(ATLANTIS) - haylor au

chapter thirteen

Harry's standing by the door, staring at me. He looks like he could almost smile and when our eyes meet, I feel content. I stand there in front of him, not looking away as I wait for him to say something. What, exactly? I don't even know.

"Okay, okay. I'll take a picture of you two." Mom finally says, pulling her phone out. "I'll send it to your dad." She says softly, looking at me. She's telling me that whatever fight we had last night is over and we can go back to being us again. Harry and I stand together, awkwardly as we look at my mom's phone. "Closer, you two!" She laughs, taking several bursts of us. We do just that and we've barely talked to each other. I'm startled when Harry puts his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. When I look at him, he's looking away into the camera and I follow suit. I give my mom a smile as she takes the pictures.

We're in Harry's car now. The only words he's said to me are 'C'mon, let's go.' But he's been awfully touchy because he almost grabbed my hand as he'd said that to me. I'm looking over to him and he looks focused for the first time when he's driving. He probably doesn't want something to happen like the last time we'd been in his stupid car. "Take a picture, it lasts longer." He says and flashes me a smile, looking at me.

"I should say the same to you." I scoff. "Saw you checking me out, Styles." I make up because I don't think he has. I'm just seeing if this makes him nervous, nothing ever does which is unfortunate. He stiffens up a bit when I say this and I just laugh. "It's okay, Styles. I know I'm hot."

"Yeah, well, you do a good job of reminding us that." He says, not looking at me again. I can't tell if he's being sincere or sarcastic. "Thanks." I say with a smile, taking it more as a compliment. "You should be so blessed to have me tonight."

"I have you tonight, is that so?" A smirk's on his face and I can see him, trying not to look over at me. "Well, then, I might have a couple of activities planned out." Right as he says that, I smack his arm. "Gross!"

He laughs lightly and looks over at me again. He hasn't stopped smiling and hasn't stopped looking over at me. I'm trying not to smile when he's looking. It's hard though. There's just something different today. "Maybe we could." I tease in a sultry voice, trailing along his arms with my fingers. I can feel him stiffen up again which makes me laugh. "Wow, you're so into me."

"Wow, you wish." Is all he says, rolling his eyes at me.

This goes on the entire car ride till we get to school. He takes a while finding a parking spot but we do. He actually does the whole date thing in that he opens up the car door and offer his arm to me. I'm humouring him and linking arms with him. We finally get to enter the gym. My heart is so entirely at peace that everyone is having fun and our decorations look so amazing. The canvases all bring up the autumn colour theme that Karlie wants to have and the coloured balloons make all this look like a dreamland.

"Oh my god, you hottie." Selena says as she strides towards me with Gigi and Niall behind her. "How are you keeping yourself in your pants, right now?" She turns to Harry before giving me a hug.

Gigi touches my hair and smiles widely. "Are you even Taylor!?" She's looking at me and glancing over at Harry. "Can you believe this?" She asks with an amused expression.

He shrugs with the same amused expression and our eyes meet again. I think he's going to say something but he doesn't. He looks away first and goes up to Niall. Niall must've said something because Harry's rolling his eyes. I realise that my eyes are still on him. I can't look away and for the first time tonight, I realise how amazing he looks. His hair's jelled perfectly to prevent it falling over his face like normal. He looks like he almost has a quiff but it's messier because of his curls. His suit fits him so well and that I just realised his tie's colour complements my outfit. We really do look like a couple tonight. We only look like one, I remind myself.

"Where were you today?!" Gigi asks, shaking my shoulders. "We were so afraid you weren't going to come!" To which Selena nods and frowns at the same time, they're both looking at me now.

"I'll tell you guys tomorrow. I don't want ruin tonight." I smile at them. "You guys look really great." I say but that would be an understatement. Selena's dress looks like it could almost get her into trouble with the chaperones but I guess, she has her ways of not. While Gigi's elegant dress just suits her personality so well and I can't take my eyes off her for a while. "You don't look so bad yourself Niall." I look past Sel and Gigi and to tell him. His eyes light up as he hears me and chuckles. "Clean up pretty well, I see." I add as he comes to Selena's side again.

"He does, doesn't he?" She says, grabbing onto his arm.

"You too, Taylor." Niall says, blushing.

"I didn't even know we had to do the homecoming queen and king thing." Karlie says, taking a sip out of her cup. "What the fuck." She says, wiping the drip on the corner of her mouth.

"It's fine, babe." Gigi reassures her as she puts her head on her Karlie's head. "It's sorted." This makes Karlie's face twist into a pained expression. She'd been beating herself over forgetting to prepare the ballot for homecoming queen and king. It turns out Liz and the other members had already prepared though and their smug faces had killed Karlie. Not killed but definitely annoyed her.

"Whatever." Karlie says with her eyes staring far off. She takes a long gulp of her drink before setting it down and drags Gigi to the dance floor.

I watch them until they disappear into the crowd and see Selena and Niall laughing between themselves in the crowd. When I take the last of my sip from my cup, I'm frowning at the empty cup. Somehow, I find myself alone and drinkless despite all my friends here and with a 'date'. I still pretty good about how I look so I'm walking over to the table with refreshments and that's where I find Sarah. "Hey" I smile at her as I pour myself more drinks.

"Oh hey Taylor!" She smiles her sweet smile, walking closer to me. "Wow you look amazing." I see her looking at my outfit. "Thanks, Sarah." I nod awkwardly and decide to compliment her too.

We stand there wordlessly as I take a sip of my drink until Harry returns to my side for the first time tonight. God knows where he's been and what kind of sins he's committed before coming to me. "Hi." He says to me breathlessly and snatches my drink from my hand, taking a sip.