Out of Time (One Direction AU)

Chapter 6

Niall plopped down on my bed and put his arms behind his head.
"So you invited him to meet your parents and he basically just said he had to see if he was busy if not he couldn't come?" He crossed his legs at the ankles.
He had decided to stay at my house for a little while after he dropped me off. I didn't have to work today and he didn't have anything going on, as always. On days like these, he always stayed over for a couple hours which usually turned into the whole day. We mostly did our homework together or if we didn't have any, we didn't do anything- he uses his phone and me my laptop.
We had Calculus homework due in 2 days and since Harry might come over tomorrow, I had to get it over with today. Just the thought of him stepping inside my house gave me butterflies- not as bad as the first times I hung out with him but still.
"Yeah," I said as I dropped my book bag on the floor by my bed. "I didn't even ask my parents. I'm pretty sure my dad has to work."
Niall shrugged. "It's weird though."
"What, your face?" I took out my Calculus materials to get started in the 30 problems we have to work on. "That's always been weird."
Niall sat upright on my bed as I sat next to him and shoved my arm, almost making everything I was holding fall. "Harry. He shouldn't have to see what he has on his schedule to make plans with you. If my soul mate asked me to meet her parents for the first time, I'd drop everything and start making myself seem presentable," he looked at me with serious eyes, something I wasn't used to coming from him.
"Yeah, God knows you'd need a whole day for that."
He glared at me. "Well aren't we just a ball of sass today."
"Sorry," I sighed. "I guess I'm just a little tense."
"And you're planning to do homework?"
"I have to finish this before tomorrow. I want to clean up my room a little tomorrow before Harry comes. If he comes," I looked around at the papers strewn on my desk, the scattered shoes on the floor, the clothes hanging off my chair. Yeah, I definitely needed to polish up my room.
"Just throw everything under your bed or in your closet," he said as if it were the simplest thing ever. It probably was. I was just making a big deal out of nothing. "Besides, what were you planning to do in your room with him, huh? Why do you need to clean it up?" The subliminal context of his question should make me uncomfortable but seeing as it was Niall who said it, I found it perfectly normal.
"Shut up, you nasty. He'd probably want to see it and I don't want to show him this," I waved my arm at the mess that was my room. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. It's making me anxious." I opened my textbook to the page we had to do only to have it closed again by Niall.
"And Calculus is only going to add to that anxiety. Jeez, you're the only person I know that actually wants to do their homework," he stood up, taking my book with him. "We're watching a movie. Now that's relaxing." He put the book in the top drawer of my desk and got the TV remote from my bedside table. "You can do your homework later."
I rolled my eyes and didn't bother fighting him because I knew I'd lose. We always ended up doing our homework after either 2 movies or when he got bored of endlessly scrolling through Tumblr. If it were up to me, I'd get it done as soon as I could but when Niall was next to me, it was impossible to get anything done.
After settling back down next to me, he turned on my TV- which only worked for Netflix or video games. He picked a movie that we saw one too many times and we stayed like that throughout this movie and half of the next until my phone rang.
Niall snatched my phone out of my hand before I was able to answer or even look at the caller.
"Ooh," he said as he put the movie on pause and answered the phone. "Hey, man. What's up?"
I figured it was Liam calling since that was the only guy that called me beside Niall.
"Yeah, of course you can talk to her," Niall handed me the phone with a smirk on his face.
"Hello?" I said into the receiver.
"Hey," out came Harry's unmistakable voice. "Is this a bad time?"
I had completely forgotten that he promised to call me today and I instinctively fixed my hair before I realized that he couldn't see me.
"No, no, I can talk," I stood up and walked away from the bed so Niall wouldn't be able to hear Harry's side of the conversation.
"Um..." he hesitated. "Is your offer still available for tomorrow?"
I turned away from Niall to hide the goofy grin on my face. "Yeah. You can come? For dinner?"
"Yeah. I can make it at around 7. Is that okay?" he asked.
"Yeah!" I said a little too loud and a little too high-pitched. I cleared my throat before talking again. I wasn't sure if he wanted to talk more or not but with Niall here, I wouldn't be able to. "So, uh, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Who's with you?" Harry asked suddenly.
"Niall?" It came out as more of a question than an answer.
"Oh," he said. "Okay well, I'll see you tomorrow at school." And he hung up.
"So what did he want?" Niall asked into my ear, making me jump.
I turned and swatted his chest. "You scared me. He was confirming for tomorrow."
I walked over and sat on my bed, Niall not far behind. "Don't you think its too early for him to meet your parents? I mean, you just met him 5 days ago."
I shrugged and reached across Niall to get the remote. "I mean, he's my soul mate, isn't he? How much later does it have to be? Now be quiet and lets finish the movie so I can do my homework." Niall grabbed my wrist before I was able to reach the remote.
"Diana," he said, all joking gone from his face.
"What?" I asked as I tried to free my arm from his hand.
He finally let me go after a moments hesitation and sat back against the bed. "Never mind," he said as he lightly shook his head.
I pressed play for the movie and nudged his shoulder with mine. "Weirdo."
