I'll Be Home For Christmas

December 27th

"Harry where are we going?" Piper asked from the passenger seat.

"I realized something this morning." He said without taking his eyes off the road.

"Okay..." She trailed off.

"I haven't even taken you on a date." He said finally looking at her. She softened her gaze on his and ran her hand down his arm, desperate for some contact with him.

"Are we going on a date?" She asked. She smiled when he beamed at her and nodded enthusiastically. "Well you could have told me, I would've put more effort into looking nice." She said looking down at her out. One of his sweaters and Christmas tree printed sweats.

"You look cute and natural, just how I like you." He smiled at her.

"While you look like you just stepped off the runway..." She said noticing his outfit. All black with a red and gold scarf wrapped around his neck. "Right." No way would someone think they were on a date together.

"I promise you look cute. Don't even worry about it. It won't matter anyways, where we're going." He shrugged.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Can't tell you. It's a surprise." He grinned.

"I don't like surprises." Piper shook her head. Harry laughed and shrugged.

"You'll survive, don't worry." He said. "We're almost there anyways. Literally we're like 5 minutes away." He said.

"5 minutes of pure torture." She grumbled.

"And you say I'm dramatic." He said rolling his eyes.

"That's because you are dramatic." She countered.

"I beg to differ Ms. Kendrick." He said sticking his tongue out at her. He smiled to himself as she let out a loud belly laugh that seemed much louder in the small car.

"Is that an ice skating rink?" She asked as he parked.

"It is." He nodded turning to look at her. She gave him a wide smile and leaned over to give him a big hug, as big as she could given their awkward position.

"Thank you!" She said.

"You're welcome love. I know how bummed you were when we didn't go that day in Hyde park. Turns out Holmes Chapel has their own outdoor rink. Granted, it's not as fancy or as big, but an outdoor rink is an outdoor rink." He said.

"I love it. Thank you."

"Shall we?" He said hoping out of the car.

"Lead the way."

"I'm going to fall!" Harry exclaimed following her onto the ice.

"You'll be fine. If you're really worried about it you can hold onto the wall." Piper said effortlessly skating onto the ice.

"Of course you're good at this." He grumbled, eyes following her every move.

"We all have our strengths Harold." She smirked skating circles around him. "You can sing, cook, you're great conversation, devilishly handsome, let me drag you shopping, and put up with my Christmas obsession." She said listing off the things he'd said yesterday in the kitchen.

"I think I mentioned one more thing." He said smirking at her. Piper flushed with embarrassment as she skated off without saying anything.

"I remember." She muttered.

"Not going to mention it?" He rose an eyebrow at her.

"We are in public, in case you forgot. I'm not going to talk about your endowment in public." She said shaking her head. She moved back little bit and Harry, with his natural habit of following her wherever she goes, quickly began flailing his arms in an attempt to steady himself as he felt himself lose his balance.

"Shit!" He cried out as he landed hard on the ice. He heard Piper giggle as she slowly skated over so she was hovering above him.

"Are you hurt?" She asked.

"Does my pride count?" He mumbled without opening his eyes. Maybe if he kept them closed the world would swallow him up and he could just disappear.

"Oh come on, you're doing great." She encouraged. He opened his eyes and shot her a glare.

"There are 10 years olds here that could literally skate circles around me!" He grumped.

"Well the longer you lay on the ice and pout like a child, the worse it makes you look. Just hop back up, brush it off, and don't let go of the wall." She said offering him a hand. With a sigh, Harry took her hand and let her help him up.

"Finally found something you're not good at." He said brushing the excess snow from the ice off his coat.

"And what's that?" Piper asked.

"Pep talks. In fact, you're pretty awful at them." He said.

"Excuse you, that was a great pep talk." She said furrowing her eyebrows.

"You essentially told me to act like it didn't happen and accept that I'm bad at skating." He said.

"Not even! I said move past it and do what you're comfortable with." She defended.

"We are not going to have our first fight on our first date." He shook his head. "Come here." He made grabby hands for her until she skated into his open arms. They stood there next to the wall hugging for what seemed like an eternity. Piper didn't want to let him go, not now or not ever, because he was everything she was missing in her life. He was someone who could easily ground her whenever she began to get too far into the clouds, which tended to happen to her often, and she felt like she could lift him up off the ground whenever he got too stuck in reality. They were a good balance for each other and she was going to miss him terribly when she has to go back to New Hampshire.

"Thank you." She said muffled by his coat. She wasn't just thanking him for the evening, even though it had been perfect, but she was also thanking him for being himself, inviting her up with him, and she was just all around that she ran into him that fateful date at the beginning of December.

"You're welcome." He replied. He had an inkling she was thanking him for more than this date but he knew she wouldn't clue him in on her thoughts.

"Well, what do you say we work on a couple laps around the ice?" She asked gently pulling away.

"Hold my hand? I don't want to fall and this way, if I do fall, I can at least take you with me." He grinned at her.

"You're not going to fall. Just keep one hand on the wall and I'll hold the other." She instructed him. She led him around the rink a couple times and he seemed to be getting the hang of it, but whenever she let his hand go he immediately fell to the ice.

"Okay, so now that my pride is officially bruised, along with my elbow, what do you say we move onto part 2 of the best date ever?" Harry questioned after taking countless falls. More than he'd like to admit.

"There's a part 2?" Piper asked.

"Of course there's a part 2! You thought we'd just get off the ice and head home? Where's the food? Where's the romance? Where's the kissing?" He asked helping her off the ice.

"I had no idea you took dates so seriously." She commented with a chuckle. He didn't seem the type who really took the time to plan a first date.

"I don't want to screw it up." He said.

"As if you could even possibly do that." She smiled. He smiled and cupped her face before pressing his lips to hers.

"Well there's your kissing." She said when they broke away moments later. Every kiss with her never failed to leave him breathless in a way that no other person has managed to do.

"I know I fell a couple times, even hit my head one time, but I know for sure there's going to be more kissing than that." He said.

"Oh you know for sure huh?" She questioned.

"I can't keep you off me sometimes. I know you can't resist me." He smirked. He jumped out of the way as she tried to swat at his chest.

"You wish Styles!" She muttered shooting him a playful glare and stalking past him to remove her skates.