Out of Time (One Direction AU)

Chapter 3

I looked around me and saw no guy my age that could possibly be my mate. The only people I could see from where I was standing were two young girls squealing and huddled over the latest John Green book. I started to feel panic settle in and quickly checked my timer for the possibility that I misread it by a few seconds. But that wasn't the case; it clearly said 0 seconds.

Before I could think any further of the situation, I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind. I swiftly turned around and was startled by the light green eyes that stared back at me. I had to take a step back in order to comfortably be able to look at the stranger since he was so tall and standing so close to me. He wasn't actually that much taller than me but the messy, dark brown curls on his head gave him a few extra inches and made him seem to tower over me. His lean frame and broad shoulders almost gave him an intimidating appeal. He had tattoos scattered on his left arm, a rose near his elbow being the nicest one from what I could see.

He flashed me a stunning smile, showing off his perfectly straight teeth. "Hey," he said in a deep, raspy voice. I was taken aback; I hadn't expected his voice to be so... sexy? After I hadn't answered in a few seconds due to the shock I was feeling, he spoke again, his smile faltering a bit. "Um... sorry I'm a few seconds late, I got kinda delayed on the way here." He casually pointed a finger in the general direction of the Barnes and Noble exit.

I instantly felt a whole new type of nervousness in my stomach. While just this morning I was worried about something going horridly wrong while meeting my soul mate, I was now worried that I'd say something stupidly embarrassing and screw up this guy's first impression of me. Or what if I spit or something when I talk?

I realized that he probably already thought I was creepy, standing here with my mouth slightly open and staring into his eyes, captivated by their beauty. I looked away, feeling a red blush spread onto my cheeks, and closed my mouth only to open it again to reply to his comment.

"Its, okay, I just got a little worried back there," I nervously chuckled, trying to make it seem like I wasn't just about to have a panic attack a minute ago. I bit the inside of my lip and looked at the ground, unsure what to do. Should I straight out start asking about him? Should I just take Niall's advice and tell him a joke to crack the ice? I decided against the latter thinking that if Niall suggested it then it must be a bad idea.

Thankfully I didn't have to make the first move since the guy jutted out his hand for me to shake and said, "I'm Harry. I guess we're soul mates, huh?"

Smiling, I took his outstretched hand in mine. His hand was warm and large, seeming to dwarf mine. "I'm Diana."

"That's a pretty name," his intense gaze and strong accent melted my insides and turned my legs into jello. "Do you want to go sit?"

He walked to the small sofas where I was previously sitting and took a seat on one of them, motioning me to sit on the one to his right. As I sat, I saw that I now had a perfect view of Niall sitting at the cafe with his legs up on a table. He had a magazine held up pretending to read it, but I could clearly see his eyes over the top of the pages. He wagged his eyebrows up and down suggestively at me and I had to look away to keep from bursting out laughing.

Harry and I spent almost an hour talking and it didn't once feel awkward so I didn't need to use Niall's lame peacock joke. I found myself deeply interested in our conversation as time passed by. He talked about how in his school, everyone found it weird that he was 19 and still a senior in high school. He told me that it was because he had been delayed a year because of family problems. When I asked about that, he just said, "Don't worry about it, it passed. Its nothing." He obviously didn't want to expand on it any further so I didn't push it.