"Get off me, Cherry!" He sighs as we walk along the path, our shoulders bumping into each other as we move side by side.
"You know I hate it when you call me that." I smack his arm as hard as I can manage.
"Yeah? Well, I don't like it when you guys make fun of me." His pout is bigger than his nephew's was when we told him he couldn't have any chocolate this afternoon. "Why did you say that?"
"Say what?" I skip around his body as we cross the deserted road. That's one thing about Holmes Chapel, it's quiet. Especially at night.
"That I'm out of touch? Mr La-di-da?"
"I didn't say those things."
"You laughed."
"I slightly chuckled." I poke my finger against his pouty lips. "They were only teasing, H. They don't really think that."
"S'not funny," he hums. I stumble forward when he nudges my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was actually bothering you."
"Never treated you any different, Cher." His fingers hook in my elbow.
"Course not, I'm your bestie. You'd be lost without me." I grab his arm as we near the park. "Oooooh. Can we go on the swings? Pleeease?" I bounce on my feet and shake his arm as if it's a magic 8 ball.
"The swings? We're thirty, not thirteen." He huffs but follows behind me anyway. "Slow down!" His laughter fills the air as I rush toward the red one.
"Bet I can swing higher than you!"
"Fuck off!" He grabs my swing, and I fall to the ground in a heap. Oh, he is gonna pay for that. I haul myself onto the seat and kick out at him and he yells as he almost crashes into the metal pole. "Hey, watch the pretty!" His hand gestures up and down his body, and I bump his swing again.
"Arsehole!"
"I know you are," he says. I can't stop the laugh that rises through my body and crashes from my mouth, shattering the quiet of the night. I'd missed him. Not that I was about to admit that to him, even though he knew it anyway. "You're losing." His head snaps towards me and I frown as I realise he is swinging higher than I am.
"You have longer legs."
"Excuses, just admit it, I'm better than you."
"Pfft. I don't tell lies, Styles!" I scoff and swing my legs out as far as they'll go, trying to match him. The sheer length of his body and his effortless movements mean I'm never going to catch him. "Race you home!" I yell and launch myself off the swing but in my rush to get to the gate I miscalculate my distance from my friend and he comes crashing into me, both of us falling to the ground, Harry's body literally knocking all the air from my lungs.
"Shit, Cherry! You okay?" I can feel his fingers in my hair and then on my cheek but my vision is a little hazy. "Cher?"
"M'kay." The words get stuck in my throat as if my tongue has swollen to twice its size. I try to focus and the first thing I see are my friend's green eyes. Have they always been the same colour as my favourite jade necklace? My fingers automatically wrap themselves around the pendant my best friend had brought me back from his first trip to Japan. I'd worn it every day since. His lips are the next thing I notice. They're set in a concerned expression, and my mouth feels as dry as the desert as I think about touching the perfect curve of his cupids bow. What the fuck is wrong with me?
"Cherry?" His voice sounds like leaves rustling in the breeze.
"I told you not to call me that!"
