The Deal (English)

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

*Olivia Harper*

Harry left a few hours later, and I almost begged him to stay. It was hard for me to believe how much better he’d made me feel within the course of a few hours. The weight on my heart was still there, but it was considerably lighter. He promised he’d call later in the night, or I could call whenever I wanted to. Before leaving, he’d stroked my cheek softly and planted a kiss on my lips, and the gesture struck me as odd. We were never this loving or gentle with each other. But I wasn’t complaining. It was comforting, and I liked it. I liked Harry being gentle, because I hadn’t seen that side of him too often. But every time I did, I liked it.

I got texts from the boys asking me how I was feeling, and I figured Harry had told them. I smiled, quite touched by their concern, and assure them I was okay.

As anticipated, Linda and Dad hadn’t returned by dinner time. I ended up heating some left over pizza, too lazy to really cook anything—not that I could cook at all. I took my food up to my room and switched on the TV.

Halfway through my first slice, my phone rang. I checked who it was, and smile when I saw the name flashing on my screen. I picked up.

“Hello?”

“What,” Harry asked, “do you think about dinner with me tomorrow?”

“Er, let’s see,” I said carefully. “Do I have a choice?”

“No,” he joked.

I laughed. “I thought so,” I said. “Alright, sounds good to me.”

“Great,” he said happily. “I’ll pick you up at around seven, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Fine, see you then,” he said.

“Okay,” I said, and then added, “Oh and Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

He chuckled. “You already said that about a hundred times today,” he ribbed.

“Uh, just two,” I argued.

He laughed. “It’s fine,” he told me. “I’ll always be there for you, okay?”

“Okay.” I said. “Bye, Harry. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, love.” He said, and hung up.

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*Harry Styles*

“I knew it!” Louis cried, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I could picture his smug smile so easily in my head, and it was annoying. “I knew you were in love with her.”

“Love is a strong word,” I sighed into the phone.

“Oh, so you’re not in love with her?” he asked, and we both knew the answer to his question.

“I didn’t say that,” I mumbled, blushing.

He laughed. “That’s what I thought.” He said. “So…what now?”

“I don’t know, Louis.” I sighed. “I can’t tell her—”

“Why not?” he questioned.

“What do you mean ‘why not?’?” I asked. “Louis…we made a deal, remember?”

“Harry…” Louis groaned, and I pictured him rolling his eyes. “You’re so stupid. None of that matters anymore, okay? Your ‘deal’ or whatever…all of that’s out of the window. You should tell her.”