Mint | h.s.

3.2

Elena's POV

"Elena I-"

He stops.

His adam apple goes up and down, his breaths come out as small inaudible gasps. He closes his eyes, eyelashes resting on his cheeks, until he opens them again. Green orbs starring at me, making electricity shocks touch my fingertips.

He leans in, ever so slowly, as if time was stopped. We're stuck in this moment, right here, right now.

His hands move to the spot where my ear meets my neck. His intense stare sends chills down my spine. The silence has never felt more intimate.

I close my eyes as his lips meet mine in the most sweet way it's possible. The slow pace of the kiss makes my knees weaken. My heart is going at an uncontrollable pace, as I confirm to myself, that it's beating only for him.

He pulls away and moves his lips to my cheek, where he lets them linger for a few moments.

No words are spoken as he takes my hand in his, leading us to his living room. A bright brown, orange candle is placed on the coffee table. He lights it up and sits on the sofa.

I follow his moves and take the place next to him. He seems lost in thought, staring into space. Various things are running through my head, trying to grasp everything that has happened today.

A faded cinnamon smell fills my senses as I find its source. The candle.

"It's a nice smell." I quietly say. His head turns towards me at my voice. He smiles lightly, making my cheek turn rosy.

"I know, there's a reason why I lit it." I find myself wondering, leaning in, wanting to know what's the special story behind this flavor. His self intrigues me in the worst and best way possible. I want to embrace his story, his mind, his feelings.

He clears his throat, carrying on. "It's my mum's favourite. She always had one of these." His sentences are short, like he's trying to save up words. "And I haven't lighten up one in a long time, it just reminded me too much of her." He shakes his head.

"Why did you do it now?"

"Just the boys I guess, they made me feel like things were the same as before." I slowly nod. "And I got you and now I got them back and I wanted to feel that she was here too."

My heart drops to my stomach at his words. If I could only just bring his mum here and work it out somehow.

"Hey, she misses you too, I'm sure of that." I swipe my thumb across his hand, giving it a little squeeze. A soft smile appears on his face.

"Anyways, enough of serious stuff, do you wanna watch a movie?" He raises his eyebrows as he waits for my answer.

A thought pops in my head and my throat tightens. It's now or never.

"Actually," I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, fiddling with the hem of my dress. "I need to tell you something." I look up meeting his curious and confused eyes. "Just let me talk okay, cause if I don't say it now, I will never say it."

He nods quickly, me taking that as a sign to start talking.

I gulp down my nerves and begin. "Remember that time I told you I couldn't go further, but didn't say the reason?" He mumbles a 'yeah'. "Well, I've been avoiding this for the longest time, cause I was scared that maybe you'd-you'd do the s-same." My eyes start dwelling with tears.

He wraps an arm around me, whispering comforting things.

"Okay, well," I sit up straight. "When I was a senior, I was dating this guy Marcus. We were in love. Or I thought we were. Anyways, he has always been the type to do everything at once. Like, whatever it was, he just wanted to do it as soon as humanly possible, let that be play a game or eat a meal.

So, this one night there was a party at I don't even remember whose house. Aleisha was there too. We were having a good time, but I noticed how much he had to drink. He was starting to slur his words and just doing things that aren't right.

He started kissing me with such force, but I just thought that it was the alcohol, or one of those times when he tried to go over the edge with me, but stopped when I said no. I guess I wasn't right." I take a deep breath, gaining the courage to carry on.

"I wanted to tell Aleisha to get him off me, but she was nowhere in sight. I tried to say no and push him away, he just wouldn't have it.

He led me to this bedroom and just threw me on the bed like I was a piece of nothing, or something to use. I just remember his dark eyes when he started undressing me."

I breathe out a laugh as a tear rolls down my cheek.

"And I tried so hard to push him away, to just stop it somehow, but the music was too loud for anyone to hear me, and he was too strong for me. But, I guess some sixth sense hit my head and I just kicked him in the lower area. I tried to run out of the door, but he had already locked it."

I glance over at Harry and see his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed.

"So, I thought, this was it, you know. He started saying how he loved me and why I didn't love him back. But, thinking back now, I did love him, but I didn't know who he actually was. I didn't know why it was so important for him for us to just take that step.

And out of nowhere this guy just knocked the door down and got in. I don't even know to this day how he knew where we were or anything. He stopped it."

(a/n: start playing if there's somewhere by halsey, I recommend it.)

I finish off with a tearstained cheeks and small smile. Harry wraps his arms around me, letting me burrow my head in his neck. His scent makes me feel secure and protected. It makes me feel like home. He feels like home.

"Is this why you're always so scared when I kiss you? I can notice when your breath hitches?" He asks me.

"You've noticed that?" I furrow my brows.

"I notice more than you think." His dimples pop out as a smirk finds its way on his lips. "But," he places his hands like he's cupping my head, looking deeply into my eyes. "I will never do that to you, I don't want you to be scared of me, and I know it will take time, but I will wait for you. We do have a lifetime after all." He sweetly smiles, not knowing that his words caused my heart to actually skip a beat.

"Harry, I-"

"I know."

He hovers his lips above mine, for a few seconds until he places a soft kiss on my cheek. His lips are travelling down to my jawline, on my neck, lovingly placing open mouthed kisses against my skin. He moves them along my cheekbones, heading towards my ear.

My hands are at his neck, using it as a support from the way my head is spinning. Heavy breaths leave my mouth as I try to grasp the burning sensation he's implanting with his lips straight to my heart.

He stops when he gets right above my ear, our cheeks against each other. Moments pass before he whispers three little words that shake my world.

"I love you."