Far

twelve

"They got in a fight?" Lili nearly chokes on her drink.

I nod my head, "I don't know why Harry thought it was a great idea to antagonise him, surely he knew where that was going to get them."

"Maybe he wanted to?"

I squint my eyes, "What do you mean?"

"Maybe Harry wanted to fight him. He knows what Jacob did to you, he hates him, he wanted to get his fix of bashing his head in," she explains.

"Possibly. Or they were just both being idiots," I laugh.

"What happened afterwards?" she asks when the the waitress brings us our food.

After thinking about waffles, and hash browns, we decided to go to the diner instead of getting doughnuts.

"He carried me back to his room and made me show him the bruise, like he literally lifted my dress himself because I wouldn't. He got upset but nothing too bad, and then I cleaned his cut," I say, cutting my waffles into fours.

"We should have stayed the whole time," she sighs, holding her head in her hands.

"I'm not mad, I promise but, why did you ask to leave?" I ask, taking a bite.

"Cole got hungry," she laughs.

I roll my eyes and laugh and we continue to eat our food, small talk in between. I can't get mad at her for leaving, Harry promised to stay by me. And I can't expect her to always be with me, she does her best. I need to learn how to be independent, but not get myself in harms way.

Once we're done, Lili and I fight over who is going to pay the bill before I tell her she cleaned up my puke for me, making her hand over the bill to me.

"What time do you work?" she asks, putting her wallet back into her purse.

"One to close," I answer.

It was now eleven thirty so we decide to go back to the dorms so I can start getting ready. I pull on some dark skinny jeans. Lili lets me borrow one her pale pink button down shirts, with frilly lace sleeves.

Putting a little bit of mascara and chapstick, I grab my brown ankle boots and pull them on. I leave my hair down but take a clip and pull half of it pace. I make sure I have all of the things I need for work.

"I'll probably be back around half past eleven, please wish I vomit in the back or something," I say as I walk out of the door.

I head towards my car and begin to make the short drive to the bookstore. Halfway there, I hear my phone go off, but it is in my bag in the backseat, so I leave it be. I park and head into the store.

Grabbing my usual apron, I tie it on and check my phone.

Unknown: Are you at work?

who is this?

Unknown: Angel, it's Harry.

I have a slight feeling he is going to make me cover for him, for the hundredth time.

oh. yes. are you going to need me to cover for you, again?

Harry: No. Tell Rose I am coming in.
Harry: Are we going to eat cookies again today?

if you don't eat mine, you fucker..
i'm sorry that was rude.

I put my phone down before he replies, and I know it's going to be something about my tone. Or my apology.

I grab the cart with new books and begin to do my routine of organising, fixing and replacing books. In my process of this, I manage to put Looking for Alaska in my apron so I can read it later on, it's one I have not read before, so I'm excited to see what it's about.

An hour later, the bell above the door rings and I look up. Harry walks in, wearing a black sweater, skinny jeans and shoes. He smiles brightly for Rose, hugging her and talking with her, most likely about his absence. His eyes scan the store before they land on me, he points to me and Rose nods her head. He makes his way over with the tiniest smile playing on his lips.

"Hi, I'm Ariana, you must be the newbie," I laugh.

He rolls his eyes and grins, "Very funny."

"What time are you scheduled for?" I ask, looking at the list of books that should in the L section.

"I'm supposed to close but I might have to leave thirty minutes earlier. Which is what I came to talk to you about,"

I look up, waiting for him to continue.

"Will you be okay to close? I know there's usually one person still here, but I'm supposed to close with you. I just want to make sure –?"

"Harry, I will be fine. I've been closing by myself recently and everything's been okay. It might be interesting one day to close with you but, you're good to leave early," I smile.

He nods his head and sends me one more smile before he makes his way to the back, before going into the bakery.

Time passes quickly and before I know it Harry is saying goodnight to me.

"Be safe for me, alright?" he grabs the doorknob.

"Always," I smile.

Wiping the last bit of polish from the shelf, I hum the tune of When the Party's Over and before I know it, the words are leaving my mouth as I wipe down the tables. After I finish the first verse, I hear clapping. My heart, along with the rag, drops and I spin around.

Harry was standing by the door, with his infamous smirk.

Oh my god, kill me now. This is not happening.

"You never mentioned anything about singing," he says.

No, seriously, knock me out.

"I-I didn't want anyone to know," I say, shocked.

"Why?" he walks towards me.

I fiddle my hands, "I didn't want anyone to judge me, or give me a hard time."

Lamest excuse in the book, but I don't care. Just make this man leave so I can bask in my embarrassment alone.

Harry was now standing in front of me, but I can't bring myself to look at him. His puts his index finger underneath my chin and forces me to look at him. In this moment, I realise how much taller he actually is.

"You have a beautiful voice, don't be ashamed of it," he whispers.

"Just don't tell anyone, please." I practically beg.

He nods his head. He looks in my eyes, and then down to my lips, and back to my eyes once more. It's as if he is contemplating his next move.

"Harry –?" I'm cut off by his lips coming into contact with mine.

I rise up onto my top toes, trying to change the height difference between us. His hands go to the side of my face and mine press against his chest. We move in sync, his soft lips against mine. His tongue swipes against my bottom lip, asking for entrance, but when I don't allow him, he lightly bites it, making me gasp. He takes that opportunity to push his tongue against mine, fighting for dominance.

He wins, obviously, and when he pulls away, we are both left breathless. I open my eyes to meet his, now dark, green ones. He kisses me softly once more, before he leaves the store again, leaving me stunned, breathless, and confused.

What the hell just happened?