Adore You [H.S]

48 // Radio Rebel

"You're getting bubbles in your hair," Harry points out just after I sit down, pointing to the now damp ends of my hair.

I look down, seeing the bottom three to four inches of my hair floating in the soapy water.

"Oh, it's no big deal," I say, resting my head on the edge of the tub as all the muscles in my body turned to mush from the comforting warmth of the water.

"Would you like me to put it up for you?" he offers. I check my wrist to see if I had a hair tie before I gave him an answer. Sure enough, there was one there.

"If you'd like."

I use the side of the tub as support as I turn my body around so my back was facing Harry. He extends his legs out so I was sitting in between them. I suck in a breath and stop inching back once I reach his knees.

"You can come closer, you know," he says, chuckling. "I don't want to feel like I'm pulling your hair."

"Okay," I say shakily, pressing my hands up against the sides of the tub again.

I inch myself slowly backward until his thighs felt pretty securely wrapped around my butt. I didn't want to hurt him or crush...anything, so I figured this was a good place to stop.

Harry hums as his large hands scoop up my hair, softly brushing my over back as he does so, which sent literal tingles up my spine and to my scalp. He holds it all in one hand before softly twisting it into a bun. I hand him the black hairband.

"Now, I will warn you," he says, wrapping the elastic around the bun he just made as high up on my head as he could, "I've only ever done these on myself before. And my hair was much shorter than yours is. So if this looks horrendous, just smile and nod."

"Okay," I say chuckling.

Harry finishes the bun and inspects the surrounding areas to make sure he didn't leave any hairs out.

"Perfe-" he begins to say, but immediately stops as he looks over the area behind my left ear.

I knew exactly what he saw and my hand was quick to cover it.

"You have a tattoo?!" He asks, completely gobsmacked, his smile wide.

"Yeah, so what?" I ask, shrugging, but still not removing my hand from covering it.

"You—perfect, innocent little Lili—have a tattoo?!" He teases, the look of shock still apparent on his face.

"Okay, first of all, I'm not as innocent as your dirty little mind portrays me to be, Mr. Styles," I say, turning around to face him. "Second of all, it was all Jess's idea."

Your parents aren't here to tell you what you can and can't do anymore, was what she'd said to me in the tattoo shop. The whole tattoo idea was a completely spontaneous thing one night when Jess and I first moved in together. She randomly decided she wanted to get a tattoo and forced me to come with her (for "emotional support") to the nearest tattoo parlor with the best reviews. Not a very smart —or sanitary—idea, I know.

That night, Jess got a rose tattooed on her thigh. After hers was finished, she peer pressured me into getting one. I gave in because I wanted to feel rebellious. I ended up with a small circle behind my ear. It was something I could easily hide from my parents—who would kill me if they ever saw it—whenever I came home to visit. That part of it wasn't too rebellious of me, to be frank.

Harry stared at me with an amused look on his face.

"What? I was 19 and wanted to be a rebel!"

"Says every 19 year old ever!" He rolls his eyes playfully. "Do you know how many tattoos I got when I was 19?!"

"That's true. But you were famous. I don't even want to hear the things you did when you were 19."

"Yeah, they were pretty brutal." Harry cringes at the memory of his 19-year-old self.

"You're almost 26," I point out the obvious, "that's so crazy that you've been doing your job for almost a whole decade!"

"I know, it's insane." He shakes his head in disbelief.

"You're getting so old!" I tease him, laughing.

Harry's jaw drops, pretending to be offended as he knew I was joking.

"Oh, please I am not old!" he defends himself.

"Wait," I say, slowly. Using my hands I scoop up bubbles from the bath. I cup my hands around Harry's jaw, causing the bubbles to stick to his face and form a faux beard.

Harry laughs hysterically at my actions, literal tears forming in my eyes. I lean back slightly to get a better view of Harry with a white beard and begin to laugh as well at the sight.

"Yikes," I say, his laugh soundless at the point.

Harry scrapes bubbles up in his hands and now puts them onto my chin, catching me completely off guard. My jaw drops as I let out a single, breathy laugh.

"Wait," Harry says, holding his index finger up, "wait."

Using the same finger he held up, he swiped his jaw, picking up some of the bubbles that remained there. He then took his finger and pressed it to my nose, placing the bubbles there.

"Boop," he says, smiling sweetly, his dimples deeper than I've ever seen.

Harry's hands are brought to his face to rinse of the soap, and I took that as my cue as well. I wipe all the bubbles off my face and rise my hands off in the bathtub water, before turning around so my back was facing Harry once again. I returned to my original spot between his legs from when he was putting my hair up.

Wanting to feel closer to him, I lean back until my back was pressed against his chest. This was honestly a different feeling, unlike anything I've ever experienced.

The only time I'd ever bathed with someone was with Jess because she needed to bath but was too drunk to do it on her own, so I volunteered to do it for her. But even then, she was the only one naked. I was in a swimsuit.

It was awkward and weird at first, but after being here for a while, I honestly felt...comfortable.

I rest my head on the right side of his chest, looking out the window at the water. The way the moon reflected off the ocean was breathtaking, and I still couldn't believe that I was here.

* * *

"Thank you for that," Harry says, wrapping his towel around his waist, "that's probably the best bath I've ever taken."

"I thoroughly enjoyed making a human soup with you," I say, giggling. Harry cringes.

"Yeah, that took all the romance out of that and made it just plain gross," he says, his face still twisted.