pages- harry styles (au)

thirteen

Six days later I found myself sitting on Harry's couch. No, not because we were hanging out, or anything like that. He invited me over only for one reason, to work on our project. We decided that we would just start with basics; birthday, age, mom's name, etc. and although I knew lots of things about Harry from the journal, I didn't know those things.

"Okay, um, so first off, I think it would be relevant if I knew your name" he said, taking a seat on the couch opposite of me.

"I already told you my name" I looked at him confused.

"I know, but I forgot it"

"Oh, it's Emma"

"Emma" he repeated, "Now I assume you already knew my name"

"Yeah" I said shyly.

"Of course you do" he huffed, "I honestly don't see the point in any of this, you know everything about me already"

"Actually" I admitted, "I only know what you wrote in the journal"

"I hate that you know those things"

It was silent for a while, our quietness absorbing the oxygen in the air until there seemed to be none left. I spoke first.

"Um, anyway" I said, trying to ease the awkwardness. It didn't work, it was still very awkward. "How old are you?"

"21" he said bluntly.

"You're finally legal" I noted.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that I underage drink? Because the only time I ever drank underage was when I was supposed to be babysitting Ab- Abby, and I- uh- I"

He broke down crying.

"No, no, no" I rushed over to comfort him, "that's not what I am saying at all. Oh god, no, I would never bring that up. I was just suggesting that it must be nice to finally be legal, I-I"

I felt I was trying to hard, I felt awkward, and helpless, although Harry accepted the back rub I was giving giving to comfort him. It felt too intimate for me, I was uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too" I retreated back to the other couch.

I felt horrible, I felt hated, and I really wanted some ice cream.

"Say something?" I said.

He stared at me and I stared back. I always had trouble looking at people in the eyes, I felt like if they did we would be connected, that they could see the things I tried so desperately to hide. But with Harry it was different, I wanted to open up to him, and his eyes were like magnets, I couldn't help but stare back.

"I'm sorry, I overreacted" he finally said.

I blew a sigh of relief. "It's totally fine, I get your angle" Although I didn't get his angle at all, and he definitely overreacted.

He smiled at me and I honestly felt a thousand butterflies in my stomach. I was so cheesy.

"Good" he paused, clearly thinking. "How old are you?"

"I'm 20"

"What year are you in?"

"1st year" I said, "You?"

"You already know that."

"True, okay, um, What's your Moms name?"

"Anne, now it's my turn"

I quickly wrote down his answers, and he did the same for me.

"This is kinda like 20 questions" I stated.

"Yeah kinda"

-

We asked each other silly questions for the next half hour, they ranked from things that would be very relevant in an auto-biography to things like "If you could have dinner with the president, what would you eat". We never even touched the personal side of the questions, not because the giant elephant in the room made us very aware that I already knew the answers to Harry's, but simply because it was a touchy subject.

Harry ordered a pizza and we split the cost, and for someone who seemed to hate me, he was pretty nice.

I was falling in love more and more with him, because now I was getting to know the real him, and the real him was as sweet and funny as the one I had made up in my head. And although there were many more things we had to learn about each other, not just for the project, but for our own personal pleasure, I was thankful for the fact I could get to know him at all.

"Do you need me to come with you to take you back?" he asked as I was putting my jacket on getting ready to leave. I could tell he didn't want to, but that he was just simply being nice.

"No, I should be fine" I said.

"Okay, be safe"

"I will"

"I had fun tonight" he admitted.

"Yeah, me too" I said, "It was kinda like a date"

Sometimes I said things without thinking, that was one of those times.

"Haha, no, I still don't like you remember?" He teased.

"Right, I forgot, bye Harry"

"Bye, Emily"

"It's Emma"

"I know"

I walked out of his apartment feeling like a giddy teenager who had her first kiss, and although that was clearly not the case, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

PLEASE READ AUTHORS NOTE

(hi lovlies! so i just posted three new stories [i know three!] and i am really excited for them all! they have really good original plots and i would love it if you guys could go read them and check them out and leave some feedback for me, it would mean so much!

anyway, dont forget to comment and vote)