sign of the times | h.s.

chapter twelve

MADILYN HOLLEY

"Your way, I'm trying to understand these days. I need to know if you're feeling it, or I'm wasting my time. Your way, or mine."

I strummed Alex's guitar as I sang out, hoping I'd end up with a good clip. I'd already tried to film this cover three times but somewhere in the middle each time I mucked up the chords and had to start over again. I still had a bit of trouble with guitar, I had never been nearly as good as Alex was. I'd chosen a song by the band Wallows, which I had been particularly loving at the moment. It ended up being the last take I needed, and as I shut off my camera I was thankful I wouldn't need to keep filming since I was getting quite hungry.

I bounced down the stairs and opened the fridge to pull out the leftover pasta I had made the night before. After putting the tupperware into the microwave, I picked up my phone and sat down on the couch, seeing that I had missed a call while I was filming. What shocked me was that the call was from Harry. He had my number, as did the rest of my new friends, but he'd never called before. The curiosity was eating me up and I quickly searched for his contact before calling back. What I hadn't realized was that I had hit the FaceTime button instead of the call button, and I had held the phone up to my ear as soon as I pressed call.

Waiting for an answer, I walked over to the kitchen to grab my now warm pasta before stirring it up with a fork and heading towards the dining table to eat my lunch.

"Well isn't this a surprise?" Harry said cheekily as he answered the phone.

"What do you mean, you called me first." I responded back.

"I know, but I hadn't expected you to FaceTime me instead. It's a pleasant surprise." Harry spoke.

"FaceTime?" I questioned as I pulled the phone away from my ear to look at it, seeing a smiling Harry staring back at me. "Oh wow I must have done that on accident, I'm sorry." I said with a laugh.

"So you didn't want to see me?" Harry jokingly prodded, poking out his bottom lip.

"Oh hush, I always want to see you." I said, realizing shortly after that I hadn't meant to say it out loud. My eyes widened and the blush came rushing to my face as I looked away from the camera, wishing I could just hang up right then to avoid the awkwardness.

"Well good," Harry said, the smile returning to his face. "That's what I was calling to talk to you about. Mitch, Layla and I are heading to a drive-in movie tonight and Layla said you told her how much you love drive-ins when you had brunch last week and said I should ring you to see if you'd like to come. I thought it might be fun and maybe help avoid me being the third wheel there as well." He chuckled a bit at the thought of being there alone with the two of them.

That sneaky girl, not once had I ever told her that I enjoyed drive-in movies. I mean don't get me wrong, I love them. Who doesn't? This however, was entirely a setup. Layla knew that if she told Harry how much I loved them that he'd invite me to tag along because he's just that nice.

"That sounds lovely Harry, I do love the drive-in. Tonight, you said?" I asked as I ate a bite of my pasta.

"Yes, if you're free."

"What other plans would I have?" I sarcastically asked Harry.

"I don't know, you could be a very busy girl for all I know." He said with a shrug.

"All I do is film and hang out with you lot, I'm quite the opposite of busy." I said with a smile.

I heard a knock at my door and shouted for them to come in, since I assumed it would just be Liam anyways. My assumptions proved correct as he walked through the door only moments later.