shadow » h.s

ten

"What?" I ask, my voice a nervous whisper as the question slips from my parted lips.

"I wasn’t supposed to tell you that," Harry frowns.

"But you did."

"Yes," he says and tugs on his bottom lip and I can’t help but smile at his truthful words.

"Are you still angry at me?" I ask in a whisper.

"I’m a little pissed, yeah."

"Even though you kissed Becka."

"It’s not like we had anything going on Jess."

"It still upset me."

"I didn’t mean for it to upset you."

"You mean you didn’t expect me to find out."

"Look," Harry says with a huffed sigh. "Can we forget the whole thing?"

"Sure," I nod.

"I need to know something Jess," Harry informs me and the caution in his voice frightens me a little. I have no idea what he’s going to say next. "How do you feel about me?"

"Oh," I say and let out a nervous breath. I must sound so pathetic. "I don’t know."

I definitely sound pathetic. I watch as Harry’s face falls and his eyes drop to the ground, the gesture almost crushing my heart.

"I didn’t mean it like that," I say quietly, my words tumbling from my tongue.

"No, it’s fine," Harry says with a shrug and I watch in silence as his feet take him to the bed where he sits and lets his chest hang over his knees.

"No, hear me out please," I mutter in a quiet and shaky voice. I take a seat next to him on the bed, sighing inwardly with relief when Harry doesn’t move or flinch at my close movement. "I do like you…I just, I don’t know if I’m ready to like somebody in that way."

"So maybe if you had time…?" Harry begins to ask and I slip an easy ‘yes’.

"Or if we took things, um, slowly."

"So…start as friends?" Harry questions in a quiet whisper, flashing me a smile.

"We’re already friends," I remind him with a small smile. Its silent for a moment and a shiver runs through me as a cool wind sweeps through the window. "We should go downstairs, they’ll be wondering where we are."

I frown slightly as Harry stiffens beside me.

"Niall’s down there."

"And?" I ask.

"I don’t want you two being together."

"He’s my best friend, Harry. Of course we’re going to be together."

"You kissed him!" Harry exclaims loudly and rises to his feet. Great, we’re back to the root cause.

"You kissed Becka!" I yell. My emotions are all over the place at the current moment. "She’s down there but do I complain? No! I’m going down there whether you like it or not."

"Fine," Harry speaks lowly with a grunt. "Tell him I know. I’m serious Jess. I don’t want him all fucking over you."

"Whatever you want," I breathe out shakily and nod once. My mind is wandering all over the place and I’m trying to acknowledge what exactly is going on.

"Can I have a hug?" Harry smiles across at me with a whisper. Playful Harry is my favourite. His mood swings are very hard to keep up with but I don’t have another choice. I flash him a flushed grin, walking over as he holds his tattooed arms out for me.