Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Fifty.

"You finish fast."

Harry's steps stuttered as he entered into the sitting room, Louis' teasing an unexpected surprise. "What? No." The three had gathered with a game of Skip-Bo spread across the coffee table and unidentified alcoholic beverages in glasses. Louis's eyebrows raised as he took a sip of his. "Well, yes... but, no."

He snorted into his glass, struggling to keep himself from spitting the liquid onto the floor. "I'm kidding," he ticked his head in the direction of the window, "I have a perfect view."

Aubry plopped down on the couch next to where Louis sat on the floor, overlooking his shoulder out to the hammock, "Nice."

Both Harry's feelings were hurt and his ego was bruised from Aubry's way of torturing him, but maybe he was a little glad what happened didn't progress any further with Louis' eyes watching. Liam set his glass down on a coaster, liquor on his breath. "Want a drink?"

Harry denied with a shake of the head, "I'm gonna go try to finish that paper I started earlier."

He excused himself up the stairs to sit on his own for a while, settling into bed with textbooks and papers spread across the sheets. He struggled to keep his mind occupied with the words he read from the books and pages of notes taken from class, boredom creeping in not long after sitting down. Harry's pencil made circles in the corner of his paper, eyes watching the lead make lines.

His work was hardly done for hours, words blurring together in ways that bored him even more, and his boredom was self treated by shoving his hand down the front of his pants. His eyes scanned the pages in front of him, hardly getting more than a few words written down in the time it took for Aubry to join him upstairs.

It wasn't until past eleven o'clock when Harry ended the hours long session of teasing himself through his underwear, pulling his hand out from under the covers when the bedroom door popped open. He had the balcony doors open to allow fresh air inside, the difference in temperature as she stepped inside the closed off room easily felt. "You almost done?"

His eyes scanned over his work and regretfully shook his head in denial.

"Boo," she whined as the door clicked shut behind her. "They're all pretty drunk down there."

Truly, he wished he was too.

She crossed around the bed, feet sinking into the plush carpet when she came to stand next to where his knee overhung the edge of the bed, blanket draped over his lap. She regarded him carefully when the heel of his palm rubbed at the center of his forehead, his eyes screwing shut in attempt to relieve the strain he felt.

"You seem glum."

"Not glum, just..." the textbook was flipped closed when he gave up. "Tired."

Her hand patted his knee through the thick cover of the blanket, then proceeded to collect the few papers in front of her to sit by him on the bed. She climbed on, the bed a high leap up to her short stature. As soon as her bottom met the blanket, her eyes went to the balcony in front of where she sat and she noticed a big square structure sitting out there. "What's that?"

He glanced over mindlessly, hand rubbing over the back of his neck. "Hot tub."

"You have a hot tub and didn't tell me?"

Immediately, she slid down off the bed, leaving the blanket drooping to one side. She opened up the screen door to let herself out onto the platform, her hands lifting the cover. "Can we go in?"

"I wouldn't."

Her fingers began to pressed at the control buttons, trying to figure out how to get the heating system going. She took the few steps away from the tub to stand in the doorway, her hand leaning against the threshold. "Why not?"