(ATLANTIS) - haylor au

chapter seven (1/2)

(taylor)

Everyone is working hard and it warms my heart even though Sel and I are going to be broke treating them and thanking them. So far, the canvas murals are coming up real nice. There are three murals and at least ten people working on each. But, Sel and I have taken charge of the third one all by ourselves. Selena and I have finally finished cleaning up our work stations after everyone has left.

I look at my watch, I realise that it's almost 7. "Oh shit shit shit shit!" I mutter, hurrying up.

"What?" Selena asks, drying up the mugs and paintbrushes.

"I have to go over to Styles' house to start on our Chemistry project." I reply without even looking at her and I'm viciously, wiping all the table surfaces.

"Oooh." Selena teases me and walks towards me. "Have you asked him to homecoming?" She asks and then starts piling up chairs in the art room.

"Why would I do that?" I roll my eyes and start hanging all the tablecloths to dry. "Besides, I'm sure the captain of the soccer team should have a few girls swooning over him." My nose scrunches up at the thought of girls embarrassing themselves for Harry Styles. That's just gross.

I hear the chairs stop being stacked and wait for Selena to speak. "Yeah, well, you better ask him. He's a friend and not a total creep." She laughs before going back to stacking.

"Styles is a pervert." That's all I manage as I wait for her to finish.

Thankfully, Selena drops me off at Harry's house. I check my watch and realise it's already way past 7. I don't even know if I should go in or not. I'm hesitating, my finger hovering over the door bell outside their gate. Fuck it. I press the bell and wait for someone at home to buzz me in.

It's been so long since I've come to his house I forget how much more lavish it is in comparison to my own. I reach the front door and find Harry's mom there. "Hello Mrs Styles." I give her my most pleasant smile.

"Oh my gosh, Taylor. Is that really you?" She pulls me in for a quick hug before guiding me inside. "It's been so long! I was starting to worry that something horrible must've happened between you two."

"Oh." I say. I'm trying to think of another excuse to tell her why I haven't been over in such a long time when I've spent a better part of my childhood in this house as well as my own. "I've just been busy." I smile again and nod.

"Come more often. I know how busy Andrea's been." She pats my back and gives me another sweet smile. "Harry's having dinner right now. You should join him." She suggests.

I try to refuse but I can't say no to Harry's mom, Anne, in the end. I enter their dining hall and see Harry sitting at the table by himself. He looks up and I feel like his eyes light up when he sees me but he doesn't react. Anne leads me to a seat next to Harry. She starts serving food to my plate while I look around. "Where's Connor?" I ask about Harry's younger brother.

"Everyone's already eaten." Harry says after taking a huge gulp of his food. "I was waiting on you." He says to me, looking up at me again.

Oh. "Thanks." I say quietly and thank Anne for the food. When she leaves, there's silence in the room. I feel terribly awkward as I eat my food. I'm even chewing in different ways to pass the time. When he's done eating, I stop too. "Okay, let's start." I say almost too quick.

"I'm not taking your ass to eat later if you get hungry." He says, as he gets up from the table. "C'mon, now." Harry pushes my shoulder lightly and he has a smirk on his face now. He looks all smug.

"Sorry, I took a while to get here." I say, stuffing my face. "Had—"

He covers my mouth with his hand. He makes a look of disgust and shakes his head. "Tay, please." There's a pain expression he's faking which he can't keep up and lets out a laugh.

The two of us head upstairs to his room after I finish dinner. Harry tells me he's come up with a few topics we could do our project on. The only problem is choosing a final one is difficult between the two of us.

"I'm saying this one will require a lot and a lot of work and stress." Harry tries to use his most patient voice to explain again to me once again as if I'm a child.

I'm sitting on his wheely-study chair whereas he's lying down on his bed. "Then, why the hell did you even write it?" I'm asking with exasperation. We've been arguing over an hour now and all we've got done is the fact we need to finish our outline today.

"I guess I expected too much from you when I assumed you weren't going to be so ambitious." He rolls his eyes, looking at the list again.

I'm unwilling to step down and so is he. This isn't our first project together for Ms Mason's Chemistry class. I don't even remember how we managed last year together. I look at him again and start noticing some scars on his face and his pinched forehead as he continues to read the list of ideas.

Slowly, he looks up from the paper and at me, only to find me staring at him already. The corner of his lips curve and I can actually see his eyes fill up with mischief. "See something you like?"

"Actually, I don't see anything." I try to keep a straight face and grab the sheet of paper from him. I take a seat on the edge of the bed. "Okay," I am saying and he interrupts me again as he sits up, facing me.

"You're gonna say I'm right." I want to punch that smug look off his face. I decide not to say what I was going to say which was that we could come to a compromise.

"No. I was gonna say you either say you wanna do this or we can stay up the whole night and come up with other ideas." I say. Only now do I realise how close we actually are because his movements on the bed reach me.

Being the stubborn bastard he is, Harry chooses the latter and so he goes downstairs to fix us both cups of coffee. I stay in his room, on his laptop and try to come up with other ideas.

He takes too long and I realise that he may not even know how to make coffee. With a bit of hesitation, I go downstairs only to find the kitchen and living room empty. "Styles!" I whisper-yell into each room.

I tip-toe around because the house is eerily quiet now. Since there's no sign of him in the living room, I decide to head back to kitchen. I realise the electric kettle is on and walk towards it.

"BOO!" I hear with two hands on my shoulders. I jump and scream. When I realise it's Harry, I walk backwards and decide to ram him into the wall. He's stronger than I am though and we both end up falling on our asses.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I turn my face to his.

Suddenly, the lights in the kitchen turn on. We both look at the door to see Harry's parents, staring at us in bewilderment. It's now when we both notice how we must be looking. I'm basically straddling Harry. We both jump up and look away.

"Harry tried to scare me." I say quickly, taking my role as the innocent victim. "So, sorry about waking you guys up." I add.

"No, no, it's fine." Harry's dad says, waving his hand at me. He looks tired but not angry or annoyed which puts me in relief.

"SHE MADE US BOTH FALL." Harry finally chimes in to defend himself like a child. I can hear the strain in his voice. When I turn to him to give him a look, he has his index finger pointed to me.

I give him a dirty look. "Harry, all you had to do was make coffee!"

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(this part was too long so i had to cut it into parts)
anyways, please leave comments because i'd like to know what you think! :)