Harry Styles Imagines

71. Comfort Part 3

 Neither of them spoke about that night to each other after it happened. Harry had gone home, taken a cold shower, drank three cups of coffee and spent the rest of the day mentally cursing himself for being so stupid. (Y/N) had spent the majority of the day running through every single encounter she and Harry had had over the course of the last few months; replaying each glance, each conversation, each time that she noticed Harry acting not quite like himself. It all added up in her mind now; it made sense.

This wasn't supposed to happen to them. The great thing about Harry and (Y/N)'s friendship was the fact that there weren't any feelings present to get in the way of things. They could be a normal, uncomplicated, flirty pair of people without worrying about consequences. Now it was all going to change. The mere fact that Harry's feelings were now common knowledge was enough to change things. It didn't matter if either of them ever actually did anything about it, it was out there now; it was almost like an invisible wall had now been laid down between the two of them.

There was a little resentment on (Y/N)'s end about the whole thing. In her mind, everything had been going fine between them. Why did Harry have to go and ruin it?

But, on the other hand, (Y/N) had her own secret.

The first time she realized that she was in love with Harry was before she had started dating her now-ex-boyfriend. It had been during a bonfire that she and Harry had attended, hosted by one of their friends. About 16 people stayed late, sitting around the open flame, talking amongst themselves and going overboard on marshmallows and hot dogs. Harry had been sitting next to (Y/N), but they were both in conversation with other people. When the person beside her had gone home for the night, she had sat in silence just listening to the other conversations around her. She happened to glance over at Harry, who was laughing at something with his friend. The light from the fire was hitting his face just right, making him more illuminated than any of the other people around him. His eyes were crinkled, his dimple had popped and he was letting out that high-pitched, hyena laugh that she loved so much. But now, as (Y/N) was looking at him, she had felt a twinge in her stomach. It was one that she had never felt before when she looked at Harry. In that moment, she wanted to be closer to him. She wanted to be wrapped up in his arms, reveling in the warmth of the sweater he was wearing as he clasped her hands gently in his own. She wanted to feel his breath on her neck and the feel of his lips pressing tiny kisses to her skin as he continued to talk to those around him. She wanted to be able to go home with him at the end of the night and fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat and feel his body crash into hers.

She had never wanted that kind of life with Harry before, but she wanted it now.

Her relationship with her now-ex-boyfriend hadn't been a scam. She hadn't just dated him to get her mind off of Harry. She had had genuine feelings for him and was very much into the relationship. But now that he was out of the picture and it was just Harry again...those feelings had started to come back.

She had felt them when Harry was holding her on the couch while she cried.

She had felt them when she was laying on his shoulder, falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

She had felt them when his lips pressed against the top of her head, even though he thought she had been asleep.

She had felt it when she woke up the next morning, still wrapped securely in his arms and feeling safer than she had in a long time.

And she felt them now, while she was desperately trying to figure out what the next step would be.

She wasn't supposed to fall in love with her best friend. Her best friend wasn't supposed to fall in love with her. And yet, here they were.