crystal method || Harry Styles au

37

"You do?" Her hand tangled into his t-shirt and the other held tight to his journal. She wanted to hear it over and over again. She wanted to make up for all their lost time. She bit her lip and stared up at him like he was the brightest star in the sky.

"Yeah." His hand rested gently on her back and rubbed slow circles; the sun gradually coming up while they stood there.

"Let's get away. Let's get out of here." She nudged his chest and beamed up at him; bouncing on the balls of her feet. She had no clue where her sudden confidence or energy was coming from but this town had taken too much from both of them and she so desperately wanted to get away before it took the only thing she had left; him.

"What- Mai, We don't have the money-" He shook his head, not fully understanding exactly what the girl wanted. "You can't just leave your job." She was speaking nonsense. Their life was not perfect by any means but this was home.

"Sure I can. Where do you want to go? Barcelona? Paris? Belize?" She pulled away from him to get to her car (really Greg's car that he kindly let her borrow) and quickly opened the door as he followed behind.

"Mai. It's early, you haven't slept yet. We need to go home, and go to bed." The door closed and she rolled down the window to get a good look at him.

"We're packing our bags when we wake up and I'll talk to the landlord." She kissed him and smiled wide as the window came back up and he gave her a small smirk; sulking back to his truck.
He had always thought of this town as home. But home wasn't broken pictures and promises. It wasn't his dead parents or the fortune they left behind. It wasn't his fathers drunk words or his moms addiction to pills. Mai was his home. She was the only thing that had ever felt like home.

*

"Babe," Mai leaned down and kissed his nose, "Babe." She placed another small kiss on his cheek, followed by a small giggle. "Wake up." Their time apart had made her crave him even more and she feared that he could change his mind at any point. He could take back every kind word that had left his lips and leave quietly, the same way he came.

Harry mumbled and smiled, opening his eyes slowly to look at the giddy girl.

"Why are you awake?" His hands rubbed her hips up and down as she readjusted her body weight.

"We're leaving."

His eyes jerked open completely and he looked at the clock that let him know it was 3 in the after-noon. "Mai, where is everything?" He looked at his bare bedroom and the lack of posters and clothing. There was an outfit sitting at the foot of his bed and that was the only thing he could find. "Where the hell-"

"It's all in your truck. Come on."

Harry studied Mai's face and the happiness that was radiating off of it. He couldn't think of anything better than running off with the girl of his dreams and she was sitting in front of him, ready to escape.

"Okay." He nodded before sitting up and placing a kiss on her cheek. The room was as cold as usual, but the emptiness made the young boy feel uneasy with himself. Mai left the room to let Harry get dressed and he did the task quickly. He stripped the bed of sheets and exited the room, heading down the hall to see that the living room still held their few couches and tables.

Mai grabbed the keys off the table once she saw Harry emerge from the room and she smiled brightly at him; pushing her hair behind her ears with her free hand.

"The apartment-"

"Will be paid for," She cut him off and avoided eye contact while walking out the front door and pulling him behind her, "Greg's little brother got a record deal and needed a place of his own for a while, so I thought 'why not?'" She tried to speak about it nonchalantly, but Harry was also aware that she slept with the kid so it was more important than she was leading on. They both took one last look at the apartment before locking it and sliding the key under the door mat.

Harry picked at his bed sheets as they stepped into the elevator that reeked of cigarette smoke and urine allowing Mai to press the button that would take them down.

"I can drive." Mai took hold of Harry's bicep and pulled him away from the drivers' door.

"No, I can." His hand brushed her face softly and he gave her the world's smallest smile before reaching for the handle.

"Because of the accident?" She scoffed and crossed her arms. He turned slowly with an apologetic look.

"Mai, you know it's not because of the car accident. I just want to drive, alright?" He rubbed her arms up and down and she shrugged in agreement.

"Alright."

*

"7 hours stuck in a car with you, I'm surprised we didn't stab each other." Harry chuckled and turned into the first motel after passing the sign that welcomed them to Red Bluff, California.

"It's never too late." She turned slightly in her seat to look at him; one hand on the wheel and the other toying with his bottom lip. She was intoxicated with the way he'd pick at it; like he was picking up small flowers with his index finger and thumb.

The two jumped out of the car to stretch for their 4th time since loading themselves into the large truck. Harry walked over to meet her and throw an arm over her shoulder, pulling him into her side and strolling towards the office of the run down motel.

Hours with her reminded him of all the reasons he had begun to fall for her; how she could be deep in a novel one minute and blasting Nirvana on the radio the next. She was such a small person with a large personality.

His hands found her hips and he laughed into her ear while they approached the front desk. The lady didn't seem very pleased with the loudness of the couple or the old man banging on the vending machine to their left. The area was crowded, loud, and obnoxious, for the time of day and they had to continuously remind themselves that they were now in California.

Mai mumbled to the lady at the front desk whose name tag read 'Deb' and was chewing loudly on her gum. Mai's credit card slid over the wooden counter and towards the women while she typed into a computer.

"Enjoy your stay." Deb groaned and Harry jerked forward at the force of Mai's fingers tugging on his pants.

"Oh we will." Mai joked and took Harry's hand in hers, walking to their room with strong motive. Harry eye'd her while she walked, completely taken aback by her previous statement.

She fiddled with the key and pushed the door open to see a run-down room, not that they were expecting anything extravagant.

The door closed and Harry looked down at the girl who was unbuttoning his jeans with wide eyes.

"You sure?" He stepped out of his jeans and looked at Mai who stood back up and rolled her eyes.

"You're my fiancé. I'm positive." She pulled her shirt up and over her head; her own hands finding Harry's warm chest and pushing him back onto the bed. She crawled onto his lap and wrapped her fingers into his hair; his lips finding her neck in an instant.

"Mai." He spoke softly while sucking on the skin under her ear and pulled her closer to him.

"Mhm?" She tugged on his hair so she could look at him.

"I've seen your bank account." He breathed heavily and she rolled off of him and onto the bed; running her hands through her hair in panic.

"That's none of your business." Mai grabbed her shirt off the floor and began sliding it back on.

"I'm your fiancé." He repeated her words from just minutes before and she glared at him.

"I'm getting my stuff out of the car." She said under her breath and headed for the door.

"You have over $50,000 dollars in your bank account Mai, you can't just ignore me!" He shouted after her as the door slammed. He knew it wasn't the right time but when was?