subside. // haylor au

four

(GUYS WHAT SUBSIDE GOT #899 IN FANFICTION AND #958 IN TEEN FICTION IM CRYING THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOV EYOU)

After going home, I was exhausted at an extreme level. The whole world was spinning and my body still felt like it was still in a moving elevator with a whole bunch of people surrounding me.

I let out a big sigh as I walk into my bedroom, letting myself fall onto the soft duvet. I glance a the clock that says two fourteen in the afternoon. It's been six hours. We hung out for six hours. Those six hours were the most interesting hours of my life, I almost felt secured when I'm with him. It's very rare for me to feel protected by anyone, I was always on my own. I'm an independent woman and I look after myself a lot, no one has ever properly protected me or made me feel like that in the elevator. It felt warm and invulnerable and everything felt possible. It's the weirdest feeling.

I learned a little bit, nothing very important, but it was interesting. I found out that his favorite thing to do is to look at a landscape through a telescope, "you see things in a close up and realize that some of the things you see are untouchable" he said. His perspectives are very odd and different. I like it. He's different himself and I guess that's the main reason that caused my sudden interest in him. 

After coming to the realization that I was thinking a little too much, I got up and dragged myself to the question, even though I was truly in need of an afternoon nap, I wanted to do something productive. As always, I drew the cook book out of the top shelf on the wall, a little handy equipment that I'd gather ideas from. I flip through the pages which consisted of many different things I can bake to spend 'productive' time. I've done almost every recipe and there was nothing that I was interested in baking, but something caught my eye; red velvet cupcakes. I've done them and they turned out alright, but that was quite a while ago and it would be fun to do it again. I nod mentally to myself and got started on preparing the ingredients, dragging out all the necessary equipment's.

I skim my eyes through it and notice that something is missing; the cream cheese. It was a very rare habit for me to forget one of the ingredients, but my curiosity surely have distracted me for a while.

"Damn it." I curse under my breath as I lean back of the kitchen counter. All the preparing for nothing. If only there was a grocery shop in the apartment.

And then it struck me; Harry is next door. There is a possibility of him having cream cheese in his kitchen.

I needed to return his flannel to him anyways, I grab the clothing on the handle and quickly open the door. I reach Harry's door within seconds, due to the fact that he is living opposite to me.

As always, he leaves his door unlocked, so I turn the knob right away. I see him sitting on the stool resting beside the kitchen bar. He lifts his head up to face me and tilts his head, evidently questioning my sudden presence.

"Do you have cream cheese or something?" I ask right away. He looks away for a second, and nods.

I follow him to the fridge and he draws the object out. Conveniently in a plastic bag.

"Thank you." I thank him and he nods once again, eyeing me. I slowly proceed towards the door, but before I can think about it twice, I turn around to face him.

"Actually, uh- I was just about to bake, so would you like to, you know, join me?" I suggest.

"Sure." He accepts and he follows me to my apartment.

"This is the first time you've been in my penthouse, right?" 

"Well, I haven't barged in, so no." He answers and I roll my eyes.

"Do you like red velvet's?" I inquire, placing the cream cheese so it blends in with the rest of the ingredients that I have previously prepared.

"They're alright, I guess. Better than chocolate." He replies and I nod. Red velvets taste almost like chocolate, but it didn't bother me, he was weird in that sense.

"How about you crack the eggs and I'll do the frosting?" I advise and he grabs the eggs. "You know how to do this, right?" 

"Trust me, I may look stupid, at least to you, but I might have more experience than you do." He says and it surprises me, I've been baking since I picked up an interest when I was at least ten years old.

"Excuse me?" I gasp and he chuckles at my response.

"I worked in a bakery in England, therefore cupcakes and pastries are my thing." He explains.

"That explains the accent," I giggle.

"Of course it does." He nods and cracks the egg. He's actually pretty skilled, cracking two eggs with only one of his big hands.

"Where do you live in England?" I wonder.

"It's pretty small actually, you wouldn't know it." He shakes his head.

"I got an award for geography in high school, Harry, don't be stupid."

"Holmes Chapel." He answers and I realize it right away.

"Aha! I know where it is!" 

"I'm waiting for the wrong answer."

"It's in Cheshire, north west England." I reply, confident with my answer.

"I'm impressed, Swift." He smiles and I continue to work on my frosting, dipping my finger in and tasting the flavor.

.

After ten minutes of baking, along with a couple issues, I was in need of the bathroom. So I went, only to find Harry elsewhere. I searched the whole penthouse, only to find him in the most unexpected place; my bedroom. He was looking at the pictures hung on the wall.

"What are you doing?" I ask loudly, drawing his attention back to me.

"I'm pretty sure you have eyes." He says and I walk to where he stood. Of course, he'd look at my high school photos.

"That's your dad?" He questions, pointing at the man standing beside me in my graduation photo and I nod.

"Where is he?" 

"Why do you want to know?" I ask back. It's just odd to see him throwing questions. It's like we swapped places.

"Just wondering."

"He's working at Portland. I work there too actually, but I'm on a short break. It's a small publishing, nothing special, but it's quite well known there in Portland." I clarify.

"Why did you ask this?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, you're not the only curious one here." He replies and, frankly, I felt blushes creeping up, burning my cheeks and just standing there made my legs melt. I couldn't exactly explain it, but it was definitely some type of feeling that never has been experienced.

[ps: sorry if this chapter was shitty :/ thank you for your support, it means so so so much and i love you :]