Until We Meet Again // H.S. AU

XI. Let's Talk

(song: everything she wants by saint raymond)

I quickly walk down the familiar path to Good Tunes; I'm so glad it's finally fixed. It's been the longest three weeks of my life waiting for the store to be repaired. I've missed waking up at six, watching the sun rise in the morning, and working in my favorite music store while listening to all my favorite songs.

Steve is behind the counter to my right when I walk inside. I've barely seen or talked to him these past few weeks since he's been caught up in trying to repair the store so it's nice to finally see him again.

"Steve!" I ran up to him with open arms and he hugged me back.

"Ren! Oh I haven't seen you in weeks! I missed that pretty little face of yours," he said while obnoxiously pinching my cheeks and talking to me as if I were a child. I've definitely missed him.

"All right enough touching my face, show me the new and improved Good Tunes!"

Steve's face lit up in excitement and he practically dragged me to the stairs.

"Wait no, close your eyes, it should be a surprise."

"But--"

"Ah ah ah, no buts! I'm covering your eyes, you better not peak."

"Fine," I groan and he shields my eyes with his hands and guides me up the stairs.

"Okay... Open your eyes!"

His hands uncovered my eyes and I looked at the new room. Everything was almost exactly the same except the colors of the furniture and the fact that everything looked new. But I still loved it.

"It's amazing Steve, I love it!"

"Why thank you darling, if I may say so myself I think I did a pretty fantastic job fixing this place up," he said in a cocky tone and I laughed at him.

"All right now time to get to work. We got new shipments of records and stuff, can you go to my office and get the box and start putting them where they belong?"

"Sure thing," I replied, happy to finally be doing something rather than sitting all day on the couch. Don't get me wrong, I loved doing nothing, but work is fun when you're doing something you enjoy with people you like. Being alone gets tiring after a while and I like to see kind, familiar faces whenever I get the chance.

• • •

Harry's POV

I heard that Good Tunes finally got repaired so I decided I might pay a visit. Or maybe that's just my excuse to see Ren again. I haven't seen her in three weeks and I know I gave up on trying to get her to like me, but I can't stop thinking about her. Last night I had a dream where we spoke and I got her to give me another chance. She saw the real me, the person I've been hiding behind this confident, egotistical guy and she actually liked me. In the dream we were in Good Tunes, then all of a sudden when I woke up the store reopened, so clearly my dream was a sign. I need to talk to Ren today. Maybe I can fix things between us.

Or maybe I shouldn't do this. She'll just get mad at me. Maybe she's forgotten about me already. Or she's moved on. What if she has a boyfriend now and I never cross her mind anymore?

Okay, what am I even saying now?

I walk up to the door, it's now or never. When I walk in, Steve looks up at the sound of the bell and his facial expression is blank at the sight of me. I'm going to assume he's not very fond of me.

"Uh, hi."

"Hi. What are you doing here?" He asks and keeps his poker face.

"I heard the store was open again, I just wanted to check it out."

"If you were hoping to run into Ren here then you might as well leave, she's got the day off."

Just as he finished his sentence, Ren walked into the room through the door behind him carrying a large cardboard box. Steve turned to her and gave her a few looks, probably warning her that I'm here. Clearly, she didn't understand what he was trying to say from the confused look on her face as she spots me standing in front of the door. Her face held a blank expression as well at the sight of me and I stood still, speechless.

She looked gorgeous, even prettier than I remember. Her long hair was swept over her right shoulder in a braid with strands sticking out on the sides, some of them dangling in front of her face since her hands were too occupied to fix it. She was wearing the same dark blue shorts she wore the first time I saw her and a light gray t-shirt with a picture of a dream-catcher in the front. She was breathtakingly beautiful, even in such casual attire.

"Harry... What are you doing here?" She questioned.

"Just wanted to check the place out, I heard it was open again."

"Okay." She and Steve exchanged some looks before she walked away down one of the aisles, saying she had to stock up some new CDs. I have to talk to her. I walk toward the aisle she walked down and pretend to be interested in the CDs in the shelves next to her.

"So... How've you been?" I ask, hoping she doesn't ignore me or get angry.

"I've been good. And you?"

"Great, yeah I've been fine."

A silence fills the room and I can't stand it. I'm so damn desperate to get her talking to me.

"You know--"

"Harry I'm not in the mood for this. Please leave me alone, I thought I made that clear last time we meant."

Crap. I sigh, does she really not want anything to do with me?

"Ren please. Is there anything I can do to make you forgive me? Don't be so quick to push me away, just give me another chance," I beg, praying that she can see how serious I am in my eyes.

The look in her eyes is blank and I can't detect if she's going to give me the chance I'm asking for or destroy all my hopes.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll let you work for my forgiveness. If you do whatever it takes to earn it, then I'll forgive you. If not, then we're done and I really don't want to see you again. 'Kay?"

Oh my God is she being serious?

"Yes of course! Yeah, I'll do whatever it takes!"

"Okay. First thing I want you to do, I need you to go buy me something."

Buy her something? I thought this argument started because of my money... Whatever. I'll do anything she asks for.

"What do you want me to buy?"

"Go to Brandy Melville and buy me every article of clothing in the store, I need new clothes."

"Anything for you," I say and begin nearly running towards the door, almost tripping over my own feet.

"And Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget to go to Starbucks and get me a quad half caf venti three pump vanilla three pump hazelnut soy extra hot no foam with whip and cinnamon sprinkles latte."

I stop in my tracks and look at her. Man... What did I just get myself into?

*****

+ wow okay this is probably the crappiest and shortest chapter I've ever written I apologize for that. I promise next chapter will be nice and long and great bc this one just sucks that bad I'm sorry

on another note, thank you guys for all the lovely comments and votes I've been getting recently! I love the feedback and knowing what you think, so thanks to everyone who's voted or commented, keep it up :) love you! xxx