~~~~~~
*The next day*
The doorbell rang and I all but flew downstairs to get it before my parents. I spent the whole day cleaning and making sure everything looked good for when Harry came. He probably wouldn't even care how things looked but I couldn't help myself.
I fixed my hair quickly before opening the door to a smiling Harry. As soon as I saw him, I had to restrain myself from throwing my arms around him and kissing him then and there. He had two red roses in his hand and a button up shirt that was just tight enough to define his muscular arms and torso. The sleeves rolled up to his elbows allowed me a glimpse of a few tattoos scattered on his forearm. His jade eyes and just tan enough skin seemed to glow under the porch light. He had clearly put more effort in his appearance than I did. I had just tossed on a pair of jeans and a floral t-shirt, threw my hair into a low ponytail and that's it. I didn't even bother to put on makeup or shoes.
"Hey," he said as I took in his semblance.
"Hi," I was able to say as I managed to mentally stop salivating over him.
He looked down at the flowers and held one out to me. "For you."
I grinned as I took the flower from his outstretched hand. "Thanks." I stepped aside and gestured inside for him to come in.
I watched as he looked around the house and took everything in. The first thing anyone saw as they come in is the stairs and to the right is our living room.
"This is nice," he said.
I took him around to the kitchen where my mom was cooking and my dad was setting the table.
My parents were surprisingly cool with the idea of meeting Harry. Obviously, they would have wanted to meet him sooner or later but I just thought they might have said it was too short of a notice or something. My mom had the evening off today from the hospital and my dad just didn't have to go in to work at all.
"Mom, dad, this is Harry," I smiled up at him and saw as he reached a hand out toward my dad.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Pace," Harry said as he and my dad shook hands.
"Nathan," my dad gave him a small smile, still unaccustomed to the fact that I already had my soul mate.
Harry turned to my mom and handed her the other rose he held. "It's nice to meet you guys. This is for you Mrs. Pace."
My mom blushed, probably taken aback by his politeness. "Please, don't make me feel old. Call me Emma." She took out a vase and placed the flower in it after filling it with water. I followed suit, making sure to go back to Harry's side after so he wouldn't feel out of place. He nervously stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Is the food ready, mom?" I asked just to be able to get past the introduction stage.
"Just about. You guys can take a seat at the table."
My dad took a seat at the head of the table and Harry sat across from me, leaving my mom at the other end of the table. She sat with a sigh after placing the food in the center. My dad began to serve a spoonful of rice on his plate.
"So, Harry, where are you from?" My dad asked as he took a bite out of the chicken.
"Cheshire," he said. "In England. I came here when I was very young with my mom and my father." He made sure my mom and I had our food served before getting some himself.
"Huh," my dad took a sip of his drink, looking at Harry over the rim of the cup. He was trying to intimidate him, and by the looks of Harry, it was working. My mom noticed it too, apparently, since I saw her try to throw my father a subtle warning glare.
She cleared her throat. "How are you liking the chicken, Harry? These two never give me suggestions on my food. They only care about having something, anything, to fill their stomachs," she laughs.
"They probably don't say anything because there's nothing to say. It's perfectly prepared, Mrs. Pa-," he stopped as he remembered my mom's request to call her by her name. "Emma."
My mom chuckled at his kind words. The way to win my mother over is to complement her cooking and Harry was doing just that. But my father was still reluctant to simply accept Harry.
My dad pointed to Harry's arm with his fork. "How many tattoos have you got there, Harry?" I mentally groaned at his question. I knew that question would come up sooner or later. My parents have never approved of teenagers getting those. I had once jokingly said that I was going to get one for my 16th birthday and I got grounded for two weeks.
Harry looked down at the few visible tattoos and said, "I've got a few. I don't know the exact number," he laughed lightly but stopped as he saw my dad's unsmiling face. "But, uh, not that many. Just a few here and there." He cleared his throat, obviously thrown off by the question and the reaction he got from my father.
"I see," my dad said slowly and continued eating his dinner.
The rest of dinner consisted of my parents- mostly my dad- asking questions and Harry trying his best to answer them. He kept giving my mom small complements here and there about the house or the food. He had probably noticed that that was the best way to get her to like him. He hadn't quite figured out my dad yet.
But despite my dads interrogation, this was going better than I thought. My mom seemed to like Harry and my dad hadn't thrown him out of the house yet, which was a good sign. I kept looking over at Harry, trying to see if he showed any signs of discomfort at any of the topics brought up. When dinner was finished and I could see Harry getting tired of talking about himself, I stood up from the table.
"Do you want to come up to see my room?" I asked him.
He shot a nervous glance at my father to see his reaction. "Sure," he said.
I lead him to the front of the house again, ignoring my dads warning look. Harry followed me up the stairs and into my room which was the first to the left. Closing the door behind us, I let out a breath I didn't realize I has holding. I sat on my bed, Indian style, and told him, "You can take off your shoes and sit if you want."
He did as I suggested and sat in front of me on my bed, still tentative about what he could do or touch.
"You can relax now," I said. "The interrogation's over."
