Sunflower, Vols 1-5

Sunflower, Vol 3

"It wasn't a date, Niall."

"Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself."

Harry typically didn't work a shift on Thursdays, but he needed to make up for the shift he traded yesterday when he took Y/N to the park. He had specifically called it a "break" when they talked about it. A break from working, from normal routine. Not once did they ever use the word "date". And he wasn't going to use it now just to prove Niall right.

"Well did you kiss 'er?" Niall was wiping down the tables at the other end of the room while Harry dried clean glasses behind the bar.

"No, of course not."

"Ah," Niall started. "But you wanted to."

Harry was blatantly ignoring the statement. He sighed. He had wanted to, so badly. At least in the moment, he did. And how could he not? There was no denying that something special had happened between them in that moment. She really opened up to him. And she looked so pretty in the setting sunlight. Her eyes sparkled. He'd gotten a semi just from having her head on his thigh, for fucks sake.

"Look," Niall walked back towards Harry, throwing his rag back into the laundry basket they kept behind the bar. "If you don't ask her out today, then I'm gonna."

Harry ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back and away from his face. "Ni, you can't ask her out, ok? Just, just please?"

Niall chuckled as he moved towards the employee room so he could grab his things and head out. "You say it wasn't a date, but y'wanted to kiss 'er. You say y'don't like 'er, but y'wont let me ask her out." He paused, checking his pockets to make sure he had everything he needed. "Y'need ta' get y'er shit together, mate."

"Yeah, he definitely does." Both their heads turned towards the door at the sound of Y/N's voice. "I have no idea what you're talking about but I'm sure you're right," she teased.

Harry let out a breath, relieved that she hadn't heard the rest of the conversation.

Niall looked over at Harry, raising his eyebrows. "Y'know maybe I will stay for a few minutes. Grab me some chips from the kitchen, will ya'?"

Y/N took a seat at the bar and Niall sat just next to her. Harry recognized the look on his face. He was just trying to push his buttons. Just wanted to get him riled up so he would gain the courage to ask her out. But all it really did was make Harry pouty and grumpy.

And maybe the worst part was that Niall wasn't wrong. They had definitely gotten closer lately, and Harry wasn't ever going to pretend like he didn't like it. He thought about her often - actually couldn't fall asleep the night before because he kept replaying images of her in the meadow in his head.

Back in school, there was a quick minute where he might've felt similarly to how he feels now. Between two of his girlfriends who he now barely remembered, he remembered finding Y/N just so endearing. Back when she had braces and brushed her teeth at lunch time. He couldn't remember which classes they had together at the time, but he remembers that he was never, ever late to those ones. And, being a teenage boy, he may or may not have definitely thought about her once or twice (or a bunch of times) at night after he was supposed to be asleep.

One time, he had even tried to make a move on her. But she flat out rejected him. Or she didn't know what he was doing. He still wasn't sure. He tried asking to study together in the library, but she just giggled at him, accusing him of being the loudest person she knew, and said she had a test the next day so there was no time for distractions.

Instead of trying to see her at school, he started hanging out more often with his friend that lived around the corner from her. They bumped into each other when she took her dog on walks or went to a babysitting job. He even slow danced with her at a few dances, but she never seemed interested, and he was an impatient teenage boy, so he moved on to the next best thing he could find at the time.