Redemption [h.s]

six

It wasn't until later that day that my phone rang, signalling that a text message had come. I went into the back room to check it safely without being seen by the customers or my employer and unlocked the screen. It was a simple text from an unknown number.

"It's Harry." It said.

I smiled and saved the number, after replying to him with a simple "hey", and I went back to work.

•  •  •

The next morning, at around 8am, Harry knocked at my door.

"I was wondering if I could return the favour and take you out for lunch today?" He asked.

"For lunch? Sure, I'll try to make free time" I replied, wondering how the hell I would've told Niall I wouldn't have eaten with him that day.

"I hope it's not too much of a problem... I'm kind of busy this morning" he explained, seeing my uncertainty.

"Back to work?" I asked him curiously.

"Oh no, no. Not yet... If they'll ever take me back anyway" he went silent for a second, realising what he had said. "I mean, I just have somewhere to be, stuff to do. You know" he rushed to add, hoping to take the attention away from his previous words.

"Oh, I understand" I replied, seeing that he was uncomfortable with the topic.

"I'll just text you the details later. I've got to go, bye" he told me gently, and he rushed down the stairs, leaving me behind at my door, watching his back slowly disappear.

I waited around in my house for 1pm to come nervously. I didn't get why, it wasn't a date or anything. To be fair, we weren't even friends, just simple acquaintances. Reminding myself of that, I had dressed casually, nothing too fancy but nothing too boring at the same time. It felt almost ridiculous for going to eat at McDonald's actually, but Harry just had that something in him, that never made something "just" that. Everything with him seemed so much more. If it was the intensity of his stare, or the charm of his entire being, I did not know.

When the time came, I got out of my house grabbing my bag and my car keys. I did have a car, although I preferred not to use it often, since I had the luck to work close to my flat.

Thinking about it, I did almost everything close to my house. It was like my little world, I rarely got out of it. I just felt too young and too small to face the true world, outside of those three or four buildings, and those few friends of mine. I liked to play safe. But maybe I had got tired of it. Harry was the living proof of it - nothing about him was sure, safe, felt usual and homey, but for some reason I kept going to him. And the more I talked to him, the closer I wanted to get, ignoring all the screaming signs that told me that he was definitely not what someone like me would've gone for.

When I got there, I managed to park my car in the parking lot thereby, and rushed inside, covering my head from the first drops of rain with my bag.
He was already there, sitting at a table close by.

"Did you wait here long?" I asked him checking my phone to see if I was any late, and putting my coat on the chair.

He shook his head. "I just came here as well, I got delayed by some things" he replied. "I'll go order for the both of us. What do you want?" He added, sitting straighter on his chair.

"Oh, just some nuggets and water. I'm not that hungry."

He smiled briefly, and stood up, his long legs passing next to me as he went to the counter. I turned around, looking at him making his way towards it. He was so tall, and he had long and slim legs. He seemed quite the catch. I wondered what could've lead somebody like him to be so off most of the time.

"Are you with Styles?" Someone said.

I turned around. In Harry's place was sitting a man I didn't know. His blue eyes were staring at me. I looked at him confusedly. "Kind of? Do you know him?"

"Barely" he shrugged it off. "I'd leave now if I were you. He's bad news."

I turned to the counter again. Harry was chatting to the old lady behind it, smiling softly, while waiting for our orders to come up. I watched as the corners of his lips turned upwards again, the smile almost reaching his eyes. He looked like anything, but bad news.
"I don't think so" I said to the unknown man, turning back to the table.

He passed his hand through his chestnut hair, fixing it. "Don't tell me I didn't tell you when shit will go downhill, then. Because it will" he replied, his blue eyes staring coldly into mine.

"Who even are you?" I asked him.

He smiled. "I'm Louis" he said, holding out an hand for me to shake. I ignored it, and he frowned. He looked behind me, and stood up fast. "Remember what I told you" he added, walking back to his table, grabbing his coat and disappearing out of the door before I could even say anything else.

A couple of minutes after Harry put our orders on the table. "Here they are. It took ages, it's completely crowded there" he said, sitting back onto his chair, not knowing that someone else had been sitting there only a few minutes before.

"Thank you" I said to him, taking my nuggets.

He gave me a small smile. "I just wanted to return. As a thank you for taking me out for breakfast some days ago. I definitely needed that."

I smiled at him. "I'd take you out for breakfast whenever you want, Harry."

He looked down for a brief second, freeing me from his stare, before looking right back at me, his eyes of a lovely green shade. In the peculiar lights of the building, I could see all the speckles of dark green and gold in them. They were just the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. "My door is always across yours" he replied, and whether he meant I could've taken him out for breakfast whenever, or that he would've been there in case I needed him, I didn't know.

I smiled at him again, hoping to solicit a full smile from him, but once again, his small one didn't reach his eyes, which remained fixated on me.

He took a box of French fries and put it in the middle of the table, opening it. "I figured you would've liked to share" he said.

"You figured right" I replied taking one, and he smiled slightly in return.

We ate, making small talk, telling each other little things. He came to know that I have a brother, and that I moved to London when I was 19 with my friend Niall, that I had got a job fairly quickly, because Niall had let me know that a friend of his had a restaurant and they were in desperate need of more waiters, that I had managed to buy my car only a year later and that I was now leaving alone, Niall having moved in with his boyfriend a year before. On the other hand, he stayed completely silent about his past. I noticed but didn't mention it - he seemed quite sensible about certain things. He surely had good reasons not to say anything, and even though it killed me inside not to know anything about him, I wanted to respect that.

"What are you doing tonight?" He asked me casually as we finished the fries.

"Don't really know, I guess there's this quite good book that needs to be read on my nightstand."

"What's the title?" He asked curiously.

I looked at the table before replying. "Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen."

He smirked. "Oh I see."

"Well then, what do you suggest, Mr literature teacher?" I asked teasingly at him.

He leaned on his elbows over the table and a little silver cross necklace came out of the collar of his shirt. I watched it dangle slightly in front of the dark black of the fabric. "My personal favourite is, Bukowski. I feel like he describes things, in such a superb manner. It's art."

I nodded and looked back into his eyes. "That's an interesting choice for a literature teacher."

His eyes found mine again. "Is it?"