This earned a small laugh from him and I saw him get a little more comfortable. He put his feet up on the bed and leaned back against the headboard. "That was fun. I don't remember the last time I talked so much about myself."
I smiled at him. "You did good, though. My mom really likes you and my dad's getting there."
He smirked. "He asked so many questions. I'm surprised he didn't ask for my permanent record at school," he joked.
I shook my head. "Sorry, I guess he still hasn't gotten over the fact that I have my soul mate already."
Harry shrugged. "It's alright. I get it. Your mom is really nice, though. She's very calm and goes out of her way to make me feel at home."
"Yeah, she's always like that. She's a nurse at the hospital so she loves to make sure people are comfortable and she'll give them anything they need whenever they need it." I looked down and played with the ring on my finger, twisting it back and forth.
"I can tell that you two are close."
"Well, I've always been closer to her than my dad. She's a lot more open than he is."
"Hm," he said and nodded.
I realized that he hasn't mentioned his family at all during the time I've known him. Whenever the subject was brought up, he'd change it quickly and act as if nothing was wrong. I studied his face taking in my room as I debated whether to try to bring it up now or not. We've talked a lot in the short time we've had together and I figured we were close enough that we could talk about it without him getting mad. After all, how bad could it be?
He saw me staring at his face and smiled a little. "What?"
"What's your family like?" The small smile faded and his eyes went out of focus.
He blew out some air and ran his large hand through his hair, making it stick out all over. He brought his hand back down to his lap and looked at me again. He hesitated a moment before saying, "I guess I might as well tell you."
I slightly cocked my head to the right to show that I was listening to what he had to say.
"Okay, where do I start?" he said more to himself than to me. "Well. Okay. My mom had me when she was very young- 15, maybe 16."
I instantly recognized that his story was going to be deeper and heavier than I thought. Very different from mine.
"When I was around six or seven, my dad convinced her they would be better off here than in England so they moved. My mom wasn't sure about it since her parents and stuff were over there but my dad can be a convincing guy." He looked away from me and focused on the wall behind me. "So they moved to here, Florida, with no money. That's why I'm 19 and still in school. I started pretty late. Anyway, they had overestimated how easy it would be to get a job in America." I nodded because I knew just how hard it was. Especially if you were a teenager. No one wanted to hire those. I got lucky since I knew someone who worked at Menchies before and they were able to get me a job there. Others weren't so lucky.
"My mom went out everyday to look for a job. We were in a pretty small, worn down town so it was very difficult to find a safe place to work. She finally got a job as a waitress in this really crappy place. She would work overtime almost everyday since my father didn't bother to even look for a job," he angrily rolled his eyes. "So I'd be stuck home alone all day, only leaving to go to school. But I'd come home everyday to an empty house. My mom would be out working her ass off just to bring home a crap amount of money while my dad went out getting drunk and doing God knows what else." He paused to take a deep breath.
"And he'd come home drunk a lot of the time. Those nights were the worst ones of my life. My mom would try to put me to bed before he came home but I always woke up later to her muffled groans and sobs. And the next day, I'd see her with a new set of bruises on her arm or her cheek. She tried to cover them up often but I wasn't stupid."
I felt a quiet tear slip from my eye and down my cheek. I saw Harry's eyes get teary like mine but he did a better job of keeping them in. "And most of the time, when my dad got home before my mom, he'd turn on me." I shook my head, knowing what was coming.
Harry stopped talking and looked to me again. His face full of sorrow made me want to reach in and clear his mind of all those terrible childhood memories.
"So, you can guess what comes next," he smiled bitterly.
I was speechless as he finished his story. "Harry. I'm so sorry."
He shook his head. "I'm over it. I just don't know why my mom stayed with him for so long. He did nothing around the house but get drunk and sleep in in the morning."
I scooted over to Harry until our knees were touching and grabbed his hands. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."
He gave me a small smile that was supposed to be reassuring but wasn't. "Its okay. Really."
I looked at the boy in front of me whose face is trying to hide the sadness. We've had quite a few conversations before, deep conversations too, but I've never felt as close to him as now. There was clearly a lot more to Harry than I thought. There was so much more I still had to learn about him.
And I couldn't wait until I got the chance to do just that. I wanted nothing more than to be able to help him forget what he'd been through. I wanted to help him make new, better memories that won't make him teary eyed when he remembers them.
I quickly leaned into him and closed the space between us, pressing my lips against his. I was completely inexperienced in this field but I just did what my gut told me to. Thankfully, after Harry recovered from the shock of what I'd just done, he began to move his lips in sync with mine. We moved slowly as he lifted his hands to cup my face. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to stay here like this with him for as long as possible.
He parted too soon, leaving me wishing he hadn't stopped. He leaned his forehead against mine, and with eyes still closed said, "Thank you."
~~~
Heyy! So this chapter was kinda long, but it had to be done. I hope you guys liked it. I am very inexperienced with kissing so I had no idea what I was writing. That's why that part was kinda short D: but I hope everyone liked the chapter and thanks again for reading.
Message, comment, vote if you want. I appreciate it!