt different too.

Flashes of last night ran through my head like an old black and white movie. I couldn't believe I'd been so uninhibited and sexual. My heart quickened at the memory of Harry above me, sweat building between our bodies. "Can we go by my house first? So I can change?"

He looked surprised but not annoyed. "You want to come with me?"

"If that's okay with you." 

He nodded. "I'll give you a moment to get dressed."

Gentleman Harry lives on. "Thanks," I said, then added, "You're right, I don't know much about you." But I really want to.

As I was putting on my clothes, which was definitely not as fun as having them removed, I looked around Harry's bedroom. The walls were cream and all of the furniture dark timber. On the opposite wall to the bed was a dresser and above it hung framed album covers. I recognised The Forgotten Kids straight away and then a few others.

They were Harry's bands, I realised. Bands he'd signed to Pilot Records. It was cute that he had them framed on the wall like this. There weren't any actual photos in the room which made me curious. Everything about Harry made me curious.

Once dressed, I checked my phone to see a message from Aunty Peg asking how my night was. I replied with the promise of a phone call tonight and then turned it off. I didn't want to go back to the real world yet.

In the kitchen, Harry was standing behind the bench, feeding apples and leafy greens into a noisy contraption. "Want a glass?" He asked once he'd shut off the machine. He poured the green liquid into two glasses and handed one to me. "It's celery, kale, apple and lemon."

My nose scrunched up, "You're going to drink celery?"

Harry laughed. "It's good for you. Who knows? You might actually like it."

I took the glass from him, deciding not to mention my diet consisted of mostly pizza and takeout in styrofoam containers, and took a tiny sip. It didn't taste that bad, believe it or not. I was taking another sip when Harry said, "So, the tour is going well. Luke said last night's show was their best yet."

Luke. Oh my god. The glass slipped from my hand, tiny pieces of broken glass exploding like the confetti across the floor. Green juice spilled out across Harry's clean white tiles, coating most of the smaller glass pieces.

"Careful," Harry said as I crouched down trying to pick up the larger pieces of glass. "Hey," he was kneeling down in front of me now, he delicate limbs somehow avoiding the glass. He brushed a piece of hair out of my eyes, his fingers grazing my cheek gently. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I answered, feeling embarrassed. I didn't need him to check on me. I was fine. "I'm not hurt."

There was a frown between his eyes as he glanced at my lips. "I'm not talking about the glass... Do you regret last night?"

I placed my hand on his knee to steady myself, my body impossibly shaky now. The broken glass and green juice was still around us, but my attention had moved somewhere else. We hadn't been this close since we were in bed together and each time Harry's gaze fell to my lips, I thought about how it felt when our mouths were lost on each other. How could I regret that?

"Not at all," I said sincerely. "I wanted it as much as you did." Maybe even more.

A deep breath fell from Harry's lips, "Good," he said, his hands quickly finding my body and lifting me up in one swift movement. He carried me over to the couch and laid me down. I was already trying to undress myself before he could kiss me properly. The memory of last night was still so vivid and anticipation sprinted through me that we were going to do it all again.

We didn't even make it to his bed this time.

-

"I guess we won't be making yoga today," I laughed. We were laying on the couch, naked, my body draped over Harry's as one of his hands gently ran across my lower back.

"Sex burns more calories anyway," he laughed back, his chest still rising and falling heavily.

"Spoken like a true expert," I joked softly, tracing over the inked swallows on his chest. I wanted to lay here and examine each and every one of his tattoos. I wondered which ones held strong stories behind them and which ones were chosen meaninglessly.

"I'm big on numbers. It's part of my job."

"How did you get into music anyway? Did you always want to work for a record label?"

"That is a long story, saved for another time." He said it politely. I filed it away for later questioning.

I dragged my finger delicately over to the black heart on his arm. ""Tell me about this tattoo then."

"I wear my heart on my sleeve," he answered with an amused chuckle. "I thought I was quite genius with that one."

"What about the ship?"

"I like pirate ships."

"And the mermaid?"

"She likes the pirates on the ship," he laughed again. I was smiling against his skin. "What about you? Tell me something about you that no one else knows."

"I got a speeding fine recently." I hadn't told anyone that. My parents were going to be furious.

"What?" He pretended to be truly shocked. "You're saying I'm sleeping with a criminal?"

"Sleeping with? As in..." As in this was more than a one-time thing? I couldn't say that I hated the idea.

"As in, " His hand trailed further down my back, skating across the my lower back. "As long as we're both enjoying ourselves and don't hold a monogamous commitment to anyone else, why should I keep my hands off of you?" 

He was right. I knew he was right, and yet suddenly panic flew through my body. "I'm sorry," I said, standing up and trying to pick up my scattered clothes with as much dignity as possible. Harry sat up when I started getting dressed but I didn't let him speak. "You're perfect, everything was perfect, but I have to go. I'm sorry."